Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any properties in this work that I did not make myself.
Harold of Konoha
Chapter twenty-five: Journey into Dream Land (AKA The one wherein Harold and the others get to be Dream Walkers)
One day in the village of Konohagakure, shortly after Thanksgiving week, Harold Fisher was at the local bar, where he had gotten together with his friends Inoichi Yamanaka and Tsume Inuzuka, plus Tsume's talking ninja dog Kuromaru. "So dudes, tell me," Harold began as he picked up a mug of lager, "How did Black Friday treat you?"
"I did a mission where someone wanted some Konoha shinobi to handle their Black Friday shopping for them," Tsume explained, "I needed some of the money that was offered as a reward so that I could do my own holiday shopping later."
"Tsume killed twenty-seven people just to get a plasma-screen TV that the client wanted," Kuromaru stated, his tone sounding mildly disgusted. In a sarcastic tone, the Inuzuka ninja dog added, "Capitalism, ladies and gentlemen!"
"I actually didn't claim any lives, although I did use a kunai on a woman's hand that was reaching for a doll that I was going to get for Inohime," Inoichi explained.
"Yeah, I didn't kill anyone either," Harold added, "But then again I was with Inoichi at the time, and after he stabbed that woman's hand, some of the people crowding us ran away."
"Actually, they just ran to get some new toy that was just at that moment restocked," Inoichi pointed out, "None of those folks could have cared less about what I did, including the woman in question."
"Again, Capitalism at its finest," Kuromaru remarked in a snarky tone.
"Doesn't stuff like that make you proud to be a citizen of Konoha?" Tsume asked as she lifted her mug of lager to her mouth.
"It actually makes me weep for the future of mankind," Kuromaru said as he laid down on the floor at the base of Tsume's barstool.
Later that afternoon, Harold and company were walking over to Inoichi's place to play some pool. "You know, I've been meaning to ask this," Harold began as he and his friends walked, "How come the bar we go to doesn't have a pool table?"
"That's…actually a surprisingly good question," Kuromaru replied, "I mean, bars usually have pool tables, so the fact that the bar you guys regularly frequent lacks pool tables is rather curious."
"Well at least I have a pool table," Inoichi remarked in a somewhat bragging tone, "So we're covered."
"Hey, I just had a thought," Tsume said.
"What have I told you about having those, Tsume?" Kuromaru hissed.
"Now here me out," Tsume replied to her ninja dog. To the group as a whole, Tsume said, "What if…What if instead of the bar we usually go to getting a pool table, what if we install a bar in Inoichi's den? It'll be a one stop shop for lager AND pool! It's killing two birds with one stone!"
"…Huh," Kuromaru remarked in a mildly amazed-sounding tone as he looked up at Tsume, "And here I thought that you'd somehow try to restructure that saying so that it's cats who die instead of birds." (1)
"Holy frigg'en balls, that is genius!" Harold exclaimed.
"We're going to have to ask Michelle first if it's okay to turn the den into a bar," Inoichi remarked, "But I personally love the idea." And so, with renewed determination, Harold and company made haste towards Inoichi's place. When they walked through the front door, they stopped when they saw that a number of women were in the living room.
It wasn't just Inoichi's wife Michelle, either; Harold's wife Sophia was there, as well as Harold's little sister Mebuki, Harold's niece Sakura, and the various women that Sakura was friends with. Sakaki, Tsume's daughter-in-law, along with Sakaki's ninja cat Mayamaru, were also there as well. "…I don't have to join the women's meeting, do I?" Tsume asked in a concerned tone.
"There's something that we need Inoichi's help with," Michelle explained, "I mean, given that he's the best at Yamanaka clan techniques, he's most qualified."
"Whose brain do you want me to fry this time?" Inoichi asked casually.
"No, that's not what we need you to do," Michelle said, "It's…it's concerning some rather weird dreams that Inohime and Natsu have been having."
"Wait, Inohime's been having weird dreams?!" Inoichi exclaimed.
"Inohime and Natsu both," Hinata said, a look of concern on her face.
"Given that most of the dreams that Inohime and Natsu have been having seem to be connected in some way or another, we figure that there is something going on," Michelle went on, "Inoichi, you're the best at using Yamanaka clan techniques. You can use the Dream Scanner to journey into the dreams of the girls and figure out what's happening."
"Dream Scanner?" Harold repeated in a confused tone.
