Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any properties in this work that I did not make myself.

Harold of Konoha

Chapter thirty-six: When a cold case wasn't cold (AKA Just another Time Travel Episode)

Harold Fisher, one of Konoha's oldest active Jonin-ranked ninja, was casually hanging out at the favorite bar of him and his group of friends. Other ninja in Harold's age group, such as Inoichi Yamanaka, Tsume Inuzuka, Shikaku Nara and Choza Akimichi, were likewise all knocking back a cold one or two. Kuromaru, the talking Ninkin of the aforementioned Tsume, sat on the floor near where his owner sat at a table in the bar with the other older ninja.

"Hey guys, did you hear?" Shikaku began in a conversational tone.

Looking at the older Nara man with a curious look, Tsume asked, "Hear about what?"

"It's getting close to the thirtieth anniversary of the Downtown Konoha Murders," Shikaku replied. Giving Tsume, as well as Harold and Inoichi (1), a knowing look, Shikaku remarked, "Don't tell me you all don't have any idea what I'm talking about."

"I don't suppose you could refresh me and the others, my good man?" Choza asked, sounding mildly embarrassed because he didn't know what Shikaku was talking about.

"Yeah, I'm going to need a refresher here as well, Shikaku," Kuromaru said.

The older Nara man, with a mildly surprised look (2) on his face, said, "Well, umm, okay then." Before he began, Shikaku drained the rest of the lager in his glass. Setting the now empty lager glass back down on the table, Shikaku began to explain, "The DKMs, which is shorthand for the Downtown Konoha Murders, are a series of murders that took place in the downtown area of Konoha close to thirty years ago, back when all of our respective now-adult children were still just kids."

"Wait, I think I remember what you're talking about," Harold said, "Some dick-waffle was going around killing innocent civilian women, but the killer was never found, so the murders all ended up becoming cold cases." With a mildly curious look on his face, the Fisher patriarch added, "The murders still would have had a lot of attention from the village as a whole, but the Uchiha clan getting themselves all killed by some teen in their clan getting all pissy kind of distracted everyone to the point that the DKMs sort of fell into obscurity."

Nodding in agreement, Inoichi said, "Oh yeah. The Uchiha Clan Massacre occurred in the same general timeframe as the DKMs."

Picking up his glass of lager, Harold held it up to make a toast. "It's a damn shame that those murders took place at all, but we can't let the memory of those who died fade. Here's to them." Taking the cue from Harold, the other older ninja at the table, even Shikaku since he refilled his lager glass from a pitcher, made the toast with Harold. After the older ninja all proceeded to drink their respective lager glasses dry, two younger adult male Konoha shinobi, both at least chunnin rank since they wore flask jackets, entered the bar.

The pair walked up to the table where Harold and his party sat, then the first of the pair cleared his throat to get the attention of the older ninja. "Excuse me," the Konoha shinobi said, "But we are looking for Lord Naruto's adoptive father?"

"Yo," Inoichi replied as he stood up.

"Sir," the first shinobi began, "Your son is preparing to throw a memorial ceremony to honor the victims of the Downtown Konoha Murders from thirty years ago. Since you're old enough to reasonably remember what it was like back then, your son was hoping to ask you a bit about the murders, to gain some insight."

With a bit of a chuckle, Inoichi said, "Well all that my boy had to do was ask." Gesturing to everyone else at his table, Inoichi said, "Hey, you all want to come along?"

"My wife had a friend who was one of the victims of that killer who was never found," Choza remarked as he and the others all began standing up. The two Konoha shinobi, seeing that they had gotten more than they were expecting, decided that with everyone agreeing to come along, it was best to get things going, leading the whole group of older ninja out of the bar.

Over in Naruto's office at the Hokage office building, the party of older ninja all stood in front of Naruto's desk, at which Naruto himself was seating. "Well I was only actually expecting my dad, but having all of you is actually better," Naruto remarked, "Seeing as how I can get insight from multiple people."

"Yo Lord Sixth, I got a question," Harold began, "I know that the killer from the DKMs was never found, but was there any idea at all as to what said killer looked like?"

Sighing in a resigned tone, Naruto replied, "I was actually going over a file related to one of the murders from the DKMs." Picking up one of the files on his deck, Naruto opened it and pulled out a single sheet of paper. "…All that was gathered was that the suspect was fair-skinned," Naruto began as he read of a description, "They had long, straight black hair, black eyes, and a relatively slender body." Closing the file, Naruto laid it back down on his desk as he said, "That's all that was gathered."

