Disclaimer: I am the proud owner of myself. Not of Naruto, however.

Chapter 13

Three days passed before I was allowed to visit Rin-chan. The sight of her on a hospital bed, looking more fragile than I had ever seen her, made me want to cry. I had spent a long time in such a state in my previous life, but it I had never been in the opposite situation, to see someone I cared about like this. It was a brutal reminder of what a world we lived in. A world where children were sent to fight in the front lines, to be POW's before they made fifteen. I was pretty sure this was a manga for children…

In a corner near her bed, slept an unkempt Kakashi, who I'd been told had been here day in and day out. His masked face was buried in one of those books he always carried around. Given the look of disapproval on Auntie's face, I assumed it was something racy. I sneaked a peek at the cover: Icha Icha Paradise (Make Out Paradise, in English). Ooh. Spicy. I would have to give it a thorough look over later.

Seeing as Rin-chan was also asleep, I left my offering of chadango (homemade with auntie's help–I was ever so proud) by her bedside. This was okay with me; Auntie had told me Rin-chan needed a lot of rest, so I had brought some fūinjutsu annotations I had intended to go over for some time. They came from some old scrolls she had used as a kid, back in Uzushio, and were full of her playful drawings.

It was a couple of hours before the room's resident woke up. "Good morning, Rin-chan!" I exclaimed, but much as I wished to, didn't dare bound to her–she looked very ill (and I know better, Auntie. You don't need to tense like that). Giving her a big smile would have to suffice.

"Oh. Hinote-chan!? You're here too!?" She shot a surprised look at Auntie, who gave her a shake of her head. There was probably more to that than just the look, but whatever message had been passed, it was beyond my abilities to intercept. They're hiding something.

Then again, in this village, who isn't? Another thing about this world: almost everyone around me was a part of the higher echelons of a whole village of black ops agents. All around Konoha, people had daily conversations about subjects so far above my clearance it wasn't even funny. Still, it irked me to be left out of the loop. I should get some material on codes and secret messages... I wonder if Otou-sama would help me?

I discarded the idea. Otou-sama's job as chief of the police was precisely investigating and dealing with leaks and defections, endemic problems to a village built on secrets. As his daughter, me nosing in on village secrets would certainly reflect very badly on him. I couldn't tarnish his reputation like that. I wouldn't.

Right now, I could focus on Rin-chan, who had found the now cold dango and was sharing them with Kakashi. The look on her face… that was a smitten girl if I'd ever seen one. So cute! Is it okay if I ship you guys? The message it sent was soothing:

Even here, in the aftermath of suffering and tragedy, we can find love for each other.

It took a month for Rin-chan to be released. Konoha's iryō-nin were the best in the world, but still not quite up to my old world's highest standards, and her injuries had been very severe. After she was out, however, she needed somewhere to stay.

She'd been living alone since she became a chūnin–from many adults' attempts to talk around the issue, I gathered her parents disapproved of her line of work, and their relationship was strenuous at best. Still, she required care for the next few months, and protection (Uncle had told me it was because she might get kidnapped again, but again there had to be more to it; who would invade Konoha to kidnap a random chūnin?).

Rin-chan spent a delightful week living with us, but the situation couldn't last. There was barely space for me in their house, and her moving in had necessitated me to move my futon to the study. I didn't mind much (easier access to the books? Sign me up!) but it was inconvenient for Uncle, who needed somewhere to work in peace (and secrecy, perhaps).

None of that made it any less surprising when Kakashi, of all people, offered to move in with her. I would have thought this would have fallen to one of her female friends, like Yomogi-san… but there the Hyūga strictness struck: although Yomogi-san was a member of the main family, that actually meant her life was not quite her own. She'd been quite busy lately, as she was nearing twenty years old and that meant she must marry soon.

Kakashi and Rin-chan made for interesting housemates. With his pay as a jōnin, plus her injury pension (I wasn't aware Konoha even had injury pensions; when I questioned him, Uncle said they were rarely awarded), they could afford a small apartment not too far from Uncle and Auntie's. It was a nice neighborhood, although being so near ANBU Headquarters was a bit unnerving.

Rin-chan couldn't very well keep helping me with my chakra in her weakened state, so for now it was just Yomogi-san and me. They were silent sessions–while the Hyūga medic seemed like a nice person, she was about as talkative as Kakashi–but productive ones. Yomogi-san had surprised me by announcing she had made "major progress" since our last sessions on deciphering what my chakra did to living tissue. I had thought she'd have slowed down, since there were no new data and she had omiai to attend, but that was a genius for you.

