I OWN NOTHING! It's just a story that I like, and has been tickling my brain.

Chapter 25

"Dobe... I can't believe everything... everything you're telling me, or shown me for that matter." Sasuke shook his head trying to grasp everything that had been said, he was sitting with Sakura, Hinata, and Naruto as said blond tried to explain his thoughts.

"Look, shut up Naruto! I got that my brother was pretty much tricked into murdering my family! But they wouldn't have planned a coup!" Naruto shook his head.

"Yes, I think that they were. But honestly, I think that they were right. The village Elders had no right to pen them up. All of this was the handiwork of one Uchiha Madara who hated his clan for choosing the Shodaime over him, their clan Head." Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes against his headache.

"Ok.. Ok.. I think I get it.. Its just a lot to process all at once. Everything that I knew as fact has changed in a couple hours ok? Just let me get my bearings." Sasuke waved at them, and pinched his nose.

"Sasuke..."

"Shut up, Naruto."

"No.. I mean.."

"Naru-"

"Otouto..." The younger raven's eyes snapped open, and he spun to face his older brother, who was sporting a jonin flak jacket, and a new hetai-ate.

"Itachi.."

"Hokage-sama, has asked that the four of you return. Something has... occurred." His eyes remained calm and still, unreadable.

"Alright." Sasuke quickly threw some money at the cashier as they walked out of the store. Soon, Hinata and Naruto were enraptured in a lively conversation with Sakura, and Itachi was walking alongside his younger brother.

"Sasuke..." Itachi's voice was almost silent.

"Don't look at me or react. The news that you four are about to recieve... Just be ready to put aside your own confusion..." Itachi kept moving, while Sasuke felt his brow crease, but still followed the others up into the Hokage's office. When they pushed the door open, Tsunade was sitting with Shizune and Kakashi at her sides, and there were two frogs on her desk.

"Obaa-chan?" Naruto spoke quietly, and the Hokage looked up from her papers, her face was tired and drawn.

"Naruto..." She said it quietly. He felt the boy stiffen next to him.

"What? Come on, Obaa-chan! Why the long face?" He could hear the strained smile.

"Naruto... I'm so sorry... Jiraiya.. He... he went on an espionage mission... about the Akatsuki... But he did not make it..." Sasuke saw her hide her own grief burying it deep, and was shocked as Naruto burst.

"What? Stop joking obaa-chan! Thats not funny!" He said it with hope, but when silence greeted him, Sasuke could feel him shaking.

"H-How..." The blond's voice shook.

"He was investigating Amegakure. We found an Akatsuki there, in the form of six users of the Rinnegan." Sasuke's neck popped as he whipped his head at the male toad.

"What-" Sasuke started but was cut off.

"Why did you let him go? Why Alone?" Naruto's voice was quiet, but it was cold and biting.

"Naruto-" Sakura began. But Naruto cut her off as well.

"Why?" He demanded and Sasuke almost jumped at the pure rage in his voice. Tsunade sat there completely still and silent. Naruto spun on his heels, and gripped the door, with an audible crunch.

"If Ero-senin had been Hokage... There would have been no way in hell he'd let you go and do such a dangerous mission." With that he ripped the door off its hinges and walked through.

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled, but Tsunade raised a single hand.

"That's enough. Let him go." Sasuke stood there, and turned to leave.

"Well, I'm going to talk to him. I'm sure he doesn't want to hear it, but I think he needs it." The raven let himself out, and followed a path of small destruction, until it lead to the gates of the village. He followed a path of broken and smashed tree limbs until he found who he was looking for. The blond was standing at the edge of a pretty little clearing. Sasuke made no sound as he slipped next to his friend, but let the silence speak for him.

"He can't be gone." The blond croaked after a long moment. He turned to face his friend, and his heart dropped as he saw the streams of tears streaking down his cheeks, and a look of such desolation on his usually happy face.

"Ah, Naruto..." Sasuke akwardly gave his friend a hug, and tried not be annoyed when the blond began to blubber into his shoulder.

"He was like... I dunno .. a grandpa to me... He actually made me feel like I mattered." He cried as Sasuke gently cradled his blond friend close. He was about to freak out and despair at his inability to help his friend, when he heard two sets of foot steps. Sakura and Hinata stepped out of the shadows and saw the two boys, and sat down next to them silently. The two girls just draped their arms about the boys, and let their warmth fill the small circle. Naruto finally turned from him to Hinata, and latched onto her for comfort. Sakura and Sasuke just sat on both sides of them to be close.

