Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any properties in this work that I did not make myself.
Harold of Konoha
Chapter forty-two: Of mages and ninjas part two- Harold and the lads make some new friends from out of town (AKA These two aren't the only ones that are being Canon Welded) (1)
Naruto was sitting at his desk in his office in the Hokage office building one well enough early afternoon in Konohakagure, Land of Fire. An early twenties secretary woman was holding some forms in her arms, one of which she handed to Naruto for him to sign. "This is the budget review, which has already been checked," the secretary said, "All that it needs now is for you to sign it so it'll be approved."
After he gave the review a quick look over, Naruto determined that it was okay, then signed on the form where he had to. After he signed that form, Naruto sat it to the side and turned to regard the secretary. "Is there anything else that I ought to know?" Naruto asked, sounding a bit drained and longing to go home.
"A few notes of business, actually," the secretary said as she skimmed through some of the papers that she held, "Firstly, Konoha's investigation into Kumo having infiltrated the Land of Soda has uncovered fourteen members of the Land of Soda's political party were secretly murdered and replaced with Kumo shinobi using transformation jitsu to disguise themselves. There was also one sleeper agent, and three actual Land of Soda residents turned out to have defected to Kumo and was supplying them info." (2)
Naruto sighed in a resigned tone, shocked to have learned that Kumogakure had gone as far as they have done. A good thing for the Konoha-Suna-Iwa alliance that Konoha shinobi were in the middle of rooting out any and all Kumo taint in the Land of Soda. Despite not having a standing shinobi force, the Land of Soda was still an important allied land to Konoha and its allies in the war, so having the Land of Soda weakened from within by Kumo would still be rather bad.
"Anything else?" Naruto asked dryly, very clearly sounding like he just wanted to go home for the day.
"This is something that you'd probably consider a personal matter," the secretary began, "But from what I've gathered from Tenten, who runs classes over at the dance workout studio that your adoptive father opened up with his friends, your wife Miss Hinata has made a little bit of progress in her efforts to slim down. I don't have any word on your daughter Natsu's efforts, but if she's anything like her mother then I'm certain that she's also well on her way to slimming down as well."
Naruto nodded once in acknowledgement of what his secretary was talking about; Naruto's wife Hinata has, for the longest time, been rather obese, more so then Tenten at her peek. And Natsu, due to genetics she inherited from Hinata, has struggled with the problem her whole life. As such, Naruto always had a bit of worry for their overall health. The jinchuriki Hokage was glad that his adoptive father, Inoichi Yamanaka, had opened up that dance workout studio with his friends, Harold Fisher and Tsume Inuzuka, plus Kuromaro who is the ninkin of Tsume.
As Naruto thought about this, his secretary said, "On the subject of Mr. Inoichi and his friends, they are here to see you, Lord Naruto."
Hearing that the idiot trio and Kuromaru were here to see him, Naruto said as he arched an eyebrow, "What do my dad and his friends want?"
"I'm not quite sure, but I think it may have something to do with the group of seven people from Magnolia Town, Fiore that they brought with them," the secretary replied, "Said group also has two cats, and the one girl in the group has a baby."
"…Just send them in," Naruto replied, not wanting to even question what those guys were doing with people from the Kingdom of Fiore. (3) After she gave Naruto a single nod, the secretary turned to leave his office, then returned a few seconds later with Harold and his party, leading a group of seven young adults, two cats that flew in on white feathery wings, and the short girl with the blue wavy hair was cradling a baby in her arms.
Holding up a hand in a gesture of greeting to Naruto, Harold said, "Word up with thee, Lord Hokage?" Jerking a thumb over his back to point out the group that he and his friends brought with them, Harold continued, "These guys are from Magnolia Town, Fiore. We saved them from a Kumo ambush on their carriage that was taking them here to Konoha anyway."
Nodding a few times in understanding, Naruto replied, "Yes, I heard of that attack from Sasuke. I also got a detailed report on the incident from Shikamaru and Shino." Looking over to the party from Magnolia Town, Naruto arched a wry eyebrow as he remarked, "But I wasn't expecting to hear that mages from Fiore were involved, nor did I ever expect to see any of them come here to see me." Gently shaking his head, Naruto remarked, "And here I thought that I already saw all of the crazy that life had to offer back in my late teens."