"Oh yeah, remember that one machine thing I used to read that one prisoner's mind back when that Pain dude tried to attack the village?" Inoichi said. After Harold and the others all nodded to show that they were following, Inoichi continued, "The Yamanaka clan has a similar machine that lets one go into peoples' dreams to see what's going on. It also lets us interact with dreams, but to a limited extent."
"Wait a minute, you have access to such a thing?!" Kuromaru exclaimed, instantly worried. (2)
"I can't use it alone," Inoichi explained, "Although it only needs one Yamanaka clan ninja to run the thing."
"What do you mean?" Harold asked.
"The Dream Scanner works in a similar manner to the aforementioned mind scanner machine used on the prisoner," Inoichi explained, "I can do all of the Yamanaka-related stuff on my own just fine. But the Dream Scanner has four helmets, meaning that four people are required in order to use it." With a slight grin, Inoichi added, "But three people and one large ninja dog will work just fine."
"No," Mebuki said instantly, "No, I know what you're thinking, and let me be the first to say that there is no way that you should be allowed to go through with it."
"What are you talking about, Mrs. Haruno?" Ino asked, a look of mild curiosity on her face.
"Your father plans to take Harold, Tsume and Kuromaru with him into the world of dreams," Mebuki explained, "Although I'm not worried about Kuromaru going."
"Mr. Yamanaka, please don't," Sakura said, "Can't you ask Mr. Nara and Mr. Akimichi to help instead?"
"I actually had Shikaku and Choza help me with such a task a while ago," Inoichi explained, "Along with Hiashi, who Choza recommended. All three of them said that they never want to go through with it again."
"Pfft, they're missing out," Harold remarked in a dismissive tone.
"Yeah, they're wimps," Tsume agreed.
"So, you three will help me?" Inoichi asked.
"Hey, the hell kind of a best friend would I be if I left you hanging, dude?" Harold replied, holding a fist out in front of Inoichi.
Smiling, Inoichi bumped a fist into Harold's out held fist while saying, "Thanks, Harold."
"So, it's just the girls who have been having these weird dreams?" Kuromaru asked.
"Yes, just Natsu and Inohime," Hinata replied with a nod.
"Ain't no case of weird dreams going to mess with either of my grandchildren and get away with it," Inoichi said as he pounded a fist into his hand, "It's on now!"
"You want us to help kick this weird dream thing in the ass?" Harold offered.
"You can conjure up whatever you're going to need once we're in the dream world," Inoichi explained, "So don't be afraid to go a little wild."
"Oh joy," Mebuki remarked in a dryly sarcastic tone, "There are going to be cans of lager littered all over the dreamscape by the time Harold and his friends are done."
That night at the Yamanaka clan-owned building, Inohime and Natsu had both gotten to sleep in separate beds in a room where the Dream Scanner was located. The women who had gathered in Inoichi and Michelle's living room earlier had gathered to watch as Inoichi, Harold, Tsume and Kuromaru (who was helped by Tsume before she took care of herself) put the helmets of the Dream Scanner on, put the helmet straps on under their chins so that the helmets don't fall off, and get the machine going.
"Remember, ladies," Inoichi said to Michelle and the other women, "You're going to have to be quiet. We can't go into a person's dream if they aren't asleep, and if we're in a person's dream as that person's woken up, we'll get thrusted out in a very violent manner."
"I already told the girls about everything they'll need to know," Michelle said to her husband, "You want I should turn on the machine for you?"
"If you would be so kind, dear," Inoichi replied.
As Michelle walked over to flip a switch to activate the Dream Scanner, Inoichi said to his friends, "Alright, boys! You ready?"
"Hell yeah!" Harold replied.
"Hell yeah!" Tsume declared.
"Hell no!" Kuromaru said.
After hearing the familiar 'click' of a switch on the machine being flipped, Inoichi exclaimed, "Here we go, boys! Hold on to your underwear!"
As various lights on the machine started turning on, Mebuki leaned to Sophia and whispered, "I can't believe that Inoichi's taking my brother and the rest of the idiot brigade with him into the dreamscape."
"You need to have more faith in Harold and the others," Sophia remarked.
After his vision returned to him, Harold saw that he was floating in a blank space of white. When he turned to his side, he saw Inoichi, Tsume and Kuromaru floating next to him. "Welcome to the dreamscape, dudes," Inoichi said to the others as he gestured around. Harold held up a hand and looked at it, as if he were concentrating.
