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Chapter Text

Rules are important to the structures of life, alive or not. It keeps humans from acting like Gods and has to face the horrible consequences if some are broken. Even powerful ninjas who try to play God are not above such rules and the consequences for such horrible crimes come back to bite them in the back later in life in one-way shape or form. Good human. Bad human. Every aspect of life had some type of rule to it that needed to be followed to help keep the world spinning and some laws weren't meant to be broken. Well.. only some. It was always better to ask for forgiveness than permission after all.

One rule, that was never to be broken unless they wanted to face the full force of the third Hokage, was to never speak a word of what happened with the nine tails fox. It attacked the village less than about seven years ago and yet that night was still strong to most of the adults that lived within Konohagakure. Those who were alive during the attack, either lost family or friends during that night or fought against it only to be haunted by its memory for many years later. It was one of the most brutal attacks that almost crippled the Leaf village and if not for the heroics of the Fourth Hokage and his wife then the village would have most certainly ended that day.

One of the worst-kept secrets of the village was the nine tails beast being resealed in the new jinchuuriki named Naruto Uzumaki. And though someone had leaked that very highly valuable and dangerous information, the rumors also perverted the ideals the Fourth Hokage/Lady Kushina gave their lives to protect. And that was to show that their son was a hero. But no one wanted a hero during a hard time. They wanted something or someone to blame and so they blamed it on a small baby. Something that couldn't even protect itself from the horrible backlash and no real answers as to why it was hated too.

Not even those close to the Fourth Hokage and Lady Kushina seemed to be able to give proper light to the nine tails jinchuuriki when growing up. It wasn't like they planned on dying the night of Naruto's birth, but it seemed like this baby had a single ally in the world to help when things got bad. Sure the village helped raise the nine-tailed jinchuuriki to be self-dependent, but children need more than food, water, and shelter to survive. They need love and compassion. Some sort of stable structure or something that resembles a family. And sure the third Hokage tried his best to 'raise' the young Uzumaki, he craved more than what he was receiving.

Naruto just needed to suffer a few years to finally get what he needed and deserved.

The sun had barely risen when the three tails jinchuuriki decided to get active to get to work. She hadn't been told of any upcoming missions or anything of urgent care for her to feel the need to rush into work during the day so was just taking it easy. Easy and boring. And something the jinchuuriki needed over the past few very dark and bloody years. And though it helped soothe her soul with a slightly normal ninja life, the dark thoughts never really fully went away. And she would never really go back to being normal.

Far from it. but the reason was something that connected her to the nine tails jinchuuriki.

Zipping the silver vest that was one of the main features of the Anbu members, besides the obvious mask, Rin fixed the straps to sit more around her neck and less rubbing on her Chidori scars that were scattered across her shoulders. "I'm thinking that we will handle two major arms cuts and one loss of limb." Sitting on the side of her bed, the bijuu was the size of a small dog, and just watched his jinchuuriki getting ready. They always had a daily wager on what type of day they will have and who they will be taking care of while helping in the infirmary.

It helped keep the two challenged during the 'boring' days, minds on other things besides the past, and a little fun for the two of them to look forward to. Whoever wins the wager gets to choose dinner and some other plans if a winning streak occurs too. It wasn't ever serious, but anything to keep their relationship in a positive light.

"I'm thinking of an emergency bleed-out surgery, a poisoning, and multiple cuts that will be a quick heal, and off they go to get cut again. Should be an easy day, but who knows." With a clicking sound, the metal cuffs finished her complete outfit and Rin looked in the mirror to make sure she looked perfect for the job. Her Anbu mask was kept at work for safekeeping but even in her outfit she blended in well with Isobu, lifted his upper half and looked her over, nodded his head, and then disappeared into her body. One of the ultimate weapons in the whole ninja world confined into the body of a more than broken kunoichi, but Isobu preferred it over the chaotic bloody mist. They kept a little bit of a tab on it, but the duo was going to get involved with that village in a month if everything went perfectly for them. Then they could wipe their hands off it completely for a long time.

Leaving her very outward-looking, boring apartment, Rin took in a deep inhale of the crisp morning air and let out a very jump off toward the Hokage building to get some more directions on where she might be expecting today. It was always the same thing every day but with how Rin's life has been the past eight years, she kind of learned to appreciate the boring mundane lifestyle she was given. If only it stayed that way for a little bit longer...

With it being so early, the village was still semi-peaceful as workers started to get active and ready to work for the day. Ready for the hustle and bustle that came with living in one of the five main villages in the world. Even without her mask, the villagers ignore Rin and other Anbu members which is perfect for someone who is meant to stay off the grid. It was perfect for eavesdropping as well.

So early in the morning and the one thing Rin hated hearing about was the nine tails brat being in the area. Just because the young child is walking around doesn't mean he was causing trouble. The fox's stigma affected her and Isobu just as much as him, even if the villagers didn't realize it just yet. With a small sigh when she heard two ladies talking nasty about the young boy, she wasn't even paying attention to where she had been walking when Rin turned the corner toward work only to almost trip over the same blonde boy they were talking about. Out of sight, out of mind, it was perfect for someone who wasn't wanted but could cause trouble if they were caught.

Gasping out, Rin needed to somersault over the young boy and lift her leg over his head to keep from colliding with him. Pushing off the ground and back to her feet, the kunoichi was quick to reorient herself and catch on to what just happened. It helped that Isobu's main way of getting around was to roll everywhere so a little bit of spinning never affected the jinchuuriki. She fixed her hair before having a strong inner debate on even acknowledging the other jinchuuriki or just ignoring what just happened.

"A small conversation with him will not be bad, Rin. Besides, you should tell him to be careful of where he stands.." Lounging within their shared mindscape, Rin sat upon the turtle's massive head, which was the size of a flea compared to the turtle but their connection allowed iso to feel any little touch, prod, or kick from his jinchuuriki. A pleasantry or a curse. Depends on the day and time. "I'll blame you if we get caught." Taking a deep breath, the kunoichi turned around and saw that Naruto was looking down and holding tight to his shoulder.

From his demeanor, it wasn't hard for the medical ninja to see that something was wrong when the young jinchuuriki. He winced when she took a step toward him and slowly lifted his head to look her in the eyes. There was red paint splattered all over his shirt and pants, but she could only look back at him with a doleful expression and tilted her head at what could have happened. Naruto and Paint meant pranks and bad things, but Rin never got involved. It wasn't her place and didn't want to get the two of them in trouble as it was.

"I'm... Sorry.." Grunting out in pain, Naruto was quick to clinch his eyes shut from the pain that radiates through his body. "Something is wrong, but shouldn't his high chakra count fix it?" Rin spoke to Isobu and more to herself, but her medical side came further out. Something was wrong if Naruto wasn't still running away from wherever he had tried to paint, and even more that he didn't try to pick a fight with her for almost tripping over him. It wouldn't have made her mad, as Naruto's spunky side reminded Rin of Kushina, but she couldn't ignore him when he was in pain. Not when she could help him.

"Hey, kit-..." Rin had to stop herself very quickly when she realized she was about to use the nickname for the boy that would lead them both down a path that would get them in deep trouble. "Naruto.." Kneeling to his level, she spoke calmly and leaned down to wipe a bit of paint off his cheek, only for him to close his eye and flinch away from her touch. Rin's eyes softened from his reaction and she lowered her hand back to rest on her knee.

"Hey, whiskers, what happened to your shoulder?" Asking in a very strange familiar tone, Rin lightly poked his hand to move it out of the way only for Naruto to take a very hard step back. The fear coming off the jinchuuriki was very apparent and it wasn't hard to tell the trust wasn't there either. "I'm fine! Don't worry about me." Pushing Rin to get away, the medical kunoichi weakly reached out toward him, to stop him, but chose to let the young kid go since she didn't want to fight if he didn't want help. Even if it was clear that he needed it.

Naruto ran around the corner from where she had come from and she leaned over to see that he had a bit of a limp as well as a shoulder problem. "Kurama's chakra should help him heal after a while, but... I should still help him. I need to make sure no one is hurting him." Sounding like a protective mother, the kunoichi turned her head to look at the Hokage building one last time to make sure she was completely sure of what she wanted to do.

"I doubt Hiruzen would let anyone put their hands on him, but he is only one person.. and it's not like he has stopped the harassment so far." The kunoichi never liked to bad talk the guy who took over after her beloved sensei and fourth Hokage passed away, but Hiruzen's mistreatment of Minato's legacy, offspring, and so-called hero of the village was a painful reminder that Lord Third couldn't do everything at once. "We can't talk about him, but people sure only say negative things about the poor kid." Imagining what life would have been like if Rin and Isobu had been able to turn the tides of war against the fox, and maybe overpower it somehow, then maybe Naruto's parents would have been around. Maybe there would have been less pain for herself, Naruto, and even Kakashi. But she didn't have the energy to focus on what-ifs anymore. That boat had long since sailed long ago.

"I have my backup if I need to rely on her, but I would rather not have to.." Pressing her fingers to her lips for a moment, the kunoichi shook her head to clear her mind and decided to jump up onto the rooftops of surrounding buildings to try to stay ahead of Naruto. Luckily she knew where the nine-tailed jinchuuriki lived, but it didn't exactly mean that he was heading straight there. If the kid was smart then he would go to the hospital but that was the opposite direction of where Naruto went...

It took a few minutes, even Rin could feel Isobu itching to want to get involved in the hunt for his brother's jinchuuriki, but the sounds of shouting drew her attention right away to some sort of commotion a few roads down. "There you are! You're coming to clean up this paint spill right now!" A male screamed as two other adults seemed to have found the blonde before Rin had even started looking. She reached the edge of the rooftop, closest to the noise, and looked at how scared Naruto was at the moment. It was useless to look around for any help as everyone knew there was never any help for someone like Naruto Uzumaki.

"No! I'm going home. Get someone else to clean it up. You can't even prove that I had done it!" Yelling back at something easy to prove just made it a little more pathetic. When Naruto was pulled by his arm, he couldn't control the outward squeal from the pain. The young boy was quickly released but they took a step back from the boy in fear of maybe releasing the fox's anger upon them for hurting him like that.

"W-we'll come to get you later to clean it up! Don't think this means you're free from repercussions of your actions." The three adults went to turn away and leave only for Rin to jump in front of them and question them on what was going on. "An anbu member?" One male questioned and they all figured she could help handle the nasty fox. If only they knew what she went through to deal with the real fox on that night. "I'll help clean it up.." While keeping an eye on Naruto to make sure he didn't slink away like earlier while she tried to help fix whatever mess he made.

Without making any hand signs, a matching clone of Rin's appearance showed up next to Rin, but this one came with crimson eyes and yellow pupils. "Huh?" Out came a one-word response from the clone, but didn't match anything close to how the female sounded like. "Show this one the mess and they will clean it up." Leaning on the clone, it looked so confused about what just happened but went along with the people with a few grumbles and choice words that only she could hear. She chuckled nervously under her breath from what she made her bijuu do, but she needed to attend to his brother's jinchuuriki so it worked out for both of them equally.

Feeling the deep glares from the three tails bijuu as he was forced to follow the three adults, Rin waved goodbye for a bit before turning her full attention to the nine tails jinchuuriki. Naruto looked at her with fear for some reason, but then quickly turns sour when he realizes it was the same lady as a few minutes before. "Hey! Are you following me, lady? I didn't do anything!" He lied, but Rin wouldn't take no for an answer this time and quickly dropped to her knees to look at his wounds. "Yes, I was following you. I was worried about you, whiskers." She used her careful chakra control to send green healing chakra to her fingertips and lightly grazed her touch against Naruto's shoulder and chest.

Naruto watched her working very warily but then glared at Rin's face when the awkwardness finally got to the poor kid. She adjusted her eyes to look back up into his eyes and smiled softly. "What's with that look?" She questioned as she went back to focus on where she was healing only for him to try to pull away from her again. "Why are you helping me?" He whispered only for the medical kunoichi to turn off her healing chakra and focus on the young boy. She could feel the bumps and bruises under her fingers even without touching the young boy's skin, bringing more questions than answers.

Choosing to ignore his question for a moment, she held her hand out for Naruto to give her his for a moment, but it only confused the boy even more. She might have forgotten that she wasn't in the right work environment at the moment. "Why didn't you go to the hospital Naruto? You're injured." The silence from the kid spoke volumes to the female jinchuuriki and each passing moment helped give the answer she needed. "Naru-"

"No one would help me there. They were full and no one would look at me no matter how much I asked. So I figured I would just go home." Naruto cut Rin off but shivered again in pain. Rin didn't need to touch him to realize what she thought was wrong with how Naruto had been handling himself. Healing him in person only proved her suspicious of the young boy having a dislocated shoulder. "Well, whiskers, it's your lucky day. I'll take care of you today and make sure you are well enough to relax at home tonight."

What she had planned was something she couldn't just do comfortably in the middle of the street, let alone by herself. She didn't want to do something like this without helping Naruto with the pain and in a sterile environment Rin could make sure that Naruto didn't have any other issues. Even with the nice offer the male jinchuuriki was skeptical of her help, and Rin could only speculate that it came from the pain he was in.

"I'm going to have to sneak you inside, but it should be okay. I'm just going to have to pick you up, whiskers." Rin fixed her Anbu gear to make sure it didn't snag on the young boy's clothing and didn't care if she got red paint on her or not, it wasn't any different than red blood. Holding her hands out towards the blonde, he still looked around to see if maybe this was a prank or something like that.

"Don't Rin.." Even with the three tails bijuu being away from his jinchuuriki, their connection was always there. Especially when they chatted in their shared mindscape. "I need to connect the trust. It's not going to work if I don't bring her up.." Even very full of doubt and slight self-hatred for having to bring up the past. "I know you don't trust me, but I work with this Anbu member named San. I think she would love to see her if you come with me." Bringing up that name of his past, the light in Naruto's eye brightened up by 100% when the stranger lady brought up someone Naruto was close with.

"You know San?! She can help me. I'll go with you!" Naruto winced slightly as he lifted his arm and allowed Rin to pick him up but she was quick to grab him from the underarm and hip area and not mess with his bad shoulder. "You could say I'm close with her. She is my sister after all." Again that news seemed to grow another huge grin from the young boy and he looked forward as Rin jumped toward the Hokage building. "I didn't know she had a sister." Naruto looked her over as if Rin was suddenly a very close friend only for Rin to put on a fake smile. "If only you knew half of it, my little Kitsune.."

Chapter Text

Frowning as they jumped toward the top of Hokage Rock and her main place of work, Rin kept her focus on how she was going to proceed inside. She knew what she needed to do to keep Naruto hidden, but it wasn't just him that was involved in this whole plan. There were people's identities that needed to stay hidden that only other Anbu knew about, plus the layout inside the building was slightly classified as well. Particularly to a six-year kid and where Rin planned to take him was deep enough inside the building that she didn't need Naruto to know exactly where the infirmary was. It was better to be safe than sorry.

Naruto's perseverance during the whole trip astounded the female jinchuuriki as he didn't make any sort of noise or complaint. She could see slight discomfort whenever she landed wrong, but he never voiced any concern toward the female. Of course, she wasn't sure if she liked that or not. It wasn't like the older jinchuuriki knew him inside and out, but Rin hoped that it wasn't from him trying to hide some inner thoughts from her. If not, she was sure she would hear about them in a second when San 'showed' up.

Stopping again on top of a building, it was right close to the Hokage mountains and she looked toward the first Hokage's bust in particular. "Forgive me about the constant going and stopping. I don't want us getting in trouble if we are seen together." With her eyes traveling to the people below, Naruto kept a hold on his shoulder before she caught the sadness that suddenly grew upon his face. He tightened his hand on his shoulder and she could feel his whole body tighten up as well as she carried him, but the female knew what might have caused it.

Swinging her other arm under his legs as if carrying him like a bride, Rin leaned her side against a rooftop that allowed coverage from the rising sun and out of their face from the low beams. She didn't need to see his young face to prove that what she had said had bothered the young fox jinchuuriki. And it didn't take a genius to realize why. "Why are you helping me if you don't want to be seen with me?" He questioned low but was not in a position to fight to get out of her arms.

With a look over her shoulder at the people below, the traffic was starting to slowly pick up as the village started to become more active as the morning was starting to wrap up. She was going to be 'late' for work if she didn't hurry up and Rin didn't need them worrying about where she might be. Shifting her gaze back to the suddenly tight and darkened jinchuuriki in her arms, only for her to sigh through her nose and give him a weakened smile in return. This was going to take a bit to build things up to the same levels of trust like the fox jinchuuriki had for San.

Coming off in a caring tone to pull the jinchuuriki from his dark thoughts, she didn't know much of how to speak to kids, but "No, Naruto... it's not like that..far from its whiskers." Bouncing him carefully in her arms to draw his attention her way, Rin looked back down and then back toward the young boy as his expression seemed to turn more curious about what she could mean. "As an anbu member, I don't want you to be seen with me. Not me being seen with you, Naruto. I don't want people to assume that you are under arrest or something. Besides, the pranks you pull don't hurt anyone. Annoying, maybe. Funny, of course. But, they never hurt anyone."

The annoying part made Naruto's face express as if he had eaten something sour, but only more grumbling came from the boy. Some words on how it wasn't his fault that the village didn't have much artwork to it and that he was just trying to spruce the place up. And again how it wasn't his fault if no one likes his artwork, only for Rin to let out a slight breathy chuckle through her nostrils when she listened to him complain some more. It wasn't a bad complaint, but better than him complaining about the pain in his shoulder. And after a while, Rin went back to focusing on her movements while Naruto's mind went elsewhere.

They traveled in silence as Rin ran through some plans in her head, and though her eyes focused on where she was going and when to wait/go in the village, Naruto's eyes never seemed to leave her face. The female jinchuuriki didn't care for her reputation, let alone if she was incorporated with the nine-tailed jinchuuriki, but just because Rin didn't care didn't mean the council wouldn't have a say so to it. Let alone some of the different rules they could accuse her of pushing just by talking to Naruto and even helping the hurt boy. She pushed so many buttons in the past, but she might as well go broke in the meantime. It was better to ask for forgiveness than permission...

Rin could feel his gaze on her the whole time but was more curious about what was on her face which made her so interested to look at the whole ten minutes it took to get to the building. She stopped on one of the spikes of the Third Hokage's rock faces and looked down at the building that sat behind it as it was where they would be entering to help the nine tails jinchuuriki. "Do I have something on my face, whiskers?" Trying to break the silence between the two, Rin gave Naruto a side glance and he could only snicker back at her for some reason. His smile was addicting, to say the least, and she returned his blissful attitude with her smirk of sorts.

As his snickering started to get a little louder, the male got her full attention as Rin was ready to fully sneak him into the building."Hold on, Naruto. I gotta put you down for a second to get something to allow me to get you inside, undetected." She carefully placed him down on his feet in a way to not upset his shoulder, but all the young boy did was step back and lean closer to look more at Rin's face for some strange reason. For a moment she needed to remind herself that this was a child and not to push him away, especially since she didn't like maybe one person to get that close to her, but also their height was also a painful factor to not push Naruto over a cliff.

"W-what is so funny Naruto? You need to tell me or I might think you're coming down with a high fever and are going insane from it." Dropping down to one knee, Rin kept her eye on the young boy but looked around herself at the rock flooring below their feet for some answers. She was in a pickle with Isobu not there to help bring her what she needed from the three tails pocket dimension. And summoning it right in front of Naruto was not a simple trick she wanted to reveal just yet. It wasn't hard to know what she needed to do, she just needed to properly communicate to the young boy that she disappeared for only a few seconds. Maybe a minute and not leave, at least it shouldn't be too hard.

"Heh, I'm just excited to meet San again. If you're her sister, then you must look kind of like her!" His snickering caused Rin to tilt her head and gave a slight nod to his statement. "Well... You could say that, whiskers. She is my twin sister and so if you were to see her, you wouldn't be able to tell us apart." Dig. Dig. Dig that rabbit hole deeper. Where the lies are the only thing for comfort for a tainted person like her.

That comment made Naruto gasp and picture the last time he ever saw the masked female and it caused him to get even more giddy than before. "Ahh! That means then I don't need to see her without her mask to know what she looks like! Eh heh heh, San isn't going to expect me to know what she looks like the next time I see her!" Sounding very mischievous and playful, Naruto was already making plans for someone he hasn't seen in a few weeks. Rin did promise he would see her, this just meant extra precautions would need to be taken if the Anbu female was going to pull this off.

"Y-yeah, my sister has told me a lot about you, Naruto. Like how you're going to be the next Hokage?" Rin saw the lights in the nine tails jinchuuriki's eyes turned into stars when Rin repeated the one thing that Naruto desired most in the village. "Believe it! I'm going to be the next Hokage and no one can change that! Not even... ow.." He tried to pump his arms and shoulders in excitement and caused them to strain in the movement, causing Rin to reach out toward him and place her hand on his uninjured one. "Just hold on, whiskers. I'm sorry for hyping you up like that. You can tell me more about it when we are safe inside and I start to treat you, okay?" She removed her hand from his shoulder and stood up to take a step back from him. Naruto still softly rubbed his shoulder as it slowly started to become tingly in his fingers, but shifted his gaze upward of the backing-up female. He agonized over the idea of not being able to use his arm again, but Rin would never let that happen.

"I need to disappear, for a second, to sneak you into the place I work. I will be right back, I promise!" Taking another step back, Rin found herself hitting something that felt like an unmoving wall. It caused her to dart forward and instantly do a slide to turn her face toward the object in her way, especially if someone as bulky as Rin couldn't move it with even a simple bump into it. The unmovable object just so happened to be the main reason Rin was rarely unable to move by the weaker members of the Anbu and ninja ranks around her. She had bumped into Isobu, still wearing her clone as a persona for safety but the difference was this one was covered in paint.. so much red paint that Rin might have failed to believe that there wouldn't have been pain if it was blood.

Naruto saw the clone covered in his paint and it caused a boy just like me to burst out laughing at it. He pointed toward the clone and wagged his finger in a mocking jester, knowing full well that finding someone to clean up his mess was never an issue. At least he never thought about it much in the past. Rin looked the clone up and down and even saw it get some of it in its hair. Did a turtle chakra monster even know how to clean it without it getting everywhere?

The clone was glaring toward the nine tails jinchuuriki, a mistfil breath exiting its nostrils with every exhale it took. Though dramatic, the bijuu was far from exhausted but its patients were running very thin which was amazing so early in the morning. Its eyes slowly shifted up toward Rin and he lifted his head in a very creepy, unnatural manner toward the female. It wasn't hard to feel and see the anger coming off the bijuu, but sadly Rin wanted to laugh at how silly something like this made the bijuu mad. However, it wasn't as simple as getting mad at some kid's shenanigans so Rin knew and respected Isobu enough to not even breathe out of line.

This was his brother's jinchuuriki, someone they'd been through hell for, and Naruto, let alone Kurama, would never learn to appreciate what the three-tails duo has done for them. Isobu was at the end of the leash over something so small but it was just adding up more and more. The Sad thing was this wasn't even going to be the last time the power duo did something to cover up for the nine tails duo. If only the turtle knew what he had signed up with when that seal was broken years ago.

"Woah, what happened? I asked you to clean the mess, not lose a fight against it.." Trying to make a light-hearted joke about something that didn't seem that big of a deal to the outsider, Rin didn't let Isobu answer her question with a sarcastic answer or twist it into something vindictive toward the younger jinchuuriki. Before the clone could speak, Rin hopped back into between Naruto and the clone and placed her hands on the clone's cheeks to try to comfort/distract the beast before its anger got the best of him. She rubbed their cheeks with her hands and scrumped their face so they could focus their energy elsewhere. Anger toward herself was easier to dispel than adding fuel to the complicated bijuu family tree. "I know... I know... you've earned yourself a full day of nothing but swimming and all the fish you can eat! I'm sorry Iso." Rin tried to butter up the bijuu with some much-needed freedom, but they both knew life wasn't predictable enough to allow him a full day of being out and about, even in small form.

The clone pointed over its shoulder and indicated to the bottom of the Hokage Rock base which peaked Rin's attention. She rubbed its cheeks a few more times before giving it a playful push out of the way to walk over to see what it was trying to show her. Watching the way Rin was treating her clone was so strange and weird that it made him slightly uncomfortable. It made her look crazy and as lonely as he was but the young boy never stepped that low to treat the clone like family.. at least not that he could think of. "What did I get myself into..?" Naruto thought to himself only to snap out of his thinking when Rin called out his name. A shot of guilt hit him as if the female knew he was thinking badly about her.

Walking over the edge of the rock, the female jinchuuriki just kept walking over the side as if the huge drop-down didn't bother her all. With the same amount of concentration it took for her to properly heal an injured ninja, Rin sent chakra to her feet to allow her to stay stuck to the Hokage's hair spike and simply walked down rock Hiruzen's forehead. When Naruto focused back on the female's movements, Naruto had to hesitantly walk up to the very side of the Hokage spike to see that the Anbu female was standing at an impossible angle, without proper chakra control she would have fallen, to look down below them. Her focus was completely on the scene below then, but the clone stayed up next to Naruto, on top of the spike, and kept its attention on the younger jinchuuriki. It even took note of the very hesitant walk to the edge of the spike. "... Interesting.."

"Naruto.. did you try to paint the Hokage faces again?" Rin questioned loud enough to let him hear it above her while looking at the crowd that seemed to be standing around where Isobu had been. The bijuu did his best, but there were still splotches of red paint splattered in some spots on the floor, and were very clear to see even that far up above the murder-like scene. They were animals, sentient and needing respect like any human, but still animals. It was still hilarious for Rin and something that she was just going to bring up for the next couple of months.

Naruto stepped back from the edge when he heard Rin's question and slowly rubbed his shoulder as his expression went from an excited smile into one of fear. When there was no real answer from the usual loud child up above and Isobu wasn't indicating any real reason for the hesitation in Naruto's voice, Rin jumped off the third's forehead and back the spikey hair to join back next to the both of them. Even with her back up next to him, Naruto's full attention was still down at the angle below them and was still more fearful of the edge. It just broke the female's heart even further when she saw the pain in his expression become more apparent when it was brought to light. She didn't need a clear answer to get some of the pictures of what happened a while ago, though it might have been from the wrong answer.

"Naruto, did someone push you or did something bad happen earlier?" Kneeling to look the boy in the eyes, who was still looking down at the huge distance to the ground below, he lifted his head to shake it as if deciding on how to answer her question. Rin could tell that maybe this was going to be a situation that was going to need to be addressed when they were inside and properly alone. She already connected the location and paint to Naruto, but was more concerned that it wasn't just him involved in his injury. She didn't want anyone hurting him. Not while she was around.

"It wasn't like that.. it was an accident." Naruto finally lifted his head to match Rin's concerned gaze and took more steps from the side just for safe measure. "I want to hear the details inside, whiskers. Maybe even what designs you had planned for and which Hokage would get the red the most." Reaching up to pat his head and run her fingers through his soft, but slightly greasy blonde hair Rin turned her attention back to Isobu who never took his eyes off the two jinchuurikis. "I need my cloak, please. Then I'm going to need you to play your part in this if you know what I mean." The clone's eyes blinked from chocolate brown and quickly switched to a demonic red with a yellow iris to show Isobu's shift in it. Its neutral expression turned to one of defeat as another sigh came from the clone's lips, but Iso wasn't the kind of bijuu to fight against his jinchuuriki in something so little of a request.

"That old thing again? How long do we need to keep this?" The three tails thought as he was quick to find what he needed in his shared pocket dimension, amongst the other Ninja tools that were piled and stocked accordingly. The medical side of Rin kept the place always in tip-top condition and it was needed when they were always using it to store things... Just like his real form. "Well, I thought I could retire that side, but if Naruto needs her. How am I supposed to say no to your brother's jinchuuriki?"

While Isobu popped over to the pocket dimension, Rin straightened up Naruto's shirt, even rubbing the index finger on her long black anbu glove over her tongue to clean some paint off his cheek. Naruto grumbled and looked to the side with embarrassment when she cleaned his cheek and all Rin could hear was how gross this was and how he could clean himself up later. "How do you have so many shirts when you get paint on them all the time?" Rin questioned while looking down at the Uzumaki clan symbol on his short sleeve shirt, but sadly it looked like a normal symbol to other ninjas. Isobu finally popped up with a cloak and held it casually in his fingers for Rin to grab. "I know you already have an excuse if we get caught wearing it, yeah?" Isobu thought to his jinchuuriki as she reached behind her and finally stood up to get some of the wrinkles out of it. If fabric could talk, this thing would be full of screams.

With a twist of her head to contrast her face against the bright midmorning sky, she let out a small puff of mist so Naruto could see her do it. "It's freezing Naruto. I'm going to need to put this on so we can hide you underneath, but also to keep me warm, okay?" Holding her hands out to pick up the boy again, Naruto felt the air and it felt pleasant for him. Not too cold, not too warm. Slightly fall weather that was normal for the village during the late September month, but everyone was different, he guessed. "Alright, but be careful this time! I hate being tossed around like a toy." Naruto spat out in anger, but ultimately gave in to her picking him up and caring him on her shoulders to allow his small features to not be seen so easily under her hood.

"Comfy?" Rin questioned as she looked behind her shoulder at the tiny head that struggled to keep surfaced under all the extra material above his head. The paint was going to make it difficult to clean, but she can always try the stuff she uses to get blood out. "... Hmmp, yeah. Just cramped and stuffy back here.." Naruto popped his head back down until the back side of the cloak was raised and a surprise visit by Rin's clone popped its head under too. "Here." The tone of the clone's voice threw the boy off and almost caused Naruto to kick the clone away.

Something was shoved in his hand and before any time could have been reacted by the young boy, Rin completely turned to look at the clone. "Take a break, Iso. I'll call on you in a little bit, okay?" The jinchuuriki had no idea what the bijuu could have given the young boy on her back, but the clone gave a bow of its head and disappeared completely in another cloud of mist.

"What did you get, whiskers?" The female jinchuuriki questioned with one more readjustment of Naruto's body on her back with her arms supporting his legs and his head resting on her back. She tilted her head the best she could under The giant hood of her cloak when she heard some sucking and licking noises. The kunoichi should have guessed that Isobu would have given the kid some candy to keep him quiet, she just wished she had thought of it earlier. "If you keep quiet until I'm ready for you, I'll give you another sucker, okay whiskers?" Rin questioned before looking back around the Hokage Rock to get refocused on what they were trying to do.

"Mmhm.." Naruto just agreed as his body tightened up against Rin's back and he used his hand to hold the lollipop to keep from choking on it when they finally started jumping again and walking into the building. The angle he sat made it impossible for him to see anything around the cloak, but he spent most of his time just listening. He didn't need to see to still be a good eavesdropper. But either way, Rin made sure to make it not so easy to track their movements in the building or try to repeat them in Naruto ever tried. She knew the boy was smart and his energy never really went into that sort of thing, but she didn't make it this far not to be careful.

Sneaking into the Anbu infirmary was easier than she expected, but now came the fun part. Rin needed to get San and get her mask without getting caught. Working on Naruto and slipping him back outside wouldn't even be that hard either, but it was the extra details she needed to be careful with. The kunoichi closed the door to one of the infirmary offices, which they used for privacy for all their fellow Anbu members, and shifted to allow Naruto to sit on the side of the twin-size bed within the room. She stripped the cloak along with the boy to where he just sat on it and it looked like it completely swallowed him up.

"Okay, easy part down. Now I need to get my sister." Holding up the signs to perform a shadow clone to trust in actually getting her mask, while the real Rin focused on the nine tails jinchuuriki. Naruto shed the hood from above his head and looked around the room while still savoring the lollipop he was given. Rin reached into her ninja pack on her leg and produced another lollipop for how good the jinchuuriki was acting. He sat quietly and just looked around the room, but began to kick his legs and grow a very big, excited smile when Rin brought up San. "Yeah! Then you can fix me!" He grinned and Rin was excited to smile back as she started to get the stuff she needed ready to heal the boy. There was a new level of excitement that she couldn't explain, but maybe it was just because of who she was spending time with.

