Chapter 4.


Earth Country was stiflingly hot.

Not the kind of heat that would strike Konoha in the midst of summer, accompanied by thunderstorms and intense humidity, but the kind of dry, constant warmth that made Rin feel as though she was walking around inside one of her father's bread baking ovens.

This, combined with the increasingly mountainous terrain, made traveling hard work even at a civilian pace. She was glad she had brought knee-length leggings for underneath her shorts so that at least her shins were bare. They were unscarred so they were unlikely to draw attention, but Rin was afraid to hike up the leggings any further: about halfway up her thighs one of the seals Minato had placed to stabilize the original Sanbi seal circled around her legs and up around her pelvis, with the core being just around her navel. The second and original seal was on her abdomen, and the third ran from the center of her chest up across her collarbones and, when it was active, even around her throat.

In short, Rin's skin hadn't seen much of the sun lately. She hadn't dared to risk it.

Kakashi had brought civilian shorts. He looked particularly awkward in them, with his slightly knobby knees and the sparse few hairs that had started to grow on his calfs and shins. Together with his backpack and slightly ridiculous civilian t-shirt (it read "Bite Me" in big bold letters) he was about one pair of white socks and a Polaroid camera away from looking like an overzealous tourist.

The border guards had had quite a lot of fun with it, actually. Which was good, because so long as they laughed at them they wouldn't pay too much attention to Kakashi's slightly overlong canines or Rin's chakra presence, which even with the best of intentions could only be hidden up to a point.

The landscape around them consisted largely of reds, oranges and yellows that painted the jagged rock formations in warm and deceptively reassuring colors. There were very few trees, with low shrubbery and strange, dry looking grasses being more common. They would see strangely small, skinny wolves in the distance sometimes, which Kakashi said were called coyotes. Every now and then they would come across a creek running from the mountains, where they could refill their bottles. They ate from their supplies and from whatever they could forage on the way.

They stuck close to the roads because neither of them were familiar enough with the landscape to be able to navigate towards a town without aid. Fortunately, there were roadsigns pointing in the direction of civilian towns. Not one would never betray the presence of iwagakure, of course, but then that was hardly the point of this excursion.

No Konoha shinobi had been so free to roam Earth Country in decades.

Of course, if anyone saw through their disguise there would come a very quick and decisive end to their journey. Peace treaty or not, the war had simply been too recent for anyone to tolerate former enemies within their own borders for very long.

"We're definitely being tracked," Kakashi said that first evening, his voice barely audible over the crackle of the campfire they had just made. "Every now and then I catch a wisp of their smell."

Rin didn't outwardly respond. She knew better than to do so. "How close?" She asked.

"Close enough. Maybe five minutes, as a shinobi runs."

"That's very close." Thanks for the heads-up, Sanbi.

Don't blame me. You're the one not giving me any leeway.

Rin snorted.

Kakashi caught on. "Turtle problems?"

"He gets a little argumentative sometimes," Rin said quietly. Kakashi's brow furrowed and his lips thinned, the same expression he always adopted when she referred to her chats with Sanbi.

"Don't worry," she added calmly. "He's behaving."

I am not your pet.

Rin smiled faintly. Of course not. I'm your landlady, remember?

Sanbi grumbled, but did not protest. Kushina's metaphor was not a very elegant one, but it worked well enough. Perhaps it was easier for Sanbi to think of himself as a tenant rather than a prisoner. Though if you asked Rin, she was as much a prisoner to him as he was to her.

Kakashi was still frowning, but he accepted her answer with a nod. "Our little hunting party isn't trying very hard to be subtle. They probably don't consider us a threat. Just worth observing."

Kakashi's senses were much stronger than those of anyone else Rin knew, and they had grown stronger still in ANBU, but he usually had to infuse them with a bit of chakra before he could sense anyone at this kind of range. He wouldn't have used chakra for fear of giving himself away, so he was sensing them without further announcing his senses. The patrol following them likely thought they were on a routine tailing mission following a couple of civilians, rather than shinobi with the means to detect them from such a distance. They would follow Kakashi and Rin for a while to see where they were headed, and then intercept them if they approached a town to check out their story. They had likely already garnered the information Rin and Kakashi had given to Kusa's border patrols.

