62 Ch. 61

--Zach POV--

The reunion of Minato, Kushina, and Naruto brought tears to Tsunade and my eyes. The first thing Kushina did after all their tears dried was to drag everyone to Ichiraku Ramen. Tsunade and I tagged along for this one and were surprised at Teuchi and Ayame running and hugging Minato when he walked in. After the initial emotional rollercoaster was when the feast started, Teuchi pulled out all the stops and closed the shop for us.

At the end of the celebration I tried to pay for it but Teuchi was adamant that it was on the house. This was a celebration for the reunion of a wonderful family, and the return of the Fourth Hokage. I nodded my head at his determination and had Tsunade distract the father-daughter duo and snuck the money and then some into the register till.

After we all left Ichiraku we made our way back to the compound. Once we all were home and before the family could run off we told Kushina and Minato to not plan anything for the next couple of days. They nodded in agreement and headed off to the training yard where I suspect that Naruto would be showing off his Beyblade to his father. Tsunade and I decided to make it an early night and turned in for bed.

For the next couple of days, we had Kushina and Minato's rapt attention as we showed them the manga and anime of Naruto. They had the highest of highs when they found out how much Naruto overcame and reached his dream of Hokage, but there was also the lowest of lows with all the suffering he had to go through. Minato, just like his wife, tried to get me to reincarnate Hiruzen and I told him it wasn't worth it. That wasn't to say Minato didn't go hunt down Jiraiya and give him a piece of his mind. Somehow Jiraiya was able to appease him with special edition copies of his Icha Icha series, even the one that hadn't been released yet. By the end of the binge reading and watching, we were all sitting around in the living room.

Tsunade: "So, what do you think?"

Zach: "This new Icha Icha is great, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the female lead is modeled after you."

Tsunade: "Why would? Wait, quit that! I'm asking Kushina and Minato what they think!"

Zach: "Oh. Well, there is this really graphic part where the MC and the FL were in a room next to the best friends of the two… Wait, I'm the MC in this one?!"

My face was incredulous, Tsunade just glared at me. The other couple in the room started to laugh at our antics.

Minato: "I understand all the situations in the past. You've also explained why you've brought the Uchihas back and I can guess why you've brought us back. Kushina said something about you two leaving and starting a bar and forge in another world?"

Minato was looking at us like we were crazy. We shrugged at him in sync.

Zach: "Is it really that hard to believe? I did just bring back 6 people from the grave."

Minato: "Fair point. So I take it you brought me back in order for me to take up the Hokage mantle again?"

Tsunade nodded at that and I smirked at him. Minato looked at Kushina for a second before looking back our way.

Minato: "I refuse."

I was so shocked that I threw the special edition Icha Icha book away in a random direction. Tsunade almost fell out of her seat before I had enough presence to grab her.

Tsunade: "But why?"

Minato and Kushina stared at us, and we just stared back. It didn't take long before Kushina's poker face began to crack. Once we saw the weakness in her expression we became like sharks in bloodied water. We both diverted both our stares unto her and it didn't take long before her giggle fit to start. Minato deflated at his wife giving in to the pressure.

Minato: "Come on Kushina! We agreed to let them sweat a little!"

Kushina: "I couldn't help it!"

With that, we joined in on the contagious laughter they were exuding. It didn't take long for us to get back on track to the subject at hand.

Minato: "Yes, I will gladly take the position of Hokage."

When he agreed I got up out of my seat and walked behind him and put my arms on his shoulders and looked over to Tsunade.

Zach: "Look honey, you're now officially the shortest term Hokage in the village history!"

Tsunade's hair started to rise along with her killing intent. She had grabbed the pillow she was resting behind her back and hurled it at me. Before the missile could get near me and Minato he used the Flying Thunder God Technique teleporting us to another part of the room out of harm's way.

Zach: "I LOVE YOU!"

Another pillow was hurled at us, and this one looked like it was thrown full force. When we re-appeared after another teleportation I looked at where we were and saw the wall caved in and a pillow stuck in it. Then I looked down to see that Minato's back was wet from the fear of a woman's fury.

Tsunade: "MINATO, YOU BETTER LEAVE HIM TO HIS FATE!"

