It was a nice little hiding spot that Rin had found. Far enough away from the village to keep clear of the patrols that scouted the woods, and yet close enough to be there in a half a day's journey.
After a few days of staying undetected she had even dared to built a little make-shift hut, to keep off the increasingly cool wind and occasional rain. Her back-pack held all the provision she needed for a weeks journey that might as well be spent out camping, and so far she had had no intention at all to return to the village ever again.
She didn't belong there anymore, she knew, and that it would only hurt her to be surrounded by an infinite number of reminders that time and life had continued without her.
She wouldn't have visited the memorial stone either, had Pakkun not tipped her off about the funeral, had he not urged her to talk with Kakashi.

And maybe the dog had had a point. Talking with Kakashi had made her feel better, if only momentarily. It had been a small comfort compared to how lost she had felt upon reading the names engraved in stone, names she had known, she had gone to the Academy with, worked together with at some point or another. Some she had been unable to find there, some who might still be alive – but what did it matter? It wasn't like she could just walk up to them and ask how they'd been the past nineteen years.

The next day, she browsed through Sakura's and her notes – for they had stored the documents regarding chakra-assimilation in Rin's back-pack, and while part of her wanted nothing more than to rid this world of anything related to Sakura (down to every last cherry-tree), another part of her was still burning with curiosity and anticipation.

They might be on the right track to develop a technique for transplanting chakra!
And even if this did not really help with understanding what Madara was doing to Kakashi, it would be a break-through in medical ninjutsu nonetheless.
She was disturbed by a rustling noise outside. This is odd, she thought. She had set up traps all around her camp – not to hurt anyone who approached, but to alarm her. They were arranged in such a fine mesh, that it was close to impossible for any human to sneak past them.
Human, she thought, and shook her head. She closed her eyes to check outside. She wasn't much of a sensor, but her guest was standing right in front of her hut, and she was familiar enough with his chakra-signature to recognise him at once.

"This is for you."
It was a small scroll that Pakkun dropped into Rin's lap. She gave him a quizzical look, but Pakkun just nodded encouragingly to open the message he had brought.
The scroll held a transportation seal, which – upon releasing – summoned a larger number of further, bigger scrolls (enough to make the small hut Rin and Pakkun were sitting in feel way too crowded).
Rin raised her eyebrows, she picked one at random,opened it very carefully – there was something eery about those scrolls – and gasped.

"I thought", she whispered, "I thought he destroyed all his records when he left the village?"
Pakkun flapped his ears, he climbed on Rin's lap to see what she was seeing.
"Looks like he didn't", he then stated dryly.

He waited for Rin to put the scroll away – the illustrations made him feel uneasy. (And he was, by no means, of a particularly squeamish nature.)

"There's something else", he said, after he had concluded that her eyes would stay fixed to the report, unless he did something to distract her.

Rin looked up, looked a little impatient, though Pakkun wasn't sure whether this was because she eagerly wanted to know what he had to tell her, or because she couldn't wait to start digging into information she had never dared to think of getting her hands on.

Probably the former, he decided, and went on to tell her about their plan to face Madara.
"It would be good, if you're in this as well."
"Says who?"
Pakkun sighed, shook his head – humans …
"Kakashi would appreciate your help very much", he said, satisfied that he had managed to say the truth.
Kakashi would appreciate her help very much – once she had offered it.
He told her when to meet the others for a thorough briefing, then jumped off her legs.
He was stopped on his way outside, as Rin took hold of his tail. (There was a reason why – out of the two – he probably liked Sakura a tad better.)

"Are you sure, it's okay for me to have these?", she pointed at the scrolls surrounding her.
Pakkun gave a short growl (sufficient to make her hand withdraw), then flapped his ears.
"If Sakura was able to get them, Kakashi must have approved of it", he replied shortly and left.

On his way back to the village, though, he wondered. Considering the content of the transportation-scroll, Kakashi had treated it surprisingly lightly.