I was surprised when later that day, Asuma, Kurenai, Genma and Gai showed up once again at the hospital. I didn't know how they found time to always visit, but I appreciated their persistence, their care and the time they sacrificed for Kakashi and I.

As they entered, I eyed Genma carefully, to which he looked back and an indiscernible look on his face. I sent him an apologetic look. His face turned upwards into a quirk of a smile and a nod back to signal he understood.

"Oi, Rin," Genma started, "We're going to get some food from the cafeteria, how about you join us?" I wanted to take them up on the offer, but I looked back at Kakashi hesitantly. He lifted his gaze from his book to eye me appraisingly.

"Please, Kaka-sensei?" I asked teasingly with my hands clasped in front of my face. I could see him get really uncomfortable immediately and he quickly yanked his book back up to his face to hide his expression from us.

He flipped the page immediately, like he had been reading the whole time and took a second before saying, "Aa, go for it," nonchalantly, uncaringly.

I held back a snort of laughter as I jumped up from the chair I had made mine and grabbed onto Kurenai's arm. She and I put our heads together as we tried to smother our giggles unsuccessfully. The men followed behind us as we left. I quickly turned back and yelled back at Kakashi, "Hey, Kakashi? Want me to bring you back something?"

He pulled his book back down to send me a deadpan. "No."

I held back the laughter again, understanding his distaste for hospital food. The door was shut behind us and Kurenai and I led the way down to the cafeteria. We talked under our breath about bringing something back for Kakashi just for kicks and what we should bring back. I jokingly suggested we bring him back a naruto or menma. She didn't quite get the menma reference, but she laughed at the naruto reference.

We each went through the line and grabbed our own meals and I listened with half an ear as Gai talked the ear off of a reluctant Asuma and an exasperated Genma.

We took our spots and as everyone brought food up to their faces, had food in their mouths or started to take a sip of their drinks, I mentioned casually, "You know, Kakashi was reading to me from our bedtime story, and I had questions, but he won't answer them!"

I watched with amusement as the four around me all choked on their food. I had carefully not taken any bites or drinks of anything. Asuma began to cough and I felt a small amount of regret, but their reactions next removed all feelings of guilt.

Kurenai burst into laughter then after the initial choking, with Asuma and Genma joining in. Gai screamed, "How unyouthful!" I was sure he was talking about our bedtime story and not Kakashi refusing to answer questions, but his shout started up our snickers once again as I tried not to join in.

I gave them an extremely innocent look and continued, "I tried asking if people really do 'perform' in those kind of positions, but he got upset and whacked me upside the head and called me 'bad.'" I said all of this with extreme innocence and faux curiosity and frustration.

Kurenai and Asuma's faces both reddened and they started to quieten. Genma shook his head with a wide grin on his face while Gai stared at me in horror, mouth open in surprise.

"I tried to explain myself," I tried to inform them with frustration. "I said that he probably had more experience than I did, so he should have the answer!" Genma gave another snort as Kurenai held her hand over her mouth, once more holding in a snicker.

I pounded my hand against the table with fake frustration.

"Men!"

Kurenai nodded as solemnly as she could. "Men," she agreed.

"Is that questions about sexual positions I hear?" Boomed a voice behind us. I heard a groan come from three of the four around me, but I grinned widely and whipped around quickly. I nodded my head earnestly at Jiraiya as he headed our way.

"Yes! Kakashi and I are reading your book as bedtime stories, and he refused to explain any of it to me!"

I got head shakes aimed at me by Kurenai and Asuma, but I continued on.

"Perhaps pictures would help? Like, what if you full-page pictures in your books to add a little explanation and a way to visualize it properly?" Jiraiya made a surprised noise as he looked at me in appreciation.

He pounded his fist against his palm. "You're right! That's exactly what I need!" He shook his head mournfully. "I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before? I was coming over to check on you after last night, but now I've got so many ideas. See you kids later!" He nearly ran off after a jaunt wave.

