Notes: Rin meets some new people, even though she'd rather meet some old ones.

Warnings: Nudity, non-explicit references to death, drowning imagery.

Relationships: [Nohara Rin & Uchiha Obito], [Nohara Rin & Isobu | Sanbi | Three-Tails], [Nohara Rin & Haku], [Nohara Rin & Momochi Zabuza] (all platonic).

Title: Precision Work

Summary: Rin knew three things for certain: One—jinchuuriki could regrow vital organs in seconds. Two—she didn't die. Three—she couldn't go back. [Rin-survives!AU.]

Precision Work

— V —

Rin burst from the water and took her first breath in three years.

It was bliss.

Rin floated on her back and breathed the air. Real, cool, fresh air. She felt sensation in a way she didn't realise she was missing. The water tickled, lapping at the unblemished skin, while the breeze carried the scent of wood and salt, traces of smoke, and food.

Food. She hadn't eaten in years.

Rin closed her eyes against the sting of tears and thought fiercely, 'Thank you, Isobu. Thank you so much.'

There was a simmering of an odd emotion from her friend. 'Of course, Puny-Rin,' He said, and then nothing more. She wondered if being reduced to a construct in her mind was bothering him. Despite her discomfort at the thought, Rin decided that she would fulfill her duty as soon as possible for his sake. It couldn't have been nice for him to be so closed up.

This was real. She could feel it in her heart. She'd never thought she could be so happy to be floating in a lake.

Rin kicked her feet and swam on her back, doing it purely for the novelty. A lightness overcame her heart and soon, she was giggling, laughing, twisting to her front to properly swim through the lake. Move, move move. She could move. She could feel.

What else could she do when she was alive that she hadn't appreciated enough? Rin treaded water and went through the necessary hand seals. Hare, ox, ram, boar, dog, "Suiton: Shigure!" Water vaporized and gathered together a short distance above her in a cloud, where bullets of water shot out fast enough to be devastating.

The rush of chakra was thrilling, and with a breathless laugh, Rin performed the Mystic Palm jutsu on herself just to feel that comforting, familiar wave of calming green chakra throughout her body. She felt dizzy on it. Real. Rin ducked her head underwater and held her breath until her lungs screamed for air; she came back to the surface crying from happiness.

It hurt.

This was real.

She was alive.

Rin thrust her fist in the air and screamed, "I'm ALIVE!" with an additional, "SCREW YOU, KIRIGAKURE! I'M ALIVE!" Following that, somewhat hysterical laughter. She refused to feel embarrassed about any of it. She was breathing. The rapid-fire thump-thump-thump in her ears was her heart. She had one of those, despite all efforts to ensure otherwise!

Alive!

Kiri had lost!

To her left, an unfamiliar voice spoke up, "You're… you're also naked, miss, uh, shinobi-san?"

Huh?

Rin twisted to face the bank. There was a man and his daughter fishing, both of them with pointed hats and theirs jasw touching the ground. The daughter, somewhere around Rin's age, was staring determinedly to the side with a red face. The older man (her father?) looked much more uncomfortable, and a little concerned.

The man cleared his throat. "Are you … okay?"

Rin looked down. She could see her bare feet treading water. She could also see that she wasn't wearing any clothes. Oh, Sage, she'd been swimming. Floating. On her back. In front of these people… Her face went hot.

Rin squeaked and ducked under the water to shriek as long as she could for as long as she could. Isobu began to laugh at her. When she asked him angrily where her clothes had gone, he reminded her, 'It's been three years, Puny-Rin. You spent all of them as me. Your clothes disintegrated the first time I transformed.'

'Why didn't you warn me?!'

'How was I supposed to know you wouldn't remember how it felt to be wearing clothes? You can't blame me!'

Rin was determined to do it anyway. She came up for air. The father-daughter duo were still waiting for her response. Rin gave them a 'peace' sign and tried on a smile, well-aware that it came off as feeble. "I'm… I'm okay, sir! Just, uh, naked. I seem to have misplaced my clothes."

