Title: That Little Toad

Author: Gypsy Dancing Girl

Fandom: Naruto

Pairing or Characters: Slight Jiraiya/Tsunade. Naruto. Mentions of Pein, Shizune, Sakura, Sandaime, Yondaime, and Kakashi, but only mentions.

Rating: K

Genres: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, maybe a little Angst, touches on Family briefly.

Warnings: Spoilers through Chapter 382 of the manga. If you don't want to be spoiled, stop here. Character death mentioned.

A/N: I almost cried while I read the manga. I love Jiraiya. I love subtle Jiriaiya/Tsunade of the he flirts, she beats him but secretly liked it, rinse, repeat variety. So I'm hoping that it's a sick joke on Masashi Kishimoto's part, but that's doubtful, so rest in peace.

In the flurry that Jiraiya's message caused, the shinobi of Konoha were pitched into a frenzy. But after the initial orders had been given out, Tsunade had disappeared. So Naruto had gone to find her for Shizune-san.

He had scoured the entire village, from the Hospital to the Academy to Hokage Mountain. There was no sign of the Fifth Hokage. Naruto finally trekked to his old training field, very wet and a little miserable. He'd temporarily given up on finding Tsunade, and needed his wallet to pay for ramen, before giving it a second try. He'd accidentally left it here with his pack earlier when all ongoing missions were canceled, and the shinobi were immediately recalled to the tower.

He hadn't expected to find Tsunade here. She was soaked through, leaning against Naruto's training post (the one he had been tied to that very first day had forever been labeled his), with her face turned up to the sky. Worse, Tsunade was completely sober.

"Baa-chan?" Tsunade turned to face him and Naruto froze. The water trailing down her face may have been partly the rain, but the blotchy complexion betrayed the fact that Tsunade had been crying. "Baa-chan, don't cry!" he hurried to intervene. "We'll catch up and kill this Pein guy, and then I'll kick Ero Sennin's arse for making you cry!"

"Naruto," Tsunade whispered calmly. "Naruto. Do you know that he named you? After the character in his best book, the best one really. I read that one, you know? I actually sat down and read one of Jiraiya's books, and it was good."

"Don't talk like that, baa-chan!"

"He's dead. He's dead, Naruto. That message was the last of his energy. I can feel it, Naruto. Jiraiya is dead."

"Ero sennin can't die," Naruto whispered.

"He's human. He can die. Millions of different ways. I know them all. He wouldn't have sent that message if he could still fight . . . and Jiraiya's like you, Naruto. He doesn't stop fighting no matter how bad he's been hurt. Only death would stop him. Only imminent death would cause him to ask for help."

Naruto absorbed that for a long moment. "I'm gonna kill Pein!" he shouted suddenly. "And the council can go suck eggs for all I care!"

Tsunade gave a sob and launched forward, hugging Naruto around the waist. "I loved him! I really did! We just had a routine and I liked the routine, so I always turned him down! And I never told him any of it! I even bet against him, I was so sure that would make him come home."

Naruto released his rage and stiffness, gently hugging Tsunade back. "He knows. He told me when we were out training. He loves you too."

"Loved," Tsunade corrected.

"I'm not going to believe it until I see it," Naruto maintained stubbornly. "So we're going to go inside . . . back to the Hokage Tower . . . so you can get warm and dry and we'll send out one of your chunnin minions to get us some ramen while we plot how to get around the council, so I can leave first thing tomorrow morning. And you're going to tell me what you were doing out here, cause I looked everywhere for you."

"It was our training ground. Sarutobi-sensei tied Jiraiya to this very post when we were gennin. That little toad. Then Jiraiya tied Minato to it on his first day as sensei. And Minato tied Kakashi."

"And I got tied there too," Naruto filled in. "It's my post."

Tsunade laughed, choking through her tears. "Like father, like son . . . oh," she cut herself off suddenly. "I'm sorry, Naruto. You never knew . . ."

"I know. Ero Sennin told me," he explained, pulling her to her feet. "He told me right before he left. Said it had been kept a secret long enough. Come on, Baa-chan. Let's get you home. Shizune-san and Sakura-chan are worried sick about you."

Tsunade straightened. "I want sake to go with the ramen. Jiraiya and I always drank sake together. I'll meet you at Ichiriku's."

Naruto watched her head off to the bar. Then he turned and regarded the post very solemnly. "I'm going to kill Pein for you since you can't. Then I'll bring you home. And even if you're dead like Baa-chan thinks . . . I'll bring your body home for her."

Naruto turned and raced away after his beloved hokage.

The post stood the way it had for several generations before his and would several generations afterward.

The End.