Team Eleven Prologue:
Introductions

The Jounin sat at her desk, the usual craziness and stress that came from running a hospital was slowly melting away. She leaned back in her chair, and exhaled a deep breath.  It was almost time for her to go home, and she was happy about it. She needed some time alone anyway, it was always “head nurse” this, and “head nurse” that. Why couldn’t a properly trained medic ninja give a decent diagnosis every now and again? Everything was her responsibility around here and she was somewhat sick of it. ‘It’s okay Rin-chan,’ she told herself. It wasn’t a good time to be getting worked up over the small things. She could just pack up her stuff and go home in a half hour; one measly half hour. She could do it with a little perseverance! Rin sighed, and continued the awful paperwork that plagued her desk. As she silently filled out the multiple forms, a knock came from outside her door.

“Enter,” The word came dully from her mouth, emphasizing the fact that she was bored out of her mind. It didn’t really make a difference to her about who it was, she could handle it.

“Hai, Rin-chan,” It was her assistant, Tsumaru.

She pushed her chair back lightly with her palms, and let her weight shift to the balls of her feet. “Hello Tsumaru,” she said in a more friendly tone, “What can I do ya for?” Tsumaru rolled his eyes at her pathetic attempt at humor, even though he should have been used to it by now.

“Well, Sarutobi-sama wants to see you at the Hokage tower immediately,” Rin frowned. What could the old geezer want with her any way? She had given up on being a ninja years ago. Sarutobi was lucky he had her working this hospital at all. Rin stood, and Tsumaru backed away. He could tell that she was slightly agitated, her expression gave it all away.

“Fine. Would you like to escort me there Tsumaru?” She asked him, although it was more like an order. She just wanted to catch up on old times, her crazy work hours pretty much prevented her from having a social life.

“Ehehehe, well…Rin, I actually can’t leave work for a few more hours,” he said with an awkward smile. He put his hand behind his head and began to scratch. “I-It’s not like I wouldn’t want to, it’s just that I'm busy…and….” Tsumaru wracked his brain for a good excuse. There was no way he was going to tell her that she was wanted to become the Jounin for a squad of genin. And there was absolutely no way he’d like to be there when she found out.

Rin arched her brow; lame excuses weren’t going to get him anywhere. He probably just didn’t want to go with her, because she was just so unpopular. That kind of thing ticked her off, putting her down for something she couldn't control?! It wasn't her fault that she didn't have a social life, she was just too overworked. She never got a break, and completely over exerted herself on a daily basis. She was going to have some fun with him. Well, that’s what you got when you messed with Rin!

“That’s enough, I’ll go alone.” She let it drop, in a dismissive tone.

“S-sorry Rin,” he stuttered, while slinking hurriedly towards the door.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. Maybe I’ll just give Yura that promotion instead,” She teased him. His face, in contrast, paled.

“H-hey! Don’t be like that Rin-chan!” he shouted down the hallway after her. She smiled, maybe hurting her wasn't his intention after all.

Finally making it out of the prison she called work, Rin felt free. The warm air and sun felt good on her cheeks.  There was a light spring breeze; the students at academy had just been released for summer break, and there was an outgoing group that was to become genin, she noted this, and the information floated lightly through her subconsciousness. She ran her nimble fingers through her light brown hair. Rin had almost forgotten how nice it was to be outside, she was trapped in that drafty office room every day for hours at a time after all. Her stomach rumbled, hospital food did not suffice. 'Perhaps I could be a little late for my meeting with Sarutobi...He does owe me after all' So, Rin decided made a detour to stop at her favorite ramen shop, while still feeling slightly guilty.

While walking, with nothing else to occupy her time, she let her thoughts run free. Her feet dragged along the ground. While running on only six hours of sleep may sometimes be necessary, it is not something one would choose to do every day. It was, unfortunately, one of the things that Rin did on a regular basis. The life of a busy med nin was never something to aspire to. If you were lazy, that is. 'Hmm...I hope Sarutobi-sama will understand why I didn't come right away...' A slight crinkle in her brow erupted at the thought. This was going to leave her feeling guilty for quite some time. It's not like she could reschedule an appointment with someone as important as the Hokage, but she hadn't eaten a proper meal in days. Although, ramen didn't really count as a proper meal. 'I'll get one bowl...Just one bowl,' She decided, and then she let the topic drop. Bored by her own thoughts, she listened to conversations of others as they passed.