-BANG-

Before I could do anything yet another pillow was tossed, this time Minato teleported and left me. This pillow was a direct hit to my lovely face and I was down on the ground seeing birds fly around my head. I want to say I heard laughing, but it sounds like a single evil chuckle.

Zach: "I'm sorry dear!"

Tsunade: "You're lucky I love you."

Zach: "I got a boo-boo on my face. Kiss it to make it feel better?"

Tsunade: -tsk- "Quit being a baby. You deserved that."

Our antics were broken up when Kushina coughed at us. We looked over and saw her and Minato sitting together again.

Kushina: "So how are we going to break all of this to the village? They really don't know we're back yet and it will cause a commotion."

We shrugged at the couple.

Tsunade: "I'll do what I do best, shirk my responsibilities on someone more qualified."

Zach: "What she said."

They stared at us and face-palmed. After a couple of seconds, we all just busted out laughing. We then weirdly enough started to talk about what we liked about the Naruto story. Kushina was more determined to cheer on Hinata after she saw her grandkids in the show. Minato had a bigger drive to get stronger after knowing what was out there, and also supported his wife on winning Hinata over early.

The next day Tsunade went out to the Hokage's office to start the paperwork to transfer the Hokage-ship back to Minato. Before she left I told her I'd take Minato into the time chamber, it wouldn't look good if the troops were close to the leader's strength. We had kissed our wives goodbye and locked ourselves in the chamber.

Our year went about the same as it did with Jiraiya. Minato was a genius and picked up stuff a lot quicker which let me also teach him some of the tricks I picked up for fuinjutsu. By the end of the year of constant fighting and learning, I'd honestly put his strength up there with Madara Uchiha. Then again the Uchihas had that golden finger called the Sharingan, so who knows who would actually win.

When we exited we were greeted by our loving family. I had a nice reunion with Tsunade, I had missed the way she screamed my name, but that's a chapter for another time. Rumors had gone around in the village of sightings of the Red-Hot Habanero, and a couple of the Yellow Flash of the Leaf being spotted too. Most of the people brushed it off like it was nothing. The clan heads and those who knew Nawaki believed that The Fourth and his wife were really back.

After a couple of more days of our daily lives, Tsunade after finalizing the transfer finally called a meeting of all the clan heads. She is currently sitting at the head of the table with an empty chair next to her as I sat off to the side away from the table to watch the show. Once everyone was settled and only a couple open seats

Tsunade: "So, I'll get straight to the point. I'm pretty sure you've all noticed that I have been preparing to transfer the Hokage to someone else."

Small fry clan leader: "We have! I knew you could not cut it, this just proved Danzo was right! We need someone strong to lead us, and fix everything that you messed up!"

Before Tsunade could say anything a male's voice came from the door behind Tsunade.

???: "Ukigi, you are still the most spiteful man I've ever had the displeasure of knowing."

I looked over at Ukigi with a weird look. Who in their right mind would name their kid Cheating, unless… Oh… The look on the man's face when he heard the voice was priceless. When I looked around the room I saw faces filled with shock, smugness, fear, and quite a bit of ecstatic looks. Finally, the man walked in to reveal himself as none other than Minato Namikaze.

Ukigi: "Fourth Hokage-Sama, please pardon my words.

Minato just sneered at the man and walked over to Tsunade and bowed slightly before taking the empty chair next to her.

Tsunade: "Now that everyone is here, I'll get back to what I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted."

Minato and my backs shivered at the delivery of those words.

Tsunade: "Minato Namikaze's Hokage-ship will be returned to him. Me and my husband will be moving onto a different venture and be less active in the village. Does anyone have any problems with this?"

Everyone was quiet at her question. Tsunade nodded her head in acknowledgment and Minato took over the meeting from there. I zoned out once the smaller clans started to jockey for position in Minato's Regime. Before I knew it the meeting was over and Tsunade and I were walking home hand-in-hand.

Tsunade: "Everything is moving so fast."

Zach: "Yeah it is, but that's a good thing. We'll have a new beginning in a place where no one knows us. Somewhere we can just do what we want, and have almost no responsibility."