Kuromaru, with a mildly curious look on his face, said, "That's it? No idea if the killer was a shinobi or not, or if the killer was male or female?"

Gently shaking his head, Naruto replied in a mildly resigned tone, "I'm afraid so. Of course, the murders did take place close to thirty years ago. Crime investigating technology and techniques have evolved overtime, but with Konoha's and Suna's ongoing efforts against Kumo in the Fifth Great Ninja War, Konoha can't really afford to divert time and resources to open up and look into solving cold cases." (3)

…

After the seniors all told Naruto a few stories from their respective perspectives about what they remember from the time of the DKMs, they took their leave from the Hokage office building, with Choza and Shikaku taking their leave to go home to their respective wives. This left Harold, Inoichi, Tsume and Kuromaru to talk about the talk they had with Naruto.

"Man, it sucks that we're getting close to thirty years on those murders, all of which have gone unsolved to this day," Harold remarked, "Why, if Konoha had the resources to-"

"Oh, there you are, Uncle Harold," an adult woman's voice called out, cutting Harold off midsentence and making him and his group all look over to the source of the call. As such, they all saw Harold's adult niece, Sakura Uchiha, come walking up to them, accompanied by her husband Sasuke and son Haru.

Gesturing to Harold, Sakura said, "Sasuke is going to hold a little ceremony in memory of his clan, who were wiped out close to thirty years ago," Sakura began to explain, "I don't suppose that you and Aunt Sophia would be interested in coming?"

Harold, with a confused look on his face, remarked, "Your husband's clan was killed off almost thirty years ago?"

"You do remember the Uchiha Clan Massacre, don't you Uncle Harold?" Sakura replied.

Smacking himself in the forehead, Harold said, "Oh yeah! Your husband is an Uchiha!" Gently shaking his head, Harold replied, "Lord Sixth has to do some sort of public thing to honor the victims of the Downtown Konoha Murders roughly around the same time. I'm kind of expected to go, so I'll have to check first to make sure things won't interfere with each other."

"Fair enough," Sasuke replied, "And given Naruto's position as the Hokage, he'd be swamped with trying to do every which thing trying to get ready for big public events here in Konoha." Gently shaking his head, Sasuke let out a sigh. "…It still sucks that most of my clan was killed back when I was seven." (4)

"Wait a minute," Tsume began, "Most of your clan?"

"Well obviously," Sasuke began, "I myself survived the massacre. So did my older brother Itachi, but there's an obvious reason for that." With another sigh, the Uchiha matriarch added, "I'm not too sure about my mother, given that she went missing the day before the massacre, but since she's been gone this long, I'm going to guess that she's long dead."

Placing a hand on Sasuke's left shoulder in a reassuring gesture, Harold said, "Young man, although you lost most of your family, keep in mind that you have regained a new family." Gesturing to Sakura and Haru, Harold said, "There is your wife and son. And seeing as how your wife is my niece, there is also me and my wife, as well as my little sister Mebuki and her husband Kizashi." Giving Sasuke's shoulder a pat, Harold said as he removed his hand, "So don't go thinking you're alone. Because you aren't."

In what many would consider a rare moment, Sasuke actually smiled. "…Thanks, Harold," the Uchiha man replied, "If you having to show at the thing for the DKMs won't interfere with your schedule, it's be great to have you at the ceremony for my clan." With that, Sasuke and his family took their leave, once again leaving Harold and his party alone. While they were alone, Harold turned to face Inoichi, Tsume and Kuromaru.

"…Dudes, I just had an idea about the DKMs," Harold began.

"What is it, dude?" Inoichi asked, a curious look on his face.

"I know how we can find out who did it!" Harold declared confidently.

Scoffing in a knowing tone, Kuromaru said, "Yeah right. The murders took place close to thirty years ago Harold, and with the lack of available resources to examine aged evidence, nothing short of-" The talking Ninkin, with a shocked look of realization appearing across his face, stopped short midsentence. "…Oh no," Kuromaru said as he looked up at Harold, "No, no, no, no, f*** no! We are NOT going to do that!"

"Do what?" Tsume asked, sounding mildly confused.

"I was going to suggest that we use the Well of Time to go back to when the DKMs were still very fresh," Harold began to explain, "Then use skills from our current time, which would be future skills back then, to track down the killer and bring him or her to justice!"