"…How come I can't conjure up a can of Pape Konoha's Brand Lager like you said I could?" Harold asked.
"You first have to go into a dream before you can actually conjure something up," Inoichi explained, "Trust me, it sucks."
"So what the hell are those?" Tsume asked as she pointed ahead of the group. They could see the images of two beds with thought bubbles over them about ten feet or so away; there were a number of other such beds in the distance, but the two beds that were ten feet away held Inohime and Natsu respectively.
"Those are dreams that we can get into," Inoichi explained, "The closer a dream is to us, the closer the person having the dream is to us in real life."
"Let's try Inohime's dream first," Harold suggested.
Floating over to the representation of Inohime's dream, Inoichi said as he laid a hand on the thought bubble coming from the dream, "To enter a dream, lay your hand on the thought bubble part. Or lay a paw, in Kuromaru's case." Harold, Tsume and Kuromaru all floated over and laid one hand each (or a paw in Kuromaru's case) on the thought bubble. Before any of them knew it, they were sucked into the dream world of a four-year-old girl.
"Hoo boy, I bet this is going to go oh so well!" Tsume shouted in a dry monotone; the reason why she was shouting was because she was not expecting to be sucked into the dream so suddenly and roughly.
After his vision returned to him once again, Harold saw that he and his friends had landed in on a dirt road that was a light yellowish in color. There were healthy green hills around the place, and a hamlet could be seen over in the distance; a large, icy-blue castle could be seen in the center of the hamlet. "…Why does this dream world look like you can buy it at a store for nineteen-ninety-nine plus tax?" Harold remarked.
"A person's dreamscape is influence by their likes, wants and desires," Inoichi explained, "Hence why Elsa's ice castle is located in the center of Ponyville."
At that moment, a police cruiser pulled up next to Harold and company. The driver side door opened, and out of the police cruiser came Judy Hopps. Walking up to Harold and company, Judy said, "Okay folks, I'm going to need to see some ID from all of you."
"Of course, officer," Inoichi replied as he, Harold and Tsume all got some ID cards out and handed them to the bunny cop. After looking at the ID cards, Judy handed them back to their respective owners.
To Inoichi, Judy said, "Say, you look familiar."
"I do?" Inoichi asked, looking mildly confused.
"Yeah, yeah now I recognize you!" Judy said in a tone of realization, "You're Princess Yummycake's grandpa, aren't you?"
"Yummycake?" Tsume repeated in a confused tone.
"Inoichi's granddaughter must be dreaming that she's a princess," Harold said to Tsume.
To Inoichi, Judy said, "Some strange guy in a red and blue costume has been a real big meanie towards Princess Yummycake as of late. I don't suppose that you would care to lend a hand in catching this doo-doo head, would you?"
"What kind of a grandpa would I be if I said no?" Inoichi replied, "Lead the way, officer!"
"I can give you guys a ride to Ponyville in my police cruiser," Judy said as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder. With a quick, concerned-looking glance at Kuromaru, the bunny cop asked, "Is that dog with you three?"
"Yes, Kuromaru is with us," Tsume replied as she patted her ninja dog on the back.
"…Ehh, we'll figure out how to make this work," Judy replied with a shrug.
After a minute or so, Harold and company arrived in town, near the base of Elsa's castle. As everyone got out of the police cruiser, someone landed on the roof of it. Turning around, Harold and company saw that it was Spider-Man. "Wait, the guy in a red and blue costume is Spider-Man?!" Harold exclaimed.
"Get back here, meanie!" a young adult woman's voice shouted, followed by a flurry of icy magic flying at Spider-Man. As the web slinger dodged the attack, Queen Elsa came running out of her castle, throwing more of that ice magic at Spider-Man.
"What's with all of the childish insults?" Tsume asked.
"Uhh, we're in the dream of a four-year-old girl," Kuromaru pointed out.
"I have an idea!" Inoichi declared suddenly. Holding up both hands, Inoichi concentrated hard until a light blue cannon with pink wheels appeared in his hands. Aiming the cannon at Spider-Man, Inoichi mounted the cannon on his shoulder as if it were a rocket launcher, then pounded the cannon's side with his fist, causing it to fire at Spider-Man. When a blast of streamers and confetti hit Spider-Man, he was caught off guard and fell to the ground.
