Uchiha Fugaku was a complicated man to understand.
Some who knew him thought him a simple and straightforward man, but he was anything but. In fact, he was quite often counterintuitive to those who would try to analyze him. Was he a hypocrite, saying one thing and doing another? Or was he a man planning for the long term, concentrated more on the goal than on the means? At times, the line blurred, and some said that he was simply yet another one of the power hungry idiots that plagued the clans's leadership.
Some thought that he treated his secondborn with coldness because his secondborn had not displayed the innate genius of his firstborn.
Little Itachi had been a veritable genius, developing at an astounding rate and graduated as a shinobi at the tender age of six, while his little sister, Rin, was far from achieving his rate of development, though it was too soon to tell how talented she'd be at the art of shinobi, few had their hopes up.
Others thought that he treated his secondborn with coldness simply because she had been born a female.
At this, his wife, Uchiha Mikoto scoffed.
It wasn't that Fugaku disdained his secondborn, she mused. The man was simply completely inept when it came to displaying kindness or affection. She knew, their marriage was based on the fact that she was one of the very few women in the clan who could see that he was genuinely lost when it came to displaying affection, which made him look like an uncaring, cold prick.
To someone like her, who knew him inside and out, it was easy to tell he kept from his daughter simply because displays of affection were completely alien to him.
It was the Uchiha Clan, and he exemplified it, after all. Some said that when it came to displaying any emotion other than anger, they were even worse than the Hyuga, and Mikoto would have to agree…
***
Uchiha Rin was a girl of six years. She was short, wore her hair on pigtails and also happened to be very studious. She had a brother. He liked to tug on her pigtails, which she protested a lot every time he did it. Secretly, she liked it when he pulled on them, since it was one of the few times she got to interact with her family in any normal fashion. She had her father, a man so distant he might as well not be there, and her mother, a woman who worked as the Hokage's daughter's maid or something like that for most of the day, and usually spent her time at home with her husband.
All in all, her family was standard fare for a home with two shinobi parents, aggravated by the fact that both shinobi were high level, one the head of the military police and Uchiha Clan and the other a high ranking ANBU that was one of the most trusted by the Hokage.
Still, she was proud of her family, and she was proud to be a member of it. Even if these days, she keeps seeing her brother less and less, since he had moved out four years ago, when he'd become a shinobi, and could only come visit her every few days.
Rin studied a lot. She trained every day, with the exercises her family had laid out for her, and studied the books and scrolls that they told her to read every day. Sometimes multiple times per day. It had taken her a while to learn how to read, but soon she had taken to doing so both for study and for pleasure. There wasn't much more to do in her parents's estate, and the other children who lived in the compound rarely, if ever, wished to play with her, so she often found herself alone for long periods of time.
But it was okay. Because she had her family. Mostly.
She missed her brother.
***
Rin would've wished to be anywhere but the Hokage's mansion. She knew that she wouldn't like it. Call it her feminine intuition, but she knew that she would wind up very, very angry.
"Mikoto-obachan, who's she?" asked a blond girl, blinking at Rin as she trailed after her mother, visiting the Hokage's mansion for the very first time. It was a large, lavish place, clearly created more for show than functionality. Given that Rin knew the Hokage entertained and lodged foreigners, dignitaries, diplomats and all forms of noblesse, it was not as shocking as one might think for the Hokage's home to be such a place.
It only made sense, the nobles were more relaxed and in better moods in environments closer to their homes, after all.
"Say hello, Rin-chan, this is the Hokage's daughter, Rozalin," Mikoto said, stepping aside so Rozalin and Rin could look at each other directly, instead of through the space between Mikoto's legs.