Sighing in a resigned tone, Kuromaru said, "Harold, as noble as it is for you to want to solve the DKMs, can't you do so without using that blasted magic well to time travel? You do realize all of the potential risks of using the Well of Time, especially considering that even with what you have in mind, you're very much likely to do more harm than good?"

Harold looked somewhat blankly at Kuromaru for a few seconds, not moving a muscle. After the short time passed, the Fisher patriarch shrugged indifferently before saying, "There's only one way to find out, really."

Gently shaking his head, Kuromaru muttered to himself, "Damn it."

(CLOSE TO THIRTY YEARS AGO OR SO)

Harold and company arrived back in the past after leaping out of the Well of Time. As per usual, Kuromaru was taking to acting as a guard at the Well of Time (mostly because he didn't want to go into past Konoha on the humans' stupid adventure). As Kuromaru laid down on the ground, he looked up when he heard the humans all use the transformation jitsu to disguise themselves so that they wouldn't be recognized.

Harold disguised himself as a (slightly shorter than average) fourteen-year-old boy with a somewhat stocky build, fair skin and dark brown curly hair. Harold's disguised form wore a salmon-colored t-shirt with a (relatively big) yellow star in the middle, cuffed blue jeans and a pair of men's sandals roughly the same color as the shirt.

Tsume disguised herself as a tall, somewhat older man who looked to be roughly seventy. Tsume's disguised form had a dim ashy complexion to the skin, and spiky grayish hair (along with a unibrow, for some odd reason). As for the outfit, Tsume's disguised form wore a blueish shirt under a white lab coat, brown pants held up with a belt, and brown shoes.

Inoichi disguised himself as a tiny and petite fourteen-year-old girl with roughly the same skin tone as the disguised Harold. Inoichi's disguised form had hot pink curly hair with blue highlights, and he wore a pair of corrective glasses that had a pixilated look, a black shirt with pixel patterns on the sleeves, a purplish skirt with blue ruffles underneath, light blue socks and a pair of purplish shoes. (5)

"Okay, this is the plan," Harold began as he talked to his friends, "With our transformations, we can go in with Inoichi and I disguised as twin fourteen-year-olds and Tsume disguised as our grandfather. We look around Konoha for clues concerning the killer behind the DKMs, as well as keeping an eye out for anyone that matches the description that the boys back in our time were able to gather on the prick. Any questions?"

Both Inoichi and Tsume gently shook their heads, showing that they both perfectly understood their current plan. With a mildly confused look, Kuromaru spoke up. "Uhh, why did Tsume transform into an old man and Inoichi into a fourteen-year-old girl?" the talking Ninkin asked, wondering why it wasn't the other way around.

"To keep people guessing if it comes down to it," the Fisher patriarch replied when he turned around to face Kuromaru. Turning back around to face his friends, Harold said, "Anyway, we got us a mission to carry out, gentlemen!"

"Go team!" Inoichi cheered as he pumped a fist into the air.

The disguised seniors from the future were walking around the Konoha of thirty years or so in the past (to them, at least), taking in all of the sights. They decided to act as tourists, and given that a lot of what they were seeing was nothing that any of them were used to, acting amazed by all that they saw was not a difficult task for them. As they walked, the disguised seniors from the future spotted a newspaper stand. They walked over to it, and Inoichi picked up a copy of the local newspaper, which was dated for the current day.

Showing the paper's front cover to his friends, Inoichi said somewhat quietly, "Take a look at this. The sick f*** behind the DKMs has only claimed two so far. We're right in the freshest time to stop things in their tracks before they get out of hand."

"Then let's look around and try and keep an eye out for someone matching the description that we got," Harold remarked as Inoichi sat the newspaper he picked up back down before the three of them took off. As the disguised seniors looked around, they spotted three women talking to each other. Two of the women from that group were Sophia and Michelle, who are the respective wives of Harold and Inoichi. The third woman, however, was not someone any of the seniors were familiar with.

This third woman was fair-skinned, and had long, straight black hair, black eyes, and a relatively slender body. As they saw the three women talking amongst themselves, Harold and his friends took pause as they observed the third woman of the group. "…Dudes," Harold whispered to his friends, "That chick talking to the past versions of me and Inoichi's respective wives matches the description we got on the killer behind the DKMs."