"Really, Rin?" Asked Kurenai in exasperation.

I shrugged at her. "It would help understand the positions and the possibility of it better."

We all settled down after that and began on our food, turning our conversations towards more appropriate subjects. After about fifteen minutes, Kurenai spoke up. "We heard about what happened last night." Her voice was light with a touch of concern.

I cleared my throat and set down my caffeinated tea as I realized where this was going.

"Ah. Then I suppose I need to apologize." I replied quietly.

"Yes," Asuma said in a harsh tone. "You should."

I understood their upset and I definitely needed to have this conversation with them. "It was…a lapse in judgement. I didn't consider anyone's feelings when I acted that way last night. I was more concerned about how the man was going to hurt you guys. I thought that he continued to plague me, follow me and had made multiple attempts to get to me. I didn't want you guys to get hurt because of me. When Genma came in, all I could think about was how he wasn't going to survive and it would have been all my fault."

I felt a hand cover mine over the table and I looked up at Genma, shocked he was the one to respond first. The expression on his face was almost soft and comforting, while still being stern. "I told you we're capable of handling ourselves. You've sacrificed yourself for us enough, Rin. It's about time we did something for you. You need to trust us."

I nodded slowly. "I understand. I know what he can do, but I'm always surprised by how far he's willing to go. Whenever I think he can't do anything worse, he does. I guess I'm afraid of what he'll do next; how far he'll go. I don't want you guys caught up in it, but honestly…" I could feel tears well up, but I refused to let them fall. "…I don't want to go back."

"Of course you don't." Kurenai said gently and put her hand on my back and rubbed it softly.

"I'm scared of him." I admitted. "I feel like despite all the time I've spent with him, what I know about him, I don't really know him." I looked up at their concerned faces and I almost pleaded as I explained, "I am working through this in therapy with Inoichi, but I'm afraid of what he'll do to me if he captures me again."

I shuddered underneath Kurenai's hand and she took a second to rub a little harder, reminding me of her presence. Genma's hand tightened over mine minutely.

"We won't let that happen." I looked up into Asuma's eyes, unsure I had really heard that come from his mouth.

"Why?" I asked. "We haven't seen each other in so long. All of us. I'm so thankful to have you guys in my life, to be reunited and all you've done for me, but why? What have I done to deserve your loyalty? Your care? Your help?"

"Because, Rin, we do care for you. Time hasn't changed that. We've also seen what Kakashi went through with yours, Obito and Minato's presence. And we feel guilty that no one had come to save you, that we didn't know you were alive for so long. Konoha doesn't abandon teammates." My throat almost closed at Genma's words. If only they knew.

Obito was still alive – if you could consider that monster to be Obito still. And I hadn't really been captive that long; I had been dead. I had been reincarnated, but they didn't know that. I still had some memories missing and as time went by, more time as Claire went missing in my mind. It was like my past as Rin was taking over in some form.

My thought from earlier today came back to me: If I wasn't in Konoha, but back in the world I had grown up in my next life, would my personality of Claire have overwritten the Rin side?

I didn't know the answer to any of that. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the answer. Would that make me regret staying in Konoha? Would it make me want to do anything possible to go back home? Instead, I felt an obligation to stay here. I had people who had missed me, who needed me. And yet, I didn't consider my family back at home, the place I had missing for who knows how long. How did time pass between the two worlds?

I didn't consider those who I left behind, and my feelings for them had become to fade; almost like a memory. It was distressing to think about. Like Rin had said when we spoke: in a way, we had failed in reincarnation. Not only that, but Obito forced me to remember as well. What would have happened to me if I had continued on, oblivious in the other world?

I slowly closed my eyes and took in the sensation of the hand clutching mine and the hand that cradled my back with soft strokes. I told myself once again: not now. Someday I will tackle this question. Someday I will think this over. Take some medication for a headache, set aside some time and I'll come to terms with things. But not now. I had too much going on. Too many people watching me. I also had to consider perhaps therapy with Inoichi would be beneficial in this.

