Chapter 4.

The next day started with a home invasion. Jiraiya and Kushina's loud and cheerful voices drifted in through the door of Rin's bedroom as she slowly blinked herself awake. Kakashi's voice followed immediately after, so indignant that it cracked and pitched. Rin's eyes widened. That couldn't be good. She pushed herself out of bed on wobbly legs and padded across the wooden floor to throw the door wide open.

Kakashi and Jiraiya briefly paused in their attempt to strangle each other when the door slammed against the wall. Minato-sensei, who was trying to separate them, gave her an apologetic smile.

Kushina grinned widely when she spotted Rin. "Good morning! Are you ready for the first day of the rest of your life?"

"Uhh," Rin said. She hadn't even thought of what she wanted for breakfast.

Kakashi finally managed to extricate himself from Jiraiya's grip and straightened his clothes. His hair puffed out in every direction. He hadn't even had the time to put his mask on, still dressed in his night clothes, so his angry pout was very visible. "What the hell are you guys doing here at five in the morning?" he said indignantly.

"Right. Fair question. What are the Hokage, second-coolest of the sannin and yours truly doing here?" Kushina said, puffing out her chest – or rather, her pregnant belly. "We're here to take you on a very special training trip, Rin-chan. Top secret!"

Kakashi's jaw looked like it was about to come loose. Rin tried not to smile too widely. Somewhere in the background, Jiraiya murmured, "only the second-coolest?"

"And you have to break into my house for this special training trip?" Kakashi asked. He had by now realized he wasn't wearing his mask and brought a hand up to his face to hide his growing blush.

Jiraiya grinned at him and tried to ruffle his hair. "Well, where else would we find you?" He started to say something else, undoubtedly aggravating, but Rin didn't hear it; Kushina had walked up to her bearing a small package.

"New clothes, for the training," Kushina said. "Go and put them on."

Rin opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Kushina had gotten her clothes so she didn't have to go out and buy them herself – and risk running into people again. She looked down. "Thank you," she said softly.

Minato smiled at her as well. "We're going to look after you, Rin-chan. And before you know it, you'll be back on your feet."

The clothes turned out to be a black haori made of strong but flexible fabric. The wide sleeves went down to just below her elbows, and it was cinched at the waist with a thin black obi. The bottom hem was decorated with soft pink patterns. It was perfect.

Kushina had also gotten her a shirt with long, tight sleeves to go underneath the haori, that would cover up her seals completely. Combined with shorts and the burgundy leggings she liked, no one would be able to see them.

Rin looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was a little thinner than she remembered and her hair had grown a bit too long for her liking. She pulled it back into a short ponytail again, allowing the bangs to frame her face. Finally, she grabbed her forehead protector and slowly tied it on. There. If nothing else, at least she looked like a shinobi again. Perhaps in time, she would feel like one too.

When she returned to the room Kakashi had also had the opportunity to get dressed properly, mask and all, although his hair still stuck up at strange angles as if it reflected his bad mood. He was sitting about as far away from Jiraiya as possible and glared at the man's back as the sannin rummaged through his book collection with thoughtful hums.

Kakashi looked up when he heard Rin. He blinked. "You're wearing your forehead protector again," he stated.

Rin nodded. She clenched her fists. "I have to try, don't I? I have to do my best."

Something lightened in Kakashi's dark eyes. Relief, perhaps. He nodded back. "Yeah."

"You look beautiful, Rin-chan," Kushina cooed. "I know it seems a little counterintuitive to get new clothes for a training session, but this won't be the kind of training you're used to. Anyway, this fabric is of Hyuuga-make – they make their clothes sturdy, since they're close combat experts."

Rin swallowed. Whatever this training was going to be like, given that it apparently required Kushina, Jiraiya of the Sannin, and Minato-sensei himself, it probably wasn't going to be easy. She glanced at Kakashi and thought, you would make a much better jinchuuriki than me.

She banished the thought as soon as she had it. She was glad he wasn't the jinchuuriki. She was glad he didn't know what it felt like to have foreign, foul chakra invade his system. He had Obito to bear, good, kind Obito. She would do her best to bear Sanbi.

