The leaders of the Shinobi villages stare at the masked member of Team Tsuki no Me in surprise.
"Who are you?" demands Oonoki.
"Tobi is Tobi!" giggles the Masked man. "Some people call Tobi Madara Uchiha!"
"Are you the one who was controlling our Mizukages?" demands Ao.
"Tobi is a good boy!" says Tobi. "Tobi plays with puppets and Tobi likes the fishy-ninjas! They make the best puppets!"
"Quit it with the act, Tobi!" orders Nagato, surprising Onoki with the amount of venom in his voice. "I know you are faking this stupidity!"
Tobi laughs, his voice suddenly much deeper and more sinister. "It is a useful act," he says. "It put all of you off your guard-"
He cuts off because a messenger hawk flies in the room and lands on Baki's shoulder. Baki opens the message and reads it. "I'm afraid Gaara won't be able to make it to this meeting," Baki says. "He is well, um…"
"Tell us!" snaps Oonoki, worried that something is wrong with the little Kazekage.
"Asleep," whispers Baki. "Gaara has been asleep for two days."
"Well, that could very well be a good thing," comments Tsunade, nodding.
"I suppose he can't help his absence if he fell asleep before he got the message," says Mei sama reasonably.
"Must be the first proper sleep the kid's ever had, right?" asks Nagato, curiously.
"It is, actually," says Baki.
"Excuse me!" snaps Tobi, irritated at being ignored. "I'm trying to start a war here!"
"Be a good boy and go start a war somewhere else," says Konan evenly. "This is a meeting of the leaders of the Peace Movement."
"But…!"
"GO!" she kicks him out of the room. Then she turns to Zetsu. "You too, get out! Go on: shoo!" she shoos him out of the room.
"Well, I suppose that answers the question of what they plan to do next," comments Oonoki. "Now, what should we do about them?"
Iruka gazes up at Konoha's Academy. It's been so long since he was here last. And to think he used to spend most of his time here. Wow, he had no social life back then. In the baby sling that Iruka has hung over his shoulders, little Sanma is blowing snot bubbles again.
Iruka walks around the side of the Academy to the training grounds. There is a class there because it is a school day. There is a teacher he does not know taking the class. Maybe the woman is his replacement.
"IRUKA SENSEI!" Konohamaru's voice rings out from the training ground. A little cannonball of Hokage-spawn rockets towards Iruka. Iruka puts out his hand to stop the child's forward momentum before he crushes Sanma. "OW!" complains Konohamaru. The rest of the class is running over at a considerably slower pace.
"How many times have I told you not to rush into things without thinking?" demands Iruka, amused.
"Sorry, sensei," mumbles Konohamaru, rubbing his chest, where he had made contact with Iruka's hand. He finally seems to notice the sling. "What's in there?" he asks, loudly.
The other kids, his old class, gather around, wanting to see what their former sensei has in the sling. Iruka crouches down and pulls the top of the sling open wider so the kids can see Sanma, who is still blowing snot bubbles.
"Is that your baby?" asks Moegi, looking rather critically at the baby.
"Yes," says Iruka.
"He kinda looks like Udon at the moment," says one of the other kids.
Iruka looks at Udon, who has a glob of snot hanging out of his nose, then back at Sanma, who has a snot bubbles coming out of his nose. Iruka starts laughing.
"I take it you are their old sensei?" asks the new sensei.
"Yes," confirms Iruka. "I had better let you get back to knocking some common sense into their heads."
Iruka says goodbye to his old class and heads to Yakiniku Q, where he is sure he will find a few more of his old students. Sure enough, Team Ten, Team Eight, Sakura, Sasuke and Team Gai are there, along with the two Root kids that Kakashi's friend Yamato adopted - Shin and Sai, or whatever their names were.
"I had it first!" Sasuke is yelling at Kiba. They appear to be fighting over a piece of barbecued beef.
"But I wanted it first!" yells back Kiba.
"POSSESSION IS NINE TENTHS OF THE LAW!"
"YOUR MUM IS NINE TENTHS OF THE LAW!"
"DAMN STRAIGHT!" bites back Sasuke, shoving the piece of beef in his mouth triumphantly. "And my Dad was the other tenth!"
Iruka starts laughing. The teams turn to him in surprise.
"Iruka sensei!" a few of them say at different volumes, and with varying degrees of happiness and surprise.
"Hello, kids," says Iruka. "Mind if I join you?"
Sasuke shuffles over and pats the space he created beside him. Iruka sits down.
"Do you have Sanma with you?" asks Sakura, trying to see into the sling.
Iruka knows what she wants. "Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I'm assuming you want to hold him?"
Sakura looks slightly guilty and immensely happy - an odd combination. "Can I?"
"Yes you can," replies Iruka, and takes Sanma out of the sling and hands him to Sakura, knowing full well he won't get his baby back until Sanma starts crying. "So Neji, I hear you and Fu are dating now."
"Yes, we are," replies Neji.
"Have you heard anything from her about the JUC?" asks Iruka. "They have been strangely quiet since they went to the Island of Truth."
"In her last two letters - yesterday's and today's - she only seems to be talking about things that aren't related to the JUC," replies Neji. "I wonder what their collective silence means."
"Ew, gross! It popped on me!" complains Ino, meaning Sanma's latest snot bubble.
"Does that baby have a ##### or a ######?" asks Sai.
"Sai, you could just ask if it's a boy or a girl," sighs Shin.
"He has a #####," says Iruka, straightfaced, wondering why the word is censoring itself. This Sai kid is hilarious.