"We've seen more than our fair share of crazy," said the young woman that had long crimson hair and she wore armor, "Some of which is why my party and I are here in the Land of Fire." Gesturing to herself, the armored woman said, "But I believe introductions are in order. My name is Erza Scarlet."
Gesturing to the pink-haired guy, the guy with long black hair and metal studs in his face, the guy with medium-long dark hair, the blonde girl, the blue-haired girl in the light blue and white outfit, the blue-haired somewhat short girl with the baby, the blue cat and the black cat in that order, Erza said as she gestured to all of them, "And these are my companions Natsu Dragneel, Gajeel Redfox, Gray Fullbuster, Lucy Heartfilia, Juvia Lockseer, Levy McGarden holding her and Gajeel's infant son Galev, Happy and Pantherlily."
"That's quite a lot of people to meet all at once," Naruto remarked dryly. (4)
Erza gently shook her head in a 'what can you do' kind of gesture as she said, "Be that as it may, my companions and I are tired, and we would like to look into some accommodations while we're staying here in Konohagakure."
Nodding once in agreement, Naruto replied, "Yeah, that sounds fa-" Suddenly, Naruto stopped short, with a look of consideration on his face, as he turned to regard Natsu. "…Your name is Natsu Dragneel, right?" Naruto asked as he pointed to the Fire Dragon Slayer mage.
Natsu, with a confused look on his face, replied, "…Yeah. Why do you ask?"
Naruto got up from his desk, walked over to the filing cabinet next to the home gym workout machine he had set up in his office (5), opened the top drawer, skimmed through some files, and then said "Aha!" when he found the file he was looking for. Naruto took the file out from the cabinet, walked back over to his desk as he opened the folder and skimmed its contents, then said as he sat down, "I had a feeling that name was familiar." Looking up from the file that he was going over, Naruto said, "It says here that a Natsu Dragneel had passed the chunnin exams that my classmates and I had our first go at, and that he was promoted to chunnin as a result."
"Hang on a minute," Gray said, then continued when he turned to face Natsu, "When in the hell were you planning to tell the rest of us that you participated in a ninja promotion exam and not only passed but went up a rank?"
"Gray, I honestly have no idea what's going on here," Natsu replied honestly, sounding and looking very much dumbfounded. (6)
Looking at some details in the file, Naruto explained, "Well it says here that Natsu Dragneel was promoted to chunnin, and that the appearance details that we have in the file here for him matches up with what your friend here looks like." Closing the file, Naruto said as he looked to the Fire Dragon Slayer mage, "We'll look into getting you a Konoha flask jacket and a Konoha ninja headband before you and your party head back out."
Shrugging indifferently, Natsu said, "Sweet."
"Anyway, mah boi," Inoichi said to Naruto, "I was figuring that Harold, Tsume, Kuromaru and I could take the liberty of showing these cool dudes around Konoha, as well as help them settle in while they stay here."
"Whatever you think is best, dad," Naruto replied, allowing Inoichi and the others to show the party from Magnolia Town around Konoha. As such, the three seniors and Kuromaru ended up leading the party from Magnolia Town out of Naruto's office to go explore all that Konoha has to offer out-of-towners like them.
After they had gotten the approval from Naruto, Harold and company proceeded to show the party from Magnolia Town around the Konoha village proper. "You bros are totally going to like it here in Konoha," Tsume said as she, Harold, Inoichi and Kuromaru were escorting the mages around, "Believe you me, there are things going on over here in the Land of Fire that would make your heads spin."
Lucy shugged as she replied with a hint of knowing dryness in her tone, "Believe you me, it'll take quite a bit to surprise my friends and I."
The older Inuzuka matriarch scoffed in an amused tone, considering the words of the celestial spirit mage to be a challenge that she was willing to accept. "I think that we ought to look for a place where we can stay while we're here in Konoha," Juvia remarked to the group as a whole, "I mean, it's better to locate an inn now so that we know where to go when we want to turn in for the night, then put it off when it gets late."
