AN: are you guys ready for that plot line I've been dangling in front of your noses?

Chapter 8.

On the morning of Kakashi's fourteenth birthday, Nohara Rin woke up to find Sanbi himself staring at her from between the bars of his primary seal. . Tepid water washed gently around her hands and knees. For a moment the haze of sleep kept her from realizing just what was going on. She gasped and scrambled away from him. her heart thundering in her throat.

She looked around for something that might help her, anything, and then finally noticed the great golden chains of the second seal wrapping around Sanbi's limbs. She was safe.

The great demon tilted his head. "Nohara Rin," it said, its voice more echo than sound.

Rin opened her mouth to say something, anything, but before she could the strange landscape around her disappeared into darkness.

She came to gasping, her body tangled in the sheets and covered in sweat. She struggled her way out and ran over to the small mirror by the table. Her eyes were a deep, bloody red. She blinked, startled, and then they were brown again.

Rin closed her eyes and forced a few long, deep breaths to calm her racing heart. Her seal wasn't broken, though. Sanbi was just where he was supposed to be.

But he had woken up properly at last.

Rin let out a last shuddering breath. She was in control. She looked back at the bed. Aside from the tangled sheets, it looked just as it normally did. She hadn't damaged anything or attacked anyone. It was fine.

She got showered and dressed and slowly turned her mind to the day's birthday celebration.

Kakashi wasn't up yet when she entered the kitchen, so she had all the time in the world for her preparations. First things first. Eggs.

She was happily frying away when Kakashi came out of his room, bleary-eyed and sniffing the air curiously. "What are you doing?" He asked. His voice still sounded a little nasal because of the broken nose, which also made his eyes bruised and painful, but in typical Kakashi fashion he had decided the previous day to be as blasé about his injuries as possible.

Rin whirled around and grinned. "Happy birthday!" She called out.

He stopped. "Oh, right. Thank you." He blinked. "Wait, are you making that for me?"

"Yup!"

"Huh. Thank you," Kakashi said, sounding genuinely surprised. "It smells good," he offered tentatively.

"You're welcome," Rin said, and turned back to her meal. He didn't have to know. This was his birthday. She wouldn't mar it with jinchuuriki things. She was fine.

Kakashi was quiet as she finished up their breakfast. Rin could feel his eye on her back as she worked.

"Is everything okay?" He asked quietly, when she placed the plates on the table.

"Sure! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Your hands are shaking," Kakashi said, giving them a pointed look.

Rin looked down. He was right, they were shaking. She balled them into fists.

"Did you… Was it a bad nightmare?" Kakashi said. He sounded a little awkward, almost unsure of himself, as if he was navigating choppy waters.

Rin frowned and much to her shame, she could feel tears prickling in her eyes. "Something like that," she said, and quickly wiped the tears away. "I'll – I'll tell you later, okay? But right now, we should just celebrate your birthday. It's supposed to be a happy day."

Kakashi looked like he wanted to say something, but then he sighed. "All right. If that's what you want. But y'know. I have a birthday every year. If something's up with you… That's more important." He shrugged and tucked into his meal, careful not to meet her eyes.

Rin bit her lip. He would never have said such a thing even a year ago. He had changed as much as she had. "Kushina-nee and Minato sensei will be coming over after breakfast. Sensei obviously can't be here all day, but Kushina and I were thinking the three of us could go and do something fun. If you don't have any plans, of course," she said hesitantly.

He finally looked up from his meal. "What sort of things?"

Rin smiled. "We could go to the river. Or to the dog pound. Or maybe just the bookshop, or something. Whatever you like."

Kakashi's eye lit up. "My unbirthday party," he said, half question and half statement. "No crowded party or cakes or anything like that?"

"I can't promise you Kushina didn't make a cake…"

Kakashi sniffed and she could see he was smiling underneath the mask. "I'll survive the cake, although she'll probably put way too much sugar in. Thank you. It sounds… nice."

