One month.

He was so close but in one measly month things had gone to hell. Jiraiya sat on top of the hokage tower looking the village over.

"If you want to live as a Shinobi, you must be wise…."

"WHY IS THIS THE ONLY ANSWER THOUGH!? PEOPLE ARE HURTING! OUR PRECIOUS PEOPLE ARE HURTING! ISN'T IT OUR JOB TO HELP EACH OTHER! IF LEAVING THEM IN PAIN IS BEING WISE THEN I…!"

Jiraiya sighed. That was not what he had wanted their last conversation to be like. And yet now….

Rin was gone.

It would seem the regrets were ever piling and they never stopped. Obito was in mourning, Minato was still not showing…. Kakashi had locked himself away…

Jiraiya groaned and the biggest problem of all,

Naruto.

The kid was a glutton for punishment. After a large explosion had happened all the parties that had been in the area were brought back. Jiraiya arrived back quickly before they had awoken and was there just in time for the interrogation of what had happened.

Kabuto Yakushi. He was a spy that Orochimaru had gotten a hold of and had manipulated. But once Orochimaru threw him away all the admiration and awe the boy had for him turned to hate and he wanted to destroy the leaf. Jiraiya had been on his tail for the longest of times but Kabuto had been in root, he knew how to escape.

How he had gotten into the chunin exams was another feat he would never understand. What really pissed him off was that the Uchiha had said that Kabuto was the one who had killed Naruto in the first place and that the boy should have been dead. They should have known sooner.

Further inspection had showed that the bodies that Naruto had destroyed were not the sound ninja rather replacement captured and brainwashed konoha missing nin. That was Naruto's first strike and after him unleashing his power he was on strike two.

But Kabuto managed to deceive everyone until the third exam when it came to his objective. Make the Jinjuriki go wild and destroy the village, while the sound ninja's took advantage of the chaos and killed as many ninja's as they could. It was hardly a war and Konoha had suffered no real casualties but...it could have worked.

And then came the discrepancies. The record showed that Sasuke, Sakura and Rin chased after Gaara. A few other genin followed after for support. The other genin stalled the sand siblings that were trying to protect their younger brother but Rin and her team managed to reach him regardless.

Sakura remembered the boy changing and she tried to be of help protecting Sasuke and Rin but had been made a hostage and had passed out.

The only other witness Sasuke Uchiha had said that Rin had fought the beast the best she could and he changed back into human form but as a result Rin had died. Naruto had come after the fight and let the sand ninja go. And in the midst of despair released a powerful wave of chakra and then he couldn't remember.

And Jiraiya believed that to be the truth. Sure it was sad that this would spark trouble with the sand and the treaty they had with one another would be in a precarious situation but Jiraiya like Obito wanted someone to pay for what had happened to Rin… And Killing sand nin may help.

But it didn't go as planned, because someone argued a totally different story altogether.

That Gaara was slowly going insane and had knock out Sakura and was beating up Rin but he hadn't killed her. Rather the demon nine tails had awakened due to the Shukaku's power and had drawn those beastly instincts out. That Naruto had been the one to intervene ending the fight and killing Rin in a fit of uncontrollable power. That the sand ninja had fled in order to save their lives and that they had not been the ones at fault.

And the council who had just been waiting for strike three ate it up like it was the sweetest dessert in the world. Jiraiya would have been pissed and would have voiced it as loudly as Obito had but he was more in shock, because the person who had said it was…

Naruto.

Naruto had taken the responsibility of killing Rin and played himself as the monster.

Jiraiya knew that Naruto was good friends with the Kazekage's son but this was almost going too far. But this is what they wanted a reason to capture the boy and someone they could blame.

And all considering they were able to keep peace with Suna so it was looking like an answer to prayer but the punishment was great. Jiraiya's hands were tied as he respected the child's wish to protect his friend, and Obito was to emotional frazzled to think straight.

Naruto was carted away instantly to be 'interrogated' for his actions. But that was just sugar coating for being beat, and whipped and brutally tortured and then thrown in a cell with chakra restraints in the darkest and deepest part of the hokage's tower.

It was cruel and unfair and no one should have the right to do that to another human but even he hadn't done anything, and two weeks later Naruto was released under watch. But the damage was done, rumors were spread that he was a monster and that he was Rin's killer.

Jiraiya couldn't even peep on the bath house being this concerned; all he seemed to be doing was sighing,

"I hope that you are not attempting anything foolish"

A voice said behind him and the thought made him smirk,

"All depends of the definition of foolish i suppose."

But he turned to see the two old goats behind him,

"Homura Otchan and teacher Koharu right? What business do the committee advisors have with me?"

Koharu frowned,

"What business are we here for? We have something to tell you. You probably understand what already"

Jiraiya hated talking to these people,

"So you say..Even though your faces don't look like it, the talks with the sand are going well. Hasn't it already been concluded…"

Thanks to naruto..

But he didn't add that.

"Right now the relationship with sand is not important."

That made Jiraiya twitch.

"Right now the power of the hidden leaf is declining. People are starting to get scared. Under these circumstances, the top priority is to make preparations for the upcoming crisis."

Homura interjected,

"Because we do not know when neighboring nations will take such bold actions again it still depends. Until the power of the village is restored, several of our top people from the army were summoned to form a committee, this is how the emergency executive committee was formed. This is how this matter was decided and dealt with.. Now, most importantly…. We need a strong leader to rely on.."

Jiraiya had seen this coming. After Rin's death Obito's mental health was fragile. He knew it was only a matter a time before they felt they needed someone to take his place. Not to mention they originally were not to happy with having an Uchiha be hokage. But Obito had proven himself and so they were forced to bow their head. Now? no. they would take the bull by the horns and use the opportunity to upheave the mourning young man for someone they felt they could use.

"Right now, there could be trouble coming this way."

Koharu continued,

"In other words we need someone with experience and skills that can build the foundation for this village. What we need now is a sixth hokage."

Homura continued,

"And because of this urgency a meeting was held… Jiraiya we decided it to be you."

"Too bad, I'm not the type."

Kohaku frowned,

"This is the decision that was made. Also, are you not one of the three nin as stated? If you are not the type then tell us who else is."

Jiraiya scoffed,

"There is… another person among the three sanin….That person is Tsunade."

Homura and Kohaku were silent for a moment before Homura spoke up.

"That is true.. But even if that woman is qualified to succeed, we do not know of her whereabouts."

Jiraiya frowned. It was a stain on his info network ability. How that alcoholic woman could evade him so well was terrifying.

"I'll find her and bring her back, that should be fine right?"

Kohaku frowned but Jiraiya waved it off,

"Don't be so down, I'll bring princess tsunade back to be the next hokage."

The old goats looked at each other in concern,

"I said i'd do it"

And that was all. Because if Jiraiya said he would do it he would… even at the cost of his life.

"I understand.I will take that into consideration immediately. However you should take a few Anbu…"

"Oioi! I'm not gonna run away ya know. That's a little excessive to have someone babysit me. However I do plan to take company… an interesting new egg.."

So you see how I did it? moving the story along...