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*I do not own Naruto or any associated characters. Naruto was created by Masashi Kishimoto and Shueisha, and they own all the rights. This work is just for entertainment, and I am not making any profit from it.*Blood Mist Village came by its name honestly. A province where young Shinobi-in-training were pitted against one another in a fight to the death was a poor place to be born. Most folk did not choose this village to be their home; they were simply too poor to leave.The nobility of the Land of Water was wealthy beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, and most of the average citizens could barely afford their next meal. The only middle class consisted of the nation’s warriors, the Shinobi whose emotions were beaten out of them in childhood.Inside the walls of Blood Mist Village, it was not uncommon to see orphaned or abandoned children in rags. When money grew too tight in a household, one or more of the children were often turned out to make it on their own. Shinobi of the Land of Water were not nurturing parents. Most procreated out of necessity, to stock the Academy with new recruits.The perpetually grey sky was especially dark today, letting only a little light filter into the Academy’s sparring arena. The instructors didn’t believe in using artificial lights in the building, stating often that real Shinobi had to enter battle in less-than-ideal conditions, so they might as well get used to it. There was no heat during the frigid winter months and no air conditioning in the stiflingly humid summers, and Rei tried to slow the pace of her breaths, forcing her body to maintain order while her mind panicked. Blood was running down her face, her dark hair was beginning to fall into her eyes, and she knew her voice sounded hysterical.“Stop!” she shrieked, thrusting an open palm forward, more a gesture of surrender than an attempt at blocking the oncoming blow. Sayoko didn’t even flinch, didn’t hesitate to plunge her kunai straight through Rei’s hand, between the branching bones of her third and fourth fingers.The pain was electrifying, bordering on unbearable, and Rei knew right away that it would escalate further when the adrenaline faded from her blood. Even so, she dropped to her knees, instinctively cradling her hand against her chest. She felt a hand grasp the hair atop her head and yank her back so that her chin pointed at the ceiling. Sayoko’s cold, wet blade touched the skin that covered Rei’s carotid artery. “Dead,” Sayoko announced proudly. Her long, black ponytail was still in pristine condition.Niko Sensei’s crossed arms tightened, and he nodded with approval. “Nicely done. You’re dismissed, Sayoko.” Without sparing a glance at Rei, he looked to her sensei. “See you tonight?”Hina Sensei said something in reply, but all Rei could hear was her teacher’s airy, wordless voice over the pounding of her head. She didn’t even register that her sensei had approached until a gentle hand fell on her back. Rei looked up and brushed her hair away from where it stuck to her wet, blood-smeared cheeks. The trembles were coming on, and Hina Sensei called sharply for the medic that was always on standby during sparring sessions.Rei had never liked doctors, but she was no longer afraid of them. She couldn’t be; not with how often she had to see them. “Rei, I need to see your hand,” he said to her, not quite kindly, but not as harsh as most medics.“What about her head?” Hina Sensei lifted Rei’s bangs from her forehead and a fresh trickle of blood dripped from the arch of her eyebrow.“It’ll wait. It’s just a scratch; this is much more than that.” He cupped his palms together, cradling Rei’s much smaller hand between them. Rei’s body and soul warmed, and she smiled weakly at him. The pain didn’t ease, but the bleeding slowed and stopped in just a few moments.Rei’s wounds weren’t often healed in their entirety by Mist medics. It wasn’t how things were done for students. The medics’ energy and chakra were better saved for more serious wounds and sicknesses. Even the youngest doctors in the Mist soon worked through blood, fever, and plague. They faced death more than any common Shinobi. Rei wilted when he released her hand.Hina Sensei pulled a rag from the weapons pouch on her hip and dampened it with water from her canteen before pressing it lightly against Rei’s face. Crimson-touched droplets fell to Rei’s legs and her vision wavered again. “I know you know what you did wrong,” Hina Sensei muttered. The medic had placed his hand on the back of Rei’s head, sending his chakra through her scalp to pull the skin of her forehead back together. “But you need to tell me anyway.”