"I have a gift for you too. I'll go get it," Rin said, before she could back out or second-guess herself. She got up and ran over to her bedroom before Kakashi could say anything, her heart pounding. It had taken her a while to think of something, but she was sure – well, kind of sure – she had thought of the perfect thing. She pulled the gift out from underneath her bed where she had hidden it, quickly running a hand over the rectangular shape to see if the paper was still covering it properly, and then ran back.

Kakashi watched her with a slightly astonished expression as she came back, the gift hidden behind her back. She was fairly sure she was blushing. "So… I really hope you like this, but if you don't – I will –"

Screw waking up to massive bijuus staring at her, giving potentially sentimental or emotional gifts to people she cared about was the real struggle.

She thrust the gift in his direction." Happy fourteenth birthday, Kakashi!"

He gave her a look she could only interpret as bemused, and then took the package from her. He unwrapped it carefully, without ripping the paper or even crinkling the ribbon she'd put on. Then he lifted out the still sheathed, brand-new tanto Rin had bought him.

His eye widened and for a moment he froze, staring at the dark sheath. He looked up at her, looked back down, and slowly, almost reverently, unsheathed the blade.

Kushina had helped Rin pick it out, once she had had the idea. "I thought perhaps you'd like one, since your old one, well. You always liked that blade so much. I know this one doesn't have the same kind of sentimental value, but I figured… I just thought you might like it," Rin said.

Kakashi still didn't say anything, but instead drew a few quick lines through the air with the blade. "It's a fine blade."

"Its chakra steel, so you can channel into it if you like. Kushina tried it, and if it's Kushina-resistant I figure it's pretty good," Rin added nervously.

Kakashi finally, finally met her eyes. "It's beautiful, Rin. I – how on earth did you afford this?"

Rin flushed." I may have had some help…" Kushina again, already opening her frog-themed wallets even as Rin had protested.

Kakashi barely seemed to hear her, though. He was still staring at the blade. "It's a good blade," he repeated, and looked back at her a little lost for words. "It's – yeah. Thank you. I love it."

Rin finally released her breath and smiled. "Oh, I'm so glad. I wasn't sure whether perhaps it would be too much, or that it would remind you of –" she looked down. "I didn't want to hurt you, but I just thought it would be fitting."

"It's perfect. And I don't…" Kakashi looked away, frowned, as if he was struggling with something. "Anyway, thank you. Seriously."

Rin beamed and sat back down at the table.

"You've gone through so much trouble for me," Kakashi muttered. "Not sure I deserve that." He ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up in a weird angle.

Rin shrugged. "You saved my life, and now you're letting me stay in your place. I'd say you deserve this and more," she said shyly.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. Rin smiled and looked down at her hands, feeling warm.

The two of them spent the rest of the morning looking over some of the sealing scrolls Minato sensei had given Kakashi as an early birthday present. They explained base-level fuinjutsu, and the bits Rin didn't understand Kakashi was already able to explain, even though he had only just gotten them. There was that particular light of interest written all over his face as he did, and Rin had no doubt he would move from these scrolls on to the next level in no time flat.

"So… What can you use these for?" She asked.

" You can create sealing scrolls, for example. They're like little pocket dimensions you can store items in, like weaponry," Kakashi said. "That will make it much easier for me to bring more weaponry or equipment. Or you could bring more medical supply."

Oh, right. Rin bit her lip. "Well, in the long run maybe."

He gave her a startled look. "Right! Yeah. For the long run. That works."

Rin smiled, his comment already forgiven. "I haven't even tried medical ninjutsu yet. Maybe it won't be as bad as everyone thinks."

Kakashi gave her a thoughtful look. "Well… We could try." He pointed at his bruised face.

Rin blinked. "I don't know…"

"Why not? And your room is sealed, right? Just in case."

