He kept his promise to Minato.

Jiraiya watched with pride as Naruto fought in the ring. His godson was taking on one of the top fighters at his club. Although, the young blonde wasn't necessarily winning, he wasn't doing too bad either.

As his father wanted, Naruto had trained in various fighting forms, mainly kickboxing and MMA. He started in basic karate classes a kid, and then when he was old enough, he switched into the more intense sports. Jiraiya also made sure the kid knew how to shoot and the kid took to it, becoming a competition shooter at only 8 years old, and a national champion at 12. Naruto typically preferred the rifle over the pistol but was fairly good at both.

Minato wanted Naruto to be able to protect himself because he wasn't around to do so. He made Jiraiya promise to make sure of it, and now Jiraiya was confident the kid could.

Unfortunately, Naruto lost to his opponent. It was expected. He was only sixteen and had been fighting since he was six, while his opponent was twenty-three, and had plenty more experience.

Naruto walked over to him, towel around his neck. The kid was sweaty and tired but had a huge grin on his face.

"I almost had him, Ji!" Naruto laughed.

Jiraiya laughed at his nickname. Spelled out, it was just the letter's Ji, the first two letters of his name, but Naruto always pronounced like "Gee." He was completely positive that it a result of Kushina trying to get Naruto to call him old man in Japanese, Oyaji, when he was just a toddler. Of course little, two year old Naruto couldn't pronounce it, so it came out like Ji, and it stuck.

"It's about a hundred years too early for you to win against me, kid," Naruto's opponent walked up behind him and messed with the blonde's hair. Yamato was a friend of one of Minato's underlings at the force. A few years ago Yamato had agreed to take Naruto on as a student at his club.

"I win, one day!" Naruto shot back, laughing as the elder fighter walked away.

"Sure, kid, sure," Yamato teased as he headed into the locker room.

Jiraiya shook his head, "Alright, kid, let's get going. I am starving and I am sure you have homework tonight."

Naruto groaned in protest, but did as he was told, trotting off towards the locker room to shower and change. After reemerging, he and Jiraiya headed home.

"You okay, kid?" Jiraiya asked.

They were sitting at the small kitchen table eating their supper. It was a tiny round table in the corner of the very large, and state-of-the-art kitchen. Jiraiya always did want the nicest things, even if he barely used it. Naruto was just picking at his food, hardly eating. It was very abnormal for a teenage boy, especially one as active at Naruto. It was obvious that something was bothering him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Naruto mumbled.

"Want to talk about it?" Jiraiya pushed.

Naruto shrugged.

"Come on, did you get dumped by a girl?"

"No," Naruto shook his head, but didn't laugh at the joke.

"Seriously, what's up, kid?" Jiraiya put down his utensils and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair.

Naruto let out a big dramatic sigh, knowing that Jiraiya wasn't going to let it go, "There was just some talk about dad at school today."

"Other kids find out about you?" Jiraiya asked, knowing it wasn't really something he wanted his friends to know about.

"No," Naruto shook his head, "No one has made the connection yet, but apparently, the anniversary is coming up and some of mom's old friends were protesting about something at the courthouse today, I didn't catch any of the details."

"Protesting?" Jiraiya asked, but only got another shrug in reply.

Jiraiya let out a big sigh, catching Naruto's attention.

"What?" the blonde asked in his snappy, teenage voice.

"I wasn't going to talk to you about it until this weekend. I thought you might have need a few days to process," Jiraiya started to explain and when Naruto only stared at him, he continued, "The protest at the court house, was for your father's parole."

"Parole?" Naruto sat up a bit as he was in a bit of shock and gave Jiraiya his full attention.

They rarely spoke about his father. As a kid Naruto came to understand that Jiraiya really didn't like talking about his father or anything around the case, so he learned just to not bring it up, which led to him not knowing much about his father, other than the basics. To be honest, he wasn't really that curious. He didn't really want to know. He never heard from his father, so what was the point?

Jiraiya nodded, "Minato was only sentenced to fifteen years, with the possibility of parole at ten."

"And it's been ten years," Naruto stated.

"Yeah," Jiraiya nodded, "His parole is being considered by the commissioner this week, and that's why they were protesting."

Naruto nodded, but was silent, still picking at his food.

After a few moments of silence, Naruto spoke up, "Ji, do you think he did it?"

Jiraiya stared at his godson for a moment, before responding.

"No," Jiraiya shook his head, "I don't think he did."

"Why?"

"Naruto, I've known your father a very long time, Naruto," Jiraiya explained leaning forward on his elbows, using the table for support, "He is like a son to me, I know for a fact that it wasn't something he could have done."

"So, you believe him? When he claimed he was innocent? That he was framed?"

Jiraiya nodded, "I do."

Naruto nodded going silent again.

Jiraiya studied him for a moment, "Do you?"

Naruto looked up at his godfather and thought for a moment before responding, as if he didn't know what his answer would be.

"I don't know."

Naruto ended up going to school the next day. Jiraiya was a bit worried, but the kid seemed like he was okay. He was his normal self. Jiraiya took the day off, but still went to his office in the basement of their home to do another type of work. As an author of popular romance and smut novels, Jiraiya had the luxury of being able to determine how to spend most of his days. It was very helpful when Naruto was little and couldn't be left home alone. His novels also afforded him to live a more luxurious lifestyle as well. The royalties alone meant that he never had to write another novel if he didn't want to.

Jiraiya headed downstairs and past the game room. Since it was the basement, it was usually rather dark, so he just switched on one of the floor lamps, creating a rather moody atmosphere (he liked it for writing the romance stuff). It was a simple office with all dark mahogany wood. A large desk in the center with bookcases full of novels lining the wall behind it.