"So it seems," agreed the old man. He sighed. "Your lot sure are unusual… I don't live too far away, shinobi-san. I'm sure my daughter here can find some clothes for you to wear for the time being, if that suits you?"

Rin nodded shyly, "Please."

The daughter cleared her throat. The blush was gone, and now she was sneaking bemused looks at Rin from the corner of her eye. Apparently, the second-hand embarrassment wasn't so potent that she couldn't find some amusement in the situation. "Tsunami," Her father began.

Tsunami waved him away, handing him her fishing rod and climbing to her feet. "I heard, Papa. How old are you, shinobi-san? So I have some idea of what size clothes I should bring?"

Rin looked down at herself. She flushed, unable to tell if she'd grown any without getting out of the water and standing up. That wasn't an option, for obvious reasons. "Your age, I think. Um… the biggest clothes you have will do, please, Tsunami-san. Thank you," Better to be safe than sorry. She could always tighten it around the waist with a sash. Clothes that were too big were preferable to clothes too small.

Tsunami bobbed her head and began walking back. The fishermen (and woman) had set up on an isolated, sturdy wharf. Rin could see that the lake Isobu had settled in was on the shore of some sort of little town. A fishing town? The entire country looked to be water-locked, and Rin realised that she was lucky to have surfaced here, as opposed to one of the more populated areas. It would have sucked to return to her body only to have a fish hook catch in her mouth.

Not that this was any less embarrassing.

Isobu continued laughing. Rin swallowed her embarrassment and asked, "Where am I, sir?"

"Tazuna," He introduced himself shortly, "and you are in the Land of Waves. Which village are you affiliated with, shinobi-san?"

Land of Waves? Rin hadn't ever fought here before. She had no idea where it was. 'Do you know, Isobu-kun?'

'I remember how I got here,' He assured her, 'Keep your puny concerns to yourself. I'll handle navigation, okay?'

That was a relief. 'Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without you.'

He hummed, non-responsive to praise in a way he usually wasn't, retracting his voice from her head. So strange. She really would have to check in and make sure he was okay and wasn't second-guessing this jaunt of hers.

"Uh… Konohagakure."

Tazuna suddenly grinned. "If you'd said Iwagakure, I might have had to leave you to catch pneumonia," He admitted without hesitation. He stood up and wiped some sweat away with the towel around his neck. There was a low-burning fire going behind him, which he stoked until it was really going. "Are you hungry? I can put on some fish for you, if you'd like."

Rin almost started crying. "Really, Tazuna-san? You'll share your fish with me?"

"My daughter is quite good at fishing," Tazuna said, a note of pride in his voice, "She'll be able to get back whatever you eat, so it's no hassle to share. We can afford to. How do you like your herrings, shinobi-san?"

She could eat it raw and it would be the best meal of her life. "Crispy, thank you Tazuna-san!"

Tazuna laughed at her enthusiasm. "Coming right up, shinobi-san,"

"Oh, you can call me Rin,"

"Rin-san, then. Humor an old man, would you? How did you arrive in my lake completely naked? Surely Konoha has closer ones."

"Not salt lakes," she pointed out.

"Is that important?"

'Is it?'

'Yup.'

"Yup!" Tazuna looked like he wanted to ask more about it, then decided that he was better off not knowing. Rin took this as permission to change the subject. "This is the Land of Waves, is it, Tazuna-san? What do you guys do here? Um, if you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all." The fish sizzled. Rin may or may not have started drooling. "The main occupation is in, as you would assume, fishing. It's where most of our trade is centered, as well as the peddling of medicinal herbs. Our forests grow quite a bit of the rare stuff that you can't find elsewhere. Before the war we used to be the go-between for villages in the transportation of goods due to our geological position, but that's not really an option for us anymore."

For obvious reasons, yes.

"Are you a fisherman?"