---

The shadow clone walked into the hallway with less of a hurry of sorts. It looked exactly like Rin in her Anbu clothes and had no reason to hide where or what she was doing so getting caught wasn't that high of a priority.. well... If only... Entering the locker room, the female expected it to be empty, but all of Team Ro was inside, and what she expected was they were getting ready for a mission. Maybe coming back from a mission, the jinchuuriki wasn't sure, but she was in too much of a hurry to worry about them.

Sliding by the open lockers, but her mind too preoccupied to focus on anything around her besides her mission, Rin didn't even notice that people had tried to acknowledge her. Even since she first stepped into the room. These were her comrades, friends, and more, and they could see she was preoccupied with some stuff on her mind. The other Anbu members knew not to bother someone when they were too busy to reply, as their business was their business, but one person, in particular, would not let the jinchuuriki alone.

Once she had her mask in hand, Rin didn't even need to push the locker door close as someone had already beaten her to the punch. "You're late, Miss Rin. I've never known you to be late before." A familiar voice spoke up behind her as Rin's head lifted to look at the familiar charcoal grey eye and it gazed back at her but it was not the voice that had spoken to her. The two kept staring at each other before Rin turned her head to look over her shoulder and acknowledge who she recognized first. "Yeah, good morning Tenzo. Sorry about that. I had to help clean up a paint spill this morning. Stuff was everywhere."

Clenching at the mask in her hands, Rin returned her light-hearted tone with a carefree smile toward her fellow Anbu, Tenzo. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Why did you have to clean it up, though? Surely someone would have been better suited. Someone not in the anbu?" Tenzo questioned as he finished getting his uniform ready, but all Rin could do was shrug and turn her attention fully back to the one person who closed her locker for her. The one who always saw through her. Her best friend and teammate. Her everything Kakashi Hatake.

"Rin..." Squinting down at the clone, Rin knew her gig was up the moment that dark charcoal gray eye fell upon her and even more if he had been using the Sharingan eye. "Kakashi.." She held the mask tight in her hands and gave him a confident smile. "Good morning, captain."

Chapter Text

Debating on questioning the female jinchuuriki on her actions, Kakashi could easily tell something was off. As he ran his eye over the jinchuuriki's body, he could read something was off just by the little mannerisms of Rin's body movement. Rin wasn't fully telling the truth about the paint and it was a really bad excuse, to tell the truth, but he was curious about why even try saying it, especially to the two of them. Or maybe she was telling the truth and had that bad luck of interacting with something that boring. No sane villager would allow a member of the Anbu black ops to clean up something as minimal as a paint spill especially with how important their time and energy went into everyone's safety. It was along the same lines as Obito's running late when dealing with old people. Just something Kakashi had trouble fully believing in. There was something else behind it.

"Rin?" Whispering her name ever so slightly, with a very caring tone even though the signs of exhaustion were very clear whenever the one word was spoken. The jinchuuriki still held her smile for a few seconds before letting out a seemingly held breath as a sigh. The two promised not to keep any more secrets from each other the moment life calmed down after saving her from the foundation clutch's. It seemed like this was one of those promises that should not be hidden from her partner.

"Good morning, captain." Speaking ever so sheepishly, Tenzo was surprised by the softened tone coming off the normally bubbly and determined female. That was just another small alert that something was off with the jinchuuriki. "Is everything okay Miss Rin? Are you feeling okay?" The younger male questioned before Rin placed her mask in her hands and with some movements placed it within the three tails' dimension. It was the one thing the real Rin needed to complete her 'transformation' and the only reason the clone was there in the first place, and yet also one of the main reasons she would get caught it seemed.

"Yeah, Tenzo, I'm great. Just been a long week I suppose." It wasn't an overly complicated week and something the jinchuuriki could handle with no problems, but with Kakashi's team just getting back from their missions, there was no way of them knowing if she was telling the truth or not. "Paint spill, huh?" Questioning her motives, Kakashi reopened her locker to make sure she was completely down with it but closed it back when Rin shook her head to say she was done. He didn't understand why she only came down to get her mask when she needed her other Anbu attire, but could only guess that the three-tail dimension had everything else she needed Incase the jinchuuriki was late like today.

Being quiet for a moment, Rin looked between Kakashi and the other squad mates before turning slightly for Kakashi to only see what she needed to tell him. She lifted her hands and signed for him to come see her in the infirmary before going home. The two teammates didn't have as much time together as they did when they were strictly teammates, but they always tried their best to see each other whenever possible. After a mission or even when passing by they would stop for a quick moment to check up on each other. On other really bad nights, they found each other in more special ways, but this was a time when Rin felt conflicted about needing help or not.

The jinchuuriki trusted her healing skills but felt that this wasn't something she should keep to herself. Or perhaps she just wanted to share this experience with her fellow teammate and the last person alive that she felt that close of a connection with since before the nine-tails attack. Rin herself wasn't sure why she wanted to tell Kakashi but trusted it would work out in the long run if she at least told him. Not everything in Team Minato's lives needed to be in the dark when it came to working in the Anbu black ops, and every little bit helped keep the two from slipping too far in. Kakashi helped keep her, and more importantly Isobu's, sanity.

With a nod to her request, the clone disappeared and Kakashi lifted his head to look at a grinning Tenzo who could only speculate on what they might have planned later. "Are you going to at least get some sleep before going to visit Miss Rin, sir? Or do you have some energy for that sort of thing?" The question made the older Anbu male tilt his head With utter confusion on where these assumptions were coming from and how inappropriate they were in the first place. "I have no idea what you are talking about Tenzo. Visiting a comrade means no such thing, wherever your mind is right now.. but I would suggest getting some rest yourself tonight. I heard we have a challenging task coming up soon and we're going to need all the energy we can save for it."

Not necessarily a lie, but something to maybe push what the silver-haired male was going to do out of the wood style's mind. He didn't care what they thought of him, but Kakashi cared deeply about any horrible rumors about Rin, trying his best to make sure nothing ever caused bad rapport between the two teammates. "Aye, sir. Just be careful, don't need you coming back bruised again." Again Kakashi had no idea where this was coming from but didn't want to comment on it and drag the conversation on any longer. He just closed his locker and chose to go shower before visiting Rin.

The Hatake wanted to try to freshen up and be at his best whenever he visited her and being covered with other people's blood wasn't the best. Especially when Rin worried about every cut or bruise he got, which was rare with the help of the Sharingan, but still anything helped the female not feel worried about him.

-----

Pulling the overly loose black cloak from around the nine-tailed jinchuuriki's sitting form, the three-tailed jinchuuriki pulled it up over his head. The silky fabric caused static to spike up the blonde's hair even more than it was before and made the female chortle lightly under her breath from the look of the boy. "Sorry, whiskers. I need this back since we have to share these in the Anbu black ops so you can't wear it too long." Speaking in a playful tone to the young boy, she couldn't handle his spikey hair getting even more fluffy from the static.

Rin placed it over her arm and looked over at the clock. She used it as a distraction and cover as she was thinking about how she wanted to go around with the next step. An idea popped into her head, but she wasn't sure if it would work. At least with the cloak taken care of and the mask within her reach, everything was just needed to put the blocks in play on her side of the field. Either way, her attention would just be on fixing the boy's dislocated shoulder and by herself, then fixing the problem of introducing 'san' into this whole ordeal.

Naruto looked between the clock and the overly familiar kunoichi in front of him while savoring his plum-flavored lollipop. Rin kept her attention on the clock for the moment before turning her head down the black cloak on her arm and she began to fold it up for temporary storage for Isobu or herself to wear in a minute or two. Naruto held the lollipop in his mouth, but his eyes kept running up and down Rin's form, slowly racking his brain on why she looked so familiar.

Sounding familiar in the vocal region was one thing since he had dealt with the masked figure known as San his whole life, but Naruto had never spoken to anyone named Rin before. He had never seen her face before in his life, or maybe he has. A little nagging voice in the back of his head has been screaming to him that he should know this person more than just this 10-minute-long interaction this was. Even that name pulled at his heart and caused some warm feeling to grow deep inside his chest, he just couldn't explain why. It was a strange warmth and for some reason, he wanted more of it.

With a tilt of his head, the nine-tailed jinchuuriki was about to speak up but was cut off when the nurse finally spoke up. "Okay Naruto, I'll give you a physical exam to make sure what medicine I give you doesn't react negatively to you, okay? I don't want you to feel any pain when I reset your shoulder." Having sleeves was normally so much easier when pulling things from her shared dimension with Isobu, but the Anbu outfit left much to be desired. She clapped her hands together to seemingly explode the outer black cloak into a ball of mist and allow Isobu a chance to access it. Maybe even a huge chance of Rin's idea to bring 'San' into this still works in her favor.

"Ah, okay. I don't think I've ever had a check-up done before." The blonde boy said in a confused tone, not entirely sure what was going to happen since he's never really been to the doctor in a long time. Rin walked over to some of the opened drawers and pulled out a thermometer and a Stethoscope to take some of Naruto's vitals. Lifting his shirt, Rin's eyes gazed over his stomach and took a mental note of no appearance of the nine tails bijuu seal on it, though she knew that it wouldn't become visible until Naruto needed to call upon Kurama's chakra. That wasn't going to happen for many years to come hopefully, and that was going to be a hell of a year. Of course, the boy squirmed when the cold metal touched his bare chest causing Rin to smile a bit, but she leaned in and listened to Naruto's breathing and heartbeat.

Of course, Naruto had to blow a raspberry to mess with Rin for a second while she was trying to listen, but luckily she was finished with him. She took note of a healthy heartbeat and a slightly high temperature but jotted down that it was probably caused by the stress and pain from the day. Rin stood up and saw from the side that Naruto seemed to still be staring at her, and with a neutral look she easily gave him the same Stethoscope to the young boy for him to use as the curious look on the younger jinchuuriki's face almost made her want to just hug him more than anything. Hug him and not let go.

"So. ..?" Naruto spoke up as he put the earpieces in and looked down at the metal bit that was placed against his skin, even placing it on his chest but he couldn't hear much. "You seem healthy, whiskers." She waved him over to the wall where they tested the weights for the Anbu members and their heights, of course, they were barely ever used but not fully neglected since Rin tried to push for some routine checkups by the other Anbu members. Naruto was careful to get off the bed carefully and ran over to stand to get his height checked. Of course, he stood on his tiptoes to try to be taller, but Rin just wrote down his real height.

He took the chance and was very surprised that Rin allowed him to press the hearing end of the stethoscope to the front of her vest. Of course, it didn't work so well as the thick material prevented him from hearing anything. "Oh, man.." Sounding bummed at it not working, Rin kept writing for a moment before putting her pin in her mouth, unstrapped her Anbu vest, and allowed him to listen to it for a second while she finished writing down other things. At least this had him calm for the moment, but he still frowned when Rin's erratic heartbeat caused Naruto to think the scope was broken the whole time.

Rin saw the discouraging look on his face and stood up slowly to restrain her vest back on. "Wow, I've never seen such a tall five-year-old. You're almost as tall as the Hokage Rock! If you don't stop growing, we might need a whole village to house you, Naruto." The joke made Naruto grin and Rin chortled again as she wrote down his weight next and allowed Naruto to return to the bedside to sit again. The kunoichi did the math and quickly knew what medicines she would give to help Naruto in various ways.

"I'll be right back whiskers, I need to go get some stuff for the procedure and also maybe a surprise?" She excused herself for a moment and allowed Naruto to play with the stethoscope for a few minutes as she stepped out of the room to get the medicine needed, but also took this very rare moment to set up a great surprise.

While he sat in silence, Naruto thought of the huge Chidori scars he saw from what little bit showed from underneath the female's shirt. Even the strange heartbeat made him question what could have caused them to her, but again he messed with the scope to hold it to his own heart and see if he could get it working. He also couldn't wait to see what sort of surprise the lady could bring to him.. and what was her name again? She knew him from San, but he still had so many questions for her... And why did he feel bad when she left?

Rin walked to the medicine area they had for their patients and pulled out some for pain and sleep that she could trust a young future Hokage to take. While gathering it, Rin's loving bijuu buddy summoned himself in the same setup they hadn't worn together for so many years it was oddly chilling to see it put together. It even made her bite her cheek in remembering some of those dark memories, but the good and loving memories quickly overrode her own when got over the shock of it all. "I'll burn it one day. Maybe.." She went back to counting and figuring out numbers while Isobu waited patiently.

" Fix him and then send him home. We shouldn't have brought him here in the first place, yeah." Speaking to the jinchuuriki through their mind link, Rin finished up the medicine and held on to it before looking at the familiar purple and white Anbu mask upon the Rin clone's face. She didn't even need to see that the clone's eyes were completely crimson red and her pupils were yellow to show Isobu's ownership over the clone. "I agree, but we aren't going to let Naruto suffer nor your brother have a broken vessel. That's only for you." Rin whispered with a cheeky smile toward the bijuu and all Isobu could do was shake his head in disgust at such a twisted joke. "I'll leave the talking to you."

They returned to the room and with a knock, Rin stuck her head in first to find Naruto using the scope against the wall and floor as if it was strong enough to work like that. She let out a small laugh and shook her head, only to stand so Naruto couldn't see her clone right behind her. "Hm, I guess you must be feeling better and don't want your surprise, Naruto?" The female questioned and took a few steps in while Naruto quickly refixed his posture to be sitting on the bed. He was quick to act like he wasn't doing anything mischievous, but his eyes grew wider when the familiar form of his lifelong friend came into view.

The familiar white and purple mask, a certain dark shroud over the cloaked figure, and even a strong, intimidating chakra source caused the young jinchuuriki to gasp out as San finally stepped from behind the corner with open arms toward the blonde jinchuuriki. San, aka Rin's Foundation name, the famous San of the Misty Leaf, and the name she went as within her full anbu persona. She went by it full time within the foundation before reclaiming her identity back as Rin from the darkness. The Hokage saved her from Danzo more than just psychically.

"San! I've missed you!" Throwing himself off the bed, Naruto was quick to push the pain from his mind as he lunged toward the cloaked female's chest area. It was hard to see her general body in the Anbu cloak, but he never failed to get a hug from his friend. Isobu controlled the clone but needed to use Rin's voice and mannerisms to keep from messing this up and Rin didn't trust a clone not to mess it up. She trusted the bijuu more than herself for something this important.

With their shared everything, even if Isobu's lagging senses for things that happened to Rin, she needed to tighten her hands behind her back to keep from breaking down from the warmth of a true hug from the little jinchuuriki. The one thing, besides her beloved, was that she had left before the nine-tails attack and Rin was able to hug him again after so long away from him. Who knew why it was like that, but for the moment everything seemed right with the world.

"Hello, my darling kitsune~ I've missed you." Every so carefully Rin picked up the young boy and pressed her masked forehead against the boy's forehead and snuggled him close. He grunted in pain but denied the choice of her letting go by pulling the cloak ever so closely. She held him up by wrapping her arms around his waist and though Naruto couldn't see it, he could feel extreme happiness just radiating off the Anbu female.

"San! You are too pretty to be wearing a mask, not when I know what you look like now because of your sister, you know." Naruto reached for it and Isobu pulled his head back to keep it on mostly to hide the demonic influence over the clone's body but Naruto understood the jolt. "Kitsune, take your medicine and we can get you feeling better okay?" Putting the fox down on the ground, Rin grabbed the scope from around the blonde's neck and returned it to their dimension before watching Naruto run over to the bedside. He sat down and was happy to take a pill of some sort that he didn't know what it did, but kept all his attention on the cloaked female. "Where have you been San? I keep trying to get your attention and I thought that maybe you finally got annoyed or something with me.." "Like everyone else in the village.."

This made the real Rin frown at the idea and she had to turn her head to look at the clock again to keep herself focused for now. The cloaked female sat on the bed and Naruto was quick to rest his small head on her lap while allowing the female to run her fingers through his hair once again. "No, Naruto. I will never leave you like that. I was busy keeping the village safe for everyone else who lives here, like you. Just like Rin heals people, I have to deal with bad people that hurt good people." Lifting the clone's head to look toward the frowning jinchuuriki, Rin let out a mistful sigh and watched as Naruto's body started to drift off. "I'll be here when you wake up, my darling kitsune. I want to hear how this even happened." Sounding very caring about his future, Naruto smiled weakly and closed his eyes to sleep in the trusting arms of his very close friend. "J-just an accident." They looked at each other for a quick moment and just went to work.

When they were sure he was out, Rin communicated with her bijuu to hold the nine tails jinchuuriki to allow her to access and reset the shoulder joint back into its normal spot. While Naruto was held by the masked bijuu, Rin leaned in closer toward the sleeping jinchuuriki to whisper to the passenger within his body. "Forgive me, Q. This is going to probably sting a little." "Forgive us, brother, yeah. You'll feel better afterward, right?" Isobu questioned the female jinchuuriki since no one was around to question why he sounded like that. Rin gave a nod and after thirty minutes, they were complete, ready to sneak Naruto out and back home safely/quietly.

"He should feel better but one pill for the inflammation for when he wakes up will have the nine tails jinchuuriki back on his feet in no time." Rin ran her fingers over the whiskers on Naruto's cheek and gave it a poke with a cheeky smile. "Kurama will feel better too.." Saying that name made the jinchuuriki sigh and reach up to clinch tightly on her shoulder in response as well. Those damn nightmares were just as bad as the Chidori ones.

A knock came on the door right as Isobu picked up the nine-tailed bijuu and Rin looked at Isobu with some calm hand jesters. "Calm down turtle, it's probably Kakashi. He can help us if we need it." Rin wasn't sure why she even invited the younger Anbu male, but it was good to see him after so long apart. With her shoulder starting to act up and a slight headache, Kakashi knew just what to do to calm her down from those dark memories. Right as she got to the door and opened it a bit to peek on the other side, Rin's reaction to seeing the person on the other side almost caused her to break the door in response. Luckily her free hand was kept on her shoulder but she almost dug her nails in deep enough to pierce the toughened, scarred skin.

"Rin?.." The three tails jinchuuriki lifted their head to look toward the door and glared at the female's reaction. He took the boy and exploded in a loud cloud of mist to hide what or who she was with at the moment.

Before the three-tailed jinchuuriki stood someone who had as much power as Hokage over the female and her life. And has pushed that power for a little over five years.. until maybe too little bit of freedom. True freedom from that damn chain around their neck.

"San."
"L-lord Danzo.."

Chapter Text

Taking refuge in the three-tailed dimension, Isobu placed the nine-tailed jinchuuriki upon the floor of the crowded, misty area but it was safer than what Rin has to deal with now. Why was Danzo there all of a sudden and why did he think he was just showing up when the three-tailed duo was finally able to relax in life? Why can't the pain of the past go away and stay away? Hadn't they suffered enough?

Isobu pulled the hood off the clone's head and pulled the mask off to look at the sleeping jinchuuriki in front of him. There was no need to play this strange hide-and-seek game with a jinchuuriki that would be asleep for a while. "Compared to your mother, you both are very annoying, yeah, but at least you aren't scary... You just don't know this yet." The turtle spoke out, trying to make sure that the jinchuuriki was out of it, but also safe from the dangers inside his dimension. "You're lucky you're a favorite of Rin's or things would have been worse for you, Naruto, hm."

The real threat inside the three-tailed duo's dimension was the bijuu, himself, but lots of different types of weapons, medical equipment, and non-kid-friendly things were packed all over the dimension for the jinchuuriki to access at a moment's notice. It was far from safe for a kid to be left by themselves inside, but Isobu couldn't even think of the last time another human being had been in there and didn't need to be disposed of.

A few moments of quiet passed on as the turtle's full attention was on the jinchuuriki in front of him, but those moments caused the three tails to do something he really shouldn't. Isobu knew this chance would not come along for a long time or never again if the bijuu's pasts were any idea of what the future might hold. And that was the chance to speak to his brother on a more civil and controlled level. " Kurama. There are no humans around that can hear us, brother. Maybe we can be civil, yeah?" Isobu spoke out and scooted over to sit right next to Naruto. He took the young boy's hand and closed his eyes to try to focus his demonic chakra to interact with the jinchuuriki.

It normally helps to have Rin involved with the process, or full body contact between the two jinchuurikis, but he didn't have the luxury to pull it off at that moment. She probably wouldn't fully agree with the bijuu reaching out to talk to the other one either since her love and worry for Naruto went above anything that dealt with Kurama. The turtle would agree with Rin's reactions, especially the horrible memories that still haunt the jinchuuriki of that horrible attack six years ago, but the desire to reach out to his brother overrode the beast's worry about what his jinchuuriki might feel. If this worked then it was worth the risk, but if it failed then what the kunoichi doesn't know won't hurt her.

"Please, brother. Let's talk after so long apart, yeah." The bijuu turtle popped himself into the blonde's jinchuuriki seal in a much smaller, weaker form to not stress out Naruto's body with too much chakra. Especially one of a different element than the young boy was used to. Isobu found out the hard way a new chakra element can mess up a chakra system when introduced by force… like with his jinchuuriki.

—

Out in the real world, the female jinchuuriki's eyes grew for a moment when a strange feeling came over her body and it was most certainly caused by her old master. By habit, her head fell downward to look down at his legs and feet in a pathetic way and out of respect as a slight bow. Rin slowly moved her hand from her shoulder, placed it upon her stomach, and clinched to the door as a way to try to not show the negative effects that man still had over her life. Sadly she had no time to process it before Danzo adjusted his footing and the sliding sound against the floor brought the jinchuuriki back to her pathetic reality at the moment. With a deep inhale, Rin was forced to push that horrible feeling deep inside for the moment and deal with the harsh reality that she simply couldn't push away even if she wanted to.

Lifting her head, the jinchuuriki noticed the two foundation Anbu members who always followed Danzo and even remembered their names, but they weren't important. "Lord Danzo." Speaking the gentleman's name in a respectable but monotone voice, Rin's inner voice was telling her to run away but couldn't. The jinchuuriki masked her emotions a little too well in front of her old master, but she couldn't control her heartbeat increasing ever so slightly. She even fought the urge to clench her neck as if that collar was still upon their neck, and even if they were told it was disarmed, Rin didn't believe a damn moment of it. Another urge was to fall to her knee to the man as the other foundation members did, but that wasn't so hard to fight against. Nor was that a time to do that.

Thoughts went through her mind on how to properly speak to the man of power, and Rin wasn't sure if to speak on the same level as the Hokage or just as a normal fellow Anbu member. It was all confusing.

So instead she went with the neutral respect that she had for some Shinobi that ranked her. With a respectful bow of her head, Rin even bowed her chest for a bit to show her respect, but she felt it was no longer needed for her to put her full energy and time into worshiping the ground this man walked on. Not anymore. "Forgive me, Lord Danzo. I didn't expect a visit from you today.."

Taking the medical gloves she used to keep Naruto safe during his procedure, Rin held the door as a way to not allow Danzo to look inside too much. Either way, his eye stared down upon the jinchuuriki and watched as she peered behind her in the room a few times, questioning if she perhaps had someone to heal up. Of course, the older gentleman knew that wasn't the case as he had his eye on her since she first got there.

The third Hokage seeing Naruto had been there would be one thing, Danzo seeing that the young jinchuuriki would have been there was a completely different thing. Even with him being held within the three-tailed dimension and out of sight, Rin knew that Danzo was so perceptive that the older gentleman could probably smell the demonic chakra from Kurama if Rin wasn't careful. He couldn't but she didn't know what his true powers were. And she wasn't going to take a chance of her kitsune getting hurt.

Danzo kept his eye down on the female and watched her look inside the room they just used and there were medical supplies still scattered on the trays they used for the mini-surgery. "I need to speak to you, San. It won't take long off your schedule." He spoke calmly and respectfully, something the jinchuuriki was used to from the older male in public until that usually broke if things didn't go exactly his way. She wasn't going to fall for it. Never again.

"Yes, sir. Give me one moment, and I'll be right with you. I must allow this room to be used in case of an emergency." Why did she feel the need to explain herself and in such detail what she needed to do? Danzo knew what she needed to do as a medical Anbu member, and yet she fully stated it anyway. It just left a foul taste in her mouth regardless. Even though a simple request to see her seemed easy to fulfill and shouldn't be stressful for someone as powerful as the jinchuuriki, even being near Danzo made Rin's stomach do a flip. It would be even worse if Isobu was fully paying attention to the interaction, but she could feel him trying to block her off for some reason. Something she would remember for later.

"Very well, but don't keep me waiting, San. This is important and I'm very busy today." He frowned at being kept waiting when during the years under his control, San always seemed to be right on time with everything she did. He never needed to wait and trusted her to even guess what he needed ahead of time just to keep from disappointing him. Danzo questioned how such little time under Hiruzen had seemed to drop the jinchuuriki's skills so low, a question he would ask later.

Rin closed the door quickly and within less than a minute, the jinchuuriki had the room completely tidy, sterile, and ready for the next team to use if not her later on. "My name is Rin. I am Rin Nohara...." She repeated herself in the moments of cleaning the room as a way to keep herself calm, but it only helped a little. "He doesn't have any power. He can't do anything.....not anymore.." Another white lie to try to help calm her heart, but it only helped so much.

She held Naruto's medical chart in her hand and skimmed through it before pocketing it into the three-tailed dimension for proper filing away later. Rin would just stop by the real hospital and give them to file away, maybe stick her Anbu nose into their business and figure out why they couldn't.. or wouldn't.. help Naruto out when he needed it. They probably were as busy as anything and Naruto probably didn't want to wait. If not, the female jinchuuriki would see some medical licenses being pulled and some nurses getting put on cleaning duty. Either way, this wasn't over by a long shot.

Fixing up her appearance to show some respect to someone who didn't deserve a single moment of her time, Rin walked out of the room, turned the lights off, and stood out in the hallway with Danzo so they didn't use it as needed for a meeting place. "Again, forgive the wait, Lord Danzo. Hm.." For someone with little patience with things not going his way, he was very patient with the jinchuuriki as she thought of a place the two could talk. "We could use that little dimension to speak if you don't choose a place soon, San. I'm very busy.." The call out to her dimension made the jinchuuriki scratch her clan mark on her cheek a little awkwardly. She tried not to be nervous, but there were no secrets of her own anymore because of this man.

"H-hold on. I'm sorry. Here, my lord. We can talk here. It's sterile so if you need a check-up by me then we don't need to fill up or take up another room." Not wanting to take up space in a possibly needed room, Rin felt cornered by the surprise visit out of nowhere. She reopened, stepped into the hallway, and turned on the light, even holding the door open so Danzo could go first into it. Slowly, of course. And as he passed her, she kept her head bent to show unneeded respect to someone who didn't deserve it. When he passed she lifted her head to look at her ex-fellow comrades until Danzo stopped for a moment to address them.

"Leave us, I need to speak to her alone. Just wait here for me." He lifted his head and didn't even allow for a response until he kept going to his position inside. The two foundation members gave Rin a side glance before nodding to their master's decision and backed off from going inside.

"I've been here for an hour waiting for you, San. You've never been late, at least not when you were working under me. What happened to make something like you be late?" Danzo questioned as Rin lifted her head to look down the hallway toward an approaching ally. Two were coming her way, but it caused Rin to frown at their sudden appearance. Both Kakashi and Tenzo came her way but stopped when they noticed who was entering the room she was preoccupied with. Why did it have to be these two? She could handle one, but the surprise visitor was too much at that moment.

Kakashi needed to put his hand on Tenzo's chest to stop him in his tracks when the silver-haired male's eye fell upon Danzo walking into a room with Rin behind him. And even easier to see the two cloaked foundation members that Tenzo caught on to as well. Tenzo looked from Kakashi before his eyes grew bigger when they both realized just what kind of situation was walking in with the secretive jinchuuriki.

"Why is Lord Danzo here?" The wood user questioned in a hushed tone Kakashi's expression turned serious as he could only try to guess what he was going to do with the jinchuuriki. They kept their distance to not get Rin in trouble, though they could have a viable reason to be there, they didn't want to push their luck if Danzo saw either of them near Rin. "I don't know, but it can't be for anything good.." Kakashi watched from a distance, trying to think of a way he could help, but now he wasn't going to leave until he was sure his teammate would be okay.

Rin waved at them trying to dismiss them, and signed her apology toward her beloved teammate before stepping in behind Danzo. She closed the door so he couldn't see them coming as she didn't want any more trouble than was already caused by Danzo needing to wait so long. "Again, I apologize, Lord Danzo. I was unaware of your arrival or you never would have been kept that long." As the door closed behind them both, leaving the two beings in a tight area, it was good that Rin was taught by the most elite to hide her nerves.

—

With the strange low light within the nine-tail fox seal, Isobu pulled himself up right up next to the bars to look at the very growling, glaring fox. This strange environment hadn't changed in the six years since the three-tailed duo had last been inside. That last visit was an emotional rollercoaster and was right after the Kurama attack that took Rin's beloved sensei and that scary red-headed jinchuuriki. It was a horrible night for everyone within the Leaf village, but also a huge turning point for the three-tailed duo. And though the turtle would never admit it in fear of hurting his jinchuuriki, he wouldn't change it that night even if he had the power to.

The nine-tailed fox hadn't changed much since the last time the two bijuu were able to interact and besides being a different color and size from even long before humans had captured them, Kurama still seemed like the same asshole since being sealed within the boy six years ago. "What are you doing here, sanbi?" Baring his fangs toward the turtle, he wasn't in the mood for any visitors and still seemed the same mentality as during that night. However, this time was much different than that night. And Isobu was more understanding of the fox than when they first interacted those six years ago.

"I'm aware there will be some leftover pain, but Rin did her best so that there wouldn't be any pain for either of you, hm." Isobu laid down right up against the bars and the fox just turned his head to ignore the turtle. Kurama was lying on his stomach, with its head on its paws and just hiding its time just like last time. "Hmmp, Rin? Do you still call that wench by her name? Does she have you coiled around her finger that tightly? Or is the life of a pet that cozy for you?" The fox questioned parting his eye to look at the turtle with questionable motives.

The turtle had to remind himself that the fox was feeling what Naruto was feeling, on top of being a major asshole, so he wouldn't take offense to anything that was said. Nothing could affect the turtle. No hurtful words could compare to what's already happened to the duo so Iso would just enjoy what he could get out of Kurama. No matter what.

"Yes, I still call my jinchuuriki by her name. Like she calls me my name and she calls you, yours, yeah. The turtle turned to look the fox in the eye rather deadpanned the fox's way, but Kurama was still chlorinated the whole time. They both frowned, but it seemed like the fox still had issues with how the turtle's jinchuuriki acted differently than other humans he'd met in the past. "And just like the pet you are, I bet you roll over for her every chance you get just so you can enjoy what you call a 'peaceful' life." He tried pushing buttons that Isobu certainly had issues with, but compared to the person Rin was dealing with, Isobu didn't feel as threatened with his brother as he did with Danzo. Two different-level threats, but the seal prevented that.

Lifting his head to look up at the seal, then slowly back down to the fox, he could only sigh at this whole situation. "I don't need your pity, three tails. And I don't need your bitch of a jinchuuriki's help either. Just because she knows my name, and says your true one doesn't change the fact that she owns you, no matter what you do. We will always be weapons to humans and they will use as they are fit. Until the time comes that I'm able to break free from this pathetic child and seek my freedom, then.." A sway of his tails, a twitch of his ears, and the fox smirked rather cockily to himself and all his nine-tailed power. "I'll happily free you from your prison, one way or another. We always come back, no matter how we die.."

Another growl from the fox caused the turtle to chirp and click his beak a few times with anger at the threat thrown his way. Isobu might come back, but humans never came back to life after a true death. And the three-tailed bijuu never played around with his jinchuuriki's life like that. Not when they both fought hard to keep this broken vessel healthy enough to thrive. " I could free you from your mortal plan too, brother. Your jinchuuriki is at the mercy of me right now and there is nothing you can do to stop me, yeah." The threat caused both bijuu to become irate with each other and within a blink of an eye, both were at the bars of the cage that protected each other from the other's wrath. Well as protected as the three tails could hope.

