"Wh...what?" stammers Jiraiya, staring at Kimiko with wide eyes. "Orochi...WHAT."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Tsunade laughs at Jiraiya. "You screwed Orochimaru!"
Jiraiya falls to his knees in despair, "But it was…" he falls face first into the grass. "I….no. Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it…"
Minato watches the scene with his head tipped to one side and a bemused smile on his face. Seriously, what happened while he was dead?
Minato's mother claps her hands together loudly to get everyone's attention. "Could everyone who doesn't have a legitimate reason to be in my garden please go home," she orders. "And take those people to the hospital on your way," she adds, gesturing to the injured.
"Come on, Akatsuki," says Nagato. "We need to go find an inn or something." He turns to Kazama. "I'll come by some time before I leave, and bring these two. "He gestures to Konan and Yahiko.
"If you come at a meal time, bring some food," says Kazama.
All of Akatsuki leaves, including Obito and Rin. Minato feels a bit disappointed and calls after them, "Obito, Rin: you two better come back too."
"We'll be back later," promises Rin.
"Chojuro," says Mei, sweetly, turning to her underling. "Take Lord Gengetsu and find an inn. I'll be staying here."
"Chojiro-niisan,"says Namiko, grinning. "This is my grandparent's house!"
"Well this will either be very bad or very good for future Leaf and Mist relations," says Gengetsu charismatically. "Good job, Lady Fifth, you've gone and fallen into the forbidden love death trap, haven't you?"
"It's more politically awkward than forbidden now that the Leaf and Mist are allies," says Fugaku, grabbing Shisui by the front of his shirt and hoisting the newly-blinded young man over his shoulder. "I've got to go and take this to my daughter so she knows her baby daddy is blind now. Madara, you stay with me until I figure out where to put you. Bring Sasuke."
Madara picks up Sasuke, cradling her gently in his arms. "Yes, Hokage," he says, and follows Fugaku out the front gate.
The rest of the allies from the Leaf leave, waving their goodbyes as they go. Tsunade takes the wounded members of Kurama's Guards and the Orders of Steve and Joe to the hospital for proper treatment, leaving Iruka behind since they have done everything they can for his injuries. She forces everyone else who is leaving to help her carry the wounded. Kimimaro and Kabuto promise to come back later and explain the situation with Kimiko being Orochimaru's daughter. The Hyuuga twins take their reanimated mother with them, and Gai takes his father with him. Kakashi and his wife stay, as do Sakumo, Hashirama, Tobirama, Mito, Ikkaku and Kohari.
"Kazama," says Tenzou, sounding a little worried. "Before I left for the battle, I gave Aki and Minoru to Kakashi's dogs and told them to bring the kids here. Did they?"
"No," says Minato's mum, sounding a little worried herself. "This is the first I'm hearing of this."
The curly-haired girl sitting on the steps leaning on Naruto points towards the front gate and says, "They'll be here soon."
"How do you know?" asks Tenzou.
"Burifu's a sensory type," explains Iruka.
"Hush, you need to rest," say Minato's mum and Iruka's mum at the same time.
At that moment, a small procession comes into view. A pack of dogs, all of which Minato recognizes as Kakashi's dogs, march down the footpath with their heads high in the air. Aki - who Minato instantly recognizes from Kakashi's picture - is skipping along in the center of the pack, a big grin on her face. The largest dog, Bull, is carrying a basket in his mouth. The basket is filled with flowers, leaves and a small bush.
"Where's Minoru?" demands Tenzou.
"IN THE BASKET!" Yells Aki, breaking the procession to shove open the gate and run to Kakashi. "DADDY!" She uses a small burst of chakra to propel herself through the air into Kakashi's arms.
What do you mean he's in the basket?!" demands Tenzou, running over to the basket and staring down at it in confusion. "And why didn't you bring the kids here like I told you to, Pakkun?"
"Aki didn't want to, and ran off home," explains Pakkun. "She led us on a merry chase, and we ended up staying there. We only managed to convince her to come here this morning."
"Aki!" scolds Kakashi. "You know you're supposed to do what the pack tells you when they are looking after you."
"I had to feed the kitty," says Aki.
"You could've brought your kitten here," says Kazama. "Now explain what you mean about Minoru."
"He's in the basket!" insists Aki.
"Oh," says Tobirama, his face falling. He walks over to the basket and lifts out the bush. The leaves and flowers come with it.
The bush giggles and partially transforms into Minoru. Little arms reach for Tobirama while wooden legs kick at the air. A half-wooden head appears with a big smile on the little face.
"How long have you known he can use woodstyle?" demands Hashirama.
"Quite a while,"says Tobirama. "But I wanted to figure out how the news would be received before telling anyone."
"I thought you were the smart one," says Iruka, rolling his eyes. "Obviously you should have at least told his damn parents."
"Alright, Iruka," says Minato's mum. "Let's get you to bed. You need to rest, and you aren't going to do that with all this excitement."
Minato notices that Ikkaku hasn't actually moved since Kohari snatched Iruka's kid from his hands. He's staring at his hands with a confused expression on his face, as if he hasn't quite figured out where the kid went. "I'll take him inside," Minato volunteers. "Just show me where to put him. Oh, and Mei?"
"Yeah?" says Mei.
"Do us a favour and let Ikkaku hold Namiko. He hasn't moved in the half hour since she got snatched off him."
Mei looks over at Ikkaku, who still hasn't moved and is starting to look a little upset, like his brain is processing what happened incredibly slowly.
Mei laughs and places Namiko in Ikkaku's hands.
Ikkaku grins. "There you are," he says. "I knew you'd reappear if I waited long enough."
"Am I really chubby?" asks Namiko.
"Yes," says Ikkaku, honestly. "Not quite fat, but definitely chubby."
"Are you Daddy's dead Daddy?"
"Yes."
"If I ask you a question, will you tell me the truth?" Namiko sounds as though the question is very important to her.
"Yes, I will," Ikkaku vows.
"Am I pretty?"
"No."
"Oh, I see," says Namiko, frowning. "So then everyone's been lying to spare my feelings?"
"Most likely," says Ikkaku. "But you are very cute, in a round, comfortable sort of way, and to some that's close enough."
"Well, that's alright then," says Namiko, and wraps her arms around Ikkaku's neck. Ikkaku grins happily.
"Kakashi, get the other end of the stretcher," orders Minato, picking up one end of Iruka's stretcher. Kakashi hands Aki to Sakumo, who is only too happy to take her. Then Minato and Kakashi carry Iruka inside between them. Kazama shows them where Iruka's room is, and they soon have him tucked in bed and dosed up on painkillers. While they are forcing Iruka to take his prescribed bed rest, everyone else migrates inside.
Minato, Kakashi and Kazama descend the stairs to find Minato enthusiastically regaling everyone with the story of the battle.
"And then Mei just appeared out of nowhere and saved Iruka-nii," Naruto is saying. "He got all wet-" Naruto giggles.
Mei goes a bit pink and laughs.
"Naruto!" Arashi scolds.
Naruto grins and goes back to his story while the children in the room look confused. Naruto tells an astonishing account about an epic battle, meeting the Sage of Six Paths and being forced to write lines by Madara. He tells them about the Ultimatum and Madara taking a shine to Sasuke.
When he is finished, Kimiko, who is sitting on Jiraiya's lap, asks, "Do you think I could learn fuuinjutsu?"
"Of course," says Jiraiya, ruffling her hair. "I'll teach you."
"Well, that was an entertaining story," says Kazama. "Now, who would like a tour of the new extension?"