"You don't think…" Tsume whispered to the guys as, over where the three women were talking, Sophia and Michelle took off, leaving the third woman be. Seeing that the woman who matched the description that they had was now alone, Harold and his friends would be able to act on their plan. With Tsume ducking into an alleyway, Harold and Inoichi ran up to the woman and got her attention. When they got close enough, they got a better look at her.

The woman, in addition to matching what little description they had, wore a long-sleeved dark purple blouse and a reddish-colored skirt that reached just a little down past her knees; not that most passerby would be able to tell, given that she was also currently wearing a tannish-colored apron over her outfit. To round off what she was wearing, the woman wore a pair of shinobi sandals. Odd, considering that she didn't look like much of a ninja; does she have a relative who is a ninja, or was she herself once a ninja but retired from active duty for some reason?

Looking down to the two young teens who had just come running up to her, the woman asked, "Can I help you two with something?"

"Me and my twin sister's grandfather has a rather nasty injury that made him fall over onto the ground in an alleyway," Harold began as he began to work with the cover that his and his friends' disguised afforded them, "We're really worried about him, but we don't think we can move him without making things worse. Can you help us?"

"Your grandfather is hurt?" the woman remarked, "Oh dear that sounds terrible! Lead the way, kids." With the woman following them, the disguised Harold and Inoichi led them into the very alleyway where the disguised Tsume was lying in wait.

When everyone got there, the disguised Tsume was sitting on the ground, clutching her right shin which looked to be bleeding from a gash (there was no gash, and the 'blood' was actually just some ketchup that Tsume came across). "F***! F***! F***!" the disguised Tsume exclaimed as if she was in pain, "This f***ing gash is a f***ing pain in my f***ing ass!"

"Don't worry, sir," the woman said as she approached the disguised Tsume, "Your grandchildren here got my attention and brought me here so that I-" The woman was cut off when something hit her really hard in the back of her head; not hard enough to be fatal, but enough so that she'd be knocked out. Indeed, just before going unconscious, the woman said in a mildly dazed tone, "Shogi, anyone?" After the knocked out woman fell over, the disguised seniors from the future proceeded to covertly take their hostage out of Konoha. (6)

…

In a village-town on the outskirts of the Land of Fire, the woman was slowly starting to come to in a hotel room. She was fully awakened when Harold, who had transformed into a version of himself that looked current for the time he was in, splashed the woman with a bucket of water. When she woke up, the woman saw Harold, as well as Inoichi and Tsume, both of which disguised themselves as versions of themselves that was current for the time that they were in.

The woman, upon realizing that she had been kidnapped, tried to struggle, but immediately saw that she had been tied to a chair. Looking up at her captors, the woman said with a noticeable hint of bitterness in her tone, "So, Konoha had caught on, although I never would have suspected that Lord Third would send the three of you to deal with things."

"Wow, I didn't know that the killer behind the Downtown Konoha Murders knew who the three of us were," Tsume said as she turned to face the guys.

The woman, upon hearing what Tsume said, had a look of confusion on her face. "..Downtown Konoha Murders?" the woman began, "What are you on about, Tsume?"

"Oh, don't go giving the boys and I that bulls***," Tsume remarked, "We know full well that you are the person behind the Downtown Konoha Murders! You match the description right down to the letter!" With a hint of wry amusement entering her expression, the Inuzuka matriarch added, "Although to be honest, I was expecting the killer to be a dude. Wait until the boys and I tell everyone that the killer behind the DKMs is a chick!" Tsume then let out a bark of laughter as Harold and Inoichi looked at the woman that was held captive.

"I…have heard about the Downtown Konoha Murders, yes," the woman began with more than a hint of confusion in her tone, "But I certainly did not commit any of them. I was busy helping my clansmen with something important."

The three disguised seniors from the future (remember, they're all currently disguised as their respective past selves to look like they belong in the current time) all gave the captive woman confused looks. "Clansmen?" Inoichi repeated, "You mean to tell us that the killer behind the DKMs belongs to one of Konoha's ninja clans?"

"I am not the killer behind those murders, Inoichi," the woman said firmly, "Besides, I'm too rusty since I retired from active duty so that I could focus on raising Itachi and Sasuke. I highly doubt that I'd be much of a serial killer."

The confused looks on the faces of Harold and his friends became even more confused. "Wait a minute," Harold began, "You have a kid named Sasuke? Just who are you?"