Rin did have some control over her own chakra again. It wasn't like Sanbi would immediately jump out and destroy everything. "I'll try your fingers instead," she said, just in case. "They're still sprained, right? I think I'd better start easy."

Kakashi shrugged and nodded. "All right. Let's do that."

Rin's nerves played up again as they moved into her bedroom, but this time it was for entirely different reasons. Would it go well? Wouldn't she hurt him instead?

They sat down on the edge of her bed and Kakashi extended his injured hand towards her. The bruises had started to turn yellow and green with age, but his fingers were still sensitive and stiff and could do with some healing. Rin carefully cradled them between her hands. This, at least, was familiar, the feeling of a warm living body underneath her hands that required healing. She didn't need hand seals anymore for the mystic Palm technique, hadn't needed it for years, and so the green glow of chakra came to her easily.

What wasn't normal was that Kakashi hissed under his breath the moment her chakra touched his fingers. "Wha-"

Rin pulled her hands back like she'd burned them. "What's wrong?"

Kakashi hissed under his breath and turned his hand over with a curious gaze. The bruising had faded a little, but his skin was angry and red. "It feels like a burn…"

"Oh, no," Rin took him by his wrist and pulled him up. "You need to cool it with water. I'm so so –"

"Stop apologizing. I asked you to do it." Kakashi said, but he looked angry as he left her room and went to the bathroom to cool his skin. "It's not your fault. If anything, it's mine," he said, once he had his hand under the faucet.

Rin sagged against the door post. "It's not. I just can't use medical ninjutsu anymore," she said, resigned. "Not unless I can figure out a different way anyway."

She was in his blind spot, so Kakashi had to turn his head to look at her. "It's not a bad burn," he said.

Rin shook her head. She'd noticed as much. He was right, it wasn't technically her fault – if anyone was to blame, it was Kiri. That didn't stop her from feeling horrible

, though. She really was a jinchuuriki, and there was no avoiding it any longer.

"When I woke up this morning, I was in Sanbi's dimension," she blurted out. "Kushina warned me it might happen. It's like he's trying to communicate with me. I don't really know why, but… Things are never going to go back to normal, are they?"

Kakashi opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again as if swallowing whatever he had intended to say. Finally, he said," No. They're not."

Rin nodded, and then surprised herself by saying, "But different doesn't have to be worse."

Kakashi turned off the tap. "What are you thinking of?"

"I talked to Kurenai about learning genjutsu. And I've been working on ninjutsu with sensei and Kushina. So… I can learn different things."

The corners of Kakashi's eyes crinkled up. "We could train together for once." He looked down at his hurt hand and shook it. "I'm glad you didn't actually practice on my face," he said lightly.

Rin sniffed and smiled as the urge to cry finally faded. "We would have had a lot to explain when Kushina and sensei come over, but at least you'd finally have a reason to where the mask."

Kakashi snorted. "Sensei would probably blame it on me. He was kind of angry when he saw me like this." He pointed at his nose.

"Who did break it?" Rin asked, no longer able to quell her curiosity.

"Uchiha Mikoto," Kakashi deadpanned, and for a moment Rin thought he was joking. Except he wasn't smiling, and he didn't joke very often. Which meant it could only be the truth.

"Ehh?" Rin said, intelligently.

Kakashi flushed. "I asked her for help with the Sharingan a few weeks ago. She agreed. We've been training together while you were off with sensei and Kushina."

"Huh." That explained a thing or two.

"I would have told you, except I don't think her husband is very happy about it," Kakashi shrugged.

Her husband, who Rin realized had been attending her trainings while his wife was off training Kakashi. The timing couldn't be a coincidence. "So… What is she like..?"

"Scary," Kakashi said eloquently. "Kushina would like her."

"Kushina does like her," Rin said in a small voice. "They are close friends. So… Chances are she and sensei already know about your training."

Kakashi's face went carefully blank. "Well. So much for secrecy."

"Did it need to be secret?"

