AN: Hello, dears! It's been a while, has it not? Anywho, here is the prologue to my new Naruto story. Just a warning, the updates to this story will be slow going due to my busy schedule; not to mention that my stories tend to be made up on the fly with very little outlining involved. I have various scenes of this story handwritten out, but the issue is putting them all together into sequence for this story. I hope you enjoy my efforts!

*~Chada

Legacies of Our Fathers

Prologue: The Burdens We Bear

Jiraya winced in sympathy as Naruto's ear-ringing cries echoed off the walls of the Hokage's office. The poor child has screamed in this fashion since the bijuu was sealed into his body; a sound that conveyed the boy was in absolute agony.

They had thought that everything was fine once the Kyuubi no Yōko disappeared in a brilliant flash while its outraged roar reverberated through the area.

Over the groans of the injured and dying, a cheer of sorts rippled through the ranks of Konoha shinobi when they realized that their Hokage was victorious against the horrid beast. Jiraya, the Gama Sennin, was not among those who cheered, however, knowing what his student had to sacrifice and listening to the squalls of an infant who was being made to bear a terrible burden. No, the Gama Sennin did not cheer at all.

Jiraya glanced up from his study of the floor to look at his sensei, not surprised to see the distressed and tired look on the aged shinobi's face. Sarutobi Hiruzen, the recently reinstated Hokage, was taking Naruto's cries especially hard, not just because he was holding the poor child, but because his paternal instincts were driving him to try to find a solution to the boy's suffering. Naruto had been crying and thrashing about near constantly for four days, only stopping due to extreme exhaustion or to otherwise whimper because he had screamed his throat raw. He didn't really sleep nor could they get him to eat because he was in so much distress and apparent pain. The Hokage had to order a feeding tube be put into Naruto's stomach to get sustenance into him.

Except for orders to focus on funeral rites for the dead and to clean up and rebuild, business in the village had practically ground to a screeching halt because Sarutobi couldn't trust Naruto's stressful care to anyone else. Both men were at their wit's end.

"Tsunade," The Hokage croaked when Naruto finally quieted down and was panting in exhaustion.

Jiraya cocked an eyebrow, "What about her?"

"I want you to fetch her, Jiraya," The Hokage replied wearing a look that labeled the white-haired sannin a moron.

"Feh! I figured that, you crotchety geezer," Jiraya snapped, "I meant how do you expect me to get her to come here? You know how she feels about this place."

"Tell her what's happened here; about Naruto," Sarutobi replied, tone as terse, "And if that doesn't work, tell her that it's an order, sannin's privilege be damned! Understood?"

"She's not gonna like that."

The Hokage huffed angrily, "At this point, I really don't care what she does or does not like! Her spoiled princess act has no bearing in this matter! I want Tsunade found, Jiraya, and I want her found today!"

Jiraya located Tsunade where he figured he would, but, at the same time, he didn't really expect to find her so close. Tanzaku-gai had been his and Tsunade's favorite haunt during their younger years, when they were still a team with Orochimaru, whom they managed to drag out with them if only to "keep an eye on your shenanigans so we don't get banned from another town like you two managed to do in rice country."

Jiraya snorted when his wayward teammate's cultured drawl echoed in the amusing and painful memory.

Shaking his head to clear it, he set off in a casual stroll (but his stance uncharacteristically rigid) through the streets of the bustling town. People familiar with seeing the perverted sannin, gave him wide berth at the unusually stern appearance as he strode down the streets heading for the casino he heard Tsunade was currently patronizing.

And probably losing her shirt.

He smirked faintly at the thought.

"Jiraya-samaaaaa!" was the greeting he received upon entering the building.

The sannin's eyes filled with comical tears of joy and distress as two of the gorgeous young casino hostesses known as "The Twins," Natsu and Satsu, threw themselves into his arms and nuzzled against him while pouting at him about his neglecting to keep in touch with them.

"I'm sorry, girls," Jiraya sobbed, "but I can't chat now. I have to find Tsunade-hime."

Satsu frowned cutely and pointed the direction of Tsutomu's popular (and recently legal) Cho-Han table while Natsu pinched Jiraya's cheeks and demanded that he promise to come see them when his business with his teammate was done. Jiraya did so, knowing he had to break it and fearing for his future while doing it, and disentangled himself from the lively girls. As the twins flounced off to find another gambling patron to hang from, Jiraya made his way to the dice table, stepping gingerly around the spectators who were kneeling and standing in crowds around the table. From his greater height, he immediately spotted Tsunade, as the blonde's buxom figure was difficult to miss, and breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed Shizune's dark hair hovering just behind the older woman. He wouldn't have to waste time dragging Tsunade to search for her pupil later…although Shizune is never far from her pseudo-aunt.

Jiraya decided to stand far enough away to observe the two of them for a moment while his fellow sannin called out her bet of Han to the dealer-Tsutomu himself today-the other gamblers shouting their own bets after she did. Jiraya snickered to himself when he saw Tsunade's eyebrow twitch when she realized that her fellow gamblers, with except for one, called out Cho, knowing the blonde kunoichi's tendency to lose. After the bets were placed, Jiraya made his way to Shizune's side behind her sensei and opened his mouth to speak when the dealer beat him to it as he called the outcome of the round.

"HAN!" Tsutomu called when he moved the bamboo bowl.

"YES! I won! Take that you little shits!" Tsunade jumped up and cheered with her arms in the air, "I won! I wo—wait, I WHAT?!"

Shizune covered her mouth in surprise and murmured, "Oh dear, this isn't good."

Tsutomu blinked in shock at the blonde, as well as the other gamblers and the spectators surrounding them. It was eerily quiet surrounding the Cho-Han table before it was suddenly interrupted by someone's steady clapping.

