Note: I do not own Naruto.
"Please, don't!"
But the men didn't listen; not because they couldn't, but because they didn't want to. They dragged her father to the middle of the village's street, ripping his shirt off before beating him. Rin tried to get in between, but one of the men grabbed her arms and shoved her to the side. Her little sister ran to her, only to be shoved back as well. The push caused her buns to become undone.
"Pl-please leave my daughters out of this!" the frail man begged, one eye swollen and his nose broken.
"Didn't we warn you before, old man, that selling drugs without a permit was illegal!?"
"Th-They're not drugs… They're just ointments. I swear, I have not broken any rules-UGH!"
One of the ANBU soldiers punched the side of his head, and Rin screamed again.
"Stop! Please, you're going to kill him! He's telling you the truth!"
"Can someone shut this bitch up already?"
One of the men stomped over to her, only to be stopped by a silver-haired teen. He stood between his fellow ANBU and the girl on the ground.
"Please don't hurt her, she is very naive and was not aware of her father's crimes,"
Rin kept her mouth shut as she narrowed her eyes at Kakashi. She didn't take his insult to heart. It wasn't the first or second time he had to save her from getting beaten by their village's soldiers.
The ANBU soldier spat on the ground before looking back at the fifteen-year old ANBU soldier, "You're lucky Lord Danzo was a big fan of your father,"
Kakashi didn't say anything to that remark, despite wanting to punch the fellow's soldier's face so hard that it left nothing but a clean skull.
The soldier turned to his captain, "What should we do with the old man?"
"We'll show him mercy this time," the man said before giving him another kick, "But this is his last warning! One more violation, and we're going to hang you in front of the entire village!"
The ANBU soldiers left immediately, disappearing into the tall trees. Once their chakras were gone, Rin and Tenten scrawled to their injured father with tears on their faces. Kakashi watched silently. The teenage girl turned her head to him, giving him a smile.
"Thank you, Kakashi,"
He nodded before retreating as well.
Later that evening, as Tenten prepared them dinner, Rin continued to clean the blood off of her father's face.
"Things are getting worse," the old man said, giving her a sad smile, "You can't be getting in the middle like that, Rin. These men...Our ANBU do not care… they will kill you… And I need you to be strong for yourself and Tenten… I'm an old man…"
"Shut up," Rin said angrily between clenched teeth, "They are not ANBUs. Real ANBUs do not treat their citizens like that. They protect them! Not treat them like animals,"
"Rin, please keep your voice down! You know they patrol our area at night,"
"This isn't fair, dad! We can't be living in fear like this!"
"I know… I know… But as long as you follow the rules, you'll be fine,"
"Mom followed the rules and look what happened to her,"
"What happened to your mother was my fault. But I will not let the same mistake happen again,"
There was a soft knock, eight-year old Tenten standing by the door, "Dinner is ready,"
Their father stood up and Rin handed him his cane. He limped towards the small kitchen area as Tenten placed the three plates on their small table. The small family sat together, eating silently.
Tenten's brown eyes shifted from her sister, who was nine years older than her, to her father. She remembered the stories her father used to tell her during bedtime, how many decades ago Konoha had been a striving and successful village. It had been the strongest in the entire world, with great shinobis like Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju leading it.
But fear, envy, and hatred tore it apart, with clans fighting each other before nearly half of its residents escaped to another area. And from there, Konoha split into two…
"I'll tend the dishes today," their father said, giving them both a warm smile. "You two go to bed. It's late and I know you're both tired,"
His daughters nodded and left. They took turns using the shower before putting on their nightgowns. Despite having her own bed, Tenten mostly slept next to her older sister.
"Rin?"
"Mhmm?"
"Do you think our village will ever be like how it was before? How dad used to tell us?"
"I hope so," Rin said, brushing her sister's hair and placing it into two buns.
"One of my friends told me that her neighbors are planning on escaping. Where are people going, Rin?"
"You must not say that out loud," Rin whispered, "Anyone caught escaping could be killed,"
"But where would they go? I thought there was nothing but mountains,"
"They're going east, onto the other side,"
"Is the other side safer?"
"...Maybe," Rin said.
Situation regarding the other side was kept out of the citizen's ears. Those who escaped Konoha to the other side were never heard of again, which caused rumors to spread that the Uchihas killed them the moment they crossed the border. In short, there was no way of determining if the other side was safer without one going there themselves.
"Should we try...to leave? Maybe those on the other side are nicer? And they can come here and rescue dad?"
Rin smiled at her sister, "It's a very dangerous plan, Tenten. But I'll promise that in a few years, I'll try my best to get us out of here so we can live a better life,"
Four Years Later...
With the small bag on her back, Tenten ran through the trees and crawled through the bushes as she headed towards the small cave opening. She first stopped and used her right leg to distort her footprints, taking off her shoes and crawling inside the small cave opening.
As always, she waited a couple of seconds just in case anybody followed her. There was no movement outside, and she quickly crawled through the opening until reaching a second opening behind a large rock. She climbed down, grabbing a small rock and knocking against a boulder three times. Ten seconds later she heard the same knock come back. Smiling, she continued to descend until landing in the large opening.
There was a loud female scream, and Tenten watched with wide eyes as a pregnant woman laid on a set of old rags with her legs wide open. Her older sister sat in front of the woman, her hands bloody.
"Come on, one more push!"
Two other women held the pregnant woman's hands. The woman pushed, and Tenten looked away as she saw the tip of the baby's head slowly appear.