Sighing in an exasperated tone, the woman said, "It's me, Mikoto Uchiha." Giving Harold and company an exasperated look, Mikoto continued, "What the hell made you three think that I was the serial killer behind the Downtown Konoha Murders?"

"You…matched the description that we had on the killer," Harold replied a bit hesitantly, sounding mildly worried that he might have screwed something up big time. (7)

Giving her best deadpan look, Mikoto replied, "My look isn't exactly that uncommon a look for women in and around Konoha, Harold." Sighing, Mikoto continued, "Anyway, if you, Inoichi and Tsume are done interrogating me, I'd like to get back home now. I bet that Fugaku, Itachi and Sasuke are all worried sick about me. I also said that I'd make Sasuke's favorite for tonight's dinner since he came home from the academy with top marks in all of his subjects."

"Umm…that might be a bit difficult, Mikoto," Tsume remarked a bit hesitantly, "Seeing as that not only are we all in a hotel in a village-town on the outskirts of the Land of Fire, but it's been three days since the boys and I knocked you out."

Her eyes widening out of (angry) shock, Mikoto said, "…What?"

Kuromaru, who was also in the room since he was picked up when the team left Konoha, was laying on the floor on the side of one of the beds in the room; he was not in view while he was laying on the floor. Kuromaru, who didn't need to be disguised since he still looked youthful enough to pass for the current day version of himself from that time, hopped up onto the bed so that he was in view now. "Oh, good going, you dumbasses," the talking Ninkin snapped, "You three grabbed the wrong person!"

With a sheepish shrug of his shoulders, Harold replied, "Oh, come on, Kuromaru. It could have been worse." (8)

…

Since it was around nine or so in the morning shortly after Harold and company had finished interrogating Mikoto, the four humans and one Ninkin decided to head into the restaurant area of the hotel they were at to get something to eat. "I hope that things over in the village won't be too far out of whack when we get back there," Mikoto remarked after taking a sip from her glass of tea. Setting the glass down, the Uchiha matriarch continued, "Although I bet that Fugaku would be able to fix things if given the chance. After all, my husband is the leader of the Uchiha clan, one of the village's four noble clans."

"Four noble clans?" Tsume repeated in a confused tone, "The f*** does that mean?"

"They're the clans that are considered to be the biggest and most important ones over in Konoha," Kuromaru explained to his owner, "Including the Uchiha, there's also the Hyuga, Aburame and Akimichi clans. Each one of those four, on their own, have a lot more influence than non-noble clans such as our Inuzuka clan or Inoichi's Yamanaka clan." Giving Tsume a dry monotone look, the talking Ninkin continued, "This is a basic lesson of clan politics in Konoha, Tsume. I'm surprised that you don't bother to-"

Kuromaru was cut off when a waitress working in the restaurant area of the hotel came over to the table. "Excuse the intrusion," the waitress began, "But are guys from Konohagakure?"

"We're all ninjas from Konoha, yes," Harold replied, "Why do you ask?"

The waitress, with a mildly unsure look on her face, replied, "Are the rumors about Konoha's Uchiha clan getting completely massacred true?"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Mikoto began as she stood up from where she sat next to Tsume. Looking the waitress straight in the eyes, Mikoto said with a serious look on her face, "What do you mean by 'Uchiha clan getting completely massacred'?"

"Yeah, I'm going to have to be filled in here, too," Tsume remarked to the waitress, with both Harold and Inoichi nodding in agreement with Tsume. Kuromaru, with a dawning look of realization on his canine face, looked as if he just remembered something really big.

The waitress, mildly squirming in place where she stood while rubbing the side of her left arm with her right hand, said, "I heard that a few nights ago, the entirety of the Uchiha clan was slaughtered in the middle of the night by a lone member from among their ranks. I also heard a rumor about the massacre that a lone Uchiha child had been spared by his or her clansman that killed the rest of the Uchiha, but I don't know if that rumor is true or not."

As he was scratching the back of his head in a manner that showed some degree of confusion, Inoichi said, "Are…you sure that really happened over in Konoha?"

While Inoichi and the others at the table talked to the waitress, the manager of the restaurant area came walking over. "Is there a problem, folks?" the manager asked Harold's party.

"Yeah, this girl here said that the entirety of the Uchiha clan over in Konoha was slaughtered in the middle of the night a few nights ago," Harold explained, "My group here and I have been out of the village for the past couple of days, so we have no idea about what's going on at home."