"Officer! Arrest that superhero!" Harold exclaimed Judy as he pointed at Spider-Man.
"Alright, doo-doo head," Judy as she walked up to Spider-Man, "You're under arrest for being a big old meanie-pants to the princess."
"Like hell I am!" Spider-Man shouted as he suddenly leapt up into the air and disappeared.
"You aren't supposed to say words like that!" Judy shouted at the space in the air where Spider-Man was, "Words like that are naughty!" After everything settled down, Judy turned to face Harold and company.
"A shame I couldn't catch that meanie and make him sit on the scary stool of you're in so much trouble," Judy said, "But he's gone now, and I doubt that he'll come back."
"Well our work here is done," Inoichi said as he dusted his hands off, "I'm afraid that my friends and I must be off now. Can you do me a favor and tell my granddaughter that I said hi?"
"Can do, sir," Judy said as she saluted Inoichi. With that, Harold and company floated up into the air and disappeared from the dream world.
Back in the dreamscape, Harold and company flew out of the thought bubble of Inohime's dream. "Well then, that was certainly something," Harold remarked as he dusted his hands off.
"There was so much girlishness and childish name-calling," Tsume said as she shuddered in disgust.
"Like I said, it was the dream world of a four-year-old girl," Kuromaru said to the Inuzuka matriarch, "What did you expect?"
Turning to face Natsu's dream in the dreamscape, Harold said, "Well then, let's take care of what's wrong in the dream world of Lord Sixth's kid, shall we?"
"Oh god," Tsume said in a tone of complaint, "As if entering the dream world of Inoichi's granddaughter was bad enough, now we have to go into the dream world of Lord Sixth's kid!"
"Oh come on, Tsume," Inoichi said, "How bad could it be?"
"CATS," Tsume stressed in disgust, "Cat everywhere. Cat this, cat that. Hiashi's granddaughter is not a normal human being."
"You also say that your ex-husband is not a normal human being, and yet you've been patching things up with him as of late," Kuromaru pointed out.
"Banyo may be insane but he still deserves to have contact with Kiba and the rest of the family!" Tsume said.
"Come on boys, let's not keep Lord Sixth's daughter waiting," Inoichi said as he led the rest of the group into Natsu's dream world.
After a few seconds, Harold and company landed in Natsu's dream world. As the older ninjas and Kuromaru found footing, Inoichi looked around as saw that they were in a forest. The trees were far enough apart from each other so that a horde of large animals could stampede through the forest without knocking into any of the trees. Additionally, the forest was nowhere near as bright and pastel-like as the hills and hamlet back in Inohime's dream. "Well, I'll give the girl points for not having a dream that actively tries to give me diabetes," Tsume remarked aloud.
"This forest…" Kuromaru remarked, "…It looks like a place where you can fight enemies in RPG-type video games."
"So what, we might get attack by, like, a goblin or something?" Harold asked.
"Or the Green Goblin," Inoichi remarked. As the rest of the group turned to face Inoichi, the Yamanaka patriarch said, "Think about it. Spider-Man harassed my granddaughter's dreams. Who else could it be that attacks Hiashi's granddaughter's dreams?"
"I think that you make an excellent-" Harold said, but he was cut off by a roar that sounded from the skies.
The group looked up into the sky, and to their shock they saw two dragons overhead. "Dragons?! Hiashi's granddaughter's dream world has frigg'en DRAGONS?!" Harold exclaimed, clearly alarmed and frightened.
"Wait…" Inoichi said as he squinted to look at the two dragons, "I think that black dragon is Toothless from those 'How to train your Dragon' cartoons. As for that blue one with the red wings, I'm totally lost."
"There, on the ground!" a voice called up from where the dragons were flying, "There are lost travelers! Salamence and Toothless, land!"
Looking down at Harold and company, the two dragons roared out as they slowly came down from the sky. The two dragons landed about fifteen feet away from the group; a rider got off of the blue dragon with red wings and approached Harold and company. To the group's confusion (and Tsume's mild annoyance), the rider of the dragon was an anthropomorphic cat wearing blue samurai armor.
The older ninja also noticed that the samurai cat had two tails, each with a small yellow flame-like symbol at the end. "…Is that a cat with two tails?" Harold asked in confusion.
"The proper term is nekomata," Kuromaru replied, "Although I had no idea that nekomata could be samurai."