"Juvia's got a point, everyone," Gray said as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder to point out the water mage that's romantically obsessed with him, "We don't want to be running on fumes when we finally check in to a room at the local Oh what the hell is that supposed to be?"
Gray deviating midsentence like that caught everyone's attention, so they all followed the ice mage's line of sight until they all saw what he was looking at; it was a statue of Duke Everlue of all people. It showed the former mayoral candidate for Magnolia Town riding backwards on a bomb that's falling downwards, riding the bomb as if it were a horse or bull at a rodeo. Duke was also waiving a Stetson hat around, further highlighting the rodeo theme.
The party from Magnolia Town was an even mix of surprised and dumbfounded by the statue of Duke Everlue, and it was Lucy, who had something of a personal grudge against Duke who went up to the statue made and erected in his honor to read the little plaque that was affixed to the front of the stone block that the statue was put up on and bolted to. When she got close enough, the celestial spirit mage was able to read what the plaque said;
IN HONOR OF DUKE EVERLUE
HERO OF KONOHA
SHINE ON, YOU CRAZY COWBOY
"Oh yeah, the statue erected in honor of the brave sacrifice that Duke made for Konoha," Harold remarked when the others from Magnolia Town got closer to the statue to examine it. After they had heard what Harold had said, the Magnolia Town party all turned back around to face him and the others.
Lucy scoffed incredulously as she said, "Brave sacrifice? Please tell me that you're all joking." Gesturing to the statue of the man she had a personal grudge against, Lucy asked, "What the hell did he do that could qualify as a quote unquote 'brave sacrifice'?!"
"A while ago," Kuromaru began to explain, "After Duke had crash-landed here in the village after he had been chucked from somewhere from what I was able to tell, he joined up with Tsume and her friends here. At one point while we were hanging out together, a large troop of Kumo shinobi was trying to make its way here to Konoha. Using one of our village's flying ships, Tsume and the others flew over where the Kumo ninja were to drop a bomb on them."
"Unfortunately," Harold said in a somber tone as he continued the story, "The bomb latch door was stuck, so we couldn't drop it right away. Duke, wearing the Stetson hat that the lads here and I got for him, hopped onto the bomb as it sat over the bomb hatch door and hopped up and down on it. His efforts to force the bomb hatch door to open and drop the bomb were successful, but at the cost of Duke, who was still sitting on the bomb, to drop with it."
Inoichi gestured to the statue made in honor of Duke's memory. "…This is an image of how he went out like the hero to Konoha that he was," the older Yamanaka patriarch said, "Truly he was the greatest among us here in the village." Inoichi then held his right hand over his chest as a gesture of showing respect to the fallen; likewise, Harold and Tsume also copied this gesture as they joined Inoichi in paying respect to the fallen. (7)
The party from Magnolia Town turned back around to look at the statue of Duke Everlue again. They were surprised with a number of things, such as a man like Duke becoming a heroic figure to anyone anywhere, the fact that Duke was actually dead now, and the fact that Mirajane, while she's using the one transformation magic that was taught to her by the guild master, had one hell of a throwing arm if she could chuck Duke all the way here to Konoha while standing all the way over in Magnolia Town.
"We ought to look into putting Mirajane on the guild baseball team," Erza thought as she and her fellow Fairy Tail mages looked at the statue of Duke, "A throwing arm like that would otherwise go to waste, and that would be terrible."
As Harold and company continued to give a tour of Konoha to the party from Magnolia Town, Lucy stopped them when she saw and sub sequentially pointed out a pair of local children, one a slender-bodied raven-haired boy and the other a very plump blonde girl who was carrying an animal carrier in her hands. "Oh, those kids would be my grandnephew Haru and Inoichi's granddaughter Natsu," Harold explained as he gestured to the two kids, "They're something of an item, and the lads and I find it to be absolutely adorable. Ah, young love."
"No, I'm Natsu," the Fire Dragon Slayer mage said as he gestured to himself, then continued when he pointed to the young girl that was over a ways, "That girl over there can't be me."