She would try, anyway.

"Thank you," she told Kushina.

"You might feel differently once we get started," Jiraiya said. "Are you ready, Minato?"

Minato-sensei smiled softly. "If Rin is."

Rin bit her lip, but nodded. She could see approval in Kakashi's eyes.

"All right," Minato said, and walked to the center of the small living room. He picked a tagged kunai out of his pocket and placed it between his teeth before holding his hands out, palms up. Kushina took one of his hands and smiled at Rin.

"I'll see you kids on the other side," Jiraiya said. "After I've picked up our equipment." He grinned.

Minato nodded and glanced at Rin. "Come on, then."

Rin walked up to him and took Minato and Kushina's hands. She looked over her shoulder at Kakashi.

"Good luck," he said.

Before Rin could do or say anything else, Minato-sensei's chakra started to grow and grow and grow – before it pulled the three of them out of the universe and away from Kakashi and his apartment.

They reappeared with a gasp and a whizz into a large, badly-lit room.

Kushina squeezed her eyes tightly shut, one hand pressed against her abdomen. "Hmm, it feels so much worse when you're pregnant."

"Ah! Kushina –" Minato-sensei cradled her belly between his hands. "Are you okay? Did I go too quickly?" He asked, worried.

"I'm fine, just give me a moment," Kushina laughed, squeezing his hands. "You big old worrywart."

Minato-sensei pulled a face. "I don't want to hurt you or the baby by accident."

Kushina snorted. "You wouldn't hurt a fly."

Rin repressed a smile. The Yellow Flash could, and most certainly had, hurt flies. That, and legions of enemy shinobi. She left the couple to their bickering and observed the room around her. It was huge and windowless, lit only by torches and a larger fire burning at the center of the room. Old seals crisscrossed the stone floor, leading towards a large altar next to the main fireplace. Up above, the room seemed to go on forever.

"What is this place?" Rin asked softly, in awe.

Kushina's hands settled on her shoulders. "This is the place where Mito-sama passed the old furball on to me. And… Where she died."

Rin looked up at her. Kushina's eyes looked old and sad. "It's also where she taught me everything I know. Or almost everything, anyway."

"This Mito-sama... Do you mean Uzumaki Mito?"

"Yes. She was the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki before me. She was incredibly powerful," Kushina said.

"This place is a safe house," Minato-sensei added. "The first Hokage himself created this place together with Mito-sama. They were married, you see." He gave Kushina a soft look.

Rin smiled. "I didn't know that." She could just about imagine it – the first Hokage, dashing and handsome, and beautiful red-haired Mito by his side. Not so very different from the current state of affairs.

"Well, there were always those rumors about Shodaime and Uchiha Madara," Kushina snickered.

"Rumors," Minato-sensei said, sounding amused. "I'm sure Mito-sama wouldn't appreciate such talk."

"Oh no, she thought it was hilarious," Kushina grinned. She squeezed Rin's shoulders and steered her towards the altar. "Hop on up."

Rin obediently sat on the altar. "So… Is this place safer for me to be?"

"If you ever lose control, yeah," Kushina said. "It's not perfect by any means, but it would keep Sanbi contained long enough that I can do the rest."

"You?" Rin blinked.

"Both of us," Minato-sensei added. "But Kushina has a special technique that gives her more control. It's why she was chosen to be jinchuuriki."

"What kind of technique?"

"Sheesh, I'd think you were Kakashi, asking so many questions. You'll find out, probably," Kushina tapped Rin on the nose. Her expression grew more serious. "I'm not going to lie, this isn't going to be easy. We need to find out what your limits are."

"We'll build it up slowly," Minato-sensei added quickly. "Start with the basics, make our way up from there."

Rin looked down at her knees. She couldn't see the seals with these new clothes, but it was almost as if she could still feel them, itching. If she could get even a little bit of control… "Where do we start?"

Kushina and Minato smiled at her. Minato-sensei held up a leaf. "Where everyone starts: at the beginning."

Holding a leaf to her forehead with chakra was, fortunately, every bit as easy as it had been in the Academy. By the time Rin had been holding it for thirty minutes, the worst of her nerves had ebbed away. Screw scary, this part of the training was downright boring.