"Greeting travelers," the samurai nekomata greeted, "Have you become lost in the woods? I am on patrol right now, and part of the job requires that I escort lost travelers I find in the forest back to town, assuming they want the help."
"…Who are you?" Harold asked as competently as he could; he was still partly reeling from the shock of a talking nekomata in samurai armor.
"Ah, apologizes for not introducing myself earlier," the samurai nekomata replied, "I am Shogunyan, the legendary yo-kai." Turning around to gesture to the two dragons, Shogunyan said, "The black dragon that is behind me is known as Toothless, whereas the blue dragon with red wings is known as Salamence." As the two dragons were introduced, they both roared out.
To Inoichi, Tsume whispered, "Okay, even with the cat, Hiashi's granddaughter's dream world is loads cooler than your granddaughter's dream world."
"Oh now you're just being mean," Inoichi whispered back.
Taking a step forward towards Shogunyan, Harold said, "Mighty and noble cat samurai dude, my friends and I do in fact seek escort to town. Will you help us?"
"Wait, we're letting him take us somewhere?!" Tsume asked.
"I figure that we'll find what we're looking for if we get to town," Harold explained.
"He's got a point," Inoichi agreed, and Kuromaru nodded along with the Yamanaka patriarch.
"Yeah, you got me there," Tsume replied.
Turning back around to face Shogunyan, Harold said, "My three companions and I will be glad to take you up on your offer for an escort to town."
After looking over the group, Shogunyan said, "It would take too long to get to town on foot, and Toothless and Salamence can only hold two passengers each."
"So one of us is going to have to huff it?" Inoichi asked.
Pulling an amulet with a large wolf fang charm out from the neck hole in his armor, Shogunyan said, "Worry not. I shall summon an ally whom can be used as a mount." Raising the wolf fang charm of the amulet up as high as he could, Shogunyan exclaimed as the fang began to glow, "Come to me, Fenrir! I summon you!" Within one second, the group could hear the pounding of paws belonging to an incredibly large mammalian entity. Five seconds after the sound started, a large wolf with multiple tails appeared within eyesight, making Harold and the others scream.
"Worry not," Shogunyan said to the humans, "Fenrir is a loyal servant of Daimyo Natsu. He shall not harm innocents such as you lot."
"Wait, Hiashi's granddaughter is a Daimyo in this dream world?" Harold whispered to Inoichi.
"Well my granddaughter was a princess in her dream world," Inoichi whispered back.
When Fenrir pulled up to the scene, Tsume looked at it and exclaimed, "Woah ho! I call dibs on riding the wolf!"
"Actually, I was aiming for Fenrir to serve as a mount for your group's canine," said Shogunyan, "I have some rope to tie the canine to Fenrir so it doesn't fall off during the ride."
Looking disappointed, Tsume said, "Oh alright."
After a short time spent traveling, Harold and company arrived in a large town where the buildings resembled traditional-looking Japanese architecture. (3) "So what sort of problem are you facing?" Harold asked as he and company got off of the dragons (Tsume went over to Fenrir to untie Kuromaru).
"A kumo-oni has been terrorizing the countryside as of late," Shogunyan explained. (4)
"Kumo-oni?" Inoichi repeated in a confused tone.
Nodding in the affirmative, Shogunyan continued, "Word has reached us as of late that the kumo-oni might have formed an alliance of sort with the troll who resides in a cave in the wilds west of town."
"Troll? What troll?" Kuromaru asked.
"A big, evil monster who has a vendetta against all cats for no apparent reason other than the fact that they're cats," Shogunyan explained, "The daimyo is rather frightened of the troll."
"Heh," Kuromaru snickered, "This troll of which you speak sounds rather familiar." Looking up at Tsume, Kuromaru said, "Don't you agree?"
"I don't like where this is going…" Tsume said in a suspicious tone.
"You want we should help kill the troll and beat up this kuro-oboe dude?" Harold asked.
"Kumo-oni," Shogunyan corrected, "And if you are willing to lend aid against the monsters, then we will be glad to accept it."
Sighing in a resigned tone, Kuromaru said, "I'm ready to be tied back down to the giant wolf's back whenever we're ready to head out."
And so, Harold and company, riding two dragons and a large wolf with multiple tails, ventured out to the caves that Shogunyan spoke of. When they got there, Shogunyan said as everyone dismounted, "The troll and the kumo-oni could be close. We must be cautious."