"Salamander, multiple people can have the same damn name," Gajeel pointed out in a dry, somewhat exasperated tone as he gently shook his head.
After Harold had called out to them and called them over, Haru and Natsu came walking over to the older folks and the visitors from out of town. "Hey, Uncle Harold," the young Uchiha boy greeted in a friendly tone. With a mildly curious look on his face, Haru asked, "Say, who are all of your friends here?"
"Oh, these dudes come from Magnolia Town, located over in the Kingdom of Fiore," Harold said as he proceeded to explain things to the kids, "They'll be sticking around here in Konoha for the time being." Gesturing to Haru and Natsu, Harold asked, "What are you kids up to when we ran into the two of you?"
Jerking a thumb to his girlfriend, Haru explained, "Oh, Natsu was just taking her cat to the vet for a checkup, and I was going along with her."
"No, I'm perfectly healthy," Happy said, "Also, Natsu is a boy."
"Damn it, Happy," Pantherlily snapped as he turned to face his fellow exceed, "Did you not hear what Gajeel said earlier?!"
Both Haru and Natsu (Uzumaki) went a bit wide-eyed with surprise as they saw the two exceed talking to one another. "Those cats can talk!" Haru exclaimed as he pointed to where Happy and Pantherlily sat perched on Natsu (Dragneel)'s and Gajeel's shoulders respectively. Calming down a bit, the young Uchiha boy continued, "Say, Natsu's cat Pantherlily can also talk."
"No, Pantherlily is friends with Gajeel," Happy corrected.
"Oh for f***'s sake, Happy!" Pantherlily exclaimed, now thoroughly annoyed with the stupidity of his fellow exceed. Taking a calming breath, Pantherlily turned to look as the two child ninjas of Konoha and said, "I think we ought to make some introductions." The black-furred exceed took the next half minute or so to introduce himself and the rest of the party from Magnolia Town to Haru and Natsu (Uzumaki). Pantherlily's efforts paid off to a degree, and there was a bit of amused surprise to see that Natsu had the same name as the blonde girl and that Pantherlily had the same name as the blonde girl's cat.
"Is that good?" Pantherlily asked from where he sat on Gajeel left shoulder while looking around at everyone, "Are we all good?" Everyone confirmed that they had gotten everyone's names down, allowing the black-furred exceed to breathe a sigh of relief. Haru and Natsu (Uzumaki) then excused themselves as they still had to get Pantherlily (Natsu's cat) over to the vet for a checkup. The two child ninjas turned around and walked away.
Watching the young blonde girl's notably large and well-fed form walk away, Juvia remarked in a concerned tone, "Geez, I wasn't aware that the children here could get so big."
"Umm, yeah," Harold said as he and Inoichi both looked a bit guilty, "It's been…something of an issue she's had to deal with for a while." (8) Gently shaking his head, Harold continued, "At least she's going to the dance workout studio that the lads here and I have opened up. We got Tenten, a lady that we've had quite the success story with, running it for us."
"Well I for one am glad to see that you all are trying to help that girl get her health back on track," Erza remarked in a commending tone, "Good on you."
During the tour of Konoha, Harold and company took the party from Magnolia Town over to the local hotel. As it turned out, due to Natsu and his friends being attacked by Kumo ninja in a case that Konoha officials were investigating, the party from Magnolia Town was being put up in the hotel free of charge as they were key witnesses in the case. "Well wowee," remarked the Fire Dragon Slayer mage as he looked around the main reception room of the hotel, "This place is a lot fancier than the inn back over in Magnolia Town!"
"Oh yeah," Inoichi replied as he and his friends watched the party from Magnolia Town look around a bit, "We here in Konoha know how to treat our guests." Gesturing to Natsu and the others, Inoichi continued, "Well then, my friends and I will see you guys checked in for the night before we take our leave."
"We'll swing by in the morning to pick you guys up and continue the tour," Harold informed the group, "In the meanwhile, it is getting a bit late. You can get dinner in the complementary buffet that's open to guests of the hotel here."