“Yeah! Can you believe it? They actually let that kid get away with breaking into the Hokage tower,” That caught Rin's attention. Someone broke into the Hokage tower?! Was sensei alright? Rin, totally intrigued by the conversation of the two men, began to follow them and keep tabs on what they were saying. They were going in her direction after all.

“I know! Little demon brat, Sarutobi-sama totally shoulda banished that kid or somethin'!” then, the man started to speak in a more hushed tone, “Do you know who he is?” The man speaking suddenly found himself in a tight spot. A kunai poised at his neck, and an extreme killing intent radiating from just behind his head. He looked behind himself as well as he could without causing the knife to slice his throat open. A woman with dark hair had her hands on his shoulder, grasping it tightly, showing no signs of letting go.

“You are about to break a federal law, I do not recommend continuing that conversation,” Rin whispered, in a voice barely audible, people had begun to stare, and she couldn't afford to make a scene. “Should I send you over to interrogation?” She took a more threatening stance, there was no way she was going to let them think she'd let them off easy. It was her duty as a shinobi to uphold the law, even if she wasn't technically a shinobi anymore. The two men shook their heads no, fear had quickly overcome them. But of course, she let them walk free. Mercy was one thing she had a lot of. “Morons,” she said to herself, and continued to her destination of ramen. Finding herself in front of a red stand, she pulled the flap of cloth over her head and walked in. Ayame stood behind the counter, smiling.

“What'll it be today, Rin-san?” Ayame asked politely, “The usual?” She offered. Rin nodded her head yes. 'Miso beef ramen here I come!' Rin thought, and sat at a stool.

“Order up!” Shouted a voice from the kitchen. Ayame nodded towards her dad, and grabbed the bowl he offerer to her.

“Thanks old man!” Rin called to him. The bowl of ramen was placed directly in front of her, courtesy of Ayame. She grabbed her chopsticks, “Itadakimasu!” she called, before digging in hungrily. Noodle after delicious noodle made its way down her throat. She glanced around the small ramen stand, to find that she wasn't the only one enjoying a bowl.

“Thank you sensei, thank you, thank you!!” A young blond boy cried, was he being treated to ramen by his teacher? This caught Rin's attention, and she openly turned her head to watch the scene in front of her unfold. 'Umino Iruka?' She questioned herself, boy that brought back memories. What was he doing here? Iruka, he was a teacher at the academy still, wasn't he? She remembered all the times that he had brought in the new genin and academy students to the hospital. Being a genin was a dangerous job, and letting a five year old throw a kunai around was never a good idea. Rin hadn't seen him in so long, especially after she took that horrible promotion that allowed her to only work in an office! It would be better if he didn't recognize her, so they wouldn't be forced into an awkward conversation. She let a veil of hair cover her face on the side, it made her face invisible to them, but she could still watch through the slits in between her hairs. Then she noticed that she still had one noodle hanging off the side of her mouth.

“Congratulations Naruto, I never thought I'd see the day you'd be able to graduate!” He laughed, and let a hand fall behind his head. “Ayame,” Iruka called, “One bowl of pork ramen for me, and let the boy get whatever he wants. It's a special occasion,” Ayame took Iruka's order, and gave it to her father in the back. She proceeded to confront Naruto, just what had the boy done?

“Hey Naruto-kun! What's so special? What happened?” She folded her arms, and leaned her head against the counter. Iruka let the two of them talk, it was Naruto's time to dramatize everything that he had done to “save the day.” Everything should have been alright, but he had the strangest feeling. Someone was staring at his back, but he didn't dare turn around. Trying to be coy, he turned to face the ramen that had been put in front of him moments before. It finally dawned on him that he had told Ayame to let Naruto get whatever he wanted. He'd be lucky to have any money left after this.

“Itadakimasu,” Iruka said to himself, while Naruto and Ayame still chatted away. The strange feeling was back, and Iruka cocked his head slightly to the side to get a view of what was around him. There, in the corner of the stand sat a brown haired woman. Her short brown locks covered the visible side of her face. From the angle he was sitting at, he wouldn't be able to tell who she was. Then, a small smile of recognition passed through his face. A small bandage was slightly visible on her cheek. It was Rin! Oh, he hadn't seen her in a while. He contemplated starting up a conversation with her, but it would be rude not to. He decided to go on a safe topic, her being the Jounin leader of a squad of Genin! Who wouldn't be thrilled about that? It was quite a prestigious honor.