“I gave up.” Rei’s voice was unnaturally loud in her ears, drowning out the rushing sound of healing chakra flooding through her face. “I expected her to stop when a real enemy wouldn’t.”A cold finger met the skin under Rei’s chin, turning her face up. “You lost.” The gentle tones were gone from Hina Sensei’s voice, replaced with the carnivorous purr the young woman was known for. “Had you taken the blow and used your other hand to strike your own, you could have taken her down with the element of surprise. You know your classmates. You’ve learned each other’s weaknesses.”The tingling sensation faded from Rei’s face when the medic lifted his hand, and her eyes rolled backwards far enough to blacken her vision. Hina Sensei’s sigh was laced with exasperation, and she grabbed Rei’s upper arm, hauling the girl to her feet. “Get to the barracks and rest. Make sure you’re in the cafeteria for supper.”Rei’s head still swam, but she pushed through the Academy’s heavy double doors and looked outside, checking both the left and right, and then took off running. She wasn’t going to the barracks. Definitely not. What she needed was a tree to climb, to hide in, to get away, even for only a few hours. The pumping motion of her arms thrust her blood down into her fingertips, and her wounded hand began to throb. She clenched her fingers into a tighter fist and dove around the corner of a doctor’s office, not seeing that one of the windows had been shattered recently. Her boots crunched on the broken glass and threw off her balance, making her throw her hands up to keep herself from eating concrete.“Whoa, there.” Rei knew she wasn’t the most accomplished Shinobi-in-training, but her senses were keen enough to sense danger before it got to her. Usually. The man who had grabbed her arm was at least a foot taller than she was, and his muscled fingers were thicker than the sausages given to them at Sundays’ special meals. Goose bumps began at the point of contact and flooded her body in a rippling wave, and she nearly lost control of her bladder when she met his eyes.“I was sure I’d run into you again,” he said, his voice low, and he pulled her a fraction of an inch closer. She wasn’t allowed to carry weapons on her person yet, officially. But no child wandered the streets of Blood Mist Village unarmed. She was twelve and a half, but every student at the Academy, except for the few from noble families, appeared to be younger than their years. Children were preyed upon mercilessly.Rei couldn’t force any words past her lips. After the first time she’d encountered this bastard, she’d promised herself that she’d avoid him at all costs, and if she couldn’t, she’d stab him in the neck with her shiv. But all her plans had shaken off as she trembled. Her shiv was tucked into her boot, and the man was holding her bicep high enough that she couldn’t bend to retrieve it without dislocating her shoulder.What would a real Shinobi do? The milliseconds passed as options flew through her mind like tickertape, and then were quickly rejected. She wasn’t much good at Ninjutsu, in all honesty. Her chakra control was mediocre at best, and she’d never been able to create even the simplest Genjustu. She couldn’t break free; he was expecting her to try and run like she had done last time.“Why don’t we get off the street?” It wasn’t a question so much as a suggestion to himself, and Rei watched his dark eyes search the area around them. Sundown was still a few hours away, and only a few people were even in sight. The owner of the little grocery store across the street was sweeping up trash outside the door, and he looked up for a fraction of a second before turning back to his work. A woman with a young child was walking their way, but when she saw them, she picked her son up and held him close, pivoting on her heel and going back the way they had come.No one cared about the Blood Mist orphans.Rei stumbled forward, her body crashing into the man’s when he yanked her towards an alley, and his arm wrapped around her waist tightly enough to nearly lift her feet off the ground. It was then that she found her voice. “Get off me!” she shrieked, kicking out with her feet and wrenching her arm violently. She couldn’t dislodge herself from his grip, and her struggling only seemed to excite him further. He’d almost gotten her into the full shadow of the alley when a low growl behind them shocked them both into stillness.The biggest dog that Rei had ever seen was standing less than ten feet away from them, crouching to spring. He looked very wolf-like, but his coat was the deepest black, which only made the white of his teeth more obvious and frightening.For a moment, the man’s grip tightened even further on Rei, but then he lifted her clear off her feet and thrust her at the dog. Rather than letting her reflexes take over, she collapsed and covered her head with her hands, paying no mind to her newly skinned elbow. A rush of air over her head prompted her to raise her eyes, then she looked back over her shoulder.The man had run off down the alley and was just jumping onto a box to propel himself over the chain-link fence that connected the two buildings, but mid-jump, the black dog latched his teeth onto the man’s calf. With a vicious swing of its head, the dog ripped him down onto the ground and barked in his face, the sound echoing off the walls. The