One historian, two unicorns, two phoenixes, two crazy hippies and four shinobi stare up at the giant hedge which creates the maze hiding the Temple of Dave. A small, door-sized opening in the hedge stands, shimmering with a silver glow, in front of the motley group.
"That's a big hedge," says Naruto, stating the obvious.
"I wish I could go inside," says Neji, transfixed by the simmering barrier over the entrance, which he now realizes covers the entire hedge.
"So do I," sighs Arashi. "But who is going to go in?"
"I am," says Iruka sensei firmly. "Who is coming in with me, and who is going in once we are back?"
"I wanna go!" says Burifu, waving her hand in the air.
"But I should go in first, since the research is for my grandpa!" argues Naruto.
"Children," says Pantsu calmly. "I am the eldest, I should go."
"But I wanna!" whines Burifu, stamping her foot and starting to cry big crocodile tears.
Iruka rolls his eyes and says, "I'll just go in the maze and get the scroll while you three argue about who is coming in with me. See ya." Iruka sensei casually walks into the maze.
Neji grins as Burifu and Naruto trip over each other trying to be the first to get in.
Neither of them makes it before the the entrance closes over. Branches and leaves grow up out of the ground, concealing the entrance completely.
"Iruka nii!" shouts Naruto, running up to the closed entrance and trying to move the branches aside.
"There is another entrance around the back," Iruka sensei calls back through the branches. "I'll meet you there."
"Okay!" Naruto agrees and steps away from the entrance. He turns to the others. "We gotta go around, 'tebayo."
Neji hears Iruka sensei's footsteps fade away as the rest of the group starts the long walk around to the other side of the giant maze. When they are out of sight of Gravity Fails, hidden by the trees, the ground begins to shake. Neji leaps back as the plant monster from the zoo rises up from the patch of grass where Neji was about to step.
"It's that Zetsu-like monster, dattebayo!" shouts Naruto, pointing at it.
"We are more than just like Zetsu," says the monster in a strange, menacing voice that sounds like two people talking together. "We are Zetsu."
"So our enemy is a zoo animal?" says Shisui, pointing skeptically at Zetsu.
"I allowed myself to be captured and put in the zoo in order to get past that pesky barrier," says Zetsu, glaring angrily at Shisui. "Nagato is here for the same scroll you are, and I cannot allow him to get it. Your Umino friend, however, is going to bring out that scroll and I am going to take it from him. I cannot allow your Hokage to learn the secrets of the Sharingan. Secrets I concealed by rewriting the sacred tablet!"
"YOU re-wrote the sacred tablet?!" Shisui draws his sword and attacks Zetsu. A branch stops him in his tracks. "Let me go so I can kill you!" Shisui's sharingan is spinning as he struggles against the branches.
"I am not finished speaking," says Zetsu. "I sealed the entrance so none of you could follow, and my comrade is at the other entrance, waiting for the Umino. None of you will make it out of here alive except the kyuubi boy. I need him alive."
Neji activates his byakugan and notices that Naruto is drawing seals, as is Pantsu. Neji, realizing that he could not reach Zetsu, attacks the branches holding Shisui captive. Shisui tries to help by casting a fire jutsu, but Zetsu winds branches around their hands before either of them can do any real damage. Now Neji is trapped too. The branches wind around them, squeezing tighter and sucking up more and more chakra with each second. Soon, Shisui goes limp and Neji is fighting to stay conscious. His byakugan deactivates on its own as Zetsu sucks away the chakra Neji needs to fuel it.
Neji's whole body feels numb.
He is vaguely aware of the three Uzumakis trying to free him and Shisui.
As if from far away, Neji hears Naruto yelling at Arashi to run.
Neji's head feels heavy, and his eyes droop shut. He hears Pantsu telling him to stay awake, to fight the plant monster, but Neji just feels so, so tired...
Iruka heads deeper into the maze, wondering if the entrance was supposed to close after him. He does not remember his parents saying much of anything about the Temple of Dave. Maybe it is meant to close. Maybe that is why only two people can go inside at once: the entrance closes behind you.
But, then, how do you get back out again?
While he is lost in thought, Iruka takes a turn that disorients him. He tries to backtrack, but ends up even more lost. It's time to take every left turn until he reaches something.