"Hello," Rin said, bowing slightly. She'd introduce herself properly, but her mother had already introduced her. It was odd, because she'd been taught how to do formal introductions, usually for the eventuality she might meet someone like the person she was meeting right now. Which threw her for a loop when her mother ignored that altogether. "I'm Rin, daughter of Uchiha Fugaku and Uchi—"
"Hi!" Rozalin called, waving and interrupting her entirely. "Of course, you know who I am already, don't you?" she said, raising an eyebrow, almost as if expecting her to nod.
Rin did, though she was ticked off by the disrespect towards her that was interrupting her introduction.
"Well, girls, your fathers have both agreed that it's better if I train you both at the same time. Now, Rin, Rozalin-chan here hasn't actually been doing all the exercises your father set out for you, nor has she studied as hard as you have, so take it easy on her, okay?"
Rin nodded. "I suppose she's a novice, the—"
Rozalin scoffed and stamped her foot on the ground. "Me? A Novice? I'm the Yellow Flash's daughter! I'll show you!"
At this, Rin felt her eyebrow twitch. This girl was… incredibly annoying.
***
Rin frowned at the expression her mother made. "I'm sorry, Rin, but I won't be able to train you and Rozalin today. Something came up—but don't worry. Kakashi and Yugao-kun both will take over for me today, and you'll be learning from them. Probably for a while," Mikoto explained, frowning mildly.
Uchiha Rin was a smart girl. Smarter than most gave her credit for, and people gave her a lot of credit. There was something odd and fishy that she could easily notice going on with her mother, and Rin wanted to get to the bottom of it. Despite being a girl of just nine, she was on the fast track for graduation already (admittedly, mostly because she refused to be scored below Rozalin, who refused to be any less than the top of the class, otherwise she would've taken a much more leisurely pace with the academy), and it showed when she analyzed her mother's body language.
She was, in as few words as possible, twitchy. Nervous. Maybe a little angry. Her hands were moving, as if itching to go for the blade strapped to her thigh. Her eyes were scanning their surroundings. She was afraid? But of what? "What's going on?" Rin asked, plainly, knowing that bluntness would set her off balance and might let her get at more than she usually would.
"Nothing much," Mikoto said, shaking her head. "It's just a hard mission's coming up, and both me and your father are absolutely needed to go on it," she explained. "You don't mind sleeping over at Rozalin-chan's, right?"
At this, Rin made a face. "With her? I'm shocked she'd even think of sharing one of her beds!" she said.
Mikoto chuckled. "She's a lot nicer than you think once you get to know her, Rin," Mikoto said, placing a hand on top of Rin's head. "I'll see if I can get your brother to pick you up tomorrow, okay? Just… stay until the mansion until then."
There was danger in the compound for her, Rin mused. There was most likely someone gunning after her.
The Hokage's mansion was protected by all sorts of seals and the best building materials. It was the safest place in Konoha short of the bunkers. "Okay."
Arguing would be pointless at this stage.
Rin merely hoped her parents made it out of whatever mess was going on okay.
***
Uchiha Rin did not return to her clan's compound the next day. Nor did she until the end of that week. It had been monday when she went to the Hokage's home, and saturday when she returned to the Uchiha Compound.
It was almost entirely empty.
As soon as Rin had thrown her stuff in her room, she ran off her house to go around asking people what had happened, and perhaps where her parents were. However, the moment she stepped outside her house, a rush of leaves and smoke heralded the appearance of a man clad in ANBU gear, with a dog-like mask covering his face. She recognized the shock of gravity defying silver hair, she would recognize it anywhere, and instantly knew that it was Hatake Kakashi under that mask.
"Your answers—they will come. Come with me," Kakashi said.
***
Rin had never visited the Hokage's office.
Not once.
It was a completely new place. She had seen the Hokage, from a distance, and even once up close when he'd come home miraculously early. He was a very handsome man, practically what she imagined Rozalin would look like as an adult male. Right now, she saw another side of him. She had only seen the dotting, loving father who had looked at his daughter as if she was the only thing in the room, but now it was completely different.
