My eyelids peeled open.

Before me underneath the darkened sky bathed by the crescent moon's silver luminescence were sheets upon sheets of opened scrolls all neatly lined up in rows of five. Besides the one on the left that I was opting to call number one was an ink paintbrush I had seen in my one of favourite anime.

"I have to draw signs on all these?" I turned a haunted look of dread to Kushina, who held herself with glowing pride lighting the night.

"Yup!"

"Every single one?"

"Every single one!"

'This must be her revenge,' I glumly realized before I lowered myself onto the grass of Training Ground 7, picking up the brush to begin my Crush Course in calligraphy, 'That's the last time I tease her.' I had the finished article Kushina drew up beside me as a reference point. It looked like a bunch of wiggly lines with the kanji for seal painted in the centre of a ring signifying that something had already been sealed into it.

A sinking feeling settled in my stomach. I was never the best artist in school, and each line took me a good few seconds to scribble onto the blank scroll.

"Fight on, Rin-chan! Up the pace! You wanna be a sealing master with speed like that? Ha! You won't even be a novice!"

All the while sensei chanted encouragements at me with all the energy of "You can do better than that."

"…It's gonna be a long night."

A few days passed by since starting my apprenticeship in sealing. Progress was slow, if not steady. I hadn't been the fastest drawer in my past life but I was doing my best to increase my speed. One hour of completion had at least been halved since. Small progress, but progress nonetheless. I also sparred with a clone of Kushina and lemme tell ya, that lady was tough. Even with just a fraction of her power that wasn't even 25%, I could barely get near her. Guess she wasn't equal to Minato for nothing. She must be in the tiers of a Kage-level shinobi.

I had to get much stronger before I could rock with a clone of hers going even semi-seriously.

Even stronger still until I felt confident I could alter the timeline for the better.

"Will it be enough, though?" I mused quietly to myself, glancing at a plain calendar beside my window. Fortunately, Rin was the type of girl to circle out the days and dates as she lived each day, making continuity seamless for me. "November the 23rd." I zeroed in on the month past the day of Naruto's birth, "Just a year to go until Naruto is born." If Kakashi was twenty-six at the start of the series, that would've made him fourteen when Kushina gave birth to Naruto and died that same night.

If everything remained relatively the same, Minato was on course to impregnate Kushina two months from now, probably, though with Kushina taking a serious interest in honing my skills, who was to say she would have time to recite the birds and the bees with the Leaf's Yellow Flash of Konoha? One could only hope Rin's presence wouldn't derail their baby-making plans. Poor Kushina got relegated to the 'ChiChi role' of parody Japanese housewife after hooking up with Minato.

Although I enjoyed Kushina's and Minato's romance (I'm a sucker for romance, so sue me) I couldn't help but feel grieved about Kishimoto's treatment of her, especially when her lore had her being equal to Minato.

She deserved better than being shoved into the stereotypical angry housewife role.

I wandered over to my kitchen space when I heard a clicking noise, turning off my pink rice cooker and pressing another button to open the hatch. Boiling-hot steam flowed upwards like a fire signal. "First time trying egg over rice." I said, optimism bubbling up in my stomach as I pried a small bowl and an egg from my cupboard and fridge respectively, "I hope it's tasty."

I always wanted to sample it back in my first life but I never could find the perfect eggs to ever eat raw.

I tapped the light pinkish-brown shell against the side of my countertop, cracking it in two over the waiting steaming rice-filled bowl in one smooth go with a skill I had to believe belonged entirely to Rin. I watched the orange yolk pooled around a glittery golden gooey juice neatly splash over the white rice in satisfaction.

"And now for the finishing touch." I chucked the emptied husk in the bin before tiptoeing up and grabbing a bottle of soy sauce from an opened cupboard. "Can't have egg over rice without soy sauce." According to Rin's memories and many English-speaking Japanese Youtubers I watched before I died, like the hilarious Mrs Eats and her husband or Shogo from the Let's Ask Shogo, Your Japanese Friend in Kyoto channel. (P.S., I hope Shogo was able to cure his disease. Rotting fingers sounded dreadful and something I wouldn't wish on anyone)

Prays aside for a young man's hopeful recovery, I drizzled drops of vinegar-coloured soy sauce over my breakfast like a light rainfall and mixed everything together with my cute chopsticks. It fused together wonderfully, creating bright medium yellow rice I took a hungry whiff of.

