Nohara Rin stretched languidly as she looked over the familiar vista of the Uzumaki compound. The mash of housing on the long river-island leveled up on thick piers to keep them above the occasional flood waters of the river that ran through the village was the closest thing she had to a permanent residence. While it was nice to be back, she knew deep down that it was only for a few months at the most. After that, the reminders would start to get too much, she'd find herself lingering by the memorial stones, and she'd wake up in Obito's bed more than her own.

They'd each dealt with losing sensei in their own way and, as far as she was concerned, she was doing just fine for herself. That was the way things had been going for years now and she wasn't in any hurry to change things.

All the same, it felt good to be back in the village, at least for the moment.

"Auntie Ri-Ow!" Enkai grunted as the woman's fist came down on the boy's head. Looking back up to complain, he saw the rictus grin and twitching eye staring back at him and quickly amended what he was about to say. "Ah, Big Sis! You're home!"

Rin's face relaxed as she smiled more honestly and turned her grinding knuckles into a smooth ruffling of her honorary little brother's crimson hair. "Hey Enkai, how's things?"

"I just started the academy!" Enkai enthused, bouncing with the trademark Uzumaki energy. "I'm in class with Hanabi and Konohamaru!"

She quirked an eyebrow as she let the boy lead her into the clan head's residence. "Oh-ho? Going to be all grown up and taking missions before you know it, then."

He grinned, then his eyes widened. "Oh, you said you'd have a gift last time! When we visited you in Tanzaku last year! What'd you bring me?"

Rin chuckled, remembering the trip Kushina had insisted on making despite her condition. Even with the surprise of her, Narumi, and Enkai showing up with an honor guard of jounin and Obito in tow, they'd had a good time. It had been a little difficult to dodge the very drunk woman's constant invitations to return to Konoha and she'd somehow ended up in the same futon as Obito again, damn both him and her, but it had been good to see the people she considered her family again.

Rin reached down and patted a scroll case at her hip with promise. "I've got a present for you and your sister after the party. Yours for getting into the academy, hers for graduating."

Enkai pouted and looked away. "Alright, I guess."

Rin looked at the various retainers setting up for the party and asked, "so, how's Narumi?"

Enkai snorted and grinned. "Ya'know she hates that."

Rin rolled her eyes. "Ugh, she still hasn't stopped with that nonsense? She better grow up quick. So how is she, really?"

Enkai shrugged. "Good, I guess? Ma's teaching her the fox-stuff for the last while, I guess. Um... she's been doin' better at school, too."

They came to the room reserved for Rin and she dropped her pack near the bed before beginning to peel off her travel and mission gear. "Good for her. She was having a lot of trouble with the book work the first few years, I remember. That little study group of hers helped out?"

Enkai's face soured enough to make Rin's instincts perk up in interest. "Ah, yeah. I guess."

A few ideas batted themselves around in her head as she speculated on how to approach things. Finally, one settled into place as Rin yawned and leaned back onto the bed. "You ever try to sneak along and watch them? It'd be good practice for later on and you might learn something."

The young Uzumaki screwed his face up further and shook it. "Nah, even if I wanted to, they do it over at the Kurama clan house anyway. Plus,he'dcatch me."

Oh-ho? 'He?' There's a lot in the word and even more in the way the boyo said it.

"He must be pretty good to catch you if you're as good with pranks as you used to be," Rin prodded casually.

Enkai looked frustrated and even stomped a bit. "Pssht! Like that matters! Kota's, like, a prodigy or sumthin, ya'know?"

There was more emotion in those words, a lot of bitterness and irritation. Not to mention traces of resentment and confusion. Rin's eyebrows furrowed, not liking that mix. She'd heard something like this before, quite a few times, among the medics. Especially those who had teammates walk away without a scratch while they'd had a limb ripped off and needed to be shuffled back to Konoha for whatever cripple duty they could pick up.

Getting Section Two'd was never easy.

Kushina was living proof, especially the way she clenched her fists when she saw anyone training or heavily working out.

