Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Secrets to the Grave

-

The only person Jiraiya has ever cared more apart from Tsunade is undeniably Minato. And now as he's one step away from the last breath of air he takes, he remembers the time he, Minato, Kushina and baby Naruto were a family.

He recalls that fateful night as he has always, when all the stars in the phantom sky were diminished and gone, when red, red blood besieged the savanna, when only the shrill cries of the precious infant plagued the winds and drifted through the empty air. Jiraiya claws his way through this last bit of memory as the rest dissolve into the stream of tears uncontrollably running down his cheeks.

He is sworn to secrecy to guard this terrible secret, to conceal Minato's selflessness, to hide Minato's shame and most of all to shield and protect Naruto.

Many a times he has second thoughts though, like when he sees the forlorn boy sitting stationary on the lonesome swing by the academy and it stabs him directly through his heart, nearly breaking the steel bars erected a decade ago.

But there is no time left to speculate anymore, he needs to decide.

There is no more air.

And then, he smiles.

-

It has been a long day, a tired, battered and sweaty Naruto straightens up from the ground as the brilliant glow of the setting sun gently settles down upon the famed cliff. There is something thoughtful that clouds those usual sparkling blue eyes as they rest upon the one on the right.

"Him, he did it didn't he? Seal that monster in me, that is."

"-"

"You'll grow up to become a great Hokage Naruto, just like Yondaime,"

"-"

Turning his back on stone carving,Naruto scoffs almost defiantly, a faint, prideful smile playing upon the face that so mirrored the one behind him.

"A dead Hokage is of no use, Ero-Senin. I want to protect you, and me, and Konoha… us. Whatever it takes, I'm staying alive."

-

It is the end, now.

And Jiraiya knows he'll take his secret to the grave, down hell and up the heavenly plains.

-END-

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