Daisuke searched the crowd looking for Jiraiya. Where is he? He promised that he'd be back in time. He suspected he wouldn't make it after all, and hadn't believed him when he had made the stupid promise in the first place.

"It's just a little mission at the Sand Village; they need a little help holding their defenses. I'll be there one week tops."

"But that's around the time I graduate from the ninja academy!"

"You worry too much," he ruffled his hair. "I'll be there! I promise. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

But sure enough Jiraiya wasn't there. Daisuke was inwardly fuming, not sure what he was madder about, that Jiraiya broke his promise or that he had actually believed him. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in a vain attempt to regain composure. A hand briefly squeezed his.

"Its going to be ok," whispered Midori in his ear. "He might still make it."

Daisuke looked into her white eyes, maybe she was right. Those who have the Byakugan seem to be able to see things others couldn't. He nodded back with a smile and turned his attention back to the Hogake's commencement speech. Once Naruto got going he tended to be long-winded. He energetically spoke about his years at the academy, waving his arms around every now and again for emphasis. It was amazing he could even smile given the current situation of the ninja world. The Akatsuki had grown and nearly taken over. Sunagakure and Kohona were the last free nations. Naruto was the last jinjuriki as well. If anyone had a reason to be depressed, it was definitely him. Naruto's enthusiasm cooled at present, it looked like his speech was winding down.

"I realize that things are very different from when I graduated, and we thought we had it hard then!" Naruto chuckled soberly. "But I don't want you to focus on how hard or scary things are now. While the graduation standard has been raised, we don't expect you to be geniuses. You just have to be the best you can. Tomorrow you'll be assigned to teams and I encourage you work hard to get along with your team mates." Naruto winked at Sasuke, one of the instructors. "Though it isn't always easy. But we need unity if we're going to succeed. Remember, there is always hope. If we lose that, we are truly lost. You are our future, make us proud."

The crowd applauded and the graduates jumped up and cheered. Probably because they're excited the speech is over, no doubt, Daisuke thought with a smirk as he stretched his sore legs.

"Come say hi to my parents. Mom wanted to give you something," Midori grabbed his hand and pulled him into the crowd.

"There's my little graduate!" Neji scooped her in his arms and kissed her cheek.

"Congratulations to you too Daisuke," Ten-Ten ruffled his hair. "Where's Jiraiya? I don't think I've seen him yet."

"Well, that's because he couldn't make it." Daisuke muttered as he dug a hole in the ground with the toe of his sandal. He couldn't bear to look up at her face, afraid to see her sympathy. He was embarrassed as is.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but I can't say I'm surprised," Neji said matter-of-factly as he put Midori down. "I hear those at the frontlines of the Sand Village are having a hard time--"

Ten-Ten elbowed him in the ribs. "I have something for you Daisuke! Here."

Daisuke's eyes widened to see a large shuriken, the kind you carry on your back. Forgetting his manners he snatched it out of her hands, gazed at his reflection, ran his hands along it, and then hugged it close. "A deluxe tituzan Shuriken! Oh thank you! Thank you!"

He strapped it onto his back and gave her a giant hug. Ten-Ten laughed. "Just take good care of it, they're very rare. They only made a 1000 of them. But they are very durable and lightweight without being cheaper quality. Did you know you could poison the ends? Here lemme show, you just insert the poison here--"

Neji rolled his eyes in exasperation. While he was very proud that his wife was one of the top Weapon Masters in the country, he couldn't keep up with the terminology. How could she remember all the functions of her equipment or even carry it for that matter he'd never know. He long since tried to keep up. Midori giggled, she felt the same way.

Neji wrapped an arm around his wife and kissed her cheek. "You can explain all of its fascinating features another time dear, we must be going or we'll be late."

"Would you like to come to my party Daisuke?" Midori asked.

"Of course you are more than welcome to come," Neji assured.

Ten-Ten clapped her hands together excitedly. "And after the party I show you some more weapon scrolls!"

"That's ok, I've got other plans." Daisuke lied. Jiraiya's failure to come had hurt him more than he wanted to admit. He just felt like being alone.

Suddenly he felt himself hoisted up on someone's shoulders. He grabbed a hold of their yellow hair to keep his balance. "Uncle Naruto?!"