He was a grave, serious and grim looking man. This was the Hokage's game face, which he showed only in the most stressful of situations. Rin's mother had once told her that for Konoha's enemies, the Hokage's scowl was usually the very last thing they saw, as he was notoriously terrible at taking his targets in alive for questioning. It was a frightening thing to behold.
Upon seeing her, however, his face softened… almost as if pity had overpowered him, and he sighed, looking sad. "Rin-chan… I can only offer you my condolences," he began.
As he explained, however, her day could only get worse and worse.
"The very same day that Mikoto sent you for a sleepover at my home, your clan, the Uchiha, started a military coup and rebellion with the objective of deposing me and stablishing their own leader as Hokage, for reasons that frankly baffle me, and were conflicting even within their ranks. The most common thread was that they felt insulted for the continued 'Senju Dynasty' that had been established as a result of the four choices for Hokage having been either Senju or Senju influenced. Regardless of the reasons, the matter is that they initiated a rebellion. Your father and mother, along with the handful of shinobi in the clan that remained loyal to myself and thus the village proper, mounted a counter assault, intending to nip the rebellion in the bud before it could become a problem. However, they were betrayed by two of their number."
At this, Rin blinked and hardly even noticed when she was seated on a chair by the ANBU shinobi on her left side, as she nearly collapsed, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. "N-No…"
"I'm afraid your father was killed immediately, and your mother suffered extremely severe wounds as a result of that betrayal. Her physical wounds healed, but… her mind was destroyed," the man explained, shaking his head. "The rebellion suffered severe losses, as well, and was wiped out as soon as the ANBU arrived to diagnose the commotion. Your parents died like heroes ought to, Rin," the Hokage said. "I am glad to have been able to call Mikoto my friend," he added.
Rin shook her head. "I have—," she began, before swallowing. "I have to see…"
"The Sandaime has offered to take care of all the funeral procedures, Rin… And I'd like to ask you if you'd want to live with me and Rozalin for a little while…"
"No. I… I must go back to my compound. With father and mother gone, I am the head of the Uchiha clan."
Minato shook his head. "All shinobi from the clan are dead, Rin. You're the last. The civilian side of the Uchiha clan is lead by a council, is it not?"
At this, Rin nodded her head. "They are subject to me regardless," she said. "Shinobi-less or not, I'm still the Uchiha clan head."
With a sigh, Minato nodded. "Very well, then… if you need anything, any sort of help… just ask. If anyone gives you trouble, just come to me. I'll set them straight. Your parents were heroes, Rin, and don't let anyone convince you otherwise."
***
Rin's grades improved.
There were no further distractions, after all, and she was acting on the will of her parents, which told her she had to be the best, because she was an Uchiha, she was their heir. That was the legacy she carried.
She had almost become an antisocial little bitch, with no time for anything, but her caretaker, one Hatake Kakashi by name, had actually stamped such an attitude out of her very, very early. Both Kakashi and the Hokage actually made quite a bit of effort to reach out to her and keep reminding her that she was not alone. It helped that she was almost always in direct competition with Rozalin, the sole person in the school that challenged, and even consistently defeated, her grades. Of course, the Hokage's daughter could do no less than her father had before her, much like Rin refused to be less than the Uchiha that came before her.
However, after the day of the Uchiha massacre, the Fourth Hokage had established a minimum age to graduate, setting it at age 16. It used to be that most elite genin graduated at 12, with only those destined to being career genin reaching the age limit of 16, but the academy curriculum had been greatly expanded since the Fourth Hokage took control of it.
Almost certainly because the third Hokage was now directly in charge of managing the academy, dedicating the grand majority of his time to it. It had clearly done the oft neglected academy a world of good to have The Professor directly focused on improving it.
It had certainly benefitted Rin immensely, as the academy now included all of the little things that she would've otherwise learned from her relatives, which were unavailable. It also served the handy purpose of stopping civilian-born shinobi from making fools of themselves.