Jiraiya was the one to break through the monotony. "I'm back! And I brought what you asked for," he said, dropping down from the shadows.

"What? Who, I should hope," a cold voice said, and another man dropped out of the shadows behind Jiraiya. Rin blinked. He was an Uchiha, one of the ones who had always looked at Obito with such disapproving eyes. He was a bit older than Minato and Kushina, with sleek dark hair and a lined face that was tanned from the sun.

"Rin-chan, this is Uchiha Fugaku. He has kindly agreed to help us," Minato said, locking eyes with the other man. There was a strange tension between them, and for a moment Fugaku said nothing, only staring Minato down with those dark eyes of his. Then he finally nodded in acknowledgment.

Minato-sensei relaxed. "Fugaku-san, this is Nohara Rin, my student."

Fugaku's eyes fell on her. Even without the Sharingan, they were unnerving. "The new jinchuuriki," he said. "It was wise of you to involve me in this, Minato."

Not Hokage-sama, or my lord, but Minato. Even though they weren't exactly friends. Rin frowned. Nobody else would dare to do that. Nobody else would want to. It was disrespectful.

Minato-sensei gave him a curt nod. "So long as you stick to our agreement," he replied, his own voice equally cold.

"Of course." Fugaku folded his arms over his chest and stood back, apparently just to watch.

Minato-sensei turned back to meet her eyes. "Fugaku-san is here to observe your chakra while you practice. I've asked Jiraiya sensei to join us as well because he is a seals expert, just in case. You don't have to pay either of them any attention, just do your best."

That was a little bit easier said than done. She was only a chunin, and hardly up to their standards. She knew Kushina and Minato wouldn't judge, but what about Fugaku? He was the head of one of the largest and most powerful clans in the village. His standards had to be toweringly high.

"So… What do we do next?" She asked carefully.

As it turned out, 'next' meant more basic chakra exercises like scaling a wall and using basic ninjutsu such as the transformation technique. Her chakra felt strange and wobbly, but she managed to complete all the tasks they set her. Next came water walking, which wasn't as hard as it should've been, and then…

"I would like to see you perform some basic elemental ninjutsu," Fugaku said. "What is your chakra nature?"

Nature, not natures. He was assuming she only had the one, like some genin straight out of the Academy. Kushina visibly bristled at the question, but Rin kept her back straight. "Water and fire."

If Fugaku was surprised, he didn't show it. "Show me fire, then."

Rin's heart leapt. Of course he would ask for fire. To an Uchiha, fire was prestige. Fire was power. Obito had struggled endlessly to master his clan's main element, nevermind that he had more affinity with air. She swallowed. At least Obito had showed her how to do it, before his death.

She closed her eyes in concentration and weaved the correct hand seals for a simple fire technique. It was a much smaller version of the great fireball jutsu, quick and flashy enough to do damage in close combat – or to startle faster opponents rushing at the seemingly defenseless medic. It should have come out burning hot and bright, but instead there was only a short, sharp flash and an enormous angry roar. Rin folded in upon herself as the sound echoed throughout the room, seemingly endless.

"Rin? Rin-chan, you're okay – look at me, you're okay –" Minato-sensei was saying, pulling her hands away from her ears. "What's wrong?"

They hadn't heard it. Not one of them. Jiraiya and Fugaku merely gave her bemused looks, Kushina and Minato worried ones.

The roar faded. Rin straightened out slowly. "I don't think he likes fire," she said, and knew it to be true. Her heart was hammering in her chest.

"Did he speak to you?" Kushina asked slowly.

Rin shook her head. "He only screams."

Fugaku grimaced, his now red eyes filled with disgust. "The demon pulled on her chakra the moment she started to convert it to fire. It actively stopped her from using it effectively."

"Do you think we can continue?" Jiraiya asked.

"It's not pulling on her chakra any longer. I don't see why not," Fugaku said.

"Why not? Because Rin is a young girl who needs a break every now and then," Kushina bit back.

"She is a soldier," Fugaku sneered.

"Oh, please, just because you don't have a heart –"

"Please – I can continue. Please don't argue," Rin said. "I... I want to get this over with."

