"Damn it."

The sunset bled through the windows of the small library, painting everything an orange and purple hue. In a round table by a window, Rin scowled as she closed the book she had been skimming, and placed it on a pile of more disheveled books.

It had been a few days since she had signed up to the Konohagakure Shinobi Academy, and after being approved shockingly easily, she had spent the last few days holed up in the academy's library. She had been hoping that the Academy's library would've held basic jutsu, or even just basic chakra theory, but…

"You didn't find nothin'?" A voice asked from beside her, and she turned toward Naruto with an annoyed look.

"No," she replied. "I guess it makes sense; even kids preparing to be shinobi - like us - are allowed into the Academy's library, so I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up."

Naruto frowned back. "I guess… but, like, you couldn't've waited til' the academy actually started?"

Rin grimaced, and looked down. "... You're right, but still, I just… I just wanted to." She sighed. "Can you help me put these back?"

"Sure!"

She smiled at him thankfully, and picked up four of the books in the pile, while Naruto grabbed the other four.

As they walked among the various aisles, Rin silently contemplated her situation.

The last thing she remembered from her old life - well, it was dying. Or, well, she had been pretty sure she was dying. She had expected that to be the end of it, but all of a sudden, she had opened her eyes, and found herself standing in front of a mirror, inside of a dilapidated bathroom.

She had initially worried that she had somehow possessed the body of some random child and subsumed their soul, but she had quickly thrown the idea out when she realized how perfectly the memories of the body had integrated themselves with her old ones. In fact, it was so disturbingly seamless that she had idly reflected that it was probably similar to the knowledge integration that Servants experienced when being summoned.

She had once needed to hunt down a resurrecting, body-possessing vampire alongside the Church, and she was deeply aware - thankfully, only through study and speculation - that possession of such a kind left the memories as two distinct "objects", rather than something "seamlessly integrated." Thus, the only conclusion she had been able to draw was —

"— A reincarnation error with memory wiping, huh…?" she mumbled quietly to herself.

There had always been cases of children having fragmented memories of past lives, of course, but there had been nothing so egregiously solid and concrete. And not a single one claimed to be from another world, either. Yet still, here she was - alive in another world, with her memories of her past life intact.

How did this world interact with hers? Did it at all? Why was the Root connected to such different worlds? Or was it? Was this some kind of freak accident —

— A voice cut into her thoughts. "Hey, hey, Rin-chan!"

" — Huh?" she snapped her head toward Naruto, and he waved at her, hands free of the books. "Oh, you put them away already?"

"Well, duh," he rolled his eyes. "You were jus' standin' there."

She looked down, and realized that her arms had started shaking a little from the strain of carrying four heavy textbooks. "Oh. I guess I got distracted thinking again…"

"Want some help?"

"Ah, yeah, thank you…" she replied as he took another two textbooks off her pile, and marched off to the aisle where they had picked them out - or, rather, the ones she had picked out, while Naruto had been roped into carrying.

"…Well, I guess it's not really something to think about right now," she sighed, and began walking to the aisle where she had found Chronicles of Exemplary Konoha Shinobi and A Timeline In Leaves: Konohagakure History.

While putting back the books, she idly mused that the academy's library wasn't well-organized – or rather, that it wasn't at all. It wasn't a very big place - the library was roughly the size of three classrooms stitched together end-to-end - but even so, she had been shocked at the seemingly random nature of the books.

No, she thought to herself. Rin squinted at the books on the shelf of the aisle she was in – if she really tried, it seemed like the books had been intended to be ordered in gojū-on jun, the "alphabetical order" of Japanese. That, too, had also been a surprise – learning that the books in the world were written in Japanese was a massive advantage to her reading comprehension.

However, it was clear that over the years, the staff and students had stopped caring about putting the books back in their proper place. However organized it was before, the library now was nothing more than a massive collection of disordered, miscellaneous books of various subjects. Only some of the books were related to an education in being a shinobi, and even then, it was a stretch.

Furthermore, the "librarians" were nothing more than a single, rotating guard of shinobi, whose only job was to keep track of how long students were borrowing books. It went without saying how much they cared about making sure the books were ordered properly, even if alphabetically.