man was screaming, or weeping, or both.Rei was acutely aware that her body was going into shock. She wasn’t out of danger yet, but she wasn’t going to be abducted anymore, it seemed. Only now did she begin to feel the pain in her wounded hand again. Her knuckles were shading violet, filling with new blood, and every rapid heartbeat made the angry bruise creep further across her skin.The dog padded over to her, lowering its head to sniff her boot, and she drew in a panicked gasp before kicking out and trying to scramble back to her feet. The little wounds on her arms and legs had begun stinging, an ever-present medley of pulsing pain.The man scrambled to his feet and took off for the fence again, limping this time. The dog looked his way, but didn’t pursue.“Leo.” This new male voice was soft, but still managed to ring around the brick walls of the alley. “Come.”The dog lifted his head again and went back to his master’s side, and Rei’s whole body tensed, unprepared to suffer at the hands of another man. When he knelt next to her and sighed, she finally recognized the patterns of his body language, the sound of his voice. “Niko Sensei,” she breathed, allowing her muscles to relax.“Why aren’t you in the barracks?” he asked, no emotion present in his voice. Rei chanced a look up at his face. His eyes were narrowed and his forehead protector had been moved from his head to hang casually around his neck. A half-eaten sandwich was in his hand, and he took one more bite from it before tossing the remains back to the dog.Rei was sure that Niko Sensei knew the answer to that question.It was a rare occasion in Blood Mist Village when an orphaned child made it to adulthood with their innocence. Only the craftiest and luckiest were able to avoid molestation and frequent injury. Thus far, Rei had certainly been lucky. Most of her classmates had not.A breeze that was much too chilly for April wafted over her skin, and she sat up slowly, taking stock of her physical state. Right hand: out of commission. Right elbow: bloodied. All extremities: oozing blood in one way or another. Forehead: aching and hopefully intact. Stomach: queasy.“Come on. I’ll take you back.” Niko Sensei stood and offered the girl his hand. Still clutching her right hand to her chest, she ignored his outstretched fingers and stood with her own power, eyes downturned. It wasn’t safe to trust men. It wasn’t safe to trust most women. It wasn’t safe to trust most of her classmates, either.Niko Sensei put himself between Rei and the street as they made their way to the barracks, where the orphaned Academy students were supposed to spend their spare time. “I’m sure the barracks are still strange for you, but as you saw today, it’s in your best interests to stay near them,” Niko Sensei said quietly. “There’s nothing stopping men on the streets from taking their pleasure and slitting your throat when they’re finished.”And the Shinobi that monitor the barracks at night? Rei wanted to ask. What is there to stop them?

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Niko Sensei set his hand on Rei’s shoulder, sending a wave of terror through her body as he steered her towards the door of the Academy’s large cafeteria. The door clicked open, letting out a flickering warm light and the semi-civilized smell of some kind of cooking meat. Was it a holiday?“Go.” Niko Sensei shoved her forwards, making her stumble on trembling legs, and she managed to right herself just before she would have crashed into the nearest table. A few students looked up, but most saw nothing of interest in the exchange. Sayoko, all the way on the other side of the room, smirked.There was a marked divide between the students in the cafeteria, and there was no question as to what side Rei belonged. The students to the left were training to be Shinobi by choice, or they were from noble families, or they were rich, or some combination of the three. The students to the right were orphans who had been rescued from the streets, the children of the clans who had defected from the Mist, or children who had been sold to the Academy.Rei turned to the right and sat down carefully next to Risa, a pale thirteen-year-old with straw-colored hair and haunted dark eyes. Rei didn’t know where Risa had come from or what her past had been like, and she didn’t ask. The past didn’t matter. They were at the Academy now, training to be soldiers for the Blood Mist Village.Risa’s long sleeves were designed to fit tight to her skin, but they hung loosely from her wrists with an inch to spare. She gave Rei a weak smile. “They caught you this time.”“Yeah. What’s for supper?”Risa’s bony shoulders rose and fell, the motion barely discernible. “Something better than usual, I think.” She lowered her voice, glancing around carefully before asking, “Niko Sensei… did he…?”“No.” Rei’s answer was clipped and uncomfortable goosebumps rose on her skin. “I don’t think he’s into that.”