Naruto was dead.

His son was dead.

He had failed as a father.

He had failed as Hokage.

He had failed.

He carried his son in his arms.

He didn't care how heavy he was.

He didn't care how much pain he was in.

He didn't care about anything.

His son was dead.

After the sealing was complete, Minato had rushed to his son, attempting to resuscitate him, to save him, but there was nothing Minato could do.

Naruto was gone.

Everyone watched as Minato knelt silently over his son. Time was standing still. Not a word was spoken.

Everything had moved in slow motion for the rest of shinobi in the cave. All they could do was stand there and stare at the lifeless body that had fallen in the center of cave. Minato had let out a heart-shattering scream that Jiraiya didn't even know that a human could make. At that moment, he knew that his student was dead. He had failed to protect him; he had failed to keep his promise to Minato.

There was a heavy silence, and no one moved.

After a while Jiraiya walked over and placed a hand on Minato's shoulder. The elder shinobi looked at his student, his face was shaded by his long blonde locks, but even he knew that Minato was in shock. He had lost student, comrades, and subordinates, they all had. Shinobi die in battle. That's just how it was, and it everyone accepted it, no matter how hard, or heart breaking it was.

But this was different. Naruto was the center of his world, the gravity that held everything together. The heart of all that was him. Now, that heart was gone.

Looking over to the statue, Jiraiya noted that Pein and the rest had disappeared. They had the Kyuubi now, there was no point in sticking around.

A moment later, Jiraiya walked over to the other side of the lifeless boy, as he kneeled on one knee, he placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder as he gave his student a silent farewell. After a deep sigh, Jiraiya slid one hand under Naruto's knees and one under his shoulder's picking the young boy up.

Minato had stood up at the same time, and without meeting Jiraiya's gaze, he reached to take his son.

"Minato," Jiraiya whispered, but the Hokage did not respond.

Jiraiya sighed. It was pointless to argue with him, so he released the boy to his father.

There was not a word spoken by anyone on the way back.

000

Upon entering the medical camp of the shinobi alliance, it turned silent and still. Everyone stopped moving, turning to watch as the Hokage carried his deceased son in his arms, bridal style, follow by three other Kages, Tsunade, and Jiraiya who had an unconscious Kakashi over his back.

Minato stared straight ahead, not acknowledging anyone who looked his direction. It was obvious that the Hokage was barely holding it together.

Soon the news of Naruto's death would spread through the alliance.

Tsunade looked over when she saw movement and noticed that Sakura had step out of one of the tents, and the realization of what was happening spread across her face.

Her young student on the verge of breaking down, tears were forming, and she had whispered the word, "No," shaking her head, not believing the sight before her. Tsunade headed her direction and pulled her back into the tent she had just come from.

Rasa had split off intending to find his own son. He needed to tell Gaara what happened before anyone else did. Gaara needed to hear it from him first. The Raikage had done the same with Bee.

Jiraiya had separated as well when another set of medical shinobi walked over with a stretcher, and silently they helped him lay the unconscious shinobi from his back on to the stretcher. He looked up at the medical nin and said to call him when Kakashi was awake. Jiraiya knew that someone would need to tell Kakashi that his student was dead. He looked over at Minato who was still heading the direction of the main tent where he and the others were just a bit earlier. Where he had made his promise to Minato. The promise he had failed to keep.

Tsuchikage continued to follow the Hokage.

Minato headed into the tent and placed Naruto on the very same cot that he had been earlier.

Oonki stood outside the tent and prevented anyone from entering. The long-running Tsuchikage was tired of seeing children die in war. He understood the pain that parents experienced when their child dies in war. He has seen it too often. When Jiraiya approached, Oonki shook his head, and the Sannin knew. Jiraiya looked in and noticed Minato had knelt next to his son. The Hokage's shoulders were shaking. Minato was crying.

Jiraiya felt a pang of guilt and turn on heel to walk away as he heard the cry that Minato had let out.

000

"Gaara," Rasa called as he stepped into the large tent where the young redhead was residing.

Gaara sat up from the cot that he was laying on in the back of the tent, "Tou-san."

Rasa stopped in the middle of the tent and Gaara had met him there.

"Where's Naruto?" the younger asked.

"Gaara," Rasa started, "Naruto…"

"What?" Gaara asked anxiously.

Rasa starred at his son and realized that he couldn't watch Gaara's reaction when he told him. So, Rasa did something he thought he had never done before; he wrapped his arms around his son and pulled him into an embrace. Gaara just stood there in shock.