It was a far cry from the Clocktower's central library, which rigorously maintained its modified version of the Dewey Decimal System…

"Rin-chan? Ya done?"

She blinked in surprise. "Hm? Oh, yeah," she replied and turned toward Naruto. "I'm done."

He glanced at her curiously. "What were you thinkin' 'bout?"

"Was I that obvious?"

"Yeah!" he laughed. "You always look like you're 'bout to walk into a wall or somethin'."

She sighed. She had been getting lost in thought more frequently lately, to the point of daydreaming. Was it an effect of her underdeveloped brain? Then again, whenever she got interested in a line of study, she had always needed her friends to snap her out of it. Sometimes, if it got bad, she'd even forget to eat or go to the bathroom, and Shirou would always laugh a little at her, which she always paid back in full —

" — Ah. I guess I'm doing it again, huh?"

Naruto grinned. "Yup! Nice job catchin' yourself, though."

Rin sighed again at that. "I guess I am a little… skewed in focus lately," she admitted. "I'm not sure what it is."

"It's 'kay!" his grin widened. "You're smart, so you'll get it eventually."

She smiled at his enthusiasm. "Thanks, Naruto."

He laughed off her thanks, and they began walking out of the library. The shinobi manning the desk at the entrance glanced at them, before quickly waving them out.

"So, what were you thinkin' 'bout anyway?"

"Hm? Oh, right. I was just thinking about how disorganized the library is."

"'Disorganized?'"

"The books are arranged randomly."

"Oh. Why's it like that?"

Rin shook her head. "It's not supposed to be disorganized," she explained. "I think it was arranged alphabetically, but people stopped doing it."

"Why's that?"

"I guess they stopped caring."

"Oh."

"Mhmm."

As they walked out of the Academy and turned onto the street, bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun, Naruto suddenly fidgeted with his hands. Seeing this, Rin sighed. "You want to ask something else, right?"

"Wha–," he cut himself off and looked at her in amazement. "–How'd ya know?!"

She rolled her eyes. "You're too obvious," she snorted. "Now, what do you wanna ask?"

"I'm not obvious!"

At his loud and obvious protest, Rin just raised an eyebrow, and he flushed slightly before pouting cutely. She chuckled at his reaction – she had been teasing him over various things over the past few days, from his speech to his lack of knowledge of certain things. It wasn't malicious; rather, he just reacted entertainingly. It reminded her of Sakura, who had been similarly easy to tease.

He sighed, before thinking about what he wanted to ask. "Err… well…" he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Why do you wanna learn jutsu so bad?"

Rin blinked in surprise as they continued to walk down the street. "Ah, well, that's…"

Naruto must have taken her silence as offense, as he immediately backpedaled. "W-well, you don't have ta' say —"

"No no, it's okay," she explained quickly. "I'm just… thinking."

Why did she want to study jutsu?

She stopped walking, and Naruto followed suit, confused. "Rin-chan…?"

She closed her eyes. She hadn't personally witnessed it, but one of the first memories of the body, before she had fully integrated with it, was —

— One day, during a beautiful sunset, she was walking to the orphanage from a small playground, skipping happily and laughing at nothing in the way only a child could. While crossing a bridge over a local stream, she heard the splashing of water and turned to face it.

There, a young kunoichi with a strange headband stood unsteadily on top of the stream itself, cheering and holding a floating ball of water in her hand. Then, the kunoichi leaped up high into the sky, and ran up a building's wall, and she, the one watching in amazement, couldn't help but think —

— The reason she wanted to learn jutsu was simple. It was because —

— Rin squealed in joy as her magus father manipulated fire in front of her, making it dance to his whims to entertain her. He said something in amusement, and she laughed in happiness. Muttering another spell, the fire suddenly turned blue, and Rin clapped at the change.

The fire moved to her, and she let out a shriek of panic before realizing… It was cold! Rin let out another squeal of happiness as it lightly slithered around her, cooling her down and tickling her. All the while, the man in front of her laughed, and she couldn't help but think —

— She opened her eyes and grinned, and turned to a bewildered Naruto. Then, she exclaimed honestly,

"I want to master jutsu… because it seems fun!"