“He’s definitely into Hina Sensei,” Risa said, shooting a quick look at the sensei table at the front of the room, closest to the kitchen. Niko Sensei was leaning close to Hina Sensei, whispering something to her, and she giggled, blushing a faint pink. When Risa looked away quickly, clenching her fists in her lap, Rei panned the sensei table. Zane Sensei was looking at them.Or, more accurately, he was looking at Risa.“Who’s on monitoring duty tonight?” Rei asked.Risa didn’t reply, which gave Rei her answer. Rei had only been staying in the barracks for two weeks, so she hadn’t been around for Zane Sensei’s last night on duty. But she had a feeling that she knew what those nights were like for Risa.“What are you gonna do?”“What can I do?” Risa hissed, finally looking Rei in the face. “He’s a sensei. I’m an Uneda. I don’t have a choice.”They sat in silence until the food was ready. They collected their small portions of an unidentifiable meat and porridge mixture and returned to their seats without a word. A few other students were trickling in, all of them immediately dividing onto their respective sides of the cafeteria.Rei snuck a few glances at Risa, who was poking at her food rather than putting anything in her mouth. A few Uneda children had been at the orphanage, too. The clan had defected from the Mist like ten years ago and was brutally defeated. As punishment, each family had to offer a child to the Academy to train as a Shinobi. It was unfortunate that Risa was a girl. The boys generally fared better than the girls, but not always. There were many sallow boys at the Academy, too.“There are ten minutes remaining for mealtime,” Zane Sensei announced, standing and moving to the front door of the cafeteria. Rei reached over and took Risa’s limp hand.“Just look over at me whenever you need to.”

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Hina Sensei led the girls from the cafeteria to the showers, and then from the showers back to their respective barracks. The A girls (the ones who were more privileged) slept in one building and the B girls (the orphans and traitors’ children) slept in another. It was no accident that female Shinobi monitored the A girls and the men monitored the B girls.In only the few weeks that she had been at the Academy, Rei had come to the conclusion that if she could make it through this, these few years of training, then she’d be respected as a full-fledged Shinobi like Hina Sensei. When she wasn’t a student any longer, her background wouldn’t matter.She would have to endure whatever happened until then.The barracks were built of cement, like most buildings in the Mist. The small building held forty beds for the less fortunate girls, and at the moment only two were empty. Each bed had a small trunk set at its foot for each girl to store her clothes and necessities in, and Rei knelt by her trunk to retrieve her pajamas. She hadn’t gotten any new ones in over a year since she didn’t have any money, so they were pretty worn out. The faded grey shirt was thin and not as long as she would have liked now, and the shorts had a coin-sized hole in the right hip from where she’d caught them on a loose nail at the orphanage.Risa clutched her threadbare robe tightly around her body, glancing back to the only door in the building. Zane Sensei was already there, leaning his back against the hinges and watching the girls as they disrobed. Most of them seemed to be used to the invasion and ignored him completely. Rei was not at that point yet.She looked around quickly for anyone else who seemed to have reservations. A girl with shoulder-length violet hair was digging through her trunk slowly, looking up every few seconds at Zane Sensei. Rei scrambled through her memories for the girl’s name. “Tanoka!” she said more loudly than strictly necessary. She waved the girl over and explained that two of them could hold up a blanket so a third could get dressed. Tanoka agreed readily, grabbing one end of the blanket that Rei ripped off of her bed.The relief on Risa’s face was almost palpable, and Rei and Tanoka stretched the blanket between the two of them to shield their classmate from the sensei’s prying eyes. When he saw what they were doing, Zane Sensei made to move towards them, and Rei tightened her hold on the blanket.But just at that moment, Niko Sensei came in the door. He looked at Zane Sensei the same way that he had looked at Rei when she was on the ground: like he was forced to deal with something unsavory and inconvenient. Zane Sensei turned on his heel and marched back to the door, muttering angrily to himself. Risa finished dressing in her pajamas quickly, then held the blanket in turn while Rei and Tanoka shed their robes for their T-shirts and shorts. It was expected that the monitors would turn their backs while the girls dressed, and most did.