Isobu pushed up to tilt his head up to glare at Kurama and the fox sat on his haunches to return the glare down at the turtle. Three tails let out some mistful hisses as the fox let out a few heated growls from its fangs as they seemed to square off with one another, but neither budged as the seal wasn't the place to test out their power. If anything it forced Naruto's sleeping body to shiver a bit and subconsciously lifted his hand to rub his burning stomach.

The movement was noticed by both bijuu but Isobu was the one to back down in truce first, not because of fear but because of worry for what damage this would cause to the host if this kept up. The turtle didn't care for Naruto in the slightest, but the jinchuuriki was important to Rin so that was a common ground they stood on.

With a few more clicks of his beak, Isobu glared for a second before pushing back away from the bars and turning away from the fox. Kurama watched him slink away and squinted his eyes while wary of the whole situation. "Good pet, now roll over for me." The fox pushed that button as Isobu lifted his tails and struck the bars with his three tails causing Kurama to blink and turn his head up in annoyance. "You really are an asshole brother. I don't see why Rin even wants to help you. You're greedy and can't even see what you put us through, yeah. I'll tell Rin that we're done and there isn't any lingering pain. Try not to die, Kyuubi, hm.." Those words made the fox twitch his ears ever so slightly before he returned to his normal position of lying on his stomach and head resting upon his paws.

"As if I need any help from a worthless three tails. Why don't you finally go back to the humans in the mist village? I'm sure Rokubi misses their little brother." Everything said to the turtle made the scales on his body itch with anger, but he again chose to be the better bijuu and ended the whole conversation by disappearing from the seal and reappearing by the sleeping Naruto. Isobu sat in the Rin clone and began to vent his frustrations in the form of mistfil sighs into the air above. "Saiken would be a better partner than you'll ever be, Kurama. Yeah." He whispered but knew the fox heard, just didn't care anymore.

The turtle reached down and moved the jinchuuriki's hand from his stomach, holding it for a moment so he could watch the red seal turn back to its normal black color and then completely disappear from Naruto's skin. The turtle took note of how the seal became visible if the fox was angered or Kurama's chakra was called upon for any reason. It was a powerful seal, to say the least, and one that made the three tails curious about what the Fourth Hokage was thinking when he implemented it, but didn't think too much about it as the curiosity didn't last too long. He just wanted the jinchuuriki to wake up and leave their lives for a while.

Soon the nine-tailed duo would be gone and hopefully, the three-tailed duo could ignore the fox again for the next few years.. forever… just forever. Kurama wasn't ever going to change and Isobu didn't understand why Rin was even trying anymore. Why did he have to be stuck with a jinchuuriki that was so strongly connected with the nine-tailed beast?

One frustrating meeting melts into another and just adds to the three-tailed duo's pot.

—

When Danzo entered the medical room, he of course chose to stand right in the middle but didn't turn to look at the female in any way. He waited for her to get into her normal position, one that she was used to from the years of working with him, and that was right in front of the gentleman eye site. In the past, Rin would have assumed the normal respectful position, down on one knee, in front of the man that saved her after the nine-tails attack, but she didn't need to do that now.. right?

Standing so proud like always, the shadow shinobi didn't even turn his head as he waited for the jinchuuriki to get in her right position. Which for Rin meant straight in front of him, but she chose to lean against the medical counter to take into count her comfort, however, she couldn't stop herself from scratching her shoulder a few times. Something about this man made her skin crawl but also made her Chidori scars act up as well. "So, Lord Danzo, did you need a check or did you come for something else?"

The jinchuuriki questioned Danzo's normal silence and didn't help push why he was there any faster. Rin needed to be quick or Naruto would wake up inside the three-tailed dimension and cause even more trouble for her. The male blinked a few times, pushing his silence a few more pregnant pauses until he took the conversation over completely. "San.. Rin I've come to you because I request your assistance with one mission for the foundation." He spoke calmly with his reason for visiting her but Rin was still processing her name being spoken by the same man who gave her the really bad name, 'San' in the first place. Maybe it was Orochimaru or Danzo, either way, she couldn't remember the last time he had ever spoken to her.

Her eyes grew ever slightly at the second part as a request for the foundation, even causing her to look to the side. She had to keep herself calm, but it would have angered Isobu to hear that news if he hadn't paid so much attention to the nine-tailed jinchuuriki. "I do not work for the foundation any longer, Lord Danzo. I can't help you and help Lord Hiruzen at the same time.." She tried to rebuttal only for Danzo to squint his eye a bit at her clear refusal. "I am quite aware I lost my favorite tool to the foundation, but this is a request I don't think you'll want to refuse when you hear it, three tails."

Knowing there was ultimate privacy within the hospital, Danzo wasn't afraid to speak how he was thinking." And it has to do with the nine-tailed jinchuuriki that I know you snuck in here. Somewhere." This news caused Rin's heart to skip a beat and even Isobu to finally chime into the conversation as well. "He's lying. There is no way he knows, yeah." The turtle hissed a bit within their shared mindscape but Rin could only shake her head in fear of what that meant. "We can't take that chance.."

Squinting her eyes in a small glare and a tilt of her head, Rin crossed her arms over her chest. She knew there was no hiding anything from Danzo with all his eyes and ears all over the village.

"What do you want?"

Chapter Text

Danzo tightened the hold on his walking stick and took a few steps toward the female, but Rin didn't move as there was nowhere for her to go. This man had power that not even Lord Hiruzen could understand or touch, and the power play he had over a powerful being as a jinchuuriki was very apparent. He would flaunt it in the streets if he was allowed and he would gladly sick Rin after any of his enemies, again if he was allowed.

Rin was his pet. His favorite tool. She would listen even if it meant her death.
And he knew how to twist her heartstrings and hold over her head to make the jinchuuriki perform tricks for him. Even with that supposed chakra collar destroyed, all that time ago after being taken back by Lord Danzo, Rin didn't believe it and wouldn't until this man died…

Not showing how truly intimidating the older male had upon the female, she held herself leaning against the medical cabinet and looked him in the eye. She held her ground, whatever little bit she could muster to keep herself above the ever-crumbling bit she could stand on.

That darkness, the horrible memories, and so much blood followed wherever this man went. And though she didn't think she would drown back in it from such a short meeting with him, those feelings always beckoned her. Oh, so easily.

Even more than a year of recovering within the Anbu black ops and among the strong branches of the hidden Leaf! Only to be dragged back down underground on the idea that Danzo could use the nine tailed jinchuuriki against the three tails jinchuuriki. It wasn't fair, but Danzo was far from a fair guy.

"You think you are so clever with you sneaking around these past few years, San. Thinking you could hide what you were doing with the young nine-tailed fox host. I suppose you were trying to find meaning in a fellow demon like yourself, but you forgot who has eyes in every little corner of this village. There isn't anything you do that I do not know about." Danzo spat out in a controlling manner, and couldn't help but catch on to Rin not reacting in the sort of way he was expecting. She seemed pretty calm about the fact that she was caught red-handed, but the jinchuuriki didn't care.

Naruto was a healthy boy, well better now that she helped his injury, but he was strong and had his heart of becoming the next Hokage, just like his father. And Rin tried not to dwell on the past much as she and Kakashi both helped each other strengthen as a team and whatever they considered each other. She had her friends back and though she still had some nightmares in the past, it wasn't much Danzo couldn hold over her anymore. And he probably didn't even realize it yet how quickly she was able to recover with some much-needed help.

Clicking her teeth in slight irritation, just like Isobu did with his beak when he was annoyed, she tilted her head, crossed her arms over her chest, and deadpanned toward the older adult. "Good, I'm glad you still obsess over me, Lord Danzo. I wouldn't want my life to be too easy now that I'm out amongst the branches of the leaf. Not stuck in the dirt like Root is. Finally able to live as a true shinobi for the Leaf and not as your personal lap dog. " She spoke just as toxic as Danzo did, even tensing her body up a bit to get ready for the fallback. Luckily it wasn't a full-on attack against her ex-leader or her curse seal would probably put her out of commission for it.

Squinting his eye from the sudden backlash, Danzo didn't take long to lose his patience, but it would mean nothing in that moment if he were to. "You only think you have a bit of freedom, my pet. You are a fool if you think you can ever truly leave the foundation. I know you inside and out, San. You might think Hiruzen can save you from your past, but I'll be here to remind you just who and what you are. A weapon with no real use except to give it away for its owner. You are nothing, you have nothing, you little demon, and do not forget that. I can easily set it up for you to get shipped back to Kirigakure if you aren't careful."

Danzo had bent down to intimidate the jinchuuriki in a way, but Rin had to grab ahold of her hand with the other when it suddenly shot out toward the older male when the bijuu finally had enough of his spreading. It took a lot to get under Isobu's shell to the level of actually controlling Rin, without her permission or survival, but the nine-tailed fox left the turtle more angered than previously thought.

Of course, Danzo saw it and seemed to smirk at this whole thing proving his point, as she quickly gained back control over her own body and leaned back against the side of the cabinet, but frowned at the whole situation. However, she was more shocked about the reaction of her bijuu than the actual words coming from Danzo's mouth. The threat towards Kirigakure affected Isobu's emotions more than her own, but she understood why that place held such a dark spot for the three tails bijuu.

Rin took in a huge breath of air to calm her nerves and her bijuu's overly anxious ones and dipped back into that San personality a little. More like dipping her toes in. Anything to make this guy leave and hopefully never return. It was just easier to give in than lose a fighting battle against someone she had no chance against. It worked the last time she saw him so many years ago, hopefully it would work now.

Giving her that damn cocky smile irritated the jinchuuriki to no end, she looked down and to the side to give the male a false sense of defeat, but also bowed her head in defeat as well. "You are correct sir, forgive me.. M-my lord.." Rin spoke out as if rolling over onto her stomach and allowing him a stab if he wanted, but she didn't want any issues and didn't trust that Danzo would do anything to truly threaten the Leaf and its people. So with that trust, she would allow him the freedom to kick dirt in her face in the meantime.

However, Danzo didn't expect Rin to give in so easily and so readily. Maybe he was expecting a fight or for her mental surrender to be more fitting for what he had planned, either way, the moment passed rather distastefully for him. "Good. Don't forget your place, Rin and we can get along better." Reaching up his good hand as his stepping cane stood by itself, Rin's heart skipped a beat when he reached out to touch her. She felt as if her throat was on fire and it was constricted. Unable to breathe, Rin tried to hold fast and not break the strength she had to hold still. Anything not to truly bend to Danzo's will in more than just words, but she honestly flinched away from his hand.

That reaction caused Danzo more pleasure than anything Rin could ever vocalize for him. "You know.." He spoke out while twirling a piece of her shorter brown hair than it had been during her Root days, causing Rin to open her eyes a bit to see what he was doing or needing. "That's all you had to say. Don't forget who your true loyalty lies in, Rin. Don't ever forget that I get my way around and no one can ever really stop me." He whispered out, causing Rin to look at the floor and even twitch the tongue within her mouth as if her body, and curse mark, were reacting to the 'praise'. "Of course, Lord Danzo.."

Taking in another breath, Rin fully looked at the male as he seemed to enjoy her hair like always, but stopped when felt appropriate. She felt disgusted and her stomach was doing a flip like always whenever he spoke to her as if she was his prized possession, but she focused on Naruto to feel better.

"Good girl. You used to look so prettier with longer hair, maybe think about growing it back out. Now for the real reason I came.."

Within the three-tailed dimension, Isobu couldn't hide his frustration as the mist began to pour from the lips of the clone and he glared down at the nine-tailed jinchuuriki. His anger wasn't pointed towards the fox, but more toward Danzo. All his hatred was always on the damn man who kept them in chains. Even if Isobu was freer than more bijuu, Danzo kept Isobu in his place and never allowed them to be able to do more for the village. They would always be his pet while this man took a breath. If only they could end it…or maybe someone else could. They just didn't know anyone who would do that for them.. not yet anyway.

Danzo reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of papers that Rin assumed was for the supposed mission. He placed them down beside the jinchuuriki causing her to give it a side glance and some of the words that she could read had something to do with Naruto. A certificate of some kind. Taking a closer look, she couldn't hide her surprise and slight anger as her eyes grew bigger from the shock of it all. "Lord Danzo, what is the meaning of this?"

Certificate of adoption.

Those were the words on the top of the papers, and he stepped back enough to allow her to read them to her heart's content. Grabbing the papers with worry and concern for what she hadn't even agreed to yet, her eyes glanced over the paper and even Isobu listened to her read it within her mind. She read and read and read and they all said the same thing in different ways.

Rin Nohara, we congratulate you on adopting the child known as Naruto Uzumaki. We applaud and appreciate your choice to help with the future of our next generation by allowing them into your homes and hearts. We know you will not regret your choice and hope you have luck with your journey.
-Konoha orphanage.

Shaking as if she might rip the papers apart, Rin held them with a white knuckle grip and yet had enough control to not rip them in the least. "Lord Danzo. What is the meaning of this? Naruto doesn't even go or belong to the orphanage in any way." So many concerns about this whole situation, and yet she focused on the fact that these lied about Naruto in some way. She even doubted that Hiruzen would allow anyone to ever adopt the jinchuuriki out of fear of him being abused in some way.

Isobu didn't understand the concept of adoption or what that even entailed, but Rin couldn't even explain it yet. "Like I said San, I have power in places you could only dream about. You are now the main caretaker and parent to the nine-tailed fox." Speaking proudly and enjoying when he saw her shiver from pain, Danzo stood over the female as she still didn't understand any of it. Especially coming out of left field for no reason.

"Lord Danzo.. I'm… I can't even legally adopt anyone. I'm only 20 years old." So many issues and so much stress were added to the female jinchuuriki. None of this made any Goddamn sense in her mind.

"Three tails, you are more than capable of coming up with solutions to your problems. Age is just a number, and you've handled more challenging tasks. Why do you think you came so far in life as you have? Think about this challenge like when you took on that chidori attack or the fox, itself. You have a problem. Then fix it." He ordered her, while Rin became as white as a sheet with a new added pressure that she didn't think she could handle. "It's not that simple, Lord Danzo. Does Lord Hiruzen have any idea about this?" Rin questioned while flopping the paper towards him a little aggressively. She ignored the past mistakes he casual threw into her face as if those were just every day problems. The bastard!

War. No problem. Sickness or death. No problem.
Hiding who she was, what she was, and how she lived from her beloved sensei's only child. Impossible.

"Hiruzen is on board with this and signed off on it with no second thought to it. He trusts my abilities in planning for your future, San. This is your last mission for the foundation. Raise the nine tails to help the village and its inhabitants. That's my final request to you. Think about it being a final request by the parents you failed to save that night." Turning around to give no more attention to the frightened and sickened jinchuuriki, Rin just looked at the papers at a loss for what to do. "Lord Hokage approved this..? without even speaking to me about it? Anbu black ops have no business being parents. Let alone.." The lies and manipulation were always one of Danzo's strong suits and still worked on the powerful weapons of the leaf village.

As she racked her brain for answers, Danzo started to walk away as if they had finished, but it only left Rin with more questions than anything. "W-wait Lord Danzo! Please… I can't accept this." She tried to stop him but again was powerless to do anything, and without her seeing it, he put her in her place with just the slight movement of his finger. A tightening around her neck, so small that it only caused her to hitch her breath, but the jinchuuriki wasn't sure if that happened or not. However, she had no more ground to stand on.

It was something that stopped her in her tracks as if that damn collar had been activated or her brain was telling her to stop fighting against the one person she couldn't stop. It worked better than Danzo intended as she fully stopped any sort of movement or speech his way.

"Listen San, I trust you to figure it out. Raise the boy to a fine tool like yourself and I will check on your progress later." Danzo spoke and quickly opened the door to leave, and once it had opened she couldn't speak on the matter anymore. Not allowed without her body reacting negatively if she knew what was good for her. He didn't even look back at the defeated jinchuuriki and just closed the door behind him. Rin's body crumbled under the pressure, but not for her sake. For the sake of now having more to deal with Naruto and the fox.

This wasn't safe. There was a reason she didn't interact with the nine-tailed jinchuuriki in her normal clothing. San was safer to deal with for Naruto as that level of anonymity kept them both safe as denial was the best form of medicine. But now.. now she couldn't hide behind the mask. Not really. And not forever…

"What does this mean Rin, hm? What is adoption and why do I feel like we got screwed again by this guy, yeah." The three-tailed bijuu questioned as the clone picked up the sleeping jinchuuriki within his arms and allowed the blonde to rest against his neck. Isobu could feel/see the reaction from his jinchuuriki and it didn't feel like a good thing. Naruto couldn't hear what was happening in the medical room within the three-tail dimension, but Isobu was up to date with the whole thing as if he was right there in front of both humans.

Very hesitatingly, Rin looked at the papers and again came close to crumpling them up, but just folded them nicely to place in her ninja pouch. She didn't feel safe disappearing like this, but it would be quick and she needed to get a very clear understanding across to her bijuu just how much more complicated this made their lives. And not just a little inconvenience. Almost the same level as the Chidori attack in her mind.. and all because of Kurama..

Opening her arms, she happily took the jinchuuriki from the clone and was much easier on the sleeping jinchuuriki than the bijuu. "Hey, kitsune. Sleeping the world away, huh?" The female whispered full of love toward the cute child, and let out a frustrated sigh toward this whole thing. It wasn't fair for the young Jinchuuriki to be stuck with someone like her. She would make a horrible mother.

Turning her attention to the frustrated bijuu within her clone, she could see him dancing around a bit and losing his patience even with her. For the sake of ease and not to worry about the nine-tailed fox.. more like pissing it off even more after the day it's had, Isobu and Rin decided to speak through thoughts instead of verbally. "These papers are like a binding contract, and it means we have legally been placed in charge of the care and well-being of Naruto and your brother.. the same, but Naruto is now my son and my sole responsibility.." Hearing those words, Isobu looked at the ninja pouch on her side and glared at it, even hissing under his breath at the realization of what this possibly meant.

"Then destroy those papers and send him along his way. No papers, no proof. No having to deal with the asshole until we are forced to." He threatened, but glared toward his jinchuuriki when she shook her head in denial. "It's not that easy, turtle. And you know Danzo wouldn't allow it that way either. This is in the system and if Hiruzen approved it then it must be the real deal." Looking up at the endless black sky of the three-tailed dimension, she handed the jinchuuriki back to the bijuu and shrugged toward the annoyed bijuu. "We'll figure this out, Isobu. We always do. If anything, maybe this will be better for the asshole fox. Maybe lighten him up a bit?"

And with that she popped back into the medical room, only to find a surprise for her when the mist settled. More like coming her way.

—

The two Anbu males watched from the safety and distance far enough away from the door that Danzo's little lackeys couldn't see them. They watched from behind a corner down a hallway and kept an eye on them. While Tenzo leaned back against the wall, Kakashi kept his body turned around the corner and used his sharingan to watch them. "What do you think they are talking about?" Tenzo questioned calmly while Kakashi just watched rather quietly. There wasn't much they could do until Danzo left so it was just a waiting game for them both. "I have no clue. I'm amazed it took him only more than a year before he tried to sink his claws back into her, though." Kakashi defended in slight frustration from not being able to help his partner.

They waited for another few minutes before Danzo finally stepped down from the room and closed the door behind him. "He's coming out, but Rin didn't follow him." Reporting to the wood user, it felt like they were on a recon mission with how much detail they were paying to this little interaction, but Rin was important to the two of them. Kakashi was in a different way than Tenzo, but still important. "Maybe she gave him a check-up? She is one of the best medical kunoichi I've dealt with, and Lord Danzo is a secret person. I'm sure if that was the case then she is probably cleaning up now and putting away the paperwork." Tenzo tried to reassure his captain, but Kakashi was still on edge.

He was always on edge when it came to dealing with the three-tailed jinchuuriki. She always seemed to find a way in and out of his life, and he wasn't going to lose her over something as little as just biding his time. "We will see.." Kakashi warned.

And so they waited until Danzo finally left the other way, and just a few more moments to be sure he was gone until they jumped into action. "Something is up if she isn't out now," Kakashi spoke out as Tenzo followed the very tense male toward the door and he knocked on it a few times. "Rin?" Calling out her name a few times with each knock, he became more frenzied with each passing moment. "She's not answering and we haven't seen her leave… I don't hear or smell her inside.." Kakashi mutters under his breath when he tries to detect her on the other side.

"Hold on, where could she have gone if she didn't walk out? Danzo doesn't have transportation jutsus like that.." Tenzo questioned as Kakashi glared at the door and took a few steps back from it. It wasn't hard to think of what the captain might do in that situation, but the wood user didn't think he would do it. And all because of a fellow black ops member. Though the relationship between the captain and Anbu healer was questionable/ complicated at times, Tenzo never met anyone who brought out such a different and strange side of the sharingan user. The same could be said the other way around as well.

"Woah, wait!" Tenzo shouted out but it was too late as the captain easily kicked in the door and broke it off its hinges, sending it flying into the room. "T-the door was unlocked, captain.." Tenzo spoke out in disbelief that Kakashi ended up kicking it so easily. And of course their luck, it just happened to be the time Rin popped back into this dimension.

"Shit! Rin, heads up!" Tenzo called out only for her eyes to react to the door heading her way and easily put her palm out to catch it on the side. Even at full speed, it didn't look like it moved her a bit but she did shake her hand a bit from the recoil while resting it back on the floor. She stared at the door then up at the nervous wood user and exhausted anbu captain. "Hey, now. What's going on? I step away for a moment and I get the door kicked in on me.. the door was unlocked, you know." The jinchuuriki questioned their motive for such an intrusive entry only for her to angle the door against the side to be repaired later and move her hair behind her ear.

Everything seemed okay with the female when she first popped in, but it didn't last, and it wasn't hard to see when Kakashi looked at her so closely. So closely and so worried about who she met with… However, moving her hair caused her eyes to look up at it and sigh at it, even pulling a few strands from her scalp to look at it easier.

Kakashi quickly stepped up next to the female and pulled her hand back, trying to figure out why she was doing that. "Hey, hey. Don't do that. We just got that cut, why are you ripping it out like that?" He questioned as Rin pulled her hand back from his and ran her nails along her scalp to give it a few scratches. The sudden urge to burn that disgusting touch overwhelmed the female, but she just grumbled under her breath. A few words that Tenzo didn't catch or understand, but Kakashi caught on full well with how close he was. "What do you mean you hate your hair?" He questioned, standing and grabbing her by the cheeks, but she just glared up at him for a moment.

"He.. I'm never growing it out again. So help me, Gods. Never again..." Rin hissed out in disgust, and Kakashi's eye grew for a moment before catching on where this was heading. He placed a delicate touch upon her hair-laced fingers and ran his fingertips along hers to try to help in some way. "You have beautiful hair, Rin. Or you could shave it off and go bald if you prefer. Either way, you'll still be fine to me no matter how you look." Kakashi spoke out confidently as he stopped her from scratching herself raw. He didn't know what Danzo could have done, but understood that no matter what he would be there to fix it to the best of his ability.

After another few grumbles, Rin had to snap herself out of her mental rut as her mind came back to the present and her main problem: the nine-tailed jinchuuriki. With a slight shiver, she bowed her head in defeat and forced herself to pocket those feelings to deal with them later. She needed to deal with bigger things than just her PTSD. Even with Kakashi right there in front of her to help, she couldn't rely on him at the moment to make her problems go away. Not when Naruto was hiding in her dimension like that.

"What did Lord Danzo need Rin? Do you need to speak to Lord Hiruzen about this sudden appearance?" Tenzo questioned as he didn't understand what the big deal was with the hair ordeal, but did eye the way Kakashi held Rin's hands so nicely and tenderly. The same hands that caused the scars upon her body and could kill a thousand shinobi were able to be kind and loving when the captain wanted.

Moving her hands down between their bodies, he allowed her to pull them back once he was sure she couldn't or wouldn't hurt herself in the moment of stress, and the jinchuuriki wasn't sure if she would speak about what happened or if she was allowed to. "You know I can't talk about what he did. Hm, maybe I could just.." Reaching into her ninja pouch, Rin pulled out the adoption papers and showed them to the two males. Kakashi quickly took them to look them over and seemed to have the same reaction as Rin just looked down at the floor ashamed the whole thing even occurred.

"Rin.. What is this? Did you accept this?" Kakashi questioned as Tenzo went over the paperwork as well before he lifted his head and looked down at Rin's stomach. More likely toward her demonic seal area, but with no seal it was just the idea of his questions about Isobu in this whole ordeal. "You are looking at the new parent of the nine-tailed fox." She muttered under her breath and snatched the paperwork back from Tenzo the moment he offered it back to her.

"There is no way this is legit, Danzo couldn't or wouldn't do this right? The fox is dangerous around you." Kakashi questioned while Tenzo understood that this was no game. This was all real and though very hard to realize, it was almost impossible to fight against what that man wanted or planned in the future. "Yes Kakashi, he would and did. However, I'm not entirely sure why he would choose Rin to raise the fox when there are probably others that would do it much easier than Rin." Speaking confused about Danzo's actions, even this baffled the wood user on what motive could be behind it.

"I'm not even set up right now to handle another body to take care of. I barely can handle myself and Isobu. This is the worst time for this… Naruto deserves a real family to take care of him." "Not someone broken like me… Especially with the full moon coming up. I'm so close but.. I can't hold off on it. One more transfer and it'll be done then I can focus fully on whatever this is and the problems with Kirigakure will be finished." The female grumbled and could only sigh again with a shake of her head. "I… I need to leave, I have some planning to do now I guess. I'll be back later after I deal with the issue at hand." Speaking with utter defeat on the whole issue, she gave into this idea of her life almost much easier than when she woke up to find herself as a jinchuuriki. It wasn't like she had a plan for her future besides serving as the Leaf village and Hokage protector.

Kakashi and Tenzo tried to follow her, but she just shook her head at that idea. She wanted Kakashi's help at first with Naruto, but now this was too big to have him involved just like that. Too big and too much to add to his plate. Rin didn't want to be a burden to the man that saved her in more ways than one and this was too much after too little time afterwards. "I'll see you later okay?" She spoke out in a whispered-like promise towards Kakashi as she was led/followed to the entryway of the building.

"When you go to Hiruzen, bring me along Rin if you think you'll need help talking to him alright? I know it's a lot, but we can fight this together. And we will win like always. Like teammates do." Kakashi tried to soothe his partner, even patting her on the shoulder a few times which caused Tenzo to smirk a bit toward the captain.
"Yeah right, like you're only teammates now."

Hearing the comforting words from her beloved teammate, she smiled and yet still looked conflicted the whole time. "Sensei is going to kill me if I mess this up.." Joking half-heartedly, Rin backed away from the entryway and looked down at her hands a few times causing Kakashi to frown. "Do your best. I don't think you're right about that type of thinking though, Rin. Minato sensei and Kushina, I think, would be thrilled to have you taking care of their child." Trying to support her in some way, she looked back at him for a moment before jumping away from the headquarters.

Of course, Tenzo had to see Kakashi's eye looking over the jinchuuriki's body a few times before catching on to the cheeky grin coming off the wood-style user. "What do you need, Tenzo? You still need to get ready for that exercise tomorrow." He questioned as his eye still stayed on the jinchuuriki for a few extra moments before fully turning to his teammate. "Just friends, huh?" He questioned Kakashi not to answer and just walked back into the building to get ready to go home.

"Don't you dare draw Itachi into your sort of thinking, understand? He is so young and impressionable that we don't need him questioning me or Rin about this." Kakashi warned but it was slightly half-hearted, half-threatening as he could only think what kind of stress this suddenly added to the jinchuuriki's plate. Of course, Tenzo saw no issues with any of the budding new romance. Anbu or not. It was nice to have in the time of peace.

"She'll be a better parent than I ever would.."

Chapter Text

"How am I going to break this to Naruto though? He wouldn't want me as a parent.. he probably doesn't want a family to hold him back. I wish Danzo wouldn't play games with his future like this." Rin spoke out in their mindscape. Isobu, as the clone, noticed the nine-tailed jinchuuriki starting to slowly awaken, causing the bijuu's eyes to widen in shock from not having the mask back on. "Naruto's waking up, yeah, what should I do?" The bijuu questioned his jinchuuriki as Naruto grinned a bit, but still had his eyes closed so it would happen very soon.

"He should be out for another hour. I should have taken into account the effects of Kurama, maybe affecting the length of time it worked on his system." Standing upon one of the hair spikes on Third Hokage Rock's face, she turned to look at the Anbu black ops building that she worked for a few moments, then turned around to look at the village below. Amazing how calm and excited she had been just a few hours ago, and now she felt completely lost and confused about what to do next. Go into a building and come out different. Danzo had that effect on people…

"He wants to deal with San. I'll give him San until I figure out what to do. Maybe make this work for us in the favor in the long run?" Sounding so lost, the jinchuuriki watched the village below while Isobu placed the sleeping jinchuuriki back on the floor and got the outfit ready for her to grab when she was ready.

As Rin stepped closer to the edge of the spike, she kneeled ready to jump, escape to the dimension to grab Naruto and change, then pop out so she could take the nine jinchuuriki and wake up completely. If not at home then close by so he didn't try to attribute good things to the building. It was already too much showing him where she worked, let alone linking San to the Anbu black ops building. Hopefully, that didn't come back to bite her in the butt…

Right as she was about to react though, she pulled back from the side to turn to look at the site of a fellow Anbu member. Someone she trusted along the same lines as Tenzo and Kakashi, and one she hadn't seen for quite a while, but could only really blame that reason on his high skills: Itachi Uchiha. Still very much wearing his Anbu gear complete with his white and red weasel mask.

"Did I distract you from something, San?" Looking her over, the Uchiha showed no signs of exhaustion or anything out of place. And the Anbu mask he wore helped people not to know his face, but as one of the main medical Anbu black ops members, Rin tried to know all the Anbu members. However, she couldn't tell if he was coming back from the same mission that Team Ro was on, if he was on a separate mission all on his own, or if he was just simply going on a mission. It was hard to tell how crazy the Anbu life had led the two of them, but it was good to see him regardless.

The jinchuuriki hesitated to stop, wanting to get Naruto home before it was too late to sneak him out of the three-tails dimension, but she figured a moment or two shouldn't stop her. Even still, she turned to look at the village and then back at Itachi a few times. Something he caught on to rather easily and walked up a few steps to maybe help her decide what she was having an inner battle with. Whatever it was.

"I'll time myself.." The jinchuuriki reassured the bijuu, who hissed a bit in annoyance and anger, from her decision to wait but it wasn't like he could do much. Not in front of a Uchiha. "Be quick. Yeah. I'm sure we will see him later when we go shopping, hm, but we can't wait with Naruto." Again another few steps before Rin just jumped off the top of the spike and met him halfway.

This whole situation left her frowning as thousands upon thousands of ideas and thoughts ran through her mind, on top of mixing with Isobu, and Rin just weakly smiled his way when they got closer. "Hey Weasel. Yeah, I'm in a hurry. But I always have time for you, you know." The compliment seemed to cause the Uchiha to smirk a bit and nod but looked her over a few more times. "If you are busy then we can catch up some other time. We just returned from a mission so I'm sure I won't get another one tonight." Sounding so sure of himself, both Anbu members just smiled at the lie they told everyone else.

"As if it was that easy. When we are called upon, it doesn't matter the time between missions, but I will say it's easier now than it used to be." Rubbing her hand along the back of her neck, Rin let out a misty sigh and shook her head. "Peace or not, there is always something to do for us I suppose." As she rubbed the front of her neck this time, Itachi seemed to be watching her again and she forced herself when he stayed quiet for so long.

"Speak, weasel. And stop analyzing me. You know I don't like that." The jinchuuriki spoke half seriously as Itachi just tilted his head to look away from her, but Rin was always curious about what went through his mind and never hesitated to ask. "What did you figure out?" The question pulled the Uchiha's attention back to the jinchuuriki and he spoke calmly. "You're stressed for some reason as it's causing your kekkei genkai to activate. So.. what's wrong?" He questioned while Rin crossed her arms over her chest to think of something to tell him.

The kunoichi knew he was curious and maybe slightly cared as a friend, but he showed it in different ways than most other Shinobi. "I was given orders and a mission of sorts for something I will be stuck with for the next.." doing the math in her head, how long until Naruto was 18 and no longer her responsibility. Not even including the immortal beast within the both of them. "12 years I believe. And I have no idea what I'm going to do now." Spilling more towards the end than she wanted, Rin truly felt lost if she was going to complain in front of a 12-year-old. Especially when he had his problems to deal with.