"Smells good." I carried it back to my bedroom and seated myself on my curled legs atop a pillow, placing my food on my table and freeing my hands I pressed together. "Itadakimasu." I lifted my chopsticks and dived in, bringing a small ball of painted rice to my parting lips, propping the morsel atop my tongue.

I chewed.

Swallowed.

And a feeling of heavenly delight swam through my body.

"Tastes even better, too."

I stepped out of my apartment under clear skies and a bright sun overhead thirty minutes later, locking my door.

"Oh, Rin-chan." The door neighboured next to mine opened, and the face of a pudgy middle-aged lady that appeared to be in her mid-forties appeared. She wore her light chocolate brown bushy hair in a thick ponytail that fell to her shoulders, sporting a neon-coloured long-sleeved shirt and a white skirt that trailed the length of her legs and reached her sandaled feet. "Stepping out, dear?"

"Honda-san." I bowed. Rin's neighbour had taken splendid care of her since she moved into the apartment building two years ago when the heated arguments with her parents became too much to bare and her mothering hadn't stopped with me in the driver's seat of Rin's body. (I liked to think I did a good job of keeping up appearances with what little I knew of Rin's personality from canon) I owed her the courtesy.

"Yeah, the money's starting to get a bit tight." I rose and scrubbed a cheek with an index finger, sheepish. "So I'm gonna pick up a few D-ranked missions and stock up my piggyback."

"Well, Don't push yourself too hard, dear." She advised, the lines of her eyebrows knitting in concern. "Your teammate, Kakashi-kun, told me you went through a bit of an ordeal, though he didn't really give me details."

"I'm fine, really," I brightened, bowing once more. "It was a little scary, but I'm back on my feet now. Honest!"

"If you're certain, I won't press the issue." She murmured. "I only hope you'll be careful. I hear those in your line of work barely live to see their thirties."

My eyes dimmed with a faint melancholic sheen. She didn't know how right she was, and, if I had anything to say about it, she never would. "I'll be careful." A small smile quirked my lips. It was truly amazing that Hiruzen and Ōnoki were able to live until their late sixties and early hundreds respectively in a world where the average age of death was thirty. Ōnoki even outlasted the duration of Naruto's story.

"Oh, that said!" She folded her hands. "I'm making chicken karaage tonight. I can leave some on your doorstep if you would like?"

"That'll be great, thanks!" I beamed.

"You're welcome." She smiled back. "Have a nice day, Rin-chan."

"You too, Honda-san."

Honda-san scooted back inside and I inhaled deeply, exhilaration flooding every corner of my slender body. "Okay! Got some crispy fried chicken to look forward to later tonight, so." I fisted the air. "Time to get out here and hard work."

To quote the infectious Taijutsu duo, Yosh! To the springtime of youth!

The Hokage Monument.

Quite the perfect sightseeing landscape in real life, with far less light than how the anime and coloured manga depicted it. Like most real-life mountains, it was as grey as the one it was inspired by in my old world, Mount Rushmore. Just one more thing to get used to besides the trio of recognizable faces engraved into the mountainside like the guardians overlooking the village from above. (I swear, I was never gonna get used to not seeing at least four faces on that thing)

The large red circular-shaped tower in front of the monument stood imposing, towering over other establishments in the village by a noticeable degree, branded with the kanji for fire above the second tiled glossy brown roof. It kinda looked like it had two umbrellas built into it.

I breathed in an intake of air, 'Here we go. My first time 'meeting' Hiruzen. It should be fine.' Despite what fanfiction would have people believing, Hiruzen was genuinely a kind man.

I stepped through toward the opened doors that looked like they belonged in a martial arts movie and bulked when a shiny, bright sunshine yellow oval-shaped glow materialized between the dojo-like entrance. I blinked and it was already gone, leaving behind a strikingly handsome young man as though the two had switched places in a magic show.

My eyes widened.

"…Minato-sensei." I breathed.

Naruto's Pappy was quite the sight for sore eyes. The softest features laid soothingly on an oval-shaped pretty face, with a 'pinkish' complexion suggesting he had been bathing in the sun kissing his spiky yellow-golden hair, framing his sparkly blue eyes and partly covering the six-like leaf symbol of his headband wrapped around his forehead. Like most shinobi, he donned the standard Chunin-Jounin uniform of a sleeveless flex green jacket with a high-collared long-sleeved shirt and pants over a lean frame of a well-trained Olympic sprinter.