"Pleasure to see you Hokage, I trust you and Lady Hinata are doing well?"

"Very well Neji, thank you," Naruto beamed. "You can just call me by name; there should be no formality between friends."

"I hear that Hinata is close to her due date, you must be very excited," Ten-Ten said.

"More terrified than excited I'd have to say," Naruto admitted. "What if the baby hates me?" He whispered.

"Babies automatically love their parents, but don't worry, there's plenty of time for them to hate you in the future," Neji said with a small smile.

Naruto laughed with them. "Now if you'll excuse me, Daisuke and I have a date at Ichiraku's."

"I'll see you tomorrow Daisuke!" Midori waved after them. Daisuke was jostled enough that he was afraid to let go of Naruto's head to wave back.

"Make way for the future Hokage!" Naruto crowed as they took off down the street.

"Uncle Naruto! I have no intention of being Hokage!" Daisuke turned completely red. "And slow down or I'm going to fall off!"

Naruto let him down right outside Ichiraku's with a grin. "Order anything you like, it's on me!"

Daisuke ordered both their favorites. He barely had to tell the servers because they already knew. They both ate there a lot.

"I'm sorry Jiraiya couldn't make it." Naruto said between mouthfuls. "I know how you really---"

"Please don't worry about it Uncle Naruto," Daisuke said quickly. He was really getting sick of everyone talking about it. "This isn't the first time he's broken a promise."

"Well yeah, but this really meant a lot to you."

Daisuke shrugged, "It's no big deal, really."

Naruto frowned but kept quiet. Daisuke was often this way, keeping mum about his feelings. Naruto couldn't help but wonder if he would have been any different if he had had a mother and father raise him. Jiraiya did his best for Daisuke, but he was also called away on several missions. Naruto tried his best to fill that gap, but he was very busy too. Daisuke was often on his own, which is probably why he was always so quiet, but he seemed happy enough.

"Are you excited to be a dad?" Daisuke's question broke into his thoughts.

"Well sort of, I'm not really sure how good I'll be since I never knew mine."

"That doesn't matter much, I'm sure you'll be great," Daisuke assured him as he moved onto a second bowl. "Its not like dads are influential. Look at me! Never met mine and I think I turned out pretty well."

"Surely you don't mean that!" Naruto pleaded.

Daisuke shrugged and stuffed his mouth so he didn't have to talk anymore. He really didn't feel that way, but he wanted to. He used to ask Jiraiya all the time about his dad because Jiraiya had always made it clear he was just the guardian. Jiraiya had always changed the subject whenever Daisuke approached it. One day he finally snapped and said, "Trust me Daisuke! You're better off not knowing!" From then on he never asked again. If he really was a great dad I guess I'd be living with him, he had reasoned. But it went deeper than that, he went from being curious to being fearful. Jiraiya hadn't said it, but Daisuke could tell Jiraiya was afraid. And he wasn't afraid often.

"Thanks for the ramen Uncle Naruto," he said with a smile. He hated to see him worry.

Naruto smiled back and ruffled his hair, "Sure thing. Well I had better be going. I shouldn't leave Hinata for too long; she gets lonely being on bed rest. Would you like me to walk you home?"

"No, I'll be alright. You go on ahead."

"See you then Dai."

Daisuke finished up his meal and then headed for home. The sun was going down and the street lights were coming on. He was feeling much better about things. He was excited to meet his new teammates and leader. The thrill of a mission excited him, where would they go first? With times as tough as they were, there were no "cat-finding or fence painting" missions, they covered those while in the academy. These missions were tougher and the challenge excited him.

He was surprised to see the lights on in their apartment. "Well that's odd, I thought I turned them off when I---"

He stopped when he saw that the door was also left ajar. He distinctly remembered locking that. Maybe Jiraiya was home! He rushed over to the door, grabbed the handle and immediately pulled his hand back. Blood. It was all over the handle and now on his hand. He trembled, something was definitely wrong. He threw the door open. A body lay crumpled on the floor, blood pooled around it. The clothes were smeared with dirt, mud, and blood, but he still recognized the spiky mane of white.

"JIRAIYA!"