Even so, it made Rin a little bit nervous. She stood up and stretched before walking over to Kakashi and joining him in poking at the fire. Much to her surprise, she found herself missing Toboe. She'd had to dismiss the little summon when they crossed the border out of fear that a sensor would be able to distinguish her from a normal dog. Toboe was affectionate, and right now Rin felt herself craving a good hug. She would just have to satisfy that need by sitting as close to Kakashi as she dared.

"It's strange that this country seem so peaceful," she said quietly. "I'm not sure why, but I was expecting…"

Kakashi nodded knowingly. "Me too. After Obito..." He frowned and looked down. He often did this, when he thought about Obito, but now she could see the expression on his entire face. She almost looked away from the flash of raw emotion that flashed over it.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed at his left eye, smudging the foundation on his skin.

"Don't," Rin said, catching his hand. "You'll uncover the scar."

His jaw twitched. "Right. Stupid."

"You're not used to it. It's only natural. Kurenai smudged her makeup all the time when she first started wearing it."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that comparison."

Rin smiled and released his wrist. Her hand tingled where she had touched him. "Deal with it. You wear makeup now."

His cheeks flushed a little." Not always," he said. "Only for missions – why am I defending myself? You know why I'm wearing it."

Rin laughed. "You're wearing it to present yourself in a certain manner. Just like Kurenai."

He stared at her, then sighed. "That's – yeah, okay, I guess that's true. Mahh, you're so unfair."

Rin laughed again and then, collecting her courage, leaned in to look at his face. "I don't think you smudged it too badly. Just touch it up tomorrow morning, when you wake up."

His skin still looked a little flushed, from up close. Her smile automatically widened, as it often did when they talked. She leaned out of his space before she could make him uncomfortable.

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair and avoided her eyes. "Okay. You're the expert."

Rin couldn't resist. "What, because I'm a girl?"

"Because you're – what, no, I didn't mean – you know what I mean." He scowled when he caught her teasing expression. "You do the purple rectangle thing. That's makeup, right?"

"Well, they're not tattoos."

"That's Inuzuka territory, I suppose."

"Yes. Don't you have Inuzuka ancestry?"

"I guess. That's what dad used to say. Definitely on mom's side, but dad had his own weird canine thing going on," Kakashi said, staring into the fire. He didn't speak of his parents very often, and something in Rin automatically stilled.

She had seen a picture of his parents once, tucked away in an old and mostly empty family photo album she had found when she had first moved into his apartment. His father, a little bit older but still handsome, with Kakashi's coloring; and his mother, one cheek adorned with the Inuzuka red and her dark eyes sparkling with mischief. They had looked nice, if a little intimidating because of how dauntingly competent they had both been at their jobs.

Neither of them had made it past forty.

Then again, out of all the adults in Rin's life the only ones who had were her father and the Sandaime. She couldn't really count Jiraiya, who would be turning forty this year. She hadn't seen him since Minato's funeral, and thinking of him filled her with a whole host of mixed emotions. She understood why he had left. What she couldn't understand was why he hadn't taken Naruto with him, as his godfather.

She shook herself out of it. Best not to linger on some topics. "I suppose wherever your father's family came from might've had a clan similar to the Inuzuka," she suggested gently.

He paused, and then suddenly grimaced. "That sounds weirdly incestuous."

"Well, if you stop to think about it all clans are kind of –"

"Don't."

Rin couldn't help but laugh at his expression. "Well, so long as you don't marry an Inuzuka, you should be just fine," she said, before she could really think about it.

Kakashi gave her a look of such astonishment that she almost laughed again. "Marry?" He repeated weakly.

"Well, as I said, that's how clans –"

"Don't you dare –"

"Keep it in the family, you know –"

At which point Kakashi threw his packet of beef jerky at her laughing face. Well, fair enough.

xXx

What followed was a lengthy and not particularly serious lecture on how Rin wasn't allowed to knock clans just because she wasn't from one herself, thank you very much, and anyway clan-less people weren't superior to clan people or vice versa, so none of this incest talk before said lecturer would throw up in his mouth, have mercy.

Needless to say they were both pretty relaxed by the time they went to sleep (one at a time, with the other standing guard) and both got a solid few hours before they packed up camp the next morning.

