As a testament to her skills as a chūnin and fairly competent kunoichi, she had gotten into the role of Sakura Haruno, the six year old whose body she had somehow stolen, fairly quick in the span of a week.

She had discovered that the Third War was over and had been over for almost eight years already and that Minato-sensei had become the Fourth Hokage a year after the war before sacrificing himself for the village roughly eight months later.

The story was that he had defeated the Nine Tails.

But Rin knew better.

A Tailed Beast couldn't be defeated, it could only be sealed away and imprisoned in the body of a shinobi. Which made her wonder what happened to the Sanbi after she had died.

So Rin knew that the Nine Tailed Beast was now sealed into someone in Konoha.

That was the extent of what she could figure out regarding those she cared about, considering it would be suspicious if she asked about Kushina-san or Kakashi. Sakura Haruno wasn't supposed to know who those people were after all.

She assumed that Kurenai-chan, Genma, Ebisu, Asuma, Guy and the others were now older and alive.

Though the only way she could check was to see if their names were on the Memorial Stone or not.

"Do you like it?" The masculine voice, which belonged to Kizashi Haruno who was her current father, asked with a smile.

Rin returned the smile and nodded as she continued eating the omurice he had prepared for her. "Hmm, it's delicious."

From what Rin could see, Kizashi was a single parent. His wife and Sakura's mother, Mebuki, had apparently died giving birth to Sakura.

The only thing the man had left was his daughter.

Rin felt a bit guilty, because she wasn't his daughter, but she couldn't help what had happened. She didn't choose it.

But, she didn't feel that guilty, because if Kakashi was still alive, she would be able to look after him.

Rin wanted to ask if she could go outside, but refrained from doing so.

Kizashi has been fretting over her since last week's incident of her "fainting" during breakfast.

Definitely not one of Rin's best moments.

Rin had been a ninja before her death and had no intention of living the life of a civilian.

So when Kizashi asks her if she wants to join the Academy, a 'yes' escaped her mouth without hesitation.

The man seemed resign, and despite the weariness in his eyes, he gave her an encouraging smile and ruffled her pink hair.

It was obvious that he cared for her and didn't want her to die.

She wouldn't die.

Not easily anyway.

She did fight in the Third War after all. So she was fairly confident in the fact that she could live a long life during the more peaceful era they were in.

Not that she was arrogant enough to think that she was invisible.

"Soon I'll get my Sharingan and then I'll beat you!" Obito yelled at Kakashi.

Kakashi didn't even blink. "With or without it, you're weak." His words made Obito snap and attack him with a punch.

Kakashi easily dodged the punch.

Soon enough the two were engaged in a fighting match.

"Obito, Kakashi, stop fighting!" Rin scolded, making the two break away to face her. She furrowed her eyebrows at them.

"He started it." Obito muttered.

"Hmph." Kakashi didn't bother to defend himself.

"I don't care who started it. We're a team, we shouldn't be fighting. We should be helping each other, like comrades."

Obito glanced at Kakashi to see that he too had glanced at him. Both abruptly looked away.

Rin shook her head before grabbing their hands.

"R-Rin-chan..!"

"Rin?"

She smiled at them. "Let's go." She told them before she started dragging them away towards the Hokage Tower.

Neither broke away from her grip.

Rin splashed her face with water.

She stared at herself in the mirror as a few water droplets fell from her face. She wasn't used to seeing green eyes instead of brown.

She wasn't used to being so pale.

She wasn't used to having wild pink hair instead of straight brown hair.

Yet, she gave herself a smile. "One step at a time." She encouraged herself before heading downstairs for breakfast.

Today she was going to her second first day of the Academy.

It sounded weird even to her, trust her.

Rin felt like an alien as she observed the sea of kids surrounding her. Her mental age was at least thirteen, but her body was six years old.

She felt like she didn't belong with the kids surrounding her.

They weren't Kakashi, Obito, Kurenai, Asuma, Genma and the others. They weren't her classmates.

She absently made her way to her assigned class, still struggling to convince herself that she wasn't really Rin anymore. She was Rin, but she wasn't.

The concept was odd.

Just like the kids around her, she looked around to find somewhere to sit. As she scanned the seats, her eyes landed on a blonde haired boy sitting alone.

As if feeling her gaze, he lifted his head up.

Green eyes met pretty blue eyes. While the eyes were a familiar shade of blue, the shape was also familiar.

Rin had no doubt about it, none whatsoever.

'Minato-sensei and Kushina-san's son.'

Without really thinking, she walked over to the surprised boy and took a seat directly next to him. She decided that 'Sakura Haruno' would become the boy's friend.

He was gaping at her.

"I'm Sakura Haruno." She introduced herself.

"N-Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo..." The boy stuttered out.

Rin smiled. She knew she was right about the boy. "It's nice to meet you Naruto-kun. I hope we can become friends." She genuinely meant it, the boy did seem lonely after all.

"R-really?"

"Yes."

"I'd like that." He quietly said with a grin.

Rin couldn't help herself as she ruffled the boy's hair, he was too darn cute for his own good.

In response the boy blushed.

The bell rang and their instructor came in, introducing himself as Susuki-sensei. Rin's eyebrows furrowed when the man's eyes seemed to be filled with disdain when he looked at Naruto.

Aside from that the first day of the Academy wasn't that notable.

Everyone simply introduced themselves before getting dismissed. Of course their parents picked all of them up.

"Sakura-chan? Where's your parents?"

"Oh, I told dad I'd walk home by myself." Rin responded, getting used to being addressed as Sakura at this point. Of course she would take a detour to the Memorial Stone before heading home. "How about you?" She asked not seeing any sign of Kushina-san.

"I don't have any parents..."

Rin's smile disappeared.

'Kushina-san...is dead?' Her heart clenched.

Kushina Uzumaki was like a big sister to her and her teammates. The thought of the cheerful redhead being dead just didn't feel right.

Then again neither did Minato-sensei and Obito's deaths felt right either.

"I'm sorry." Rin managed to blink back her tears. She wasn't allowed to cry in front of Naruto, she would leave the crying for when she was alone.

"Uh, 's okay. I didn't know them anyway." Naruto shrugged and smiled as if it wasn't a big deal.

'Naruto's like Obito...always hiding his pain behind a smile.' So Rin hugged him firmly.

"S-Sakura-chan?"

"It's not good to hide your pain, you know. I'm looking after you. We're friends after all."

She felt Naruto hug her back.

Then her shirt felt wet.