Prologue

Rin tried to close her eyes, but she couldn't. Whenever she opened them, she could only see the wake of destruction before her. She could only see Konohagakure burning, its shinobi and citizens dying. It was caused by her. Rin felt unbidden tears streaking down her cheeks, staring at the flames engulfing the village she loved, and of the countless bodies before her. One of them was beside her feet, his body growing cold. Rin had once looked at his still and bloodied face in adoration and love – something she would never feel again now, she was certain.

Her head bowed, Rin trembled and swallowed a scream trying to force itself out of her throat. She continued to tremble and cry as she stared at the prone dead body of Hatake Kakashi.

"Kakashi…" she whispered. Rin's clouded eyes gazed at the sky. It was now raining. The rain that had doused the flames now dampened her hair and her skin. The blood from Kakashi's body slowly flowed away, but Rin's tears still lingered. Or was it the rain? Rin stared dully at the scene before her. The bodies of the shinobi coming home from the war that had killed their comrades had died so soon after coming home. It made Rin want to weep again. How could I weep for them? For…it was I…who caused this. Several days earlier, the Konohagakure kunoichi had been kidnapped by Kirigakure. Against her will, Rin had been made into a jinchuukiri – the vessel for the Three Tails. When Kakashi had tried to rescue her, she had warned him that Kirigakure had the malice intent to use the Three Tails to attack the village. "I swore to Obito…that I'd protect you no matter what…what you're asking me to do is impossible…I'll find another way."

Kakashi… Rin thought again of the shinobi who had sacrificed his life along with many others who had stopped the Three Tails' rampage; but by then it was too late. Everything and everyone had died. All that was left was a deep crater with debris and fire. Rin wasn't even certain if anyone had survived. It would be fitting, she thought despairingly. A monster like me should be alone in the world. She had tried to stop the Three Tails from coming free, but the tailed beast would not relent and unleashed his fury on all living things.

Rin continued to sob as rain continued to splash down on her face. It was all for naught. She had been prepared to die rather than to harm the village and the people she loved, and had charged right in front of Kakashi so that his Raikiri would pierce her heart and she would die. Rin hadn't thought about being a hero; she was simply trying to do the best she could to protect all that she loved. I…failed. Kakashi killed the Kirigakure shinobi instead, and believed that Kushina-san's seal would hold. The red paint from the seal was still wet against Rin's skin, and this time, it seemed, the seal held. At the cost of so many lives. Everyone…

Rin didn't feel her legs weaken or her knees falling into a bloodied puddle. She was only aware of the weeping sky above her. Suddenly the pale jinchuukiri felt a warm hand on her shoulder, and turned to find herself looking at her scarred teammate.

"Obito…" Rin muttered dully. She had dreamed of this moment many times. I had a dream that he survived the mission, and I hugged him. Now all Rin wanted to do was to curl up in a ball and die. Somehow Obito had survived the mission that she and the rest of Konohagakure thought claimed his life. Her teammate hadn't shared the details, but he had said that he was saved and healed by an unlikely man. Obito's plump and naive face was thin, and a ripple of scars covered the left side of his body. There was a new aura about him, too. Rin could not yet place it. Once Rin would have embraced Obito and smiled at him. Now the ghost of the girl she had been only stared dully at him.

"Rin…" Obito whispered. His voice had changed too into a more mature and deeper tone. Is that because of what happened today? Of what I caused? "You and I aren't the only ones who survived." For a moment Rin remained immune from Obito's words. Then she felt a shock coursing inside her.

"There…are survivors?"

"Hai," Obito nodded grimly. "Eleven others, including three children."

Rin had thought that her tears had stopped flowing, but she was wrong. Tears began to flow in earnest as she wept from relief and joy. Rin was vaguely aware of Obito's warm embrace as he held her as she wept into his shoulder. Out of all the deaths and destruction that had occurred – Minato-sensei, Kakashi, her parents, the Sandaime Hokage, and now the infinite numbers of the nameless shinobi and civilians – there were still the flames of hope.