(A/N) The Gala itself! Did I mention it was a gala? If I didn't, oops, I forgot. Disclaimer: I have never been to a gala, and probably never will. I also know almost nothing about them. Excuse my bs-ing please. Also Mito decided it was time for a mild lecture on her place in history. Blame her, not me.

Mito folded her formal kimono carefully, placing it on the seal she was using to carry it. No use for bags if she didn't need them. She sealed it in, looking over just in time to stop Naruto from knocking over a bottle of ink she had so foolishly left open on the table. It was probably good she'd developed a sixth sense for that kind of thing.

"Almost done?" Kushina asked, walking into the room. "Naruto! Don't go after the ink bottles! You know those don't wash out!" She raced across the room, scooping him up while Mito screwed the caps back on. Couldn't leave it out, even if Naruto wasn't crawling yet.

"He can't know the the ink doesn't come out of the carpets yet," Mito noted mildly. "He isn't old enough yet."

"Whatever!" Kushina shouted, trying to wrangle the squirmy four month old into proper clothing. "Naruto! Hold still for Kaa-san!"

"I repeat, he is four months old," Mito said patiently, rolling up the scroll to place it into the seal on her forearm. "Are you packed?"

"Yep! Let's go!"

"Gai hasn't arrived yet, and the ANBU are still reeling from the traps they ran into," Mito sighed. "We have to wait for both of them to be ready. Hokage or not, we cannot merely leave. Especially not without the proper escort."

"We're fully trained Uzumaki seal mistresses, we can handle ourselves," Kushina pouted. "We could totally beat anyone up."

"Perhaps, but we need Gai so that he can take care of Naruto while we're busy," Mito said, running down her mental checklist to make sure she didn't forget anything. Nope, she had everything. They'd even remembered to make Kakashi acting Hokage while they were gone. He wasn't happy, but who cared about what he thought of it. He would manage while they were gone. 14 he may be, but he had also been in ANBU until Kushina pulled him out. He'd survive.

Now that she thought about it, he probably hadn't fought harder to come with them because he'd probably be saddled with watching him. For some odd reason, the young Hatake had refused to come anywhere near Naruto, avoiding the house and the office any time Naruto ended up coming with them. Mito suspected he didn't want to 'contaminate' the baby, as stupid as it was. But she couldn't stop him, so she left him to pretending to be Hokage while they went to the event.

Although the look on his face when she told him they'd found Gai to be a sufficient babysitter was priceless. She had to admit she enjoyed that one.

"Gai's here! Now can we leave?" Kushina asked impatiently.

Occasionally Mito wondered if she had two children. Like now. "Yes, we can leave. I'll get the ANBU team up and running again. You go greet Gai."

Mito chuckled as Kushina ran off excitedly, and followed her more serenely to deactivate some of their trap seals. They did have to take their ANBU escort, even if they'd be just fine without them.

She deactivated the traps holding the poor ANBU captive, making sure each one was fine before moving on. Each had made it deeper into their web of seals then the previous one, even if it was only by a single level of seals. It was probably only luck that ensured they got this far. Well, luck and a fair dose of skill. They were ANBU afterall.

But even then, ANBU were no match for two Uzumaki seal mistresses. Especially not one who clashed with Madara and the Kyuubi and came out on top, having sealed the Kyuubi into herself at a moment's notice.

That aside, perhaps she should collect Naruto before Gai got too excited and made him cry.

She strode over, carefully pulling Naruto from Kushina's arms, expertly cradling him in one arm and clamping her hand down on Kushina's shoulder with the other. "Were we going to leave?" She asked casually.

"OH! Yep! Let's go! You got the ANBU out, right?"

Mito inclined her head. "And reset the traps afterwards, don't worry. The house is well protected. Now, we really must be going, we are on a schedule."

"Of course!" Gai exclaimed, striking a pose, teeth sparkling. Mito shielded Naruto's eyes. The guppy did not need to see that. Four months old he may be, but he still didn't need to see that.

"Right! Let's go!" Kushina said excitedly, wrapping an arm around Gai's shoulders to drag him forward with her.

Mito just chuckled, following after them, holding Naruto close to her. It wouldn't do for him to get too cold.

The gala was a formal event, of course, so they dressed in their formal kimonos, and left Naruto and Gai with a few shadow clones in case, and the ANBU contingent nearby. It wouldn't do for the ANBU to get too twitchy with the crowded nature of the gala. It was a large event, some sort of flower theme having beautiful flowers, both real, paper, and made of some metals.

Mito was glad she'd thought to bring beautiful hairpins that had flowers hanging from the ends as decoration for her hair. Kushina had chosen to leave hers loose, this was not an official shinobi mission, and she preferred it down anyway.

The evening was mostly filled with pointless drivel, although despite being in this odd future for four months already, she often found herself scanning the crowd for Tobirama, a usual escort to these events for her and Hashirama, as much as the man despised them. Perhaps it was the fact that he despised them that made it all the funnier when he met with her periodically throughout the event to inform her cattily of comments he'd been thinking up of all of the nobles there. They could get very creative, and highly amusing.

Perhaps it was one of the reasons she had such an excellent poker face.

"I heard you just had a child," a snotty male noble said to Kushina. "Why are you up and around after that?"

Kushina looked two seconds away from castrating the man, so Mito stepped in easily.

"She is perfectly capable of being an active shinobi while her son is four months old." Honeyed words dripping with venom. "But I suppose you would know all about women and their shinobi children, hm?" She smiled daintily, looking at the man from underneath her eyelashes.

He stuttered out an indecipherable answer and quickly excused himself. Tobirama wasn't the only one who could be catty when the situation called for it. And besides, who was that man to try and tell Kushina how to raise her son, or when to recover after a birth, which by all accounts was quite easy on her. Only the birth itself, of course, not the situation that arose from it. They'd hardly needed a medic from what she heard from Kushina.

Mito turned to exchange pleasantries with another noble. This was annoying, but necessary.

Luckily the event finished a few hours after the incident, and they were able to get back to the room. No clones had popped, which was good, and meant there hadn't been any major trouble.

They arrived in the room to find Gai fast asleep in a rocking chair, Naruto asleep on his chest.

Kushina cooed quietly, and Mito wished she had a sharingan to preserve the memory forever. A quiet click later and she remembered the existence of cameras.

"D'ya think we can take him or should we leave him there," Kushina asked, eyeing the two.

"If we want them both asleep, we should leave them be," Mito decided quietly. "Lets go. We're right next door, and our clones are still in there. They'll be fine."

Kushina nodded, and they quietly closed the door.

(A/N) Such a cute image. Absolutely adorable. Honestly I'm surprised they got through the evening without any incidents. That isn't to say Gai didn't freak out and have to be walked through changing a diaper, haha.