Author's Note: This part has been written for months honestly. It just wasn't going anywhere fast enough, so I've decided to post it now and do the next scene in another update altogether.

From here on, there will be no more author's notes. I'm treating this like a single chapter with no dividers even though it is broken up by updates and time. This story is a tribute more than anything so please take this journey slowly, take it in, and enjoy. I aim for tears at its end.

Song to the Siren

-HotPinkWriter-

Naruto was sitting in his office. Something he did just about every day. And, seemingly, today was a day like any other day of the week. But it wasn't.

The Hokage sighed as he watched the world outside his window. The birds, the trees waving. The clouds drifting silently by. It was a familiar sight. His perfect life. But something important was missing. Excruciatingly.

Naruto's eyelids closed.

This day made it exactly twenty years ago... And even two decades later Naruto could still remember hearing the news like it was yesterday. Could still see it play out in his mind like he was reliving it:

The cool colors of the village outside as gray clouds draped themselves over the sun. The look on his friends' faces as they stood around him, already having known what had passed. The slam of the door of the very room he was sitting in now as a sixteen-year-old him stormed out, overcome by the news. The connotations.

Truth be told Naruto chalked his lack of desire to sit down and eat a frozen treat as him maturing. But he knew better. So did his fatherly sensei, Iruka.

"Hey, Naruto. Thought I'd stop by and treat you to some ramen. For old time's sake."

Naruto smiled, turning his chair around to face his past teacher as the man approached the desk.

"It's been ages!" Naruto proclaimed.

"It has," Iruka laughed in return. He nearly walked into the desk and, bumping into it slightly, wasn't able to help himself from staring at the stack of instant ramen containers thrown all over its top. Around that mess was another mess. Papers and scrolls all haphazardly sorted into stacks. His eyes lingered briefly and long enough for Naruto to notice the lines around them.

The man was beginning to show signs of age drastically. But he was in every way still one of the most important people to Naruto, even now as an adult. So even though the Hokage wasn't particularly hungry, and honestly didn't feel up to being about, he certainly wasn't going to turn down Iruka's offer.

Naruto stood. "Ramen sounds so good right now."

Iruka seemed relieved. "To you it always is."

At Ichiraku, Naruto folded his Hokage cloak and set it on his lap before leaning his elbows on the counter. On it, the steam from his ramen dish rose, warming his face.

"Hey Iruka?" he said after a moment of stirring his broth, its warm scent wafting into his nostrils. A sense of feeling at home filled him.

"Huh?" Iruka mumbled, splitting his chopsticks apart.

"I know why you're doing this today. Thank you."

Iruka glanced down, almost embarrassedly. "Yeah, I wasn't sure but...I'm glad I did." He turned to Naruto, smiling grimly. "I heard Hinata might be expecting."

Naruto's lips curled in a grin but his eyes remained fixed on the counter. "She is. It's another boy. We want to name him after..." He paused and took a deep breath. "We want to name him after Jiraiya."

Iruka nodded. "A good choice, Naruto. He'd be honored. And I'm really glad I got to visit you."

"Again, thank you." It came out more as a whisper. Naruto cleared his throat. "I really love...ramen."

Iruka nodded understandingly. After a few mouthfuls of noodles, he spoke again. "They say time heals all wounds but the scar remains. But believe it or not, even they too begins to fade." He exhaled slowly. "I still think about my parents myself and I've been around far too long for that. Don't get me wrong, I've had a good life as a teacher. I love it. But still, I think about them. So I know what this day means to you."

Naruto smiled. "Nah, you're not a geezer yet. Though I sure feel like one."

"Oh, please," Iruka scoffed. "Wait until you hit your forties."

Naruto emptied his bowl and pushed it to the side, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.

"If Kakashi's any indication, maybe we all have graves we have to visit once in awhile. I've kinda neglected to do that, being so busy and all."