"Rin." The thin line of his lips upturned, making my heart drum against my chest. His sandaled feet carried him to me with grace before he put a fatherly hand atop my head. "I'm glad you're safe."

I glanced down under the warm blanket of his kindness, the tips of my ears glowing with a pink hue and a lump forming in my throat. "…Uh, um. Yeah, totally! Totally safe!" Ugh. I sound like a white girl. 'Good job, Rin! Sensei's absolutely gonna be suspicious of you now."

I willed my eyes to stay open even while imagining a thin brow atop Minato's lovely eye raising but he just laughed slightly, a kind mirth painting his delicate tones. "Sorry I wasn't around to protect you." He removed his hand from my head and I fought against every fibre of my being to resist pulling it against my cheek. I hope Kushina appreciated what she had in this dashing man. "I had to run an urgent A-ranked mission for Hokage-sama."

I took a deep breath through my nostrils as indistinctly as I could, lifting my head and trying to grin with the utmost sincerity, "It's okay." I assured. 'I was pretty sure you going on that mission at exactly that time was all part of Madara's plan to lure in Obito.' I mused to myself. "Kakashi had me covered."

"I got that much from Kushina." He curled a finger against his spotless cheek sheepishly, "She wouldn't let me hear the end of it of him bringing you back home, something about a knight rescuing a princess, I think."

My own cheeks flashed red in embarrassment. "Yeah, I bet she did."

"But she also told me you've taken a serious interest in your training." He winked, reaching into his back pouch. I blinked, curiosity scratching at my back like a cat. "That's why I came by to give you this." He pulled out a scroll, draping it across my hands I lifted up like a tray.

"What's this?" I wondered.

"A jutsu." He readily explained, though a bead of sweat rolled down his cheek. "Though I admit it won't further your training," He sobered. "It'll act more of an escape route."

Considering I've inherited the stigma of being held captive twice by the enemy, stocking up on defensive jutsu wasn't a bad idea. "What jutsu is it?"

A polite smile. "Why don't you see for yourself?"

"Okay," I said and unfurled it enough to make out the name of my gifted technique. I sucked in an intake of air.

Shunshin no Jutsu

"The Body Flicker Technique…" I gazed back up at sensei's smile. "I can have this?"

"Of course." Assured Minato, "It'll come in handy getting you out of a tight spot."

I rolled my treasure jutsu and hugged it to my chest, beaming brightly, "Thank you, sensei!"

"You're welcome." He laid another tender hand on my head. "Keep training and growing stronger, Rin. I'll be here to support you every step of the way."

"Yessir!" I chirped appreciatively.

A warm giggle left him before he retracted his hand and straightened. "I'll leave you to it." I nodded in response and a look of recognition flashed across his face like his signature jutsu. "Oh, and before I forget, Kushina wanted me to tell you your sealing training will be later this evening." He looked sheepish. "She says she wants to treat me to a big dinner today to celebrate my return."

I tittered, "Have fun."

"I'll try," He replied. "I'll see you soon, Rin." Then he was gone like his literal moniker, causing me to jump.

"Okay, that's gonna take some getting used to," I murmured. And honestly, I don't think I would ever get accustomed to seeing sensei ping out of existence like a light bulb. "Let's try this." I unrolled my scroll, looking it over, "Body Flicker Jutsu, a D-ranked speed jutsu for short and long-distance travel. The Chakra drainage is manageable even with a small pool but one loses sight of their surroundings," I read aloud. "Only one hand-sign. I wonder why other shinobi don't use it more often. I mean, I know it ain't exactly practical in a fight considering the tunnel vision it induces in the user, but still! Being able to put distance between yourself and the enemy on the fly sounds pretty handy."

Honestly, if Rin had a technique like this in her arsenal I doubt the Mist woulda captured her so easily, even being controlled by Madara. Heck, she was a medical ninja. It just made sense that she would want to keep away from the enemy at all costs.