Which brought me, once again, to her situation: she was expected to marry, leaving her career behind to become homemaker to some male shinobi who had not half of her talent. It was baffling. And worrisome. I was the child of the clan leader, after all, and while the Uchiha weren't quite as stringent on this, Okaa-sama's career had simply ended when she married Otou-sama.

At least we don't marry siblings to preserve the blood… though, now that I think about it, maybe we do close relatives. Ew. Ew.

As the day of the Rinne festival drew nearer, so did the date of Uncle's official ascension as Hokage, as well as his (overdue) marriage to Auntie. There was an almost electric atmosphere in the house. Even Kakashi and Rin-chan, who seemed to get somber whenever the festival of the deceased was mentioned, ended getting swept up in Auntie's frantic preparations.

I, for one, was more interested in perfecting my dango making skills, in hopes of capturing my cute nii-san. I didn't see him as much since I moved, and I wanted to give him a special present. Knowing he had a legendary taste for sweets western and Japanese, I readied myself.

Auntie was my main teacher, but sometimes I also visited Rin-chan for guidance. She was a different sort of cook than Auntie or Okaa-sama; where Kushina would eyeball quantities and come up with variations on the spot, and Okaa-sama knew thousands of dishes by heart, Rin-chan had carefully annotated recipes, some inherited and some bartered for, which she followed to a tee.

Not that any such sophistication is needed for simple dango, but hey, baby steps. I'd get there some day, and never have to eat takeout again! Even though they are super convenient for studying marathons… no! Bad Hinote! That way lies a life of subsisting on cup ramen. Ugh. No offense to Auntie, I added.

Mitarashi Anko-san, as was expected, somehow got wind that I was making dango, and thus dropped by to specifically demand some. Rude. Still, she traded a plateful for a one hour lesson on reading body language, which I appreciated very much, as it wasn't a skill commonly taught to children before the academy. I'll take her up on it again.

Orochimaru's apprentice definitely had energy, and in spades. She bounced from here to there, always exploring her environment. It was actually somewhat surprising she had such fine observational competence, but something told me Anko-san was nothing if not surprising.

She also seemed to know everyone and their grandmother; her wild personality had an undefinable charm to it, a raw charisma which made me sure she would make a great commander in the future, if not the present. Man, the students of the Sannin are all amazing. First Uncle, and now Anko-san…

On the day of the festival, I went to the Uchiha compound, to give Itachi-nii my holiday surprise. He was spoiled by Okaa-sama's cooking every day, but his sweet tooth wasn't that selective and he accepted my offerings of sisterly love with one of his sunny smiles. I missed you, onii-chan! He was so cute, I wanted to squeeze him to death.

Mitarashi Anko-san dropped by as well, to deliver a small scroll from Orochimaru. "A small gift from an intriguing lady", said a short note attached. Uncle had looked the scroll over, of course, but it was perfectly innocent. It contained a problem:

How much chakra efficiency is it possible to attain in the production of a flame equivalent to the Gōkakyū, using multiple ninja?

A complex question, to say the least. Other shinobi could add more flame, and fuel the flames with wind techniques, but there was a point of diminishing returns to cooperation, even before one took in consideration the difficulty of coordinating multiple jutsu. Itadakimasu!

Guy-san gave me a horribly unfashionable uniform, which he insisted I wear during our training sessions. It consisted of a green, long sleeved jumper, with green long pants and orange leg warmers. I had never been too fashion conscious (though Okaa-sama had managed to inculcate some of it into my head), but not even I would wear this… were it not for the fact that he had me walking around upside down anyways, so how much more embarrassing could it really get?

Plenty, as it turned out. Kakashi looked a strange mixture of derisive and horrified when he first saw me, upended green duckling following upended green shishō. In any case, he laughed himself into a coughing fit so intense he had needed to take a moment to breathe. I may or may not have blushed at this. Let's keep these days an S-ranked secret, okay? Yeah. No one can see me.

Speaking of Kakashi and Rin-chan, their cohabitation proved a regular source of humor. The sheer size of Kakashi's library of "cheap fiction", as Auntie labeled it, was staggering, as was his tendency of living from hand to mouth while he drew a perfectly respectable salary. It did them both some good for her to whip him back into shape… but it also made for some of the best comedy around.