His eyes widened. His mouth dropped and he gaped at her. After a solid minute of that silence, she twitched unhappily and her face flushed a little, returning to an annoyed look. "W-what?!" she questioned, a little embarrassed. "You better not make fun of —"

"Pfft… haha… hahahahahahahaHAHAHAHA!" Naruto laughed in amazement. Rin's face reddened completely, and she socked him on the shoulder.

"Ow! Hahahaha, oh gods, tha' hurts, hahahaha!"

"What's so funny, you ass?! T-that came from my heart, you know!"

"N-no, it's not, hahahaha, not that! Hahahahaha!"

"Then explain!"

"Hahahaha… ah… phew…" Naruto took a deep breath, and his laughs died down. Then, he grinned at her earnestly. Caught off guard, her temper settled a bit – though she still glared at him, waiting for an explanation.

"Well, it's just, you've been messin' with me for these past coupla' days," he began explaining, and she coughed awkwardly. It was hard to reign in her relentless messing around with people, especially after decades of hanging around individuals who responded so funnily to it. Had he been offended by it, after all?

Before she could apologize, though, he continued, his grin changing to a gentle smile. "But 'spite that… you're surprisingly pure, you know?"

"—!"

She turned away from him, her face reddening in surprise; she was unsure of what to say. Even after all these years, she was still somewhat weak to unexpected, genuine compliments.

Then, after about a minute, the full sentence sank in. "Wait," she said. "What do you mean 'surprisingly'?"

He grinned again. "I mean… c'mon. I've only known you for a few days, but… I know you're not THAT pure."

Ah, she thought. I'm seeing red, father. Am I becoming a Berserker?

"Grr, you…!"

But before she could do anything, he started running away, laughing. "You'll never catch me!"

She felt a vein in her forehead bulge from anger. No, she thought. I'm clearly an Avenger.

"GET BACK HERE, UZUMAKI!"

In the end, after she chased Naruto around for ten minutes, Rin caught him and gave him the noogie of his life, while he laughed in both pain and amusement. The sun had finally set, and the sky was painted a mix of dark navy and orange; soon, it would be entirely dark out, and Konoha's streets would be lit by a mix of paper lanterns and neon signs.

—

Unbeknownst to Rin, a masked shadow stalked them from the rooftops, hiding in the ever-darkening shadows of air conditioners and chimneys. As she cheerfully parted with Naruto at an intersection, the figure raised a hand to their ear.

"This is Boar. The mark has parted with the objective. What's the call?" Boar's masculine voice smoothly reported his actions into the microphone.

"Central speaking. Keep eyes on the mark," the voice on the line replied sharply. "Deer will follow the objective in your stead."

"Understood. What's Deer's ETA?"

"Two minutes. Don't be worried about the objective - despite everything, this is a low-risk area. Objective will be fine. Now, move."

"Yes, ma'am."

With that, he readjusted his Boar mask, and moved to follow the mark, determined to see his mission through.

—

Rin stretched as she entered her room in the orphanage, groaning at the pain radiating from her legs and feet. Evidently, her new body wasn't used to walking long distances, and that ten-minute chase hadn't helped matters.

"Ow… I'm gonna need to get out more…" She groaned again as she kicked off her sandals, flopped into her dingy bed, and began gently massaging her feet. As the aches started to subside, she began contemplating the place she had found herself in.

Maps of Konoha were frustratingly absent. Sure, locals had drawn their own maps for their own use, but they were extremely small in scale and usefulness – not to mention occasionally inaccurate, since locals didn't need maps in the first place. She had been asking for directions anytime she needed to go anywhere – the Konoha Military Police Force was everywhere, and she was sure that she would've gotten lost several times while exploring the city, if not for them.

In fact, their name had led to her leading theory on why there were no maps of Konoha as a whole available to the public; Konoha was some kind of military city, and to these people, a map was an issue of public security.

