"It's blank, Lord Hokage!" one of Lord Fugaku's cypher corp whines as he pours over the scroll from the Temple of Dave.
"No it's not," says Lord Fugaku. "Lord Second assured me there is something written on the scroll, and we just have to find it."
"Did he give you any hints about how to find it?" asks Nagato, sounding very frustrated.
"He said something about considering who made it, why it was made and who it was made for," sighs Lord Fugaku. "It was not overly helpful."
Mei laughs. The Hidden Leaf is funny. "Who made the scroll?" she asks.
"Lord Second made the scroll, as far as I know," says Nagato.
"Kagami Uchiha, Shisui's Grandfather, helped him make it," says Lord Fukaku.
"So why was it made?" asks Iruka, who is standing over the scroll. Mei has an excellent view of his butt from where she is standing, over by the window.
"It was made to hold a copy of the original text that was written on the Sacred Stone Tablet written by the Sage of Six Paths on the true nature of the sharingan," says Lord Second.
Mei stands up a bit straighter and tears her eyes away from Iruka's fine backside. "I thought it was made to contain the other half of the jutsu to destroy Zetsu," she says. "Have we been looking for the wrong scroll?"
"No," says Lord Fugaku, seriously. "Lord Second assured me that what you are looking for and what I am looking for are both in the scroll."
"Interesting," says Iruka, leaning a little closer to the scroll. "So how do you read it?"
Mei's eyes go straight back to Iruka's butt. She leaves the window and heads over to the table. She slides in beside Iruka and takes a look at the blank scroll. Seeing that it is just as blank as ever, she turns to look at Iruka suggestively and says, "So do you have a theory on what we should do next?"
Iruka turns his head to look at Mei and says, with a cheeky grin, "Whatever we do next will require a lot of co operation."
Mei's attention is diverted by a sharp knock on the window. Everyone in the room turns to see who it is. It is green haired Kakashi Hatake, grinning at them from behind his mask.
Lord Fugaku heads over to the window and opens it, letting Kakashi in. Kakashi is followed by Naruto carrying a girl in a wheelchair, and a boy. The three of them have green hair also. Wind and Rain follow close behind, their hair, thankfully, is normal coloured (Not that Mei can see Wind's hair, anyway.
"Lord Fugaku," says Kakashi, smiling. "We just caught these two trying to find and rescue our pretend prisoners."
"Hello Wind, Rain," says Mei, smiling. She has decided to ignore the green hair. "And Hello Naruto. Is that girl your girlfriend?"
"No, she's my teammate!" says Naruto, setting the wheelchair on the floor. "This is Sasuke, she's Mr. Nice Hokage's daughter. I'd be too scared to date Sasuke anyway. I mean, Shisui is dating Sasuke's big sister, and now he has a shiny blue glow in the dark mustache!"
"You better not be thinking of dating Sasuke," growls Lord Fugaku.
"Oh, Sasuke's pretty, but she's more like a sister that I don't always get on with very well and would like to beat the crap out of every now and again," says Naruto scratching the back of his head, nervously. "But I don't want to date her, 'tebayo. She's probably got cooties…"
"How old are you?" asks Mei, sure she is seeing an adolescent crush. "12, 13? Give it a few years."
"Thank goodness Hinata's not here," Iruka mutters under his breath.
"I don't have cooties!" snaps the girl, hitting Naruto. "Only Madoka has cooties!"
"Hey, don't be mean to Madoka, 'tebayo."
"If I'm not mean to him once a week he starts thinking I hate him, it's necessary."
"If you two don't stop fighting right now, I will punch you both through that wall," says Madoka, tugging on his gloves.
"Oookay," interrupts Kakashi, separating the three kids. "That's enough of that."
"Yes Kakashi sensei," they chorus.
"Now that that's settled," says Kakashi, smiling again. "Shall we get on with the business at hand? We need to make sure no one else comes to rescue the Mizukage and the leader of the Hidden Rain."
"So then we are prisoners?" asks Nagato, his eyes wide.
"No you moron," says Mei, wondering just how stupid one person can be. "He means we need to inform our villages the prisoner thing was a ruse by Mr Hot and Clever over here." Mei indicates who she is talking about by slapping Iruka on the backside.
Wind and Rain both face palm.
"Do our villages know we were taken to the Leaf as prisoners yet?" Mei asks.
"I think so," says Wind. "I found out about it from the rumor mill, after all."
"You are going to need to go back to your respective villages," says Rain. "Wind and I will stay here and help with the scroll."
"It might be best for you and Nagato to go back to your villages," agrees Lord Fugaku. "You need to nip that rumour about us abducting you in the bud before we have a war on our hands. Don't worry about the scrolls. We will send you a message as soon as we find out what is on them."
"That does seem like the most logical thing to do," sighs Mei. "But I do hate to leave him so soon." She pats Iruka's shoulder.
"Aw, does that mean Namiko-chan has to leave already?" whines Naruto, an incredibly crushed expression on his face.
Iruka also looks incredibly crushed at this thought.
"We will come back again to sort out things like alliances and peace treaties," promises Mei. "But for now, the Mist and the Leaf are in a temporary truce to fight a common enemy."
"Peace treaties and alliances sound like fun," says Kakashi, smiling.
"How about we schedule those meetings for after Zetsu is dealt with," suggests Lord Fugaku. "For now, go back to your villages and stop them from declaring war on the Leaf."
"Wind, Rain, are you sure you want to stay in the Leaf for a potentially long time?" asks Nagato, a concerned frown on his face.