Natsu, as he pumped a fist in the air, cheered, "Well alright! I haven't had anything to eat since before my friends and I left Magnolia Town to escape from the demon devil king!" (9)
Tsume, with a curious look on her face, said, "Hold up there a minute." With the whole of Natsu's group focused on her, the Inuzuka matriarch said, "You guys came here because you all were fleeing from the demon devil king?"
After Erza nodded twice in the affirmative, she explained, "No need to worry. There is no way that it could have left Fiore."
"That's fair," Tsume replied in an understanding manner, "And given that it's the reason why you guys all turned tail and ran away from your home kingdom, I can't really blame any of you." The three seniors and Kuromaru gave the Magnolia Town party their regards before turning around to leave, with well wishes and an assurance that they would be by in the morning at eight the next day to see them for more touring around the village.
…
Lucy fell over onto one of the beds in the hotel room provided to her and the other girls in her party; with the exception of Galev who was staying with Levy, all of the male party members were in the room next door to the room that the girls were in. "Woo! I am beat!" Lucy said as she let out a long sigh of relief, finally glad to get to rest.
"How long do you girls think we'll be in the Land of Fire?" Juvia asked in a tone of mild concern from where she sat in an armchair.
Looking up from one of her swords that she was sharpening with a whetstone, Erza replied, "Well the officials here still need to speak with us about the ambush we were in on the way here to the village, so I have no way of saying for sure." Using her requip magic to return both her sword and the whetstone to the pocket dimension that she stores all of her gear in, Erza went on, "But I suspect that it won't be very long. Hell, we may very well end up staying past the point where the officials need us if we still need to hide from the demon devil king."
"I just hope we can go home soon," Levy remarked as she sat in another armchair in the room while cradling Galev, who was cooing softly in a tone that very much suggested that he was about to fall right asleep. The girls all took a cue from the baby boy and went about getting ready to go to sleep themselves.
After the lights were turned off and the girls were all lying in their respective beds, Lucy was looking up at the ceiling in the hotel room after the lights were turned off, wondering just what would happen while she and her friends were staying in the Land of Fire.
…Nothing from too far out of left field, right? (10)
The following morning after everyone in the Magnolia Town party had woken up, got ready for the day and had breakfast in the dining hall of the hotel, Natsu and Happy felt like getting out for a bit of fresh air, figuring that there was still a good hour and a half before Harold and his friends came by to pick them up. It helped that, during the previous evening while the Magnolia Town party was having dinner, a pair of Konoha shinobi came up to them and gave to Natsu a Konoha flask jacket and a Konoha ninja headband; the Fire Dragon Slayer mage felt like showing off his new threads a bit.
"I've got to say, Natsu," Happy began as he sat perched on his friend's left shoulder, "You're looking pretty spiffy in your new ninja outfit."
"Aye, Happy-san," Natsu said in something of a notable 'ninja-esque' accent as he did a ninja hand sign; his scarf was also wrapped around his head to give him the look of wearing a ninja mask. "But we cannot afford to let our attention slip," Natsu went on, "We must be cautious. Nin-nin!"
"Aye! Nin-nin!" Happy replied as he did the same ninja hand sign as Natsu. While the Fire Dragon Slayer mage and the blue-furred exceed were being themselves, the two of them saw Natsu Uzumaki, who Natsu had taken to calling 'the other me', carrying the same pet carrier that she was the previous day. Curious about just what the very well-fed twelve-year-old girl was up to, Natsu and Happy decided to go up to her.
After he and Happy got her attention, Natsu gestured to her and said, "Well hey there, other me. What are you up to?"
Holding up her pet carrier, Natsu Uzumaki explained, "Oh, I was taking Pantherlily over to the pet salon in the village. I couldn't do so yesterday because by the time his checkup at the vet was finished, the pet salon had closed for the day."
"And I was looking forward to the grooming services that the very nice ladies at the pet salon are known for," a surprisingly sophisticated male voice called out from within the pet carrier.
