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Jiraiya is a hundred miles away from Konoha when he receives word that the Fifth Hokage needs to speak with him immediately. He heads for the nearest Leaf outpost and makes the call over their secure landline, then waits impatiently while the source of the call is verified.
After an irritatingly long time, he's connected to his oldest friend.
"Jiraiya."
'What's happened?" he asks. If she wants to speak with him directly, it must be urgent.
For a moment there is only silence, then a harsh, stuttering exhale. For a moment, Jiraiya wonders if Tsunade is crying, but that's ridiculou, what could possibly--
"The seal's collapsing," she says.
Jiraiya blinks. There is only one thing she can be talking about, but No, no, that's not right. She can't mean-
"He was brought to the hospital a few days ago. The seal had begun bleeding terribly in the night--" She has to stop for a moment. "We ran the tests... over and over but..."
When Jiraiya fully realizes exactly what it is Tsunade is telling him, his legs nearly give out beneath him. He clutches the wall for support, nearly dropping the phone.
"Jiraiya... It's so far gone already..."
He cannot speak, cannot even think of anything except Don't say it, don't say it.
"We're going to lose him... We're going to lose him!"
Then there is only the sound of wrenching sobs.
Jiraiya doesn't remember dropping the phone or stumbling out of the outpost. His only thought is I have to get back, I have to get back, please let me be in time, hold on, please hold on, Naruto!
He races back to Konoha, urging Gamabunta faster, faster! Gamabunta doesn't need to be told; he tears through the forest like a demon.
****************
The seal is brilliantly executed, but all seals break down. External stimuli like severe bodily damage and internal stimuli like heightened stress can wear on the seal's integrity over time, and Naruto's seal has finally given in to the effects of a lifetime of extreme emotional and physical duress.
No living vessel has ever survived the full disintegration of a seal.
****************
Jiraiya leaps off Gamabunta and barrels through the village gate, not even sparing a glance for the sentries on duty. Down the streets, straight to the hospital, through the halls to the Intensive Care ward, praying that he's not too late.
When he finally lays eyes on his student, Naruto is gripping the sheets of his hospital bed as his body spasms in pain. He grits his teeth, like he's trying to keep from screaming. Poisonous chakra pools around the seal on his belly, so thick and strong it's actually visible to the naked eye.
Tsunade and her most trusted medical staff surround their patient, pouring chakra into his body in an attempt to bolster the failing seal. Jiraiya cannot get closer without hindering them, so he stands back despite the voice inside shrieking at him to get to Naruto.
Tsunade looks awful, like she hasn't slept since Naruto was brought to her, his front stained red. She presses her hands against Naruto's stomach, blood flowing out around her fingers. There is no externally-inflicted wound; the blood comes straight from the seal itself. After several desperate minutes, the bloodflow slows and the nauseatingly toxic chakra dissipates; Naruto is stabilized.
The medical staff set to work making Naruto comfortable, gently toweling the sweat off his forehead and taking away the bloody sheets to be burned. Tsunade sees Jiraiya and all but collapses into his arms. He holds her against him as she shakes, never taking his eyes off the boy in the hospital bed, his young body still shuddering with echoes of pain.
****************
The attacks come in waves, flares of agony tearing through the boy's body while blood pours from the seal. All they can do is brace him with their own chakra as best they can. No medication will touch the pain. It's both a blessing and a curse when Naruto loses consciousness, a blessing because the pain can't reach him then, and a curse because it's getting harder and harder to wake him up after.
The relief at every attack's end is palpable, but everyone present knows that there is no cure to be found for this. The attacks will come stronger and stronger, with less and less time between them, until it's over. Until they can't bring him back.
The fox will die with its host. No one will have the heart to appreciate this.
****************
Naruto has touched many lives.
Kakashi visits once, and keeps it formal. He's kept a careful barrier around his heart since before Naruto was born, and it's exactly because of things like this. He's lost his father, his teacher, and his teammates, why not his students too? He doesn't meet Jiraiya's eyes as he leaves the hospital room.
Iruka visits as often as he can, and although it fills him with anguish to know that his favorite student is dying in front of them, he will be there for Naruto in any way he can, even if just to stand witness to this final battle.
Sakura is all business, constantly checking her patient's vitals and keeping detailed reports of his progress (she is aware of the prognosis, but she'll be damned if she stops fighting to save him). Although Sakura's superiors at the hospital frown on her working with a patient with whom she's so emotionally involved, a sharp glare and a fist through the wall silence their objections.
The rest of Naruto's graduating class are only allowed brief visits, though most can't bear to stay long anyway. The sight of their kind, brilliant friend brought so low is difficult to endure.
Some, like Shikamaru and Shino, maintain a stoic front. Gruff greetings and casual, stilited conversation. Others like Kiba, Lee, Ino, and Tenten, are all boisterous encouragement to beat this thing, you can't lose to that stupid fox! Chouji doesn't say much, just squeezes Naruto's shoulder and tells him not to worry.
Hinata freezes in the doorway at the sight of Naruto's pale skin, white as the sheets covering him, and the dark red blood on the floor. Naruto's blood! He notices her standing there and attempts to raise a hand in greeting, but only manages to lift his arm a few inches off the hospital bed before it falls back down.
This, even more than the blood on the floor, is what undoes her. Hinata turns and hurries away down the hall so that Naruto will not see her weep. She cannot bear to add to his pain by showing her own.
Naruto is confused at Hinata's swift exit, but he is soon distracted by the returning pangs of agony shooting from his abdomen.
He wonders if, when the final attack comes, he will realize it at the time.
****************
It's late. The moon shines through the curtains into the hospital room, and Naruto, propped up on pillows, still has it in him to appreciate the beauty of the night sky though his window.
He thinks about Sasuke, whom he will never find now, and wishes him safety and peace. He thinks about his parents, and hopes they are proud even though he's not dying gloriously in defense of the village, the way a ninja should, and the way he always assumed he would.
Jiraiya sits near the bed, head in his hands.
He knows he will never take another student. It took him over a decade after Minato's death to even consider teaching another, and now he's going to lose this one too. Jiraiya can't lose any more children.
He thinks about all the years he spent chasing a friend long gone, and how he could have spent those years in the village that will always be his home, maybe finding a little orphan boy and taking him in, keeping him safe.
Even knowing it would end here, in this hospital room, he thinks he would do exactly that.
****************
Jiraiya is a hundred miles away from Konoha when he wanders past a father firmly (lovingly) reprimanding his little boy who's apparently been involved in some mischief involving paint and a cat, if the fur and splashes of bright blue across his hands are any indication.
The child just folds his arms and pouts. The father throws his hands up and sighs. He looks at Jiraiya as he walks by, inclines his head toward the little boy and asks "Do you have children?"
Jiraiya pauses, then gives a brief nod.
"Two boys."
He did, after all. They were beautiful, and they're gone, and he won't have any others.
****
THE END