Hatake Kakashi made it a point to tell her about how to, even if she wasn't really, at least appear to be a perfectly sane and mentally healthy individual. Rin noticed that the same exercises that he utilized to keep himself sane, mostly mediation and monotonous, mind numbing tasks that allowed her mind to sort itself out. Weekly sessions with a Yamanaka psychologist certainly helped, as well. All in all, she was glad to say that despite her past, she was dealing with it admirably, and sometimes she wondered what it'd be like if she had made revenge her life's focus, instead of making her clan proud, but dwelling on What If and Maybe scenarios would take away from her study time.
With the improvement of her grades came an increased amount of attention, and when attention came her way, Rin had started to become something of an idol. At fourteen years of age, she could call herself quite a pretty girl, and her fanboys would've agreed. The fact that she remained unfailingly polite and nice to all the boys, even as she shot them down (because dating would be time consuming and unnecessary, as she would have to marry an Uchiha to properly continue her line, and her marriage would be between two partners in business rather than two people in love) certainly helped, and so did her willingness to help people when they asked for it, even if she admitted that, with how little free time she had, tutoring was an impossibility.
It was a startling difference in that, despite being outright cold when it came down to it, she was still considered the vastly more approachable one of Konoha's Ninja Academy's 'Idols'. Uchiha Rin might've been cold, but Namikaze Rozalin was a rose covered in wicked thorns, the likes of which you don't approach without a heavily padded glove.
At times, it became time and patience-consuming to hold onto her idol image.
But sometimes, it was very, very easy. Particularly when her innate talent, which wasn't insignificant, shined through. Ninjutsu lectures in the academy where the times in which Rin felt that she was the most at her element, and it came to a head when the class was introduced to their affinities.
***
"Class, I believe you've all understood, well enough, the principle behind elemental jutsu. Bear in mind, we don't expect you to master it, and only a passable level of mastery of your main affinity will be required to pass your final exams, and yes, it will be recorded. So remember, if the paper cuts, it's wind, if it gets wet, it's water, if it crumbles, it is Earth, if it crinkles, it's lightning and if it burns, it's Fire," the teacher, a scarred young man said, as he was walking by the class, passing small slips of paper to each student.
Finally, when all thirty had been given a piece of paper, he stood in front of the class once more, looking over them to see if any had already jumped the gun. His assistant, a white haired young man who looked surly at the best of times, stood up and sighed. "Iruka, safety measures," he said.
"Yes, right. As Mizuki reminded me, there are some safety measures we'll go over before we start. The elemental effect from a powerful affinity might cause uncontrollable reactions. So hold your paper in this way," at this Iruka raised his hand and showed that his own slip of paper was contained between the middle and pointer fingers, which were fully stretched. "The furthest away from your hand, the better. Furthermore, don't worry about damaging your desks, these are protected against that minor kind of damage," he said, before he ran his eyes over the class once more.
"That should be all," Mizuki said, nodding to himself. "If anybody sets their desk on fire, yell 'Fire'," he added, as an afterthought.
Most of the class thought that such a thing went without saying.
"Go one by one. We will go through the class roster, and record your affinity as we go. Okay. First, Aburame Shino!"
Rin blinked, and began to tune out the unimportant bits. She actually cared about very few of the students, in this regard, because only a few of them were possible partners.
She had noted Aburame Shino as Earth Elemental. Akimichi Chouji had Fire. Hyuuga Hinata had water. The next that she paid attention to was Inuzuka Kiba, who had fire, and Nara Shikamaru who was the same. Not abnormal to have so many fire elementals in Konoha, as it WAS the Land of Fire for a reason. However, she had been mildly surprised when she had heard her rival's pronounciation, Namikaze Rozalin had both wind and water, in equal measure. Both rare in Konoha.
Rin had also made a note of someone by the name of Gohan, who had somehow failed to produce a result entirely. The papers reacted to the slightest deviation in the standard chakra pattern, producing a result, because they were immensely sensitive. Even weak affinities would show through. Which meant that whoever it was had absolutely no affinities whatsoever.
