Awareness returned to Rin slowly.

Her body hurt, a dull pain spread out all over. The right side of her body felt strangely numb. Rin tried to clench her right hand, except nothing happened. In fact, she realized with dawning horror, she didn't have a right hand at all.

Rin didn't open her eyes, and tried to keep her breathing slow and even, as if she was still unconscious. Where... Where was she? The last thing she had remembered was telling Kakashi and Obito to get out of there before enemy reinforcements came, there was no way they could get her out, stop crying, Obito, and just go -

Oh.

That had been when the rocks had started to fall and Kakashi pulled Obito away from her, ignoring his screams and insults. That had been when she died - after all, with the vast majority of her vital organs as damaged as they were, it had been a miracle that she even survived so long.

There was a faint smell of wet earth and green, growing things. The air was cool and damp against her cheek.

She was definitely not dead. It takes a moment for it to sink in.

But, how was that remotely possible? Rin knew enough about the human body to know that she should have died the moment the boulder had come down and crushed her entire right side. She had pushed Obito out of the way knowing that, because Nohara Rin was not the kind of person to let her best friend die right in front of her - not when there was something she could do to save him.

Obito... Kakashi... Did they make it out? They definitely weren't in fighting condition, not when Kakashi was still limping off the aftermath of torture, not when Obito was bleeding from his eyes from the Sharingan that he had finally achieved. Her breath hitched involuntarily.

A second later, a deep gravelly voice said above her, "Girl, I know you're awake."

Rin opened her eyes to pitch black darkness. It took her a few blinks in order to gain some degree of night vision back.

A single dark figure sat a few feet from where she laid. She could just barely make out wild hair turned brittle white with age and a pair of wizened hands curled around a rather large scythe.

Was this the man who had saved her?

"Where -?" She choked out, before the dryness of her throat sent her into a coughing fit.

The man waited until she was done to speak. "This is the land between the living and the dead," he intoned, his hair moving slightly to expose one crimson eye.

Rin started at the sight of it. The Sharingan... She didn't know too much about it because the Uchiha Clan was notoriously cagey about their signature doujutsu, but Obito had ranted about it enough for her to have a good idea of its appearance and capabilities.

"You're an Uchiha?" She asked, a bit doubtfully. All Uchiha were loyal to the village - they had been since the village's founding, Rin had learned from her Academy textbook. So what was this elderly man doing here, in a cave deep in Iwa territory?

He inclined his head. "Who knows," the man said cryptically,

It wasn't an answer, it was a means of stalling. But Rin was in no shape to demand more, not when she was a centimeter from death itself.

"Were you the one who saved me, then?" She asked.

His expression was unreadable. "They insisted on retrieving your body," he said blandly, gesturing to a side of the cave that Rin could not yet turn her head to see from her position.

She craned her neck, only to see... some kind of large plant-statue, too big to have grown in the cave naturally. She blinked. 'They?'

Her savior didn't seem to notice her confusion. He continued, "Once I did... Hashirama's artificial body reacted to you quite favorably. I didn't understand why then, but now... it seems quite obvious." His wrinkled lips twisted into a grimace. "Isn't that right, Senju?"

Rin stared at him, eyes wide in confusion. Senju...? As in Senju Hashirama and Tobirama, the Shodaime and Nidaime? But she wasn't -

The elderly man evidently took her surprise as shock that he had deduced her clan so readily. "It was hardly difficult. I was... acquainted with one of your ancestors. You resemble him greatly."

She blinked, completely at sea with the new developments. Her first instinct is to protest - if Rin was somehow a descendant of one of the village's foremost (and close to extinct, she remembered) clans, she was sure she would have known.

But... it was clear that the old man had saved her life in large part because of the assumptions he had made about her ancestry. It wouldn't do to disabuse him of that, at least not before Rin could stand on her own two feet.

"I see," Rin said neutrally. "Then, thank you for saving my life... Uchiha-san?" She tried.

"You are correct. I am Uchiha," the man admitted, to her complete lack of surprise. He already reminded her somewhat of one of Obito's crazier uncles, just a lot older (as well as a lot crazier, it seemed.)

"I've never seen you around the village before," Rin asked cautiously, careful not to sound accusing. It was already clear to her that, whoever this man was, he hadn't stepped foot in the village for years - else, he would have known that the last Senju had already left Konoha.

"Hmph. That's because I haven't been a part of that village for many years."