Then Iruka sees a little face vanish around a corner. Curious, Iruka creeps forward and tiptoes around the corner. Then he smiles.
Flattening herself against one side of the maze wall is none other than Namiko, the little girl they met when they arrived in Gravity Fails. She has her arms stretched out and her eyes squeezed shut.
"Hello," says Iruka, kneeling down so he is closer to her height. "What are you doing in here?"
Namiko opens on eye and peers at Iruka suspiciously. "How come you can see me?" she demands. "I have camouflage on."
Iruka grins in amusement. Namiko is wearing camouflage, but her three-quarter pants are blue camouflage. Her top is just a straight up blue vest, so he decides to tease her a little. "Only half of you is camouflaged," he says, deadly serious.
Namiko blushes. "I was talking about the seal!" she snaps.
Iruka notices a piece of paper in the girl's hand. He takes it gently and has a good look at it. "I'm afraid this is not drawn correctly," he tells her. "See here:" he points to a certain place on the seal and she creeps over to peer at it. "This should be up the other way. If you'd actually activated this, you would have made yourself glow."
Namiko's face crumbles and she looks like she is about to cry.
"It's alright," says Iruka, his inner teacher taking over. (And yes, he is aware that it's not really very inner.) "Everyone makes mistakes, especially when they are still learning. Have you ever tried to use this seal before?"
"Mmhm," Namiko nods. "But it didn't work so sensei told me to try that bit up the other way." She points to the bit Iruka just pointed out to her.
"Ah," Iruka nods, realizing what the problem was. "You must've forgotten to activate it that time too."
Namiko blushes bright red.
Iruka adjusts the seal and activates it. "Is it working now?" he asks.
"Yes," Namiko grins happily. "Now let me try!"
Iruka deactivates the seal and hands it to her.
Namiko holds the slip of paper in both hands and concentrates very hard, trying to activate it. Then she stops abruptly and looks up at Iruka with watery eyes. "How come it's not working?"
"Try again," says Iruka. Namiko does so, and this time Iruka pays closer attention to what she is actually doing. Then he laughs.
"What's so funny?" Namiko demands, glaring at Iruka.
"You only need to put a short burst of chakra into it, not pump chakra into it," says Iruka, bringing his laughter under control. "What you are doing is turning it off and on again."
Namiko stares at Iruka in surprise, then she starts laughing too. "That's why those seals won't work!"
"Have you been doing it with other seals too?" Iruka asks, smiling.
"Ah-ha," Namiko nods. "I will have to be careful in the future."
"How did you get in here, anyway?" asks Iruka, wondering if her presence is the reason the entrance closed over.
Namiko blushes. "Oh...I just want to see the temple…"
"Well I'm headed that way," says Iruka, standing up. "Do you know the way to the center?"
"It's this way," Namiko says and runs down the huge, leafy corridor. Iruka follows her, nearly losing the little girl when she turns a corner suddenly.
Iruka sees the entrance to the temple proper up ahead as he catches up to Namiko. Iruka remembers his parents telling him about the a special feature the Temple of Dave has. The Temple of Steve is hidden under ground. The Temples of Jashin and Joe are surrounded by walls of fire. But when you enter the Temple of Dave one of two things happens. Dave is the shinigami of ice, that is, water and air. When an Uzumaki enters the temple, a great wind blows up. When an Umino enters, snow falls. If one of each enters, they are hit by a blizzard.
As Namiko and Iruka pass through the doorway, Iruka braces for impact.
Snow begins to fall, gently floating to the ground. Namiko runs forward and dances in excitement. "Snow!" she laughs. "That's what Nagato sensei said would happen!"
"You're Nagato's apprentice?" says Iruka, disbelievingly. "I thought you were a local kid."
Namiko's smile vanishes and she starts fishing around in her pocket. "I am not a local kid," she says, all seriousness. "I am a kunoichi of the Hidden Mist." She pulls a brimless newsboy hat out of her pocket and pulls it down onto her head. There is a strap hanging down on either side of her face, and she buckles it into place. Secured to the hat's band is a Hidden Mist forehead protector. "I am Namiko Terumi, and my mother is the Fifth Mizukage."
And in that moment Iruka realizes why Joe stopped calling him the Last Umino.