The Tale That Ended in Light [Part 1]

Konoha had seen all kinds of people born along the way, and all kinds leave as well.

From the First Hokage founding the village to the present day, over the ninety years since Konoha's establishment, too many people had been born on this land, and too many had passed away upon it.

What time brought people was often pain and sorrow.

Yet one could not deny that time brought the nourishment of growth to infants, allowing children to grow up and saplings to become towering trees.

The new generation always walked along time's invisible path of light, carrying the hopes of their elders.

And once they grew up, once they had children of their own, time would shape those descendants into what they themselves had become.

That was what inheritance meant.

Still, it could not be denied that people of the old era would always become part of the past.

Jiraiya had passed away too.

To Naruto, his relationship with Pervy Sage had been strange.

In name, they were teacher and student, but in reality, they were more often friends despite their age difference.

Other than taking Naruto to Mount Myoboku because Minato Namikaze had been too busy at the time, Jiraiya had barely taught Naruto much of anything.

Instead, Naruto's Sexy Jutsu had truly opened Jiraiya's eyes.

How things had been in the past no longer mattered.

The people Naruto knew were leaving them one after another.

But Naruto understood...

This was reality.

There was no need for sorrow, nor was there any need to grieve.

Because Jiraiya had a legacy of his own as well.

Jiraiya's daughter, grandson, and granddaughter carried his coffin.

The day before yesterday, in his final moments, Jiraiya had chuckled and asked everyone to paint his face full of streaks.

Was he supposed to