A nuke-nin? She swallowed her shock, and did her best to keep the alarm from reaching her face.

"...My best friend is an Uchiha," Rin said quietly. "I know he helps many of the elders around the village. His name is Obito... do you know him, Uchiha-san?"

The Uchiha stood, and for the first time, Rin saw the fleshy plant roots that melded themselves to the man's back, connecting him to the plant placed at a corner of the cave. She couldn't help but recoil in disgust.

"No," he said bluntly. "I am far before his time."

It was obvious now that the man was far older than Rin had initially estimated - which was cause for alarm, since her initial guess had already been close to a hundred. How was he still alive?

"I am a ghost of the Uchiha," her savior said. Then, matter-of-fact, he dropped a bombshell. "My name is Uchiha Madara."

Rin could not keep the look of shock off of her face. "The founder of the village?" She stammered.

He nodded slightly.

She quickly went through everything she knew about Uchiha Madara. Most of it, Rin had learned in the Academy. Her instructors had spent a great deal of time covering the founding of the village, until every student in her class could define the 'Will of Fire' by heart.

Madara had been the leader of the Uchiha Clan at the time of the village's founding. He had been friends with Senju Hashirama, and they had negotiated truce, bringing an end to countless years of clan warfare and forming Konohagakure.

...At least, until Madara had turned against his friend and attacked the village, angered that he had not been chosen as Hokage. Two large statues stood in the Valley of the End to this day, built to remember the epic battle that had taken place then.

By every account, he had died then. Even if he hadn't... old age would have taken its toll - the village had been founded almost a century ago, after all.

But if her savior - if Madara - was telling the truth, it meant that she had been saved by the village's oldest traitor.

She was at the mercy of the village's oldest traitor.

"It's been close to a century since the village was founded," Rin said neutrally. "If you really are Madara -"

She was interrupted by a dry, wheezing chuckle. "Have no doubt about it, girl. I am Madara. This," he gestured toward the abomination of plant matter behind him, "is what keeps me alive. Without the chakra supply from the Mazou, I would die instantly."

To Rin's horror, she could make out several humanoid forms... growing on the branches of the monstrous tree. Had those been what Madara meant by 'they'?

She looked away, and steeled herself.

Rin was alive – but for how much longer, she had no idea. She had been saved by an elderly Uchiha who claimed to be a long-dead founder – who was a long-dead founder, from everything she had seen. He also thought her to be a Senju… a clan that shouldn't be connected to her at all, but Madara had mentioned a resemblance and an unexpectedly positive reaction…

(If he really was Madara, then did that mean the 'ancestor' was the Shodaime? Rin wasn't sure how she felt about that.)

Her boys were… possibly alive, possibly dead, but she decided towards the former (just because she wasn't sure she could take it if she didn't.) Minato-sensei would have gotten to them in time. But now, they all thought she was dead. There would be no Konoha shinobi coming back for her, then; Rin knew too well that there were not enough resources for body retrieval missions to be conducted. She didn't even have a kekkai genkai that other villages would want to get their hands on.

That meant, if she wanted to go home again and see everyone again… Rin had to make it out herself.

But first things first. "Madara-sama," she said respectfully, "how did I survive? The rock, it –"

"I know what the rock did," he said dismissively. "It is just as I said, girl. The half of your body that had been crushed… was replaced with Hashirama's artificial body. For you, there should be less chance of it ripping off. Still, if I were you… I wouldn't strain myself." Madara's wrinkled lips curved at that. "Unless you want to die."

As soon as Rin had realized that half of her body had been replaced by… some kind of plant matter, or clone of the Shodaime, something – her hand had automatically reached to touch at her bandaged side.

She put her hand back. It was nauseating to realize that half of her body was something other, and she didn't even want to think about the havoc it was wrecking on her bodily systems… But, the fact that she was a medic nin was something she did not want Madara to know just yet. If he thought that she would believe everything he spouted about how her recovery… then, it was just better for her.

"Madara-sama… I'm thankful for your help. But… why did you save me?" Rin asked bluntly, because… what did it matter to Uchiha Madara if she did die? Even if he thought she was a Senju, why would he have saved the life of the clan of his greatest enemy?

He didn't reply. In fact, he didn't do anything, just stood there, shoulders slumped with the burden of his countless years.

A minute passed. Rin was suddenly, irrationally afraid that Madara had died.

"This reality is hell," Madara said finally. He began to pace the floor, the roots that sprouted from his back dragging soundlessly over the cave ground. "I want to change this world."