"Oh, you're talking about the Uchiha Clan massacre," the manager remarked, "Yeah that did totally happen for real. I even have a copy of the local newspaper from the day that reported on the massacre. I can go get it for you guys if you want." Harold and his friends all nodded in agreement, saying that they would like to take a look at the paper. Kuromaru, who unlike the humans he hangs with, did not need such a reminder. And Mikoto had a shell-shocked look of horror on her face.

A few hours later, Harold and his group left the village-town they were in, leaving Mikoto behind because she said, with a hint of somberness in her tone and expression, that there was no point in her returning to Konoha. That response from the Uchiha matriarch elicited a sincere apology from Kuromaru. Taking the cue from the talking Ninkin, Harold and his friends also all apologized to Mikoto. Even so, when the group got to where the Well of Time was, the only one who still felt guilty over Mikoto's plight was Kuromaru; the humans all forgot who Mikoto even was about halfway to the Well.

"Well this sucks," Harold said, "Even after all of the stuff we did, we STILL failed to catch the killer behind the DKMs." With a shrug, Harold said, "When we get back to our time, we ought to look more into the killings before coming back to try again."

"Maybe we'll find some new piece of evidence that will lead us to figuring out who the killer is," Inoichi remarked as he and the other humans all undid their current transformation jitsus, making them all look like how they usually look.

Nodding in agreement with Inoichi, Tsume said as she wrote something on a scrap of paper, "It's worth a shot, dude." Tsume then took the scrap of paper she was writing on, crumpled it up, and then tossed it into the Well of Time. After that, Tsume and the rest of the group all jumped into the Well of Time themselves, allowing them to return to their current time.

…

(PRESENT DAY)

The group all jumped out of the Well of Time in their current time, with Kuromaru landing gracefully on all fours while Harold, Inoichi and Tsume all smacked into the soft, grassy ground face-first. As the humans all got up, Harold said as he removed a blade of grass from his nose, "Well guys, we're back in our time."

"Let's take a fresh crack at the cold case of the DKMs," Inoichi remarked as he and the rest of the group all proceeded to make their way to the village.

When Harold and his party all arrived in Konoha, they saw that it was more populated than they remembered. However, all of the new people in Konoha looked like they were refugees from a disaster area. As the three seniors and Kuromaru all looked around in shocked confusion, they all heard a familiar female voice call out. The group all turned in the appropriate direction and they saw Inoichi's adult daughter Ino come running up to them.

"Ino, sweetie, mind filling me and my friends in on what the hell is going on here?" Inoichi asked.

"There was a moderate earthquake over in a village-town on the outskirts of the Land of Fire," Ino said as she began to explain, "There was sadly a fair number of fatalities, and due to the damage over in the village-town, it's currently uninhabitable, although Konoha is currently working to clear things up over in the village-town. From what I heard from Naruto, both Suna and Iwa are both going to send men over to assist with the relief effort."

"There was an earthquake?!" Harold and his group all exclaimed in unison.

Nodding somberly in the affirmative, Ino said, "Yeah. The earthquake is also why you guys are seeing so many refugees here in the streets of Konoha. The ones that you see here are the ones who aren't hurt or otherwise in need of medical attention, but I can't really say the same for the situation over at Konoha General." Putting her hands on her hips, the Yamanaka/Nara woman added, "I can't say that I envy Sakura right now, seeing as how I'm currently part of the team that's keeping an eye on the refugees on a street level and Sakura is on doctor duty."

After considering what Ino had said for a few moments, Harold said, "Thanks, Ino. Anyway, the boys here and I are going to go check on Sakura. Keep holding down the fort, alright?" The three seniors and Kuromaru took their leave to go to Konoha General, leaving Ino behind.

…

When they got to Konoha General, Harold and his party immediately asked for Sakura, and were led by a nurse to a room that Sakura was treating a patient in. When Harold and the others all entered the room, they saw Sakura using Mystical Palm on the side of a woman's head as the woman herself was sitting upright on the side of a hospital bed. The woman was a senior, but one around the same age as Harold and his friends.

Her fair skin showed some wrinkles here and there, and her long, straight black hair had a few streaks of light gray. But her black eyes still had a good spark of life behind them, and her relatively slender body showed that she bothered to take care of herself. But what really stuck out about the woman, at least to Harold and his group, was her outfit, which consisted of a long-sleeved dark purple blouse, a reddish-colored skirt that reached just a little down past her knees, a tannish-colored apron over her blouse and skirt and a pair of shinobi sandals.