"I'm sure he'd understand and—"

Smiling, Naruto interrupted him, rather unintentionally. "Geez, he wasn't exactly a father figure. He was a pervert. Like really a pervert. I'd always find him in some sleazy part of town, drunk and still...Well panting like a dog. But still, I can remember my training with him. Living in inns. How he took me under his wings during those pivotal years. I needed that. I mean...You know?"

Iruka grinned. Jiraiya may have been infamous as a womanizer but there was no denying how far he'd go out of his way to take care of others that had no one else to. He had spent time with Naruto in a way that all fathers should. In a way, Iruka had never been completely able to.

Naruto started his second bowl, spirit lifted as he continued his bout down memory lane.

"He was like my grandpa. A dirty but awesome grandpa. I wouldn't have survived Pain and the war without his teachings instilled into me...Except some of those nights in town. I could have lived without that. Talk about being too old to do some of that stuff."

They laughed briefly, Naruto's face reddening a bit. His grin sobered as he then set his chopsticks down.

"Sometimes I think closure is part of it. You know...I got to meet my parents, but it was long after I had grown up without them. I still, you know, love them but we said our last words. It was like it was a chapter, and it closed. But Jiraiya..." His brow furrowed. "He was there for me growing up...But then, the Rain happened, it was just so sudden. I had no clue...Poof. Gone...Makes it hard to believe it even happened. I feel like he could still come back from some long trip at any time."

Iruka placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I'm sure he's at peace. What you and your class have done has been phenomenal. He'd be proud."

"I know, I keep telling myself that...And it's been years but I still can't...I dunno." He began poking at his noodles but didn't pick any up. "I just wish he could still be here. See the world now. The accomplishments. I mean I'm not that bratty kid anymore. You know when Hinata had our first kid I couldn't stop crying?"

"I know," Iruka chuckled softly. "I was there."

Naruto had been a happy mess of excitement when Hinata had given birth to Boruto. He'd even cried when his second was born, proclaiming he was just so happy. To have his own family and for that family to grow. Children were precious things, ones that Iruka didn't need to marry to enjoy as a teacher. Even now, seeing Naruto grown up from the place he had come from was fulfilling more than he could have ever hoped for.

"You certainly was," Iruka said, wanting to laugh at the memory. But Naruto's expression sobered him. Iruka could never replace the other people who Naruto loved. Only support him along the journey.

"Iruka-sensei, I wanted him to be there too. Well, not in the hospital room. Or anywhere near Hinata for that matter. But with my kids. Even now, I just wish I could show him our family photo. Tell him it's getting bigger. Tell him Sasuke's back. Tell him the world's at peace now...The one he died in, it was just so hopeless. Even the way he died. It wasn't fair for him."

Iruka glanced down at his soup, stirring it slowly. "Even if he hadn't gone to the Rain, I think another mission would have eventually taken him. He was just that kind of guy, Naruto. A good shinobi."

Naruto frowned but gave a reluctant nod. "Maybe."

Maybe not.

Iruka and he ate the rest of their meals in appreciative silence.

_-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-_

Back in the Hokage's Tower, Sasuke waited for him, leaning against the wall with one foot resting against it.

"Where were you?" he asked promptly upon Naruto's entrance.

"Lunch," Naruto answered, puzzled as he set a satchel down. "What's going on?"

He shouldn't be here. Although the strange bogey phenomenon—whatever it was—had landed in the Land of Fire, the actual study of it had been estimated to take a while, even with his Sharingan and Rinnegan. Sasuke hadn't been expected to be back until the end of the week at least. There was no way he was back just the next day, not without conducting a thorough investigation.

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Naruto blinked in surprise. It was rare to ever find the Uchiha at a loss of words. But here he was now, struggling to find the words.

"You have to come," he merely said, recovering.

An eyebrow rose. Naruto chuckled nervously. "Why? What is it?"

Sasuke wasn't one to joke around so whatever it was, he really thought Naruto had to see it in person. But he knew Naruto couldn't just leave the village on a whim. Not without a good reason.

"Just come with me. It requires you just as much as it does me."

Sasuke looked at him seriously, complexion slightly pale.

Naruto could only comply, although he was still a bit baffled. "Um, all right..."