Just a week before, we had all been witnesses to Rin-chan shaming Kakashi into eating "proper food", to the tune of his pained protests. Whiny, eminently audible ones. Someone film this, please.This world needs the Internet! In a world with shareable videos, he would never live this down. Not that I intended to, anyways. Just mouthing "but carrots are eviiiiiil" near him was enough to get a glare.

Yomogi-san also announced her engagement around this time–she was to marry one Hyūga Hiashi, a man almost ten years older than her, on New Year's day. It caught me unprepared in its suddenness, but Auntie assured me this was how her clan did things. Marriages among the Main House always happened on New Year's day, at first sunrise.

The announcement, and the omiai preceding it, had been mostly perfunctory; Hyūga-sama was nearly past the age he should produce heirs, and more: his younger brother had had a son, so the question of succession became urgent. In its own twisted way, it made sense; both were nearing the age they were expected to settle down and marry, and so it was expedient to join them.

And thus, amongst Konoha's noblest and finest, there had been no doubt who Yomogi-san, as the clan's most eligible bachelorette, would marry. Yomogi-san was one of the best medics Konoha had, especially in the research field. Her accomplishments, however, didn't insulate her from such backwards practices; instead, they made her a better match for the clan heir in the eyes of the clan elders.

Uncle and Auntie had been invited, as had Otou-sama, Okaa-sama, and surprisingly me as well. Overall, the ceremony was nothing like what I knew from my time as Helen. Mostly, it involved the exchange of vows of duty and fealty, without much ceremony at all. The present clan heads affirmed themselves as witnesses, and then it was done.

Celebration followed, with a small banquet for the distinguished guests and a taijutsu dance demonstration, entertainment and a show of strength for the clan all packaged in one. Otou-sama remarked it was considered very rude to watch one of those with the Sharingan activated. It made little sense; while for most clans, that would be akin to giving any watching Uchiha in the audience a lot of their repertoire, there was no way for us to mimic the Jūken.

Later, I would recall precious few moments of what followed: Yomogi-san's retreating back as the married couple left, presumably to consummate their marriage; the taste of one particularly oversweetened pastry; Auntie's surprisingly well behaved performance during the whole affair. Most of all, the event was a memory of crying bitter tears for a future unmade by tradition.

With Yomogi-san gone, I was left without much of a way to keep investigating my condition. She had left me her notes, detailed and complete in her neat handwriting. Unfortunately, I didn't know nearly enough about medical ninjutsu to understand them… even asking Rin-chan didn't help much; the gap was that wide. For now, this was off the table. Which left me some extra time.

Most of it, I invested on training with Anko-san. She was a violent and weird kid, but that energy of hers was hard to deny. I wasn't sure how much Uncle would approve of me hanging out with Orochimaru's apprentice, but Anko-san knew things. Chakra control exercises I hadn't been aware of, and tips for aiming kunai without a Sharingan (which most Uchiha training assumed).

But she also taught me other things. Useful things: how to track people in crowds, how to tell a venomous snake from a harmless one, how to pick simple locks… Anko-san was a good teacher, once one learned how to interpret her. And so long as one keeps bribing her with dango, I added, seeing her devour another one. At this rate, soon I will be able to open my own dango shop.

A/N: We've reached 100 followers! Wooo! Shoutout to DWM, the hundredth follower. You're all special, but they get a nice round number.

Kayo-san asked, in a review, about ships. I prefer to leave those mostly to the future–after all, the tension of that special moment when you are finally certain those two (or more? who knows) are getting together is delicious. I will, however state that Hinote's dream in chapter 12 was mostly misremembered fanart of Sasuke. Do not despair, though, snake sannin fans! This is a very active period for Ninja Voldemort, and we'll probably get to see much more of him in the next few chapters.

About this chapter: I had some trouble with it; I felt pulled in too many directions (hope it isn't that noticeable). I'm slowly losing that one-chapter buffer D= I will try to keep up with the schedule, but be warned that chapter 14 may be a week late.

I have been... notified that my pace is glacial and I'm moving at the speed of tar. It's partly by choice; I feel I have a lot to tell about this period of Naruto lore. There will probably be some acceleration once Hinote gets to the academy, but for now I guess we're stuck to the Snail Express.

Now for my little question: what do you feel should be the optimal number on shinobi in Orochimaru's problem? I have a number and reason in mind, but who knows. I may shamelessly steal your idea (with credit, of course) if you have a convincing argument!