It was quiet for a moment as the adults looked at her, with unsure expressions.

"No one knows your body better than you do," Minato said gently. "Let us know when you can't go on. We won't do much more today, I don't want you to exhaust yourself."

Rin nodded, a little bit impatiently – she'd had an idea. "I want to try a water technique. I think… I think he likes water."

"Is that possible? Can they prefer certain elements?" Jiraiya asked Kushina.

Kushina shifted uneasily. "I don't know. I think so. Kyuubi prefers fire."

"There have always been rumors," Minato added.

"I think… I think, maybe, he can tell me what he likes and what he doesn't like," Rin said, slowly. "Because… He's awake now. Or slumbering, anyway, but more awake than he used to be."

"That makes sense. Kyuubi wakes up sometimes too," Kushina confirmed. "The seal allows for it."

Minato sighed. "Okay then, water it is. Fugaku-san, are you ready?"

Fugaku nodded, his eyes already blazing. Minato-sensei stepped forward and performed a complicated series of hand seals across one of the symbols on the floor. It lit up and a square space inside the floor slid away, revealing water underneath.

Rin's expertise lay in medical ninjutsu and setting traps, but just as she had learned a basic fire technique she had learned a basic water technique to defend herself. Water was her primary affinity and had come to her before fire had. It had always felt more like…

Home, something, or someone, whispered.

Shivers ran down Rin's spine. She steeled herself and wove another set of hand seals. They seemed to flow together automatically, as if she performed them daily. Her chakra came easily this time, as if it was being pushed forward by a steady wave, slowly rising.

Moving the water was as easy as breathing. It flowed into the air in a tight spiral, turning and twisting as if it was alive, with far more power than she had intended, before slowly evaporating into mist. Rin's breath caught in her throat. She wasn't sure she had ever seen a jutsu quite as beautiful before.

As the technique broke and the water vapor fell down around them, hissing as it hit the torches, Rin let out a long breath. "He definitely likes water," she said faintly.

At least with Rin off on her mysterious training exercise, Kakashi didn't have to come up with an excuse to go and train with Mikoto. He took his time to pick out his equipment – shuriken and wire, Uchiha-style – and left the house. At least he didn't have to go straight to the Uchiha compound, this time. Mikoto told him to meet her at the twenty-fifth training ground, which he could get to easily enough if he went through the merchants's district. It was one of the smaller training grounds, rarely used by higher-level shinobi. Which made it much easier to pull rank on the little genin practicing there at the moment.

Well, little. They weren't much younger than him, and not particularly inclined to take him at his word. One of the older ones, roughly his own age, even stuck his tongue out at Kakashi and said, "there's no way you're a jounin, you little squirt. I bet you couldn't even hit me if you tried."

Kakashi's eyebrow ticked.

About thirty seconds later, he was brushing dust off of his clothes and taking just a little bit too much enjoyment in watching the genin carry their buddy with the bleeding nose off. He sniffed. Maybe that had been a bit much…

"I was hoping you might set a better example for my sons," Mikoto said from across the clearing, wearing a disapproving expression. She handed her baby over to her oldest son, who took the boy carefully and padded over to the edge of the clearing, where he sat down against a tree.

"Why did you bring them?" Kakashi asked, puzzled.

Mikoto twitched a little. "I couldn't find a sitter."

Kakashi sincerely doubted there wasn't a single person in her extensive family who couldn't look after two young children for an hour or two. He frowned. "Right. What about your husband?" Kakashi asked, following a hunch.

"He has business of his own to take care of," Mikoto said curtly. She had exchanged yesterday's shapeless dress for a pair of simple, sensible pants and a dark top bearing the Uchiha crest between her shoulders. A standard shuriken pouch was strapped around her hips. "They won't distract you. Itachi is a sweet child, and Sasuke doesn't cry much. It's easier this way."

How convenient that she should have timed practice with the 'Sharingan thief' at the same time her husband was away. And that there were no babysitters to be found who could tell him she had left. Kakashi smirked. He had a feeling Kushina would like this woman.

"Where do we start?" He asked.

"We start with you showing me your eye."

