Men of Constants

by Sage of the Sealed Paths

Once upon a time, there were people. These people lived, loved, failed, and died, like normal humans. However, there people also killed, slaughtered, and made names. These people were called shinobi. Amongst the greatest, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and many more. However, like humans, no matter how great their name, they were, the best were all Men of Constants.

AN: This is my first one-sot (hope I put it in the right label), anyway, I will get back to work on my other stories, don't worry, just need some motivation. Remember to comment and if needed please criticise, want to know how to improve. Anyway, read, also, I want to know if the ending makes sense.

As he fell, dying, the old man reflected on his life. It had been so long since he reflected, so much had gone by. So many lives had he seen, live and die before now. It was about to be his turn… for the second time. This man, or rather, half-man, for he was bifurcated, was known as…

Xxxx

"Jiraya the Gallant" cried one jubilant genin-to-be. "And I am going to be the best writer in the world!" he childishly exclaimed. He was however, bonked on the head, courtesy of his team mate Tsunade.

"BAKA, shut up! Everyone knows you're going to be a loser!" She exclaimed. Though he stood off to one side, Hiruzen didn't like the way things were headed. He wanted the best for his team, but even before his team could begin, they were already falling apart.

"Kami knows I'm going to have my hand full with you three" He thought. And indeed this would become true. Unfortunately, the next few days would be filled with a pattern like this:

"Would you go out with me, Tsunade?"

"BAKA"

"Failure!"

"Hnn" (Guess who)

"Would you go out with me, Tsunade?"

"BAKA"

"Failure!"

"Hnn"

"Would you go out with me, Tsunade?"

"BAKA"

"Failure!"

"Hnn"

"Would you go out with me, Tsunade?"

"BAKA"

"Failure!"

"Hnn"

And though Orochimaru and Tsunade progressed, Jiraya kept the team behind. Try as he might, he could never do as well as his team mates, and thus was always looked down upon. Hiruzen noticed this, and one day after a particularly depressed Jiraya sat down after team training, Hiruzen went to him and showed him a new technique: Summoning. Unfortunately he never got enough time to tell his student that he needed a contract to summon animals- resulting in a reverse summoning by his over enthusiastic student- and a fistful of smoke on Hiruzen.

This was Jiraya's first failure- to be a successful genin.

Xxxx

Jiraya was forever in love with Tsunade during his life, he never did attain it. Her heart belonged to Dan Kato. Forever a good man and a good friend of Jiraya- and forever the focus of his envy. Even after he died, Tsunade never moved past him. In fact, it was this failure that Jiraya attributed to the break-up of team Hiruzen. Had he been with Tsunade he would have stopped her from sinking into depression. Their unity would have kept Orochimaru from seeing a sinking morale in the team and taking a darker path in his career as a shinobi. Perhaps it was the death of his parents and the limit death can be, to love, that made him crave immortality- to be able to love and live forever, to never be torn away from the one you hold dear… to make "till death do us part" irrelevant.

This was Jiraya's next big failure- a failure in love.

Xxxx

Perhaps it was just the team of team 7, maybe just coincidence, but it seemed that, every single generation of team 7 had only one surviving member 20 years later that was loyal to Konoha- that every single iteration had a rival, a pathetic (at the time) kunoichi and a dead-last. Along with this, one member always had a batch of genin, or even 2 batch of genin, with some always destined to never make it past chunin. In the case of the Sanin, 20 years after fighting Hanzo, only Jiraya was a loyal member to Konoha, only getting Tsunade back with the help of his apprentice and godson, NOT genin the same time, Jiraya also had 2 ninja teams, Team Jiraya and the Ame orphans. Of the 2, the Ame orphans supposedly died premature deaths. Of team Jiraya, consisting of Minato Namikaze, Hiashi Hyuuga and Fugaku Uchiha, thought they all made it to high ranking positions, by the time of his death, only Hiashi remained.

This was Jiraya's next failure- a failure of many generations

Xxxx

As he fell dying, Jiraya had one last failure- the failure of success. All his life he had been a failure- to his team, his students, as a godfather, and as a writer. He was now dying at the hands of a student he thought was dead. But as he fell, Jiraya could count on his first big success- the success of leaving a legacy in his only APPRENTICE- Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. The boy was destined for great things and though hr didn't hear more of him, Jiraya died with a smile on his face.