Kakashi groaned. "I guess it doesn't matter so much if they know about the training," he said, emphasizing the word training.

Rin frowned. What did he mean by that? And why was he training so much in the first place? He was always working hard, but two different training regimes at the same time? No, scratch that, three if you counted his new fuinjutsu lessons – as if he was preparing for something. Preparing for what?

"Just be careful not to overexert yourself," she said carefully, aware that it would probably fall on deaf ears.

"I won't," Kakashi said, stubbornness creeping into his voice. "I can take it."

He took out the blade Rin had given him again and held it up against the light. "Now I'll have even more to practice with," he said thoughtfully. "If I could somehow incorporate all of it into a single thing…"

Rin sighed. Some things would never change. "So long as you take a break today. It's your birthday, after all."

Kakashi's face did something complicated but then he sighed. "Okay, just this once."

When Kushina showed up a little while later, she practically knocked down the door in her enthusiasm. To Kakashi's consternation, she then grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Happy birthday! I do love birthdays. And look at you – already fourteen? You're getting so big already!" She cried out. She looked to be about one step away from actually squeezing his cheeks, so Kakashi escaped her grip by ducking out. Rin couldn't help but notice Kushina and Kakashi were almost the same height now. When had he grown so much?

Kushina didn't much mind his escape attempts and instead waltzed further into their little apartment to dump a large paper bag onto their little kitchen table. "And I come bringing gifts!" She said, beaming.

Frankly, she had a rather insane amount of gifts, including but not limited to, a large fluffy sweater Kakashi would probably never wear, judging by his facial expression; kitchen utensils, because "I know you love to cook" (which was the first Rin had ever heard of such a thing); a pouch of shiny new shuriken; and best of all, a lovely picture frame holding a picture of all of team Minato and Kushina, taken some three years ago on a previous birthday. This one Kakashi held for a long time, looking at the young faces staring back at him, before he smiled and thanked Kushina.

"Minato says sorry he couldn't come," Kushina said afterwards, with something of a nervous energy in her voice, "he'll try to make it later today, but… Well, if he doesn't, he'll make it up to you later."

"Is something wrong?" Rin asked, worried.

Kushina's face tightened. "We're not sure yet, but please don't worry about it. Minato has got it covered. Let's just have fun today, shall we? I brought cake!"

The cake was actually delicious for once, not as sickly sweet as Kushina sometimes made it, but it was harder to enjoy when they knew Minato or the village was at risk. Something was up.

Afterwards, they went to the river where they all took off their boots and enjoyed the cold water around their toes. In a fit of boldness, Rin even showed off one of her new water jutsu, enjoying the expression on Kakashi's face as the water spiraled and danced around them. Naturally, he asked her to teach him but Kushina wouldn't have any of it. She activated a water jutsu of her own and made a tidal wave wash over the two of them, sending them spluttering and protesting into the stream.

Kushina grinned. "And you can't even take revenge, because you don't hurt pregnant ladies," she said smugly.

Rin and Kakashi sadly had to concede her point, and so they went to lie on the grass still sopping wet, hoping the sun would dry their clothes as they ate more of Kushina's cake.

The next stop was the dog pound, although Kakashi took some convincing that it wasn't childish or weird to visit. His concerns vanished in the face of one of the dogs who had recently given birth, and whose puppies immediately swarmed towards him as if recognizing an ally. He was covered in puppies before he knew it, and didn't even seem to notice when Kushina took pictures of him with her camera. Rin joined him quickly after, picking up puppies left and right and cuddling them.

Kushina dragged them to her favorite ramen place afterwards, and managed to eat even more than she usually did. "My theory is the kid loves ramen too," she grinned.

Kakashi muttered something about the Namikaze-Uzumaki family's future food bills, making Rin laugh, and then they were off again to the next activity Kushina had planned.

"This one's really good," she said, moving a little bit slower than before with her belly full of ramen and cake, "I promise you you'll like it."