Well, that was a given. Kakashi pushed up his headband and tightened it a little at the back so it wouldn't fall down.

Mikoto's eyes narrowed and then softened. She reached out unexpectedly and brushed his cheekbone with the pad of her thumb. "You lost your own eye first, didn't you? And at such a young age." She didn't sound curt or cold anymore. She sounded sad.

Kakashi instinctively turned his face away from her touch.

"And this was a year ago?"

A year since Obito died. "Yes," he said.

She sighed. "Sometimes I think Konoha... Well, nevermind what I think. Please open your eye, I want to look at it."

He did. Mikoto lit up in bright colors as he saw her chakra flowing through her body. He saw it center at her belly before flowing upwards towards her eyes and she activated her Sharingan. With his right eye, he saw three tomoe around each of her pupils. A fully realized Sharingan, like his own now was.

"Three tomoe," Mikoto said, as if she could read his mind. "Did you always have three?"

"It started out with two. Is it supposed to evolve like this?"

"Yes. It usually happens during battle, when someone is under great emotional or physical strain," she said, glancing at his good eye as if to try and see his response.

It had happened protecting Rin just after he had gotten her out of Kirigakure. The world had sharpened and slowed down. He had seen even the subtlest shift of muscle, read every hand sign – and blocked the experienced hunter nin's attack with ease.

It had made him think, not for the first time, just how much promise Obito had really had.

Mikoto looked at his eye a little bit longer and nodded. "It doesn't seem inflamed and you're not squinting against the light. That's good. That means we can start our next exercise."

She looked over at her children and nodded at the eldest. Itachi nodded back and hopped up into the nearest tree, still holding his baby brother.

"The rules are simple: one, you are only allowed to dodge, not fight back. Two, we do not go anywhere near the boys. Three, you call out every technique I perform. We continue until I tell you to stop," Mikoto said, suddenly every inch the commanding officer.

Kakashi blinked and was about to protest – no counterattacks? Really? – when she jabbed her fingers straight at his Sharingan. He threw himself back into a clumsy somersault to dodge the attack, and kicked out at her with his legs. She leapt back as well, fingers suddenly full of Shuriken. They whisked past him lightning quick as he tracked their paths with his eye, dodging from left to right to avoid them. Next came a flurry of fire, quick, bright bursts he recognized as the Phoenix flame technique, quicker and deadlier than its great fireball counterpart.

"Katon jutsu!" He called out.

As it turned out, it was a real pain in the neck to only be allowed to dodge attacks when assaulted by a well-trained Uchiha jounin. Her taijutsu was a little rusty, but she more than made up for it with her rapid movement and ninjutsu.

She was sneaky too, layering multiple attacks together just to catch him off guard. There was no time to think or pause about strategy. So long as he could just stay on his feet…

"Doton ninjutsu! Shuriken-wire technique!"

The world tinged purple suddenly, and Mikoto blurred and disappeared – as if she had used a body flicker technique. But – no, she hadn't, she –

"Genjutsu!"

He whirled around and caught the shuriken aimed at his back between his index and middle fingers. He couldn't smell poison on it, so he sliced the blade across his thumb, thereby dispelling the genjutsu that had discolored the world. She hadn't said anything about not breaking out of illusions.

Mikoto reappeared before him, her eyes slightly widened. "Well done," she said. "We can take a break now."

Kakashi waited, still panting, and tried to ascertain whether it wasn't a ruse. After a moment, he dropped the shuriken. "I can keep going."

"You're out of breath and not using your chakra effectively," Mikoto countered. "Look at me. How much of my chakra is flowing towards my eyes?"

Kakashi blinked. The criticism left a nasty taste in his mouth. He hadn't even use his own jutsu yet, but already she could see flaws. "I don't know. Not a lot."

"Be more precise. What do you see?"

Oh, to train under Minato sensei again and receive only gentle reproaches.

"Your eyes are genetically a part of you. It doesn't take you anywhere near as much effort to use them as it does me, because it's not constantly draining your chakra. Your eyes are only using what you're giving them. Mine just keeps taking." Kakashi closed his left eye and tried to hide his disappointment. He wouldn't be able to compensate for a lack of genetic aptitude. He wasn't an Uchiha, and as far as he knew none of his ancestors were either. Obito's eye was a foreign entity to his body in every possible way. It was a miracle his body hadn't rejected it outright.

