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

Harold of Konoha

Chapter forty-three: A bigger world than what was once believed, part one (AKA The beginning of a Crisis Crossover)

(KONOHAGAKURE, SEVENTEEN AND A HALF OR SO YEARS AGO)

Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuga, both teenaged chunnin, were talking to one another as they were walking past a shop in downtown Konoha (sometime before Pain's attack, though they did not know that yet). As a note, Hinata was clearly rather fond of snacking; she was by no means obese, mind you, but she did have a rather notable amount of chub to her. As the two teen girls walked, they were met up by a trio of persons that they hadn't seen in years.

"Oh, you're those guys from the chunnin exams a few years ago," Sakura greeted as she and Hinata once again met Natsu Dragneel, Kirigaya Kazuto and Tsukune Aono, plus Tsukune's talking border collie Schnitzel. In reality, it was really Sakura's uncle, Harold Fisher, from the future and using a transformation jitsu to disguise himself as 'Natsu'; similarly, Kirigaya was really Inoichi Yamanaka, and Tsukune and Schnitzel were really Tsume Inuzuka and her loyal (albeit long-suffering) ninkin Kuromaru.

All of them, just like Harold, were from the future and disguised via transformation jitsu in order to carry out a rather important task, a task that saw Tsume speak to Hinata. "Yo girl," the disguised Inuzuka woman began, "You're that Hinata Hyuga person, right?" The brunette-haired girl nodded in the affirmative. "Good. Listen, don't take this the wrong way, but you have got to drop some weight."

"E-Excuse me?" Hinata replied, a bit too shocked by how bold and out-of-nowhere the remark from Tsukune was.

Gesturing to Hinata, the disguised Harold remarked, "Listen, that extra weight not only poses some concern to your overall well-being, but it will undoubtedly hinder you in your ability to act as a shinobi of Konoha, especially since you are not an Akimichi thus you have no excuse."

"Mind you, there is no need to go as far as that crazy bitch Ino," (1) the disguised Inoichi said. Gesturing to Sakura, the disguised Inoichi added, "But it is worth considering for you to get yourself down to, say, the same size as your friend Sakura here."

Sakura, her arms crossed over her chest, gave the disguised trio from the future a very unamused look. "…As much as I agree that Hinata ought to consider losing some weight for her own benefit, you three are being rather rude to her in your own efforts to impart that idea to her. You couldn't have tried a more tactful approach?"

Turning to look up at Hinata, the disguised Kuromaru, with a hint of resignation in his tone, said to the chubby chunnin, "You didn't hear this from me, but I got it via some hearsay that I heard that Naruto Uzumaki is looking for a workout partner to help him keep in shape. You could join him as his workout partner, and not only will you be able to help him maintain his healthy form, but he could help you slim back down in return."

Hinata's eyes went a bit wide out of surprise, not to mention a faint blushing that appeared on her face. The look in her eyes made it clear that Hinata was seriously contemplating what the talking border collie had just told her. The disguised seniors from the future proceeded to take their leave, with Harold shooting Hinata one last look before saying, "Just some food for thought from Tsukune's dog, ya know?"

…

(PRESENT TIME)

Harold and company popped back out of the Well of Time, undid their transformations, and then proceeded to make their way back to Konoha. Upon entering the village proper, they soon ran into a trio of women consisting of Sakura, Tenten and Hinata. To the relief of the seniors, their plans had worked, as Hinata was now back to being slender; logically, this should imply that Hinata and Naruto's daughter Natsu was also at a healthy weight.

"Seriously Hinata," Tenten remarked, "You have your own success story that would really help to motivate the people who work out at the fitness studio that Sakura's uncle and his friends started up and put me in charge of running for them. You ought to consider stopping by the place and help me with running a class or two." Sakura, who turned to regard Hinata, nodded along with what Tenten was suggesting to the slender Uzumaki matriarch who, smiling in a manner that was understanding, gently shook her head.

"As much as I would like to work with others and help inspire them in turning around their lives like I had, I'm going to be a bit busy since Naruto and a group of his men are preparing to go on a trip that would see them leave the Land of Fire in order to visit another land as a representative party," Hinata replied.

