Son of the Sannin(Back)

An Unconventional Family

Jiraiya stood in front of the gates of Konoha, contemplating the place that it had been his home for such a long time. That's it, until Orochimaru's betrayal and Tsunade's self-imposed exile made it unbearable for the Toad Sage to continue living there. He never had a permanent home from that moment onwards, hopping from one town to another, doing his "research" and having one night stands with beautiful and easy to charm women. He only returned sporadically to pay a visit to his student and friend, Minato Namikaze.

It has been three months since the latest, and now last, of those visits. They talked about Jiraiya's failed book, The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja, and how Minato wanted to name his firstborn son after the main character of said book, Naruto. In the meantime, Jiraiya wrote his first erotic novel, Icha Icha Paradise, which became a bestseller in no time, engorging his already large bank account. He had been planning to drop by once the kid was born in order to give the newborn some nice gift.

In fact, he was on his way to Konoha when a courier ninja arrived and told him about the tragic news, and that his presence was required in the village . Upon reading the letter with all the details, at first he thought it was some sort of tasteless joke, but the letter he was carrying had the stamp of the Hokage's office.

And now, just as he stood in front of the gates, he realized it wasn't a joke as he had secretly hoped. Even from the outside, Jiraiya could tell that Konoha had been victim of a devastating attack recently, which was confirmed the moment the Toad Sage walked into the village.

The streets were nearly empty. Destroyed buildings left and right. Trails of smoke coming everywhere. The gray sky appeared to reflect the somber and depressing mood the village seemed to be in. Jiraiya hurried towards the Hokage's Tower.

...

Hokage's Tower

Hiruzen Sarutobi was in his former, soon to be his once again, office as he absent-mindedly looked through the window, lamenting the current state Konoha was in. An ANBU appeared behind him.

"Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama is here as you requested," the ANBU announced.

The Third turned around, and sighed. "Tell him to come in, please."

"As you say," the ANBU said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

A few second later, the white haired Sannin walked into the office. Hiruzen couldn't help but smile a little upon seeing his old student.

"Hello, Jiraiya, it's good to see you again, even if it's under such awful circumstances. How was your trip here?" Hiruzen said as he sat down on his chair.

"Not to be rude, but that matters very little now. It's that true, sensei? Are Minato and Kushina truly dead?" Jiraiya asked, trying to suppress the anguish of his voice.

"Yes."

Jiraiya averted Sarutobi's gaze, sighed, and whispered a profanity. He looked at his former sensei once again and asked: "May I...see the bodies?"

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Jiraiya?"

"And why not? Can't I even say goodbye to my last surviving student?" Jiraiya exploded as he slammed both hands on Sarutobi's desk.

"It's not possible because there are no bodies," Hiruzen said. Upon sensing his former student's confusion, he continued. "When Minato sealed the Kyubi inside Naruto...well, I don't know exactly what happened, but whatever he did, erased both his and Kushina's body from existence. When we could arrive, all that was left was little Naruto, crying his little eyes out."