Interlude: Lost in Time

Rin POV
(Sometime in the past)

You had died. Being pierced straight through to your heart. You only had a few seconds to think before you finally died. Of course such thoughts were mostly preoccupied with you dying. And after a certain point, you stopped thinking all together.

…or so you had expected.

You awoke to the sounds of birds chirping over head. The next thing you heard was a loud gruff grunt of exhaustion. Something that didn't even sound human.

Turning your head you noticed a rather distinct form of a great monster.

That's right, they sealed the three tails inside of you. To…to probably rampage around Konoha or something.

You considered that maybe this is the after life. It grunted once more before finally walking away. It's footsteps thundering with each step it made. You had no idea where it was going, only that you should probably not follow.

Which lead you to get up off the ground. Where…were you? The last thing you remember was…Kakashi…

Looking around at your surroundings, you noticed a distinct lack of any real identification marks. At first you thought maybe you had survived the attack somehow, but then why were you on the ground?
Kakashi wouldn't have just left you there, unless…was he in danger as well!?

That meant you had to go to Konoha as soon as possible!

…uh…

That is, when you were able to understand just where exactly you currently were…




*~o~*




For some reason after returning to the leaf village you had quickly been captured. You knew the code words, and not to toot your own horn, but your identity was at least somewhat well known around the village. Not as much as Kakashi's but…who was?

You rolled your eyes as they finally dropped the questions and brought in a Yamanaka to check your memories. Honestly, this was too much. You knew the codewords to get back into the village, you knew Konoha like the back of your hand, as well as literally any question they could throw at you.

So why was it they weren't satisfied with your answers? You of course voluntarily offered your mind up to the Yamanaka, something that seemed to confused everyone. Wow, everyone was acting really strange for some reason.

It took about half an hour before the Yamanaka was satisfied, and turned back to the others.

"She's…telling the truth."

His words seemed to confuse everyone, before he continued on his explanation.

"Her memories are being a genin during the Third Ninja World. I think it's time we bring him in, to be completely sure."

You blinked in confusion as they all gave a small nod before disappearing from view. Honestly, if they just brought in Kakashi you'd be able to prove your identity easily. They even confirmed that he was alright and in the village!

The door to your interrogation room opened. You heard his voice before you saw his face.

"…Rin?"

You looked up in excitement!

"Kakash-"

Despite clearly hearing Kakashi's voice, you stared up at an older man with similar white hair.

You slouched back down in your chair in disappointment. But at the same time you were pretty interested in this new guy. He really did look related to Kakashi, but you were pretty sure his parents were dead. Did he have cousins or something?

"Oh, uh hi. I thought you were my teammate for a second, haha. Do you know Kakashi?"

He gave you a long look before finally raising his hand. Giving a so-so motion before sitting across from you.

"You could say that. So…Rin, let's start off with some easy questions."

You sighed lightly in irritation, but acquiesced to his demands. Something he seemed to take a small pleasure in.

"Right, let's start off with an easy question, who's the current hokage?"

"The third, Hiruzen Sarutobi."

He gave a small nod.

"Alright, how many hokage's have there been?"

"Three."

He gave another small nod.

"Your jonin sensei was?"

"Minato Namikaze."

He hummed in acknowledgement.

"Alright, all i have is just one last question for you. If you can answer it, i'll make sure you walk out of here by the next hour."

You nodded your head in agreement. Finally! This time when he looked back at you there was almost an empty pit where his eyes were. Almost as if he was considering taking you out if you got the question wrong. The thought sent shivers down your back.

"When your teammate, Obito was dying, he gave Kakashi his eye. In doing so he said it was a gift for something. What was it?"

It was painful to be forced back into such an awful memory. A part of you even wanted to deny him an answer but…

He deserved one.

"Obito…he said it was because he hadn't given Kakashi a gift yet for becoming jonin. So…his eye was the gift…"

The man closed his eyes in thought.

"I've never told anyone that."

You blinked in surprise.

"Huh?"

He sighed before sitting up in his chair. Fixing you with a serious and intense gaze.

"Listen Rin, I'm Kakashi."



*~o~*

Kakashi PoV

Lord third puffed on his pipe as he looked thoughtfully at the stack of papers in his office. Before looking back at you with an indescribable expression. He hummed before taking another hit.

"So…you truly believe that this is her, correct?"

No, not quite. It was still incredibly hard to believe that this wasn't some sort of elaborate attack aimed at you personally. But…

"She's answered all the questions i've given her correctly. Even the private ones, and a Yamanaka didn't see anything out of the ordinary in her memories."

Lord third hummed, moving his chair back before staring outside the window of his office. He looked down and towards the academy.

"Then it's settled. We'll accept her back into Konoha."

His words confused you.

"But, Lord Third, if this is a trap-"

"Which is why she'll be staying with you for the unforeseeable future. Her parents have left the village long ago, so she has no home to go back to."

You said nothing, simply giving confirmation that you'd follow Hiruzen's command.

"If she proves to be a spy, you know what to do."

You gave a nod. Despite your answer, you weren't sure if you could kill Rin again…

"But if she proves to not be one…well, we'll have to bring her back into the fold. We'll need to have her pretend to be a genin and rise back up to chunin though…"

"Why the need for secrecy?"

Hiruzen gave a look towards you from the side of the window.

"Few people will understand that she came back to life after being dead for years. You hadn't even trusted her, it's unlikely that the others would either. It would be better for her and others if we simply pretend that she's a new genin."

You bowed at Hiruzen's orders.

"As you say, Lord Third."