"Alright, let's try it," I whispered to myself, tucking my rolled scroll back in my pouch. Speaking of which, Rin being a medical ninja meant I inherited her impeccable Chakra control. A basic Genin-entry jutsu should be simple for me to pull off. It should simply be a matter of pulling from her bank of memories.

I instinctively made a tiger seal, hands folded and fingers pressed down other than my indexes. A heated pool swirled cosily inside my belly, conjuring an image of myself dashing through the air at Bleach levels of quickness. I felt a powerful gale rapidly propel me forward as a 'poof' echoed behind me.

"Whoa!" I tumbled at the entrance of Hiruzen's tower, rolling like a Looney Tunes character to the foot of the spiral staircase. "Uh…" The world spun in my gaze, head resting against the dark-colouring flooring with legs raised. "…Guess that answers that question." It may be useful but for a D-ranked jutsu, it was deceptively difficult to control.

'And Shusui uses THIS in his fights.' I remembered, righting myself and dusting off my knees. I jumped myself up, climbing the stairs one by one. 'What a remarkable guy.' It made even less sense that Danzo would want to cripple one of the Leaf's most valuable assets. This was the same Leaf that was allegedly so vulnerable they sacrificed Neji's Papa to smooth over relations with the Cloud after Hiashi killed their representative.

That wasn't even mentioning the fact it was the Hidden Cloud Village who backstabbed the Leaf, using the peace treaty as a ruse to sneak into the village and steal Hinata to do only god knows what in a decade's time. Her eyes would be ripped out of her sockets first and foremost.

I suppose one could make the argument they were wary of Ai's and Bee's immense power (Lightning Chakra Armor and perfect control over the second strongest-tailed beast would've destroyed everyone, after all) with hindsight but Ai and Bee didn't exist back then. It was easy to forget Hiruzen was supposed to be the strongest of all the village leaders even in his old age before Kishimoto retconned his power. Jiraiya was portrayed as much more powerful in part one of the series, too, being feared enough to drive away Itachi and Kisame.

After everything we saw in part two, that seemed completely farcical.

Kisame would destroy Jiraiya rather easily.

I continued ascending the circular stairwell leading up to Hiruzen's office with a euphoria washing through me. 'Glad there's no secretary in this timeline.' I don't know where the idea of Hiruzen having a secretary stemmed from. Neither the manga nor the anime had ever depicted such a thing.

Ugh. Naruto fanfiction could be exasperating.

I reached the top, making my way to an ornate brown door with Hokage labelled on top. I only had to rap my knuckles against the exterior a single time before Hiruzen's grizzled, grandfatherly voice floated through.

"You may proceed."

I touched my heart and breathed lightly, steeling my nerves, though nothing (other than careful consideration) could've prepared me for the sight that awaited me when I twisted the handle and peered inside. "Excuse me, Hokage… sama." My words trailed off, eyes dilating.

A lone veteran kunoichi appearing to be in her mid-forties stood in front of Hiruzen's desk, wearing her dark sandy hair in a high ponytail. She housed a stern visage, with dark raven eyes that held a strength that could only come from enduring a long life in the shinobi world. Much like the love of her life, she donned a kimono-like dress with a haori.

'Hiruzen's wife!' I had completely forgotten about her. She didn't live to see the start of the series after being struck down by Obito on the night of Naruto's birth. This just made Hiruzen look like an even greater leader in my eyes. Not only had he lost a child shortly after (Asuma was Konohamaru's uncle, not his dad) he lost his wife, too, and yet, despite grieving, he stepped back into office following Minato's untimely death and was there to support his people. He even comforted the poor orphaned Iruka, giving him a warm cuddle and telling him it was okay to mourn the loss of his parents.

Hiruzen was a sweetheart and I would hear no such slander on his name, Naruto fanfiction be damned. He was not some evil pushover for a stupid fan concept that was the Civilian Council to walk all over.

"What on earth could you possibly be staring at?" I flinched when she spoke suddenly, pulling me back to reality.

"I…" I mentally kicked myself for hesitating. "I just… didn't expect to find you here." Not a lie, but a flimsy innuendo. 'Gah. Caught with my skirt down. How embarrassing.' If only I had set aside time to sort through Rin's collection of memories I wouldn't be in this mess. I had been cautious about peering into her mind's precious save files. It felt wrong to peek inside someone's personal recollection of events that had helped shape their personality, even If I was technically that person now.