Natsu, with a mildly bemused look on his face, crossed his arms as he said, "It still gets to me a bit that you and I have the same name, other me. Likewise, I'm also having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that your cat and Gajeel's cat have the same name as each other."
Shrugging, Natsu Uzumaki replied, "Well, things just happen like-"
*BAMPH*
*POOF*
The two Natsus were cut off when a bunch of white smoke from ninja smoke pellets blew up around them, covering the whole of the area in sight-obscuring smoke. Some yelling from the two Natsus, their respective talking cats and a few other voices that clearly sounded like they all came from grown men shouted from within the large mass of white smoke. After a few seconds, a group of four Kumo ninja men ran out of the large mass of white smoke and right out through the front entry gates of Konoha.
Two of said Kumo ninja men carrying a large sack that clearly had someone inside.
Naruto, as well as Sasuke, Shikamaru and Shino, were in something of a rush since they had just received word on the fact that a group of four Kumo ninjas had snuck into the village and kidnapped someone before running off. As the Hokage and his three advisors were busy trying to come up with a game plan, they stopped short when Harold and his friends walked into the office, accompanied by the girls of the Magnolia Town party.
"Excuse me, mah boi," Inoichi said to Naruto, "But I don't suppose you have any idea where the pink-haired guy with the blue cat went off to, do you?" Gesturing to the Magnolia Town girls, Inoichi explained, "Because the ladies here are trying to find them, but those two are not in any part of the village that we can find."
"Sorry dad, but we're a bit busy here," Naruto replied, "We just got word that-"
"Lord Sixth!" the secretary from yesterday called out as she rushed into the room, interrupting Naruto in the process. The secretary was carrying a laptop computer, a device that had caught the attention of the Magnolia Town girls as they had never seen anything like it. (11)
Setting the laptop down on Naruto's desk so that she could explain to him what was so urgent, the secretary said, "This laptop is set up to a video feed that the Kumo ninjas that carried out the earlier kidnapping have set up so they could talk to you and make demands."
Scoffing in an annoyed tone, Naruto remarked, "So now those bastards are feeling confident enough to make demands, huh?" As Naruto and everyone else in the office gathered around to watch the video feed, Naruto's daughter Natsu came dashing into the office a bit, clearly out of breath by the time she had arrived.
The obese girl was about to speak up, but she stopped short when she saw everyone in the office gathered around her father's desk to look at something. After she had regathered herself, Natsu tried once again to speak up, but she was cut off when the video feed started to play on the laptop that everyone was looking at.
Naruto and the others looked on as the smug, grinning, somewhat sneering face of one of the Kumo ninja men involved in the kidnapping earlier. "Heh, about damn time the boys and I saw your ugly mug, Hokage," the Kumo ninja remarked in a clearly cocky manner, "You better listen up to what I'm about to tell you, because this here is the deal; we of Kumo want you and your allies to release every and all Kumo POWs that the lot of you have held between you all. If you do not comply, well…" The Kumo ninja man stood off to the side briefly to show a large sack in the room with him and the other three Kumo ninja men; it was clear that someone was inside the sack and struggling to get out.
The first Kumo ninja man stepped back into camera and jerked a thumb over his shoulder to the large sack. "…Let's just say that Natsu and Natsu's cat won't like what we're going to do to the two of them," the first Kumo ninja remarked, the hint of sinisterness in his tone making it clear that he and his fellows weren't going to be nice.
Fury instantly flooded into the jinchuriki Hokage's face as he slammed a fist on the surface of his desk. "You f***ers kidnapped my daughter and her cat?!" Naruto yelled. Similarly, everyone else in the room was likewise outraged that the Kumo ninjas would resort to kidnapping a child and her pet cat.
"Father, everyone, I'm over here," Natsu called out, making everyone in the room turn to look and see Natsu standing in the room, a few feet from the doorway. With a mildly confused look on her face, the well-fed twelve-year-old girl remarked, "And Pantherlily is still in his pet carrier, which I left with the reception on the ground floor."