“Rin!” He started in a friendly tone. She turned her head slightly, and gave a small, awkward smile.

'Drat! I've been found out!' She thought angrily, “Why hello Iruka, hasn't it been awhile?” She smiled, completely masking her feelings of remorse for not just going to the Hokage hungry. This was her punishment, being forced to make small talk! She probably looked horrible too, considering that she'd worked for 60 hours that week and it was only Thursday.

“How have you been doing?” He questioned politely. It was Naruto's turn to watch, he had finished telling Ayame about his heroics and she was getting him his bowl of ramen now. But, there was Iruka, talking to some strange woman in the corner of the stand. They seemed to know each other, and Naruto, being as brash as he is, interrupted their conversation.

“Hey, who's this sensei?” He said while pointing an accusing finger at Rin. She was butting in on his time with his teacher, and it was annoying to Naruto.

“Naruto, this is one of my old friends, Rin,” He said, quickly turning back to her. Naruto let his excited smile fall into a frown, he was bored by her already. He took an analysis of her appearance, 'Brown hair, brown eyes,' He stopped and looked closely at her hair, it seemed like it hadn't been brushed in days! There were bags under her eyes, she was just a mess to look at. Had she no respect towards those who were forced to look at her on a regular basis? And what was with that uniform she was wearing? A hospital uniform? She had to be kidding him. She worked in the hospital for some forsaken reason. Bitter memories arose from the suggestion of a hospital in Naruto's mind. He hated that place. There were needles there, and people tried to poke you in the arm with them! He continued to analyze her appearance, and stopped inches downward from her eyes. There was some kind of stupid tape on her face. Was that supposed to be there or had she fallen asleep while tying up a patient? That was just irresponsible. Lives were entrusted to people like her. She was supposed to be the “Pride of the village,” Naruto munched his noodles angrily, and looked towards Iruka to see if he was finally done talking to her. And there sat one glorious bowl of ramen, almost cold. What a waste that would be!

“Sensei, hey sensei?” Naruto asked, while pulling lightly on Iruka's sleeves. Iruka turned slightly to face him, while paying almost no attention at all.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, “Just hold on one minute Naruto,”

“Your ramen's getting cold!” Naruto whined, and Iruka, still turned around, continued talking to Rin. Naruto rolled his eyes. There was a reason that Naruto was here, and now Iruka was totally distracted. He leaned down on the table, only to hear a sharp metal clang from under him. Oh! His new headband had just been smacked against the table, while still remaining on his forehead. “Oh, no no no no no!” That headband was Naruto's pride and joy... It was the first thing that he had to show for all his hard work towards becoming a ninja, which reminded him, wasn't Iruka supposed to tell him something important about being a ninja? That was the reason that Naruto was even there, well, maybe half the reason.

“Sensei, weren't you supposed to tell me something important?” Naruto said with some obvious sarcasm in his voice.

“Uh, yeah, yeah,” Iruka waved him down, “Just hold on a second,” he added right before he continued talking to Rin. Naruto glared towards the woman in question. She was totally hogging Iruka-sensei! Naruto could've probably said anything right then, and it wouldn't have mattered, which actually gave him an idea.

“Hey, Iruka-sensei, can I order another ten bowls of ramen?” he said half sarcastically, not expecting it to work at all, much less any response.

“Uh, yeah, sure... No problem,” he replied with little interest. What Naruto had said had probably gone in one ear and out the other. And of course, Iruka went right back to yammering with Rin.

* * *

Rin tried to stay focused on her conversation with Iruka, but that kid had been staring at her for the past five minutes, eying her up and down, fuming more and more by the second. She didn't know what his problem was, and was starting to get annoyed. She turned her attention back to Iruka, who kept blabbing about someone's promotion or something.