The three women never saw the seniors and Kuromaru, but Harold gave Inoichi and Tsume a knowing wink, a gesture that both of them returned and gave to one another as well. Kuromaru, for his part, merely rolled his eyes in response to the trio of seniors congratulating themselves. "Yes, yes, yes, you guys cleaned up a mess that you made. It's not something that's worthy of patting yourselves on the back for, you know." (2)

Over in the Hokage office building, Naruto, along with Sasuke, Shikamaru, Shino and Choji, all stood around in Naruto's office. The active Hokage was currently going over a few last-minute details with the other men, Choji most of all. "…That being said, I hope that you can hold the mantle while the guys and I are out," Naruto said as he patted his Akimichi friend on the right shoulder, "I need someone strong to serve as acting Hokage, and strong and you seem to go hand in hand, Choji."

Shikamaru, with an amused smirk on his face, remarked, "Naruto, you're underestimating Choji here. He can roll with the best of them, so there's no need to worry about leaving him in charge of looking after the village while we're out." As Naruto gave a mildly amused hum in response, Harold and his party walked into the office casually, a happening that has taken place so many times that at this point Naruto isn't even going to bother to try to stop them anymore. (3)

The seniors walked in with Inoichi holding up a hand in greeting to Naruto as he said, "Word up with thee, mah boi? What's shakin'?"

"Oh, hey dad," Naruto greeted when he and the others turned to the seniors, thankful that Inoichi and the others remembered to phone ahead of time first, "I was just taking care of some last-minute things I needed to handle before I head out with Sasuke, Shikamaru and Shino to serve as a representative party out of Konoha."

"Ooh, doing some diplomacy stuff, are you?" Harold asked, his interest mildly piqued, "I don't suppose you'd mind sharing with the lads here and I were it is that you and your entourage here are heading off to, hmm?"

Sasuke, giving the seniors a wry, mildly uncertain look, replied, "We're heading to Japan, if you absolutely have to know. Remember when teams of Konoha shinobi were sent there to help deal with that siege of monsters on one of their cities?" (4) The seniors and Kuromaru all nodded along in agreement with the Uchiha man. "Good. Anyway, the government of the city that was besieged wishes to open discussions to solidify an agreement with the Land of Fire to get aid in repelling future such attacks. A party representing the monster world government will also be there at the meeting, as they had called on both Japan and the Land of Fire for help."

"Will a party representing the Kingdom of Fiore be there as well, given that some of its mages had also taken part in the monster siege?" Kuromaru asked, sounding and looking curious.

Shikamaru crossed his arms over his chest, looked like he wore a look of consideration. "The guys here and I do not know if that will happen for sure or not, but it is a logical, rational idea to come up with, all things considered."

Looking at all of the men, Harold asked Naruto while gesturing to Choji, "So how does Choza's son here play into everything, Lord Sixth?"

"I'm planning on leaving Choji in charge of the village as the acting Hokage while the guys here and I are out of town," Naruto explained, "Since I'm taking Sasuke, Shikamaru and Shino with me." The spiky blonde-haired man gave Harold and his party a contemplative look. Naruto then let out a sigh before he went on to say something he had a slight feeling may come back to bite him on his ass later on down the line.

"…All things considered, I was also considering asking if the four of you would be interested in coming along on the tr-"

Naruto was unable to finish what he was saying before Harold and company, the three seniors all cheering and hollering like excited holler monkeys on one full pot of coffee each, ran out of the office as they excitedly cheered about what all they were going to bring with them on the trip out of the Land of Fire. Kuromaru, giving a long suffering sigh, proceeded to casually trot out of the office to go after Tsume. After the whole of Harold's party had left, Naruto turned to face the other guys who were in the room.

Giving Naruto a mildly dumbfounded look, Choji remarked, "Well…I think that they would like to go along with you and the others, Naruto." (5)

The seniors soon got packed and were ready to ship out with Naruto and his party to go to the city where the entourage was invited to come along to. As visiting representatives of a foreign government that is on friendly terms with Japan, the entourage from the Land of Fire was put up in a very nice hotel in the city free of charge. Tsume was a bit concerned that the hotel may take issue with Kuromaru, but luckily for her the hotel did allow pets. All in all, the whole party was allowed to stay at the hotel.

"Oh dad," Naruto began, getting Inoichi to perk up a bit as he and the rest of the seniors turned to face Konoha's active Hokage, "I was invited to attend watching an exhibition match over at one of the local hero high schools here in the city. An all-girls school by the name of Seiai Academy. I'm also going to take Sasuke, Shikamaru and Shino along with me."

