In a moment of adrenaline-fuelled panic, Fukasaku makes a split second decision that wrests our favourite toad sage from the cold grasp of death!

Disclaimer: All characters of Naruto and things Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto.


The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant Continues by ShadowedNara

XxX

Prologue

A Splendid Shinobi


'It's no good,' Jiraiya thought in a slight panic, his body wracking with an immense amount of pain. 'My throat was crushed in that last attack.'

His body shook softly from the mind numbing hurt that was overriding rational thought. Any attempt to budge his body even a little was met with a surge of irreparable pain. The cold steel of those rods that were skewering him through various places on his abdomen were doing more than just damage to his organs. They were disrupting his chakra flow as well, invading his diminishing life force and hastening his descent into endless unconsciousness.

He felt as his body slowly began shutting down, and his eye lids were becoming heavier and heavier, his vision hazing and blurring out of view. His limbs felt like lead, though he attributed that to the rods that were holding him down. He could still twitch his right arm which was something, though that felt as if it was being weighed down by no less than a mountain.

A wheezing cough escaped his throat as he once more tried to create words, but to no avail. 'I must... I have to let Boss know of Pain's identity...'

His vision began blurring further, and Jiraiya could feel as it became ever more difficult to continue drawing breath. In what he felt was to be his last waking moments, Jiraiya turned his thoughts to that of his student. To that of his godson. These last few years travelling with Naruto had been some of the best years of his life. He cherished every moment he'd been granted with his godson.

He'd felt in all honesty that he didn't even deserve as much, having not even been in the kid's life until three years ago. He was a failure of a godfather. Thinking back some more, Jiraiya came to the begrudging realisation that his whole life had just been filled with failure after failure. He'd have hoped to be able to defeat the Akatsuki here and today, to be able to defeat Pain and rid the world of the evil that was sure to befall it in the future.

Shinobi were measured not by how they lived, but by what they managed to accomplish before they died. He had hoped to die like one of the Hokage who had come before, ending his life and dying as nothing less than a splendid shinobi. He was supposed to guide the child of prophecy, guide them in their quest to save the world from its destruction.

The child of prophecy. Thinking back now, it had never been Minato. It had never been Nagato either, no matter how much those eyes of his had convinced him of the contrary. But rather Naruto. His most recent student, his godson. Jiraiya had no doubt in his mind now that Naruto was that child of prophecy. Naruto who had the guts to never give up, the will to never go back on his word. Shinobi were those that endured, never giving up no matter the odds. He was supposed to be the one to guide Naruto in his quest to bring about a great change as the child of prophecy.

'No...' Drawing in a breath, Jiraiya slowly began pushing himself back onto his single remaining arm, his body trembling from the exertion. By all accounts, he should have long since been dead, but there was no way he was gonna let himself get snuffed before at least relaying the secret of Pain's jutsu. He had to give his death some meaning. For Naruto. 'A student inherits his ninja way from his master, so I have no business making a fuss... isn't that so Naruto?'

Fukasaku stared down at Jiraiya with wide eyes, his expression awestruck and bewildered. 'His heart had stopped, but he managed to claw his way back through sheer will power alone!' It was absolutely absurd, yet here he was witnessing it with his own eyes. 'Oh Jiraiya-boy...'

Looking down into the dying yet very-much-alive eyes of Jiraiya, he could see that he needed to relay something. The toad elder though quickly realised that Jiraiya had no means to communicate with his damaged wind pipe. He had an inclination in to what Jiraiya was planning however, and was preparing to remove his small cape when his eyes spotted the six Pain's advancing once more on their position. Fukasaku's eyes widened in panic, and adrenaline began coursing through his veins once more. "Oh no, Jiraiya-boy!"

His panic-filled mind had him running through hand seals with a speed fuelled by his adrenaline, and in a puff of smoke, they were gone.

Jiraiya's mind spun uncontrollably as a nauseating wave of dizziness overcame him, his vision once again faded into black. 'Damn it... I guess I can chalk this up to just one more failure... I'm sorry Naruto... but your worthless godfather has failed you yet again... I hope you can find it in yourself to one day forgive me...'

And then, he knew nothing...


So yeah, found myself watching a Jiraiya tribute video the other day and my heart went out to one of the greatest characters in the series, seriously. Jiraiya was a true shinobi in every sense of the word, and he endured no matter what was thrown at him. I wrote this up initially just because I felt like doing something that involved Jiraiya, and I just decided to post it any way.

I feel like I might turn this into a story, but I've got finals coming up which means I won't be touching a computer until the end of November. That being said, let me know what you think, as well as anything you wanna say about Jiraiya if you're as much a fan of him as I am. So yeah, peace out guys.

ShadowedNara