[ID: A Naruto comic which starts with the caption “Jiraiya @ the Grocery Store.” A slightly younger Jiraiya is grimacing at an onion and thinking, “Onions have layers…. Shinobi have layers? Is that a bad analogy for my next book?” He notices something to the side and looks down with bafflement at a very young Kakashi staring hard at him. He says, “Uh?? Hello???”
Kakashi continues to stare at Jiraiya, almost glaring, before leaving without a word. Jiraiya sets down the onion and thinks, “Okay… Weird kid. (He looked familiar though.)” He turns away, thinking “Whatever,” and then screams loudly with shock upon seeing Kakashi perched on the sign of the neighboring stand and once again staring directly at him.
From the side, someone loudly shouts, “Kakashi!!! Get down from there! Stop using chakra to climb inside when we shop! It’s rude!!!” Jiraiya sweats and exhales. Sakumo appears, tugging futilely at Kakashi and saying, “C’mon, Kakashi. Unstick.” Kakashi replies, “Don’t wanna.” Sakumo says more loudly, “Ahh, Jiraiya-san. You remember my son Kakashi? Sorry if he was bothering you.”
Jiraiya, still sweating, mutters “That’s why he looked familiar” and exclaims, “Hatake-san! Your son is so big now! (Don’t worry, he only hurt my pride.)” Sakumo grins, “Kakashi’s in the middle of reading ‘The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi’ and knows you wrote it. Is it okay if he asks you a question?”
He adds, “He wanted to bring it here but I said no bc if he’s reading, he won’t talk to me :(.” Kakashi, now being held by Sakumo, points and says “That’s him,” and Sakumo says, “Kashi-kun, don’t point.” Jiraiya looks surprised and exclaims, “O-oh! Of course!” To himself, he thinks, “Someone read it? He can read??? He’s MUCH younger than my target audience but I’ll take it!”
Sakumo smiles at Kakashi as Kakashi, worried, asks, “What I want to know is, will it be okay? Will Naruto be okay?” Jiraiya raises his eyebrows, and a light glows behind him. Then Jiraiya smiles genuinely, and motes of light float behind him as he says, “Yeah, kid. He will.”
Kakashi smiles, sweet and relieved, and says, “Oh, good.” He presses his hand to his chest and closes his eyes with contentment, the same lights floating around him as he says, “Now I can relax my heart.”
The adults stare in silence at the still-relieved Kakashi. Then their laughter fills the background Sakumo hugs Kakashi and exclaims fondly, “My son can still be so cute!!” Kakashi, affronted, demands, “Dad?!” Jiraiya laughs, “Aw, kid, you’re adorable! You’ll never have to worry about my books, OK? I’ll make em happy for you.”
The panels of that page fade into smaller and smaller boxes and then a line, indicating time passing. The final page opens on Naruto and Hinata smiling and holding hands at their wedding. Motes of light and flower petals float around them. Kakashi stands behind others in the crowd and thinks, “Oh, good.” He raises a hand to his chest and sighs, more specks of light floating behind him. He thinks, “Now I can relax my heart.” End ID]
