AN: Follow-up to my Revolution. However, each piece can be read on its own.
Ashes
Ring around the rosies
Pocketful of posies.
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down.
Jiraiya lay dying; he knew that was inevitable now. He had sent Pops off with the last bit of information he knew Naruto would need, but he had no strength to do anything else.
Naruto.
Jiraiya was full of regret, and not just about his own life. He wished he could have really raised Naruto, been the kind of Godfather he should have been. He wished he had told Naruto how much he looked like Minato. He wished he had told Naruto how much Minato loved his son, how excited he and Kushina had been to have him. He wished he had told Naruto goodbye. But it was too late, very much too late, for any of those things.
Jiraiya wasn't sure what he believed about the afterlife: would he be with his ancestors? Would he cease to exist? Wherever he was going, he hoped to he was going to see Minato there. He had a lot of things to answer for, he knew, but what he really wanted to do was just tell Minato about his son. About how strong he was, was getting. About how he never gave up on anything, just like his parents had hoped. About how Naruto was going to change the world.
Jiraiya hoped Naruto didn't take the news of his death too poorly. He probably never would have admitted it to the Naruto, but after spending all that time with only Naruto, the kid really had felt like his own flesh and blood. Jiraiya couldn't be more proud of him. And even if Naruto had never said so, Jiraiya suspected his obnoxiously over-eager student felt the same way, probably even before Jiraiya did. He distinctly remembered how Naruto had really wanted Jiraiya to stay with him during his Rasengan training so long ago, to give him the attention he so desperately craved.
Ah, well, Jiraiya thought. There would others to fill his place. Naruto had Kakashi, Iruka, and Tsunade for surrogate parents.
Tsunade.
Jiraiya hoped she didn't take his death too poorly either. Too many of her important people had died on her, and here Jiraiya was doing the same. The irony of it was not lost on him: even in his death he wasn't enough of a gentleman to spare Tsunade's feelings.
He hoped she didn't bend to Danzou's pressure. He hoped she didn't mind that he had left Orochimaru and Pain for her to deal with. He felt bad about those two especially, but again, he knew Naruto would be certain to help her with them.
Indeed, if there was anything Jiraiya had ever done right, it was that he had taken Naruto on as an apprentice. Otherwise he didn't know if could die in peace. But with Naruto, he knew the world was in good hands. He had no delusions that it would be easy for Naruto, but nothing had been easy for Naruto. Naruto had been burned by the fire of injustice many times, but each time he had risen from the ashes, stronger than before. That's why Jiraiya believed in him. Really, his last regret was that he wouldn't live to see the changes Naruto was bringing. However, he didn't doubt they were coming.
Because of Naruto, he still had hope. Because of Naruto, he could face his death. Because of Naruto, he could let go of this world.
And so he did.