"I see the head!" Rin said with a smile, "Come on, keep pushing!"
The woman pushed again as Rin held on to the baby's head, "OK, the head is out. You're doing great!"
The woman's screams turned into painful groans as the baby was finally out. The other woman, Shizune, cut the umbilical cord and Rin placed the crying baby on the mother's arms.
"It's a girl," she said, and the mother frowned.
"Then she'll suffer in this world,"
Rin said nothing to that, considering that it was true. Things have turned for the worse in the last two years, despite Minato Namikaze trying to take control. Women were now required to have at least three children by the age of twenty-five in order to compensate for the decrease in population. And if a woman refused, ANBU soldiers would raid her home and do everything in their power to make her conceive.
Today was the fifth time she delivered a baby, one whose father is unknown as the mother had been raped months ago by ANBU soldiers. Some pregnant women had come to her for abortions, refusing to carry an unwanted child for nine months and then having to raise it on their own. Rin couldn't blame those women, and carried out the abortions as well despite the huge risk if they were all caught.
"I...brought more supplies," Tenten said, and Rin smiled.
"Thank you, Tenten. You made sure no one followed you?"
"As always!"
"We have to be careful with all of this," Shizune said worryingly, "They're starting to knock on some women's door,"
"For what?" the other female asked.
"To see if the woman is menstruating," Rin replied, "So they can track when she's ready to conceive,"
"That is sick,"
"It is," Rin agreed, "This is why we need to support Minato's campaign. He can help turn all of this around!"
"That's what we thought when Hiruzen became Hokage, and he made it worse. Danzo controlled him like a puppet!"
"...I...I've been thinking of escaping," Shizune added slowly, and the females looked at her with wide eyes. "I..c-can't...I can't be here. Two ANBU men showed up yesterday and I hid. I was able to use my chakra to mask it. It's a technique Lady Tsunade showed me before she escaped years ago. I can teach it to all of you. But we still need to leave,"
"I agree with that," the other woman said, "We should leave. Some have created tunnels-"
"They're starting to do random checks by the border for any tunnels," Rin said sadly. Her father had told her that a family had been caught the moment they emerged from the tunnel they dug. Luck had not been on their side, as they had emerged just short from the actual border. ANBU had quickly caught them, jailing the parents and taking their children away.
"I'm still going to try," Shizune said confidently.
XxXxX
Only two people knew about Rin's secret clinic; Kakashi, who was an old friend, and her younger sister Tenten. Out of all of the soldiers in ANBU, Kakashi was the only one she trusted despite her friend's refusal of being part of it. Due to the tragic way his father died, the council members forced a young Kakashi to join the ANBU. And while Kakashi despised the job, he did it in order to save as much as he could from the village's own corrupt leaders.
Despite being quiet about his personal affairs and not really telling her anything, Rin knew that Kakashi was one of the few people who secretly helped those escape onto the other side. So it didn't surprise her when Kakashi handed her a letter with Shizune's handwriting, the words "I'm free" being the only thing there.
It made her desire to escape increase, but she had obstacles with that. One, her underground clinic. She used the cave as a safe space for women to either abort their pregnancy or give birth. Rin made no judgement, her mind simply on helping those who needed it. If she were to leave, there would be no one else to help those women. Two, her family. Tenten was strong, so she wasn't worried about bringing her along. But their father's health was declining, his body no longer able to do the manual work in order to provide for his family. Tenten would sometimes do the work; whether it be picking up vegetables or grabbing water for the nearby well. Sometimes, something only she and her sister knew about, she would steal from the local market. That always worried Rin. She knew her little sister was skillful; but she worried about the day in which she would get caught.
Despite the danger, the small family of three tried to live as normal of a life as possible, keeping themselves out of the public view in order not to raise any suspicion.
But all of that came crashing the moment Rin opened the door to find four ANBU soldiers standing behind the door.
"Is this her?" one of the soldiers asked, turning around to a female.
Rin immediately recognized the woman - she had delivered her child just a couple of days ago. The woman stood there with her eyes narrowed, arms crossed in front of her chest.
"Yes, that is her. She's the one. Her and her little sister. She performs the procedures while her sister steals the supplies,"
Rin's heart nearly escaped her chest as the soldier turned his head back to her, "Rin Nohara, you are under arrest for operating an illegal clinic in addition to performing abortions, a crime that is punishable with death,"
She was thrown against the wall with her hands tied behind her back, her head facing the inside of her home.
"Look for the sister," the soldier ordered to the other.
The second man walked inside just as Rin's father appeared from the bedroom, "Wh-What is going on-?"
"On the floor, old man!"
Rin gasped as the soldier grabbed her father by the back of his neck and threw him on the floor before resuming his search.
"I can't find the girl!"
"Search everywhere! She can't be far!"
"Where is your sister?" the ANBU soldier asked.
Rin said nothing, which only angered the male and he threw her against the floor next to her father.
"Tear down the floor, ceiling, and walls! I don't care! Find that girl!"
And as the ANBU soldiers did just that, starting with the walls and ripping closets open, Tenten crawled from underneath her house until she reached her backyard. She got up and ran quickly, tears rolling down her face as she prayed for the well being of her father and sister.
Author's Note: Hi all, thanks for reading this first chapter of my new ObiRin fic! i had this idea for a while but finally decided to get it in paper. just to clarify some things, Tenten is Rin's younger sister in this world. And the world (or part of Konoha) is not so friendly towards women.
let me know what you think so far! Reviews inspire me to keep writing!