"Yo, Cherry bug!" Harold called out, getting Sakura to look up and away from her patient and see that the seniors and Kuromaru were standing there.

Sighing in a mildly annoyed tone, Sakura said, "Uncle Harold, now is not the time. I'm treating an older woman who was hurt in the earthquake over in that village-town on the outskirts of the Land of Fire."

"Yeah, we heard that you were swamped here because of the earthquake, so we decided to swing by to check up on you," Inoichi explained as he and the others entered the room.

Sakura was about to say something, but she was cut off when the older woman she was treating spoke up. Pointing to Harold and company, the older woman said, "You three! You're the ones who thought that I was the serial killer behind the Downtown Konoha Murders around thirty years ago! You took me out of Konoha to interrogate me about it!"

As she tried to get the older woman to calm down, Sakura said, "Ma'am, you probably hit your head in the earthquake, so please try to calm down."

"Actually, Sakura," Tsume said, her memory having been sparked by the older woman's outburst, "That woman's right. About thirty years ago, when the boys and I were looking into the DKMs back when they were still fresh, the boys and I saw that woman, realized she matched the description that Konoha had on the killer, then took her out of Konoha and over to the village-town to interrogate her. When it turned out that she wasn't the killer behind the DKMs, we sort of just left her in the village-town." With a bit of a sheepish chuckle, Tsume added, "I guess that the boys and I sort of dropped the ball on that one, huh?"

Sighing in a resigned tone, Sakura said, "That was around thirty years ago, so I can't really chide you guys over things from so long ago." With a look of remembrance on her face, Sakura added, "Oh, in case you guys are interested, the killer behind the DKMs was finally found. A detective shinobi who was working on the case in her spare time was able to figure out the identity of the person behind the killings, so she tracked down the person responsible, captured him, brought him over to the station for questioning, and got him booked." With a satisfied smile, Sakura said, "And on the thirtieth anniversary of the killings, no less. Talk about a story for the tabloids." (9)

"Woot! The killer behind the DKMs was brought to justice!" Harold exclaimed as he and the rest of his group all cheered. When the cheering was done, Harold turned to the older woman who was being treated by Sakura. "Sorry again about what the boys and I did while investigating the case thirty years ago," the Fisher patriarch said to the older woman.

With a resigned sigh, the older woman said, "At least I'm alive, Harold. Because of what you and your team did, I was able to escape the slaughter that wiped out the rest of my clan."

"Slaughter that wiped out the rest of your clan?" Sakura repeated in a tone that showed her interest was mildly piqued.

Sighing in a somber tone, the older woman said, "Shortly after I woke up in the village-town where Harold, Inoichi, Tsume and Kuromaru brought me to, we learned that the Uchiha Clan was massacred while we were all out of the village." Turning to face Sakura, the older woman said, "I don't think I've properly introduced myself to you, young lady. My name is Mikoto Uchiha, and as far as I am aware, I am the last of my clan." After the older woman, who turned out to be Mikoto, finished her piece, everyone else in the room cried out in shocked surprise.

"Dude! You're Mikoto?!" Tsume exclaimed as she pointed to the old Uchiha matriarch, "Holy crap, you look like you've been soaking in a Jacuzzi for way to damn long!"

Giving Tsume, who was laughing at her own joke, an annoyed monotone look, Mikoto replied, "You and I are roughly the same age, Tsume."

"Wait a minute, ma'am," Sakura said to Mikoto, "You're an Uchiha?" After Mikoto nodded in the affirmative to Sakura, the pink-haired woman said, "I an Uchiha as well."

Upon hearing what Sakura had said, Mikoto looked surprised. "You have got to be kidding me," the old Uchiha matriarch said, sounding like she didn't believe Sakura.

"Oh, my niece is actually telling the truth," Harold began, getting Mikoto to turn and face him, "She married some guy named Sasuke, so although it's not by blood, Sakura is technically an Uchiha nonetheless. You can take that to-" Harold was cut off midsentence when Mikoto, with a surprising burst of energy, leapt off of the hospital bed she was sitting on, ran up to Harold, and grabbed him by his shirt collar with both hands.

"Are you seriously telling me that my son is still alive?!" Mikoto nearly exclaimed, looking like she was going to cry at the drop of a hat at any moment.

Harold, who had a mildly freaked-out expression due to Mikoto's actions, said, "Your son?! The hell are you talking about?"

