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“We can’t let anyone know you survived,” Minato said, “I’m sorry.”
Rin looked at the floor. She couldn’t bring herself to look at anyone. She was in the room with Minato, Kakashi, Kushina, and the Hokage. She didn’t dare look up because she knew she’d start crying. If she had known that the last time she saw her parents and friends would really be the last time, she thought about all the things she would’ve done differently. She clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her skin.
“First things first,” Kushina said as she placed her hand on Rin’s shoulder, “let’s do something about that seal.”
Kushina started to lead Rin out of the room, where she would reseal the tailed beast inside her more securely. Rin kept her eyes on the floor. She briefly looked up to the gaze she could feel coming from Kakashi. It was all sadness. Rin looked away when she felt her eyes start to swell. Right before she walked out, Kakashi—completely out of character—ran up and hugged her. She was shocked at first, it was Kakashi after all. After the initial shock of the unexpected hug, she hugged her friend the way she wished had been able to with her other loved ones. For all she knew, this was the last time she’d ever be embraced like this again. Rin could feel Kakashi’s tears soak her shoulder. She let go before she could start crying as well. She knew if she began it would be almost impossible to stop. With one last squeeze of her friend’s hand, she walked out of the Hokage’s office with Kushina following closely behind her.
She was escorted by Kushina and two Anbu officers to a secure room. The Anbu guarded the door while Kushina performed the sealing. While Kushina explained what she was doing, Rin stayed quiet. She laid there on the table looking up at the ceiling. She wondered if it was normal that she could feel the presence of the beast thing inside her. Maybe the seal would make it go away. It was a little uncomfortable, the procedure. Overall though, she felt numb. Unfortunately, they couldn’t do anything about the cursed seal on her heart.
“You can get dressed, then we’ll go back and talk about what’s gonna happen,” Kushina said.
“Kay,” Rin said.
She didn’t feel the beast’s overwhelming presence inside her anymore, in fact, she didn’t feel anything.
Back at the Hokage’s office, Minato and the Third Hokage were talking.
“With my inauguration in a couple days, I’d like to make my first order as the Fourth Hokage,” Minato said.
“And that is?” the Third Hokage asked, taking a puff from his pipe.
“I’d like to make Rin an Anbu. I think it would be the best place for her. It’s anonymity still allows her to be a ninja while concealing her identity. Anbu also work directly for the Hokage so she would be under my personal supervision.”
“It looks like you’ve thought this out,” the Third said, “and since you’re technically the Hokage you didn’t really need to explain yourself to me.”
Kushina and Rin came back into the room. Minato explained to Rin the situation. Again, Rin remained quiet.
“I’d like you to begin training right away, okay?”
Rin nodded. What was she supposed say? No?
Rin had her new uniform in front of her. She would start training as soon as she walked out that door. It was ugly. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. That wasn’t any better. Her scar over her eye seemed to look even worse and she hadn’t washed her face in days. She looked at her hair. It had grown past her shoulders now. She wanted her hair to grow out before, but now she just saw it as a nuisance. She grabbed her kunai and cut. And cut. And cut. And cut. When she opened her eyes her hair was shorter than it ever was before. She didn’t realize she had been crying. She wiped away the stray hair that stuck to her face from the tears. She took off her old clothes and put on the new ones. The last thing she put on was the mask. She stared at it, her stomach turned. Once she put this on, she would no longer be Rin Nohara, a daughter, a friend, a chunin of the Leaf. She would be Hitomi, Anbu, jinchuriki, a prisoner in her own body.
“Here goes,” she said to herself, as she fit the mask on her face. She looked up to see her masked face. The light hit her left eye just enough to see the red glow of her best friend’s sharingan, “at least I have you, Obito.” And with that she walked out of the bathroom and into her new unwanted life.