Xxxx

His next failure (I know, surprised) was again in defeating Orochimaru, though the man didn't even know it was him he was facing. Then again how could he have recognized him as Jiraya of the Sannin, he hadn't been called that forever. His heart, despite what he led others to believe, just was not enough. He tried, yet did the only thing he could sum the courage to do…

Xxxx

"And now that has come back to bite me in the rear" Thought the old man. His ex-friend was turning his back on him, still unawares of who he had bifurcated. It had been so long he had forgotten his own name for a while.

"But… damn it all it can't… end like this!" He struggled to formulate the thought. His eyebrows narrowed. "Wait… I've only been at half my full power this whole time. I need access to the other half- damn it all there's no time! Wait… No! I wont let it end like this, You here me? TE-"

Xxxx

"ME!-?"

The man looked around. He realized he was no longer old. In fact, he was in a different body- atleast, that's what it seemed like. He had a long flowing black beard, white teeth, and for some reason, his mouth formed into an inexplicable smile.

"So that's, what I am?!" The man asked to himself. "A failure, at dying?"

Xxxx

The next step in the man's life, not Jiraya anymore, for he had forgotten that name completely, only having an inkling that what he referred to himself now was not his actual name. As he went on through his days, painting, and drawing, the man started to collect friends, and eventually, a younger man in whom he recognized a lot of himself in. Eventually he helped to forge and name the weapon of choice for these colleagues.

"Our weapon, unique to each individual, yet classified all the same will be called a-"

This was the second success in his existence, yet oddly enough, a huge failure as well. Having named an instrument that would help later generations to come, yet at the price of losing his own. And thus, this man could never reach full power, until that one day…

Xxxx

"No, This can't be happening!" Oddly enough, the man had a feeling of déjà vu, as if, he knew this man who defeated him, cloaked in black, with long black hair, whose eyes were so unnatural, so, filled with power, so… much better than the Sharingan he once wanted.

"Wait, where did that thought come from?"

'Sharingan?'

'Future?'

'Knowledge?'

Then as if a light had gone off inside his head:

'OROCHIMARU!'

'Damn it all, why is everything so clear now of all times, at death? Why miust I realize who I am right now of all times?' the man wept with despair.

"No, I refuse!" The man softly spoke, his voice not reaching the man who was walking away from him. "Do you hear me?" the man softly spoke, yet his voice started to get louder.

"Yhwach?"

The man, stopped, for he thought his adversary dead.

"Or rather, OROCHIMARU!" This time, the man's eyes, in their full 4 pupil glory, widened. No one had called him that in millennia. No, he was Yhwach, Father of the Quincy, son of the soul king, and soon to be ruler of all.

Suddenly, there was a burst of white light, as the bifurcated body, of Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto rose, shrouded in an ethereal light, fusing with the body of Ichimonji of the Royal Guard, to make: the body of Jiraya the Gallant, his long forgotten team mate.

'Im-impossible, for both to be Jiraya'

The now identified Gama-Sannin rose, shrouded in his red haori, young and vibrant as if days long past.

'It all makes sense now' the Sannin thought. 'I first lived as Yamamoto, with my memory slightly befuddled. However, in my second death, I lost my identity as Jiraya. Seems my heart wanted to erase my failures. How ironic that I named what a Zanpakutou is'

"No matter, Jiraya, now with my new eyes, no power of the future can harm me, nothing can defeat me."

"Truly, Orochimaru, no power of the future can defeat you. Now how about…" he stood completely still, then after 2,100 years, Jiraya of the Sannin became a sage once more, this time perfect in his appearance. "… The power of nature, Orochimaru? A power not used in the past 2,100 years. Now try to stop the full force of the world itself!"

In the following conflict, a battle of titanic proportions, the like only seen 2,100 years ago, was fought between bitter ex-friends. This time, however, not even the Almighty could beat the force of nature itself, for Jiraay was fully immersed in the world force of nature energy. Really, it was a miracle Orochimaru could survive for so long being hit with the force of several punches packing Mother Nature itself into them.

On that day, Jiraya Oil of the Sannin, the Soutaicho of the Gotei 13, and member of the Royal Guard, brought about his greatest success.