When I opened my eyes, it was with both resignation and resolve.

"Thank you," I responded finally. "Thank you for everything. And please, don't feel guilty – don't feel like you have to make up for anything. You're here now. You've done so much and I can't thank you enough. I truly don't feel like I deserve you or what you've done for me. It's been hard being back and You guys always know what to do to make me more comfortable."

"Of course!" Gai shouted in a raised voice, but more quiet than his normal boisterous shout. He grinned at me and his white, pearly teeth shined and glimmered at me. "What are friends for?"

"This, apparently." I said, returning his smile.

Genma released my hand and grabbed his cup of tea and took a sip. I felt Kurenai retreat then with one last pat on my back.

I finished the last of my tea as Asuma sighed. "We should probably take you back. Kakashi is probably out of his mind with anxiety."

I shook my head with a small laugh. "Probably," I agreed. We'd have to work on that. I understood what Kakashi was going through. I understood how he felt, but this just wasn't healthy. And it didn't help that he was my indefinite babysitter.

We gathered our trays quietly and began to head back to the room before I paused and shouted, "Wait!" The group turned back to me curiously. I hurried over to the woman at the buffet and talked to her quietly.

The group appeared surprised at what I brought back, but said nothing.

When we made it back to the hospital room, I shoved the door open without a knock and held the item above my head. "Guess what, Kakashi? We did bring you something back!"

I could hear him give a long-suffering breath of despair. He hadn't looked up from his book at our entrance or my shout, so he didn't realize what I had brought back for him.

"Come on, Kakashi, take a look!" I waved the item above my head a few times to draw his gaze. With lackluster, he drifted his gaze slowly from his book to the item I held in my hands. He stared at it for a few seconds, not responding in any way. I felt my self start to deflate, but then he eye-smiled at me.

"Thank you, Rin," I felt my lips pull upwards. "That is something I won't turn down."

"Yes!" I shouted happily and rushed over to shove the eggplant into his lap. "They weren't sure they had an eggplant and they didn't really want to give it to me, but I can be convincing." He put his book down as he inspected the eggplant curiously. I turned back to the group and shouted, "Thanks for answer my question about sexual positions, guys. It was super helpful and informative!"

I could see they were a little confused considering they hadn't answered my question, but were willing to follow along.

However, Genma went the extra mile. "We didn't answer anything, Jiraiya's the one that heard and offered advice. Thank him."

Kakashi made a choking noise behind me and I ducked my head to hide my mischieveous smirk. Maybe Naruto and I could drag Genma in on our pranks. I mean, I hadn't asked Naruto yet, but he was definitely going to agree. I waved at them in goodbye and sent Genma wink that he responded to.

After they left, Kakashi turned to me and asked in a horrified voice, "Jiraiya gave you advice on sexual positions?"

I tilted my head at him, considering my answer. I decided to go all in on this. "Oh, yes," I responded with no guilt or remorse. "He was a lot of help in explaining things. I even suggested that he add pictures in the future to help people visualize the scene properly."

"No," Kakashi whispered in horror.

"It'd be helpful, wouldn't it be, Kakashi?" He turned to me, his face slackened.

He started to speak, stumbling over words before the hospital door was nearly thrown open once again and I saw Naruto and Sakura walk in, bickering.

"You can't just enter people's hospital rooms without warning, Naruto!" She hissed at him angrily.

"Relax, Sakura! It's just Kakashi sensei."

Sakura went to respond before realizing she had both Kakashi and I's attention. "I'm so sorry, Kakashi-sensei!" She shouted. "I tried to stop him!"

Kakashi just gave them a look that spoke clearly of how much he did not appreciate the intrusion or the apology.

I waved them off with a slight, polite laugh. "No worries, he's all bark and no bite. Come on in, Naruto and Sakura."