Looking at the opening of the cave, Harold whistled and said, "Boy, this sure looks like the entrance to the lair of a boss enemy in video games." Pointing to either side of the cave entrance, Harold said, "Look, you can even see piles of skulls on either side of the cave entrance." Walking up a few steps, Kuromaru stopped when he got close enough to identify what kind of skulls they were.
"…Those are cat skulls," Kuromaru said, "I've seen the cat biology poster in Hana's office enough times to know that." (5)
"Evidence of the troll's violent disposition towards the feline persuasion," Shogunyan declared as he stepped forward towards the cave, "Come, we must see if the kumo-oni and the troll are here."
As the group ventured into the cave, Harold said, "Hey, I've been meaning to ask. What does this troll guy look like?"
"The troll is actually female, if what I have heard is correct," Shogunyan explained, "The troll has-" The nekomata samurai was cut off when a loud shouting could be heard from a distance away. Peering in the direction the shouting came from, Harold and company saw the troll running up. As Shogunyan said, the troll was female; she had spiky, long brown hair and red facial markings that resembled fangs. She was also ten feet tall, had olive-green skin, wore dark brown clothing resembling that of a caveman, and a necklace that had the skulls of cats as charms.
"It's the evil troll!" Shogunyan exclaimed. Getting close enough, the troll stopped a few feet from the group and shouted angrily at them.
"…What the hell is this?" Tsume asked, clearly looking annoyed (and slightly pissed). It took all of the self-control that Kuromaru had for him to NOT start laughing his ass off; he was constantly snorting back laughter the instant the troll got close enough for the group to get a good look at it.
Pulling his sword out from its scabbard, Shogunyan exclaimed, "We must slay the evil troll!"
"Yes, yes, fight the troll," a familiar voice called out, getting Harold, Inoichi, Tsume and Kuromaru to turn to see that Spider-Man was leaning against the one side of the cave.
"Spider-Man!" Harold exclaimed as he pointed accusingly at the web-slinger.
"I'll bet that he's the same Spider-Man who attacked Inohime's dream world," Inoichi added as he joined Harold in standing in opposition to Spider-Man.
"Indeed I am," Spider-Man replied causally, "I figured that if I used Yamanaka clan mind devices that I stole, I could get the information I seek."
"You stole from my clan?!" Inoichi snapped, "You son of a-"
"Information? What information?" asked Kuromaru as he and the others paid no attention as Toothless and Salamence, who had just flown into the cave, flew past them to where Shogunyan was fighting the troll (presumably).
"If I couldn't get the information I seek in the real world, then I assumed I could find out using Yamanaka clan mind devices to get into people's heads and take the information that way," Spider-Man replied.
"That doesn't really answer Kuromaru's question, though," Harold replied, "What information are you seeking?"
Chuckling to himself, Spider-Man said, "What business do I have with talking to a guy who believes that some brand of lager is a gift from God?"
"Pape Konoha's Brand Lager IS a gift from God!" Harold snapped.
Conjuring up an RPG-7, Tsume aimed it at Spider-Man and said, "Okay boys, how do you want your web-slinger served up? Ludicrous gibs or not enough to bury?"
"Whichever one is the most fun," Inoichi replied, drawing a nod of agreement from Harold.
"Ludicrous gibs it is!" Tsume exclaimed as she took aim and fired at Spider-Man, only for him to leap into the air to dodge the attack.
"Well then, it seems that my time here should be cut short," Spider-Man said as he faded away, "Ta-ta for now, my worthy adversaries."
After Spider-Man was gone, Harold and the others stood where they were as they stared at the open air where the web-slinger used to float. "You banished the kumo-oni?!" Shogunyan said to the group as he walked up, "Huzza! We are victorious!"
"Wait, what about the troll?" Harold asked.
"Yeah," Tsume said in a suspicious and annoyed-sounding tone, "What about the troll?"
"Oh, Toothless and Salamence flew in and helped me slay the beast," Shogunyan explained, "So not only is the kumo-oni banished, but the troll has been slain!"
To Harold, Tsume and Kuromaru, Inoichi said, "Well now that we helped fix things here, we should get going." And with that, the three ninja and one ninja dog vanished.
Mildly startled, Shogunyan said, "Hey, where did you all go?"