Though, because of Konoha's increasing scale in her mind, Rin was starting to suspect that Konoha was less city and more city-state. The only reason she had her doubts about it was because she had yet to lay eyes on a single farm, despite the eight kilometer walk to the academy.

Curiously, though, something that was in abundance were woods, and forested areas. Some of the wooded areas had been partially cleared for proper playgrounds, and the ones that had been almost completely cleared had been replaced by small parks. And of course, these wooded areas could also still have homes and businesses, though that was more uncommon.

These wooded areas appeared every couple of city blocks, which seemed to double as relaxation for the populace, and pseudo-playgrounds for the children. Furthermore, the majority of businesses and homes actively grew their own trees, increasing the amount of active greenery in the city. In fact, she wondered how all of the nature integrated into the city's design survived – trees of this size and abundance would've been competing heavily for resources; were all trees of this world so efficient, or were Konoha's trees special?

Internally, she shelved the question for another time.

So far, she had been to three of Konoha's districts: Sendagaya, Higashi, and Aoyama.

Her orphanage was situated in Sendagaya, a large but poorly-kept district situated in southwest Konoha. It consisted of mostly public service projects - other orphanages, soup kitchens, subsidized apartment buildings, and donation centers - and a string of small-time factories that produced textiles, metal, lumber, and paper.

The orphanages - hers included - relied on the various public services quite often; the soup kitchens opened for lunch and dinner, which was where she had to eat most of the time, and all of her clothing came from the donation centers.

The factories were at the northern end of the district, situated alongside the southern edge of Konoha's southernmost river. They relied heavily on the river to power their water wheels to provide much of the labor; she suspected that technology for electric-based factory equipment existed, based on the various utility poles strewn about everywhere, but the Sendagaya District factories either weren't making enough money to replace what they had, or weren't subsidized enough for new equipment.

The shortest route from her now-home to the academy involved her crossing a major bridge over that river into Higashi, a massive, mostly-forested district that was directly north of Sendagaya. From the orphanage to the bridge, it was about a kilometer. It was here that a majority of the wood was harvested and sent to Sendagaya to be processed into lumber and paper; what wasn't used for that purpose was instead sent to the textile and metal factories to be used as fuel for fire. Incidentally, Higashi provided much of the firewood to southwest Konoha.

She still didn't know where the ore for the metals or raw fibers for the textiles came from.

It was actually walking through Higashi that Rin had gotten her suspicion that something was amiss - though, strangely, not in a bad way - with Konoha's trees. The trees in Higashi were massive, and replenished astonishingly quickly; her memories had shown that a large section of trees had been chopped down a about two years ago; when she had walked by the road the first time after integrating with the body, those same trees were almost fully grown again, and would probably be ready to be harvested in half a year or so.

She mentally noted to herself to investigate why that was the case.

Damn, she thought. I really wish I had a notebook to write all this in.

Unfortunately, she mused, she was beyond broke; until the academy started, she wouldn't get a stipend for educational use, and donation centers rarely had donated notebooks. The ones that were donated were hardly usable.

Well, regardless of that, the walk through the Higashi district was about three kilometers; two kilometers in, she'd stop walking north and turn west for the third kilometer, toward Aoyama, the district the academy was in.

Aoyama was considerably better-kept than, and notably wealthier than, the Sendagaya district. It was a market district that pulled double-duty as a residential one; most of the businesses in Aoyama would operate on the ground floor, and the second floors and above would act as housing.

From its eastern edge, Rin would walk the final four kilometers, bobbing and weaving through the twists and turns of Aoyama's busy streets, until she reached the Konohagakure Shinobi Academy. Well, it was four kilometers of pure measurement, but in truth, Aoyama's streets added a lot more distance to her walk. The walk from her orphanage through Sendagaya and Higashi to the edge of eastern Aoyama took her about forty minutes, but the walk from eastern Aoyama to the Academy took another ninety minutes due to complex streets and heavy foot traffic.

Of course, she'd then need to walk that entire distance back – and that was assuming she simply wanted to go to the academy and straight back home.