Inoichi nodded in understanding as his adult adopted son explained what was going on. "Ah yes. This area relies on people in the pro hero profession, people who are legally allowed to use a power that they were born with called 'quirks' to help maintain the peace, rather than shinobi like we do over in the elemental nations. The hero academies in this area train quirked teens in the ways of how to properly utilize their amazing powers in order to act as true paragons that the people of society look up to."

"At least the government here has rules, regulations and other such laws governing who is allowed to be pro heroes and how said persons must act," Kuromaru remarked dryly, "From what I've heard through hearsay, the government of the Kingdom of Fiore allows anyone who has any magic skill to become mages and join one of the kingdom's various mages guilds. A lot of the time, mages joining one of Fiore's various mages guilds aren't even made to go through so much as a basic background check." (6)

After Shikamaru and Shino both nodded in agreement with the talking ninkin, Naruto gently shook his head. "Yes, yes. We can discuss that stuff later. For now, the guys and I need to get going to Seiai Academy to watch the exhibition match. From what I got on the matter, the girls of Seiai are set to face the team of a high school that's visiting Japan from the United States. I don't know anything else beyond that, however."

After Naruto was done talking, Tsume opened her mouth while slightly holding up her right index finger, looking like she wanted to say something. However, she was cut off by Sasuke, who saw that the Inuzuka matriarch wanted to say something. "…Before you ask, no, you and the others here can't come along. It's just Naruto, myself, Shikamaru and Shino who had been invited to watch the exhibition match."

"But couldn't-" Harold asked, or rather began to ask, but was cut off when Naruto held up a hand, signaling for the Fisher patriarch to stop.

With the seniors all looking at him, Naruto said, "The party attending the exhibition match would get a bit too big if all of us went. Besides, I'm pretty sure the good people at Seiai would be a bit unamused if I brought more than they had invited."

Harold and the others looked a bit annoyed that they were being cut out of getting to watch some action, but they accepted it. Kuromaru, who had no desire to go figuring that he and the seniors may not be exactly invited anyway, was relieved that he wouldn't be dragged along yet again on some random trip by Tsume and the men. With all business handled and taken care of, Naruto and his advisors proceeded to make their way over to Seiai Academy.

Naruto and his advisors soon arrived at their destination, Seiai Academy, and were right away greeted by the hero high school's principal, a well-dressed woman. Accompanying the Japanese high school principal was an American high school principal, another woman who was identified as Mrs. Butterbean. To the piqued interest of the adult shinobi, the two women also had with them an eighteen-year-old girl named Lori Loud, who is stated will be graduating from the high school that Butterbean ran very shortly, and a white-haired boy identified as Lincoln, who is the younger brother of Lori.

"Hey, Sakura's uncle mentioned the two of you in the report that he wrote up about his visit to that Royal Woods area where he and his group took Sakura with them to heal some boy," Sasuke remarked as he pointed to Lori and Lincoln.

Lori perked up at the mention of this, partly because Sasuke was speaking in English. "Oh, so you must be Mrs. Uchiha's husband," the oldest Loud sister remarked. Lori nodded once to the Uchiha man before continuing, "Yeah, your wife did my little brother here a world of good by healing his leg injury. He literally would still be crippled if it weren't for Mrs. Uchiha." (7)

"Might there be a reason that you're here?" Shikamaru asked, arching a wry eyebrow as he regarded the oldest Loud sibling and the sole Loud boy.

"Lori was invited to watch the events as a guest because Bobby, who's Lori's boyfriend, is a member of the team representing Royal Woods High, and he figured that it would be a great end to his and Lori's time in high school if the two of t hem got to visit a foreign country a bit before graduation," Lincoln explained, "As for myself, I'm fluent in the language they speak here, so I was brought along to serve as a translator."

Shikamaru, as well as the rest of Naruto's party, all nodded in understanding at this. "Also…" The men all perked up a bit and returned their focus to Lincoln when he spoke up again. "I came along for another reason," the white-haired boy said, "My mentor Aggro-sensei, who is also part of the Royal Woods High team, wanted to bring me along, partly to serve as a translator like I had said, but also because he wanted me to watch the events. He says that there is a lot that I can learn from watching all of the events, and that it would be a waste if I didn't see things here."

Lori nodded a few times in confirmation. "The events are all team battles, with the main one being Royal Woods High versus U.A. High School. The team for Royal Woods High has done a few exhibition events before now, with the one against Seiai Academy bring the fourth." Gesturing to her younger brother, Lori explained, "Lincoln here was literally present to watch all of the exhibition matches thus far, and he'll be here to watch the one today."