"Congratulations, Tsunade-hime, you finally won something." Jiraya said cheerfully. He was decidedly less cheery when Tsunade slowly turned to face him and he noticed the look on the blonde woman's face.

"You," The slug princess growled.

"Jiraya-sama!" Shizune squeaked at the same time.

Jiraya shifted uncomfortably as a bead of sweat trickled down his brow and a shiver skittered simultaneously up his back, "Me?"

"What are you doing here?" She hissed. Her eyes suddenly narrowed to slits, a scary contrast to the bug-eyed expression she sported earlier.

The white-haired sannin noticed the attention they were receiving from the crowd of gamblers and decided he needed to get back on track. Even though it is good to see his old teammate after many years, now was not the time to engage in their old antics; time was of the essence.

The three sequestered themselves away into the women's hotel room, Tsunade sitting at the low table provided and pouring herself a saucer-full of saké while Shizune kneeled opposite her aunt, Ton-Ton in her lap. Jiraya stood at the room's single picture-pane window, back ramrod straight, arms folded over his broad chest, and his face arranged in a slight frown.

"What is this about, Jiraya," Tsunade grumbled, raising the sake cup to her lips to gulp it down, only to freeze midway when her former teammate spoke, his gravelly voice sounding especially grave:

"Minato and Kushina are dead."

Shizune covered her gasp with her hand to her lips as her master paled considerably and lowered her shaking hand to set the porcelain cup on the table. This resulted in some of the alcohol spilling over on the wood from Tsunade's nerveless gesture.

"How?" the blonde sannin asked, her voice soft and trembling.

Jiraya turned away from the window, his eyes red-rimmed and wet, "Kushina-chan died of complications from child-birth."

The dark-haired kunoichi bowed her head with a near silent sob while Tsunade shut her eyes to prevent the gathering tears from escaping; a futile effort as they made twin tracks down her cheeks.

Oh, how she had adored the rambunctious red-head! When Tsunade had lost Nawaki and Dan, it was Kushina that nursed the blonde from near-death by consumption. And when she decided that she couldn't remain in the village after Minato became Yondaime for fear that she would be made to bear witness the loss of him too to that accursed title and conical hat, it was Kushina who understood her need and supported her choice completely, no questions asked. Tsunade remembered the day that Kushina saw Shizune and herself off at the village gate with a hearty hug and a jovial, "I'll see you later, 'Nade! Don't get into too much trouble!" The blonde woman furrowed her brows in effort and sniffled quietly, then cleared her throat of the lump that had formed, making it difficult to speak. She looked up at Jiraya again.

"Minato-kun?" she whispered.

"The Kyuubi no Yōko attacked Konoha a week and a half ago." Jiraya replied after a brief pause.

"And you're just now telling me!" Tsunade exclaimed violently. She stood abruptly and up ended the table, nearly hitting Shizune and her pet pig, "What the hell Jiraya!"

"Sit down, hime." The white-haired shinobi stated calmly.

"You go to hell, you sonofabitch!" screamed the blonde in response. Tsunade took a swing at the man.

Shizune gasped a shocked, "Shishou!" while Jiraya deftly rocked slightly backward out of range and grabbed his angry friend's outstretched arm, and on the subsequent movement forward, used her momentum to twist her around so that her arm crossed her body. Simultaneously, he wrapped his free arm around her to make sure she couldn't try and hit him again, and held her tightly when the angry woman tensed to forcefully shake him off.

"Tsunade!" Jiraya hissed after a brief struggle, "Please…sit down." And then he slowly let her go.

Tsunade whirled around, furious, and glared fiercely at Jiraya, whose stern face relaxed slightly to give her a sad smile. After a few minutes of the tense silence, at which time Shizune righted the table and coaxed a squealing Ton-Ton from trying to burrow into a nearby corner and Tsunade finally sat back down.

"You still haven't told me why you're here, pervert," The blonde said after a tense silence.

"Sensei is recalling you to the village," replied Jiraya.

"He can recall me until he's blue in the face! I'm not going back!" Tsunade snapped, immediately defensive.

The two women jumped when Jiraya's fist slammed down on the surface of the table, causing it to crack in the middle, "Can you stop being selfish for once?!" He bellowed, "In case you've forgotten, our friends are dead and they have left their week old son behind!"

Tsunade's mouth closed, teeth clicking together from the suddenness of the action. In her own hasty (selfish) protests in being told she was ordered to return the village that had taken everything she loved from her, she admittedly forgot that her former teammate had just informed her that her best friend had died due to complications from child-birth.

A week old baby boy lost everything on the night he came into the world, while she was bitching about past hurts that she privately admits (when she is sober) wasn't as startling with the lives her loved ones led. This innocent child of her friends had no idea how tragic his birthday will be for him in the future.

"What's his name?" She whispered.

"Naruto."

She heaved a deep sigh, "Why does sensei want me back?"

"Naruto needs special protection," Jiraya shifted uneasily, "I can't take him, despite being his godfather, because of the work sensei has me do. You're the only one with no obligations as you had refused to have any when you left your village behind."

"Now you wait a damn minute—!" Came the token protest.

"That boy needs you, Tsunade!" Jiraya barked, cutting her off, "You're the closet thing that kid has to family besides me and the old man! He has no one else to protect him!"

"What are you not telling me Jiraya?" Tsunade asked, noting the boder-line desperation in the man's voice, "Besides being Minato's son, what is so special about little Naruto that he needs me, to take him in. A simple name change would solve the problem of Iwa looking to off the son of the Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō. What else is going on here?"

"It's the way Minato died."

"Fighting the Kyuubi?"

"No; sealing the Kyuubi into his newborn son."

Tsunade felt her heart stop.