It proved to be a particularly hot day, and it wasn't very long before Rin found herself craving the coolness of Konoha's little river. She longed to take her boots off and take a dive, and knew Sanbi agreed.

Instead, they had another fairly long trek to go, after which they found themselves in a small farmer's settlement where they could ask for directions. Kakashi had one town in particular in mind, as it could count a sizable casino amongst its many fine establishments.

Well. They knew what sort of a woman they were chasing, didn't they?

They got their directions from a hapless old lady who wouldn't stop squeezing Kakashi's cheeks (Rin wisely stayed out of reach) and scolded him for the text on his shirt ("don't you know how rude that is, young man? You ought to know better!"). After they finally made their escape, Kakashi's right cheek looked rather ruddy and painful.

Rin's lips quirked into a smile.

"Not a word," Kakashi hissed, holding up one finger.

Of course, that didn't really help with the laughter.

xXx

The sense of peace they both felt couldn't last, of course. Peace was generally the sort of thing other people felt, and Kakashi and Rin could only observe from a distance. That they had managed to spend two days in Earth Country without any trouble had been something of a miracle in itself, but it still came as a surprise to Rin when things finally did come to a head.

The journey to the casino town would take another day, so they stopped to make camp late in the afternoon at the foot of a mountain. When they explored the area they came across a creek which grew wider and wider as they followed it upstream, and culminated in a rather beautiful, secluded pool that was fed by a small waterfall.

In different company, Rin might have danced with excitement. As it was, her gaze crossed Kakashi's and he smiled, rolled his eyes and nodded at the pool. "Go on, then. I'll set up camp. Don't stay too long," he said.

Rin beamed. If either of them were hugging people, this would be when she crushed the air from his ribs. Her body felt sticky with sweat and dust, and to be able to wash it off would be heavenly.

Kakashi gave her a little ways and sauntered off, hands in his pockets. She watched him go, and then dropped her backpack to the ground to prepare. She took off her boots first, and dipped her feet into the pool. The first few feet weren't too deep, but the water still felt deliciously cool on her overheated skin. She stood there for a few minutes, simply basking in the sensation of it, before she grabbed the hands of her shirt and began to pull it up.

"The water is a little cold to go swimming," a voice rang out.

Rin's foot slipped on the slick stone and slid hip deep into the water before she could catch herself. Her chakra flared up instinctively and the water directly around her started to bubble and steam. Rin gritted her teeth and pushed her chakra back into the pit of her stomach before it would lash out against her will.

The stranger chuckled, swinging his legs out over the waterfall from where he perched on a jutting rock just above it. "Yes, that's what I suspected. Sorry for startling you, but I thought I'd better not wait any longer. I wouldn't be here at all, except, well. You're a shinobi, judging by that little display. Where are you from?"

Rin stared at him. She had to crane her neck to see him properly, as his perch was at least ten foot up. He was from Iwa, judging by his headband and his loose red robes. His haggard face placed him somewhere in his late thirties, although his thick red beard made it hard to see. There was no malice in his eyes, but something about him seemed distinctly off.

Whoever he was, he wore his aura of power like a cloak.

Rin didn't move. If he wanted a fight, the water was her natural habitat. There would be no better place from which to wage her war. "Waterfall," she lied, "but I left."

The man tilted his head. "You're a bit young to be a rogue."

"Is there such a thing as being too young, to a shinobi?" Rin retorted.

His eyebrows lifted and his smile widened. It had the effect of making him look older rather than younger, which Rin couldn't help but be assured by. She had to stay on guard, obviously, but he seemed...

Familiar, somehow. The thought made her wary. Some shinobi would cultivate an image of kindness. Made it much easier to stab others in the back.

"Are you looking for Iwagakure, then?" The man asked. "Because they don't usually go for foreign recruits."

"I'm not. Are you going to give me a choice?"

The man's smile faded slowly and a more thoughtful expression appeared on his face. "I ought to bring you in, but frankly, I don't really feel the need," he said. "I suppose I didn't leave on the best of terms, this morning."

Rin blinked. "Are you a rogue, too?"

His lips quirked. "In a way, I suppose."