"Ah, so it's a bunch of events were teams representing high schools with quirked students face off against one another," Shino said. Focusing on the Loud siblings, Shino asked, "Tell me, how has your school fared in the exhibition matches thus-"

"Royal Woods High has won every exhibition match thus far," Lincoln replied, cutting the Aburame man off midsentence. The men from Konoha all looked a bit intrigued by Lincoln, partly because of the fact he interrupted Shino, but mostly because of the slight change in the white-haired boy's tone. He was a bit unsure of things, it seemed like. "…Furthermore," Lincoln went on, "All of the exhibition matches saw a lone member of the Royal Woods High team face off against a team of one-hundred students at whatever school we visited at the time." The men from Konoha all looked shocked by that revelation; the Royal Woods High team apparently had powerhouses capable of very easily winning one versus one-hundred fights no problem.

And those were all exhibition matches. The Konoha men shuddered to think how U.A. High School, the school who will face off against Royal Woods High in the main event, will fare when all of the American high school's power is brought to the forefront. (8)

"This is all good and well, fine sirs," the principal of Seiai Academy said, getting the attention of the shinobi, "But we must make our way to the stadium. Other hero academies may have failed to stop Royal Woods High, but the students of Seiai will break the cycle."

"Hmm, good luck with that," Lori thought dryly.

Naruto and his advisors were sitting in a VIP booth in the bleachers in the stadium on Seiai Academy grounds, accompanying Seiai Academy's principal, Mrs. Butterbean, Lori and Lincoln. As the group all looked into the currently empty stadium, Naruto asked, "So when are the competing students going to come out?"

"The girls are getting ready, Lord Hokage," Seiai's principal replied, "You just need to-"

Seiai's principal was cut off when a door along the wall in the stadium's arena pit opened up, and out rushed a lone figure who proceeded to jump up and stand on the top of a large rock pillar in the arena, standing there waiting for his opposition to come out as the door he came out of closed and locked behind him. When they saw the lone figure, Naruto at least felt that there was something about him that…that just screamed déjà vu.

It looked to be a male young adult, from what Naruto was able to see. The Hokage knew that this fellow had to be the opponent for the Seiai Academy team, but he was surprised that Royal Woods High was sending just one of its team's members to face what he knew was going to be a team of one-hundred Seiai Academy girls. Although the sense of déjà vu that was screaming in his head made Naruto think that things here may not be as clear cut as they seem.

The lone young adult looked to stand around six feet tall; he had fair skin, and his long platinum blonde hair was bound in a single men's ponytail that fell down over his back, save for long bangs that framed his handsome face. He wore a long-sleeved light gray shirt under a seafoam green men's tank top, a sleeveless haori long coat (it reached his knees) over that, a pair of light gray cargo pants held up with a belt, and worn over his back was a carrying case for bokken, peeking out from behind his right shoulder and left hip. The strap for the case went from his right shoulder to left hip. The shape of this young adult man's eyes clearly denoted some degree of Asian heritage. That, plus his haori long coat and his hairstyle to an extent, made this lone young adult look like a samurai.

Further selling the samurai air that the young adult gave off was the rest of his outfit; a headband with a metal place covering the forehead area with said metal plate had an etching detail that resembled the Japanese rising sun flag, a pair of han kote that covered the top of his forearms (it also had small plates that covered the back of his hands) as well as the black fingerless gloves he wore, a pair of suneate that covered the fronts of his shins over his tabi socks worn in a pair of zori sandals, and finally a simple necklace made of (fairly big) wooden beads.

Naruto and the other shinobi perked up a bit when they heard Lincoln hum in confirmation, the kind that is done when one sees a result or something else that they like. "Yeah, I figured that it was Aggro-sensei's time to shine."

"So that guy down there is this Aggro-sensei guy who is your mentor, huh?" Shikamaru asked, making Lincoln turn to face him.

Nodding once, Lincoln explained, "Aggro-sensei, since he's facing off against a team of quirked students from a hero academy, is currently wearing his hero outfit. He's going to be facing his opponents as the Samurai Hero Sengoku."

The shinobi, their interest piqued by Lincoln referring to his mentor as the 'Samurai Hero', were about to ask what he meant by that exactly. However, they were cut off when a door on the far end of the stadium from where the door Aggro came out of was located opened up. Rushing out of that new open door was a large swarm of Seiai Academy girls, one-hundred in total. After the last of the girls had come out, the door they swarmed out of closed up behind them.