Apparently, Natsu could have been heard by the Kumo ninjas thanks to the video feed, because the first one had a look of confusion on his face when he heard the Uzumaki girl speak up. "Hang on a minute," the first Kumo ninja man said, "I was certain that my team and I had gotten Natsu and Natsu's cat, just like the lieutenant ordered us to-"
The first Kumo ninja man was cut off when the large sack in the room with him and the other Kumo ninja men burst open, revealing that Natsu Dragneel and Happy were the ones that were inside the large sack. The Fire Dragon Slayer mage roared in anger over the stunt that the Kumo ninja men had pulled on him, right before he unleashed a series of his Fire Dragon Slayer spells to attack all of the men that had kidnapped him, even if it was by mistake.
As everyone in the office watching the video feed watched as the pink-haired mage throttled all of the Kumo ninja men, the girls of the Magnolia Town party all had to suppress some snickering. "Well, they did kidnap Natsu and Natsu's cat," Erza remarked with clear amusement in her tone. Gently shaking her head, the s-ranked requip mage continued, "Unfortunately for the lot of them, they got the wrong Natsu and wrong Natsu's cat."
"You guys think you can kidnap me?!" Natsu yelled furiously in the video feed as he decked one of the Kumo ninja men in the schnozz with a fire-cloaked fist, "I'll show you why screwing with Fairy Tail is the last mistake many people tend to make!" The video feed ended up cutting out and was replaced with black and white static.
About an hour later, Natsu and Happy wandered back to Konoha, escorted by a party of Konoha shinobi who was also helping them escort the Kumo ninjas that Natsu had captured as POWS for the village. When the Fire Dragon Slayer mage and the blue-furred exceed entered the village, they were met up by the rest of the party from Magnolia Town and Harold's group. The guys and Erza were all applauding Natsu and Happy.
"Hey Natsu, the girls here told us what you did to the guys who kidnapped you and Happy," Gray remarked with a very much amused smirk on his face, "Way to go, man."
Crossing his arms over his chest, Natsu remarked, "Well I am technically recognized as a ninja by this village, so I have to represent."
Gesturing to the Kumo ninja man with the broken nose that had dried blood coming from it, one of the Konoha ninja said, "And he even captured some POWs for us. This will go a long way in getting back some POWs for Konoha and its allies." The Konoha ninja party then proceeded to escort the captured Kumo ninja away, leaving the Magnolia Town party be with Harold's group.
Due to all of the morning excitement, the morning part of the tour had to be pushed back to after Harold and his friends treated the Magnolia Town party out to lunch. During said meal, Natsu and Happy regaled the whole group with what all they had went through while they were being kidnapped by enemy ninja. More than anything else, everyone ended up getting a good laugh out of Natsu's story.
END, CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Author's notes:
1. See chapter nine of 'Fairy Tail: Post Game' for part one of this arc.
2. Yeah, given their current position in the ongoing war, Kumo will do whatever that crosses their mind in order to win.
3. People find that not bothering to question what Harold and the lads do helps those who don't question it sleep better at night.
4. That's always a risk in story arcs like this, I'm afraid.
5. Naruto's wife and daughter, in this slightly altered timeline, are allowed free use of said workout machine if they wish.
6. Yeah, this was all Harold's doing back in chapter 33 of this story. Also, yes, this had been set up since that long ago.
7. This covers basically the whole plot of chapter 37 of this story.
8. …It's also an issue she wouldn't have had to deal with if somebody had bothered to give the act of good faith they wanted to do a bit of thought.
9. In reality, the 'demon devil king' is just Hamtaro.
10. Aha ha ha ha, oh Lucy, you poor, poor naïve girl.
11. Well what would you expect? They're from Fiore.
…You know, those Kumo ninja should have bothered to check to make sure that they were getting the right Natsu and right Natsu's cat. Putting all of that aside, this chapter continued the mini arc that is shared between 'Harold Fisher: Legend of Konoha' and 'Fairy Tail: Post Game', focusing specifically on characters from both stories that share names with each other, and what confusion can arise from situations where all of said characters are involved. Anyway, the next chapter for this arc will be in chapter ten of 'Fairy Tail: Post Game', so if you want to continue seeing where this arc will lead, make sure to keep your eyes peeled.