It was a slowly cooling afternoon when a small white snake slithered up the wall of the Hokage tower. The Fourth Great Shinobi War had only ended two months prior. Tsunade was getting ready to hand off the Hokage position to Kakashi. She wanted to spend some time with her last living relative that Gaki. Personal time that family learn to love one another as she watched him grow into a young leader after all he had done during the war. And professional time. Furthering his education as Naruto was mastering all chakra affinities due to his sage capabilities. And perhaps to teach the Gaki some diplomacy.
She heard the snake slither up, sensing her one living teammates energy in it. It was a messenger snake. She waved of the ANBU. Orochimaru sent her period updates as he did his best to undo some of his more horrid experiments. He still had his darker interests, but he no longer harmed the weak and innocent. The snake crawled on her arm and dispelled, leaving a message scroll.
"Tsuna-chan. Please forgive me for using our old familiar address when we were young children. You, Jiraiya-kun and I were something special, not because we became Sannin but because from our three disparate backgrounds and worldviews we forged a young partnership and friendship. I wish that I truly could bring back Nawacki. He died under my watch. I know that there was some suspicion that my less than serious regard for most of our comrades led to his death, but the fact that you never believed that was one of the things that kept me from falling to darkness earlier than I did. He died when I should have a found a way to die protecting him so that he might live. One of the reasons that I added to my list of reasons to gain power over death was his death."
I regret many things. And I try to balance those evils. But… eh well I will stop belaboring this with philosophical meanderings. So please do what I ask now. You come, bringing only Naruto-kun to the following location…."
Three days later several dozen miles outside the village. Tsunade had signaled for her ANBU guards to stay behind. Naruto would be more than enough to protect her against anything Orochimaru could do, but neither of them thought there would be any betrayal. They landed from the trees, seeing Orochimaru meditating in front of a campfire with a tea kettle hanging over it. He gestured for them to sit. After a second's hesitation they both did. Orochimaru served them both a cup of tea.
"Ah… Old Lord Harido's Violet Rose Tea… It is one of my three favorites and I always had it in the back of my head that if I could choose a time to die then drinking several cups of this tea would be one of the last things that I wanted to do." They sat in silence drinking tea for almost half an hour. Orochimaru focused on Naruto and then addressed him. "Ah Naruto-kun. I would never have expected you to be able to sit still for so long."
Naruto laughed, and did an old gesture, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, once I learned how to be a Sage, the process of being still became very comfortable, dattabayo."
"You know of your parents now?"
"Yeah, I kind of met them as chakra inside my seal."
"Ah yes, your parents were both fuinjutsu masters. The seal that they developed, which they wound up using on you, from my understanding, is one that they wished to eventually replace hers with."
Now both Naruto and Tsunade were curious. "What do you mean?"
"Well, as you know the time when a female Jinchuriki's seal weakens the most is during pregnancy, peaking at the height of childbirth. Well, your seal, or rather the one that you had before whatever you have now, was going to work such that it would store vast amounts of the Jinchuriki's chakra inside it. So that even if it were not being fed properly for some length period of time, it would remain robust." Both Naruto and Tsunade could see the implications of that type of seal.
"I have many regrets about the path that I choose in life. Had I not started falling into darkness during the third war, either I would have been named Hokage or been like a right-hand man along with Jiraiya. Which meant that unlike what I did, which was hide with that corrupt coward Danzo, I would have been out there with Sensei, and with Minato and with your mother. Perhaps if I were Hokage I would have noticed that Danzo ordered the Uchiha to stay out of it and merely evacuate civilians. Of course, those are all the whatifs."
"Your mother was a kind woman when she was not kicking ass. I lost my entire clan because of the First Great Ninja war and its aftermath. I was somewhat like Sasuke in that regard. And your mother of course. When she joined the shinobi forces, I was a commander of her unit during a battle. We were hunkered down for a couple of days. And we talked. And she was the first one who I felt could understand what I had gone through. I think I was drawn to her in that regard because I saw myself, younger before the darkness began possessing me like demonic snake slowly slithering around and constricting my soul."