As the girls all proceeded to look around in confusion, Lincoln, with a bit of a dry look in his eyes, looked down in the arena where the Samurai Hero was standing, seemingly waiting for his numerous opponents to spot him. "…This is where the show is going to begin," Lincoln said after Aggro jumped down from the rock pillar he was standing on, "The other one versus one-hundred events are a prelude to show just what someone of Aggro-sensei's level can pull off in a serious fight." (9)

Aggro, after he jumped down from the rock pillar he was standing on top of, casually began to walk towards the large mass of one-hundred Seiai Academy girls that stood as his opposition. The walk became a brisk walk, then a slight jog, then right into full on running towards all of the Seiai Academy girls. When the Samurai Hero got with a dozen or so meters of the Seiai girls, they all let out battle cries as they proceeded to rush at their lone opponent themselves.

But then Aggro suddenly became engulfed fully in a cloak of golden fire when he was within five meters of meeting his opponents.

That did not stop the Seiai Academy girls as they still proceeded to rush at Aggro. The two groups met head-on, but Aggro effortlessly blew a lot of them away. Rushing right into the thick of the opposing team, Aggro kicked one of his opponents away when she ran up to him and tried to strike him with her fists, both of which were glowing with some manner of rainbow energy. Aggro dealt some foot slams to another Seiai Academy team member before running up, standing on her shoulders for an instant then jumping off of her as if she were a springboard for him to use.

Aggro soared through the air over his opponents in a sort of crouching frog-like position before landing on the ground right in another large area crowded by Seiai Academy students. Using just unarmed fighting skills, Aggro knocked many of his opponents away as they came at him. He looked from side to side quickly, using only his eyes, before he jumped up and landed in another area of the arena.

At one point, Aggro reached over his shoulders and pulled one of the bokken in the carrying case over his back out. Wielding his weapon, Aggro proceeded to strike many of his opponents as all of them tried to strike him with their varying quirks. But Aggro's cloak of golden fire, an ability derived from his own quirk Amaterasu, made any efforts in this regard moot. As such, he was able to take out a number of his opponents with impunity.

One Seiai Academy girl tried to throw a solid, conjured projectile at Aggro, even though his cloak would have blocked the attack. However, the Samurai Hero seemingly sensed the attack that was flying right at him; skillfully, he caught the conjured projectile and, with a quick, whipping turn, spun around and flung the attack right back at the girl who conjured it, striking her in her left shoulder and making her reel back on impact. Aggro then dealt a foot slam to the gut of another Seiai Academy team member, sending her reeling back into a few of her fellows, before he sent a stream of golden flames from the palm of his left hand at that group he kicked a girl into, striking all of them with golden fire in the process.

Aggro then proceeded to jump and move around as he fought his many opponents, knocking them out one by one effortlessly while they weren't able to do so much as slow him down. At one point, a girl using her quirk to grow to more than double her height tried to rush him, using the enhanced strength her giant-sized self was affording her to strike Aggro with a powerful overhead punch. However, Aggro merely turned to look at the giant girl and gave her a wide-eyed, angry glare that radiated sheer killing intent.

The giant girl instantly froze up out of pure fright, giving the Samurai Hero time to smack her away with a crescent-shape projectile of golden flames that he cast by swinging his bokken out in the air between him and the giant girl. After Aggro sent the giant girl reeling back, he jumped out of the way to get some clearing between him and his remaining opponents as the giant girl shrunk back down to her original size, ending the use of her quirk. Once he had enough space between him and the Seiai Academy team members that he didn't defeat yet, Aggro returned his bokken that he had out to the carrying case he wore over his back. After that, he held both of his hands with the palms aimed straight in front of him, thus pointed at his opponents.

"Majestic Destroyer Wildfire."

A huge, bursting rush of golden fire surged forward towards the remaining Seiai Academy students. One of the remaining Seiai Academy students, Intelli, with her eyes widening with alarm as she saw the brilliant inferno rushing towards her and her fellow teammates, yelled to her fellow teammates as she turned to face them , "I need people to push back against that attack with ranged emitter quirks!"