"That is a long mission. Are you needing to go undercover for this to happen?" Another question causes Rin to think for a moment, only to grumble at the cruel irony of the whole damn thing. "I'm already as undercover as I can get. The next step would be to just dress up as Kushina if Danzo so wanted."

"No.. actually.. maybe I'm not sure. I just feel that things are about to change around here and maybe not for the best." Sounding so unsure about herself, Rin took the chance to look him over to make sure he wasn't injured in some way. "So I guess mission or no mission, you're stuck with me. I'm still waiting on doing your physical sometimes, weasel. Maybe slow down so you have a reason to come see me?" She joked but smiled weakly. "Kidding. I better not see you anytime in my infirmary or Lord Fugaku might break down the doors himself if we aren't careful."

Itachi just shook his head before looking toward the Anbu building. "You'll get your look when you tell me about your kekkei genkai. People say you don't have one, but I have never been wrong before. I'm not able to copy your jutsus when I watch you fight, so there is something special about you. I know it," Sounding curious but authoritative in his tone, he watched as Rin began to step back to leave but still kept his face toward him. "And that's a good note to leave."

"I told you, I don't have a kekkei genkai, Itachi. And I can't help if you and Kakashi's sharingan are broken to be able to copy it. And stop!" The jinchuuriki blew another breath of chakra-filled mist his way, more towards his face causing Itachi to step back and wave his hand to try to dissipate it faster in the air. "How did you know I had it activated?" He questioned and saw her back up on the rock hair spike, but this time she was fully smiling. "I always know when I'm being watched, you know. Don't look too deep at me, you never know what you might find, my friend." She advised in a playful tone, but Itachi understood where it was pointed to.

As Itachi went to walk toward the Anbu building to get changed, he heard his nickname one more time causing him to stop and turn to look at Rin. "Weasel, your brother goes to the ninja academy right? About six years old?" She questioned causing Itachi to grow suspicious of her knowledge though the jinchuuriki meant no harm to it. It was mostly trying to figure something out for Naruto.

"Yes… why do you ask?" Rather warily, the Uchiha watched as Rin looked to the side and rubbed her neck again of that invisible tug she felt earlier from Danzo. Even Itachi had to squint his eyes when he swore he caught sight of something around the jinchuuriki's neck but with another blink, it was gone. "That's odd."

"My mission involves the academy. Nothing is wrong with it and it's not a target of any kind, I'm just trying to figure out who I might see if I ever go over there. I'm sure Sasuke is the leader of the whole school now, huh?" Rin questioned, but a nagging feeling kept causing her to step back. Itachi turned to keep talking to her, but still noticed her getting further away. "Augh, let's talk later, okay? I wanna take you out later for a birthday celebration with that coming up soon. Oh.. and.." Stopping fully in her steps, the jinchuuriki turned serious for a moment.

"Don't be surprised if we get pulled on a mission to go to Kirigakure by the end of the month. Probably.. less than a week I believe. Maybe two depending on how it goes. I just need people I can trust to not mess this up, or it'll be very bad for the village." The serious look turned into another quick smile before fully jumping away to handle the awakening jinchuuriki.

"What kind of mission would require me, some others, and a medical Anbu black ops member? And what makes it so important that we haven't heard about any details as of yet? Why the time to wait then? And.. she still trusts us.. good. " However Itachi watched her jump away before turning off his sharingan, finally catching on to another fact. "Sasuke's birthday is coming up too.."
—

Back flipping off the third Hokage's rock face, Rin teleported herself into the three-tails dimension and was quick to walk over to the resting jinchuuriki. "I know you don't like me, Kurama. Or any humans, but maybe we can work on that? I'll try my best with what little power I possess to work on it." Running her fingers over the painted shirt, she didn't linger too long in fear of being pulled into the seal if she wasn't careful. Just another thing to avoid from this nightmare and that was interacting with the bijuu in any way.

Not yet. But soon.

Popping Naruto out of the three-tailed dimension, Rin dawned her Anbu mask and foundation cloak and carried him bridal style. It allowed her to carry him away from the building, towards his home, until he woke up or started to. She didn't care if she was being watched any longer as it seemed that Danzo knew her every move, or at least told her as much, so she had nothing to lose. However, she still took the high roads to make it easier to transport the jinchuuriki within her arms and stay out of the way of all the main villagers below.

Again Rin cradled the boy very lovingly and carefully on the ride back, but she couldn't stop picturing what her sensei and his wife would say about this whole ordeal. "They would love this, I'm sure. And reassure that everything will be alright. But I don't know… I don't know anything anymore. Naruto wouldn't want this. Not someone like me. He needs a real family to love." She kept repeating some words to herself and though isobu hated it when she spoke down to herself, they both felt that this was the worst possible scenario to be in.

With a slow and groggy grumble from her newly made son, the female jinchuuriki looked downward at the awakening child in her arms and smiled down at him, easily turning the attention from herself to someone more important. "Ugh, what's going on?" The awakening child questioned while holding his head from the grogginess messing with his senses. He didn't even notice he had raised his dislocated shoulder to hold his head. "Look who is finally back from the land of the dead. Kitsune. You sleep too much, I almost became Hokage myself in the time it took for you to wake up."

Speaking behind the mask in a more playful tone to not scare the boy, Naruto grumbled while scratching his head and gasping when he noticed that his arm wasn't hurting anymore. "Woah! San! You're amazing. I'm so glad you were able to fix me." He grinned out trying to rotate his shoulder to test the function only to gasp out in slight pain. "Now, now, kitsune, that would be more of Rin's side that is the healer. Not me. I'm more of a defender of justice, hm."

Trying to reassure the boy, Rin rubbed her hand along his aching shoulder a few times to rub out some of the pain. "And don't overdo it now, Naruto. It's going to take a bit to fully heal so I'll let your teacher know to let you rest for at least two or three days in the academy." Bringing up the academy made Naruto look to the side rather uncomfortable, so he didn't want to talk about it. "W-why don't you just hang around with me for a few days to make sure I don't overdo it.. actually.." The blonde rubbed his shoulder with his good shoulder and grumbled in pain.

"O-ow! Oh, my shoulder! It hurts so bad, you know." Naruto fibbed, causing Rin to gasp out as if falling for it, fully stopping next to the front of his building and placing him on the ground to look at him in more detail. "Woah, woah. Naruto! I'm so sorry. I must have jumped too hard and hurt you, where does it hurt in particular?" She asked as the blonde squinted his face to fake the pain even more. "It's right here! And here!" Naruto lifted and pointed to his shoulder, but then pointed to his chest and his head.

The first thing that caught the kunoichi's attention was the fact that he pointed to the wrong shoulder causing her to gasp slightly and knock on his head ever so slightly with a small sigh. "Jeez, kit. Don't lie to me like that. You made me worried. But I do have some medicine for you to take so the pain goes away while you sleep. "And besides, you need to go to the academy and wouldn't you get annoyed with me if I was constantly around all the time, right?" Rin tried to get the affirmation that he didn't want her around.

It was something that might make it easier if she gets killed on a mission or if this turns out to be fake in the long run. She didn't want Naruto catching feelings for her like a lost child might, but she had some bad news coming her way. "Nope! I never get enough time with you San, you know? You always say you'll have more next time, but that is always so long between visits." He pouted, causing Rin to shake her head, stand on her feet, and pull him up with the use of his good shoulder for support.

He was lifted as if he didn't weigh anything and gasped out in amazement. "Wow, San, you are so amazing. Even if I haven't seen you in so long. I've missed you a lot, you know!" Catching on to the way he kept saying his real mother's catchphrase caused the jinchuuriki to place her hand upon her chest with pain, love, and remembrance of her. "I missed you, you know."

Thinking of what to do next, Rin pointed to his house and motioned him to walk. "How about we think of food now since you are skipping academy today to paint something, maybe afterward we go speak to your teacher to update him on what's going on." With that suggestion, Naruto began to walk toward the hallway to get into his house, up past a flight of stairs. "Heck yes! Free food and you get to spend time with me. I'm down with anything as long as I'm with you, San." He spoke out very lovingly toward the jinchuuriki, but the three-tailed jinchuuriki took little notes of him not bringing up his academy teacher.

"Interesting.."

"Maybe ramen since you've been so good lately, right?" The female couldn't help with her request. Her brain told her to try to be the basics for the day until she could figure a way out of it, but her heart and memories weren't allowing her. She watched this boy grow up, even in the foundation she made time to watch him.

Speak his first words. Take a few steps at a time. So many milestones and yet, Rin still felt she wasn't made for this.

"Ramen! Yes, let's hurry and get going. I'm so excited I could scream!" The nine-tailed jinchuuriki began to run to the front door causing Rin to chortle under her breath.
"God I've missed him."

Chapter Text

As Naruto raced to his front door, he kept running back to make sure that Rin was right behind him. She couldn't help but laugh at how energetic the fox jinchuuriki could be when he wanted to be, even causing her to slow down as she wanted to play with the boy a little bit. A loud growl of aggravation came from the male jinchuuriki at how slow she was going and even caused him to run up behind her and attempt to push her to go faster up the stairs. “Aughh, you're so slow sometimes, San, you know! Are you getting tired just from the stairs?”

“Oh my, kitsune. It's like gravity is increasing on me as we get closer to your home. Oh no!” Slowing down even more and leaning into his hold, she felt his hands shake under her weight but kept a tight hold on the railing to not just collapse completely on the poor boy. “No way that's happening! Hurry up! The ramen shop will close if you keep going this slow.” He grunted out even needing to put his cheek on her back to help keep his balance against such a heavy target. Who knew a lady could be so heavy to move!?

Once they reached the top of the stairs, Rin teased the jinchuuriki more by fully falling forward as if showing that he had managed to push her over. Naruto gasped out in concern as Rin fell upon her face, well mask, but she had quickly cushioned her fall with her hands, before moving them to act as if it had hurt. “Oh no. Gravity won't let me move. Help me, kitsune, you're my only hope.” She groaned, reaching out to nothing in particular in front of her, only for Naruto to run and grab her hand with more worry than necessary.

“San! Are you okay? What do I need to do to help you?! You're scaring me, you know!?” Naruto shouted out as he held her hand with both his smaller hands, trying to tug on her to try to get her to her feet. She lifted her head and pushed off the ground with her free hand to lean a bit closer to the younger jinchuuriki, but fell rather dramatically again. “Ugh, I'm dying, Naruto. I'm dying. There is only one cure!” She gave a fake cough and waved him over toward her masked face.

“Ahh! No! Don't die! What will I do without you?!” Naruto pleaded out as his grip tightened upon her hands, but Rin started to feel bad for the boy. Maybe pushing it too far, and him being too young to realize it was just a small joke.

“Oh no, Naruto! I need something that only you can give me for the cure… ohh nooo~~~.” Again rather dramatically Naruto let go of her hand and ran to her masked face while Rin flipped to lying on her back on the ground and looked up at the worried jinchuuriki's face. Luckily the hallway was covered or the sun would have been straight in her eyes. “W-what!? What do you need, San?” He questioned as he kneeled to listen to her murmur some more words under her breath to draw the young boy closer.

“A… hug… I need… ugh..a big … hug… so I don't .. ugh… die..” She whispered as Naruto looked so confused about whether he had heard her correctly, looking down from her mask and to her body. “A hug will cure you from dying?” He repeated as Rin coughed a few more times and lunged forward to scoop the young boy up in her arms. One arm swiped under his legs while the other one supported his back and allowed her to pull Naruto straight up against her chest while still sitting on the cool concrete.

“H-hey! Ugh! No fair, you know!” Naruto struggled a bit against her stronghold and pushed against her shoulders to try to get out, only to hear the soft giggle coming from the female jinchuuriki. “I'm never fair, kitsune. You should know this.” He stopped and looked at her rather curiously until turning to wrap his arms around her shoulders to try to give her a proper hug. “A dose of hugs to cure whatever you have.” He spoke out softly with some love in it, and Rin lessened her smile into a calm frown as she felt herself melting into the hug instead of the other way around. He felt so soft and warm, and her desire to snuggle him kept getting stronger and stronger with every passing moment.

“My little kitsune gives the best hugs in the world.” The female couldn't help but whisper, causing Naruto to grab a hold of her and not want to let go. It was like the hug triggered something new in the young boy and all the stress of recent events just came rushing out all at the same time, pushing Naruto's already fragile emotions to the breaking point.

Suddenly feeling something wet upon her shoulder, the cold-blooded jinchuuriki feared that it was blood coming from Naruto for some reason and pulled him back to look him in the face. For some reason, Naruto wouldn't look at her in the face and the mask blocked more than she would have liked when dealing with something this important. “Naruto! Naruto.. look at me, Kit. Are you bleeding?” Full of concern, Naruto still refused to look at her until she leaned over and caught sight of where the water was coming from exactly.

Her breath hitched and she felt as if her heart was breaking when she saw that the young boy was starting to cry. He still didn't look at her, deciding to look at the floor instead, but she saw some drips falling from his cheeks. It wasn't just a little cry, this was full of waterworks with lots of tears and lots of sniffling from his nose. She didn't understand why, maybe her joke went too far, but she had no idea what brought it on… ” Good Job, you broke him, yeah.” Isobu bucked up his head causing Rin to grumble a bit in confusion. ” I don't know. He's never cried before around me, at least not that I can think of..”

With a tilt of her head, she leaned over to try to get him to fully look at her, but he just turned his head away from her. Understanding his not wanting to talk about it, the female jinchuuriki looked upward and tapped his shoulder so he could rest his head back in the crook of her neck, while she just listened to him break down for a bit. “It's okay, Naruto. I'm better now. I promise. I'm not going anywhere, anytime soon.” She whispered and ran her hand along his back, even managing to maneuver their bodies where Naruto held on and Rin easily got to her feet. She couldn't make that promise so easily as an Anbu black ops member, but as now being forced to be his parent, Rin knew he would get over her being around soon enough.

“Let's change you out of these filthy clothes and get going, alright kitsune? I don't want people worrying if they think you are bleeding from your color of paint, alright?” Rin whispered ever so softly and felt him nod his head, but didn't break away from the hug or his head pressed against her neck. “You're lucky I'm extra handy, even with my hands full, kit.” She spoke a little louder as she walked from the covered walkway toward the door to his house.

Naruto stared over her shoulder at the clearing from the second story of his small apartment for no real reason but sniffled a few times to try to keep himself together. He tried to take in the little things to see if he could maybe find San when she was out in the village, but with him not being a tracking ninja, Naruto knew it was slightly pointless to try to remember her scent.. which was almost like the sea. “I'm sorry..” He whimpered a bit, pressing tighter against the female, but Rin rested her hand under his butt to fully support him as she reached her hand behind her.

“My.. key.. is in my pocket..I-i… I can get it.. one second…San..” Naruto murmured, weakly reaching his hand into his ninja pouch to fish it out, all while Rin fished for her copy. Summoning a hole into the three-tailed dimension, the female fell around in her various ninja tools while her eyes looked down at Naruto’s shaky body. Until she managed to find the key to Naruto’s apartment he had given her some two years ago. Wherever he felt comfortable with her and in truth, Rin was barely ever there when she was in the foundation, but could only guess it was enough of a loving impression to make an impact on the nine tails jinchuuriki.

They both pulled out their key and Naruto pulled his head back to lean against Rin's arm and look at her hand holding the old key he had given her years ago. Back when he had first started having issues with everyone staring at him for some reason and hating him for some reason. San was the only one who stuck around of her own accord, and though she showed up at random times, he tried to force her to stay longer and longer each time. He didn't know what he would do now, but he didn't want her to go.. not yet anyway.

He rubbed his eyes with the back of his arm and sniffled once more as he focused on her holding up the key while she looked at the pug key chain that looked exactly like Pakkun. Grinning at the key chain, she picked it up the key chain and looked at it rather cutely, while Naruto took the copy from Rin to examine it a little closer. “Y-you kept the key I gave you so long ago? “ He questioned rather sadly, but rather heartfeltly, even lifting his head to match her gaze. “Of course, why wouldn't I keep it? I wouldn't want to have to break down your door if something were to happen to you.” Rin lightly took her key back and unlocked the door, Naruto watching rather warily if it would work, only to gasp out when his front door opened. ” She kept the key I gave her?! She didn't throw it out like someone else would..! Maybe she does like spending time with me.. like a friend?”

His eyes grew ever bigger and he couldn't help but stare at her as he felt himself tearing up again. Rin gave him a side glance and walked inside, frowning a bit at more waterworks coming from his eyes. ” M-maybe it's pain? Maybe I'm hurting him? But.. he would have said ‘ow’ if that's the case... Damn it. I don't know..” Practically complaining about what she could have done to hurt the nine-tailed jinchuuriki to the three-tailed bijuu, Rin was forced to focus on the present when a foul, stagnant air hit her face.

It wasn't too musky, but it was clear that the apartment hadn't been cleaned as it should have been. However, Rin couldn't blame anyone when Naruto had no one to teach him how to stay tidy, let alone him having any desire to keep it clean when it was just himself. At least he had the windows not covered so the natural sun was allowed inside, so that was a plus. “Um... Naruto, I'm sorry if I did anything to make you cry like that.. but.. uh..” She wasn't sure how to say it entirely, but it wasn't like this the first time she visited his apartment. And that was almost eight months ago... And she didn't want to sound rude when dealing with a place that wasn't her own, but her desire to clean it almost made her want to pause her plans to get it done.

Gasping out from the blame being put on the one person who had never done anything wrong to the young Jinchuuriki, he fully pulled back and shook his head aggressively. “No! No! No! You didn't do anything! I promise, you know! You have never done anything to hurt me, San.” He tried to reassure her, but still slightly worried Rin when it came out of nowhere. Lifting him away from her, she placed Naruto on the ground so he could remove his shoes, but he just watched her closely as if she might disappear if he looked away. She looked at the apartment from the entryway and began to slip off her ninja footwear while having an inner debate on the whole ordeal.

“Are you sure I didn't do anything?” Rin placed her shoes to the side before leaning over to run her gloved thumbs over his cheeks to try to clear them of some leftover tears. “I hate to see you cry, you know my little Kit. Especially if I caused it for no reason. I don't ever want to be the reason that causes you to cry. Not unless it's laughing tears.” She murmured while Naruto rested his hand on the back of her arm. “N-no, like I said you didn't do anything, San. I promise, you know..” He smiled faintly and had to stop himself from wanting to do nothing but hug her again. He couldn't get enough for some reason, and Rin felt that desire when he didn't want her to let go.

” You're starting to repeat his catchphrase.. that ‘you know ‘ thing, yeah. Be wary of that, we don't need to start acting like that crazy redhead, hm.” Rin had not even noticed her mannerisms matching with Naruto's like that at first but did catch on the few times she had said with a slight nod. ” I mean you say, yeah, and hm, a pot. At least I don't copy your mannerisms, Isobu. But I agree. It's an Uzamaki thing and I'm amazed he inherited it when he had barely met Kushina...

“Okay, if you say so. Anyway, Naruto. Let's get you changed out of these painted clothing, and go do some other things, okay? Ramen is on that list, like I promised before too.” Rin offered as the idea of ramen seemed to flip the younger jinchuuriki's mental state into one of more excitement than before. He quickly kicked out of his ninja shoes, then landed in various places and ran down the hallway and to the right. Rin could only shake her head at how he had so much energy for such a food that wasn't even that healthy for him, but he was a growing boy so it didn't matter much.

”So… hm.. this place, huh?” Isobu pipped in as Rin stepped up on the wooden floor of the apartment and peeked around a bit. ” Yeah... I know..” They didn't want to admit it, but it was so tiny compared to their place, and so dirty that it almost made Rin's skin crawl. It didn't look dirty on the surface, only some trash thrown around, dirty clothes piled in some areas, and dishes thrown on various areas in the kitchen, but the stagnant air just seemed to sit weirdly with the three-tailed duo.

Swallowing a bit, Rin could only let out a mistful sigh as she lifted up her mask to look around the apartment a bit better, fully knowing that Naruto wouldn't see her and couldn't sneak up on her to try. ” It's so small… I don't think he would want me as a parent, Isobu..” Rin's denial was almost as strong as her will of fire. The boy just cried for her, missing her, and she denies Naruto ever wanting her like that.. what a messy kunoichi…

Isobu shook his head, tempted to summon himself to investigate it himself, but didn't know if he was going to be able to show himself any time soon. Maybe he needed to think of ways to get the fox jinchuuriki to kick them out so they wouldn't have to take care of that ass-hole fox more than they already did.

Peeking into the bathroom, she swallowed a bit and held her breath before quickly giving up and shutting the door. No.. just no...

She grumbled a bit and walked to the left, to allow Naruto some privacy while he changed, deciding to walk into the kitchen and close the door behind her. She rested on the door and closed her eyes while pointing her face to the ceiling. ” Minato-sensei and Lady Kushina would never let this go as a liveable arrangement. He'd be grounded for a long time if they walked in right now… “ Memories of the little bit of time the still recovering jinchuuriki had lived under their roof, shared their food, learned more about what it meant to be a jinchuuriki, and slowly rebuilt up her skills as a chunin, flashed before Rin's eyes and caused her to place her hand over her heart. “I miss them..” She spoke out while closing her eyes to dip into those memories for some much-needed moral boost at the moment.

” They helped me survive and thrive with their love and support… now it's my turn to pass on such support to their son, I guess..” Reaching down to clinch her ninja pouch that carried the adoption papers, she still grumbled that Naruto wouldn't be on board with this at all. ” Maybe this way we can get Kurama to calm down his hatred for everything, yeah? Maybe a little?... Trying to see the pros to this whole situation, it still made both the three-tailed duo's skins crawl with memories of that fight. The carnage was horrible for everyone involved. ” Maybe we can get an answer on why he didn't answer us when we first spoke to him. It was like we were fighting a zombie when you first popped out. I think sensei had a stronger reaction from the fox than his kin.” Rin murmured some stuff to herself and shrugged. That whole night was just a mess to remember.

It wasn't until Naruto slammed onto the kitchen door, in a panic, that Rin pulled down her mask, and stepped out so it would swing out and allow Naruto into his kitchen. He was panting for some reason, in a new black short sleeve shirt, and beige shorts, and no paint in sight. And even this time he was wearing his familiar green goggles on his head. The goggles caused Rin to stare at them a moment too long as she thought of Obito's goggles that she still possessed and she smiled longingly at Naruto’s clean appearance. “I-I thought you left..” Naruto frowned and ran right up to Rin and grabbed her by her Anbu pants. “Don't leave, okay? Not till we're done hanging out together.” He almost pleaded for more, but Rin just looked to the side with a nod. “Are you sure you haven't had enough of me? I know I'm annoying with all the hugs and stuff.” She tried to make him buck up a bit but was semi-truthful in feeling that maybe she was being too affectionate to the young boy.

“No, I want more hugs! No one ever hugs me..” Naruto frowned at the sudden confession, but Rin just pressed her hand upon his head to feel her gloved fingers through his soft hair. She placed her other hand on her mask and held it there while lifting her head at the ceiling. ” Fuck.” She didn't want to hear those words. Her heart couldn't handle that truth, and though she tried to deny it herself, it made sense why even the least amount of love caused the nine-tailed jinchuuriki to break down… but why did the love need to come from someone who couldn't even keep the two people deserving of his love alive…?

Giving out a defeated sigh, she looked down toward the worried blonde as he tightened his hands into fists as if he would use all his might not to eat her go just yet. “Okay, I promise I'm not going to leave. Not until I annoy you enough, alright?” She tilted her head down and smiled a bit when Naruto grinned at her silliness. “Heh, then you're never leaving, you know! As I said, I can never get enough time with you San!” Looking around the kitchen, Rin saw some flying bugs and shook her head. “We're going to need to clean this place up later, Naruto. It's not the worst I've seen, but you never know who might be coming over later.”

Even walking over to the fridge to find it only full of such little bits of food. Some milk, bread, and eggs, but nothing of real substance for a growing jinchuuriki. Hell she knew bijuu didn't need to eat within their jinchuurikis, and maybe it was because Isobu was unsealed, but she remembered always being hungry during her time in the foundation.. of course, it didn't help that Danzo withheld human food, causing her to starve as a way to try to control the three tails bijuu, but that was for another day completely. Either way, no wonder Kurama might be angry right now, all the time, his jinchuuriki only eats ramen and toast all the time. The bastard must be hangry!

” At least he won't have to eat what we were forced to eat, yeah.” Both three-tailed duo just shook their heads and almost caused Rin to lose her uneaten breakfast. ” Never. Again. Don't bring that up ever again.” Again something that Isobu could agree with, even if it did make him salivate a bit, but in the end, there were always tastier options...

“I'm sorry I don't have much food, but I can make you some butter toast if you want, San. It's one of my favorite breakfasts, of course, you know.” Even with what little he had, Naruto would offer the shirt off his back if it meant helping his friend. Only for Rin to close the fridge door and pat his head, making sure to not mess with his goggles. “No, that's okay. I'll save some room for ramen for later.” A loud gasp from Naruto as if he had forgotten or was on the fence about San taking him to it, he gave a few head nods as if they should leave now.

“Hold on, Naruto.”Reaching and pulling out some medicine within the three-tails dimension, she gave the bottle a shake and placed the bottle oh so carefully on the blonde child's head and he stood still to allow it to balance up there. “Take these before you go to bed to help with the pain when you settle in your bed. At least, that's what Rin said for me to tell you.” The two different personalities when dealing with Naruto were going to get old quickly. Especially if this was going to be a long process.. she didn't even know how Naruto felt about Rin and that was going to be the one who would officially adopt him anyway.

Looking up at the medical bottle, he moved his body to try to keep it up on his head while walking over to the kitchen table only to gasp when it finally fell on the floor and he was unable to grab it. He grumbled a bit, but Rin just walked over to help retrieve it for him, even noticing him hold out his hands to take it from her only for it to go right back on his head. “What? You mean this doesn't go up here?” Another slight laugh from the younger Jinchuuriki as he finally placed it on the kitchen counter. “No, San! My head isn't a table!” He shouted and grabbed her hand to try to pull her out the kitchen door.

“Ramen! Ramen!” He began to chant only for Rin to walk with the young boy out of the house, even using her key to relock the front door and quickly hiding it back in her dimension. “Academy. Academy….” Rin repeated over him causing Naruto to suddenly stop pulling and frown toward the kunoichi. “Aughh why there?! You said we were going to get ramen first!” With a shake of her head, she pointed toward the academy and then to his shoulder. “I never said we were going to do that one first.. or maybe I did, but either way it's early enough that we can catch your teacher so I can explain what is going on with you. It'll be easier on you tomorrow when the pain meds wear off and you start to feel a little sore Naruto.”

Looking to the side, he needed to think about it but just followed after her when she held his hand but walked to the academy building from his apartment. “So.. who might come visit later?” Naruto questioned along the walk as he seemed to refuse to let go of Rin's hand along the way which she didn't mind, even ignoring the obvious glares and whispers that came from those around them. Amazing how less than a few hours ago she didn't want Naruto to get the stigma of being seen with an Anbu black ops member, only for that damn Danzo to flip her whole world upside down with one piece of paper. Damn that bastard!

“Mmm, well kitsune, my sister might come, Rin. She might be coming around you a lot more often than I'm able to.” That news made the blonde tilt his head with confusion while using his good arm to hang onto Rin while they kept walking. “Rin seemed like a nice lady, but that's okay. You can just come instead of her.” If only it was that simple.

Naruto let go of her hand and ran ahead, but Rin just stopped and looked down at her hands seeing all the blood that she accumulated over the years in the foundation and even in the Anbu. “Naruto? Do you know why I disappear for as long as I do?” Rin followed up to him as he quickly did a full uturn and ran back to her side to make sure she was keeping up with him, even running around her a few times causing the female to smile a bit at his endless energy.

“I know you are a really busy person who needs to protect the village from the bad people. And that you don't kill innocent people.” Naruto repeated as Rin took his hand again and walked beside him. “That's right. And I have to hide my identity to keep those close to me safe from people who might do anything just to get revenge for what I do for the village.” She tried to explain some things but knew that the boy was smart enough to understand what she was saying even if he didn't look like he was paying attention. “Yeah, that makes sense.” He understood but didn't know why she was suddenly brought up out of nowhere.

“Meaning that Rin would be better for you to spend time with instead of me. I don't need people targeting you just because you are associated with me. I..” She looked to the side as she didn't want to finish her sentence without getting down about the idea of him being targeted because of her. Not just to lose the only thing left from her beloved sensei and his wife, but Naruto’s death would cause them to lose Kurama which the village could not afford. With a small sigh, she stayed quiet for a moment while Naruto just looked up at her for a while.

“It's okay, San. I understand. But I can handle anything people throw at me. I don't want anyone but you.” Naruto patted her hand while the jinchuuriki just looked down at him at a slight angle. ” I was afraid you would say that..”
—

Once they were in the academy and inside, Naruto let go of Rin's hand and ran ahead with excitement. “I can't wait to show you my classmates! They didn't believe me when I told them about you, you know! Now I'll have proof!” Following his lead, she had never really been to his exact classroom since he had recently switched just a little bit ago so for once Rin was the lost one, but she tried to be quiet as there were still classes going on. “Alright, kitsune, we need to be quiet, alright? We're only stopping by and I'm trying not to have you get in too much trouble as you already are.”

Placing her finger over her mask as if trying to ssh him, the jinchuuriki watched him run straight toward his classroom a few paces ahead of her. “Nah, it's okay. My teacher doesn't seem to care whether I'm there or not.” That wasn't exactly good news to hear about the future Hokage if not even his teachers could put up with him. Rin had heard some issues trying to find someone to properly teach the young boy, but Hirzen had also spoken up on managing to find the right person for the job.. maybe Hirzen had the wrong person in mind if that was the case.

Leaning up on the door, Naruto giggled with excitement as Rin got closer to the door only to throw it open with so much force that it almost came off the hinges. She gasped out a bit and ran the rest of the way, only two or three steps, but enough to make her a little embarrassed for interrupting the class the way Naruto had. Should have probably come up with a plan to knock or should have told the young Uzumaki that she would have handled it.. instead of barging straight into the room as they did.

When the door flew open, Naruto instantly ran inside causing Rin to sigh in future embarrassment, especially within her full Anbu get-up, her level of professionalism was majorly dumbed down with Naruto hanging around her. It was just something she would have to work on or get used to happening more and more. Finding it too late to scold the boy, she just struggled and followed him in, ready to apologize for intruding only to find that the classroom was empty.

“Wha- where is everyone?” Naruto looked around at all the empty seats and even Rin looked at the time being just before nine so class would go on for another hour or so. But where was everyone? “You didn't have the day off, did you kitsune? Maybe you forgot or something?” The female questioned as looked around for a moment and just motioned them to just leave as there was no reason to stick around. “No, I would have remembered us having a day off. I would have told you, and not be wasting our time when we could be getting tasty ramen instead. Hmm? I think I might know where they are!”

Naruto reached and grabbed Rin's hand again and she allowed him to lead her to the outside part of the academy where they did outside classes. “Maybe it's an outside day. If they aren't here then maybe they left early.” Seeing how much determination the boy had to pull her faster than when they had arrived, he really must be hungry or excited to show her off. Either way, it was adorable to see him this way. “Okay, if they aren't there then we can just skip to ramen and go from there.”

As they made their way outside and to the training corner of the academy, Naruto let go of her hand and ran ahead while Rin just looked around to remember what the place was like less than ten years ago. Back when she was a student herself Kakashi was top of her class, growing up during a war she almost died.. great times…

“Ah-ha! There you guys are!” Naruto shouted as the class seemed to turn to look at his sudden appearance, then turned back to focus on whatever they were being taught by the teacher. “Hey! What are you guys doing out here anyway?” He questioned only for one of his classmates to get annoyed right off the bat. “If you weren't so late, then you would know, Naruto. Why did you even come if you missed almost the whole day, anyway?” A young boy with a gray hat spoke out in annoyance, only for his eyes to grow wider in fear upon noticing Rin walk up behind Naruto.