Tsunade: "It will be so nice. I did hear back from Mikoto, and she said that she'll join us in the bar. I also talked to Kurenai and Anko who will join us also."

Zach: "That might not be enough though, you and Anko won't be able to work for a while."

Tsunade squeezed my hand re-assuring me.

Tsunade: "I've got a couple of others. They're all current jonin or retired jonin, most of the current jonins are females who want to start a family. While the retired ones are mostly male who are bored sitting around."

I nodded at that and was thanking the Gods that I lucked out with her. I gave her a thank-you kiss and hugged her. We continued our walk home hand in hand and leaning into each other. When we got home we were greeted by the lovely smell of ramen. Turned out Teuchi and Ayame had gotten word of what was going on in the meeting and wanted to throw a celebration for everyone. Minato and Kushina arrived not long after us and we started the celebration that lasted most of the night.

The next morning I woke up before dawn to Tsunade laying half on the bed and half on me. It was the weirdest sleeping pose I had ever seen, but hey if she's comfortable. After laying there a bit reading my tablet I decided to wake her up, she groggily looked over at me.

Zach: "I really hate goodbyes."

Tsunade: "But we're not saying goodbye, we can visit any time."

Zach: "It still feels like it."

She was more awake now and looked at me concerned. She thought about it for a couple of minutes and finally spoke.

Tsunade: "How about we just pack up and head out now?"

I gave her a concerned look.

Zach: "But don't you have stuff to do and not to mention the ceremony."

She giggled at me.

Tsunade: "I'm known for being eccentric, plus all the paperwork has been done. All the people will see in the ceremony is Minato standing there in his glory, they'd just tune my blabbering out."

I shrugged at that and she moved her legs off of me.

Tsunade: "Pack up everything in that fancy ring of yours dear, be sure to leave some clothes for us to wear."

With a nod, I got out of bed and started the quick packing. It didn't take long for Tsunade to get out of bed and start to help me by bringing stuff to me to pack. After we finished the packing we got dressed and snuck out of the house as the sun was breaking the horizon.

We made it all the way to The Wondering Inn without anyone noticing. I let out a sigh of relief as I opened the door for Tsunade and she went in. When I followed behind her I bumped into her back, looking up I saw all of our friends in the bar waiting for us. Jiraiya was the first one to speak up.

Jiraiya: "Tsunade, I've known you way too long. I knew you'd do something like this, so I got everyone together to send you two off!"

Tsunade: "Baka."

I could hear her voice tremble a little bit. I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on her shoulder. Shizune was next, and she was holding Tonton, who had been forgotten just like Mito was.

Shizune: "At least this time you're not sneaking out to go gambling."

Tonton: "Oink oink!"

The next two were the Uzumaki mother and daughter.

Kayla: "Thank you so much for everything you've done, I don't know where me and Karin would be without you two."

Karin: "Thank you! When I'm older I want to help out in your bar!"

After them, Minato, Kushina, and Naruto stepped forward.

Minato: "I don't know how I can ever repay you two. You've done so much for the village that they'd never even realize. But more importantly, you've brought our family back together."

Kushina: "Be sure to come let me know when my first shift is! I have a bunch of recipes that Zach gave me to try out in the kitchen!"

Naruto: "Thank you for bringing my family back Baa-chan and Zach! When you get a chance I want a new Beyblade, I have stiff competition for Hokage now with Nawaki!"

The Uchiha family stepped forward next.

Mikoto: "This isn't goodbye, but see you soon. I can't wait to see this new world myself."

Sasuke: "Thank you for bringing mom, Shisui, and Izumi back."

Shisui: "Aww, you're just leaving before the fun starts!"

Izumi: "Thank you for reuniting me with Itachi. Once my body is older I would like to also work in your bar."

Itachi: "Tsunade, Zach, I am forever in your debt. I was placed in a hole that I couldn't climb out of. The only good I thought I could do was help Sasuke awaken his true potential by being the bad guy. But you two have opened up a new path for all of us, and even laid the foundation of fixing our family. If you ever need anything please do not hesitate to ask."