“Y-yeah,” she nodded to Iruka, to try to hide the fact that she hadn't been listening at all. 'Try to stay involved in the conversation, so you don't make a fool of yourself,' she reminded herself. That would have been a lot easier if the little genin off to the side would just stop staring at her. She never did well with an audience. She felt the orange kid looking at her face, what did he want? There wasn't anything on her face was there? Her eyes wandered towards him. He still glared at her head on, if not, even more angrily. It wasn't exactly like it would have bothered her, but the kid needed to learn some respect. Glaring at her for no reason, would only make her angry. She had never done anything to him, so why did she get the feeling that the kid wanted to murder her in her sleep?

She let out a sigh, and her brows crinkled. 'Just listen to poor little Iruka over there,' She reached for her chopsticks, and found that there were no noodles left. She lifted the bowl to her lips to drink the warm broth at the bottom. Her ears focused on what Iruka was saying at the moment.

“I'm just so happy for you Rin, congrats on your promotion to being a Jounin squad leader!” Iruka smiled happily, as he said the same thing for the umpteenth time.

Rin's eyes opened wide, and she spat the broth from her mouth, while coughing and choking at the same time. She placed her hand on her chest and forced a little green chakra into her system. 'W-What the hell?!' She questioned.

“W-What was that Iruka-sensei?” Naruto asked, wide eyed as Rin tried to regain her composure.

“What the heck Iruka?! I never heard about that!” She yelled.  How was it that he knew about her little “Promotion”  before even she did? The front of her uniform was soaked through, all the broth that was in her mouth -and bowl- had spilled onto her. Ayame stood, horrified, from behind the counter. Her bowl had chipped on the wood of the stand, you could practically see through Rin-sempai's shirt, and Naruto looked like he was about to have a heart attack from laughing so hard. He was practically on the floor rolling around and clutching his sides from laughing so much. Rin gave him an unappreciative glare, that kid was just so immature.  

“Oh Rin-chan! Come back here and we'll fix you up!” Ayame called to her.

“No no no,” she replied, “I'll do it myself.”

Naruto watched the older lady perform a dozen or so hand seals, but what kind of a jutsu would she be performing?  After a moment, Rin muttered the jutsu's name under her breath. A small force seemed to be growing larger inside her palm. She pressed her open hand onto her shirt, right where the ramen had spilled. The broth seemed to be sucked away, and it disappeared into the air. There was a slight burning smell, so it was possible that she had used a small fire type jutsu. Naruto stared at her like she had just pulled a rabbit out of her ass.

“It was a simple evaporation technique, silly,” she told him. It wasn't anything really impressive. She had sent a small amount of chakra to her hand and created just enough friction to not produce a flame, but heat. Then, she let the heat evaporate the liquid in her shirt. “Iruka, you do teach these kids simple science, right?”

Iruka nodded slightly in response, and realized that he had probably said something he shouldn't. Why was Rin so caught off guard? Did she... not know? 'Oh, great job Iruka! You just spoiled the surprise!' He cursed himself mentally. Surprises were his thing, and now he went and ruined someone else's.

“I'm sorry Iruka-san, but I have to go now. I have an important meeting with the Hokage,” Rin promptly stood and left him and that horribly behaved kid behind. She was fuming on the inside. Had the Hokage really gone as far as to dishonor her, and her family's for that matter, direct wishes? She was one of the last, if not the last.  No, there were a few more, but her clan was pretty much gone. She needed to have a word with the Hokage, in private.

She stormed into the large building, completely disregarding the chunin posted at the doors of the entrance to the Hokage's office.

“I have an appointment,” she said seriously just before slamming the door on the two.

“Hey Izumo,” one of the chunin called, “What do you think was wrong with that chi-?”

“What the heck, Sarutobi!?”

The two cringed as the muffled yell made its was to their ears, followed quickly by several others.  

“I dunno Kotetsu, but that lady seemed really mad,” Izumo replied.

More yelling could be heard from behind the closed doors, and the two stared uncomfortably at each other, and the doors Rin had just disappeared into.

She came out several hours later with a defeated look upon her face. There was no way for her to get out of this, it had all been made clear. The triumphant Hokage inside was very tired, but didn't even dream of showing it until Rin was outside of the building.

“She's a good arguer that one, it's a good thing she's not on the council or I would never get any laws passed,” Sarutobi chuckled to himself as he watched her walk dejectedly all the way home, to get ready for the big day tomorrow.  

* * *