"A prodigy, huh?" Rin asked, cocking her head, silver hair flitting across her mind's eye before she pushed the memories away. "What team's he on?"

If anything, the innocuous question made Enkai more frustrated. "He's not. He says he doesn't wanna' be a ninja! Even if he can take out big-sis Satsuki and big-sis Yakumo!"

Rin's eyebrows rose slightly. "That is-wait, I think I remember Narumi mentioning something about this last year. Kotaro, right?" She cocked her head in thought as Enkai confirmed her guess. Huh. Villagers who had the potential to be shinobi but chose not to were rare, almost exceptionally so. Villagers who were trained, through whatever means, to the point where they could match and exceed green genin from well-established clans and still chose to not pursue the career of a ninja were... well, non-existent. Such a hypothetical individual would be a significant security risk depending on their actual level of ability and, besides that, they would be drafted into the genin corps just for the sake of making an example out of stubbornly 'disloyal' civilians.

"What about Narumi?" Rin asked curiously. "How's your sister fare against him? I think one of your mom's last letters mentioned she's started training with chakra chains now."

Enkai snorted and crossed his arms. "Kota's a seal master, so it's not like that stuff matters. He just pulls out these little paper strips when sis pops her chains and they, like, glue themselves to trees or whatever."

Rin stared at the redheaded boy as he told a few more tales of this 'Kotaro's' apparently endless bag of tricks, but she was more focused on the fact the boy was some kind of burgeoning seal master. Those were-no, actually, that made sense. To a degree at least.

If Sarutobi was treating the boy more like a traveling monk or something than a village civilian and trying to entice him to apply his skills for the sake of Konoha... Yeah, she could see someone getting away with dodging enlistment under those conditions. Even with the Uzumaki and what was left of their fuuinjutsu expertise after the exodus from Uzu, Konoha had still been without a true seal master given sensei's death and Jiraiya's... Jiraiya-ness.

It was definitely unusual, but maybe the old man was getting soft in his later years? Then again, honeypots were a time-honored tradition and if the boy was friends with three clan heiresses, one of which was the sibling to Hiruzen's nominal successor, then odds were Kota would stay loyal to Konoha without the threat of drafting him.

Rin nodded slowly, glad she understood that situation and-

"Wait!" She held up a hand to stop the boy's rambling. "Did you just say he's a medic?"

…

"I got you a plate."

I turned with a small smile, accepting the offering from Satsuki, who wore an uncharacteristically small blush as she placed it in my hands.

"Congratulations, by the way," I offered with a nod, beginning to pick at the pre-dinner snacks. Ninja lifestyles being what they were, no one batted an eye if you consumed four or five plates when you were invited over as a guest. It was more the time frame you had to be careful of. Dragging dinner out by being a glutton was rude, eating your fill wasn't.

"Thanks," Satsuki murmured with a nod, then looked around with a searching glance. "A-are we going to..."

"Probably during the dinner out later this week," I replied, understanding her question without it being asked. Satsuki sighed slightly and nodded, even if I could sense disappointment in her. "Think about it this way, do you want your parents listening in?"

Her blush vanished and her skin tone dropped a few shades as she paled. "You're right," she nodded firmly, grimacing.

We were quiet a moment, each eating from our respective plates. Even among the traditional Japanese-esque diet, Uzu parties featured a great deal of seafood. I'd made the unfortunate mistake of introducing gumbo while staying at the Uzu compound following the mess at the Kurama compound, which had been entirely voluntary and totally not an attempt to remove me from accessing my lab while Hiruzen figured out what the fuck had just happened.

I'd then been handed over to the Uchiha for safe-keeping after nearly igniting a culinary civil war.

"So how's your sharingan training going?" I asked in lieu of anything else to speak on.

She shrugged minutely as we slowly made our way towards a wall and out of the way of the milling adults. "Good. Itachi's had a bit more time to show me some stuff." She stopped and turned to me with narrowed eyes that flashed whirling red tomoe. "I want another spar before team assignments."