That was troubling for Shinobi, even if it was far from crippling, but Rin didn't much worry, she was almost entirely certain that she had an idea who both of her teammates would be.
She was a Ninjutsu user and mid range fighter. While proficient at hand to hand, it wasn't her specialty. It was almost certain that she'd wind up with a hand to hand fighter, so it was likely that it'd be Inuzuka or Akimichi, and a support type, which left little but Yamanaka or Hyuuga as options. At least she could rest easy knowing that her rival wouldn't ever share a team with her, because they also shared specializations.
At last, her turn came, and she concentrated for a second before pumping chakra through her paper.
It split in four different parts, each of which had one of the reactions described.
"Oh… oh my," Iruka said, quite shocked. "I have to say, this is the first time I've seen someone with all five elements as an affinity."
"Couldn't resist showing off, Uchiha?" Yamanaka Ino taunted.
Rin blinked. "On the contrary, I'm the most surprised of all. I'd been expecting fire," she said, frowning. After all, she did have quite a bit of ease with the element of choice for her clan. Though she had an affinity for fire, she also had affinities for the other four elements.
"That's… astounding, indeed. Very few students have more than one affinity. Having three is almost unheard of, and the only person to have four affinities on record is Sandaime-sama," Iruka mentioned, frowning ever so slightly.
Rin knew this to be a blatant falsehood, as her clan records had another person with four affinities. Especifically, he had that note along a much bigger one that said "KEEP AWAY FROM AT ALL COSTS", and it was the most infamous traitor still alive, Orochimaru of the Snakes.
"Of course; my rival could be no less," Rozalin said, smirking as if Rin hadn't outshone her so easily.
Yamanaka, the last person who Rin kept an ear on, turned out to have Lightning as an affinity, which was uncommon in Konoha, though not precissely rare.
In the end, Rin was left to ponder the mystery of her affinities, even as Iruka described some basic exercises for everyone to apply to their affinity control, though he also admitted that he couldn't really show them any but the water exercise, as that was his only affinity, and Mizuki himself could only teach them the exercise for fire, which Rin already knew. The water exercise required objects that they didn't have, namely a glass with water to practice with.
Rozalin helpfully contributed the exercise for training wind, which consisted of using chakra to form a pair of blades to grind and sharpen against each other. Doing it was easier than saying it, though, and very few could replicate her feat of slicing clean through paper, much less when she cut right through a rock.
Earth and Lightning, though, couldn't really be demonstrated, but Iruka had promised that the very next week they'd have a special lecture from the Third Hokage in which he displayed the use of every element, as he was the sole person in Konoha capable of competently using all the elements, even though he had no affinity for Lightning that came naturally to him. Incidentally, there'd also be a lecture on developing new affinities, which was actually a requirement for making jounin, which required at least a complimentary affinity to your main one.
An explanation of what that meant would also be given by the Third Hokage, though Rin knew it by the simpler terms of "An affinity that defeats the affinity that defeats your main affinity", confusing as that had been the first few times she had heard it.
All in all, she was looking forward to her graduation, in only two years' time.
***
Rin had already seized on who would be her most likely teammates, in the past year, which she had mostly dedicated to the task of improving her control of her elements. While she had chakra reserves that bordered on huge, she had found that elemental jutsu tended to be horribly prohibitive in Chakra Costs, and since her affinities were less potent than any single given affinity would've been on its matching element, this wasn't mitigated by them. In an effort to subvert this, she had revived one of her father's old ideas, and a remnant of a marriage between an Uchiha and an Uzumaki that never quite went entirely through.
The Uzumaki were renowned sealmasters, and each member of the clan could boast knowledge that would dwarf most anyone else. So it was no wonder that the project Rin had revived was extremely complex. It made perfect sense to be.