Kakashi and Rin exchanged a bemused smile as Kushina very obviously led them in the direction of the Hokage tower. Sure, she took a few detours and a couple of turns that were probably supposed to be confusing, but the tower just kept getting closer and closer. She still threw out a bright "Tada!" when they reached it, so Rin at least tried to feign surprise.

"I know it's not really a gift, but Minato wants to be part of the celebration somehow. He's known you a long time, kid," Kushina said with a slightly sad smile, and tried to tap Kakashi's nose in what was probably supposed to be a fun little gesture, but what would actually be rather painful given that it was still broken.

Fortunately Rin could intercept Kushina just in time by taking her elbow and pulling her towards the tower. "So, what's the plan? More cake?" She smiled.

Kushina laughed awkwardly. "No, Minato vetoed more cake. We're just going upstairs, he has a gift for you."

"He already gave me the sealing scrolls," Kakashi frowned.

"There's more to life than just ninja gifts, kid," Kushina smiled.

Minato was already waiting for them when they reached his office, smiling widely and loudly congratulating Kakashi. He refrained from sweeping the boy into a hug, which was probably for the best, but did give him one of his patented hair ruffles. He got away with it. Just.

"I got you something I think you'll like. And, well, before he left Jiraiya sensei insisted I pass something on to you as well, though he says you're not allowed to open it until you get home," Minato said, with a faintly disapproving expression. He pulled two little packages from behind his back and held them out to Kakashi. They were both roughly the same shape and size, but where one was packed very neatly in wrapping paper the other was stuck together with duct tape and newspaper articles. It wasn't particularly hard to guess which one came from Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya-sama? Why would he give me something?" Kakashi asked, puzzled, as he started to unravel Minato's gift.

"I suppose he's taken an interest in you two, since you're my students. I just wish he would show it in a slightly different way," Minato said, his bright smile turning into a scowl. "Kakashi, if you want my advice… Burn that package without opening it."

"… Right," Kakashi said, eyeing the package suspiciously. Minato's gift turned out to be a book titled The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja, which came with a cover illustration of a shinobi who looked suspiciously like Minato. Kakashi turned it over in his hands. "Thanks. What's it about?"

"You'll see when you start reading," Minato smiled. "I think you'll like it. It's my personal favorite."

Kushina was still eyeing Jiraiya's package with the kind of suspicion she usually reserved for supermarket Ramen that claimed to be gourmet quality. "Minato… Don't tell me… It's one of those –"

Minato went slightly pale. "Hush. I tried to stop him, but he'd find a way to give it to Kakashi anyway –"

"Weakling," Kushina hissed back.

"Look, he kept talking about how fourteen was the age at which certain things start to become more interesting and I thought perhaps he was right…"

"And this is how you're going to introduce that topic to –"

Kakashi and Rin exchanged a look. Kakashi raised the suspicious package and said, "Can't I just open it now?"

"No!" Kushina and Minato chorused, with identical blushes.

Well.

Kakashi put the mystery package in one of his supply pouches with the kind of care usually reserved for explosives, never taking his eyes away from Minato and Kushina. "O-kay."

Their expressions immediately brightened. "Well! Now that that's out of the way –" Minato said, clapping his hands together, "Let's all –"

Chakra rushed into the center of the room like a vacuum, setting them all on alert. White smoke poofed to the room and left a cat-sized toad sitting on Minato's desk. "Minato! Minato, Minato! Big news – there's trouble up north!" It croaked frantically.

"I don't get it, I thought the war was finally ending," Kakashi said about an hour later, as he paced through Kushina's living room. He and Rin had escorted Kushina back home. She hadn't really physically needed it, but she was still looking a little pale with worry.

She'd probably look that way for however long it took for Minato to come back.

The toad had told them in no uncertain terms that whatever the hell Jiraiya was up to, it had somehow gone wrong. Through no fault of his own, apparently – all he'd done was discover a Kiri legion about five miles away from Fire Country's borders.