He rose, beginning to walk over to a ritual circle. "In any case, follow me and allow an old fool a chance at balance." After they got there, they could see a coffin of the type of an Edo Tensei resurrection would come out from. "It took a while to arrange all of this. Let me show you what I have in the coffin so that you do not doubt my motives or means." He opened it and they saw a dormant but alive white zetsu. "Now I will take advantage of their ability to absorb chakra. These tags are stored chakra from many compatible shinobi volunteers who suffered during the war. I was able to use my forbidden lore to restore some of their disabilities. I will add some of this to the this dagger."
Orochimaru then cast the Edo Tensei and they saw the zetsu shudder and then become wrapped in papers like tiny tags…and it shifted to the form of Jiraiya…. Who then lurched awake from the coffin? Naruto screamed at Orochimaru a rasenshuriken already spinning up, "Teme! Why would you do this!" He yelled and was about to obliterate Orochimaru, but Tsunade used all her speed to grab his other arm.
"Stop Naruto. Wait and let us listen." They could both sense the waves of Killing Intent radiating off Naruto, both his and Kurama's who was even more furious.
"Naruto-kun. Had I not fallen to evil, Jiraiya might never have died and this whole horrible war might have been prevented with he and I teaming together to end Pain in Ame." Orochimaru plunged the dagger into Jiraiya, restoring his chakra, but having only one command in it, to not attack Orochimaru. Orochimaru gave Jiraiya the necessary time to regain full awareness since he had been risen as an Edo Tensei summon. Then he faced him and spoke. "My truest friend, who pursued me for longer than I ever believed. I … I failed you completely. When we were young you showed complete faith in me. And I failed that faith completely."
Edo Jiraiya sense what might be coming. "Oro, don't do this. I am content with what I did. Naruto survived and grew stronger. And even you came back from the darkness."
"Jiraiya, you completed your path and in the face of death made the choice. The choice of courage. I talked to Lord Fukasaku and Lady Shima. They told me of the end there in Ame. And then I talked to the Great Snake Sage."
Jiraiya looked shocked? But I thought that you were rejected for Sage training?"
"No, I completed it. But I chose immortality over becoming a Sage. I choose material eternity, even though I know, not just believe, but know that there is an afterlife, a continuance." He faced Tsunade. "Tsuna-chan. At one point and now again, I love you like a sister. You have lost so much. This I can do for you." And he turned to Naruto. "Naruto-kun. You lost and suffered more than any other. I think only Anko-chan could understand your suffering of all those in the leaf. You should reach out to her. That inner pain that you simply have decided to accept and live with, well its one of those things that talking with another who has experience something like it can alleviate. I wish that I could bring your parents back too. I wish that I could do a lot more." He handed Naruto a scroll. "This scroll contains all of my research, as well as documents showing where what remains of my experiments that I have not had time to destroy or release or undo. And it has some bank account info with a large amount of wealth. That wealth I am giving to the Uzumaki clan." Naruto nodded.
"It contains one other thing, my fuinjutsu notes. So that the remnants of Anko's curse seal and others can be either removed or modified enough so as not to cause people pain or influence them to darkness." Naruto nodded again.
Orochimaru then just addressed everyone. "I could activate Sage mode if I did not have all of the modifications in my body that make my immortality jutsu possible." He took several deep breaths. "If I had Sage mode, I could use a jutsu that I developed with Lord Fukasaku, Lady Shima and the Great Snake Sage. Or rather one that I witnessed and then with their help then modified."
Orochimaru then stepped into the ritual circle and began a long series of hand signs, more than one hundred. They could all feel the chakra build. And build. And then explode, as what seemed like thousands and thousand of tiny snakes exploded out of Orochimaru's body slithered away from him and then dissolving in the air into whisps of chakra. Orochimaru, or what was left of him, was a withered husk. One could see parts of his muscles, tendons and skeleton. Only his hands and face seemed intact. He breathed raggedly and seem unable to take a deep breath. He pulled more of those chakra seals out and slapped them on him. He did slightly heal, and those present could feel a sharp rise in his chakra. "I do not have much time left to live. So, I can do one more thing." He stood still. Naruto and Jiraiya could sense the stillness. And then Orochimaru activated for the second time his snake sage mode.