Rin couldn't help but blink at the non-sequitur. Before she could say anything, he continued. "A world of peace, a world of love, a world of joy… that is the type of world I will make."

Madara stopped, turned, and fixated on her with a single crimson eye. "To do that… I need your assistance, girl."

…It certainly wasn't what she had expected him to say, but then, her only knowledge of Uchiha Madara had come from Konoha's history books. Rin wasn't sure what to say. The state of the world had never been a primary concern for her, not when she had to worry about the survival of not only herself, but the many people she cared about.

It was definitely a noble goal. It just sounded like it came right out of a children's fairytale, and Rin had lost patience for those years ago.

"I'm sorry," she said finally. "But I need to go back to my village. My team… they all think I'm dead. I need to be there for them - I don't know what they'll do without me."

"…You've misunderstood me. It was not a request." Madara's lips upturned into a cruel smile. "You'll understand one day what I have said about the world. But until then…" He turned away. "There are no exits to this cavern. Neither of us are able to leave this place – not with our lives."

Rin watched as the man walked off into the shadows of the cave, teeth gritted. She had known from the beginning that her life had been saved for a reason, but… so, that was how he wanted to play it? Trap her here, until she changed her mind…

There was no guarantee that anything Madara had said was true. She would have to investigate his claims once she recovered enough… it didn't make sense for there to not be an exit. And… even though Madara had once been a legendary warrior, that had been countless years ago.

Once she got her strength back, she would escape. And once she did…

She swallowed at the thought of her team, of Kakashi and Obito, who had just began to get along. There were others, too, who needed her to return. Dad had already lost everyone else – and Rin had promised him that she would come back.

Rin had never broken a promise. She didn't intend to start now.

Madara was sleeping, a huddled form at the corner of the cave. Rin observed him for half an hour before she was sure that he was fully unconscious, and then laboriously forced chakra into her hand.

It had already been a month since she had woken up. Time passed quickly – she spent most of her time sleeping, which was understandable. Rin had literally lost half of her body mass.

What little time she spent awake, she used to explore the limitations of her new body. As Madara had so bluntly said, her entire right side seemed to be made of some kind of plant matter. It had been startling to realize that her newly grown (and hadn't that been a shock) right hand was a complete different shade from her own.

Still… the tissue was integrating into her body almost ridiculously successfully. Her body accepted the foreign plant tissue with an ease that belied the source of the tissue. It made Rin wonder about Madara's cryptic words. Maybe there was some truth to them?

To her relief, hunger and dehydration did not seem to be a problem. Rin wasn't sure she wanted to think about what would have happened if she still needed food and water, stuck as she was in a cavern where neither was abundant.

She would be lying, however, if she wasn't mildly frightened. With the odd dual-toned nature of her body, not to mention the stitches that seemed to hold her together… Rin felt like she was some sort of medical experiment.

…She didn't need food or water, and at least half of her body could regenerate from any injury. Was she really human?

"Rin-chan! You're awake!" She heard, and flinched automatically. Well, at least she wasn't like them…

A week after she first woke up, the humanoid figures hanging from Madara's tree had finished growing and had been… picked, for lack of a better word.

Then, one of the creatures had pushed itself up and greeted her cheerfully. Rin had… fell off her bed (and had to reattach her right arm) at the sight. It was mildly embarrassing, but Madara hadn't found any amusement in it. All he did was order the plant creatures to help her up, which they did.

"Tobi," Rin said with a sigh.

That had been what she nicknamed the creature with the swirly head, because with its cheerful demeanor and insatiable curiosity, it really did remind her of a younger (and weirder) Obito. He had gotten the moniker from some particular mean older cousins of his, so she was sure that he wouldn't mind if she, well, gave it to a strange, poo-obsessed plant creature.

"Will you answer our questions now, Rin-chan?" It jumped over to her, edging so close to her that she couldn't help but scoot back a few inches.

"The… the ones about using the toilet?" She asked weakly. On second thought… it wasn't as if they asked about anything else.

"Eh? Toilet?" Tobi put a hand to its chin in thought. "Is that… something you use to take a dump?"

Rin swallowed. Somehow, explaining the mechanisms of pooping had never been in her plans for escaping the cave. "Yes, it looks like a chair, but there's a hole –"

"- Ah! I know this part! Then you poo in the hole!" Tobi froze. "Wait… Rin-chan… what happens to the poo then?"