Powering up his computer, Jiraiya started looking through Minato's old case file. Naruto wasn't sure if he believed his father was guilty or innocent. Although, he wanted to convince the boy of Minato's innocence, he knew it was something that Naruto would have to come to on his own terms, if he ever did. Printing out all the case files and the evidence would give him something to read through to determine his own opinion. Of course, Jiraiya mentally noted to leave out a lot of the gory parts, like crime scene photos. Didn't want to give the kid nightmares about the death of his own mother.

Thinking back to that time wasn't fun for him. It was a hell of a year for all of them, but thankfully before the trial even began, Minato had the forethought to give Jiraiya guardianship over Naruto, so the kid didn't end up in foster care, and Minato also signed over everything he owned so that it wasn't confiscated by the police. Understanding the law had given Minato a head start.

Minato had also given permission to his defense attorney to release all his case files to Jiraiya after everything was over.

Jiraiya pulled out the top sheet from the printer that laid out the case in simple terms.

Konoha's Chief of Police, Minato Namikaze stands accused of second-degree murder.

The victim, Kushina Namikaze was murdered in her own home on May 14th at approximately 2:34 PM.

Cause of death: major organ failure from sharp force trauma and major blood loss.

Murder weapon: 14-inch serrated kitchen knife.

The victim was found with a single stab wound to the stomach, damaging several major organs, leading the major organ failure from excess blood loss.

Namikaze pleads Not Guilty.

Timeline as follows:

Anonymous call to the police received at 2:25 PM. Caller indicated she is the neighbor of the accused and states she heard a women scream next door.

Police arrive at the home of Minato & Kushina Namikaze at 2:39 PM.

The accused was found clutching the body of the victim with the murder weapon close by. The accused was arrested at the scene, and later formally indicted of second-degree murder.

Minato Namikaze was found guilty the following year on May 13th. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, with the option of parole after ten years.

Jiraiya sighed.

Minato's prints were found on the murder weapon, and it was the only set of prints to be found anywhere at the scene. According to him, he was framed by the Akatsuki gang as revenge for putting away one of the leaders, Yahiko, who was later murdered while he was prison.

As a police officer, Minato knew better than to pick up the murder weapon or to touch the body, but at the time, he claims that he was overcome with grief at seeing his wife murdered, that all logic and reason had vanished. Minato's recollection of events was that he walked into the house that afternoon after Kushina had called to let him know that she wasn't feeling well, and he had stumbled onto the crime, rather than commit it. He had run home for a few minutes to check on his wife. When he walked in, the bloody knife was sitting by the front door. Minato, struck by fear, had picked it up and had ran into the house to find Kushina laying on the floor clutching her stomach. He ran to her, tossing the knife nearby, trying to stop the bleeding. There had been so much blood everywhere and Minato was covered in it. By the time he had made it to her, she was fading fast, there was nothing he or anyone else could do. He held her tight, but she was gone after a few moments. To this day, he will say that, at least he was able to tell her goodbye, and that he loved her.

But there was so much evidence against him at the trial.

His fingerprints were the only ones found on the murder weapon.

There was no sign of forced entry.

There were no signs of a dispute.

There were no signs that anyone else had even been there.

He didn't call for help when he found Kushina.

He had recently accused Kushina of an affair, which wasn't true.

They had recently taken out large life insurance policies for the both of them.

The DA had a murder weapon, fingerprints, motive, and there were no witnesses.

Thankfully, Minato had a good lawyer, who had been able to dismiss some of the evidence and introduced other evidence supporting his innocence, calling into question his guilty verdict. It just wasn't enough.

It was enough however, for the judge to drop the years sentenced to the minimum of 15 years, and he was given the option for parole after 10.

The trial was so difficult for Minato. Not only was he accused of murdering his own wife, whom he loved more than anything, but having to watch the photos of the crime scene, of his wife, their home. His whole personal life was on display for the entire world to see.

Minato also found out that Kushina had been pregnant at the time.

Morning sickness. It was why she didn't feel well. There was a report from a recent doctor's visit that confirmed the Kushina knew and hadn't told him yet. They tried to use the affair accusation and spin it to make it look like Minato killed Kushina out of rage from carrying another man's child. Fortunately, since they had no evidence to support that theory, Minato's lawyer was able to get that tossed as speculation. But it was too late, Jiraiya was sure that whatever strength Minato had left, whatever little bit of strength that was holding him together, broke immediately upon hearing that in the court room. Minato had a break down at that point, and they had to take a recess for the day as he was inconsolable.

Jiraiya was also thankful that Naruto wasn't there that day. Originally, Kushina was supposed to pick him up from school before heading home, but when she called saying she wasn't feeling well, Minato had call Jiraiya and asked him to pick up the child instead. As soon as he saw the cops on the street, Jiraiya took the boy to his place, instead of home. This kept Naruto out of the news. Which also allowed Naruto to keep this secret from his friends as he got older.

Jiraiya had kept him home for a year after the trial, homeschooling him for a bit. Then he switched schools two years afterwards. Even though it was an extra forty-five-minute drive to his school, outside of Konoha, it was for the best. Not as many people knew who Minato was, and the trial wasn't as broadcasted in the little town of Hinotera, so they wouldn't be able to make the connection between them as easily. Jiraiya also changed Naruto's last name to his mother's maiden name. There weren't many Namikazes out there, but Uzumaki was relative unknown since his mother had come from some foreign place or another.

The only thing Jiraiya couldn't do was change Naruto's looks. The older the kid got the more he looked like his father. He knew someone was bound to make a connection sooner or later, especially now when Minato was possibly getting out soon.

Jiraiya put down the file and looked at the clock on the computer. It was about time he headed out. Minato was expecting him.