"Ah, not me. My daughter is. I'm just a humble carpenter. My current project is a new residential district, but I take contracts from outside the town as well. The war destroyed a lot of homes, as I'm sure you're aware of, having fought in them yourself. As such, I'm in high-demand." Tazuna grinned, seeming quite proud of himself indeed. "You're looking at one of the wealthiest bachelors the Wave has ever seen!"

Rin clapped accordingly. "That's impressive, Tazuna-san. You really leave your home to rebuild other people's houses?" He nodded. "You're a really good person! How long have you been doing this?"

"Since the war ended, so… five years? The demand for my work is slowing down, so I'm back with Tsunami more often. Just as well, too! She's grown into quite a beautiful young lady, so boys are starting to pay attention to her."

"And what's so bad about that?" Rin asked sternly, "Tsunami-san doesn't need her Father chaperoning her dates, does she?"

He blushed, a bit embarrassed. "Well, of course not… but I've babysitted more than half the boys in this town, Rin-san, and I know that none of them will treat her like she deserves. As a man, I call tell these sorts of things."

Dubious. Rin hummed.

Tazuna sweatdropped. "Uh… speaking of my lovely daughter, here she comes now. Tsunami! Did you find anything that would fit?"

Tsunami was, indeed, approaching with an armful of fabric. "I did, and a towel. I wasn't sure what type of clothes you like so I brought a lot. Variety!" Tsunami gently laid out the clothes on the dry wharf. Rin blinked at the sheer amount. "Can you swim up and choose?"

"You… really didn't need to bring that many," said Tazuna.

Tsunami slapped his bare shoulder. "You have no idea how a girl's mind works, Papa," She snapped, sniffing, "Prettiness is important. Shinobi-san?"

Rin preferred practicality over prettiness, but found that the options excited her regardless. Like most things, it seemed to be the novelty that triumphed any personal opinion.

"Do you have any brown?" Rin asked. She barely dodged the rod that came down to smack her. "Tsunami-san?!"

Tsunami had an expression of mortal offense. "Brown?!"

"O-Or white?"

"No!"

'What a personality change… scary.'

'You're telling me?'

"Purple," Tsunami decided, thrusting forward a sleeveless purple kimono with black trimmings. There were no pockets that Rin could see. "It goes well with your coloring."

"I have enough purple," Rin said, pointing to her cheek-markings. "I'm not color-coordinating based on my birth marks, Tsunami-san.

"Pink, then,"

Rin shook her head. "I can't wear pink, Tsunami-san. I'm a shinobi." Tsunami scrunched her nose up. She held up a dark blue loose-turtleneck and a light grey pinstripe skirt, which Rin pulled at to test it's stretchiness and mobility. Hm. Bit too… Kiri for her, but… there was technically nothing wrong with it. "There aren't many pockets…"

Tsunami narrowed her eyes. "I have a haori back in my closet with lots of pockets. You're lucky it matches that shade of blue otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it."

Rin wasn't sure how she felt about that. She wore brown-and-white during the war and all the way until her 'death'. She wore an apron skirt. Fashion was not Rin's speciality, and she wasn't sure it ever would be.

"T-Thank you?"

Tsunami nodded. "I'll go get it now. Papa, you come with me, Rin needs to dry off and get changed." Tazuna looked about as prepared for Tsunami as Rin had been (which was not at all). He was dragged from the wharf by his overbearing daughter without complaint. Rin watched them disappear into the main town bickering about chores feeling distinctly off-balance.

She cleared her throat. 'Isobu-kun… what do you think of my new outfit?'

'You look like a puny human, as always.'

She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting.

Well, what else was there to do? Rin pulled herself out from the water, thanking Isobu for not allowing her muscles to atrophy, and began drying herself off. Tsunami proved her prowess by stuffing underwear in the arms of some of the shirts, evidently to hide them from prying eyes, which made Rin laugh. She was naked. Someone seeing her underwear wasn't going to kill her.