It wasn't like she attempted to come off as intimidating, but it was something that came with the title and something Naruto was used to from her constant appearance in his life. “S-sensei! There's an Anbu member here!” Shouting for all the class to hear and their teacher, Rin looked above their heads to see the only adult among them… and why did it have to be him…?

” Why does he look familiar, yeah?” Isobu questioned as the distinct scar across his face made this instructor stick out in the duo's mind. ” We've seen him at the memorial stone too… He was there for his parents.” While Rin prayed for Obito and asked for guidance in her time of need, Naruto's teacher was there to pray for the two parents he had lost during the fox attack. ” Another couple we failed to save that night. Kohari and Ikkaku Umino. So this was who Hirzen found to train Naruto. Interesting choice…”

Feeling dejected all of a sudden, she looked down and took a step back, but Naruto simply grabbed her hand and tugged at it as he was unable to understand why she felt off for a moment. “My sensei is over there, you can talk to him so we can leave, San.” He patted her hand and she just shook her head to clear her head, but didn't even need to go far before the teacher started to approach the two jinchuurikis.

“Hello. I'm sorry, is there a problem here? I'm in the middle of teaching a class.” The spiky-haired male spoke out and noticed the Anbu member before he noticed that she was with Naruto. Even with them holding hands. “Naruto…?” He spoke a little low, but warily of the boy's sudden and late appearance in the day. Iruka didn't expect to see him throughout the day, let alone the last hour of his teaching class, especially in tow of an Anbu member.

Letting go of Naruto's hand to show some authority of sorts and returning it to her side, Rin bowed her head and walked around the children to get closer to him. “Forgive the intrusion, Iruka Umino. I need to speak to you in regards to your student if you have time?” She questioned as she noticed a group of boys seemed to gather near Naruto.

“Ohh! Are you in trouble Naruto!? Are you finally getting what you deserve for annoying us so much?” One boy picked at him causing Naruto to growl in annoyance. “Hell no! But you guys wouldn't believe it! This is San! The one I was talking to you all about! Isn't she amazing?” Trying to shift the focus from himself to the Anbu member, both Iruka and Rin looked at all the eyes on her and she just uttered a mistful sigh. “Forgive me, I should have just waited to come speak to you when you were finished. I don't mean to intrude.” Rin placed her hand upon her mask and shook her head at how she handled this whole ordeal, but Iruka just looked at his student who was ready to demonstrate as they were in the middle of shuriken training.

“Yeah, I agree with you on that. But if Naruto’s involved then I understand not being able to wait.” Iruka just sheepishly smiled a little awkwardly, but Rin just reached up to begin to rub her shoulder, some burning feeling coming over her body. Only to blame it on the memories of that damn night.

“Hmmp, she doesn't look that amazing. She looks like a normal Anbu member. I doubt she even knows you like that!” Those words seemed to annoy the younger jinchuuriki to no end causing Naruto to push through the growing crowd of kids that looked between the two adults on what they were doing next and he reacted up to pull on Rin's Anbu vest to get her attention. “San! Show off some of your skills, and show them how awesome you are! And tell them that you know me! They don't believe me.” Rin turned from Iruka, down to Naruto then gazed at all the different children looking at her. Only for Iruka to step in for once. “Naruto, we were talking. Now isn't the time to just barge in the middle of class and distract everyone.”

Scolding the boy, Rin agreed with the way Iruka spoke about how they messed up the class and so close to the end of it. “Naruto.” She leaned over closer to the boy and smiled a bit under her mask. “We did ruin the class, it's almost over so spend some time with your friends and I'll speak to your teacher. Then we can get ramen, alright?” Naruto looked at his classmates and frowned at being turned down in a way, but then the female patted him on the head causing him to blush from the sudden affection.

He grumbled a bit and looked to the side in slight embarrassment. “Alright.. fine.. but don't take too long and don't leave.” Iruka seemed surprised by the way the Anbu female just touched the fox child like that, but seemed stern when Rin turned around to face him again and this time a little more serious than with Naruto. “I'll be over here. Again I'm sorry for intruding, please forgive me.” Bowing to the class, Rin disappeared in a cloud of mist and reappeared right next to a tree to the side of the class and out of the way for the training to continue. Though a simple transportation jutsu that only she could do as the three-tails jinchuuriki, it seemed to cause all the children to gasp in amazement.

They turned to look at Naruto in amazement, while Rin just leaned back on the tree to observe for a bit. Not something she would have guessed she would be doing throughout the day.

“This still seems fishy Naruto. Did you pay that lady to follow you and say she knows you?” Hibachi asked not to trust the nine-tailed jinchuuriki in the least and glared toward the tree Rin was leaning on. ”... Of course, Naruto is popular and in the worst ways.” The same stigma followed the boy whether it be adults or children with his bubbly personality, Naruto just couldn't catch a break it seemed. Even Iruka gasped a bit and turned to look at the female with bug eyes. “Well.. anyway, let's get back to our training, next up is Sasuke Uchiha.” He seemed to read the name off the list on a clipboard while walking over to join Rin from the sidelines and out of range of the thrown weapons.

Tilting her head ever so slightly as a splitting image of a young Fugaku Uchiha stepped out from in the middle of the children and walked out to the middle of the clearing. All the females cheered for the young in various ways to give their support in different ways. Though Rin seemed to be enjoying the idea of seeing Sasuke later, of course, the younger Uchiha will have a different reaction when he sees Rin versus not knowing who San was.

” So Sasuke has the same class as Naruto… this is going to be fun.”

Even just the simple movement of Sasuke walking into the middle clearing to perform the technique seemed to be enough to annoy the Uzamaki to no end. The cheering and fangirling didn't seem to help either. “Hmmp at least San doesn't fall over Sasuke! She's only here to pay attention to me, you know.” Speaking out loud, the group of kids still only turned to watch Sasuke and even Rin was curious.

“Do your best, Sasuke!” Rin shouted out with a soft smile while crossing her arms over her chest and turning to look at Iruka as he approached. The tone in Rin's voice seemed to draw the raven-haired boy for a second, even turning to look at her but went back to focus on his moves. Iruka stood next to Rin while watching the performance, but didn't seem particularly happy with her sudden appearance.

“So, what did Naruto do now?”

Chapter Text

Hearing words of support coming from the one person that he thought only really cared about him hurt the fox boy more than it should have. It made Naruto ponder if maybe San knew the oh-so-amazing Sasuke, but that was impossible because she was only there for himself. She wasn't there to look at this idiot, she was there to just speak to his teacher and then they were off to spend some more quality time together. That was all…

But why did it hurt so much to hear her support him like that instead of him…?

Memories of her beloved Obito from growing up and working on one with Itachi, practically feeling him as the second closest person in the Anbu as she could to friends and family, Rin felt a little biased when watching Sasuke about to perform some sort of kunai or shuriken jutsu training. It brought warmth to her heart to see the Uchiha at work and always brought back memories of how Obito worked so hard to get where he was. If he was alive now he would no doubt already be Hokage, and Minato-sensei and Kushina would still be alive but for now, she could see his influence in every smiling child's face that could live free and not under the tyranny of war.
” Our village would be unstoppable with you as the Hokage, Obito. You probably could even get Lord Fugaku to smile once and a while.”

A calm mistful sigh exhausted from her lips, blowing out the hole of her mask, but quickly evaporated within the air and Rin went back to smiling with contentment. However, it caused Isobu to roll his eyes in disdain for the whole Uchiha race. The jinchuuriki could probably only really blame it on past experiences, especially with Kurama's deal, but they would probably have the same reaction to the Senju clan.. heaven forbid Rin ever met Tsunade Senju/Uzamaki! Now that would be amazing to meet her hero.

Her eyes moved to the side to look at Iruka who kept one eye on his students and the other on the mysterious Anbu female who was hanging out with the nine-tailed fox brat. She could sense his mistrust for her being there and couldn't blame him for who she came with and her title as an Anbu member. However if Iruka knew who he was truly dealing with, then this meeting wouldn't be so negative.

Rin knew Iruka would listen to what she had to say with more open arms instead of this walled-off type of interaction they had going on. Bonding over deceased loved ones at the memorial stone has caused the two adults to grow close as good acquaintances, even strong enough that he probably would have forgiven the interruption to his class. However, if Rin revealed herself then the gig would be up to hide the Anbu life from Naruto. She wouldn't and couldn't do that. So hiding it was. “Naruto was injured today during a painting accident. I wanted to bring it to your attention that he's going to be sore the next day or two so please keep that in mind when working with him.”

Glancing at her the full time she spoke, Iruka was already getting annoyed after the words about paint were mentioned, not even anything about being injured. “Oh, did he get hurt trying to paint the Hokage faces again?” He asked with some slight distaste that caused Rin to raise an eyebrow his way wondering if that was pointed toward the fox or the boy himself. “I'm not sure if it was intentional or not. He says it was an accident, but…” Rin turned her head to look at Naruto who looked at her with a huge uncomfortable expression on his face. The implications coming from the Anbu female caused Iruka's eyes to grow in shock for a bit and he just looked at Naruto as if scared for some reason.

“Do you believe someone is trying to hurt him!? Do you think anyone would be stupid enough to do that? Are they trying to provoke him?” He questioned with fear in his voice, but Rin just tilted her head. “I'm not sure. Naruto's okay for now, but I don't think he's been injured like this before. At least, not to my knowledge.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she raised one finger to flex it and wave it towards the direction of the younger jinchuuriki as her eyes never really left him for too long. She felt him staring in her direction the whole time as if fearful Rin might disappear if he looked away for even a second.

Turning to look from his class and the way Naruto looked at the strange Anbu female made Iruka a little skeptical of the type of relationship the two of them had. He had heard about the famous Misty Leaf San among the other villagers, but he never thought he would see someone that elite hanging around someone like Naruto. “As an Anbu black ops member, I'm sure you have a lot on your plate to protect the village, especially if you are as mighty as your name suggests. But how did you get mixed up in his troubles? Surely you could be doing something else than babysitting a troublemaker like him.” Her little finger wave caused the blonde boy to smile softly at the gesture, and she nodded her head a bit his way to show that she saw him even if he couldn't see her looking his way.

“I wasn't babysitting him, he just sort of bumped into me this morning and I decided to be a good sport to help him. That was it. But now I'm having too much fun to just leave him.. just not yet anyway, not when he needs my help. ” Rin spoke out low as she turned her head to face Iruka this time, but he seemed to give her a stern look back, still full of questions about what brought this about. ” But why would you want to help someone like him…?”

“Alright. I'll make sure that he takes it easy for a few days so he doesn't hurt himself again. That is if he comes to class for once. I just hope that maybe this will teach him a lesson on using paint.” Iruka murmured and whispered to which Rin didn't respond besides a simple nod. She wanted to speak up in regards to this not being about paint or Naruto pulling pranks any chance he got, but more about trying to keep the jinchuuriki safe. However, for the sake of keeping the peace, she figured that was the end of the conversation.

The whole class turned to look at Sasuke and finally performed his moves. The females in the class seemed to still be cheering him the whole way there.

In front of the charcoal-haired boy were circle targets that lined a straight tree. The concept was simple strike with your object in the middle of the target. Simple to say, harder to do.
Even Rin had a hard time learning to do it so well, while Kakashi made it look so simple and Obito fought to perfect it much longer than she could watch him.

Pulling out a handful of shuriken for both of his hands, he stood at an angle and steadied his breath to focus on the targets. With simple and precise movements, the young Uchiha lobbed the small weapons as he slowly exhaled, and not surprising to the jinchuuriki, Sasuke was able to hit the middle targets for every single one. Naruto grimaced through all the hooting and hollering Sasuke's skills got from all the girls and even Rin clapped a few times to applaud his talent. “Well done Sasuke, a perfect example of how it's done!” Iruka spoke out in pride for the young Uchiha and was still impressed with what talent the young boy showed off every chance he got.

Her love for the Uchiha clan would never go away, and even the youngest Shinobi amazed her. “That's amazing Sasuke. Your hard training is starting to show.” Rin called out in support of the young boy, causing Sasuke to walk past a few steps and look at her rather curiously. While Naruto heard the words of praise coming from the one person he thought was on his side, a few of his other classmates decided to poke fun at the idiotic blonde. “Heh, what was that about not falling over Sasuke and only paying attention to you?” One of them spoke out and a few of the other boys laughed as well.

Agonized by the sudden attention Rin was giving to the person he hated most in the class, not hate but couldn't stand, Naruto grumbled a bit to himself. “You're wrong. San doesn't like Sasuke. Not like she likes me!” He pushed past the group of boys to go and get that much-earned attention back his way. ” Please don't choose Sasuke over me…

“Do I know you lady?” Sasuke questioned with a raise of his eyebrow and was slightly curious but annoyed about it, while Rin placed her hands on her thighs to lean closer and looked down at him with a smirk. Though it was easily hidden by the mask. “I doubt it, but I'm a huge fan.” She had to resist the urge just to ruffle his black hair, only for her to fully pull back when Naruto ran in between her and Sasuke. While her eyes grew bigger from the shock of Naruto's sudden appearance, the female jinchuuriki pushed up to stand straighter from his sudden appearance and noticed that Naruto was glaring at her for some reason. He had his hands out the side to make sure she was fully looking at him and only him. There was pain and anger in these eyes and it was hard to miss.

Seeing how rude Naruto had become all of a sudden when he butted into yet another conversation with this Anbu female, he stepped toward the young boy. “Naruto, stop butting in the middle of people's conversation. It's uncalled for and rude.” Sasuke took a step back and looked at Rin from the side, before rolling his eyes at how annoying Naruto got all of a sudden. “What's your problem, loser? Can't handle me getting a compliment?” Sasuke questioned, even a pinkette female and blonde female student came to Sasuke's rescue. Though he didn't need it.

“Hey, don't jump in front of Sasuke like that, Naruto! You're ruining his chance to meet the higher-ranking ninja!” The blonde girl spoke out while Sakura agreed with her, but Rin just looked at the group of kids, toward Sasuke and then down Naruto. He hadn't moved since getting between the two and he looked determined, but nervous at the same time. “Naruto…?” Rin questioned as she watched him swallow some of his nerves and then crossed his arms over his chest. He turned his head away as if angered at the female, but she felt like it wasn't that simple.

“Hmmp! I can do whatever Sasuke just did, but way better, you know! Let me show you!” He finally spoke out as if ignoring everyone's negative comments around them. She let out a sigh and scratched behind her head. “Naruto. I know what you're trying to do, but you really must wait your turn, alright? I'm not going anywhere so you don't have to get between me and Sasuke if you want my attention. You only need to call for me, but you need to wait.” She spoke calmly, even getting down on her knees to get to his eye level only for her to look over at Sasuke. Sasuke looked at the two jinchuuriki with annoyance and simply turned to walk back into the group causing Rin to shake her head slightly with how disappointing that interaction went. She would just have to wait for a bit. ” Yep. So much fun.”

Rin's desire to bond with the Uchiha was strong, but now was not the time, place, or right outfit for such a thing. She would just have to wait until the time came to sneak a trip over to visit Obito's Granny and try to figure out how Rin was going to balance life with Naruto and the Uchiha clan and the Anbu life and the jinchuuriki life.. things just kept getting more complicated. Especially when she was so close to finishing the plan that she and Minato sensei had come up with to cure Konohagakure of their bijuu problem.. and more about clearing up the problem with Kirigakure…

” First she seems to know Naruto… and now she somehow knows Sasuke. Who is this lady?” Iruka questioned himself as he might ask the Third Hokage more about her later on, but for now, he still needed to teach and figure this was the perfect opportunity to see if Naruto was as capable as Sasuke was. The look of defeat and slight betrayal passed over the blonde child's face at the words his so-called friend spoke causing him to look down in embarrassment and shame. Some more laughter came from the group of kids and Rin just looked at Naruto with care and love toward the younger jinchuuriki.

” I'm sorry Naruto. You've got a lot to learn from some patients, but you'll get it soon.” She could only blame herself for this sort of jealous behavior from the younger jinchuuriki. Understanding what it was like watching Obito and Kakashi growing as rivals, and trying to one-up each other, the only difference was Obito and Kakashi always had someone they could rely on to support them in their time of need. Naruto frowned and turned his head toward the floor, but the female jinchuuriki just turned to look up at Iruka while reaching her hand up and ruffling Naruto's hair a little more rough than normal. Her sort of tough love

Slowly getting to her feet Naruto laughed a little from his hair being messed with, his eyes followed her up and turned to look where Rin, who happened to be his teacher. “Well, Iruka-sensei, now would be a perfect chance to see how damaged Naruto is. Might as well see if maybe I need to heal him one more time.”

With a sudden jolt of his head and body, inspiration plastered across his face, Naruto's eyes beamed at the idea of someone vouching for him for once in his life. “Well..”Iruka had to think for a bit before looking Naruto's body over and simply gave a nod in defeat. “You are correct, this would be the most simple way to find out if he needs more help. Alright, Naruto. You're up.” Iruka gave in and Rin stood back up to watch Naruto run to where Sasuke had been. “Awesome! Get ready to be amazed, you know! You won't know what hit you.” Naruto spoke out with excitement spewing from tone and body movements.

” This will be interesting, let's see what skills a Namikaze and Uzumaki offspring has given our little Naruto.” Rin thought to herself as even Isobu perked up to show an interest in his brother's jinchuuriki. ” I bet he is as good as that Sasuke kid. Kurama had to have a hand in training something good in him too, dormant or not, he has a lot of power. He just needs to show it off, yeah.” Isobu and Rin's excitement was very apparent, even more than when Sasuke went, but she could sense some hesitation coming from the blonde child.

“Come on, Naruto. You can do it!” Calling out for her support, the group of kids looked toward the female with shock. He gave Rin a side glance before standing in the same spot as Sasuke had a few minutes prior and stood in the way, however much more unnatural for what he was about to do. ” I can do this! I can prove that I'm just as amazing as Sasuke! Then San won't leave me and she can stay forever! She will only look at me and everyone will start to notice me too!” The female jinchuuriki tilted her head at the way Naruto was holding himself with his stance, a lot more sloppy than Sasuke, but figured it was just how he did it so didn't want to interfere.

Spreading the shuriken within his hands, he exhaled slowly and through them haphazardly toward the directions of the targets. Sadly unlike Sasuke's precision aim and skills, Naruto was very much neglecting in all departments when it came to becoming a ninja.

The deadly weapons went in different directions and ironically one was sent flying straight toward the teacher and female jinchuuriki. However, unlike Iruka, Rin saw it coming straight her way and quickly ducted down with a squatting position. Isobu hissed and bucked his head to throttle Rin on top of it within their shared mindscape. ” He's trying to kill us, yeah. What the hell!?” Rin patted his head and tried to keep him calm so he didn't piss her off, but this was far from a laughing matter.

Iruka's expression became pale as his eyes fell upon the sharp weapon that almost stabbed either of them only to look down at the crouched Anbu member. “D-did that answer your question on whether or not he is fixed enough?” He questioned as he felt his blood pressure rise at that moment and maybe heard his parents call his name even once. It wasn't hard to see that Iruka was scared shitless from this little stunt. ” I don't think he even knows his skills, Isobu. He is more focused on other things right now than training to become a ninja.”

The jinchuuriki reassured her bijuu to show there wasn't any ill will between the two jinchuurikis and that this was simply a freak accident. Tilting her head up, in a strangely calm manner, to look at the shuriken that would have hit her, she pushed off the ground to get a hop away from the tree and allow her to stand without getting stabbed. “Yes, Iruka-sensei. I've learned enough.” The kunoichi could see that he wasn't in pain, or the medicine was really doing its job very well and it would hit later. But other issues needed addressing.

Gasping out from what he had caused, he quickly ran back to Rin's side to make sure she was alright while she reached back and pulled the star from the tree side. She twirled it on her finger through the hole then offered it back to Naruto, who just looked at it with pain in his eyes. “A-are you okay San? I didn't hit you, did I?” He questioned with a sense of urgency only to look lost when some of the boys in his class began to laugh at him. “No wonder you have no friends, Naruto! It looks like you're trying to kill them with your pathetic skills.” The same boy with the hat on spoke out as the other classmates began to laugh as well.

Looking at the floor, Naruto turned to Iruka and the female jinchuuriki for support. She still twirled the shuriken in her fingers while shaking her head toward his innocent question. “It'll take a lot to kill me, Naruto. it would be pretty bad if I was taken down by a single shuriken.” She tried to reassure the young boy, but he quickly jumped up to voice his concerns. “Sensei, let me try again! I know I can show you my skills, you know. I promise!” Iruka deadpanned toward the two jinchuuriki but then focused on Naruto. “No, that's enough, Naruto. I hope you got what you wanted, San. I'm going to get back to teaching now.”

Gasping from the rejection, Naruto's eyes grew for a minute before frowning and looking at the floor. “Hey, think about it this way, Naruto! At least we won't get hurt, if you don't do it again.” Someone yelled causing another fit of laughter in the group and Rin just let out a sigh as Naruto didn't say much, turning to look at Iruka who just walked past Naruto and toward the class. “Alright, that's enough. We can have a few more people go. Who wants to try out next?” Rin's eyes followed as Iruka walked past Naruto, giving him a harsh stare, as he straight-out ignored the teasing coming from the class instead of addressing it outright.

While standing as if the whole world had frozen over and he was truly by himself, Naruto just stood still and stared at the floor in front of him. ”I failed… like I always do.” His body shook as he clenched his hands into fists, only for those dark thoughts to be quickly pushed from his head when a hand was placed on his head. Ruffling his hair with another aggressive hand placed on his head, Rin stood above the young boy and though she wore a mask, it was clear to see she wasn't happy at the moment. ” I shouldn't care. I shouldn't have to worry how the offspring of the Fourth Hokage is fairing in life, but damn it!”

Naruto closed one of his eyes from the goggles on his head being pushed down and looked up at her with his other one. He smiled for only a second before Rin pulled her hand away and watched him fix his goggles. “I…” He was about to speak, but could only grumble under his breath. “Are you leaving me now, San? Because how can I can't do that stupid trick?” Murmuring ever so slightly that only she could hear, Rin stepped back from the boy and turned to look at Iruka and the class. “Iruka-sensei, forgive me, sir. I'm afraid that I'm going to take Naruto home. He'll be in class tomorrow, but I think he overdid it today.”

Iruka turned to look skeptical of the two jinchuuriki and gave a nod to the idea of him leaving. One less thing to deal with. “Alright. Well.. see you tomorrow if you decide to show up, Naruto.” He quickly turned back as if not giving him a second thought, though Rin did pat Naruto on the back to reply to the teacher. “Y-yes sir.” The young boy shouted out in response, looking up at Rin with an uncomfortable gaze in his eyes. ” She's not leaving me here… she's taking me with her. She must truly care for me.” Naruto’s eyes grew as Rin started to take steps back toward the exit, but walked back to make sure he followed behind. “Come on. I think I hear your stomach growling, kitsune.”

Speaking low to the younger jinchuuriki so only he could hear, she waved him along to follow. But of course, some of the classmates couldn't help but speak up about the idea of Naruto leaving early when he had just gotten there. “Try not to kill her next time, Naruto. We need all the Anbu members this village can take if we have to handle someone like you living here!”

Another few laughs and Rin stopped in her tracks to lift her head toward the group. Naruto kept walking while he was distracted to look at his classmates and smacked right into her legs. “O-ow..” The anger that came off the Anbu female for a split second was enough to make a lot of the kids quiet down, but even Iruka turned to look at Rin with much concern. “I forgot how mean children can be to things they don't understand. Right, Iruka-sensei?” She spoke calmly, but also slightly intimidating, even hearing a whimper coming from a small puppy from what she assumed was a member of the Inuzuka clan. “She's scary..” A murmur came from a child, only for the group to watch as Naruto grabbed her hand and began to pull Rin away as if he had all the power over her.

“Come on San. Let's go.” She gave Naruto the power as Rin didn't want to have to be the reason Naruto stood up for herself. However, she would make Iruka answer why he wasn't protecting his student, even if it needed to be in front of other children. They didn't know Naruto's full story, but Rin knew Iruka did. She knew why he was acting like this, and knew the teacher wasn't this cold-hearted of a person normally. There was bias in Iruka's teaching manners, and it needed to change for Naruto's sake and himself.

“Something they don't understand?” Iruka questioned rather alone on his breath before his eyes fell upon Naruto… he could only assume she was talking about the fox. But what kind of person would try to affiliate with something or someone like that?!

“Sensei, what did she mean by that?” A purple-haired Hyuuga female questioned as they watched the two walk out of their sight. “Um, let's not worry about Naruto and focus on class. Let's see if anyone can get close to the perfection that Sasuke got, huh?” Iruka tried to avert the attention from the fox and his worst student to something productive.

” What the hell does she mean by that?”

Chapter Text

It didn't take a genius to see that something was very much on the female jinchuuriki's mind as they walked from the academy and over toward the direction of the ramen shop. She walked hand and hand with the young boy, but kept her eyes on the ground as they walked, not even needing to see where they were going to know the way. She trusted her instincts, and Naruto's lead to direct them in the right direction.

Without the need to truly pay attention, years of training have led her to know everything going on in her surroundings and could be utilized at any time Rin saw fit. Even if she needed to mentally check out for a quick moment to allow herself to speak to her bijuu, the three-tailed jinchuuriki was always on alert. It came down to living in the shadows for more than five years in the foundation, but also the fact that she needed to be aware if someone had their eye on her for too long.

Rin couldn't afford to be relaxed at any point in her life, not with a walking bullseye on her back from Danzo and even the threat of Kirigakure figuring out who or what she was. Soon, one of those problems would hopefully completely disappear with a very dangerous solution to a problem that could lead to a war between the Nations. Something very detrimental to her health, and even Isobu's safety, but they were so close and knew one more full moon was all it would take to complete the sealing scroll. So close to a peaceful solution and something not even the Third Hokage could dream of her working on.

Ever since leaving the school grounds, the two had been quiet for the most part as they walked hand in hand, but after a few more moments, Naruto couldn't handle the silence any longer. Squeezing her hand to pull her attention to him, Rin lifted her head and looked down at him. Down at the fully worried expression on his face caused her to look around them to try to figure out what brought this on. “A-are you mad at me, San? You haven't said anything since we left the academy.” Naruto murmured to which Rin tilted her head and pulled her hand away from his grip.

Placing it upon her mask, closed her eyes, and let out a small sigh, while she motioned for Naruto to follow her. He frowned when she pulled her hand away, but followed while they got out of the way of people walking by. Once out of the way of major crowds, Rin squatted down to match Naruto's height and watched him look to the side with worry and it wasn't hard to see that his anxiety was through the roof.

“I… I didn't mean-”
“Naruto.”
He tried to apologize earlier only for Rin to cut him off to get his mind off what happened earlier, only for him to flinch at her saying his name. She lifted her hands and placed them on his shoulder to comfort him in some small ways. He lifted his head ever so slightly to look at the mask on her face, wishing he could see what she looked like at the moment to know if she was looking at him like everyone else did.

To know if she truly feared him. Or loved him. Or just pitied him.

Naruto hated her mask, and Rin hated that she always wore it around him, but they knew it was important to keep some secrets between the both of them.

“Naruto, I'm not mad at you. Far from it.” She reassured the boy the best she could, only for her to perk her head and look toward some people who were eyeing them from afar. “Like I said Kit, I'm very hard to kill. It'll take more than a shuriken to kill me.” She tried to joke only for Naruto to frown deeply and grab one of her hands with both of his and squeeze it for dear life. He gave it a few shakes and pressed it against his cheek, only for her to gasp a bit and press her hand against his whiskered cheek.

“Please! Please don't die. Don't leave me by myself.” He pleaded out with pain in his voice only for Rin to look around them again and stare back at the nosy people around them. “I.. Naruto, I promise I won't leave you alone. I'll try my best to be here for you whenever you need me, alright kitsune?” She murmured only for him to hear, but he took in a sharp inhale, lifting his head to eye her mask again, and turned to see the harsh looks at people around them. “Y-you don't have to lie, you know. I don't want someone amazing like you to get in trouble just because of me.”

He took a step back, only for Rin to click her teeth, like her bijuu clicked his beak when stressed, and grabbed him from the front of his shirt. She pulled him closer to keep him from running away, but quickly placed her hands on his whiskered cheeks. Rubbing his cheeks with some tough love, a small smile fell upon her lips, and grumbled a bit while Naruto groaned from rough handling. “I'm not lying Naruto. I won't get in trouble just being near you. I would have long ago if that was the case. I always come back to find you, even if it's a long time between visits, but a little mistake will not keep me away from you.”

Rin tried to reassure the jinchuuriki only for him to grumble into her rubbing of his cheeks. “Alright. Alright, San. I trust you. Please let me go.” Rin let go of his cheeks and saw how red his cheeks were, only to rub them with the back of her index finger. “Why were you so quiet though? You made me nervous.” A tilted her head toward the sky as she thought for a moment only for Rin to shake her head. “I was just thinking about your classmates. They seem… interesting to say the least.” Trying to think of how to vocalize her concern without worrying Naruto was difficult, but she didn't want to change how he viewed them just because she truly didn't know any of the children personally. Well, besides Sasuke.

“What do you mean interesting?” Naruto questioned as Rin stood back up and began to walk back up toward the ramen shop. Naruto was quick on her heels, even running in front of her to get her attention. “I just mean they are interesting. Nothing like my classmates when I went to the academy.” She shrugged, only to see Naruto squint as he walked backward while Rin slowed down to keep from running into him. “That makes no sense, San. What makes them interesting? Do you mean Sasuke? Do you like him more than me?!” She stopped for only a moment, but quickly scooped the jinchuuriki up under her arm to keep walking.

“H-hey put me down San and answer my question!” Naruto kicked and squirmed but was unable to break from the three-tailed jinchuuriki's grip on his waist. When she laughed a bit, he stopped moving and gripped her leg and hip to push himself up to try to look at the back of her head. “Kit, calm down. You don't see me hanging with Sasuke, do you?” That wasn't an answer, but it seemed to calm down the murmuring jinchuuriki who turned to look at the passing ground. “Y-yeah, I guess you're right.”

” I can't hide my connection to Itachi and Sasuke though. Besides, we're going to take a trip there later.” Rin thought to herself as Naruto put his hand under his chin and allowed himself to be carried like a doll, grumbling every so often but it allowed them to get there faster. ” I can't wait to hear him complain some more about Sasuke when we go, yeah.” Isobu rolled his eye already predicting a headache to hit them both, but was still curious about what his jinchuuriki planned to do next after the ramen trip.

Finally putting Naruto down after a few more minutes of walking, she patted down his shirt to fix it of wrinkles and saw the pouting on his face. She chortled a bit and pointed to the ramen shop. “Go grab us two seats to sit at, Kit. I'll be right behind you.” She reassured him and watched him run through the curtain with a new grin on his lips. He was screaming ramen multiple times, with a newfound excitement that raised the three-tailed jinchuuriki's happiness to the max. ” So adorable. She gawked and followed slowly behind him, trying in vain to stop staring at the people who stared at the two of them.

“What is someone famous like San hanging out with someone like that boy?” A murmur could easily be heard by the Anbu black ops member causing her to sigh, but she acted like she didn't hear it. “Maybe the Anbu will do us a favor and get rid of someone like him. Nothing but a nuisance.” The ironic words almost made the jinchuuriki laugh as they kept talking bad about the fox and Naruto, not knowing she was the same as him. In the same boat, but both in a different kind of darkness. It was exhausting.

She had to step to the side when getting close to the entryway when Naruto fully backed into her legs and caused him to fall back to lean against them. Rin leaned forward, placing her hands on his shoulders to look down at him with some concern and he looked up at her masked face with a deep sadness she hadn't seen on his face in a long time. “What's wrong?” She questioned as Naruto frowned and looked up at her mask, suddenly very quiet as some men brushed by her with an annoyed look on their faces. They gasped when they noticed who they were passing by, apologized profusely, and kept walking, blaming how ‘full’ the place suddenly got. Sadly though it seemed like Naruto almost emptied the place minus the man behind the counter who was the nicest man in the whole village!