Rin sighed at the predicament, but in the end…

"Well. There's nothing for it, I guess," she shrugged to herself, and stopped massaging her feet. "I'll just need to put up with it for now."

She knew Naruto lived somewhere north of Aoyama; he said the district was called Kamiyacho, if she remembered correctly.

"Ugh," she grimaced. "I'll need to make my own maps, huh?"

She wasn't the best at cartography, but she wasn't terrible at it, either. Once she got her hands on some pens and paper, she would need to start as soon as possible…

Glancing outside her window, she realized that the sky was near pitch-black now. As she lived on the fourth and highest floor of her orphanage, she could see the lights of the other more residential or food districts shining brightly.

"Damn. I guess there's just one last thing to do, huh?"

Rin sighed and turned off the lights in her room. She'd have preferred it if she could close the curtains, but sadly, there were no curtains to close in the first place. Sitting up in her bed, she positioned herself in a half-lotus pose, cupping her hands into her lap.

Breathe in… Breathe out… Breathe in… Breathe out…

She didn't know any basic chakra theory. She didn't know how handseals contributed to the formation of jutsu.

But there was one aspect she knew about chakra, thanks to a passing mention in a certain book, a week ago now, shortly before meeting Naruto.

Breathe in… Breathe out… Breathe in… Breathe out…

Chakra was "a mix of spiritual and physical energy." And while she didn't have any experience in manipulating chakra, she did have experience in manipulating energy. It could be argued, after all, that mana, the magical energy of her old world, was "physical", and that od, the magical energy inside a person's soul, was "spiritual."

She wouldn't try to manipulate this world's energy yet - she didn't even know if the world had chakra, aside from the humans living in it - but it was common sense among magi to understand one's own od and magical energy, before trying to use the world's mana.

Breathe in… Breathe out… Breathe in… Breathe out…

So, she did the only thing she could do. Meditate, and hope to feel what this new energy, "chakra", might be. It would be a slow process, and she was probably better-off waiting for the academy to open, but as a challenge to herself, she really wanted to make it work.

Besides, what else was there to do? She'd be awfully bored if she just waited around.

And after everything in her life? She never wanted to be helpless again.

Breathe in… Breathe out… Breathe in… Breathe out…

—

"This is Boar."

"Central speaking. What is it?"

"The mark arrived at Shujin Orphanage in Sendagaya District, her place of residence. After entering her room, she massaged her feet while deeply thinking for thirty minutes," Boar frowned through his boar mask. "The mark briefly mentioned 'making her own maps.'"

A pause. Then, his captain responded quickly. "Noted. We'll have to keep an eye on that. Anything else?"

"Yes. The mark is meditating."

"Meditating?"

"Affirmative."

"... A six year-old girl is meditating?"

"... Affirmative."

"..."

"..."

Boar heard his captain sigh. She sounded annoyed. "It's definitely suspicious, but if the kid's a spy, she's the worst spy to ever exist. It's completely unnatural."

He didn't really know what to say to that. So, he simply inquired, "Orders?"

"Keep eyes on the mark until morning," she replied. "Could just be a weird kid – honestly, that's what I'm starting to think.

"Unless something major happens, just note whatever events occur, and report in at first light."

"Understood. Boar out."

"Central out."

Boar sighed as the line cut. While he didn't mind these slow-paced missions every now and again… surely there had to be something better to do than spy on a little girl for the next seven hours?

A/N: Yeah, after about a week of research, I've decided to just make up my own numbers on Konoha's size and ratios, and probably will for the rest of the world, too.

There is a frustrating lack of common consensus, and for me, the idea that Konoha is just a "small city" while also having training grounds in the several tens, one of which being the 10-kilometer radius Forest of Death, is just ridiculous. For those curious, that's a solid 314 square kilometers of area, or 195 square miles.

While all picture sources show that there's very little in the way of farmland, something most, if not all, can confirm, is that there's forests and woods fucking everywhere. We're talking, like, on the scale of large parks, and the FoD might as well be a state park, or national reserve.

Also… I guess I'm really doing this. Just don't expect too much; I have a lot going on in my life right now. Still, I really enjoyed writing this chapter.