Jiraiya sighed and he looked at the ground, "It was our last month of the training. We had decided to take the night off and go celebrate. All the kid could talk about was getting back to Konoha."
---Flashback---
Naruto finished off his 10th bowl of Ramen. Jiraiya just shook his head. He still didn't see how a little kid could put away that much food. That's when he heard something that interested him coming from the group behind them.
"Yeah, they said that there were only two of them. One a middle aged guy and another a kid in his teens. But when everyone came back the next day nothing was there. One of the survivors kept mumbling something about the kid's eye."
Jiraiya looked over at Naruto. He had stopped eating and stared at the group. One thought went through both of there mind.
Sasuke.
---End Flashback---
Jiraiya leaned his head to either side beating it with his fist. "So, we listened in a little more and head out. Found the two of them pretty easily."
Tsunade could not hide the excitement in her voice, "Orochimaru hasn't take Sasuke as his vessel yet?"
Jiraiya chuckled, "Yet? I doubt he will be taking anyone as his vessel ever again."
"You mean he's-"
Jiraiya nodded, "Dead."
"But how?"
Jiraiya bowed his head, "I would love to say that we did it. But it seemed that we weren't the only ones to hear about Sasuke and Orochimaru. Akatsuki showed up. All of them. They said that Orochimaru had become too much of a risk to allow him to live."
"They killed Orochimaru."
Jiraiya nodded.
---Inside the room---
Naruto had long since removed his breathing mask making it easier to tell Sakura what happened. He wished more than anything not to be the one to tell her this. "It---Itachi showed up with his friends. They killed that snake bastard. They then went after Sasuke."
Sakura gasped as she started to piece it together.
"We fought with him. The three of us managed to take out 3 or 4 of them. Then Sasuke saw Itachi. He tried to take him on by himself." Tears started run down Naruto's cheeks. "I tried to help. I really did."
Sakura held her heart as she bowed her head.
---Outside the room---
A sob was heard from inside Naruto's room. Tsunade bowed her head, "I'll have Sasuke taken off the missing-nin list. We'll have a funeral for him in a few days."
Jiraiya nodded, "Now you know why Naruto needed to be watched. If word got out that the Uchiha was dead-"
Tsunade sighed, "The village would riot and call for Naruto's blood. This is not going to be a very easy few months for him."
Jiraiya nodded, "He needs his friends right now." He then looked at the door, "Before all this happened all he could talk about was going back home and keeping his promise to the Haruno girl."
Tsunade started to walk off, "I guess I should get the paperwork started."
Jiraiya chuckled slightly, "You hated paperwork 3 years ago. What changed?"
Tsunade shook her head, "Nothing. Being here right now, it brings back bad memories."
---Inside the room---
Sakura openly wept for the lost of her first love. She knew deep down he would never come back, but part of her had always hoped she was wrong. After all Naruto had promised he would bring him back."
Naruto looked at Sakura, "It's okay."
Sakura looked up at him questioningly.
"It's okay." A tear fell down Naruto's cheek, "If you hate me now."
She stared at Naruto in shock. She couldn't believe it. Naruto actually seemed sad. The one guy who always had a smile no matter how bad it got. Not only was he said, but he actually expected Sakura to hate him. It was almost like he had already excepted the fact she would. The old Naruto would have told her he was sorry and would make it up to her. This one just seemed to dwell on his failure.
"I broke my promise to you. I couldn't bring him back."
Sakura bowed her head, "I'll come check on you in a few hours." She the walked out the door.
Jiraiya walked in the second she left, "Hey kid. How you holding up?"
Naruto turned his head to look out the window, "It's changed a lot in three years."
Jiraiya nodded, "We'll go see it when you get out of here."
"I bet a lot of them are Chuunin by now."
"Tsunade will work something out for you."
Naruto still kept his gaze on the window. Jiraiya shook his head. He had scene this a few times in his life. Yondaime, I wish you could be here for him right now. He knew that look. It was the same look he used to get when he was little and Tsunade would mock him. It was the same looked Tsunade had when Dan died. It was a look of complete and worthless helplessness. It was a look that admitted defeat. And it was a look that he never wanted to see on Naruto Uzumaki.
Naruto looked back at Jiraiya for a second with a smile, "She's even more beautiful than I remember."
Jiraiya smiled at this. That was more like the Naruto he knew. "So, you actually going to go through with those hints I gave you?"
Naruto gave him an amused look, "I think she hates me too much already." His look solemned slightly, "I don't know if she's going to forgive me for this one."