Peanut is back on Fugaku's shoulder, but Fugaku does not mind the little kitty now. Fugaku is neck deep in paperwork that revolves around changing certain academy policies. The short version is that Iruka wants the graduation test to be more well-rounded, and expects change by the beginning of the next academy year. The long version is a crap ton of paperwork.
Fugaku is currently drawing up a proposal to put to the council on the matter. The proposal is based on Iruka's ideas, with some input from Fugaku himself.
A knock on Fugaku's door interrupts his train of thought. "Enter!" Fugaku calls.
One of the messenger hawk handlers enters with a scroll in her hands. "I have a message from Team Iruka, sir!" the woman reports.
"Thank you," says Fugaku, and points to a spot on his desk. "Leave it there." The messenger hawk handler places the scroll on Fugaku's desk and leaves with a bow. Fugaku finishes his sentence and picks up the scroll.
Team Iruka is coming back to the Leaf with three prisoners. They are due to arrive in only a few hours. Fugaku stands. "Well, Peanut," he says. "It looks like I'll need to get my Hokage hat on." Fugaku picks the Hat up off his desk and puts it on. Then he heads out to gather some ANBU and Jiraiya.
The fact that Nagato is one of the prisoners and the Mizukage is another worries Fugaku. What happened on that mission? And just how slow is Sparky at flying, because it takes a couple of days at least to get from the Land of Eddies to the Hidden Leaf, and the darn bird arrived a few hours before Team Iruka is due to arrive back in the Leaf! Fugaku realizes he is assuming that Team Iruka sent Sparky with the message. That is the only thing the phoenix seems to be good for, but that is no guarantee that he is actually the one who brought the message back.
Ah well, it does not matter. Fugaku gathers a team of ANBU and Jiraiya, briefs them on the situation and heads down to the gates to wait for Team Iruka.
The waiting goes on for so long that one of the ANBU pulls out some string and starts playing with Peanut, who tagged along on Fugaku's shoulder. Jiraiya starts flirting with the female ANBU, who join forces to pull his leg.
"Girl, you look badass in that armour," Jiraiya says to one, winking suggestively.
"There is nothing bad about my ass," the ANBU replies, her voice devoid of emotion.
"Damn right!" agrees Jiraiya, sidling up to the ANBU. "You've got a hot ass."
"She has a boyfriend," says the other female ANBU. "I however, do not."
"You're just jealous the famous porn writer isn't flirting with you," says the first ANBU lady.
"Ladies!" says Jiraiya, putting an arm around each ANBU. "The famous Lord Jiraiya can handle two women at once!"
"Is that all you can handle?" asks the second ANBU. "Because I'm sure my girlfriend would be down for a foursome, and I'm pretty sure Cat's boyfriend will gatecrash to get her back."
"Woah!" says Jiraiya, pretending to be horrified. "No one mentioned sex! I was just flirting to pass the time!"
"Oh, is that all?" says the first ANBU lady, turning away and tossing her hair. "Well I'm sorry, I thought you only flirted with women you want to f-"
"Here they come," interrupts Fugaku, glad he had a reason to distract them from that conversation. The Anbu stand to attention instantly, Peanut leaps back onto Fugaku's shoulder and Jiraiya squares up to look intimidating.
Fugaku crosses his arms and puts on his best resting angry face. He can see Team Iruka coming up the road towards the village gates, complete with about five extras: three adults and two young children. Iruka is carry the smaller child and Shisui, complete with his new mustache, is carrying the older child piggy-back.
"Yo, Pervy Sage!" calls Naruto, waving enthusiastically. "I'm a master of fuuinjutsu now!"
Jiraiya pales a bit, but Fugaku nods, feeling like his village is a bit safer now that Naruto is a bit stronger.
Once they are closer to the gates, Team Iruka is joined by ten people in matching red uniforms, a unicorn and two phoenixes. All of the extras appear out of the trees and then form a ring around team Iruka.
"Who are all of these people, and why did you not mention them in your message?" asks Fugaku sternly.
"Oooh, sorry," says Naruto, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "We mentioned them in the first message, but I accidently dropped that in some mud, so we had to write a new one. Then Burifu ate it because the ink looked tasty, so we had to write another new one, and Iruka nii had to send it off half finished because otherwise Gramps Pants would have smoked it."
Fugaku blinks a couple of times in surprise. Surprise at the fact this does not surprise him, that is. "Naruto," he says patiently. "Who are Pants and Burifu?"
"This is Burifu," says Naruto, pointing to the girl Shisui is carrying.
"Hi, dude!" says the kid, grinning and waving at Fugaku. "That mustache is the s***."