I just stared at Itachi, this is the most I've ever heard him talk before. But it was all sincere so I didn't gawk too long. The last one to step forward was my brother-in-law Nawaki.

Nawaki: "Nee-chan, Nii-chan, I would join you. But as Naruto said, I have tough competition! I'll be sure to make you proud and visit lots! Though I believe I have a better shot at Hokage, there were 2 in my family now compared to Naruto's!"

Naruto: "HEY! WHY DON'T YOU COME SAY THAT TO MY FACE!"

Nawaki: "I'M RIGHT HERE SAYING IT!"

Naruto: "I CHALLENGE YOU TO A BEYBLADE MATCH!"

Nawaki: "YOU'RE ON! WINNER WILL BE HOKAGE!"

Before anyone could get a peep in the two ran out the door and to the arena in the training yard. Their antics broke the solemn mood that had befallen our group, and everyone started to break out into laughter.

After everyone settled down the two Gods and a single Goddess stepped forward.

Dionysus: "Yo! I've got you PRIME real estate in both New York and London! New York's is right outside Wall Street Station. London's is right outside Buckingham Palace, both are great spots for tourists and locals! As far as your drinks go it'll all be DIO brand, it's the best brand in all the worlds! I've bought the whole buildings for each."

Hephaestus: "It was so good to have you both here! We're going to visit you two quite a bit, you've grown on us quite a bit. I've set up both the shops in a Japanese theme. Since the shop will be staffed by all ex-ninja, why not play on the strengths? The forge in the middle of it all is a masterpiece in its own right, your forge will melt anything you put in there, even Uru. I've set up a closet in the back of the room that will dispense any metal you need for your works. I've personally forged your new tools and anvil so you will not have to worry about anything! In New York, I have a little surprise for Tsunade on the 2nd floor, but all the floors above that I've set up as housing for you and your employees if they want to live there. The furniture and decor are all modern, but you can change it if you want to. I've also created automatons that will roam the building cleaning and repairing, they'll look like Roombas to anyone that sees them."

Hecate: "Well I guess it's my turn. There is a door down the hallway here that I've set up to be the link between universes, it will open up in the break room of your bar. I've enchanted the forge windows like we had talked about before and connected the doors in the forge room to New York and London. I've also connected a door in the back so that way employees can walk back and forth without having to go through the forge. Both buildings have been reinforced enough to where the only thing that could break them would end life as we know it on the planet. To finish it all off I've magic'd up a past for everyone that will be involved in the shop, so you don't have to worry about documents or anything."

I could feel tears running down my eyes at what the Gods and Goddess have done for us. I could feel Tsunade shaking in my arms as I heard small sniffles from her. I just hugged her tighter and kissed the top of her head.

Zach: "Thank you so much for everything. As I said before, you three are almost always welcome."

Tsunade: "T-th-thank you."

The Gods and Goddess just gave us a knowing and loving smile. Thinking to myself that they really aren't Gods to me, they are more like a family. Dysfunctional yes, but I'd be glad to call them my family. My family who I don't want to sleep with, I had to get that in there before they tried to say something like, "Oh a family that is romantically involved, stays together" or some other stupid thing. I could see Hecate pouting at that and Dio and Heph laughing hard.

Hecate: "So, what are you two waiting for? Go check out the new digs!"

We both nodded our heads slightly and made our way towards the door to our new home. Looking back everyone was waving goodbye to us. I could help but smile and wave back.

Zach: "Don't miss me too much!"

Tsunade: "Thank you, everyone! We'll see you on the other side, and don't be afraid to visit!"

With that, I opened the door and motioned for Tsunade to walk through. She took a quick look back and then walked through. I followed right behind her and closed the door to the Naruto world behind me. That part of my life might be over, but I'll never forget the joy it brought me. We'll still see them again, but our new life is right in front of us. There will be new trials, hardships, and friends.

(A/N: FINALLY DONE WITH NARUTO! Yay! Sorry it took so long, had to catch up on some work today. It'll probably be a chapter or two before things start to slow down. I want to align Harry Potter 1 with Iron Man 1.

Love you guys and girls.

Discord: https://discord.gg/Eph2esQ

-Pepto)