Mikoto nodded, confirming his suspicion. "Your eye takes chakra even when you have it closed because you can't deactivate it. Your eye is in a constant state of high alert – just as it was when you first received it. I suppose you could say it's still in the factory settings, and you don't have the tools to change them."

Mikoto sighed and started picking up her shuriken. "On the upside, your brain seems to be capable of processing the information the Sharingan gives you, even though you weren't born to process that much sensory input. That's… Remarkable, if nothing else."

Kakashi frowned. "Are you saying you thought it would overwhelm me?"

"It overwhelms even some of our own, and they were born to cope with so much sensory input," Mikoto said dryly. "For someone like you who doesn't have a bloodline limit at all to cope with it so well is startling."

Her husband probably wouldn't like it, Kakashi thought, and fought not to smile. Still, it would probably be better to tell her the truth. "My sense of smell is roughly the equivalent of an Inuzuka's. So… Dealing with lots of sensory input is already built in," he said, tapping the side of his head. Well, in theory anyway. Vision and olfactory senses weren't exactly the same to a brain.

She blinked in surprise. "So you do have a bloodline limit?"

"More of a genetic advantage than a bloodline limit," he said.

"And the combination of smell and Sharingan together still doesn't overwhelm you?" If Kakashi didn't know any better, he'd say Mikoto was starting to look intrigued.

"I'm a quick thinker," was all he said.

"Well. Perhaps there is some hope for you after all, then. But I won't lie – if you start dishing out your own jutsu while using the Sharingan, you're going to run out of chakra at a much quicker rate than whoever you're fighting," Mikoto frowned. "The first step is for you to work on your stamina. If you can increase your chakra reserves, it'll help. We also need to figure out a way to get your body more in tune with the eye. Leave that part to me. For now, I'm going to give you a scroll that holds a couple of exercises we give to our children when they first unlock their Sharingan. Practice. Work hard. Don't slack off."

She pulled a small, simple scroll from her pouch and handed it to him. "You will only be able to read it with your Sharingan, so don't overdo it."

More practice, huh? It figured that Obito's last gift to him was not something he could master with talent alone. He would need to work hard, just as Obito had. Karmic justice, or something. Well, he was good at working. He didn't exactly have any hobbies.

Itachi walked up to meet them with big, curious eyes. The baby had fallen asleep in his arms and didn't stir even as he handed Sasuke over to their mother. He looked back at Kakashi. "You're very quick, Kakashi-san. You saw through mother's genjutsu right away."

Ah yes, compliments from a six-year-old. Hurray. How had he gone from being an unparalleled child genius to this? "...Thanks, Itachi-chan."

"We should leave. Kakashi-kun, I will let you know when we next meet. Do those exercises, but don't strain yourself too much. Your body needs time to adjust," Mikoto said.

"Already? But –" there was so much more he wants to ask her, so much more he wanted to try, but the baby was trying to stir and Mikoto's attention had already shifted.

"I'm sorry, but my time has to be divided carefully," she said. "I wish you good luck. I will see you soon." With that, she took Itachi's small hand in her own and turned around to leave.

"Wait! Why – then why are you helping at all?" Kakashi called out, because she hadn't explained it. But if she was really defying her husband's wishes, her clan's wishes… What were her motivations?

Mikoto paused. Her eyes grew soft as she looked at him over her shoulder. "I could tell you it's because I don't want our clan's greatest secret to fall into enemy hands if you get killed, but… That would be a lie. The truth is…" She looked down at her baby, hair falling over her face. "I don't want any more children to die. No matter what family they come from."

She looked back up and smiled faintly. "Take that as you will. I'll see you soon. Work hard."

AN:

Plot's coming. Soon-ish. Let me know what you think!

The Mikoto we see in Canon is a pretty sweet lady, but keep in mind that's her talking to her young son – she's going to treat outsiders differently. She's a kind person at heart, but she's also a jounin.