"Thank you," says Fugaku, stroking his mustache. "I owe my wife a favour for letting me grow it, though."
"This is Pantsu," says Naruto, pointing to the ancient man standing beside Arashi. "He's the Leader of the Order of Steve, and he's Burifu's Great-great grandpa, and also Granny Tsunade's Great Uncle, and my Great-something Uncle. I can't remember if it is one or two greats, 'tebayo."
"Hey, dude," says Pantsu. "I may or may not be responsible for Tsunade's drinking problem, eh."
"She's more fun when she's drunk!" says Jiraiya, grinning widely.
"Please don't pass on your bad habits to your highly impressionable child," says Arashi, face palming.
"Who are all of these people?" asks Fugaku, gesturing around at the ten people in red uniforms.
"They are Mr. Nine Tails' bodyguards," says Naruto. "Sei is the one who does all the talking - that's Sei there - because of something about a fourth wall and too many names, 'tebayo."
"Right," says Fugaku, deducing that the woman in the off-the-shoulder dress and the little girl Iruka is carrying are the other two prisoners. "Now Nagato, what's the deal, man? We were rinnegan buddies."
Nagato looks guilty. "We need the Sacred Scroll from the Temple of Dave, though. But Iruka won't let us have it."
"Sacred relic of my people, remember?" says Iruka.
"I am your people, though!" whines Nagato. Obviously this is not the first time this exact conversation has happened.
"Let's take this to my office," says Fugaku, stopping the conversation from continuing into an argument about rank.
Once Nagato has finished explaining what Akatsuki needs the Sacred Scrolls for, everyone in the Hokage's office waits in silence for the Hokage's response. Mei is nervous, wondering what will happen next. The thing she is most worried about is the possibility that the Leaf will decide to take Namiko by invoking the treaty between the Leaf and Whirlpool.
Finally, the Hokage says, "How do you know you will be able to use this jutsu?"
"We don't really," admits Nagato, nervously. "But it is the only hope we have to stop Zetsu from reviving Kaguya. We know from Joe's Sacred Scroll that we need two people from a particular line. Dave's scroll should say who those two need to be. We think that, since they are scrolls from the Whirlpool, that we will need an Umino and an Uzumaki."
"And where were you planning on getting an Uzumaki?" asks the Hokage.
"That would be me," says Nagato, nodding.
"I thought you would be the one from the Umino bloodline," says Lord Fugaku, resting his chin on his hands, his purple eyes boring into Nagato like he can see into his very soul. "If not, you would need our help. Unless, of course," he looks right at Namiko. "There is another Umino besides Iruka."
Mei moves closer to her daughter, who is sitting on Iruka's hip again. "What are you implying?" Mei asks.
"That that child is Iruka's child," says Lord Fugaku. "They are astonishingly alike. But how could that be?" Lord Fugaku pretends to be amazed by the possibility.
"Remember that mission I went on with Itachi?" says Iruka, grinning nervously and blushing. "The one where I was supposed to get the Sacred Scroll from the Temple of Joe?"
"I do indeed," says Lord Fugaku. "Itachi came back from that mission with a new best friend."
"Can we just skip to the part where I had Iruka's baby as a result of that mission?" says Mei, not wanting them to get too deep into what went down. There are children present, after all.
"And since you were already allied with Akatsuki, that meant they had both bloodlines they might need," finishes Fugaku. "And am I right in assuming that the child is Nagato's apprentice, whom I have heard rumors about?"
"Yes," says Nagato, sighing. "How did you guess so easily? It's not that obvious that Namiko is Iruka's kid, is it?"
"I knew Iruka when he was knee-high," says Jiraiya, surprising Mei. "It was the Sanin who arrived at the destruction of the Whirlpool first, after all. He looked just like this kid." Jiraiya pokes Namiko's cheek. "But a boy and brown haired. And he had a giant gash across his face too."
"Speaking of the Hidden Whirlpool," says Arashi, excitedly. "I found out who destroyed it! It was Sasori of the Red Sand! Apparently I also killed him accidentally…"
"Good," says Lord Fugaku, nodding once. "I expect a full report on the mission, and a comprehensive report on your findings, Arashi. Now, I have some paperwork to finish, so all of you need to go and get some rest. But first: the scrolls, if you don't mind."
"Scrolls?" says Iruka, sounding a bit confused. "We only brought you one scroll." He juggles Namiko so he is holding her with one arm, pulls out the Sacred Scroll from the Temple of Dave and places it on the Hokage's Desk.
The Hokage looks up at Namiko and says, "I need your scroll as well, child."