That wasn't very helpful. Was he, or wasn't he? She wished she had Kakashi's knack for annoying people into answering him. "If you are," she said carefully, "then we don't have a problem, do we?"

The man humm I ed under his breath, and slowly shifted his weight before dropping down to the foot of the waterfall. He landed on the water's surface with barely a splash. Up close, his chakra burned like a furnace. Rin's heartbeat sped up.

Oh, what's this? Have you got a challenger for me? Sanbi grumbled, waking up. Rin ignored him.

The stranger was shorter than she had expected, but with chakra like that he had to be a jounin at the very least. She knew how devastatingly fast Kakashi could be – if this man was the same, she might not be able to counter.

The stranger frowned a little as he looked her over. "You don't look much like a Waterfall girl to me," he mused. "They tend to have darker complexions, don't they..? Hmm."

Rin held her breath.

"Well, I suppose that's just a stereotype," the stranger said, smiling. There was a sardonic edge to his voice. He knew it was a lie. He had to know. "My name is Roshi. Have you heard that name before?" He added, still with that falsely cheery tone.

"I haven't," Rin said. There was a tremor in her voice and she instinctively stepped back, further up on to the bank.

Come now, little Rin. Give me just a few minutes of freedom, and I'll stop him from scaring you, Sanbi crooned. This guy seems strong. I would have fun.

Roshi looked her over again with a scrutinizing eye, as if to see whether she was lying. Something strange and dark flashed across Roshi's face as he looked down at her legs, and he suddenly took a step back, his smile completely fading. "Perhaps you really haven't," he said, sounding more genuine than before, "but I think perhaps you should."

His chakra flashed suddenly, the feeling of it bursting out of his body like flames, even though no jutsu was activated.

The moment he did, Sanbi roared out in fury. IT'S HIM! He cried out, throwing himself against his chains with enough force that Rin could feel it like a physical blow. It's him, it's him!

Rin staggered back and forced her chakra back up against Sanbi's to contain him, or soothe him, whichever came first. As she retreated she realized her mistake: she had rolled up her leggings and, in doing so, exposed the lower edges of her seal where it circled around her upper thighs. When she had stepped back onto the bank, into the shallows...

He must have recognized her seals.

Roshi knew what she was. And Sanbi knew what Roshi was.

"You're a –" she gasped.

"Yes," he said, now staring at her eyes. "I am. And so, it seems, are you. Sanbi, is it? That's what my... passenger says. Which means you're Kiri, not Waterfall."

Rin didn't correct him. She felt dizzy just from holding Sanbi back, and the edges of her vision seemed to blur the way they often did when Sanbi had taken enough of her over to turn her eyes into an alarming shade of magenta. No wonder Roshi was staring.

"Which – which one are you?" She asked.

Iwa had two jinchuuriki, after all.

Roshi grimaced briefly. "Yonbi. One up from you."

I'll SHOW you who's one up from who! Sanbi roared, bashing against Rin's shields again. She staggered, gasped, but she kept her footing. The water around her was starting to heat up from the force of his rage. If he would start boiling it, she would have to get out.

Roshi didn't relax. "It's still pretty new to you, I take it? He's giving you a hard time?"

"Yes," Rin gasped. It was hard even just to breathe. She fumbled around in her hip bag. She still had one of Minato's seals, if she could just get it out...

"I remember those days. Don't give up, though. You won't like what happens if you do," he said.

She already knew what would happen if she lost control. She had seen it ravage her village.

"Why... Do they hate each other?" Rin gasped.

"Hell if I know."

It's not my brother I hate, Sanbi hissed. It's this wretched cage! LET ME OUT.

Rin shook her head fiercely and forced herself to back up onto the bank until she was no longer in the water. If she could be around Naruto and Kushina without it being a problem, she could do this, too. "They seriously need to work on their anger management," she growled out through gritted teeth.

This earned her a strained smile. "I don't think self-actualization is very high on their agenda," Roshi said. "Certainly explains why you left Kiri, though. I can't imagine the village of the bloody mist would be any kinder on their jinchuuriki than they are on the rest of their people."

Rin tipped her head in acknowledgment. Kiri certainly hadn't been kind to her. The tips of her fingers touched the flimsy paper of Minato's seal. She pulled it out and immediately stuck it to decide of her thigh.