The skirt fit well-enough. Rin did some lunges in it and was satisfied with the mobility it allowed her. The turtleneck was itchy and way too tight around her chest—which was apparently a thing now—but the sleeves were kind of loose. She could store some stuff up there, right?

Rin ran her fingers through her hair. Three years without a haircut. It reached her mid-back now, tangled to hell and back. Tsunami, in all her genius, hadn't the foresight to leave Rin a comb or machete to deal with her hair.

Rin had never handled long hair before. She wasn't sure where to begin. The fire crackled. Rin blinked, remembering the herring roasting for her. 'There's a good place to start,' She thought, and sat down to tear into her meal.

The haori was a rather underwhelming dark green color. Tsunami stared at her until she pretended to be relieved that it wasn't brown. Rin was afraid to show how little she cared about it all; at least Tazuna looked equally as lost. The green was a small, strange comfort as well, she supposed. It wasn't quite Konoha green, but it was close.

The haori did have pockets so that was something she cared about. Rin filled them with herbs (courtesy of Tazuna) and kitchen knives (courtesy of Tsunami) and tried to feel less like a blob of flesh-and-chakra and more like a war-hardened medic nin. She wasn't sure how successful she was.

Isobu assured her that she remained as unimpressive as ever, as if he was a trusted opinion on matters such as humans.

Set for her mission, Rin bowed to the family of civilians. "Thank you very much for your help, Tazuna-san, Tsunami-san!"

Tsunami was still eyeing the haori critically, Rin was afraid to ask why. Tazuna smiled at her and shook his head. "It was no problem, Rin-san. If you ever need a carpenter, make sure you come to me before anyone else, okay? I'll even give you a discount!"

"Sure will, Tazuna-san. I'll be sure to visit!"

"Do that," Tsunami pursed her lips, "but only if you aren't wearing the same clothes when you come back. You seem like the type who wouldn't change their outfit for a while."

A disturbingly accurate judgement. Rin laughed nervously and tried not to literally run away. "Take care, you two!"

"Safe travels, Rin-san!"

Rin kept waving until she was out of sight. Then she sighed, considered the escape from the town with her life (and clothes) a major success, and dipped her head back to feel the sun on her face. It was so warm. Rin really had missed this.

She closed her eyes and prodded Isobu. 'Are you okay?'

Whenever Obito didn't want to talk to her about something he thought was stupid and too personal, he would pout, cross his arms, and grumble about how 'everything was peachy'. Isobu, being a complete child, employed the same tactics. 'What is there to be not okay about?'

'You've been acting strange ever since I took over,' Rin cut to the chase, unwilling to see how long an immortal child could dance around a subject, 'Is something wrong? Do you want control again?'

'It's not that! Can we not talk about this?'

'Uh, no. You can't bottle things up, and considering we share the same mind, you definitely shouldn't try and hide things from me. We have to talk it out, Isobu-kun. Better sooner rather than later.'

'Humans are unnecessarily confrontational,' Isobu decided. She tried to think pointedly at him. '...It's really not that important, Puny-Rin.'

'Try me.'

Isobu sighed. Really quite petulantly, too. 'I… may have been… wrong.'

Whoa.

'About?' Isobu was admitting that he wasn't right about everything. Rin had known him for a long time. He rarely admitted faults in his reasonings. 'Don't clam up now, Isobu-kun. I promise I won't make fun of you.'

He radiated a bit of gratitude at that. Not much, because god forbid he be thankful for her consideration. 'Do you remember when I told you that you couldn't understand what it meant to be trapped?'

Rin remembered vividly being told that, including the cold disappointment that followed. She'd moved past it, mostly, but still didn't appreciate the reminder. She hadn't known Isobu back then and he certainly had no reason to care about her wants and needs; the cruelty, in hindsight, should not have been as surprising as it was. 'I remember. Is that what you think you were wrong about?'

'Mm.'

Even more surprising.