...He didn't make it...

Thoses words stopped Naruto heart, they torn into like crippling blades. He just wanted to leave, he spun completely unaware of everything. He threw the door open and stormed out. Anger flooded his system, and he lashed out everything that stood in his path. He didn't even notice where he was until he stopped. He looked up and saw the clearing. Then, the tears fell from his eyes.

Memories of standing there in that field training with the perverted man, of him smiling down at him, of him ruffling his hair. The pain lanced through his chest, rising to an almost unbearable level, when he felt Sasuke arrive, after a moment he spoke, then he was bawling like a baby into his best friend. He didn't care about how gay it seemed at that moment, he just wanted to cry, to release all of this pent up rage.

Then there were more arms around him, their warmth made his cry harder, not out of pain but sheer appreciation of their love. Somehow, he'd shifted into Hinata's arms, and slowly the tears stopped, and his breathing began to return to normal. Slowly he looked up and gave his friends a sheepish smile. Hinata didn't speak but place a gentle kiss on his forhead.

"Ah... Sorry.. about that..." He whispered quietly, and his friends answered it with a smile.

"Shut up dobe." Sasuke smirked.

"Idiot! Really!" Sakura shook her head.

"Naruto, you can always lean on us." Hinata said with a wry smile.

"I know.. I know.. but still... I don't like how I exploded..." Naruto replied slowly.

"Its ok, dobe. You just got a huge shock. He was really close to you. You told me all about him, on the way here. He must have been a really good guy." Sasuke said and the blond nodded.

"He was honestly like a grandfather... he actually listened and cared about me. I... He may have been really perverted but... He was still very important to me..." Hinata pulled him tight as the tears began to overwhelm him again. He pulled back to look at their smiling face feeling that overwhelming sense of peace and belonging. He pulled Hinata into a back breaking hug, and kissed her soundly on the mouth. When he pulled away from her he gave her his foxiest smile.

"I don't know how I'd live without you Hina-hime. Sorry Sasuke, you don't get a kiss." Naruto stuck his tongue out at the raven who glared at him.

"Like I'd want one, Dobe." He replied, and pulled his pinkette in for his own kiss.

"I only want hers." He said with a smirk, as Sakura was coming down from cloud nine. Naruto was about to retort when he felt Hinata's elbow.

"Does that mean I have to apologize?" He said with a frown.

"Yes, it does. You may not have seen it. But she is tearing herself up because of the loss of her dear friend." She said softly.

"Yes, She was very close with Jiraiya-sama. She is probably crying her eyes out right now." Sakura added. Naruto sighed and stood.

"Alright! But I refuse to go alone, she might beat the crap outta me!" He gave one more look to the field behind him, before moving forward.

Naruto stared at the broken door, before entering. He froze when he heard the racking sobs, and saw the blond woman slumped over her desk, in complete grief. He moved silently until he was directly in front of her, then he put his hand on her shoulder. She jumped and looked up hastily trying to wipe away the evidence of her emotions.

"Naruto what-"

"Its not good, Obaa-chan, to cry alone." He said quietly and wiped a tear from her eye.

"naru-"

"Its ok." He whispered and sat on her desk and hugged her tight.

"He was important to me too." She gasped out.

"I know... He would always tell me about the good times that he had with you and Orochimaru, when you were still the Sanin. And he would tell me all sorts of things." He said comfortingly, and rubbed circles into her back.

"He would talk about you as well, you know." She said suddenly, and pulled away.

"Huh?"

"He would always talk about you with so much pride. He even told me one day that you were like his grandson. He said he always wished that you were his. He loved you like you were family." She gently traced his cheek.

"He said to me one day, 'Tsunade, I believe that I have found the one single person in this world with whom I think I can lay my worries with.' When I asked him who, he smiled and said. 'My stupid student of course! If there's one thing that I know he will do, it is keep moving forward!'" She opened her eyes and fixed her stare on him.

"I believe in him. I believe that you are the person that inherited, Jiraiya's Will of Fire. Now, tell me Naruto, what are you going to do?" Her eyes still shone with tears unshed, but they held firm.

"I'll carry on my master's dream, and fulfill the story he left behind." Naruto answered unflinchingly.

"I will walk down the path in front of me, without fail."

"I believe you will..."