Goodbye
Written: SeraphBaum and Artemuis
Edited: SeraphBaum
Summary: Naruto sits on a bench watching his two children play one day before he becomes Hokage. He is then visited by an old friend to have a final talk.
The wind lightly shook the leaves of the tree, causing them to rustle and dance in the air. A swing was attached to one of the tree's many branches. A young man in a long-sleeved orange vest and black trousers sat on it, swinging softly back and forth. He looked up at the sky, his eyes closed and his face relaxed.
'Just like back then,' he thought.
His blue eyes trained on two small children in front of him. The boy's hair was yellow-blond, just like his own. The Girl's hair was dark blue, just like her mother's. A gentle smile adorned the man's face.
'Well, a few things have changed,' his mind drifted to his wife at home.
Gravel shifts as a person walks towards Naurto. Turning his head, Naruto sees a man he thought he would never see again.
Before Naruto can even make a sound, the man speaks.
"Who is the lucky lady who caught the heart of Konoha's Hero?" the older man asked while pointing at the two kids.
"Someone special to me. Hinata Hyuga, my wife." Naruto smiles brightly and walks over to a bench, overwatching the play area. While the man looked with a bit of sadness but quickly covered it up.
"A lot has happened since we last met," Naruto said while scratching the whisker-like marks on his face after sitting on the bench.
"Go on, tell me, I have all the time in the world." The older man said while sitting next to Naruto on the bench.
Naruto's smile dropped and his eyes dimmed ever so slightly, but he nonetheless began talking.
"Then I should start around the time I fought against Pain, no, Nagato. Actually, that day, I became 'The Hero of the Leaf.' The thing I always wanted but never realized." Naruto pauses, thinking about the crowd that cheered his name.
"It was a hard and long fight. I mastered sage mode and almost won on that alone. I almost lost control of Kurama on that day. In the end, I managed to pull through and win.
My memories of what happened after that fight are hazy, though I was dead tired. I only remember people screaming my name and cheering for me. I think that's probably one of the happiest moments in my life. Right behind, meeting you."
"Kurama? Who's that? The Nine Tails?"
"Yeah. We made peace many years ago," he paused and sighed, "I can't imagine living without him. "We are partners and friends, forever, ya' know." Naruto said with a smile on his face.
The tall, strangely dressed man looked at Naruto's right arm. "I see your arm has seen better days."
Naruto looked at his arm and chuckled a bit. "Yeah, it has. I lost it fighting Sasuke one last time. It was a fight for the ages, but I won and brought Sasuke back."
The man nodded. "An arm for a friend, huh?"
Naruto smiled. "Yeah, you could say that. Sasuke, he's still a bit lost, but he's willing to work on it and let us help him find his way."
The man looks up with his pride beaming.
The man looks towards the Hokage mountain.
"Minato's student became the Hokage?!" The man says with shock evident across his face.
"What, surprised?"
"Of course! How did that brat become Hokage? Did Tsunade-?" The man assumed the worst, but Naruto quickly interrupted.
"Nah, Grandma Tsunade just retired after the war." Naruto said.
"Ha. That proves it my students are just the best. They even trained the best." The man says with exuberance as he lets a hearty laugh escape his lips. Naruto joins too but with a chuckle instead.
"Oh, let me tell you about the war." Naruto says quickly, wanting to continue talking to the man.
A strong wind blows some leaves around. the two children start chasing the leaves. One falls into a puddle while chasing the leaves, but gets back up.
"The entire shinobi nations fought against Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, and a lot of reanimated shinobi. It was… hell. I learned how to fight with Kurama during the first day of battle.
I fought the third Rakage and a few other dead Kage. It was a hard and tedious battle, but I won. I actually fought with Killer Bee against all of the jinchuriki that were killed before the war and Obito Uchiha, who we thought was Marada Uchiha for a while. He was super strong, and it took Kakashi Sensei and Bushy Brow Sensei's help to beat the jinchuriki. I meant Might Gai, when I said Bushy Brow. Then-"
The old man quickly shot his hands in front of the orange-clothed adult and waved them quickly to get his attention.
"STOP FOR A SECOND. This is too much to take in. You fought THE Marada Uchiha. One of the founding members of the Leaf Village and one of the strongest shinobi ever. Then somehow, you and all of the shinobi villages banded together to fight him and Obito Uchiha, the dead teammate of your sensei. Not to mention the fact you also fought the reincarnated versions of the Kage and other dead shinobi. Adding to all of that, your Sensei and Might Gai fought the reincarnated jinchurikis and won? And you still have more. Man, I missed so much."
"Yeah, you did. It was a hard-fought war, but it was fairly quick." Naruto says, becoming more child-like in his motions
"How so?" the man asked, looking at the vivid and dynamic movement of the blonde.