"Don't worry," says Wind. "I've thought about it, and it's better if we are the ones who stay. And no, don't say anything about sending someone else from Akatsuki."
"Wind is pretty determined that we stay," interjects Rain.
"But…" Nagato tries to protest, and Mei wonders if the people currently wearing the Wind and Rain masks have bad history with the Hidden Leaf.
"It's fine," says Rain. "We need to tell the Hokage a few things anyway."
"Come on then, Nagato," says Mei, heading to the window. Might as well use it since it is open. "Let's go before the Fourth Shinobi War starts." Mei grins at Iruka suggestively. "You come too. We need to discuss child support."
"How did you manage to say the flirtatiously?" asks one of Lord Fugaku's code breakers.
Mei smiles and says, "Trade secret." Then she jumps out of the window, and sets off across the rooftops.
As she is leaving, Mei hears Lord Fugaku say sternly, "Now that the important business is taken care of: Team Seven, why is your hair green?"
Soon, Iruka and Nagato appear beside her after a few seconds. Very soon, they arrive back at Iruka's house. Mei thinks it is hilarious and adorable that Iruka still lives with his adoptive parents because his adopted nephew/brother won't allow him to move out.
They head inside and find Namiko sitting down in front of the TV with Kazama eating cup ramen. "You're feeding her ramen?" says Mei, mildly horrified.
"Do you have something against ramen?" demands Nagato, glaring deadly kunai at Mei.
"No, it's fine, but Namiko isn't allowed it at the moment because she ate 15 bowls in one sitting and made herself sick!"
Kazama laughs heartily. "She is so much like Iruka."
For some bizarre reason, Iruka is grinning like he's PROUD or something.
"What is wrong with you people?" sighs Mei.
"Mummy, Hidden Leaf Ramen is amazing," says Namiko. "How long are we staying here?"
"We're leaving now," says Mei. "Wind and Rain are here now, so Nagato and I need to get back to our villages before that rumour we were taken prisoner causes a war."
"Aww," whines Namiko, pouting. "I wanted to stay here longer!"
"Mei, can we talk?" says Kazama, getting up off the couch and heading into the music room, where Namiko slept with Kimiko the previous night. Nagato crashed on the couch, and Mei used Iruka as a pillow. He didn't mind. (They did cuddles like in the Temple of Joe, but this time with protection.) (Mei is well aware she is thinking in child friendly format, but there are children present. (And yes, Nagato also counts as a child.))
Mei follows Kazama into the music room and says, "What do you want to talk about?"
"Can Namiko stay here a little longer?" Kazama asks.
"Don't you already have a full house, though?" asks Mei, bemused. She is not planning on leaving her kid in a foreign village amid strangers and people she has only met a few times before. Mei suddenly realizes that she has already done that. She did leave Namiko with Akatsuki in the Hidden Rain after all…
"I do," says Kazama, sighing. "But think of it like this: until yesterday I did not know that I had a granddaughter. And now she is going to leave and I don't know if I will see her again. I know the Leaf and Mist are technically enemies. Even if you do become our allies, is it really likely that Namiko will be able to come here very often?"
Mei can see where Kazama is coming from. "And how am I supposed to explain to my council why I left my kid in an enemy village? After the whole prisoner debacle, they will assume she is here as a hostage."
"You said Wind and Rain are here," says Kazama reasonably. "Just tell them she's with them. I know she is Nagato's apprentice, and technically part of Akatsuki by association. It is not unreasonable to tell your council and your village that Namiko is here to help uncover the scroll's mysteries with help from Wind, Rain, the Uchiha's sharingan, the Hyuuga's byakugan and the Second Hokage's rare hints."
Kazama is making a strong case. It would make sense to leave Namiko with the scroll, since she might be able to help crack it. Mei is still very reluctant to leave Namiko, though.
"Isn't one of the scrolls Namiko's?" asks Kazama, her apparent change of subject alerting Mei to the fact the old lady is about to make a deal-breaking point.
"Yes," confirms Mei. "She's studying the techniques in it."
"Then wouldn't it make sense for her to stay here where she can keep an eye on it? Someone might steal it, after all."
"But Wind and Rain are keeping an eye on it," says Mei. "Besides. Namiko is stuck on the technique she is learning, and should probably take a break from busting her brain over it so she can look at it with fresh eyes."
"Or she could stay here and get help from the two greatest seal masters alive," says Kazama, smiling. "One of whom is her father, remember?"
Mei sucks in her breath, aware that Kazama has won. Mei is essentially in a corner. She only has one argument left. "But I don't want to leave her here," says Mei. "It's so far away, and I don't really know any of you."
Kazama smiles. "Now we're getting to the real issue," she says kindly. "You are afraid to leave you child among strangers. I understand. But know this: we will not allow any harm to come to her. We will not hurt her in any way."
"But how do I know you won't hurt her without meaning to?" asks Mei, glad that Kazama is actually taking her 'I don't want to' seriously.
"Because I know better now," says Kazama, sadly. "I messed up quite badly when we first arrived here in the Leaf and took in Naruto and Iruka. I made mistakes with them that I regret deeply. But I will not make those same mistakes with Namiko, I promise."
Mei wonders exactly what it was that happened. She looks into Kazama's eyes and sees honesty, and trust. She realizes that Kazama is essentially asking for an enemy genin to stay in her home for a while. Mei could not do that, no matter how closely related they were. This woman has a spine made of steel. Mei smiles and says, "Alright, she can stay until Zetsu is defeated. But after that, she comes back home to me, alright?"
"Thank you," says Kazama, smiling. "Now before you go, do you want to talk about child support now or after we defeat Zetsu?"