The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

73: Sorrow And Joy

[OP: "Cold is the Night"--The Oh Hellos]

Day 55:

[Jiraiya AMV to "See You Again" by KennOP --I'm not really a fan of Jiraiya, as you can guess, but, for those of you who are, I thought this was a pretty good AMV.]

It was raining the following morning, sure enough, but it was a light drizzle still.

The weather was starting to get to everyone's energy though, and they wished it would clear up again.

However, when they heard what they were doing today, from Shikamaru, they thought the weather was appropriate.

It wasn't a very official ceremony by any means. They all just gathered by the lake, the one that Camie was sure was the one Jiraiya had sunk into when he died.

It was kind of sombering to think of that for the Leaf Ninja. Most of them didn't know Jiraiya at all, but to think one of their own Sannin had perished right here in this spot, and alone...well...they all thought he was brave for coming here at all.

"Still, it makes you think," Temari said to Shine, aside. "He fought to get into this and to get out of it--and failed... We walked right in."

"You read that book I gave you?" Shine asked. "About the woman who accused the gods...and she did those tasks?"

"Yes," Temari said. "Your favorite book, if I remember right."

"Yes. Remember what she said about the tasks: what cost her painstaking effort was easy for the other woman, because one of them had help, and the other was trying to do it on her own strength." Shine glanced around. "Jiraiya might have been one of the strongest ninja ever to live, for all I know, but he was a man. You must never forget that we who have divine help, we will always do things other people cannot do--but we should never let it make us proud. I'm very sure that if we came here in arrogance, or even fear and desperation, we would not have gotten in. Though maybe we wouldn't have died... Pain is gone, after all."

"I wonder if you could have stopped Pain," Temari said.

"It's not a question I need the answer to," Shine said. "Maybe, maybe not. It no longer matters. This is for Naruto. Leaf can forget Pain...and maybe they will forget Jiraiya too, because people are forgotten most of the time. That's why you should have people who really cared about you to remember you by. Some people think we are what we leave behind."

"You didn't think much of Jiraiya's methods, did you?" Temari said. "Or of his character. Why did you want to do this?"

"For Naruto of course," Shine said. "Naruto and I do not understand each other very well, but I think we both understand what it feels like to lose someone and not be able to do anything about it." She looked sad. "I think about it often, still. You know, I was never so careful with my students before that happened to me. I wouldn't have done a lot of things I do now: the rule about not going anywhere alone, the rule about taking stupid risks. I took many in my previous missions, and I never stopped anyone else from doing it. I didn't invoke authority the way I do now. After Wally's world, that changed. I began to take more responsibility for my students...to act as a leader, not just a helper."

"But do you think you could have prevented what happened by acting like a leader?" Temari said.

"No, that wouldn't have changed a thing about it," Shine said. "Funny, isn't it? I know that, but I changed anyway because of it."