Which meant the entirety of Konoha was currently on alert.

Kakashi paced a little faster. Minato sensei had immediately alerted the jounin commander and the Council before taking his official guard platoon to go and meet with Jiraiya, somewhere in between the place of conflict and Konoha. The jounin commander had been less than helpful and told all three of them to go home until further notice.

So that's what they had done, even though Kakashi itched to join Minato and fight by his side, if need be.

Kushina's chakra wouldn't stop rolling. It filled the room entirely without her volition, buzzing away like background noise as her fingers clenched and unclenched around the hem of her dress. She certainly wouldn't be joining her husband at the front, not at eight months' pregnancy, but it wasn't for lack of motivation.

Rin, sweet reliable Rin, had made them all a cup of tea to help them calm down, an effort rather undermined by her own nervous energy. "I'm sure you'll be the first to know when he comes home, Kushina-nee," she said, her voice coming just a little bit quicker than it usually did. "So we'll know right away."

"But dammit, why did he leave without us? Aren't we team Minato?" Kakashi said, still caught up in his own train of thought. It was a rather dumb train of thought, really, but it was hard to be rational when someone you cared about was going off to face what was possibly an army in the company of about five other shinobi. Sure, Minato was strong as hell and Jiraiya would be there as well, but – but – what if it was an ambush? What if...

"Kakashi, you probably shouldn't be holding your new tanto when you pace," Rin pointed out.

Kakashi looked down in surprise. He hadn't even realized he'd drawn it. He sheathed it and then laid it sheath and all on the table to avoid further temptation. He needed to calm down and think rationally for when he was called to action. That would surely happen, wouldn't it?

Only, it occurred to him, if things went really wrong wherever Minato was.

They wouldn't send Rin, not with her incomplete training. They certainly wouldn't send Kushina. But he could go. He could –

A chakra signature flared behind them, and a masked officer dropped into the room. The room went quiet as the ANBU straightened up.

When he spoke, his voice was professional and clipped. "Kushina-sama, forgive me for intruding. Jounin Hatake, you are hereby required to join the jounin commander at HQ. You will be assigned a team when you get there. Please come prepared for a potential long-term mission."

The officer saluted, and disappeared.

And that was that. For a moment, nobody moved. Then Kakashi picked up his blade again and reattached it to his belt.

Kushina worked her way up to her feet with Rin's support. "I'll get you supplies," she muttered, even paler than before.

Rin just looked at him. "They're not going to send me, are they?" She asked softly.

She would have been, before. She would've been indispensable, as a highly skilled medic.

Kakashi shook his head slowly. "Probably not."

Rin's jaw shifted and clenched. "They're wrong."

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed. He blinked. "I'm sorry. I'll be back."

The last thing he saw on her face before he left to get the rest of his supplies was fierce determination.

Uchiha Obito had died a hundred times. He had died a hundred times, and would a hundred more. The cold, clammy hand planted across his forehead was still there, pushing thoughts away and implanting others. It hadn't moved from its position for as long as he could remember.

Uchiha Obito couldn't remember anything other than his name.

All that existed were the cold hand, the darkness, and two voices.

"The distraction is in place, Madara-sama," one of the voices said, the one Obito instinctively knew to be the subservient one.

"Good. Keep an eye on him. Take note of his ability." The second voice was always nearby. The second voice was always talking, speaking of events Obito knew he hadn't lived but could somehow, somehow, remember.

He remembered great battlefields and a greater friend. He remembered a little brother, loved beyond reason. He remembered a stern voice always asking him for more.

He remembered that he was supposed to fight these memories. He remembered that he was Uchiha O – Uchiha –

He was Uchiha Obito- until he wasn't.

AN:

Let me know if you enjoyed it! I'd love to talk to people about this story.

so obviously things are going to be a bit more serious from here on out. Let me know if you want me to warn you for specific themes.