(A/N) If you complain this is somewhat unrealistic, screw you. I have roughly no clue what I'm doing here. Never written something like this before!

Mito eyed the pile of letters from the capital. She wasn't sure how much she wanted to open any of them. Oh well, might as well bite the kunai and get it over with.

She opened the first one, immediately tossing it at one of Kushina's clones to stamp a firm 'no' on it. A marriage offer. A foolish attempt, considering both her and Kushina would remain faithful to their husbands, even if the two were dead. Uzumaki were not the type to move on after they'd found a life partner.

The next four were also offers, which were promptly tossed to Kushina as well.

The sixth one was not in the same kind of envelope as the other five, bearing a heavier load. Mito exchanged glances with Kushina's shadow clone, and opened the letter.

Mito Senju and Kushina Uzumaki of Konohagakure

The Daimyo is hosting an event to reestablish ties with Konoha after the recent change in leadership. You have been invited, please arrive on (date) and at (time).

Best wishes,

The Daimyo

"Kushina, come see this," Mito said, tilting the letter in the shadow clone's direction. "It's an invitation from the Daimyo."

Kushina quickly abandoned the paperwork, perhaps a bit too cheerily, and bounced over. "Yeah? What for?"

"A formal event," Mito said, scanning the frankly rather lacking information. "What would we do with Naruto?"

"Bring him I guess," Kushina said, frowning slightly. "Maybe leave him in wherever we're rooming with a few shadow clones each?"

"I'm not sure I trust only shadow clones," Mito admitted. "No offense, of course, but they dispel a bit too easily."

"Maybe," Kushina agreed doubtfully. "I'm sure we can find something. Or bring someone else to watch Naruto?"

"I'm not sure how much I would trust ANBU with Naruto," Mito chuckled. "I doubt most of them have even interacted with a baby before."

From the mildly annoyed sparks of the ANBU's chakra around them, Mito assumed she had guessed correctly.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Kushina agreed immediately. "Maybe some other jounin?"

"Who would do it?" Mito asked, shuffling around papers. "This will be something of a long trip."

"Maybe Gai," Kushina said, grinning only slightly mischievously. "He seems like he'd be good with kids."

"Kushina, just because someone seems like something, doesn't mean they are that thing," Mito sighed, shaking her head. "I'll meet Gai later perhaps. If he's in the village. We'll leave in a week's time."

Gai wasn't exactly hard to find it turned out, with his very clearly visible green spandex.

"Good morning Gai," Mito said politely, inclining her head.

"Hokage-sama!" He greeted boisterously. "How may I assist you on this fine morning!?"

Mito personally thought he could turn down the volume, it was too early in the morning to deal with this. In face, it was never the right time to deal with that much volume. She despaired for any genin teams the man got. "I had wanted to speak to you."

"Of course!" Gai declared, nodding rapidly. "How may I assist you?"

"I was curious if you have any experience with children?" Mito said, smiling. "Particularly small ones."

"I have volunteered for a taijutsu example at the academy multiple times!" Gai said enthusiastically. "The young ninja in training are quite youthful!"

Mito chuckled. "Right, although I was more asking about children smaller than that."

"How small?" Gai asked, confusion clear on his face.

"Under one?" Mito hazard. "The Daimyo has invited Kushina and I to a formal event, and will require a babysitter to ensure Naruto isn't left alone."

Gai visibly paused, and Mito couldn't read him. For all that he was loud and enthusiastic, he was surprisingly hard to get a good read on. "Perhaps you can teach me?" He decided after a moment of thinking. "I would certainly be up for the task!"

Mito chuckled. Gai it was then. "Sure. It's my day off, so I have Naruto at home. He's napping right now, perhaps come to the Senju compound in an hour?"

"I will not let you down Hokage-sama! Otherwise I will-" she tuned him out quickly, choosing instead to deal with the quick inrush of memories from her office clone popping. She quickly sent out a shadow clone to replace it, and excused herself politely.

"Don't tell me you actually got Gai onboard," Kushina said, with no little amount of disbelief.

"I did," Mito confirmed. "Is there an issue?"

"Nope," Kushina said, just a bit too quickly. Mito eyed her for a moment, but dropped it anyway.

"That aside, he should be fine in taking care of Naruto while we're attending the event. Especially with our shadow clones as backup."

"I guess," Kushina agreed, pouring rice into a pot of water. "Help me finish up dinner, won't cha?"

Mito nodded, moving to chop the vegetables left out.

(A/N) I got like 4 hours of sleep last night. Isn't that fun? I'll try and make up the sleep tonight, promise. Also, will get to the event itself next time probably.