It was like nosing through a girl's sacred diary and learning all of her deepest darkest secrets.

It's just wrong.

She studied my hopefully not too nervous face with narrowed eyes for a small moment and then hmphed. "Why I never. Must it really be such a shock that a woman would pay her darling husband a visit at his workplace?"

"Guess not." I laughed a little sheepishly, and in spite of my reservations about looking through Rin's personal memory bank, I did so anyway as a matter of self-preservation. "It's good to see you, sensei." I bowed because as it turned out Biwako had been the one to train Rin in the art of healing when Rin had sought her out for that express purpose. Much like Sakura, she had feared not being able to contribute to her team without at least being a healer despite leaving the academy three years earlier than Tsunade's most prestigious student.

The creases around her mouth lifted up slightly when she smiled, "And you, Rin. That teammate of yours notified Hokage-sama regarding the ordeal you endured. Hokage-sama grew concerned about your mental state but I assured him he needn't worry. You are a woman, after all, and women are strong."

"Yup." I grinned, turning to the smiling face also retaining much of its youth. I struggled to repress another flinch because Hiruzen with a full head of brown hair crowning his skull like Vegeta's, only halved, was wild. I could only imagine the years he spent without his wife musta hit him exceptionally hard. Warmth coated every line of his surprisingly youthful face, resembling a healthy relatively young man that didn't look anywhere near his fifties even though he was well in between the big five O. (Heck, my little brother's Dad who died in his late forties looked older than Hiruzen now, with his hair having turned full grey by the time of his death)

I guess the lesson on show here was don't underestimate what stress could do to a person.

He had a strong, lean frame cloaked in his trademark robes from part one Naruto, a white haori draped over a red kimono.

"Hokage-sama." I bowed.

"Hello, Rin-kun." He held his kind, outwardly demeanour, smiling with perpetual benevolence. "It would appear apologies are in order for doubting your mental fortitude." He continued, eliciting a content hmph from his wife.

"It was a doozy, but I managed somehow," I assured, dropping my hands below my waist.

"Humble as always, I see." He praised and I mentally fist-pumped, taking it as a sign I had crafted a somewhat effective Rin mask. He reached under his desk and pulled out several scrolls almost as though he could frighteningly look into my mind. "Now, then. Can I presume you would like to request a mission as Minato-kun had surmised?"

"Yes, please." I nodded peppily, "Money was getting a bit tight."

"How sensible of you." The 55-year-old praised me, drawing my attention to the assignments he just removed. "I have a C-ranked delivery mission to the Bamboo Village and a few D-ranked missions available." A smile. "Which would you like?"

"I'll take the D-ranked missions, for now," I nodded. "I'm trying to toughen up a bit first before I venture out of the village again."

"Take your time, dear," advised Hiruzen. "There is no rush. The war reached its conclusion some ago, meaning those who wish to procrastinate and partake in frivolous activities are free to do so for a period of time."

I beamed. "Yes!" I took my mission scrolls and fitted them in my back pouch, bidding the relatively youthful-looking Sarutobis a bow on my way out. I skipped all the way out of his tower like I was going down the yellow brick road, whistling and giggling as I bathed in the golden sheen of the sunlight cast upon my new home. 'Can't believe I forgot all about Hiruzen's wife. Okay, enough procrastinating! I'm sorting through Rin's memories first thing after training. Can't afford to keep getting caught with my skirt down.'

My feet stopped.

'I just hope it'll be enough to stop Obito.'

Because the thought of Hiruzen and Naruto losing their loved ones made me queasy.

Helpful feedback would be appreciated. It doesn't have to be praise. It can be criticism too so long as it's constructive. Biwako's going to be tricky to write since we don't know much about her personality. All I have to go on is Kushina's flashback extended in the anime. I tried my best to base it around that. That was also the inspiration for Hiruzen's more youthful appearance here. He actually looked pretty handsome in Kushina's extended flashback. I hope everyone enjoyed my more canon characterization of him. He often gets thrown under the bus in Naruto bashing fics along with Jiraiya and Team 7 as mentioned in the chappie. Canon, however, has never implied he's anything other than the kind old man

He's made... questionable decisions, for sure, (getting overruled by Danzo and the other elders when debating the fate of the Uchiha clan will never not be annoying) but he's a genuinely nice man