I sighed, not even bothering to disguise the motion. "If you're trying to copy my breathing techniques again, your body still isn't ready for it."

"I want to learn those." Her voice held certainty and intent, then she blushed and looked away. "We're going to be dating soon. I'll...do things, if you teach me."

"The whole point of waiting until you graduated was to put us on a more equal social footing," I reminded her. "I'm not going to undermine that by making our relationship transactional for sexual favors. Just keep practicing what I've already taught you, work with Yakumo on the body-control techniques, and I'll teach you when you're ready."

Satsuki tried to glare, but there was too much pout in it for it to be truly effective. We'd known each other for over two years at this point. She knew she'd get what she wanted, eventually.

"I never did ask you," she started slowly, her eyes tracking the various people in the crowd. "What happened at the end of the illusion."

I kept chewing my current bite as though nothing were wrong. "Hmm."

Her gaze flicked towards me. "You said it was something like what was going on with Yakumo. A... 'nascent personality construct' or something."

It had been a recurring worry, whether or not to tell her over the past six months. She'd pestered this much out of me during my prolonged stay at the Uchiha compound, ending in demanding a seal similar to Yakumo's. I think she'd almost been disappointed when it hadn't resulted in similar shenanigans a few months later when I'd finally finished a design and applied it. Itachi had very quietly demanded to be in attendance as well, which I'd endorsed over Satsuki's objections.

"Kota! Satsuki! There you are!" Yakumo cried, speaking up from her usual demure tone as she nearly bounced over with a happy spring in her step. "So..."

I didn't groan. I very much wanted to, but knew better by this point. "I'm still working on the body. It'll be ready when it's ready. I've still got months of practical testing."

Yakumo's shoulders slumped and she sighed as she discreetly placed a hand over her lower abdomen. "Sorry, I know that's what you're always saying, but I just have to ask every time I see you."

"Yes dear," I replied, a rare bit of snark entering my tone as my lips twitched. Yakumo blushed happily.

Satsuki snorted and looked away. Yakumo raised an eyebrow and gave me a pointed look. I rolled my eyes and handed her my plate before sliding an arm around Satsuki's waist, drawing an admittedly adorable squeak out of her as she tried ineffectually to get away.

"Kota-" She growled warningly.

"Yes dear," I replied in the same tone I'd used with Yakumo, and she went rigid against me, the heat from her face almost visible.

"Hmm."

No matter my improved abilities, the ghost-like presence of Uchiha Itachi was always a surprise. Even within a crowded veranda with a few dozen people, he never failed to bypass my metaphysical senses. I was hoping to develop a way to bypass that element, but... well, he could be surprised for once.

Itachi's eyes lingered on my arm around his sister's waist, his gaze then flickering to Yakumo, who nodded happily as she picked my plate clean. Seemingly satisfied, the Hokage candidate nodded and turned. "You have my blessing."

Satsuki made the noise of a small trapped animal and turned to make a valiant effort at hiding behind me. The side of Itachi's lips twitched and his body convulsed in a subtle way that told me he was suppressing laughter. One deep breath later, and he nodded again. "Kotaro. You should be aware-"

"HAHAHAHAHA! My team has finished our mission early and returned to take part in these YOUTHFUL FESTIVITIES! Now where are MY YOUTHFUL RIVAL AND MY PRODIGAL STUDENT?!"

"YOSH! KOTARO-KUN! I HAVE REACHED A NEW LEVEL IN MY TRAINING! WE MUST TEST OUR YOUTHFUL SPIRITS AGAINST EACH OTHER ONCE AGAIN!"

"-nevermind," Itachi stated, turning to walk away before he got trapped in the morass about to engulf all of us. The traitor.

"If I don't survive this, I want you both to tell Naruko that I blame her," I stated with a resigned tone.

Yakumo and Satsuki traded confused looks. "Why?"

"She's not here right now so she can't defend herself. Ergo, it's her fault," I stated bluntly.

Then Lee's gaze found me and I was moving.