'You were really happy to be in control again, even though you were naked,' Isobu ignored the flare of humiliation from her side of things, 'I forget that you puny humans have such small lifespans. To me, three years is not much time, least of all to be free. Three years is, like, half of your life. Gone. Just like that.'

'Well, not quite half—'

'I was being selfish, Puny-Rin. I didn't even consider that you've already lived most of your life in captivity when I denied you the chance to be free,'

'That's really nice of you, Isobu-kun, and I appreciate that you're taking the chance to atone for that, but I need you to understand that three years isn't half my life—'

'It's just as good,'

'I'm not six years old?'

'Compared to me, yes, you are, which is my point! Shouldn't you be happier that I'm seeing your side of the argument, Puny-Rin? You're always yapping on about how I'm going to "outlive you" and that I'm going to "forget all about you" because I'm just so old. Well, now I believe you!'

Did he not believe her before?

Rin groaned lightly. Isobu's high-pitched voice was even more annoying than expected. Underwater, it was a lot deeper. Not so much for surface interactions. 'As I said, thank you for understanding now. I am happy, don't think I'm not. I just don't get why you're bringing it up now.'

Now he seemed awkward. '... Um, well. Since your lifespan is so short, and mine is so tremendously, impressively long—especially in comparison to your puny one—I'm thinking… maybe you don't have to immediately return control to me after you're done checking on your stupid village?'

Rin tripped over a root, face planting indelicately. 'HUH?! Isobu-kun, are you serious?'

'Why would I say it if I wasn't being serious?' This was the perfect opportunity to cry. 'No, it isn't. Stop crying. Stop blubbering. Puny-Rin, you are embarrassing me. Gyuuki's partner doesn't cry.'

Rin sobbed. 'Gyuuki's partner? Are we partners now?'

'Jeez, you really are dumb… I don't want to talk to you anymore.'

'Isobu-kun!'

'I'll tell you when I want the body back to go for a swim. It won't be permanent though—you can always have it back. That's all I wanted to say.'

'Thank yoooou!'

Isobu mumbled a short, 'Bye.' and disappeared. Just like that.

Rin healed her broken nose, checked for watchers, and shrieked to the sky, "SCREW YOU, KIRIGAKURE!"

It was so cathartic.

Apart from checking in to tell her when she was taking the wrong turns, Isobu made like a tsundere and blushed in the corner of her mind, snapping when she asked if he was okay. Rin left him to it. But not without telling him how much she loved and appreciated him (and she really, really, really did, which was a strange thing to admit, considering).

It was a two day trip with only a few stops for bathroom breaks. Rin sipped at the water bottle Tazuna gave her, cautious about consuming too much and leaving none for the trip back, but there was nothing to worry about on that front. She was experienced at rationing her supplies. Hello, she was apart of a war! It wasn't like an Akimichi buffet followed the platoons to ensure they were all well-fed.

Her muscles were in better condition now than they had been when she died, and for that she had her turtle companion to thank. She took her time walking to Konoha, comfortable with the fact that it would be waiting for her, and allowed herself to admire the world around her. The birdsong, the rustling trees, the chirping squirrels and even a few gassy skunks.

She was still a medic, even after all this time.

She knew how to appreciate life.

'Have you ever seen anything so pretty, Isobu-kun?'

'Stop talking to me, Puny-Rin.'

Everything was beautiful! Nothing hurt! You always appreciated things better if they were taken away from you, and Rin was quite comforted to see that that belief carried over into this experience of hers. She was happy, and that was such a relief; coming back from death with a finer appreciation of life was better than coming back angry.

The Land of Fire Forest was not as she left it.

Which was a good thing.

For one, there were no bodies or military-standard tents housing returning shinobi (and anti-infiltration protocols). The persisting stench of blood was no longer in the air. Since she woke there had been a mysterious concern that lingered in the back of her mind, insidiously suggesting that maybe the war wasn't actually over, that her death, instigated by Kiri ninja, reignited simmering tempers.

