Rei recovered her chakra quickly, but it wasn't until three days later that the Headmaster and Kohana gave her leave to perform the mental Seal on herself. It was slightly more complicated than Utakata's ritual because she was searching through her own mind with her own chakra, and getting distracted once caused a jolt in her mind tantamount to an earthquake.

"We'll have to do without testing it after all," Kohana said once the ritual was complete. "There's no one around without the Curse Mark that we can trust. How do you feel?"

"About the same." Her head was fuzzy, but after blinking a couple of times to clear her vision, she was ready to run a marathon. Nothing was going to stop her from getting back aboveground.

Headmaster Iwa set a solid hand on her shoulder. "Are you feeling well enough to perform on a mission?"

"Absolutely!" She didn't think she'd ever smiled so hard. Her mouth felt ready to split.

"Then let's gather the team."

It took about fifteen minutes for Niko Sensei and Utakata to gather in the common area, and Headmaster Iwa put his hands on his hips with a sigh. "Where is that boy?"

That boy, who had apparently been scrounging for food in the kitchen, duly appeared, still chewing on a tart that one of the council members had dropped off that morning. He was still in flannel pajama pants and a holey long-sleeved T-shirt. "Hey," he said with his mouth full.

Rei straightened her flak jacket, well aware that she would need to size it up soon. Since she'd come to live in the bunker and she'd been eating better, she'd begun to grow more than she ever had before. When she looked in the bathroom mirror in the mornings, she saw healthy skin, bright eyes, and shiny hair. Even her smaller scars had started fading. "Didn't you get the message?" she asked Koichi, trying to ignore the crumbs he was dropping. "I finally get to go out! We have a mission."

"The ritual worked?" he asked, swallowing so quickly that he began to choke. "I'll go get dressed."

"You'll go take a shower," Niko Sensei said, already turning to the stairs. "We're not walking with you all day when you smell like that."

"I'll be done in three minutes!" He ran back down the hallway, leaving crumbs on the floor in his wake.

Utakata just shook his head. "Can we just go?"

Headmaster Iwa ushered them up the stairs and assured them that Koichi would join them later. Rei was jittering too violently too care. When she exited the decorative living room and walked out the safehouse's front door, she inhaled deeply, sifting through the scents and sounds.

The ground was covered in slushy snow that crunched wetly under her boots and gave off a clean, almost tree-scented smell. There were no birds chirping, but Rei could hear the sounds of metal clanging from the Academy. They must be sparring.

"You alright?" She jumped when Niko Sensei spoke, goosebumps breaking out over her skin. She'd frozen.

"I'm fine."

"Part of coming back out here is integrating into the village. You'll be fine."

Utakata looked away, towards the main street. "As long as the Seal works."

While Niko Sensei surveyed the area to make sure that no one was around to see them leave Headmaster Iwa's house, Rei took a steadying breath. "Have you been feeling okay since the Sealing?"

The silence that followed was so tense that Rei could actually feel residual chakra wafting off of Utakata's body. He finally said, "I'm fine. But I'll be better when the Seal is gone."

"I'm sorry that you had to do something you didn't want to do." The words came unbidden to Rei, but once she started talking, there was no way to stop. "No one should have to do that. I hated every second of my life before I lived here. But now I have choices. I can't imagine losing them." The memories of Zane Sensei and Risa came flooding back and she blinked rapidly, trying to clear the stinging from her eyes. When it didn't work, she scrubbed her wrist across her face roughly.

"I do trust you, you know."

Utakata spoke so quietly that Rei wasn't sure that he'd said anything. But when she looked at him, she could see the aftermath of the statement in his expression. For once, he didn't look tense. His arms were crossed, but his fingers were relaxed. His eyes were soft like honey instead of hard as amber. "Really?"

"Well, you don't suck at most Jutsu anymore."

A choked laugh bubbled up from Rei's throat. "I guess not."

"And whatever you did before the Sealing…" He scrambled for words, something he'd never done before. "I've never felt anything like that. Like every bad thing was… gone. At least until you were done. Headmaster Iwa seems to think that a lot of this rides on your ability, and you seem to want us to succeed. So yeah, I trust you."

Niko Sensei jogged back their way. "All clear. The students just went back inside."

Rei couldn't suppress a laugh of abandon as she sprinted behind Niko Sensei towards the center of the village. A major wall had just been broken. "We're going to be better teammates now," she said, nudging Utakata's arm as they slowed to a walk outside of a café. "You know that, right?"

"Maybe."

"You know that." She nudged him again, feeling playful.

He cracked the barest whisper of a smile. "Sure."

Everything about the village suddenly seemed brighter. The people around her looked happier, less predatory, less apathetic. But then she saw a little girl of about 8 sitting outside of a fabric shop. The girl's stringy black hair hung over her face and her bony legs protruded from a dress that had been made for a much younger child. She had a rusted tin can sitting next to her on the ground, open for offerings of change. She was freezing.

Rei stopped walking. There wasn't a lot that she could do for this girl, but she couldn't do nothing. Not now that she had means. Her weapons pouch was full of weapons and tools, but she had no money. "Sensei?" Niko Sensei and Utakata were about ten feet ahead of her by now and they both turned back. "Could I get some of my savings?"

Niko Sensei didn't carry a lot of cash on his person, but he offered Rei the loose change from the bottom of his weapons pouch. Rei clutched the small coins to her chest and knelt in front of the girl, reaching out with a gentle hand to brush the girl's hair from her face. Reacting instinctively, the girl smacked Rei's hand away and shoved herself back, almost flattening her spine against the wall.

Rei offered a smile, hoping it looked kind. What would she have responded to when she slept on the streets? "Here." She held out her closed fist and deposited the coins on the ground in front of the girl. "For you." The girl's eyes flicked between Rei and the money four or five times before she darted forward, scooped up the change, and ran off down the street with all the speed and stealth of a grown Shinobi.

"Wow," she murmured. She stood and brushed the dust from her pants, enjoying the feeling. Rei was just a girl, a Genin who had been underground for six months. But she could make a living now. And now there was someone who would care about the Blood Mist orphans.