"Sasuke is my son, Harold," the older Uchiha matriarch explained as tears began to roll down the sides of her face, "I've spent the past thirty years thinking that he was killed along with the rest of my clan!" (10) Letting go of Harold's shirt collar, Mikoto said, "And now I'm being told, after all of this time, that one of my sons is still alive to this day…" Mikoto shuddered a little bit as she began to softly cry.

Harold and his friends watched as Mikoto gently cried. As for Sakura, she walked up to Mikoto and gently laid a hand on her left shoulder from behind, getting her to turn around to face her. "…You know, Mrs. Uchiha," Sakura began in a soft tone, "I bet that Sasuke and Haru will both be thrilled to meet you. I can look into getting you cleared as soon as possible."

"Who's Haru?" Mikoto asked, a hint of confusion appearing in her otherwise crying expression.

"He's Sakura and Sasuke's kid," Kuromaru explained, "Which I guess would make Haru your grandson, Mikoto." After Kuromaru finished his bit, Mikoto went wide-eyed with shock, the shock she was feeling being enough to drown out her sadness.

The following evening, Harold and his wife Sophia were over at Sasuke and Sakura's place. Meeting the Fisher couple there was Harold's younger sister Mebuki and Mibuki's husband Kizashi. Already at the house was Sasuke and Sakura, along with their son Haru. Finally rounding off the people that were at the Uchiha residence was Mikoto, who had been cleared by Konoha General for discharge earlier that morning. The entirety of the family were seated at the table, eating dinner that was composed of dishes that everyone had brought over. The reason for such a family gathering was that they were celebrating the return of Sasuke's long-lost mother Mikoto, who was thought to have been dead after all of this time.

"Wow, Mikoto," Sophia remarked, "It's still pretty amazing that you're still alive after all of this time. I heard that you were declared legally dead a while ago."

Nodding in understanding, Mikoto said, "Yes, but from what Sasuke has told me, the current Hokage is having a legal team work to fix that."

"So, you're my dad's mom," Haru began as he spoke to Mikoto, "Just like how Grandma Mebuki is my mom's mom."

"Yes, Haru," Mikoto replied, a hint of amusement in her tone, "Your father is my son. It's too bad that I wasn't around to see him grow up."

Shrinking a bit out of embarrassment, Sasuke said, "Umm, I don't think you missed as much as you're probably thinking, mom." (11)

Picking up her glass, Sophia said, "Look on the bright side, Mikoto. Now that you're back in Konoha, you get to see Haru grow up. He's still young, so you'll be able to see him clear various life goals as he grows into a respectable young man."

"Yes, you do have a point, Sophia," Mikoto remarked as she nodded in acknowledgement to the Fisher matriarch. With a look of concern on her face, Mikoto turned to face Sasuke. "Umm, on the subject of raising-"

"I'm not going to go the total hard-ass route like dad did with me and Itachi," Sasuke said.

Sighing in relief, Mikoto said, "Okay, good."

END, CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Author's notes;

1. Can you really blame Shikaku for eyeing these three specifically?

2. He was not counting on having to remind the non-idiots in the group.

3. New things can come up overtime, but an ongoing war would be a pretty damn good reason why using said new things isn't an option.

4. I looked it up and, from what I saw, seven is the most likely age for Sasuke back during the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

5. Inoichi's disguise references a story idea that I might do at some point. I made a few changes since Inoichi's disguise had to look human.

6. They emptied out a trash can they found in the alleyway, stuffed the woman into the trashcan, and then carried it out of Konoha.

7. Gee Harold, ya think?!

8. …You just like tempting fate, don't you?

9. Fun fact: The shinobi who found the killer behind the DKMs lost a grandfather to the killer. By finding the killer, the shinobi got closure.

10. The village-town doesn't get a lot of news on the national to international level, so Mikoto never learned what Sasuke did. She also never learned what Itachi did, either.

11. At that moment, Sasuke, who was thinking about his time as a rouge ninja, wondered if his mom was still able to ground him.

Well now, this has certainly shaken up a few things for this story's narrative. But then again, with the shenanigans that Harold and his friends get up to whenever they use the Well of Time, it's more or less a guarantee that something will be shaken up. But that'll be another story for another time. Anyway, the next chapter will see more exploits out of Harold and company. There will also be a few scenes that will connect 'Harold Fisher: Legend of Konoha' to a much larger overall narrative.