"Gaara, Naruto…" Rasa sighed, "Naruto has died."

Gaara's eyes widened slowly as the news sunk in.

"No," Gaara replied, "He couldn't…"

Rasa noticed that his son's voice was starting to waver, so he tightened his embrace, "We couldn't stop the extraction. The Kyuubi is gone, and Naruto died as a result."

"No," Gaara replied with a weak voice.

"I am sorry, Gaara," Rasa stated, "I failed to protect him."

Gaara didn't respond, and so Rasa just stood there him, holding him. He felt the wetness from his son's tears on his shoulder. Rasa mentally noted that he had never seen his son cry before or show much emotion otherwise. This was the affect that Naruto had on his son.

000

"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura exclaimed as her sensei pulled her roughly into the tent, "Naruto, he's…?"

"Yes," Tsunade nodded. It was taking all her strength to hold it together, but she would need to discharge her rage soon.

Sakura wrapped her arms around herself, "No, he couldn't be…"

Tsunade sighed and watched her student starting to break down. Then she looked over and noticed Sasuke lying unconscious on the cot with bandages around his eyes.

"Sasuke?" Tsunade asked.

Sakura nodded, "he killed Itachi."

"I see," Tsunade sighed then instructed her student, "find somewhere and some way to let it out, then pull it together. We need to finish this war."

Sakura nodded then hurried out of the tent, Tsunade followed and watched Sakura disappear.

She sighed and head out to follow her own instructions.

000

Across the medical area, Jiraiya had walked out of entrance they had come in earlier. He needed to be alone. He needs to be in a place where he could expel some of the anger that was fueling him at the moment. He made his way as far as he could from the medical area, and then when he felt that he gone far enough away, he pulled back and drove his fist into the closest tree. After several of these punches, Jiraiya turned and sunk down at the base of the tree.

"I failed," Jiraiya muttered to himself.

He leaned his head back against the tree and tried to force back the tears that were working their way out, but he failed. He just let them fall.

"God, this can't be real," he muttered.

"It is," a voice came.

Jiraiya looked up and noticed that Tsunade had found her way over.

The blonde sunk down next to him and leaned back against the same tree.

"We failed him," Tsunade said after a few moments of silence, then she stood up and walked over to a tree and repeated the same thing that Jiraiya had done. She reeled back and launched her own punch at a nearby tree, yelling, "Fuck!"

The tree cracked and started to fall, so she found another, repeating the process. Several trees had fallen, and a multitude of profanities had been yelled until her energy had started to fade. Jiraiya just watched her, feeling his own angry release as her was.

But that anger was being replaced by guilt and grief, and he knew that wasn't going to fade.

It never does.

000

Jiraiya walked back into the medical area after a medical shinobi had found them and informed them that Kakashi was awake. The older shinobi followed the young medic into the tent the housed a single cot. They kept Kakashi alone just in case someone had spilled the news before Jiraiya could tell him.

When Jiraiya entered the tent, Kakashi looked over at him, and the elder's expression told him everything he needed to know, but he needed confirmation, "Naruto?"

Jiraiya didn't respond, just crossed his arms, and shook his head slightly, then looked away.

Kakashi understood.

"He's gone."

Kakashi wasn't sure if he was asking Jiraiya to confirm or if he was trying to convince himself.

The grey-haired shinobi turned his head the opposite direction and had gone silent.

Jiraiya stood there for a moment but that was the end of the conversation if it could even be called that. He turned and walked out of the tent.

000

Out on the various battlefields, the war had hit some sort of pause. The majority of the Akatsuki members had vanished from the battlefields.

Throughout all the various locations of the Shinobi Alliance, there was a group pause. Inoichi and the other members of the communication team had relayed the news about the death of the Hokage's son, the Jinchuuriki for The Kyuubi, the friend and comrade of many, and the boy that many had gone to war to protect.

Naruto was dead.

000

At that moment, Minato was wishing that he was dreaming, that he was still in those pain induced dreams that Pein had put him in. That pain was easier than this would ever be. Naruto was too still lying on the cot in front of him.

He had failed to protect him. He failed to keep his promise to Kushina. He failed to protect their son.

How was he supposed to continue fighting when his sole purpose was gone?

Minato felt the guilt and the pain start to rise inside. Tears were starting to fall from his eyes, and his whole body was starting to shake. He couldn't hold it together anymore.

Minato sunk to his knees next to the cot and let out a cry that radiated through the entire camp site.