About a dozen Seiai students came up and, with each of them putting in every last bit of effort that they could all muster up, fired as much as they could with their respective quirks. There was a basic electricity quirk, one that fired pastel-colored winds what had sparkles in them, one that lobbed a torrent of some manner of liquid slime, and even a somewhat potent telekinesis quirk. All of those energy attacks formed something of a wall that met the rushing inferno of brilliant gold, the two forces colliding into one another. Even so, the golden flames easily pushed through, going on to scorch a good number of the girls, although some of them were able to quickly hide behind rock mounds that, for the most part, covered them.

As the girls of Seiai Academy scrambled to find cover, Aggro sent out two identical attacks up into the air, both of them massive spheres of golden flames. As the opposing students struggled to think of something, one of them alerted the others to the first large golden sphere of flames as it was descending down upon them. The attack landed down on ten students on the Seiai team, taking all of them out of commission. After that attack, the few students on Seiai Academy's team that remained came out from the cover that they hid behind.

"Aha!" Intelli, who was one of the lucky few to have lasted this long against the Samurai Hero in the exhibition match, proclaimed as she pointed dramatically at Aggro, "After you've just tossed out so much power, there's no way that you should be able to stand up to those on my school's team who are left! If you yield now, my friends here and I will go easy on you!"

It was clear to Aggro that Intelli was bluffing, that she and her remaining teammates honestly had no clue what to do at this point, and were hoping that they could scare him into yielding the event to them. The Samurai Hero merely arched a wry eyebrow as he casually pointed straight up into the air, saying something that set a considerable degree of fear into the hearts of Intelli and her fellows who still remained on the Seiai Academy team.

"…So you have a plan for the second Solar Flare, then."

The remaining Seiai Academy students all looked up into the sky as they saw the second large sphere of golden flames fall down upon them from the skies above. "You…" a girl with elf-like ears said somewhat quietly, in a tone of total disbelief, as she and the others looked up as their defeat descended down upon them, "…You have got to be kidding me." As the second Solar Flare fell down, there were only seven students remaining on the Seiai Academy team, all of the others having been knocked out before then. When the second Solar Flare dropped down, the remaining seven Seiai Academy students were all hit and defeated in one fell swoop.

Aggro Ace, the Samurai Hero Sengoku, had won the exhibition match. (10)

Later that evening, or perhaps early night, Harold and his friends were standing outside near the entrance to an alleyway somewhere in the city. The three humans were looking for a bar to hit up, and they were honestly a bit lost. They would be able to find their way back to a hotel though, so if need be they could simply return to the hotel and regain their bearings before they tried to give finding a bar to hit up another go.

As they looked around, they decided to talk about the exhibition match that Naruto and his advisors went to go see over at Seiai Academy. "Yo Inoichi, my good man," Harold began as he turned to face Inoichi, "How come your son wouldn't let us come along to watch that exhibition match at the school that he and the others visited earlier today?"

"Maybe mah boi wanted us to keep an eye on the rooms we have reserved at the hotel we're staying at while we're here on tour, Harold," Inoichi replied.

"If that's what you guys think, then why did you all insist on going out and trying to find a bar to get wasted at?" Kuromaru asked. (11)

Shrugging, Tsume said, "Can you fault us for wanting to see some sights?"

"You all just want to get drunk!" the talking ninkin exclaimed.

The three seniors brushed aside Kuromaru's complaints, having heard such words many times before. With that, the four of them wandered off, with the seniors still intending to find a bar in the city so that they could get plastered.

END, CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Author's notes;

1. Dude, he just insulted his own daughter! Ah ha, ha!

2. They're doing it anyway, Kuromaru.

3. Naruto asks that they at least phone the front counter on the ground floor of the Hokage office building first ahead of time before they come on by; to the credit of Harold and the lads, they respect this and have yet to neglect doing.

4. See chapter forty of this story for more details.

5. Understatement of the year, everybody! Let's give Choji a big round of applause!

6. …That would explain a lot of Fairy Tail's members.

7. See 'We must protect the Runestone!' for more.

8. Probably not all that well.

9. Prepare…to hold…your color.

10. Seriously, Naruto felt a lot of déjà vu as he and the others watched the exhibition match just now.

11. He's got a point.

Well this chapter kicks off a major plot that is actually shared by multiple works that I have up. This chapter sees events of chapter thirty-seven in 'A couple that will go down in legend', but things here are seen from the point of view of the characters of this story. Things will get even more heated in the next chapter or two, so keep an eye out for that if you want to see what all is waiting around the corner.