• Team Minato was not like other teams.

    They had a genius for a leader who could just as easily act like a tyrannical task-master as well as a rookie fresh out of the Academy. Then there was Kakashi, the reputed son of the White Fang, who was paradoxically both the youngest and the oldest of the four. Obito was so energetic that he was always all over the place, yet never to be found when he was needed on time. And as for Rin...

    Sometimes, she got a little caught up on just how strange her team was and wondered how exactly she'd landed in such a position. She was normal, plain, un-extraordinaire: brown hair, brown eyes, graduated with slightly above average chakra control and slightly below average fighting skills. No quirks to speak of, no special talents, no "out there" personality. She was the only medic on the team, though, and the only girl, and the boys valued her so much that she never really felt anything other than a sense of belonging.

    (But Kakashi could do a bit more "valuing", that that would be fine with her too.)

    Being the only truly sane person on the team (her teacher could fake it pretty well, but she knew better), Rin often had to make sure all the ends met and that all of her teammates were on the same planet. In particular, whenever there was an important mission - like today - she was to head to the Uchiha district and fetch Obito so that he wouldn't hold up the rest of them.

    The gates marked with the white and red fan were wide open, but the sight that greeted her on the other side wasn't as welcoming. She was surprised to find Obito already there, but uncomfortable at the scene she had to witness.

    "You're a shame to the Uchiha name!" an older boy whom Rin recognised as one of Obito's cousins was yelling in the middle of the street. Her teammate was beet-red and she had a feeling that it wasn't just due to rage.

    "When I get my Sharingan, we'll see who's a loser!" he shouted back, staring down and pointing at the other. He was always brash and fierce to the end when arguing, even when the subject was surely cutting him up inside.

    "Ha! Dream on!!"

    Their fight would have gone on hadn't Obito caught sight of Rin just then, peering meekly onto the fray. Throwing a couple more fiery words at his cousin, he was quick to join her and steer her away from the conflict.

    "Heh," he laughed, looking at her with a big grin and excessively shiny eyes. "Sorry you had to see that. What were you doing there?"

    "We have a mission, remember? I was going to pick you up."

    "Oh yeah... I'd forgotten about that..."

    Obito ended up going back to the Uchiha district to fetch his gear while Rin waited where she was. They went on their assignment and completed it successfully - one more chapter of the Third Shinobi World War safely behind them. She never commented on what she had seen, because she knew that it would only make Obito feel even more embarrassed if she, the object of his long-time crush, brought it up and because she trusted that he was strong enough to rise above the taunts. He was already a great ninja, even without the Sharingan.

    Their teacher decided to let them have a break on the day after they returned to the village and Rin took the chance to put her free time to good use. The next day, as the team gathered for a training session (Minato-sensei had oscillated back to being the task-master), she lingered back to watch Kakashi practice until Obito arrived. As soon as he did, she deposited a small package on his hands, smiled at him, and hurried up to join Kakashi.

    Obito opened the loose paper wrapping and found a tiny white plastic bottle with no label on it. Written on the brown paper was a note: "For your eyes. Use as much as you like!" The young Uchiha thanked her for the support by pairing up with her to beat Kakashi to the ground (or something like it - the state of his clothes by the end of the day didn't quite indicate a victory) and he was never seen without his custom eye-drops since.

    They weren't like other teams, but that was just fine with Rin. She had a feeling that the world wasn't big enough for more than one team Minato anyway.