After all, sealed jutsu paper bombs were exactly as useful as they sounded. A variation on the good old, tested, tried and true Explosive Tag, these could be altered, with sufficient experimentation and work, to have different effects and to even have entire techniques sealed in them. Her father hadn't truly furhtered the research as much as he could have, his life cut short well before he could add much to it, but Rin herself had made quite a bit of advancement on it the past year.
Most likely because having all affinities allowed her to increase the spectrum she could search for an answer to her problems in.
Her father had usable technique bombs, but Rin wanted to take it further. She had managed to discover how to alter the amount of power that was in any given bomb, altering the amount of chakra that flowed through the seals, and had even managed to combine several bombs at once to produce effects based on what the combined techniques would do. More difficult than it sounded, given that the detonation of one bomb tended to short out other bombs nearby, which left the usual method of jutsu combination useless.
All in all, she was quite proud of her progress. She had also discovered that certain materials took to holding onto this kind of seal differently. Most kinds of metals were completely useless, as was wood for the most part. Only the first Hokage's trees produced wood that could react well to the seals.
Paper produced satisfactory results, but it was stones that produced the best possible result. Specifically, precious stones. Expensive as it was to keep herself stocked up, she had learned to use them sparingly, and to be exceedingly careful when crafting the seals.
As an aside, she'd also become quite the accomplished craftswoman, as she had taken to wearing jewelry which had the concealed gem jutsu bombs (they definitely needed a better name) ready for use in an emergency, and she couldn't be seen with anything less than exquisite jewelry.
Some would've thought, what, did no Uchiha think of this before her? Well, they might have, but the entire project was something that was kept tightly under wraps by the clan head's family and furthermore, it was something that had only recently come into their possession, stolen from the Uzumaki clan, so it's not like they had a lot of history with it.
The musing from thinking on her specialty, her gemcraft, which she still thought needed a better name though that one was atleast an improvement, had kept her distracted long enough for Iruka to finish his speech about what it would be like for Genin now that they were about to graduate, and how arduous their life could be from then on.
It was time.
The reading of the team assignments was on.
The first seven teams weren't really surprising. She could remember tidbits about her irrelevant classmates, enough to put the general purpose of said teams as 'Jack of All Trades', which could decently perform any task, but not shine in any. The eight team was the first one to be a specialized team, and it had thrown Rin for a loop. "Team Eight, headed by Yuuhi Kurenai, will be staffed by Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba. Your sensei will be by in just a few minutes to pick you up."
Well, Rin mused, that knocked her plans on getting partnered with the quiet and unobtrusive Aburame. She'd have rather enjoyed a partnership with him and Akimichi, who was also a bit of a pushover. She knew she was a strong personality and would most likely not fit very well with Inuzuka or Nara, both of whom would drive her up the wall, and would have most likely murdered Yamanaka on principle.
The less said about her interactions with Rozalin, the better.
Still, Rin frowned, this left her in a bit of a pickle. Because she was certain that Ino Shika Cho wouldn't be broken, at this stage. At least, it didn't fit in the possible team permutations that she'd allowed herself. While far from arrogant, or so she liked to think, Rin wasn't above admitting that she was a shoe-in for an elite. Even if she weren't a clan head, simply being the second highest scorer would ensure that they'd at least give her a chance to prove herself worthy of the honor. This meant giving her a team that wouldn't drag her down.
Except the only teammate left that wasn't headed for the Ino Shika Cho trio was…
Of course it had to be her. When had Rin been a lucky person before? It couldn't be anyone else, could it?
"Team Ten, headed by Sarutobi Asuma, will be staffed by Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino. Your sensei will meet you in Tobirama Park," Iruka said, looking straight at Rin for an instant, before his eyes moved across the room quickly. They landed on Rozalin and Rin just knew that he was trying to gauge what their reactions would be.
Teams twelve and eleven went without issue.
Of course, the best would be left for last.