Naruto perked up at the sight of me gleefully. He headed over towards me immediately. He leaned down so his mouth was by my ear. "So about those stories…" he started to ask, trying to be quiet enough Kakashi couldn't hear him.

"No." Kakashi said sternly.

I smiled at Kakashi patiently as a brilliant idea hit me. "You know what, Naruto, I've got better stories than those for you."

"What!" He exclaimed. "What kind of stories? Like missions? Or – !"

"Rin, you can't." Kakashi reprimanded me tiredly with a harsh undercurrent. I looked up and met his eye with mine, a look of fierce anger and true frustration on my face now. I thought he had agreed with me. Instead, it looked like he either was warned not to, or he was having second thoughts.

Whether his second thoughts stemmed from guilt, fear of rejection or otherwise, I wasn't going to have it. I had enough of Konoha's shit. While I loved the place, it needed to get its shit together. The third wasn't a good Hokage. Perhaps a good shinobi, but not a leader or teacher. He made horrible decisions and I held Tsunade also accountable for allowing this to continue.

No, this ended now.

"I don't care what you're forced to adhere to. I will not. I am not going to sit by and abide by stupid rules with no good reasoning at this point and I will do what I believe is right. I always have, Kakashi." My voice held no give; I wasn't going to back down on this. Naruto deserved better and as a student of Minato, it was my responsibility to right this wrong. This was something Jiraiya should have done a long time ago as the godfather, but if he wasn't going to do it, I would.

Naruto and Sakura looked at us with confused expressions. Their gazes swiveled between the two of us as we bickered.

"Why can't you tell us stories?" Naruto asked with pinched face, like he was trying to compute hard equations.

I shook my head at him. "I can, and I will. Sit down, Naruto, it's best we have this conversation sitting down. I apologize, Sakura, but could you give us some time? I hate to ask, but this is personal to Naruto."

"Oh! Yeah, okay!" She responded affirmatively, but her tone was unsure and confused.

I watched her leave as Naruto pulled up a chair to set next to me. I immediately reached out and held his hands with both of mine. I opened my mouth to speak, but Kakashi interrupted again.

"Rin, I don't want to be your accomplice to a crime."

I looked up at him without removing my hands from Naruto's. "Well, unfortunately I'm not allowed to be on my own and you're my babysitter. Suck it up, Kakashi. This is both of our duties whether you like it or not. If we didn't do this, sensei would be upset. He'd be ashamed and I don't know how I could look Kushina in the eyes when I do finally pass on."

Kakashi looked like he'd sucked on a lemon, but kept quiet.

"Naruto, I'm going to tell you something that's going to be upsetting. You're going to be sad, you're going to be mad and it's going to be painful. I understand this will be hard, but I'm not putting up with this anymore. You deserve the truth."

"I don't understand." Naruto said, looking lost between us. "Why doesn't Kakashi-sensei want me to know whatever you're trying to tell me?"

"Because people are stupid." I replied immediately. "That's the crux of this explanation. If you wonder why something was done or wasn't done, or why people behaved the way they did, just remember: people are stupid."

Naruto still seemed lost, but nodded slowly.

"I think the best way for you to remember this is a quote I've heard before: 'a person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals.'" When I had gotten a slow nod from Naruto that he somewhat understood, I continued. "I was a student of your father, Naruto."

Naruto jerked backwards, but my hands held his tightly in place to keep him from running or jumping up. "What? But you said you were Kakashi-sensei's teammate." He looked up at Kakashi in confusion.

"I was." I replied simply.

After a few seconds, the dots connected in Naruto's mind. "If you knew, then why?" He asked Kakashi desperately. Kakashi looked at him in despair before I saved him from blame.

"It wasn't his fault." I assured Naruto. "There's a law, apparently. No one is supposed to talk about it. That, or what you're carrying in there." I let go of his hands briefly to poke him in the stomach playfully and then held onto his hands again.