"This is my final act. I do not do it for redemption. I expect never to make the Purelands. Or even be allowed to enter the cycle of reincarnation. But I do it because I finally remembered and felt again the love and respect for my true brother and sister. The two who I felt like I had thrown over a cliff as the great demonic snake constricted my soul. Well now, I can pull you out of the water."
Once again Orochimaru began a long series of hand signs before finally uttering, "Sage Art, Self-Sacrifice Rebirth." And with that his body dissolved away into a pure chakra, which floated across the clearing and flowed into Jiraiya. As it touched him, bit by bit he began to glow, as the chakra suffused him. And then moments later a burst of light… and Edo Jiraiya was no more. But Jiraiya the Gallant, Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku stood tall. His mouth open and staring in wonder at the spot where his friend once been. Tsunade screamed in joy, "Damn Pervert! See you were right I never win a bet no matter what!" And then she leapt forward and embraced him. And to the shock of Jiraiya's life as he felt those glorious breasts press into his chest, she pulled his head down and kissed him, deeply, passionately for the first time in his life, he felt love back from his one true love."
"Damn pervert! Our wars are over thanks to the Gaki here. After we get your death certificate undone, and I get out of this damn Hokage job, you and I can settle down, enjoy what we have and watch the Gaki here make world peace."
Jiraiya, "Hime, doesn't it take a lot to get through the red tape on undoing a death certificate?"
"Well Pervert, I may or may not still have a little pull with the current Hokage if you get my drift…" They smiled at one another… before being glomped as Naruto hugged both and just cried in joy and relief.
"We have to tell everyone. Kami's ghost! I I finally get something back."
The three hugged and then finished the remains of Orochimaru's tea as they caught up. There was nothing left to bury of Orochimaru. And truth be told all three knew that very few would mourn his loss. But those three and a few others would make and honor a memorial to the Snake Sage, who had come full circle at his end, and met it like a Legendary Sannin, in a final defiant act of Snake Magic.
Notes – Even though I love Naruto and consider it a 97/100 on the scale of awesome, its not a 100/100 because of several issues I had with the storyline. This addresses one of them and represents a fanon concept of something that would have been better.
Kishimoto stated outright that not only did Jiraiya need to die for Naruto's storyline to properly advance as a character in terms of growth but that he had to stay dead (much like Minato had to return to the Purelands even though there were ways for him to be resurrected right there, Madara for example had somewhat repented and Hashirama could have lent him a bit of chakra so that he could do Rinne Rebirth and sacrifice himself to resurrect Minato).
I it felt off that Orochimaru did not… ever really do anything to balance out his personal betrayals, especially to Jiraiya. He balanced out the group betrayals with his acts though.
I think if something like this had happened at the end of Naruto, it would have felt like closure for Orochimaru's storyline. And proved a reward for all the sacrifices that Tsunade and Naruto had to endure.
For those who don't know the three Sannin are based on characters from a Japanse folk tale that is called in some translations, "The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant" or in others "Jiraiya the Toad". I last read it when I was like 14, almost 10 years before Naruto came out and when I first read of Orochimaru and then Jiraiya in the manga, I was like "Holy Shit Kishimoto is taking this up a notch". I tried to incorporate a bit of what I remember in that folk tale into this short fanon epilogue.
Other Note – the Return of the Uzumaki is very much alive. My Muse speaks to me in bursts. I have like seven open word documents with various stories and other writings in them on my main monitor for over a month. Right now, another story called Kushina's Legacy is screaming to get some chapters out of my head. And then my Muse began screaming this in my head about 2 days ago.
This is a one shot. If anyone else wants to follow up how the setting would be after this event feel free to use it. As of course Kishimoto owns Naruto, we just love exploring it.