The relief was almost instantaneous. The build-up of Sanbi's chakra collapsed and flushed out of her system, leaving Rin shaking with adrenaline. Her own chakra heaved in protest, and she felt the overwhelming urge to just let it burn out of her in one of her favorite water jutsu, just to get rid of that awful feeling of overflowing with power. She pushed it down ruthlessly. Roshi wasn't being aggressive, and he obviously had some issues with Iwa. If she did start a fight with him, it could be potentially catastrophic. Kakashi was too close for that to happen.

Roshi made an approving noise. "That's a start," he said. "Next, get the hell out of here. Stay away from Iwa, if you don't want to end up getting a vivisection. Stay alive. And run, keep running, as far away from your home as you can. They are not worth your suffering." He practically growled the last few words.

Rin's confusion must have shown. Roshi snorted. "Given how far you've already made it, I guess you already knew that. Just don't think they're going to treat you any better anywhere else. Our lot is a rotten one, kid."

"Is that why you left this morning? Are they cruel to you?"

Roshi twitched. Something in his face changed, and Rin knew that she wouldn't get an answer.

"Don't ask stupid questions, girl."

Just behind her, Kakashi's chakra came roaring into existence, like a haze of fury pouring out from the center of his body as he came racing to her side. The sword in his hand was the one she had given him two years ago, for his birthday, and it glowed nearly white with his rage.

"I sensed Sanbi, are you – "he hissed, glancing briefly at her before focusing the heat of his glare on Roshi once more.

Roshi's shoulders sagged. "Ah. Your handler, I presume," he said, sounding tired. "Perhaps you're not a runaway, after all."

Rin's heart raced. "No, no – you don't understand," she stepped between the two, holding up her hands. "Roshi-san, this is my – my brother. Sukea, it's okay, Roshi-san is like me."

Kakashi froze. "You mean..?"

"Yes. But he's not going to take me to Iwa. Are you, Roshi-san?" Rin said, turning back to Roshi.

Roshi's lip curled up in disdain. "A jinchuuriki, and a teenager with enough killing intent to lay out an ox," he said. "Should we be expecting a hunting party too, then? I can't imagine Kiri takes very kindly to two such assets running away." Doubt practically dripped off his voice as he said it.

"Please, Roshi-san, I promise you we're not –"

"for a pair of siblings, the two of you look awfully dissimilar," Roshi sneered. "Sure, there's the hair color, but that's about the only resemblance. And, really, if you've got teeth that look like they could rip out throats you probably shouldn't be bearing them when you come charging in pretending to be a civilian," he added, practically snapping at Kakashi.

Kakashi's lips curled down in displeasure, simultaneously hiding his pronounced canines again. "Perhaps you shouldn't throw your chakra around like that if you don't want to draw unwanted attention," he said coolly.

Roshi snorted. "People who sense my chakra don't usually come charging in to fight me."

"I guess you underestimated your audience."

"Sukea," Rin ground out, forcing herself to use his fake name. "Don't. Roshi-san wasn't going to hurt me."

"How can you be so sure about that?"

Roshi gave a scoffing laugh. "Little boy comes charging in and immediately thinks he knows what's going on better than we do, does he? Typical shinobi!"

" Roshi-san! Please." She looked from one to the other, as sternly as she could manage. "There is no need for any of us to fight."

Something in her tone finally seemed to land for Kakashi, who clenched his jaw but slid into a slightly more relaxed pose. His chakra, still angry, started to feel less like a wildfire and more like a flame.

Roshi watched him intently for a moment, and then relaxed himself. "I know you're lying to me," he said slowly, "but I will tolerate the two of you for the sake of your burden." His eyes flicked over to Rin to leave no doubt as to which burden he meant. "You're lucky I parted on bad terms with my own village this morning, or I would have done my damn best to incinerate the two of you."

Kakashi bristled, but Rin silenced them both with a look. "That would not have gone well for either of us, Roshi-san. I am young, but I'm not a pushover. I'm sure you can imagine. Nor is my friend."

Roshi twitched slightly. "Tell me this, at least. Why are you here? Why on earth did you think here would be safer?"