“There was no place to sit, so I asked the ramen guy if there was extra seating, but when he said the guys were almost done, everyone started to leave. I don't know..” He whispered so uncomfortably and looked to the side, while Rin ducked her head down to see that at least they had a place to sit down now. “Hey, now. They didn't leave because of you. He told the truth, try not to think about it too much, alright Naruto?” Trying to reassure the boy, she knew he wasn't stupid enough to believe her lie, but pushing him back to his feet, Rin pushed him back through the threshold of the shop and wasn't surprised when the cook was surprised to see her just as much as the other men were.

“Welcome in! I'll be right with you.” The cook turned to look at the Anbu female, then down to Naruto rather curious but turned to finish cooking what he already started. “Hello, Teuchi. I guess business has been good?” Rin called out as the man turned around to look at her fully, as he swirled around some veggies in a wok-like pan. She stepped around Naruto who seemed stuck in place and watched as she took a seat and backed the fox jinchuuriki to sit next to her. “Hello San. Yes, busy as always. It's been a while.” He looked down at the struggling child as Rin used her arm to help Naruto get up on the bar stool.

He still gave off so much nervous energy as the whole place emptied because of him, but San rested her hand around the boy's shoulders to pull him at an awkward angle. “Yeah, I get that a lot. Probably going to see Rin more than me for a while after today I think.” Naruto felt himself get smothered against the anbu jacket and pushed her arm from around his face. “San, you're suffocating me, you know! And no! You aren't going anywhere, San.” He closed one of his eyes to look up at him and Rin just chortled a bit. She let go of the jinchuuriki who had to fix his goggles on his forehead for the third time that day.

“So Naruto, did you get yourself in trouble to finally meet San?” Teuchi questioned honestly, while Rin ran her fingers on the ninja pocket that held his adoption papers. “No! I didn't do anything to get in trouble. I promise!” Naruto lied, but it wasn't much of the ramen guy's business to know the details of their relationship. “Well, if I know San as well as I hope I do, I believe she is the only one who could keep up with someone like you Naruto.” A smile formed across the cook's lips as Naruto ordered some food while Rin just skipped it. She wasn't that hungry and would just eat later when she had time. It wasn't like she could eat with her mask on anyway.

“Are you sure you're not hungry, San?” Naruto questioned as he waited for his food, only to be surprised by some dumplings being served by Teuchi. “These were ordered by the guys who left. You can have them since they left so suddenly.” Another smile and Rin lifted her head from her hand to look at the dumplings rather questionable. “Hm, thanks, sir. You are the kindest man I know.” Rin spoke as she grabbed a thing of chopsticks to grab the dumpling, offering one for Naruto who refused to save room for actual ramen and looked at her intensely to watch her eat.

A gasp from the female and a point to the side to get Naruto distracted enough to look away from her was ample time for Rin to eat the dumpling and she just ended up pocketing the rest for later in the three-tailed dimension. Isobu looked down at the surprise gift in their dimension, poked it with the end of one of his tails, and sniffed the air. ” Dumpling, hm?” His way of questioning as he shrunk him down to the size of a small dog and scooted closer to the food. Giving her approval, Rin allowed the turtle to eat some of them just so they could try to enjoy being normal in some way. Well.. as normal as any hidden jinchuuriki could be.

He enjoyed the taste and Rin enjoyed the peace and quiet as Naruto just went ham with his ramen, eating it so fast he had to blow out steam from how hot it was. “No fair eating those when I wasn't looking, you know. I want to see your face too, San.” Naruto murmured after he swallowed, to which Rin just shrugged and watched him eat with a soft smile on her face. It was just the three of them for a peaceful minute as if they just disappeared and went to another dimension.

She took in a deep breath and leaned on her palm as if she didn't have a care in the world. “Hey, Kit?” She questioned softly, causing Naruto to slurp some more noodles and raise his eyebrow to look at the female. “What would you think if someone wanted to adopt you?” She questioned as if out of thin air, but it's only been on her mind since that morning.

The question caused Naruto to be taken back, slow his eating, and frown at the idea of her maybe joking. “Mm.. why do you ask that? No one would want me.” He took another slurp of noodles causing Rin to grow a soft smile and turn to look at Teuchi who was listening the whole time, even turning to look at Rin with his curious expression. He knew she was Rin Nohara from her straight-up telling him and trusting him more than she did most people. And that was only because of the kindness Teuchi showed toward Naruto…

“Hm, I wouldn't be so sure, my little kitsune. I believe my sister wants to adopt you. She says she loves hearing stories about you and keeps asking about you every time I talk to her about you.” Facing the chef, she tilted her head and closed her eyes to think for a bit. “Who's your sister, San? I didn't know you had a sister.” The older male spoke up rather curiously but still faced his cooking food. “Oh yeah, Teuchi. It's Rin. That's my sister.” He should have connected the dots, but it was such a wild story that not even he could make it up.

“Rin, huh? Now that would be an interesting combination.” Teuchi said rather curiously as he thought about it and just shrugged. “You know Rin, the old man?” Naruto questioned as he seemed lost in thought, only to reach up and tug on Rin's Anbu arm brace, causing her to turn to look at his curious but frowning face. “Why don't you adopt me, San?” He questioned causing the female's jinchuuriki's broken heart to break more, but she just rubbed his hand with her own to try to reassure him. “Naruto, it's not safe for someone like me to adopt you. You know this. I wouldn't want you being targeted by one of my enemies.” He pulled away, frowned, and looked at the floor.

A sigh passed by her lips and she ran her fingers through his soft hair. “You'll like Rin as much as you like me, Naruto. I promise. Just give her a chance.” Rin tried to butter him up, but he just looked away from her. “Yeah right. She sounds lame. Anyone who isn't you is lame, San.” He grumbled and felt her pull her hand away to rest it under her bent arm. “Yeah well, she is the more boring one of the two of us. But she is the safer option. You'll get along when you see her tonight.”

Naruto gasped and fully turned to look at Rin with huge surprised eyes.
“What do you mean? I thought I was done seeing her.”
“Nope, she needs to make sure you're well enough and you've healed up enough. And she said she wants to get to know you some more. Isn't that exciting?” Rin tried to make this work, but Naruto was dead set on San adopting him if that was truly an option. It wasn't, but he wasn't going to take no for an answer. No matter what it took.

“Hmmp, no. It sounds lame! Boring!” He fought back, taking another slurp of his noodles and finishing his bowl. He jumped back off the stool and pointed toward San. “I will allow no one to adopt me besides you San! Only you truly understand me, you know!”

The sudden surge of energy caused the jinchuuriki to blink a few times toward the boy as he ran out of the ramen shop to go and prove himself in one way or another. Rin didn't have the power to stop him from leaving on his own accord, only really looking at Teuchi who turned his full attention to Rin.

“How are you going to make this work, Rin? Why not tell him the truth of who you are and make it easier?” He questioned as she paid for their meals and ordered a ramen to go. Something to butter Naruto up when she visits him without the mask of who she truly is.

“I don't know, Teuchi. It's not safe for him to know who I am. But I have to adopt him. For the sake of the village.” She is semi-told the truth that her curse mark would allow without going truly into the details of what Danzo had done.

“Good luck, Rin. You've done a lot for this village and you keep on performing miracles without anyone truly knowing what you do. I'm here if you need to vent, alright?” He offered her as she took the to-go order and rubbed her hand through her hair. “Thanks, sir. I'm going to need it. I'm just winging it at this point.”

With that, she left and looked at the sky for some answers that her beloved Obito might give her to help in this stressful time. ” What am I going to do now? He doesn't want Rin and I can't stay San forever just to keep him happy. He's going to have to accept Rin, whether he wants to or not…” Her eyes fell upon the Hokage monument as Rin decided to take a break and head off toward the memorial stone for some real answers.

She had a plan, but plans always fell through when it came to her luck.
” Obito will have some answers, he always does..”

Chapter Text

Being lost not the first, nor the last time in her life, the three-tailed jinchuuriki sought comfort and support from someone who just loved to hear her talk. Someone who never complained about any complaint she made and was always a good ear for any problem she had to talk about. The only problem was that he never really said anything back. It was fine at times, but not what the jinchuuriki needed at other times… probably why it worked so well to go to their third teammate for that sort of support.

Losing the Anbu mask long ago to shed the identity of her bloodied, dark, and tortured past in the Root organization, but the still dangerous life in the Anbu black ops, and go about her life as the strong and intelligent medical Anbu kunoichi, Rin had long track of time as she stood in front of her fallen comrade's grave. She normally brought flowers, but she didn't have the mindset to think of what to get for him this round. The jinchuuriki didn't even go anywhere after the ramen shop, only beelined straight to the gravesite with the need for answers.

The idea of needing to speak to Hiruzen was extremely high on her list of things the medical kunoichi needed to do, but Rin was unsure how far she could even speak with the curse mark on her tongue. She had the paper as proof, but again probably couldn't point any fingers toward what Danzo had done in this situation. And the question of who Lord Hiruzen trusted more at that point still dwindled in the female's mind… Did Hiruzen trust her judgment or Danzo's?

Sure, she wasn't ratted out to Kirigakure for what she was, but the tension in discovering what happened to Isobu is ever-rising. Rin was aware every time they tried to resurrect the not-dead beast as it affected her just as much as it affected Isobu. If she wasn't finished with their plan by the next full moon, then this next summoning might end up killing her. Let alone if the mist villagers tried to pull it off if she was on a solo mission. It would certainly lead to her death in the field with how weak and sick it left the two of the powerful duo.

Any more pushback by Kirigakure and Rin felt that tight rope around her neck might be pulled to force them both to get dropped off on the mist's border. Her whole life would be over. Her friends would never know what happened to her and Rin would be forced to leave Kakashi, even Naruto at this point, behind. And none would know the truth of how close they were to a war between villages and all because of her.

Just one more major thing that passed by the overly stressed-out jinchuuriki's mind.

For one hour she had been standing at the grave memorial, but afterward, she found herself sitting at the base of the crystal-like base of it for comfort. The two last living members of Team Minato to her knowledge stood at the same place for hours, either in peaceful silence and Rin would end up leaning on Kakashi's side for support for both their sakes by the end of it. It was rare for the two to come up on the other being there as they were both so busy, but understood that if they saw each other, it was alright to join the other. Kinda how she wished Kakashi would show up with some advice on what she should do now, but that wasn't her kind of luck right at that moment.

While the wind blew her hair, her chocolate brown eyes looked up at the blue, cloudy sky above for some answers to her name questions. She closed her eyes, leaned back slightly, and let out a sigh, imagining what Obito might say if he had been there to support her.

” Hey Rin, what's got you down for so long? You're not normally the one to sulk like this.” Her eyes opened, lowered her head, and a young version of Obito stood in front of her, but all she did was lean forward to rest her hand under her chin while relaxing into it. ” Missing you, on top of some other things. Life is crazy right now, Obito. And I don't know what route I should take to get things back under control.” Her lips straightened as the image of her best friend moved to sit next to her on the grave.

Looking up at the sky like she had before, was a common thing in her mind that Rin used for support during her most stressful times. Just like her belief that Obito was watching over her and Kakashi from the other side, waiting for them to join him in more adventures on the other side. He grew his normal grin whenever he believed she was talking crazy, ” Oh, come on Rin. Knowing you, you probably have a million solutions for each one of your problems. Just follow which one feels right and don't falter from that path.” His optimism caused her to smile a bit, and close her eyes again with a tilt of her head. “It's simple when it's just me involved. But now Naruto and Kurama are involved. And I don't have the power to just turn them away without my life being forfeited over to the mist village.”

” Well, sensei and Kushina would be proud to have you raising Naruto. You know this. And I'm sure they were proud of you that night you fought with everything you had to protect them against that damn, nasty fox too. You can't change the past. And…” Obito looked at her grown self a few times before nudging Rin's side. ” I know you notice how much fun you have with him. You bring out the goodness in Naruto's heart, and you never lose hope in his dream of becoming Hokage. Just like you never lost hope in me, Rin.”

Another grin grew upon Obito's lips and he placed his hand upon the one that rested on her leg. ” Don't give up on Naruto, and don't give up on yourself, Rin. I still believe in you when you say you want to save the world. Start with one person at a time and help Naruto to become the next Hokage!”

Rin sat there in silence the whole moment Obito spoke in her mind, deadpanning the whole time while looking as if someone was speaking to her. Ever so slightly she smiled but didn't notice some tears that fell from her eyes. ” You're right like always, Obito. I'll help save the world so no one has to suffer as we have. And I can start with Naruto’s dream. Maybe even help Kurama with his hatred for humans!” Her heartbeat skipped a bit with how excited she was becoming with her realization. ” Start with your plan with the three-tailed beast and the mist village. Then work on that damn fox and Naruto! You can do it, Rin. I believe in you!” Obito yelled out as he got to his feet to scream it to the heavens and gods above before he simply burned away into the wind like the Will of Fire that burned in her chest.

“I'll do it, Obito. Just for you. I'll take care of Naruto, and I'll do it my way. Not his way.” Rin whispered while gasping out when she noticed the tears flowing down her cheeks. Isobu was quiet the whole time, and he was every time they came here as a sign of respect.

” You got your answers I'm guessing, hm?” The bijuu questioned his jinchuuriki as she rubbed the back of her hands over her eyes to clear them. The smile on her lips stayed put and the duo was content for once in the day. ” You have no idea, Isobu.”

A long black hair, orange mask-wearing male stepped in his tracks as he had to shove his hand under his mask to cover his mouth. Taking in a sharp inhale, even someone as powerful as this s-rank ninja was, even the most powerful couldn't stop himself from sneezing a few times. “Damn, summer allergies.” He murmured under his breath and wiped his hand on his long robe-like cloak. “That's what I get when I'm away for too long.” He cleared his throat and continued on his way.

He had plans with his clan but knew he'd be in the area for quite a while so the sudden ‘allergies’ should go away soon. (Occ:No, he doesn't have allergies. He sneezed cause Rin talked out loud about him~)

While Rin was just enjoying some peace and slowly planning what they needed to do that very night, she still needed to rub her eyes to stop the tears that fell every once and a while. Joy, but anxiety spilled with those tears as just having a plan did not mean it would go one hundred percent her way. Just like with her suicidal attempt… that went as far from what she wanted as she could ever have hoped.

“Ah! Hello, Nohara.” A loud familiar spoke out as the approaching Shinobi came closer across the training grounds and toward the memorial shrine. Lowering her hand to rest on her crossed legs, the jinchuuriki looked at the approaching man and hitched her breath when seeing the same person twice in one day, but for the first time, he had interacted with her two different personas. ” Is this guy following us, hm?” Isobu questioned rather warily while Rin just waved a bit to the approaching male.

” I doubt it. But he is like us to seek out comfort in the people we miss the most, I think,” Rin tried to comfort her bijuu, before fully turning her attention to the teacher. “Hello, Umino.” She spoke rather happily toward the male, but it was only semi-genuine, given the type of day they had both just experienced. She wanted to question Iruka on what happened during class earlier today, and why he acted that way toward a young boy, but it took a genius to figure out why it went how it did.

“Did you just get here?” Iruka questioned as he could see the puffiness in her eyes, and tilted his head with concern while putting his hands on his side for respect. ”D-did you want to be by yourself right now?” The concern and question caused Rin to blink slowly as she was unsure where it came from. “Huh? Oh no, it's alright. You can join me, or if you prefer I can leave. I was almost done anyway.” She waved her hand side to side to try to push some of the tension away but wasn't sure if it was working.

“No, you don't need to leave. I just came to pay my respects to my parents and probably head home. I've had a very long day. Or a long week, I suppose.” The exhaustion in his tone and the way he looked at the stone with an off look brought more questions to the jinchuuriki's mind. What could be causing this level of stress within the teacher?

“Mmm? Come on. I've got a few minutes to spar for a broken heart.” She scooted ever so slightly and patted for Iruka to sit right next to her so she could listen to the teacher's worries. Maybe he could tell her some of the problems that happened in the classroom without her even needing to say who she truly was. “It's not like this is the first time we've had to say what was on our minds to an unbiased friend, right Iruka?” She offered with a soft smile while he gladly, but only slightly hesitantly took the seat next to her.

The teacher and Anbu female had bonded over this memorial stone many times in the past. Telling tales of her beloved comrade, his amazing parents, their involvement in the war, and what stresses were like nowadays in their lives. Of course, within reason as they still had secrets they couldn't reveal to just anyone, but for just skimming the surface, and not delving too much into each other's secrets, the two were good acquaintances more than anything in Rin's mind. She wouldn't call Iruka her friend just off the bat, but he might call her that way from his perspective.

The jinchuuriki felt too guilty and even a hypocrite to call someone like Iruka a friend when she couldn't even save his parents. She couldn't protect them when they needed her the most, so it was going to take a lot more than words to recover from her past sins.

As Iruka sat next to the brown-headed Anbu female, her outfit made him grimace ever so slightly causing Rin to raise her eyebrow rather curiosity towards him. “Is there something wrong with my outfit, Umino?” She tightened her crossed legs and tapped her finger on her cheek a few times. “No… not your outfit per se. I just had some issues with someone famous from the Anbu earlier and one of my students.” Though Rin didn't react in any way to his statement, it caused Isobu to roll his eye as annoyance hit the turtle and Iruka hasn't even said anything damning yet.

” Poor guy, yeah. Can't handle one knuckleheaded Jinchuuriki as his student.” Isobu spat out in annoyance only for Rin to sigh within their shared mindscape and pat the top of his head. ” You can't blame the guy for feeling a certain way towards the same being that is tied to the death of his parents, Iso. People would fear us if they knew about you, too.” She shook her head and grumbled a bit. ” We'd probably be hated too for what damages and deaths we caused in our little rebel attack against Kurama, too.”

“Oh, I'm sorry to hear about that. Who was it? Maybe I've heard about them or maybe I can have a conversation with them if you feel that they are bothering you.” Rin spoke rather protectively of the man though it was out of left field, it caused him to chuckle rather nervously under his breath. Iruka would never want to cause any sort of conflict in the Anbu and all because he might be reading something wrong about his situation. “N-no, it's alright. I didn't need you to protect me, Mrs Nohara. But I do appreciate the offer…”

He looked forward and rested his elbows on his knees while supporting his head with his hands. The jinchuuriki kept her eye looking at him and leaned forward as well, too curious to hear what he had to say to try to say anything back. “It's just… she came with one of my most troubled students, I guess I should say. And it wasn't even long of an interaction, but she was terrifying.” The way he described the short meeting didn't help Rin in the slightest, but she did feel a little bad for scaring him and his students.

“Let me guess, was Naruto the troubled student?” A small smirk formed on her lips and Iruka just sighed with a nod at her question. The nine-tailed jinchuuriki had been brought up in the past in their small interactions, but Rin mostly only listened to the concerns coming from the teacher. She never really spoke on her own about the boy. Biased as they were.

“I thought he was going to skip class with how late he was for once in a long while, but they came late and were rude when they interrupted my class as they did.” Now that was something Rin could agree on with how that morning went, but it was too late to change it so just stayed quiet. “Isn't it better to come late than not come at all, though? He does want to become a ninja, right?” She questioned as a way to be a neutral party that Iruka appreciated more than anything, but he still wasn't sure how he felt for the boy.

“Maybe… I'm not sure.” Another shrug and Iruka looked down at the ground while Rin still kept her head tilted. “What made her terrifying? Did she hurt someone?” She asked rather frightened of the man, acting as if someone in the anbu would hurt random civilians and future ninjas was horrible. It was, but Rin would never hurt any innocent person like that. “No, no. Nothing of that extreme. She just..” another sigh and a rub of his hand through his hair. Her power moved and words were getting to the man it seemed… good…

“She pulled off a power move and said something about children being mean about things they don't understand. I just.. I truly don't understand what she meant by that.” Rin raised her eyebrow and leaned back against her palms on the memorial with a sigh toward the sky. Iruka looked back to see her with her eyes shut as if she was trying to translate what the famous San could have meant behind her moves and saying. “Hm?” Pondering a bit, she tried to explain what she meant without giving herself away… this was going to be hard.

“What were the children doing today while this Anbu female was there? Or was Naruto being the mean one?” Iruka had to think about it for a moment but truly didn't understand what went wrong during the day besides the normal. “No, she seemed close to Naruto for some reason. It was strange for someone like her to be close to someone like him.” He spoke rather confused. No hatred, just very numbed to the idea of Naruto, and shook his head again. “Anbu has enough issues with dealing with the safety of the whole village. You guys shouldn't have to deal with his shenanigans too.”

“Well, as his teacher shouldn't you be trying to fix that behavior then?” Rin rebuttabled without meaning to, causing her to stare and deadpan the whole time. “I-!!” That caught the teacher off only for him to grimace with a frown toward the jinchuuriki. “I'm still new to this sort of thing. I have a lot on my plate. And a kid like Naruto is too much sometimes.” He spoke with excuses for his behavior and his regards to ignoring what was truly happening to his students. They were bullies, but it was easy to see that Iruka had his plate full when dealing with someone like Naruto.

“I'm sorry,” Rin spoke out with a really slow blink of her eyes as a way to not get too emotional during this quick speech together. “Please forgive me, that was rude of me. I understand what you're going through, Umino. I've got my hands full right now with children's problems too.” She smiled so softly as a way to give him some sympathy, but only a little. “It's alright. I know we're both stressed. Probably for two different reasons, but kids can be a handful. Not all can be as intelligent as this one Uchiha in my class. He's got the highest marks in my whole class. It's amazing to see what skills he has at someone so young.”

Another smirk grew upon her lips as Iruka praised none other than Sasuke. So he truly was doing a wonderful job at school. That excited Rin for some reason as she was sure to speak to Itachi about it later.

“A word of advice, Iruka, about what she said about children not understanding what they don't know…” Thinking she put enough of her time and energy into their conversation, well as much as she could mentally handle at that time, Rin started to stand up. She took a few steps before turning to the teacher who looked up at her from his angle. “Don't forget, children of this generation are lucky to not know what Naruto is. But that doesn't mean they will accept someone as… well energetic and desperate for friendship as Naruto can be. Especially if they are poisoned by their parents to turn them against Naruto… children can be very mean without even understanding the damage they are causing to their target.”

Iruka looked at her in awe but watched her rather warily as her hand seemingly disappeared in the air next to her. She closed her eyes as she dug around in the three-tailed dimension for something to give the teacher. “You… you might be right about that. I'm just not sure how to handle someone like Naruto.” He watched her rather curiously pull out a still-warm thing of ramen from her little strange dimension and she held it out for him.

“Wasn't it your birthday a few days ago? I'm not going to eat this, so it's all yours. I remember you saying you love ichiRaku ramen, so happy belated birthday, Iruka Umino.” This time she gave a genuine smile to her gift, but the teacher just felt it was odd that it came out of nowhere. A strange apology for how she acted earlier, though he would never connect the dots of who she was till much much later, and a strange way to deliver his gift.

Iruka accepted the warm noodles and felt it in his hands rather warily, but seeing it still steaming a bit from the top caused him to smile a little weakly back. “Oh, thank you miss Nohara. I can't believe you remembered my birthday and one of my favorite meals too.” He spoke fondly and even accepted a pair of chopsticks from the female that she pulled out after the bowl. “It certainly made this day better in the long run, that's for sure.” He grinned and didn't even resist flipping the lid and started chowing down right in front of her.

With a closed-eyed smile on her face, she gave a few nods and straightened up with a slight wave of her hand.”Of course, only the best for my friends. But try not to let what that Anbu lady get to you too much, alright? Just try to think of other ways to maybe help your students.” Rin tried one last piece of advice before turning and leaving to try to find the next most exciting thing in her life: Naruto.

—

When there was no answer at his front door or the side door, and needing to use her key to go inside his actual house, the female jinchuuriki was surprised to find that there had been no sign of Naruto returning home after their get-together at the ramen shop. The sun was starting to get low over the horizon and she needed to make sure he was alright before she let him go home.

Rin planned to make sure he was alright, do her little ritual, speak to Hiruzen, go to Kirigakure to drop off Isobu then come back home to play mother to someone who doesn't even want her as a parent. It was very large planning and not simple at all, but it was a plan nonetheless. And one that could kill her or start a war if she fucked up in any step of the way. But no pressure though.

“Where could he be?” Rin questioned as she had to think within his apartment, while Isobu summoned himself upon the boy's messy kitchen floor. ” We don't have time to waste looking for him, yeah. We need to get home, and clean ourselves before we even think about completing that scroll.” Isobu squinted his eye rather warily while Rin just rubbed her shoulder a few times. “I know, but it's important that he isn't overdoing it and will take his medicine.”

Taking out a kunai from the ninja pouch on her side, the kunoichi sliced the end of her pointer finger and summoned someone she knew could help her find Naruto.

Once the summonings clouds cleared from around the small sitting pug, he lifted his head to look rather confused at the female jinchuuriki. And even looked down at the mini bijuu rather uncaring toward the turtle. “Hey Rin. Turtle. Long time no see. What's going on?” Pakkun spoke rather gruffly and took a few steps toward the kneeling kunoichi. “Hello Pakkun, I'm not on a mission right now, but I need help finding Naruto. You probably know him as the nine-tailed fox jinchuuriki?” He gave a nod and looked around the disgusting room she had summoned him in. He even lifted his paw and saw the dust left his cute pink paw rather gray. “Alright. Should be easy enough. Do you have a scent marker I can use?”

Rin pointed all around them and pakkun just grumbled. “Alright. That's easy enough, but have him clean this up after you find him. This place stinks even worse than a normal junky place should.”

“Don't worry, it's a work in progress,” Rin reassured the young pup, nodding toward her bijuu who returned to their vessel, before holding the front door open while Pakkun was sure to get a good enough scent to follow. “Does he know yet?” The pup questioned as he took a step past the jinchuuriki and waited for her to lock the door right behind her. “No. And we're not going to tell him. We're..”

The two began to jump on the buildings, heading to a forested area away from the village. “Our paths are going to intertwine more often now. I'm now his adopted parent, but he doesn't know full of it yet.” The dog turned to look behind him and frowned at the whole situation. “That sounds exhausting. What does Kakashi say about the whole thing?”

“Kakashi doesn't have a say in the matter, just like I didn't.” All she needed to do was point to her tongue and Pakkun’s eyes grew from understanding. “That guy is interfering again, huh? This can not possibly end well for you, Rin.” She shook her head with a frown and shrugged. “I haven't even spoken to Hiruzen yet. I'm trying to do one thing at a time and trying to plan as I go.” She murmured while they stopped at the base of a forested area. “You've got this Rin. We believe in you. If you need me again, let me know. And the person you're looking for is straight ahead.” He lifted his paw toward the direction while Rin kneeled in front of him again.

“Best summoning in the world. Thanks pakkun. I'll train with you guys later, alright?” Patting his head, the dog leaned into her touch and sniffed one more time. “Mmm? Hm, there is someone else with him, perhaps.” He muffled during his petting where Rin lifted her head and stood back up. “Alright. Maybe he does have a friend then. Thanks so much.”

Pakkun unsummoned himself while Rin was careful as she tracked inside the forested area. Using that root and Anbu training, she was as quiet as the wind when it came to her approach to following Naruto and his supposed friend. And to no surprise, the ninja dog was correct and she saw him a few yards away between the tree line. But also caught sight of a purple-haired female as well.

” Maybe a girlfriend?” Teasing a bit to herself, she wasn't sure how she should go about this. It was clear Naruto had no idea she was there, but Rin didn't want to scare the poor girl either. Her priority was the blonde jinchuuriki, so that was who she would focus on. Gathering a small pebble in her hand, a simple toss of it toward the Hyuuga princess’s area brought her attention toward her feet and Rin.

Hinata gasped under her breath but watched as Rin put a finger to her lips to show that she was just trying to show the young girl that she was there. And not trying to spook her. She then gestured just to look back at Naruto, as Rin felt there was no harm in Hinata just watching Naruto train. It was cute, to say the least, and safer if something were to go wrong.

Hinata never moved her eyes off the silently approaching adult, her eyes growing wider with how silent she was until she approached the other side of the tree from where Hinata stood. ” I doubt she would understand sign languages like Kakashi and Itachi, but I'll get around it.” A blush grew upon Hinata’s face from being discovered, but couldn't stop watching how Rin kept looking at Naruto with such concern and interest. ” Who is she?” Her eyes looked the Anbu lady over, but Rin looked back at Hinata a few times as well.

She looks familiar, and not just from seeing her in Naruto's class… She looked like the child that Naruto gave his scarf to a few years back… God that was an overly cold day!

Pushing Hinata from her mind, the jinchuuriki caught sight of Naruto clinching to his shoulder and struggling to throw another kunai as a very apparent, beaten, and old target in front of him. The ground below his feet were various scattered kunai and shuriken stars and the trees around them were stabbed with them as well. It wasn't hard to tell that Naruto had been pushing himself. “I can do this! I'm way better than Sasuke is! I'll show San how amazing I can be and then she'll-!!”

He groaned out in pain and panted while staggering his feet, much to Hinata's worry, but Rin just patted her on the shoulder and gave her a soft smile. Mouthing the words of support, Rin stepped back a few times to get a different angle and not give away the sweet girl's location.

A concerned frown grew upon the brunette’s lips and she walked from behind a tree. “Naruto.” Speaking his name with as much love and concern as she could, the way Naruto's eyes lit up when he thought San was there was instantly crushed when he saw Rin's actual face. His hand tightened around his shoulder while he glared at her before turning toward the target he was aiming for. “Oh. It's you.” He spoke low as if she didn't mean anything to him.

“Naruto. Yes, it's me.” She spoke his name again and took more steps closer to him, but he still didn't look at her. He threw the knife but winced and groaned louder this time. The jinchuuriki was quick to run in front of him and fall to her knees to look him over. “Naruto, whiskers, did you not take your medicine like you were supposed to?” She lifted her hands and rested one on his good shoulder, while the other one rested on the back of his hand. She held his hand so delicately in hers and looked him over a few times, even feeling it shiver from exhaustion within her grasp.

“No. I didn't have time. I thought you healed me. Why do I hurt like this?” Naruto questioned as he looked to the side, but Rin ran her hand to rub the side of his cheek to try to soothe him in some way. “I did heal you, Naruto. As I explained earlier, it's going to hurt for at least another day while your high chakra count fully heals yourself.” She squeezed his hand and looked over her shoulder toward the Hyuuga only to find she had long gone. Rin would remind herself to talk to her later on and see what this was all about.

“Let's get you home, Naruto. We can get you some more food and some medicine so you can sleep well tonight, alright?” Rin tilted her head and pivoted to finally catch the pained look in his eyes. “Y-you're boring, Rin, you know! Why did you even try to find me!?” He shouted but only took a single step away while still strangely allowing her to keep her hands on his shoulder and face. His tone was slightly hateful, but Rin didn't hold anything against the blonde jinchuuriki.

“Naruto. It's okay. There are a lot of things you don't know about me, nor would you understand. I might be boring in your eyes, but that's why I want to get to know you. The stories I hear about you from my sister get me excited to have you in my life somehow.” Lifting her finger to his nose, she activated her healing chakra within the base of her fingertip causing his nose to warm up from the different feeling that was brought him. “When you are fully healed, I can help you train on this little trick too.” Pointing over her shoulder, she rested her hand on her leg.

“But that's only if you are interested in something boring like being trained by an Anbu black ops member.” Rin stood up, released Naruto's body, and placed her hands behind her head. “Man, I agree with you. That sounds horrible. Forget that I said anything. Well.” She stepped back, bowed a bit, and walked a few steps by him before waving goodbye. “I'll see you around I guess.” Sounding a bit as if she didn't care, the turtle bijuu lifted his head and looked upward toward his manipulating jinchuuriki. ” Reverse psychology, hm? I wonder if it'll work, yeah.” Isobu laughed slightly at his sneaky hostess while Rin just patted his head again. She wasn't the best at handling kids, but that didn't mean she was completely clueless.