"You know?" He asked with a grimace.

"Of course. Minato-sensei wouldn't have trusted anyone else to do what you're doing." I smiled at him with pride.

"What are you saying?" He asked brokenly.

I smiled at him gently with an apologetic smile. "I'm saying that my sensei was your father." I squeezed his hands briefly at those words. He stared at me blankly, not understanding.

"But the Fourth Hokage put the Kyuubi in me. Did my father give me to the Fourth Hokage or something?" His eyebrows were pulled together and he was frowning as he thought. I felt terrible for him, but it was also very unfair Naruto had gone so long without knowing who his father was, why he was hated, or his history. In the anime/manga, finding out from his dead father had to have been terrible. Completely unfair.

"No." I stared at him, hoping he would catch on.

"But then, why? What did you mean…was the Fourth Hokage my father?" His voice broke at the end and I pulled him into a hug at that question. He sat stock still in my arms for the first minute and then his shoulders began to shake. I could hear the hitch of his breath and water started to soak my shirt slowly.

"Of course, Naruto, why else are you so awesome?" I said teasingly, but kindly. "Both of your parents were great people. Of course you would be just as awesome as them with their genes." I rubbed his back a few times before he pushed back and stared at me with wide eyes.

"You knew my mother as well?" He looked like a starving man begging for scraps; it was painful to see Kushina's face with Minato's coloring staring at me like that. It was then that I knew for sure: I hadn't made the wrong choice. People could be as mad as they wanted at what I was doing, but fuck them. Naruto deserved better and if they thought that I would go along with the status quo, they were dead wrong.

"Definitely. Had the reddest hair I've seen in my life." I said, reminiscing. "The red-hot habanero. Destroyer of men," I added jokingly. Kakashi snorted next to me at that comment. Naruto gave me a weird look. "Not really, that was a joke. She was bullied as a child, if I remember correctly. The boys quickly realized that she wasn't an easy target."

I could see a ghost of a smile on Naruto's lips despite his sad and hurt expression on his face. Then it disappeared as quickly as it appeared and his lips became downturned. "Why couldn't anyone tell me this?"

I tilted my head at him consideringly. "At first it was smart, because if people didn't know, his enemies wouldn't come after you. What I can't condone, is not telling you despite how old you are now. You deserve to know, Naruto. Like I said, at this point, it's idiocy. A person is smart, but –"

"–but people are dumb." Naruto finished for me. I nodded at him, appreciating he'd taken my words to heart.

"Don't blame everyone for this. In general a person can make smart decisions. We are capable creatures, smart, but when you have a crowd, well, crowd mentality is a thing, Naruto. It's the same with your little furry friend in there. The crowd is stupid. However, if someone met you, spoke to you and got to know you, they'd realize they were wrong. Do you understand that?" I asked, wanting to make sure he understood that people can be good; that not everyone is bad and that we all make mistakes.

"I think so." He said quietly.

"Good," I replied with a smile. "Now that you know, I can give you a bunch of stories about your parents. Kakashi may not be as open to talk about them as me because he knew them better and spent more time with them, but you can always come to me with questions. Don't blame Kakashi, he's just in a lot of pain still. Your parents meant the world to a lot of people."

Naruto looked up at Kakashi momentarily and I could see Kakashi look back with some trepidation and pain. "I forgive you," Naruto told him solemnly. "And one day, I'd like to hear more stories about my parents."

"Aa," Kakashi agreed. "One day."

Naruto nodded firmly and turned back to me with quickfire questions and in turn, I answered every single one while adding fun stories along with my answers. In the end, he stayed for a long time until visiting hours were over and while Kakashi had gotten a meal to eat, I had skipped a few meals that day. I didn't regret it though. Naruto promised to sneak back in with Ichiraku Ramen. I wasn't sure if he was capable of that, but told him I'd hold him to his promise.