"It was only a few days. Maybe two days for the main war, and one extra day for a different battle."
"Kid, the second and third shinobi war was multiple years long. I just… What else did I miss?" the man looks at Naruto with a nearly tired expression, but his eyes showed he wanted to here more.
A sombre look dons Naruto's face for a second.
"Neji died protecting me. Over half of 80 thousand shinobi died during this war. Most within the first day. Obito became the ten-tails jinchuriki. Marada too, but he had to take the ten-tails from Obito and get revived. And we then met the Sage of Six Paths. Well, me and Sasuke met him. He gave us some sage chakra making us super strong."
"Wait, Wait, WAIT. This is getting to a whole new level of crazy. Marada Uchiha, who I'm guessing was a reincarnation like the dead shinobi, revived himself to become a jinchruiki of a myth. Next, you're going to say you fought a God or something?"
"Well. We fought a goddess-alien. But on a good note, all the dead Hokage fought with us. Dad was so cool. We beat Kaguya and won. All the Biju was freed, and I was able to say goodbye to Dad. HOWEVER, Sasuke said he was going to kill all the current Kage and basically rule the world. He then sealed all the tailed beasts. In order to stop him, I had to fight him one last time. We took our fight to the Final Valley. After a whole day of fighting and my and Sasuke's strongest jutsu, I finally won with a one-handed Rasengan. It was epic."
The tall man, now lunched over on the bench, was rubbing his eyes because everything he missed sounded crazy. The old man then spoke again.
"You know, I'm glad you won your battle, because that war makes zero sense. I thought my team's fight against Hanzo during the second shinobi war was crazy. I guess I was wrong. Brat, you have grown. A lot. But kid, I need to ask you one important question."
The old man got closer to Naruto and placed his arm around him.
"How was your first time?"
Just like that Naruto's face went bright red.
"WHAT, I'M NOT TELLING YOU THAT!" Naruto yelled out with red cheeks.
"Okay, Okay. 1 out of 10, I got ya."
"IT WASN'T a '1 out of 10'. It was a perfect 10. On all fronts, bottoms, and …. Wait, you tricked me, Pervy Sage." Naruto says while pointing his finger at the sage, his pervy sensei.
The man now identified as Jiraiya, laughed a hardy laugh. Keeling over on the bench.
"A ten you say? I thought it would be a ten, but wow you said that with conviction. Did she make your toes do some tricks? Maybe even did some 64 palms with-"
"OK, WE'RE DONE WITH THIS CONVERSATION!" Naruto quickly said, stopping Jiraiya from continuing his train of thought.
"I'm just messing with you. I'm seriously proud of you. You achieved everything I never could. Kids, a wife that loves you and that you love. A perfect story. You're even a Jonin now, but I guess it was bound to happen because I was your teacher."
"Actually, I'm still a Genin technically."
A stronger wind comes through, blowing some leaves. The children jump towards the leaves but ended up falling face-first into the mud. They quickly got up and ran after the leaves that flew in the wind because that's what made them fall.
Jiraiya looks to the sky and sheds one tear. The kids even for some reason shed a single tear.
"Minato, your kid is about to become Hokage, yet he can't move past Genin. This is a tragic day."
"Shut up, Old Man. I'll have you know the only reason I'm not a Jonin is that every time I take the test something happens. It's really weird."
The two siblings then run over to their father. Boruto looks up with glee towards his father with dirt slapped all over his face, while his sister looks like she had taken a bath in mud.
"Dad, who are you talking to?"
Naruto then smiles brightly and stood up.
"I was just thinking out loud, but why are y'all so dirty? We're going home to get clean."
"But, DAD." Both children whine together.
"No, buts. Let's go."
As the future of the Leaf Village and Naruto walk toward home, Jiraiya watches them leave and stands up.
Taking a deep breath in and looking around he sees a nice tree with a good view. A lady in her window changing. He gets a great view of what he can only call a masterpiece.
"Ah, never change Konoha. I wish I could've helped more, but it seems the kid, no, Naruto has it handled."
As the wind blows again, Jiraya walks in the direction opposite of Naruto and his family. A tune enters Jiriaya's head, and he begins to whistle and hum it. Something sad, but beautiful. Something that feels like a goodbye, and farewell. It's a tune that Jiraiya heard once from somewhere.
Leaves twist in the air due to the wind blowing them. A peaceful day in the leaf village.
Jiraiya turns around and smiles at the village and Naruto. His final living student.
"The Tale of Naruto Uzumaki. What an interesting ending. I'm glad I could see the ending." Jiraiya says as he slowly becomes more and more transparent.
As Jiraiya finished whistling his tune, a name came to him right before he disappeared completely.
"Samidare, early summer rain. A fitting name for such a tune."