But the trees were not scarred.

Rin ran her fingers across the bark and laughed.

'And I can come back to this,' She realised. Isobu promised that while he would want control, he would not shackle the privilege to himself. She could live again as well. She could be free. She could walk the lands on her bare feet and see for herself all the evidence of peace.

That was a plan, wasn't it? Since she couldn't stay in Konoha, she could always travel the world. She was dead, however technically, and dead was as close to unaffiliated as a shinobi could get. She hadn't been a figurehead during the war and as far as Kirigakure knew, Isobu died with her. There was no official Sanbi Jinchuuriki.

'I wanted freedom,' She thought wryly, 'It doesn't get better than this.'

Isobu butted in to inform her that village security was poor but she shouldn't risk getting too close despite it. Word hadn't quite spread about the devastating blow to Konoha's power so the primary focus was rebuilding as much as they could as quickly as they could. An average chunin medic nin wasn't a threat, exactly, but any infiltration was bad infiltration.

The biggest problem about her new jinchuuriki status was the chakra. Rin never had much of it to begin with and her chakra control—perfect, cutting, precise—had reflected that. With Isobu, a veritable chakra demon, all that control was blown straight to hell.

'It's going to be a short visit and our chakra is completely entwined. Could you hold the fort down, Isobu-kun?'

'For a little while, probably.'

'Thanks.'

Chakra control exercises. She'd have to remember that. Rin found a tree and climbed. Or tried to. Her tree walking wasn't working—her feet blasted off half the trunk.

She really needed to practice again, wow. This was shameful.

In the end, all she could do was leap for the branches and climb via jumping. Hardly the most elegant way of traveling, but it was entertaining. Rin had a bit of fun with it!

At the peak of the tallest tree she could find, Rin looked upon her village.

Her heart dropped to her stomach.

'Your brother did this, Isobu-kun?' Isobu was quiet. A cold feeling crawled up Rin's spine and settled in the back of her neck like a parasite. 'What did he do to my home?'

He'd destroyed it. The sky was still rent with smoke and ashes, although there was nothing burning. The south-east part of the village—wall included— was nothing but ruins and rubble, and it was where the most activity was centered. She saw a battalion guardian the missing wall, groups of little people moving in and out, removing the smashed wood, crushed stone, carrying bodies, and felt sick. Through the center of the village was the marketplace—now, it was completely bare but for a few stragglers leaping across the rooftops.

There was not one place untouched.

The residential district alone was—

The situation felt eerily similar to something Rin couldn't quite place. She was trembling from sickness and rage and fear. Her home. Her home.

"How … how could this happen?" She clenched her fists and sent Isobu a short, sincere apology. Rin promised they wouldn't be separated and that Isobu's freedom wouldn't be endangered by her trip. It was a promise she intended on keeping. But she couldn't sit in the tree and go no further. "I need to make sure Sensei and Kakashi are okay."

'Puny-Rin. No.'

'Smother as much of yourself as you can, Isobu-kun. Even if it's just for a little while. I'll be as quick as I can.'

'I can't do that—' He'd have to, because Rin pushed as much chakra as she could and exploded into the air, reaching a genuinely insane height. Like, it was really crazy. Jinchuuriki chakra defied the laws of physics.

And then she was falling and had no idea how to slow her descent.

Oh, crap. She did not think this through.

Isobu made a soft groaning noise. 'You're so dumb,' He huffed, and all of a sudden Rin couldn't feel her arms or mouth at all. 'Smother the chakra yourself, idiot.'

Uh. Okay. Rin got right to that. It was harder than she was expecting; like trying to cover a boulder with a hand towel and hugging a bubble without popping it, both at the same time. She mentally apologized Isobu for the inconvenience of, well, everything, and put her complete faith in him. He was the only chance she had to avoid falling to death.

Her hands moved of their own accord, and her mouth did just about the same thing. "Suiton: Fōmukuraudo," Isobu said through her, and a sliver of red chakra that she was trying to restrain, thank you, escaped her cage. Water vapor gathered under her feet until it was thick enough for her to feel.