“W-wait..!” There was no surprise when Naruto called out to her, causing Rin to stop in step and turn to look at the panting blonde. He rubbed his shoulder before taking a step and just kept walking with his eyes going everywhere except her face. She let out a small chortle and kneeled again to match his height. “Come on. Let's get you home.” She opened her arms and Naruto hesitated slightly before accepting being carried.

Wrapping her arms under his butt, she allowed him to lean against her chest while just still looking down at his lap as if ashamed for some reason. Rin took the chance to nuzzle her nose into his whiskered cheek causing him to frown and blush a bit. “You're way better than Sasuke ever will be, Naruto. You'll be the next Hokage. I know you will be.” She whispered much to the surprise of the blonde jinchuuriki, his lips growing so slowly into a grin.

“I don't know. With someone boring like you to train me, you have a lot to work on.” Naruto mocked and crossed one of his arms over his chest to be a little mighty in the moment while Rin chortled a bit. “Sounds like I have a lot for you to train me too, Naruto. I'm sure you are great at so many things, this should be so easy. I've been wanting to learn as much about you as I can ”

Walking out of the forested area, Rin headed straight toward Naruto's House. “D-do you think I'm better than Sasuke, Rin?” Naruto questioned so softly that she almost didn't hear him. “You have to be, right? He is your rival and he's yours, right?” Those words caused Naruto to scrunch his nose as if he had eaten something sour. “Hell no! I don't want anything to do with that guy! He's too stuck up for my taste.” He grumbled and again Rin chortled.

” Tomorrow is going to be fantastic if he keeps up this type of thinking…” Rin spoke sarcastically and let out a sigh.

“Let's talk about this again after your medicine, Naruto. What food can I cook for you tonight?”

Chapter Text

Walking in silence for most of the walk, Naruto seemed to keep moving his attention to other things to keep from focusing on the pain he was experiencing. He tried his best not to focus on the female carrying him, but there wasn't much to focus on without it negatively affecting his mental state as well.

Of course, it wasn't hard to see some of the looks that came their way when an Anbu black ops member was carrying around the boy they weren't supposed to talk about. And, of course, the strong member of the most elite ninja of the hidden leaf saw them just as easily as the nine-tailed did, but acted as if she was oblivious for the sake of her new son. ” People should just come up to us if they are going to speak about the boy so obviously, yeah. They can't even wait till we are out of the area to talk about us maybe? And why are they always staring at him, hm?” Isobu questioned as Naruto agonized over his shoulder, but it wasn't hard to see how the frown on his lips seemed to get bigger with each passing glance at the other people.

” Might as well get used to the looks, Iso. This is probably going to be our life for the next 13 or so years..” Isobu grumbled at the idea of having to care for his brother's jinchuuriki when the last one was as much trouble as the damn chains that bound him during that time Kushina was alive. She was scary to the three-tailed bijuu and every time the pepper head acted up with anger, it always seemed to give Rin the jitters as well, but to no fault of herself.

” Hmmp, not if I have anything to say about it, hm. I feel that Hiruzen will quickly kill that adoption thing in a heartbeat when he finds out about it, yeah.” Isobu warned with a slight grumble, but Rin just let out a sigh while lifting her hand to rub gently along the nine-tailed jinchuuriki's back. It caused Naruto to finally look up at Rin with a look of concern about what was happening around them, but she just smiled confidently back. “It's alright, Naruto. I know it hurts, we're almost at your house.” She tried to reassure the boy as she played oblivious to what was happening around them in favor of treating the boy better than anyone had really in the past. But he just kept quiet and then turned his frown into a pout. Naruto figured he might be able to get some goodies out of this lady's hospitality at least. “Hey lady, we should get some ramen before we head to my house. It would be the best dinner after the day I had. And you owe me for the pain I'm in.” He murmured, but Rin just smirked a bit.

“No way, Mister. You had ramen for lunch. I'm not going to go broke just to spoil you, alright? I'll figure out something else for you to eat.” Rin joked softly, just for Naruto's eyes to grow in confusion on how she knew he had ramen or not. “What? No, I didn't! How do you know I had ramen for lunch?” He pushed against her chest to try to get some distance out of defiance but needed to use only one arm to keep himself from experiencing any pain. “San told me everything you did today, Naruto! Don't you dare try to play me, you little trickster. I won't be swayed so easily by your cute looks just so you can try to get what you want, alright?”

Laughing a bit at the confusion coming from the nine-tailed, he looked so surprised by her reaction but still seemed to frown towards the end. “I'm not cute! I'm manly, you know.” He pouted some more, only for Rin to reach her hand up and poke his puffed-out cheek with her finger. “If you say so, Naruto. You can still be both in my eyes. It's not a competition and I don't think any less than you just because of your looks either.” She spoke confidently with him still grumbling under his breath. “I'm not cute, Hmmp.” Another slight chortle came, but Rin just held him close while carrying him with his good side pressed against her chest.

“Is there anything else you might like to eat besides ramen? Maybe I could try making it for you sometime.” She questioned as a way to try to connect with the boy, but the boy just shook his head. “Nothing else can compare to how tasty fresh ramen is. Nothing at all.” Rolling her eyes, she looked forward as a group of jonin and one Anbu member seemed to be walking right by her. She clinched tighter to her new son and looked at them with a small sense of familiarity, but also a strange mixture of worry.

She didn't want trouble for Naruto more than herself, but also wasn't sure what to think of what her friends might think of the nine-tailed. She didn't want to know their opinions on the fox, only the Anbu member still knew what she truly was, and she never had the heart to talk about what truly happened to her the night of the nine-tailed fox.

“Well.. you eat veggies with your ramen. So what's your favorite ramen veggies then? We can start there.” Rin spoke out as if she hadn't just been distracted by the approaching group and hoped that they simply ignored her as they walked past. It was one of those, maybe she would explain herself later or not.

It was like with Kakashi, but their group of friends felt as if she was more secretive about her life than even he was. They understood not to question the Anbu lifestyle, but the fact that she had completely changed fighting styles during her time away after disappearing after the nine-tail attack was very concerning. She disappears for almost five whole years and comes back in questionable health, but they choose not to question her as it isn't hard to see that bringing it up caused Rin a lot of discomfort.

And it wasn't like she could even speak the truth about the fact that she had been turned into a killing machine because of Danzo. Changing from the medical ninja lifestyle, teachings and all, just to become a weapon, and a very successful one, for the Root organization, was not something she could even think to bring up. Curse mark or not, her life as a jinchuuriki, and even her past, was only known truly by four people: Kakashi Hatake, Tenzo, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and, of course, the cause of all the problems in her life, Danzo Shimura.

Rin wasn't going to allow anyone else to know what she truly was and allow them to live to tell the tale. It wasn't safe for anyone involved and her concerns to keep Isobu and herself out of the claws of the mist village were her main priority. That was why the demonic duo needed to finish their plan tonight! They were so close to closing the book on the issue with the mist village that they could taste it!

“Oh hey, there's Rin! We should invite her for some dinner to catch up.” Maito spoke with a grin as it fully pulled the group's attention the jinchuuriki's way. They noticed her, and all seemed to show a different level of energy and happiness to see the female Anbu member, but her old teammate seemed to whisper something to the group after they noticed what she was carrying. “What is she doing?” Asuma questioned them, easily noticing the blonde jinchuuriki in her arms, but luckily Naruto seemed to have his full attention on the female.

“Kakashi, why is she holding.. him?” Kurenai questioned rather softly, seemingly neutral when it came to Naruto, but had more concerns for the safety of her friend than anything else in this situation. Rin was keeping her attention on the boy in her arms and the group could sense what was going on, but wasn't sure if they should get involved or not. “Keep walking. Ignore them. Rin is busy right now so let's not bother them.”

They seemingly listened to the Anbu member and kept their attention forward as they passed by Rin and listened to the two speaking about food and other unimportant things for some reason. They even heard Rin's ever-rare laugh after such a long time without it. They ignored each other, but with Kakashi in the back, Rin couldn't help but lift her head to look his way and they seemingly caught each other's eye for a few pregnant pauses.

Dropping her free hand to her side as she walked by the group, she reached out with great skill so as not to catch on to what she was doing and, like the two comrades had perfected, grazed her fingers along Kakashi's hand. Though it was very subtle, they squeezed each other's hand rather quickly and then kept walking. A strong way to reassure them that everything was alright and that they would speak later.

After they gained more distance from each other where the two jinchuuriki were far from their group at that point, they all stopped again and turned to look back. Naruto had been moved to seemingly look back at them but was simply put on the ground to walk hand-in-hand with his apparent babysitter. “She is too busy to just ignore us like that,” Asuma murmured with some understanding, but the group truly did miss spending time with Rin and it was the same when it came to dealing with Kakashi. “She didn't ignore us, Asuma, not by choice I believe. But if she has something to do with that boy I just hope she is safe during the whole ordeal.” Kurenai defended while Kakashi looked down at the hand that grazed his beloved comrade.

“It's complicated, but if anyone will be safe, it'll be Rin.” Speaking with some fondness, Kakashi was quick to put his hands in his pockets to help show that it wasn't a big deal. “That's right! If Kakashi isn't worried about it, then we shouldn't be either. After all, he is the one who cares about her most in the whole world, besides me! His number one rival.” Maito spoke proudly and loudly before pulling Kakashi over with his arm around his shoulders. “What the hell are you talking about, Gai?” Annoyance streaked across the Anbu captain’s face, even with the mask, the friends knew how to push Kakashi's buttons.

“We all care for Rin equally, right?” Kakashi questioned the other three to which Asuma and Kurenai looked at each other with a cheeky smile, but both nodded eventually. “Yeah, Kakashi. Of course, we all do, but out of all of us, you seem to be the closest to her. And I used to be her best friend before the nine-tails attack.” Thinking to herself, Kurenai looked up at the setting sun and gave an appealing smile. “ You are the only one of us who can get her out of her shell it seems. Anbu or not, even I know she's hiding something and now she's hanging out with that boy. Something is going on and I don't know if I like it.” More worry spilled from the female, and Asuma, of course, agreed with her. While Maito seemed to trust Rin's abilities to accomplish anything, the same went with Kakashi.

“Don't worry about Rin, I promise. She has everything handled like always. Hopefully, soon, she'll be able to reach out to all of us again like before. We just have to be patient with her.” Kakashi attempted to pull away from Gai and grunted when he simply pulled back down again. “Then we can all go for dumplings for once! And you can finally join us, Kakashi.” He grinned with excitement but Kakashi could only sigh.

“I already told you, I hate sweets.”
“Yes, but if you went with Rin before, that means that you found something to eat that you liked, so you can't hide that from us this time!”
“It wasn't like that last time.” He tried to defend the few times the two teammates had been caught at the dumpling shop, but Kakashi never ordered anything. He was only there for Rin's sake, and for the really rare time, they could spend time together outside the Anbu black ops. They spent time together all the time, but it was never really the same inside the Anbu or even with that damn bijuu around.

Kakashi hated having to share her with her bijuu as much as he had but would completely despise it if that thing got in the way of their special time again.

And then there just had to be a kid mixed in. And not just any normal kid. A perfect rival to mix in with Rin's already fucked up life and get it more complicated again. Just when things started to look up, another blockage was added to keep Rin from feeling normal again.

Finally releasing his rival, Maito pumped his fist with excitement. “She still owes me more than a few nights of workouts too. Rin always says she was stronger than when we were younger, and I want to test out her supposed strength.” This surprised Kakashi more than anything and made him scratch the back of his head with curiosity about exactly where that would go. “Gai, trust me when I say: be careful in that fight. Rin is stronger than when she was younger. Way stronger.” He spoke as a matter of fact and didn't sugarcoat it in the slightest. “She's stronger, but I wouldn't say she has the same level of patience as I do anymore. Do not try to sneak up on her like you did to me a few times, alright?”

Maito nodded and looked one more time at the speck of Rin in the distance. “Hmm. It sounds like a challenge, if anything, Kakashi. I'll keep that in mind, but you can never let your guard down when it comes to a test of strength!” Kakashi could only grumble and shake his head. ” Well. I did warn him. He didn't learn the last time I suppose.”

Following Naruto up the stairs, he eventually let go of her hand and ran ahead of her with a different level of energy than he had when Rin had her Anbu disguise on. “Hmmp. I hope your food tastes good, at least. Maybe then you will not be so boring… maybe. We will have to see Rin ” Waving him off to go on ahead, the female sighed and nodded. “This is going to be a long process. Why did I have to hide who I was when he was younger?” She murmured to herself as the sound of dangling keys could be heard as Naruto unlocked his front door.

“Did you know your sister has her key to my house? You should count yourself lucky that I'm letting you see my house in the first place, you know.” Naruto yelled out down the hall as he waited for Rin to finish climbing the stairs before rushing inside, but left the door open behind him. “Yes, whiskers, I'm aware of what my sister has,” Rin yelled back as her memory of the same key in her ninja pouch came to mind but she could only shrug.

” A very long process, yeah. He should feel lucky that we're entertaining this ridiculous thing, hm.” Isobu agreed with utter annoyance, but Rin was the more patient of the two luckily. ” At least Kurama is being quiet the whole time, but…” A sigh came from the turtle and Rin rubbed what little bit of his massive head she could reach with her fingers within the mindscape. ”Hm…” Looking towards his forehead, he tilted his head slightly causing Rin to tighten up her body to keep from sliding in a certain direction.

“What Isobu? You're going to make me fall off.” More curious than frustrated from the change in his posture, Rin relaxed back when he straightened his head. ” Maybe you can see if we can speak to him? It has been almost six years since we've spoken and I'm sure he's changed, yeah. Maybe he has?” The hope in the bijuu's voice was mixed with more doubt than anything. Rin felt that the turtle bijuu was lonely from missing his family more than anything, and though he was stuck with the worst of them all, at least he had his brother nearby.

Though the feelings were probably not returned, Isobu loved Kurama and his family. He still missed the good old days and hoped that one day they could come back, but for now just wanted to make sure everything was alright with the fox. A nervous tick came from the jinchuuriki and she frowned at the idea of seeing the fox again. It terrified Rin almost as much as Danzo did, but luckily for her, her Sensei's sealing abilities kept everyone safe. ” Maybe. Just no promises, Isobu, alright?” She shook her head and made the horrible memories go away. He nodded and hoped that it was in their favor to make it happen.

” It's not like we don't have the time to do it later on though, Isobu. We're stuck together until the unforeseeable future.” Slipping off her shoes and stepping into the dirty apartment, she looked around to see where to find Naruto but first went to the kitchen to retrieve the medicine for his relief. She didn't even think of the fact that she shouldn't know his apartment like the back of her mind without her mask, but it wouldn't be hard to play dumb if the boy asked her about it. “Naruto? Where'd you go, whiskers?” She called out to the blonde boy while simply reaching up on the counter where Naruto had put the medicine earlier.

Giving it a shake, it sounded like music to the female, but Rin could only keep herself quiet to try to listen to the overly peaceful house. It was as if he wasn't even there. “You can't hide from me. I have ways of finding you~” Walking out of the kitchen and into the hallway, she almost jumped when she heard a smash suddenly come from the bathroom. The worry wrecked her system more than startled, but she quickly opened the door without thinking or waiting only to find Naruto wrapped up in his shower curtain with oil poured all over the floor beneath his feet.

“Oh my Gods, Naruto! Are you alright!?” Without thinking about it, she was careful to tiptoe in the oil to keep herself from falling, but just ended up sitting on her knees to help lift Naruto’s head from the floor. “Augh… ow what happened?” Naruto questioned as he was nestled against the bend of Rin's arm and she examined him for any injuries. “What do you mean what happened? That's what I'm asking you. Are you alright? Did you get hurt?” The panic was real in that her voice was louder than she wanted, but she couldn't keep herself calm at the idea of the young boy being injured for some reason.

Struggling against the wrapped shower curtain, Rin reached up with simple ease and ripped it down from the bar to help in a way. “H-hey! Don't rip that! I have to use that, you know!” He screamed out in irritation, but Rin just looked so lost when he was hurt. “I'm too broke to replace that on a whim!” He growled out but gasped from the strange look in the jinchuuriki's eyes. She held him so delicately that it looked like she might break him if she wasn't careful. No matter how impossible that was.

Without even thinking about it, she pulled him close and nuzzled her cheek against his while wrapping her arms around his small form. He felt so warm against her icey cheek, but it didn't stop a blush from forming from how close and slightly foreign, but familiar at the same time, the intimate act was for Naruto. Her scent. Her overly cold, but strong touch. It was all something he shouldn't know about, but he felt like he knew it all so much more than he should. And that didn't include his time with San.

“Please stop hurting yourself. At least heal a wound before creating others, please?” Rin couldn't hide the concern and pleading in her voice as she rubbed her cheek against his a few more times before pulling him up against her chest and allowing him to sit on her knees and upper thighs for support. ” W-why does she care so much? … Probably because it's her job to heal people?” Struggling under the confines of the curtain, Rin slowly opened her eyes and looked at the oil on the floor. “What is this stuff? And why were you messing with it?”

Quickly placing him in the tub to keep him from falling again, Rin tried to stay still and used some old towels the boy had hanging in there to help clean up the nasty mess. Seemed like it was some kind of hair oil, but the only bottle she could find was pet shampoo that had poured over. While Naruto unwrapped himself, surprisingly quiet the whole time, a look of discomfort seemed to be the only expression he could hold whenever he attempted to look Rin’s way. “Ooh. Do you have a pet, Naruto? I love this brand; it brings out my dog's coats, and the no scent helps keep them hidden in battle.” Growing excited at the idea of Naruto having a pet of some kind made Rin think of her and Kakashi's ninja pack. Such good ninja pups.

Fixing the bottle and finishing cleaning up the mess, she let out a mistful sigh and chortled a bit. “Well, I guess I won't need my shampoo when I shower later on.” She joked while going to the sink to wash off the residue from her hands only to look at how depressed Naruto was in the glass mirror. He lifted the almost empty bottle and let out a few murmurs to himself that Rin couldn't hear at all. “Naruto?” Fully turning around, Naruto silently stepped out of the tub and carefully treaded on the still-wet floor to just leave the bathroom without saying anything; he simply left the ripped shower curtain in the bathtub and walked toward the door. “Naruto?...”

“I-I was trying to prank you… you were supposed to trip when you came in to check on me, but it didn't work like it was supposed to.” He murmured with embarrassment, clenching his fist and turning to look her rather angry in the eyes. “And… I don't have a pet! That's the only shampoo I can afford and now it's all gone! And you ripped my shower curtain! I can't afford anything extra and you made it worse, you know?!” The frustration and confusion of the whole situation poured from his lips as he seemingly screamed at the female. He didn't mean to, but something that was meant to be funny to him turned into an embarrassing and pathetic time overall. And then interpreting her compliment as almost being called a dog just because the shampoo he uses was too much for the young boy.

“Give me my medicine and just leave Rin! You're no help at all.” Standing still and glaring now at the wall, the anger for the situation, it wasn't hard to sense how uneasy the young boy felt, but Rin could only sigh with some understanding. “That sounds like it would have been a funny prank. Dang.. hmm. Maybe I can still just leave and trip on the way out..? No. No, that wouldn't be the same. Well..” She crossed her arms over her chest and dramatically placed her chin on her palm as if she were in deep thinking. “Dang, Naruto. I'm sorry for ruining your prank.” She shrugged and smiled a bit when she managed to get him to look at her as if he was lost from her reaction.

Leaning over and smiling sweetly at the blonde, she reached her hand up and ruffled his hair again, even pushing his goggles down again. “H-hey!” He grumbled from having to fix his goggles again.” You're going to have to try to trick me again, alright? Try your best to get me next time. But please be careful. I don't want to see you getting hurt again.” She weakly crossed her arms over her chest and turned her attention to the cheap, very old, and slightly moldy plastic shower curtain. It looked like it was on its last legs anyway and any sort of damage was being fixed with tape. It needed to be replaced even without Rin's intervention.

” No wonder he eats ramen all the time. It's cheap. But how can Hiruzen let him be so poor like this? There's a difference between frugal and just plain poor. Minato sensei and Kushina would kill Lord Third if they found out about this.” Getting angry over the idea of how the fourth Hokage’s son was being treated, a small trail of mist left her nostrils, but was quickly waved away to keep from causing a big deal. “And I'm sorry about ripping your curtain.” Reaching into her ninja pack, she dug around for a bit but secretly used it to dig around in the three-tails dimension for some stuff.

“Let me see. You still have that cute frog pouch right?” She questioned Naruto's confusion and became a little wary when he pulled it out of the pocket of his pants. It was so light with only a few yen in it, and it was heartbreaking to hold for the nine-tailed, but I still watched the female, and she seemingly dug some more for something. ” It's weird how much she knows about me. And I don't know anything about her, but why does it feel like I've known her for a long time...” He questioned himself and he held the small wallet in both of his small hands.

Reaching up to open it with her free hand, Rin quickly covered it with her other hand and shoved some of her money inside to fill it to the brim. “Sheesh, whiskers. I didn't know your frog pet was starving. If you had time for me, I would have fed it sooner.” Rin smiled softly before removing her hands and showing it chock-full. She even went back in for something else. “It's important to feed your pets and keep them clean too.” Looking as if she was busy with something else, she searched again while Naruto’s blue eyes grew bigger at the site of all the money he'd never had before in his short life. “Woah.” He gasped out and felt a bottle of something being placed on his head. “I ran out of the stuff you like to use, so you can use my shampoo, Naruto. I'll buy more later.”

Gasping and having to grab the object she had placed on his head only to find that he wasn't able to fit his whole hand around the huge bottle while carrying his full wallet. When the bottle of shampoo slid off his hand, it accidentally smacked Naruto's palm and flew into the air back toward Rin. Luckily for her ninja skills, she caught it in her palm without even breaking eye contact with the younger.

“Careful with this. We don't want another spill, Naruto.” Showing him the contents of the bottle, it read as the name brand version that only the most elite use and could ever possibly think to afford. He remembered it being almost 10,000 yen the last time he had seen it for sale, while the pet one he could afford was 1,000 yen. Not knowing that Rin gets a huge discount as an Anbu black ops member and most of the time just showers after a mission at work, so it wasn't ever really used; either way, she could just pick up another bottle later on.

Placing it on the side of the tub, Rin wiped her side again and seemed surprised when Naruto hadn't moved in the slightest. He looked at her as if she was a ghost and caused her to raise an eyebrow at his sudden quiet nature. “Er.. I'm sorry for destroying your curtain. I was just trying to make sure you weren't hurt. I wasn't trying to help you, at least not really. I don't think you need much help, Naruto.”

Again, no real reply came from the silent boy, and he still looked at her with his thousand-yard stare, so she simply turned her attention to what she had been there for. While reaching into her ninja pouch, Rin looked to the side again so as not to make it look strange. While digging in her dimension, she pulled out the medicine she had thrown in when she freaked out about Naruto moments earlier.

” Why is she being so nice to me? What makes her want to help me like this?” Naruto questioned himself as his eyes fell upon the amount of money she had given him. He had never seen so much in his whole life, but couldn't believe that this was given out of the kindness of her heart. She must want something. No one was ever kind to him without wanting something in return. Well… expect the ramen guy and San… maybe she was just like San.

“Why do you want to get to know me so much, Rin? There is nothing special about me, you know?” Barely able to clip his frog purse together to close it completely, he simply put it back in his pocket but lifted his head to look at her like a lost puppy. It drew some confusion from the strange question when he had only been angry before, but caused her to calmly smile with some understanding.

“When you become the Fifth Hokage, everyone will want to get to know you. But if I get to know you now, as a nobody, then I guess I can tell everyone that I'm your number one fan, Naruto.” Rin shook the bottle again before stepping out into the hallway. “And you're very special, Naruto. Even more so than a lot of ninjas in the world, and then you think that's why I truly do believe you'll be able to achieve your dream to become the best Hokage in the world.” Walking back to the kitchen to start dinner so he could eat a proper meal with his meds, Naruto ran to the corner to watch her walk rather curiously. “You're so weird, Rin!” He called out at a loss for words, only to hear her laugh a bit. “You have no idea, whiskers!”

Using her dimensional storage of eggs from the dimension, Naruto decided to just watch the kunoichi from the safety of sitting on top of his sink in their kitchen. He had changed into his casual clothing and placed his goggles for safekeeping somewhere in his room while Rin set up for dinner. He wasn't exactly in the way, but it was strange how quiet he was while she worked around him. “We need to pick you up some more veggies, but for now we will go with more protein for this meal to help balance out the amount of salt you eat in each of the servings,” Rin spoke out without focusing on the boy as she knew he was listening intently. “A growing boy needs lots of balance to keep himself healthy to fully achieve becoming Hokage.”

Knowing the place like the back of her hand, Rin easily opened up a cabinet with the small choices of glasses Naruto had and walked over toward the sink. He flinched when she got closer and was ready to move only for her to press her body into his and work around him. Another playful tactic was to show he wasn't in the way, and if he was, she would simply ask him to move. This was his house after all.

“You have such nice appliances for cooking, I'm jealous, Naruto. I want a rice cooker like yours. Mine doesn't even work that well…” While filling a glass of cold water, his eyes grew a bit brighter when he looked even closer than before. His eyes stared at the purple clan markings on her cheeks and saw the kind spark in her eyes that reminded him of San in so many ways.

She could only blame the pain for the silence of the younger, but also knew he was watching her for some reason. It wasn't hard to see that Rin was going to have to earn his trust as she had in her Anbu persona but was going with the flow so as not to force it. Rin hoped it would happen naturally, and hoped it would go just as fast too.

” He must be really hungry and hurting to be so quiet..” ”Maybe, yeah. Or you shocked his system by being so nice to him. Perhaps too nice, hm?” The questionable tone from the bijuu caused Rin to tilt her head down towards him in the mindscape and she just shrugged. ” Good emotions like love and kindness are what help keep the seal nice and sealed properly. Unless you want to deal with your brother again, I'll just keep up this little act, alright?” ”Act, hm? Yeah right. You're enjoying yourself, yeah.”

It was true, she was having a lot more fun not needing to have to wear a mask and just do whatever she wanted around the boy. Even with it only being a few hours together, being able to breathe without that bloody mask was a dream come true. “Rin… you're smothering me,” Naruto grumbled out causing Rin to pull back once the glass was full enough of cool water. It overflowed as her mind went to other things at that moment, but Naruto couldn't tell with it happening behind his back.

Pulling back from the boy, Naruto shook his head and fixed his clothes from the long and weird stance. “Ah, I'm sorry! I got distracted. Now hold out your hand and make sure you drink all of this with your medicine. Do not take it with milk, please. It won't work so well if you do.” He held up his hand and the other one though, at a lesser angle. He could barely lift his arm on his bad shoulder from the pain he was experiencing, causing Rin to sigh and place her finger on his bad hand. “Push up.” She ordered and when he managed to still give her a good push, the worry went away. He had overdone it with the shuriken practice earlier.

“No shuriken training tomorrow, alright? Let your body heal. Nurses orders.” Rin scolded the child while he just went from quiet to pouting and grumbled a bit. “You're so bossy, Rin. Fine. But you better make it work my wild, you know. This training better be good.” “Oh, I'm sure you'll be tired afterward. Or maybe not. You have all this energy and I'm sure it has to go somewhere.”

After a decent, but very quiet meal and the sun had set, Naruto felt a lot better after the medicine had kicked in and was ready to train already. He was even moving it, much to Rin's displeasure, but she let him do what he wanted as long as he didn't overextend it. “Alright! I'm ready to train.” Pushing him through the hallway and toward his bedroom, Rin plopped the boy into his bed with a grin. “In your dreams, Naruto. It's time for you to go to bed and time for me to go home.”

Naruto stared at the female with wide eyes, but soon they returned to normal. He fought a bit but ended up listening and angrily snuggling down into the sheets. “Hmmp. Fine. You better be back tomorrow though.” Rin walked toward the door to leave. “Maybe. I don't know. Might be busy, who knows?”Giving him a shrug with her back to him, she turned her head and waved a bit. “Just kidding, yeah I'll see you tomorrow.” There was a look of relief on his face when she said those words, but also something else.

“W-wait..ow..” Those two words forced her to stop in her steps when Rin was about to leave only for her to turn around and see him nursing his shoulder again. It shouldn't have been hurting so quickly after giving him those meds, jinchuuriki or not, Rin understood how to properly dose someone like herself. “What? What's wrong?!” Quickly retreating to his side, she leaned over and placed her hand on his head to make sure he was alright.

Needing to close one of his eyes and look her in the face, Naruto looked uncomfortable for some reason, but he just smiled weakly. “I don't think I can sleep on my side with my shoulder hurting like this.” Complaining about someone so small, Rin looked down at his shoulder, then his whole sitting body, and slowly stood back up with only slight concern. She didn't want him to be in any sort of pain, but couldn't tell if this was a trick or simply a fact.

“Sleep on your other side then, Naruto. It's only one night.” Offering a solution, she was surprised when he reached up his arm and grabbed onto the bottom of her Anbu vest. “I had a different idea. There was this thing San used to do when I was younger that helped me sleep at night.” Naruto figured he couldn't lose asking the one thing that he knew would help if he could make it work. “......” Knowing where this was going, Rin reached her hand up and pinched the bridge of her nose. Not out of irritation but of the cute memories that came with what he wanted to ask her.

Those times with Naruto growing up were only the few times she could remember ever being happy in the root organization. It was a hell of five years, and yet the growing bond between the two was her only comfort without Naruto even knowing it. Even Kakashi couldn't help her without putting his life on the line. But the nine-tailed jinchuuriki: Danzo couldn't touch him in the slightest.

“Yeah, yeah. That would work.. but you were so much smaller when she did that with you, Naruto. Are you sure it'll be comfortable?” Rin questioned with a slight sigh of frustration with such a very inconveniently timed request. “Yes. It'll work. I know it will, you know.” Speaking with determination, Naruto slid forward on the bed to the end and Rin just stood there for a second. She deeply debated her choices and clicked her teeth. What did she have to lose?

“Fine, but only this one time.”
“Hell yes! I mean… alright…”

Removing her anbu vest, gloves, and armbands, she removed most of her protective wear to allow herself to be able to comfortably hold the young fox boy, like when he was a baby, toddler, and even young boy. ”But Rin. If you do this we won't be able to do the ritual tonight, yeah.” Isobu tried to fight what his jinchuuriki was doing, but Rin simply couldn't fight those loving feelings and memories that came when she was able to hold Naruto when he was younger. “One night. It'll only be one night and then tomorrow we'll do it. We have time I promise. It's not going to change how long we'll be out anyway, so what's one night?” The kunoichi offered her bijuu only for him to agree, but not without a little pushback.

Scooting behind the blonde jinchuuriki, Rin got comfortable at an angle using his pillows on her back and opened her arms to the young boy. He looked at her warily and seemed to squint at how Rin knew exactly what to do but was so tired and excited to be able to hold them like that for so long that he didn't question it. He slid up the bed, bringing the blanket with him, and rested on his stomach against her body.

Being so much smaller than the kunoichi, Rin adjusted him to make them both comfortable and ended up resting her chin on his head. “Now go to sleep. You're going to the academy tomorrow.” Rin whispered as her arms wrapped around his chest and couldn't help but hold him tightly to her soft, but cold body. It felt nice in the summer heat and Naruto couldn't help but snuggle closer for the strange comfort this gave him. ” Just like when I was younger. Just like with San… I like this…” Though the ninja had no scent, being this close, Naruto caught the smell of water, like the ocean or a giant lake, coming from the adult.

She began to stroke his soft hair in his fingers and it just felt like they were the only two people in the whole world.

”My little kitsune.”

Maybe sleeping like this wouldn't be so bad for one night.

Chapter Text

The three-tailed jinchuuriki slept harder than she could ever remember. Though it was very pleasant, it caused her bijuu's horrible request to be fulfilled much faster than the jinchuuriki could have liked or guessed. Pressing the nine-tailed jinchuuriki tighter to her chest, she snuggled against his body and unknowingly slipped into territory she hadn't confidently touched in more than over six years.