After exiting Natsu's dream world, Harold and company were back in the white space. "So Spider-Man is responsible for Inoichi's granddaughter and Hiashi's granddaughter having messed up dreams?" Kuromaru asked.
"Hmph," Tsume said as she folded her arms, "That last dream world was totally messed up. Stupid troll."
"And he said that he sought information that he couldn't get in real life," Inoichi continued, "And that he wouldn't talk to Harold because of how much Harold loves Pape Konoha's…OH DAMN! I just figured out something!"
"What is it, dude?" Harold asked.
"We'll discuss it back in the real world," Inoichi explained, "Let's get back to reality!" After a few seconds of concentration, Harold and company all woke up from using the Dream Scanner. As Harold and company got themselves out, the women that were waiting in the room came up to them.
"So how did it go?" Michelle asked.
"The boys and I discovered that the reason why Inohime and Natsu have been having weird dreams is because someone stole Yamanaka clan mind devices to screw with their dreams," Inoichi replied, "The person responsible took the form of Spider-Man in the girls' dreams."
"Spider-Man?!" Mebuki said incredulously, "Are you serious?"
Nodding in the affirmative, Inoichi continued, "Additionally, due to what the boys and I heard Spider-Man say, I have a reasonable idea on who the real identity of the person is."
"I swear that if you say Peter Parker, I will kick your ass!" Mebuki swore at Inoichi.
"No, sis," Harold remarked, "It's not Peter Parker. Everyone knows that Peter Parker would never survive being in a land populated by dragons."
"The hell are you talking about?!" Mebuki replied, looking genuinely confused.
"That's not the point," Inoichi said as he pounded a fist into his hand, "The point is that someone was using the guise of Spider-Man to mess with the dreams of two innocent young girls, and that I know who the bastard is."
In a warehouse located somewhere in Konoha, people dressed as scientists were walking around a make-shift lab that had some fancy machinery. One such machine looked like one of the Yamanaka clan's mind devices, which was currently being used by someone. As some of the scientists were looking at a monitor screen to record some numbers, a door was busted down, startling the scientists; immediately after the door fell down, over twenty or so Konoha shinobi, mostly jonin, swarmed into the lab.
The Konoha shinobi that lead the group that had swarmed into the warehouse, Sasuke Uchiha, was shouting at the scientists to get down and not resist arrest; this startled the scientist that was using the mind device, making him remove the helmet that he was wearing that was attached to the machine, thus revealing him to be Katasuke, the morally-questionable head of Konoha's 'boys from development'. "What reason do you have for interrupting our research?!" Katasuke shouted at the Konoha shinobi.
"The boys and I would be the reason," Inoichi said as he, Harold, Tsume and Kuromaru stepped forward. Pointing to the mind device Katasuke was using, Inoichi said, "That there is Yamanaka clan property, you son of a bitch!"
"Seriously, you think that a bastard like Katasuke would be in jail after he took Tsume, her friends and I hostage and made prostitutes throw themselves at Harold and Inoichi, even though neither of them wanted it," Kuromaru remarked.
"I have VERY good lawyers," Katasuke replied casually and with a hint of smugness, "As the head scientist of a research company, having lawyers is a good idea."
"Let's see how good those lawyers of yours are once word gets out that you used property stolen from the Yamanaka clan to mess with two underage girls," Sasuke said as he forcefully put handcuffs on Katasuke and then forcefully dragged the scientist out of the warehouse.
As the other Konoha shinobi proceeded to round up the other scientists, Harold dusted his hands as he said to his friends, "Okay boys, looks like our job here is done."
"I wonder if Lord Sixth will let me punch Katasuke in the face," Inoichi remarked, "I mean, the bastard DID mess with one of my grandchildren. I want vengeance."
"Given that the other kid that was messed with is Lord Sixth's kid, you'll probably have to wait your turn to punch that scientist bastard in the face," Kuromaru said.
"Ah, you raise a good point," Inoichi commended.
END, CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Author's Notes:
(1) Given that it's Tsume, one couldn't be blamed for making such an assumption.
(2) And for good reason, too!
(3) I don't know how else to describe it.
(4) If what the internet told me is accurate, 'kumo-oni' roughly translate to 'spider demon'.
(5) Hana Inuzuka is a veterinarian, remember?
Well here's chapter twenty-five for you. I'm toying around with the idea of making Katasuke something of a recurring antagonist for Harold and company to face from time to time. I'm not quite sure what else the man can do, though...