And then it rather spontaneously turned into sea foam.

'There,' Isobu said with no small amount of satisfaction. He shoved her out of the way and went back to quieting down his monstrous chakra, leaving Rin with the foam cloud. She was no longer falling, at least.

The horror of the destruction around her aside, being suspending by a floating ball of sea foam was untold levels of awesome.

"How long have you been able to do this?"

Isobu laughed and didn't properly reply. 'I am using so much chakra right now, Puny-Rin, you have no idea. Move quickly. We'll be noticed sooner than you wanted.' Or maybe that was his proper reply.

"Are we leaking chakra?" That was horrifying. Rin hadn't leaked chakra since she was six. Did she have the control of a six year old? She reached for the bubbling chakra inside the flying foam cloud (holy crap) and controlled the water vapor in it the same way she'd control the movements of a water whip, and was pleased that it worked the same way.

Isobu was offended, 'I am not leaky,' He cried, 'If anything, it's you that's leaking!'

Gross.

Rin was not much of a sensor. She'd always been pretty good at picking out Kakashi's pretty hair in any sort of crowd, though, and the talent had never been so relevant before in her life. She shot past the untouched Hokage Mountain—choked on her spit when she saw Minato-sensei's face on there (they finished the sculpture!)—and searched for whatever remained of her team.

The longer she went without spotting Kakashi's lopsided gravity-defying head, Minato-sensei's sunny locks, or Kushina-nee's everything, the more worried and hopeless she became. It wasn't like her team was the only thing she cared about, but Konoha would be harder to come back to if they weren't there as well.

To make matters worse, Rin had no chance or time of finding her brunette parents. Not like this. While at least she could check on her teammates, regarding her Mother and Father, Rin simply had to pray that they'd escaped with their lives.

She thought about asking for Isobu's help, but dismissed the idea. She couldn't have him doing everything for her.

Though that left her with an uncomfortable thought. She was a medic, sure, and a damn good one (considering she had the control for the Mystic Palm jutsu but not, oddly enough, tree walking? Was she actually overpowering her Mystic Palm? How was that even possible?), but considering she was about to wander the world alone…

A inventory of jutsu limited purely on the Mystic Palm was … not going to cut it.

She was going to have to improve. By a lot.

Rin ended up flying over a huge funeral. She wondered how she hadn't noticed before and hovered, too high up to hear anything or see the faces in the small picture frames. It must have been a mass memorial. She'd attended a lot of those during the war, though there'd never been such an impressive showing for those compared to this.

Then again, the residential district had been destroyed. Civilians suffered as much as shinobi this time. There would be more attending, taking that into consideration.

Rin didn't want to stick around any longer than she had to, finding it disrespectful to linger if she didn't known who the funerals were for. She sent a quick, heart-felt prayer for the safe delivery of all the souls the village had lost before flying off on her foam cloud.

She scouted a little longer yet but to her immense disappointment, Rin couldn't see her precious people at all. It was depressing. Rin's heart ached at the implication of it.

However, she couldn't stick around and mourn them like they deserved. Not when she had her promise to Isobu to be mindful of. Her chakra was not under her control at all. Heeding Isobu's frantic warnings, Rin departed the village, and flew further past the Konoha outposts until she was safely out of Konohagakure territory. The cloud brought her to the ground before dispersing back into the air as vapor.

She hadn't found anyone. Not Kakashi, not Minato-sensei, not Kushina-nee, and not her parents.

Rin crawled into the nearest tree, thought, 'I think I've earned this, 'and began to cry.

She cried very hard that day, and all through the night, and even a little bit in the morning before she made the decision that she'd cried quite enough for now. Shinobi died. That what they did. A good shinobi died for their village. The best of them died in defense of it.

It was the best death their career could afford them, if nothing else, and Rin let that be a cold comfort.