It wasn't completely up to her, as was the first few times she met with the fox when he was sealed within Kushina, as Isobu had his hands in the connection as well. Without knowing it, Isobu and Kurama’s connections connected and drew the poor female deep into a place she was never wanting to go back to. Not until she was ready… but the question is would she ever be prepared for a meeting with her one true nightmare?

The world around the sleeping jinchuurikis melted away and because of the lack of knowing the truth in his painful life, the three-tailed jinchuuriki was the only one dragged down into the seal of the nine-tailed fox.

Jolting back to an awakened state, Rin found herself lying on her stomach in a puddle of water that raised to almost pass her clan marks on her cheek. Her eyes dilated as she focused on the low dim light of the seemingly strange hallways of someplace she barely recognized. She tightened her hands into fists and adjusted her body to slowly sit up with her hand placed on her forehead to try to clear it away. ” Not here. Anywhere but here.” Rin grunted out as she ran her hand over her face to try to clear away any signs of this maybe being a nightmare, but she understood that it wasn't that simple.

Like her own seal at one point, the water wasn't cold or even felt like it affected her skin in the slightest. A few deep breaths and the female was on her feet, her arms dropped over her chest and her worried eyes stared in the direction she knew they needed to tread to go see the damn fox. A slight swallow and she sighed before forcing herself onward. ” I blame you, Isobu. I don't care if this was an accident. I still… blame you.”

Picking up the pace, a sense of anger for past mistakes flowed over the jinchuuriki and all those associated with the fox. She knew how to respect the bijuu and Kurama was no different, but her hatred for the fox was not something that had cleared up in the past six years since their last interaction.

The turtle stayed quiet as he knew he had pushed his luck with this meet-up, but hoped things had changed in the short time away from the toxic previous jinchuuriki Kurama had had. Coming to the massive caged room that enclosed the nine-tailed fox, Rin let out a pant from stress and growing anxiety about what she had been faced with. Though she stopped at the entrance to the massive room, she hesitated for only a moment, put on a weak smile, and started to tread toward the being of hatred and just a being of massive bastardism.

”Oi, Kurama. At least this is better than being crucified on a boulder above boiling lava.” The three-tailed jinchuuriki tried to play lightly, but it was very clear how nervous and scared she was. But was it the past or the present that made things worse?

A subtle growl and the massive finally opened his crimson eyes and slowly bared his fangs toward the approaching female. Both seemed surprised with the surprise guest, but both weren't going to show it that much. ” What the hell are you doing here? I thought you died a long time ago.” She kept her distance for her safety but slowly began to clinch to her shoulder as it began to burn from memories and started to slowly show up. “But then you would miss me too much, Kurama. I'm sure you've been lonely with no company these past few years.”

Taking a few steps closer, the fox stayed in his laying position but watched the female with a glare the whole time. ” It's been peaceful compared to how quickly annoying it became when you got here.” He watched as she seemed to be investigating the cage that held him, and her eyes fell upon the sealed paper on the front.

It would be so simple to grab it and rip it off to release the fox, but she was not an idiot with a death wish, nor did she think it would be that simple. Minato was a genius, and there is no way just ripping it off would free the fox.

Lifting her black sleeveless shirt to look at her pale stomach, she imagined what it would be like to have a seal on it after so many years without it…
And she hated that idea.

” Awe, I missed you too, you bastard. How peaceful can it be when you have an excited knucklehead like Naruto as a jinchuuriki?” The three-tailed jinchuuriki looked over her shoulder as her bijuu finally chose to join the party by summoning himself behind his jinchuuriki and eyed down the fox. ” Oh great, now the pet is here too.” That earned him an annoyed hiss from the turtle who slid closer and almost headbutted the bars, but it wouldn't do anything for anyone. ” Says the one in the cage, yeah. At least I can do as I please, brother, hm.” His three tails smashed against the bars, but they didn't move in the slightest but caused Rin to rub her stomach from the negative feeling it seemed to have caused her.

”Isobu. Don't brag and don't start anything right now. You're the reason we're here, not him.” She spoke low toward her bijuu but ended up scratching her stomach a few times as well. ” Yes three tails, listen to your master.” Kurama smirked, but Rin moved closer to the bars near his fluffy face with her arms crossed over her chest. ” You're not in any better shape, Kurama. You might have the power behind your words and actions, but…” The jinchuuriki stopped her words and took a step back to look at the massive bars, only to see Kurama turn his head to try to ignore the female and even Isobu scooted closer to her.

” Stop antagonizing each other. You know he isn't a pet. He's my partner and your brother. And just because you ended up with the easier jinchuuriki, Iso does not make you any better than him…” Though the statement caused the fox to raise his lip in disgust, he didn't react to much else, bringing much surprise to the jinchuuriki. However, it did give Isobu a small pride boost from the confident and friendly title of his jinchuuriki, though it turned sour when their lives were compared. Rin felt it and nudged the turtle when he got close enough, though it did make Rin smile from how uplifting it was for the bijuu.

The kunoichi had no idea what she was expecting, but it seemed that the fox was calmer than six years ago. Not as snappy and trying to eat her. A bastard through and through, but it was clear to see the fox was bored and sleepy too. The truth was the pain medicine she had given Naruto was, and could only wonder how scary the fox would be if he was still in pain.

” Do you feel any pain from yesterday's fall, or do you feel better? You'll probably be disoriented while Naruto is drugged, but it won't be too long. I know the limit to truly drug a jinchuuriki and I didn't even get close to that number.” The female tried to reassure the fox who just opened his eye and looked between his brother and the female, only to close them again as if he were sleeping. But it better to be ignored than evidenced, Rin guessed.

Turning to look at her bijuu, she shrugged and seemed to rub her shoulder a few more times, but only because she was feeling a little greedy at the moment. ” Don't push it, Rin, yeah.” The turtle bijuu warned as some ideas passed through Rin's mind and Isobu intercepted them just as quickly. She waved her hand a bit to try to dismiss the bijuu’s concerns and stepped back up toward the bars to get the fox's attention.

” Hey Kurama…Are you willing to speak to me about what happened that night?” She asked gently, and the shift was almost automatic with how irritating the bijuu fox suddenly became with the jinchuuriki. He slowly tensed his body and quickly opened his eyes into a deep glare that easily pierced the female with a strong sense of dread. If not for Isobu swiping his clawed fingers around his jinchuuriki to pull her back closer to him, she more than likely would have had a major manic episode.

Pulling Rin closer to his face, the jinchuuriki lay in his palm, was pale to look at and her eyes were huge from the fear, and awful memories of that night when both her sensei passed away and they failed to protect anyone. She stared at her bijuu, but it seemed that she wasn't even there mentally. ” Even after so long by yourself, hm. In a cage, better than you had before in that red-headed wench, you still get defensive over the stupidest of things.” The two beasts had a stare down and even Kurama sat up to glare down at the turtle, but it didn't affect the lesser one in the slightest.

” You know nothing about that night and if your bitch of a jinchuuriki comes back here again, I will make sure that she suffers before she begs for death, three tails.” Grasping carefully on the body of his jinchuuriki, Isobu pressed his head against the bars of the seal and hissed rather threateningly toward the fox. ” And here I thought you had changed brother, yeah. Too bad you'll be stuck with us for the foreseeable future.”

Kurama slowly closed his mouth and squinted his eyes with confusion and mistrust at the words of the three-tailed turtle. A small growl from Kurama turned into a smirk and he lifted his head with pride for some reason. ”Perfect. It's just a matter of time until the seal opens even a little and allows me full control. And in that small amount of time, I'll make sure to end your suffering, three-tails, just as I promised the night when you both first woke up from her failed suicide. Isobu copied his brother and squinted his eye, but clicked his beak a few times from the frustration he was feeling. ” I have no seal, yeah. Nothing prevents me from slaughtering your pathetic jinchuuriki and setting you back to stage one when you are reborn in who knows how long it would take.”

None of the bijuu family had truly died, but if it counted, Isobu had felt death's door too many times when tied to his current damaged jinchuuriki for it not to count for him. “And yet I will still be stronger than all of you combined.” Kurama said proudly, but his brother just scoffed.

” What would father think if he saw us fighting like this, hm?” That question caused Kurama's lips to slowly close and he growled ever so slightly.

” Get. Out.”

There was nothing that could be said after that threat. Kurama was sure he would end the two of them, but the three-tailed duo wouldn't go down without a fight.

Not quite ready for the ride awakening, the poor nine-tailed fox found himself being flung from the comfortable position he had been sleeping from. The major knee-jerk reaction to the negative meeting with the nine tails did not go as the three-tailed bijuu had planned, but he got his answers and it left his jinchuriki in a horrible mental state.

Her eyes shot open, flashing a quick bout of demonic chakra changing them from their chocolate brown to those of crimson red and yellow, and her wild panting produced mist from her lips. She couldn't process what was real in that moment, only that her body was reacting negatively to the horrible memories of those nights causing the jinchuuriki to clinch to her shoulders and chest for dear life to try to keep herself grounded.

“Ow…” A single murmur came from the once sleeping child that had rested on her chest only moments ago and found himself being flung to the ground. He didn't land so easily, really landing on his butt and back against the wall, but it was more startling than painful. “What the heck, Rin? What was that for?” Naruto questioned before slowly getting up to his feet while rubbing his aching back. Even his stomach burned, but he was too tired to even notice it compared to his back.

A whimper brought his attention from the dark end of the bed and he watched as the female jinchuuriki was rubbing her body to try to numb the pain she was experiencing. “I tried my best. I tried my best…” She repeated to herself, and ended up flinching when Naruto placed his hand on her cold, but sweaty upper arm. “Rin? Are you alright?” Seeing the way her eyes looked distant, but tears still poured from them made him a bit skeptical of what even happened.

She stared at him, but her eyes slowly moved down to look at his stomach. They slowly sharpened, but she reached her shaking hand toward the young boy. Though no words were spoken, Naruto looked at the offered hand, took it after questioning it a little, and ended up being scooped up and practically smothered against Rin's chest. “I'm so sorry, Naruto. I'm s-sorry.” Her voice broke during her apology, but the fox jinchuuriki didn't understand how and why she randomly ended up crying for no reason. He didn't even know if he did it, or just bad nightmares were the cause.

“If I was stronger… then …” He felt her tears against the back of his shirt and shoulder, but all Naruto could do was look at the jinchuuriki rather confused about why she was acting this way. He patted her back and tried to hug her back the best he could. “U-uh.. it's okay, you know. It didn't hurt that much and you scared me more than anything, Rin.” Naruto attempted to soothe the kunoichi, but he was far from an expert in that sort of thing.

Pressing her chin and head into the side of his face and neck, Rin opened her eyes and looked up to see the aura of the angered fox attempting to push her even further. They glared at each other, but Rin simply lifted her head to rest her chin on Naruto’s shoulder with a sharp sigh. “I-I'm glad you're okay, my little… Naruto. We're stuck together for a while and it would be horrible if I hurt you after one night together.” She whispered while pulling her head back to look him in the eyes.

His blue eyes looked at her so confused about the whole ordeal, but Rin simply lifted her hands and rubbed them against his whiskered cheeks with the biggest smile she could give. Her heart wept for Kushina and Minato to be there instead of herself, but it was too late to do anything about it. “Ugh, why were you scared like that anyway? I've never seen anyone jump like that in their sleep.” Naruto grumbled as his cheeks were roughly rubbed, but he just smacked her hands a few times when he had enough.

Moving over in the bed, she pressed her back against the side and patted the mattress for him to join. There was no use in her going back to sleep, she knew it was no use and so she would just try to soothe her inner demons with other things to keep her busy. Going to work early would be an idea, but she didn't want to leave just out of nowhere just yet. “I had a nightmare…” Rin murmured a bit while Naruto scooted under the blankets and laid on his back while Rin just lay on her side with her head being supported by her fist.

“That's pretty obvious, Rin. What was the nightmare about? Did you lose a fight or something?” He asked so innocently, and again Rin's eyes fell upon his stomach which she just covered with the blanket to try to keep her mind off it. “Y-yeah. A major loss. But a lot of people lost against the big bad guy, but don't worry, he can't get you anymore.” She grinned softly and placed her hand around his hip to pull him closer to her side.

Rin was still so cold and felt nice compared to the hot apartment near the start of the summer, but Naruto was still curious about who she was talking about. “Big bad guy? Did he die or something?” He snuggled closer to her and nuzzled into Rin's side while she lifted her head to read what time it was exactly from the clock next to the bed. “No, he didn't die. But he was split in half and sealed away so we don't have to fear him for a long time.”

She knew she shouldn't be talking about it, she shouldn't have brought it up, but Naruto wasn't ever going to find out what or who she was talking about. Not with that decree in place.

“Split in half? S-so there's two of him now?” Naruto questioned while running running his finger over a bumpy strange texture on the side of the jinchuuriki's upper hip, causing Rin to shiver, grab his hand, and place it down by her stomach. Feeling him rub her Chidori scars was unpleasant in more ways than one, and though she understood his curious nature, Rin couldn't handle that right then and there. “Well. Yes and no. One is nearby, in jail, the other one the Fourth Hokage took care of long ago. It's pretty silly if you saw him 'cause he is so much tinier than he used to be.” She held out her hand above the two of them and used her thumb and index finger to pinch together how small he would be.

Every word seemed to piss off the fox, but the three-tailed jinchuuriki didn't care and even her bijuu didn't agree with the tactic but allowed his jinchuuriki to do what she wanted at that point. It was slightly justified.

“Tiny, and in jail?” Naruto questioned and snickered a bit. “It must be a really small jail for like bugs or something, you know.” A small smirk fell upon Rin's lips and even caused her to tickle his stomach a few times to elicit a genuine laugh from the younger jinchuuriki. “Oh, definitely for bugs. The creepiest and crawliest of bugs.” They both laughed a bit, before Rin sighed softly, slowly reaching her hand up and running her fingertip over his forehead. She gently drew out the symbol of the leaf and Naruto just looked at her rather confused, but did enjoy the movement.

“Go back to sleep, Naruto. When you wake up, I don't know if I'll be here, but I'll leave you a surprise alright?” Rin whispered but Naruto just frowned a bit and quickly clinched to the side of her black shirt. “I'll go back to sleep, but you're not leaving without waking me, you know. I won't let you.” Naruto grumbled and turned over to scoot even closer toward Rin's stomach, but she just kept messing with his hair to entrans him to go back to sleep.

“Alright, whiskers. Whatever you say.” Rin laughed softly, as she soothingly scratched at his scalp and moved her hand down to rub his back. It didn't take long for Naruto to slip back to sleep, but Rin simply frowned down at his stomach.

” Do that again and I'll start eating turtle, Isobu.” The three-tailed jinchuuriki warned her bijuu and it was a strong enough move that she needed to jump off his head to get her point across. She glared up at the powerful bijuu and he simply stared down, understanding that he messed up to a degree, but Rin had made it worse by pushing that meeting. ” I told you not to push it, Rin, yeah. You had to go overboard.” He pushed back, but Rin crossed her arms over her chest.

” Don't test me, turtle. You're the one who dropped me in without any warning, into a place that I was not mentally prepared to go into, dealt with someone who almost killed us once already, killed my sensei and his wife, and had me deal with the fox because you couldn't do it by yourself. This is your only warning, don't do that again…. Please.” It started with anger and resentment, but slowly her words turned into a depressing slew of words. She didn't mean to point her anger and hatred toward her partner, but they both hated feeling helpless.

It was bad enough that she fell to her knees and arms, splashing the water below the two of them, and just stared at the rock flooring below them. Her eyes grew for a moment when thoughts and memories of the nine-tails attack passed through their minds and caused her to wince from the experience. ” Now this is going to haunt us for a while. G-great job…” Again she lifted her head and dramatically fell to lie on her back within their shared mindscape. She allowed her head to fall below the knee-high water and just attempted to have it cool down her mind from the dark thoughts going through it.

Choosing to slide and lay down as close as he could to his jinchuuriki, his spikes blocked out a small shade of the light above her and Rin just squinted her eyes to look at the huge eye of her bijuu. He was angered at his brother, more than at his jinchuuriki, but the frustration was affecting them both. ” He's supposed to be the strongest of us nine, at least from what his superiority complex used to tell us fellow bijuu, yeah. But I thought he would have changed after six years of being in a different situation than when he was stuck in that red-headed scary lady.”

She listened but didn't respond as her words were already spoken enough.

” His hatred runs deep, maybe even deeper than his love for his own family, hm.” Swaying his middle tail, he gently moved it over his body and dangled the tip right over his jinchuuriki’s lying form. She didn't even need to be asked or told, but simply grabbed onto the giant tail end and allowed herself to be lifted back to her main spot on top of his head. ” Hatred doesn't put anyone in a better place in life after a while. It might be something that fuels the bastard right now, but maybe the two of us can help change that. Maybe… maybe even his jinchuuriki? Mm…maybe not.”

Rin crossed her arms and looked at the bright top above them again as her mind raced with ideas on what to do for the future. ” We still can't tell him. That decree makes it so, but… it never said anything about teaching about what bijuu are and such. That could work in our favor.” A smirk grew upon her lips and she sprawled her arms out with a grunt.

” I need to speak to Lord Hiruzen about not being able to work for a few days anyway. Who knows what will happen?”

After a few hours, true to her words and much to the displeasure of the nine-tailed jinchuuriki, Naruto awoke to find that he was alone in his bed. Rin's side was long since cold, but he doubted they would have been warm with how weirdly cold she was. What a strange lady…

Rubbing his stomach of the strange burning he still felt from the night before, he read a note that he assumed his guest had left him the night before and read it as her apologizing for needing to do to work, leaving him a surprise in the fridge and a reminder to take his meds before going to school. And a p.s. to not overdo it at school, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to go to school or if he wanted to explore and see if he could find that Rin lady again for that promised training lesson.

And of course the strangest thing of the note was a picture of a fox and turtle seemingly snuggling in the corner. It caused Naruto to squint to try to figure out if it truly was what he was guessing, turning the paper which way to try to guess but giving up as a crazy random drawing.

“A surprise, huh?” Naruto murmured to himself while opening his fridge and eating a piece of bread for breakfast. Inside he was surprised to find himself a packed lunch from the leftovers they had made from the night before, but he wasn't even sure how they had enough with how much he ate of the free food. He nibbled the bread a bit more slowly, before pulling it from his lips with one hand and the other one holding on to the wrapped lunch in his other hand.

“She made me lunch? I've… never had anyone make me lunch before…” Naruto whispered to himself, his eyes falling on the milk he normally drank for breakfast, but simply closed the fridge door to get a glass of water to take with his meds. “I wonder if she'll come back sometime soon? Mmm.. maybe not too soon, you know.” He grumbled to himself to try not to warm up to someone too quickly, especially when they seemed to be replacing themselves with the one person he liked most in the world. “Why is she so weird?”

“Lord Third is very busy right now, Rin. He won't be available until tomorrow, I'm afraid.” Two members of the Anbu squads were standing in front of the Hokage office and passed on the note to their fellow Anbu members. She knew he was in there, but didn't want to bother him if he truly was busy.

The jinchuuriki hadn't even gone home yet since leaving Naruto's home and still hadn't slept since being forced into that scary predicament with the nine-tailed fox. Her uniform was the same, but she would change before starting her normal business after this little meeting. Or a hopeful meeting.

Her news was important but didn't know if it should wait or not. “Can you pass on a message to him from me? I'm not sure when I'll be able to see him in a few days, but please…” Being caught off guard by the Hokage door opening to show Hiruzen on the other side, looking at three Anbu members and focusing fully on Rin with a gentle smile, removing his pipe from his lips and waving her in. “I have a meeting in a little bit, Rin, but I have a few minutes if this is important.”

Looking at the other Anbu members for a moment, Rin nodded her head and stood up straighter in the presence of her boss and main protector of her way of life. “Of course, sir.” He beckoned her inside, allowing her to follow him inside and for Rin to close the door while he took his seat behind the familiar wood table. She instantly looked toward her sensei’s picture on the wall while walking inside, and once the door was completely shut, the three-tailed bijuu summoned himself in the form of a clone of his jinchuuriki.

The difference was very obvious if you knew what to look for such as deep crimson and yellow eyes, plus the purple clan markings on Rin's cheeks turned a matching red as well. There were other signs, but they only showed if Rin dipped into Isobu's chakra during a fight.

Hiruzen instantly turned his attention toward the bijuu clone, and though they had mastered hiding their demonic presence when not in a fight, long ago, the Hokage was aware not to mess with something like a bijuu. “Rin… what's the meaning of this meeting?” He asked low and with some seriousness, only for the jinchuuriki to look at the picture a few more moments, but then nodded and pointed toward her bijuu. “We're almost complete with our solution to the problem with Kirigakure.”

It didn't help that the problem was, what turned into a walking s-rank nightmare and caused a possible war between the two villages of discovery, standing in the same room as the two humans but Hiruzen listened with his full attention. He even peeked up and looked between the two. “Really? You still haven't told me what that solution is, Rin. But if you are close to completing it, does that mean we can put this whole thing behind us?”

Isobu seemed to look around the room with a strange curiosity and even walked over to look at some stacks of paper on the desk, some he even picked up and started to read but Rin simply grumbled a bit under her breath and he stopped messing around. He put the papers down and walked back up next to his jinchuuriki, only ending up sitting on the ground as he hated this human form for how weak it could be when they were attacked. “Hopefully yes, I still stay alive, Isobu stays with me, and Kirigakure will leave us, and the village, alone. And they will stop using that damn summoning ritual for the foreseeable future.”

Rin crossed her arms over her chest and leered down at Isobu who seemed to be glaring harshly at the first Hokage's picture with an extreme distaste. “Lord Hashirama's long since passed, Isobu. He isn't going to come back to capture you again.” Trying to calm his nerves, he tapped his fingers against the ground to show his discomfort. ” I know, hm. Doesn't mean I want to remember his face.” Isobu grumbled and Hiruzen looked at the picture as well. “I would say you should respect the Hokages, past and present, Isobu. However, I understand your past so I'm not going to push that subject.” The Third Hokage spoke with some respect on the subject and turned his attention back to the jinchuuriki.

“We're going to need to travel to Kirigakure, however.. this will put me out of commission for a few days while we recover from the aftereffects.” Isobu scratched his shoulder and the Chidori scars to match his jinchuuriki's nervous tick, but Rin simply tried to ignore her bijuu's nerves. “Alright. I will make sure to work around however long you need to recover, Rin. And will you be heading to Kirigakure by yourself after you fully recover?” Hiruzen questioned, not even taking notes on any of the conversation as if it wasn't needed.

“Yes sir, I will request the use of Team Roe as backup on this quest. I feel… I'm going to need backup in something this massive of a mission and I will need some backup if they see the seven swordsmen after me again.” A slight hiss of anger and disgust came from the bijuu that crossed his lips when that team came up, and he just glared at the old man. ” If we face up against them, then I will not hold back like we've had to before, yeah. We will steal their swords just to prove a point too, hm.”

A slight chortle passed by Rin's lips from how the situation was handled by her bijuu in the past, but she just shrugged toward the Hokage. “Yeah, we need more weapons from Kirigakure to hide in Konohagakure. That will make our lives so much easier, Iso.” Slightly sarcastic, it earned her a few clicks of his teeth in annoyance, but Rin simply allowed him to return to her body for safekeeping. And to show their meeting was short regardless.

“Well, let's just hope things go well and it puts an end to this Kirigakure business. Dealing with something like this for more than seven years is starting to worry more than just the higher-up, Rin. We have other huge issues going on in the village as well, so the sooner we can put it past us the sooner things can start to calm down and return to normal.” Looking at the jinchuuriki rather sternly, Rin seemed to rub her stomach and look at him rather curious about what other issues might be going on in the village. Maybe it was something she could help with.

“Hm? Did you want some help with it once I'm done with what I have going on, Lord Third?” As if Rin didn't have enough on her plate, she was always the one to want to help if she could. Having the skills of a healer and a weapon, she needed to put them to use or they would falter in some way.

A knock at the door drew their attention and Hiruzen just shook his head toward her question. “That won't be necessary, Rin. Just focus on one thing at a time and don't push yourself. We don't need our topic medical Anbu member coming down sick just because she pushed herself.” Hiruzen stood up from his chair and walked over to the door to open it for the new guest, only for Rin to straighten up even further as her body was trained to do so, whether she liked it or not when it was someone from just a few days before.

“Hiruzen, we're ready for that meeting.” Standing on the other side of the door stood Danzo, but he was accompanied by two familiar Uchiha members who seemed to be going to this important meeting as well. Hiruzen opened the door far enough for the three men to look inside towards the jinchuuriki and it was clear her emotions cleared away when seeing the older of the three. “We were just finishing up here so we can head on over. Right, Rin?” Her eyes fell upon Shisui Uchiha and her fellow Anbu member, Itachi Uchiha. It made her question what they were doing together, but then her eyes shifted toward Hiruzen.

”Issues within the village… hm?” The jinchuuriki's eyes sharpened a bit, but she nodded toward the question. “Of course, Lord Third. Forgive me for tying you up.” She apologized and walked to take her leave, easily ignoring Danzo but still bowed her head to show him respect and smiled a bit toward Shisui and Itachi as she walked by.

Danzo kept his eye on Hiruzen, a little curious about what the details of this little meeting were about, but slowly turned to look at Rin as she walked away. This was something he needed to know about so told Itachi and Shisui to wait for a moment so the two older gentlemen could get caught up on the same page before they all left to meet with the other two members of the high council.

Once the door was closed, Shisui looked toward Itachi with a shrug to be shut out when they walked that whole way but didn't mind waiting for however long it would take. However much to their surprise, a cloud of mist formed next to them when Rin suddenly popped out of her dimension to interact with the two Shinobi.

To no surprise the two were actively defensive and ready to kill Rin if she didn't have a good distance and her kunai ready, but she just waved her busy hands to try to cool the air. “Forgive me for the sudden appearance, you two. It's been a while since I've been able to see the two of you together.” Rin watched as they pocketed their kunai knives and she did the same within her dimension, but the three just looked a little stern toward each other.

Something was clearly on the two Uchiha's minds and Rin wasn't exactly in a friendly mood after last night, but she truly knew when a rare moment occurred and when to take advantage of it. “It truly has been a while, Rin. But right now isn't a good time to speak on anything. This meeting is very important so time is short.” Shisui spoke seriously, which drew Rin's attention and she looked between the two rather curiously. “I... I know I'm not a Uchiha member. Obviously. But I feel…” Letting out a sigh, she shook her head while wrapping her hands over her stomach as if there was still a bijuu seal placed upon it.

“Actually. Never mind. You're right. Time is short. Forgive my intrusion.” Bowing with respect, Rin saw Itachi looking at Shisui rather conflicted on the whole ordeal, but the kunoichi just smiled at the two. “Anyway.. I'll see you two later today if you're in your complex. I'm going to come by and visit. I'm even bringing a surprise for Granny to meet.” Rin took a step back, but words drew the attention of the two Uchiha. “Rin. You probably …” Itachi was going to warn her, but Shisui stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “I'm not sure if we will be there, Rin, but if we are we'll make sure to say hello, alright?” He tried to seem genuine, but there was an awkwardness between the three comrades.

Both sides had secrets that could mean the end of their own home and lives, but they couldn't trust either with the truth.

“Perfect. Hope to see you then. And Itachi. The mission to Kirigakure is a go. I'll let you know when we will be going, alright?” Another grumble and rub of her stomach as her body already knew what was in store for it. “What's in Kirigakure?” Itachi questioned with some curiosity, but Rin just smiled rather cheeky. “Nothing yet, but it's going to be something that will change the future of the village. And for the better too. I'm just glad you can be there to help if you are available.” As if her heart was on her sleeve with her confession, the two seemed conflicted on some details.

“When do you think he'll be going, Rin?” The question coming from Shisui made her look at him from the corner of her eye, but she rolled her eyes to think of a timetable. “I'm not sure… he'll receive the details when I have everything put together.” The unease in her statement was noticed, but Rin still just looked between the two. “I'll… see you later, alright? Try not to get in trouble with the higher-ups alright? They always hate change for some reason.” She bowed with respect and turned to fully walk away, but looked to the side with some mistrust.

” They are acting so strange. They've never been so secretive before. I guess I'll hear about it tomorrow whether I like it or not. And what does Danzo have to do with the Uchiha? Is he trying to steal another eye again? ” Rin confessed within her bijuu, only to lift her head and close her eyes for a moment as she walked away. “Obito wouldn't hide things from me, but I guess it goes the other way as well.” She murmured under her breath, but for now, she needed to focus on finishing with Kirigakure before she could even think of dealing with the possible huge threat of the Uchiha clan.

“Why didn't you allow me to tell her to stay away from the clan? Rin can't keep coming around if the possible threat on her life or the possibility of her being arrested just for the sake of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Itachi spoke with some concern toward his friend about his other friend, but Shisui’s expression didn't change at all. “Let her figure it out on her own. As an Anbu member, they won't just arrest her for doing absolutely nothing, and I doubt Lord Hiruzen or Danzo will allow anything to happen to their medical member. I doubt anyone in the clan would try anything and your father wouldn't cause trouble for someone who hasn't done anything negative to the clan.”

The two murmured to each other but looked toward the closed door. “Leaving next week is going to put a damper on the plans though, but I can't just decline a mission like that. Not one that seems very detrimental to the future of the village.” Itachi seemed conflicted, but Shisui just smiled confidently at the young boy. “I'm sure it'll be fine. I have my plans and missions as well and I doubt Fugaku would allow us to shirk something that important for just a clan meeting. Don't work too much on it.”

Though he tried to reassure the young Uchiha, both knew it wasn't as easy as that.

“I don't know. If my father figures out the mission has something to do with Rin, then I feel that he's going to request something from me. He's always suspicious of her for some reason, but I can't figure out why.” The two looked at the direction that Rin had left then toward the door. “I wonder what surprise she's going to bring though? Sounds like it could be exciting.” Shisui grinned at his worried friend, but he got a curious look back. “I'm wondering that too.”

“This isn't over Hiruzen. What happens with that girl is as much of a concern of mine as it is for anyone else in the village.” Danzo complained to his supposed friend, but Hiruzen simply deadpanned toward the other man. “Don't worry too much about her, Danzo. Rin is more than capable of taking care of herself, and the same goes with Isobu. The two have a plan to deal with the growing threat from Kirigakure so we can turn our attention to our growing inner battles.”

“I suppose you have no idea what they plan on doing to fix the issue they caused, do you?” The anger that grew within Danzo when Hiruzen just naively shook his head. “Let's focus on one thing at a time, then we speak on the matter of the three-tail bijuu later on. Right now the Uchiha clan's plans are more of a concern than anything to do with Kirigakure and I trust Rin to keep it that way.” Hiruzen tried to pivot the attention back to the growing Uchiha threat, but Danzo was never the type to forgive and forget.

“Are you aware that she brought the nine-tailed fox into the facility the other day? She must have kept him in her little dimension of hers, but I can't prove it.” Danzo tried to sow doubt into his ‘friend’, but Hiruzen just let out a sigh as he could easily tell what Danzo was attempting to do.

It took a lot to get someone in trouble when following the strict ninja and anbu guidelines in Konohagakure, and just as same as deeply angering the Third Hokage. “Yes Danzo, I'm aware of her bringing Naruto into the Anbu facility, but I don't think she meant any ill will behind it and I'm sure she didn't allow him to see any secrets down the many hallways she took him down.” It was a big deal that someone who wasn't an Anbu member had gone into the building behind the Hokage’s heads, but again Rin must have had a good reason to do such a thing.

The way Hiruzen seemed to ignore every bad move that Rin had been making as of late in Danzo’s eyes angered the hopeful next Hokage of the Leaf. He wanted her perfect and deadly as he trained her after the death of the fourth Hokage, but she was becoming too lax in her life as an Anbu under Hiruzen. It was sickening and even worse that Danzo had now trusted her to train Naruto for the sake of being used by Root one day as well.

He hoped he didn't make the wrong choice. “Danzo, we may speak on the matter of the three tails later, for now, let's focus on the more important matters at hand.” Hiruzen attempted to pivot his friend's attention toward the growing Uchiha threat, but Danzo was not having any of it. But he would drop it for now.
” Fine. I'll have her dealt with in other ways then.”