Rin hesitated. How much could she safely tell him? She felt a strange kind of kinship with him, due to their shared burden, but she would be a fool to trust him outright. She wished for a moment that they had met under different circumstances. With Kushina in a coma, there was no one else for her to talk to about being a jinchuuriki. No one else who could really understand, anyway. And even if Kushina did wake up, she would no longer truly be a jinchuuriki, her burden largely transferred to her son. It would be different.

"There someone else. Like you and me," she said slowly. "We're trying to help her."

"Another jinchuuriki?" Roshi frowned.

"We need to find someone else to do it. Our business won't interfere with yours, or Iwa's," Rin continued, ignoring his question. If he couldn't infer it from what she had said, that was his problem. She wasn't about to explain their entire situation to him.

Roshi's dark eyes stared intently into hers, as if he thought he could see straight into her soul. "People like us aren't treated well, in this country," he said slowly. "My… Fellow Iwa jinchuuriki and I... Were both made into hosts when we were barely more than toddlers. Since then, they've treated us like pariahs. Necessary evil. First they beat a dog, and then they are surprised when it bites back. It is no different in the other villages. There is no safe space for us. But..." He trailed off and went silent, lost in thought for a moment. "But if anyone can understand what that is like, it's other jinchuuriki. So perhaps we ought to support each other."

Relief blossomed through Rin's chest like wildfire. "Yes, yes."

Roshi grimaced. "So, do what you have to do. Save this woman. God knows no one else will. And when you're done, you get the hell out of here, you hear me?"

"I understand," Rin said.

Roshi nodded and took a step back, his eyes flicking between the two of them. "Don't stick around here for too long. Our little power display will have alerted your tail. Move quickly. Move quietly. Go now."

He looked at them for a little bit longer, eyes lingering on Rin's face and Kakashi's eye patch, and then abruptly turned around and vanished between the rocks.

Rin almost fell to her knees with relief.

A hand landed on her shoulder. Kakashi. "Rin? Did he hurt you?" He asked her quietly.

Rin shook her head. "I'm... I'm fine. More shaken than anything else."

Kakashi knelt next to her to look her in the eyes. "They're turning back to their normal color," he said, sounding relieved. "Was he really a jinchuuriki?"

"Yes. I could feel it."

They are not worth your suffering, he had said. He had sounded so bitter, so sad. If he really believed she was from Kiri, he probably believed she was on the run.

He... He had tried to help her, even before she had told him she wanted to help another jinchuuriki's.

He had tried to help her, a complete stranger, because she was a jinchuuriki like him.

It made her feel strangely sad that he had left so quickly.

"-re not listening to me. Rin, hey," Kakashi waved his hand before her eyes, before pulling her up by her arm. "Come on, we have to go. He was right, the patrol is going to be here, soon. Come on, get dressed." His hand hovered awkwardly around the edge of her leggings, as if he thought she was so out of it that he had to pull them down for her.

Rin's eyes burned with some strange and overpowering emotion, but she shook herself out of her thoughts and pulled the legs of her legging back down. She found her boots a few steps away and put those on, too. She might get blisters because of her still wet skin, but so be it. She didn't feel much like sticking around and discovering how truthful this other jinchuuriki had really been.

For some reason, the thought of Roshi betraying her burned.

Kakashi half dragged her along for the first mile or so, while her legs were still gaining strength, but it wasn't long before her body found its usual equilibrium. Somewhere behind them, Roshi was trying to find his own way out. But he was alone, with no Kakashi by his side to help him. He was alone, because that was the fate of most jinchuuriki.

Not for the first time, Rin found herself fiercely grateful for her own little family, and terrified of what her other friends might say if they knew what she really was.


AN:

Hope you enjoyed it! Please do let me know, I've had another rough week and comments always cheer me up. I probably won't be able to finish chapter 5 before the end of the year, so happy holidays to all of you!

Again, for quicker updates follow me on AO3 hiiraeth. I will probably be moving there permanently for future stories!

Notes:

I pictured Earth Country as a kind of wild West landscape, with little vegetation and lots of huge orange rock formations. I don't really remember how it was portrayed in Canon, but this is my interpretation. Roshi is, of course, canon's 4-tails jinchuuriki.