Tsunade hadn't moved for an hour.
The photograph of Naruto sat face-up on her desk.
It still showed him in his orange jacket. Bright eyes. Big grin.
A version of him that no longer existed.
Behind her, Jiraiya hadn't spoken either.
He stared at the storm pressing against the Hokage windows, arms crossed, thoughts heavy.
Until finally:
"I need to tell you something," he said quietly.
Tsunade turned.
Not with confusion.
Not even curiosity.
But with the kind of weight that meant, I already know whatever you're about to say will break me more.
Jiraiya stepped forward.
"I never told you what the Great Toad Sage said. Not all of it."
Tsunade's brow twitched. "The prophecy?"
He nodded.
"That the child I train would either bring peace… or destroy the world."
She stared at him.
Jiraiya continued, voice quieter now.
"I thought it was Nagato at first. He had the eyes, the Rinnegan. The pain. I thought he was the one."
He looked down.
"I was wrong."
Tsunade's fingers gripped the desk edge.
She didn't speak.
Jiraiya exhaled.
"Then I thought it might be Naruto. The real one. The loud-mouthed idiot kid who wanted to be Hokage so badly he'd walk through hell for it."
His voice trembled.
"He was so full of light… and I thought maybe he'd bring peace."
He paused.
Let the silence burn.
"I was wrong again."
Tsunade whispered, "So it's true."
Jiraiya nodded.
"The prophecy hasn't changed… but the path has. And Naruto…"
He looked out the window.
"He's the end now. Not the beginning."
There was a long stretch of silence.
Then Tsunade stood.
She didn't yell.
Didn't cry.
She just walked around her desk and stood in front of him.
"Then let the world burn," she said.
Jiraiya blinked. "What?"
She repeated:
"Let it burn. If Naruto is alive — and they tried to kill him, bury him, erase him — then whatever he becomes now is on us. Not him."
Her voice cracked. But her will did not.
"If the world made a weapon out of a boy who only wanted love… then maybe it deserves what's coming."
Jiraiya didn't respond right away.
Then, slowly:
"You're choosing him."
Tsunade looked him straight in the eye.
"I chose him the first day I saw him."
She looked down at her hand, the one she used to ruffle Naruto's hair, trembling.
"And I will choose him again. Even if he doesn't choose me back."
The candle on the desk flickered.
Outside, the storm had stopped.
But inside, the two of them stood in silence.
Not as Sannin.
Not as Hokage and spy.
Just as two broken people who had finally accepted:
The child of prophecy wasn't a savior.
He was the reckoning.
And they would stand by him.
Even if it meant standing against the world.