"You… flush the toilet. The poo… goes away."

The creature hung its head in sadness. "I would never send away the poo," it decided. Its companion, a more human looking creature that Rin had not decided on a name for, patted its shoulder in sympathy.

"I'm sure you wouldn't," Rin offered awkwardly. True, the two weren't even human, but… she felt rather bad for the two androids capable of independent thought, yet still forced to serve under Madara's will. Granted, it wasn't as if they had any complaints about that – they seemed perfectly happy, other than their inability to defecate.

"Rin-chan… Do you poo?"

"Do I…?" Rin was suddenly very glad that Madara was asleep. "Um, I… did. Not anymore," she said hurriedly. It was a side effect of the modifications to her body. She didn't want to think about having to do that in this small enclosed space, where she had to stay for an indefinite amount of time.

If Tobi had a face, she was sure its eyes would be wide in shock. "You –" It fell to its knees. "Rin-chan," it begged, "please tell me -! How does it feel to take a dump? I mean, when you really have to go –"

Rin turned scarlet. "Um," she managed.

The other plant creature smacked Tobi. "Oi! Can't you see she's changed colors? That's a bad sign!"

"O-Oh!" Tobi put its 'face' in its hands. "I'm sorry, so sorry, Rin-chan! Please don't die – Madara-sama will kill us! Or, even worse," it said with mounting horror, "he'll make us gather information outside!"

…Outside? Rin narrowed her eyes. "You can go outside?" She asked hopefully. Madara had pointed out the large boulder blocking the way to the outside, and told her matter-of-fact that she would never get out that way.

"We can just move through rock," the other plant creature says casually. She blinked in surprise. How…?

"That's interesting," Rin said finally. That, at least, was one way to escape. But, despite her modifications, she wasn't like one of the plant androids – she couldn't move through rock, like they did. So that was out of the question for now…

…Still, it was something she could keep in mind.

She leaned back with a sigh. "You were told to rehabilitate me, right?" Rin asked. "So I could be of use… When will I be able to walk?"

It was frustrating. Rin had never been especially fit, especially not like Gai, and she had no particular desire to do five hundred push-ups on a daily basis anyways… but she had been in shape, and if she really had to do something like that, she could. But now, she couldn't even walk on her own two feet.

"I dunno," Tobi said seriously. "Madara-sama never said anything – I don't even think he knows! But hey, I don't think he'll care if you tried!"

It put a hand to its face, where its mouth should have been, almost as if telling a secret. "We'll cover for you, Rin-chan!"

She nodded, eying the ground with trepidation. "I'll try now, then," Rin said, and with a great deal of effort, pushed herself to the edge of her bed.

A single foot touched the ground. And then, the other. From the corner of her eyes, Rin saw the two plant creatures lean forward, as if interested in her endeavor.

Rin swallowed, and let go of the bed. She wobbled immediately, her legs feeling like wet noodles under her, and a second later, with an uncharacteristic curse, she fell forward onto her face.

Even with her entire face pressed onto the cold gravel, she could hear the two androids' cries of disappointment. She gritted her teeth, and pushed herself up with both arms – her new one buckling and (to her shock) distorting under her weight.

With great effort, Rin had leveraged herself up into a sitting position. She still had a long way to go, that was for sure. How could she find a way out of this cave if she couldn't even take a single step from her bed?

In a blink of an eye, Tobi had jumped in front of her, leaning over her with an air of seriousness. "Don't feel bad, Rin-chan!" It said, giving her a thumbs-up. "You'll get there someday. We'll help you out! And then, you can go see your friends, right?"

She stared. It was a plant creature, it wasn't human, it was an artificial being created to make sure she didn't die before she became useful…

Rin shouldn't feel touched by the gesture. That shouldn't have been motivational.

Still, she couldn't hide the smile on her lips. "Yeah," Rin agreed.

[A/N: A thing I tossed around in my head a while ago. Anyways, I love Rin, and I wanted to write a fic in which she took center stage. Here it is. My plans for this isn't huge, and I might write Obito and Kakashi's POVs of this universe if I have time.

Honestly, I get ideas from the weirdest things, most of them Naruto Tumblr posts that aren't meant to be anything but a joke. I guess some people think Rin looks like Hashirama? They both have the long brown hair going I guess (I think, for Hashirama? I mean, he has canonically black hair but almost all fanart gives him brown hair.) Either way, it works for this fic.]