“Five minutes until lights out,” Niko Sensei announced, turning back around. He looked like a dark sentry, hands linked behind his back and his black hair falling over his forehead only serving to accentuate his severity.The monitors switched shifts every few nights, and so far, three of the men had climbed into bed with a few of the girls. The girls were always quiet, never making even a sound of discomfort or surprise. Rei always clutched her blanket closer to her chest and prayed that they’d pass her over. She was an unremarkable, dark-haired and dark-eyed orphan, and she tried her best to blend into the background as often as she could. It had worked so far.Risa settled into the bed next to Rei, covering herself up to her neck and closing her eyes before the lights had been extinguished. Rei cast one more look at the door. The two men were still standing motionless, looking very professional, but she was sure that wouldn’t last long.The lights went out, the quiet chatter ceased, and silence reigned. For about ten minutes.The floorboards creaked and Rei opened her eyes a fraction of a centimeter, looking at Risa in the darkness. The other girl was curled up in a ball under her blanket, shielding herself the only way she knew how. But the footsteps stopped before they got to her bed. Rei almost whimpered audibly when she turned her head a few inches to the side to see Zane Sensei’s shock of blonde hair at the end of her own bed. He wasn’t approaching her, just looking. Then Niko Sensei left his post by the door and prodded the other man in the back with two fingers, saying just one word in the otherwise silent room: “No.”Zane Sensei barked a laugh. “You? And I thought you didn’t swing that way.” He leaned down and unlaced his boots slowly, agonizingly slowly. Risa had begun to tremble beneath her blanket. He dropped his boots and his grey flak jacket on top of Risa’s trunk and walked around her bed, lifting the blanket and sliding in behind her. Risa didn’t make a sound. She just shut her eyes as Zane Sensei spooned her from behind. The blanket was thin enough for Rei to see the shapes of their bodies clearly.His hands moved urgently beneath the covers, and Risa’s shorts fell to the floor.It was about at that time that Rei noticed Niko Sensei sitting on her own trunk. Her heart seemed to stop for a very long second before picking up its pace in triple time. It became impossible to draw in a breath. He shucked off his boots and his jacket, just like Zane Sensei had done, and came around the side of the bed, his eyes impassive, his hands still.She looked at him, trying to find words to beg him to leave, but they were stuck in her frozen throat. Whatever was coming, it had the other girls in the barracks terrified, and Rei didn’t want to experience it firsthand. Desperate instincts kicked in, the same ones that had helped her escape the creep on the streets the first time, and she wrenched her blanket off of her body, throwing her feet to the floor.Niko Sensei reached out with the speed of lightning and twisted her hair into a rope, viciously pulling her back across the bed and squashing her face tight against his chest. His heart was pounding. One of his knees was already pressing into the mattress and he flung her down beneath him, pressing her face into the pillow.I might die tonight.Her hands were useless. He was pinning her legs down with his own and he was already pulling at the waistband of her shorts. She forced her head to the side, just trying to breathe, and her shorts slipped down off of her feet, disappearing who knows where. Niko Sensei pulled the blanket back over their backs, shielding his actions.He covered her with his body, spreading her legs and lowering himself between them. His mouth was at her ear, and he released her hair to grab onto her wrists, pinning them to the bed. “Scream,” he whispered.She didn’t need any further encouragement. She opened her mouth and flooded the room with her voice, unsure of what was happening, and unsure of why she felt no pain. Zane Sensei was saying something encouraging in the background. The other girls were absolutely silent.Niko Sensei moved against her back for a minute or two, pressing his pelvis against her backside, but Rei had a suspicion that he wasn’t doing something right. She’d heard the girls talking about what the men did at night, but this wasn’t it. He hadn’t… entered her. She was still wearing her underclothes, and he hadn’t undressed at all. What was he doing?After a moment, he exhaled heavily and lowered his body onto hers, relaxing. Tremors ran through Rei’s arms and legs, warring with the knowledge that she had somehow escaped what Risa had gone through. But why?Niko Sensei was breathing hard against the back of her neck, saturating her skin with heat. Zane Sensei left Risa’s bed, zipped his pants, and, after a moment, said, “Be back in a minute,” and left the barracks.Moving just a few inches, Niko Sensei pressed his mouth to Rei’s ear, barely even whispering. But she caught his words. “If you want to live, you’ll lie to the others. Act like walking pains you tomorrow.”With that, he pretended to adjust his clothing beneath her blanket and got up and left her bed, collecting his jacket and boots. He took his place back by the door like nothing had happened, settling in a chair and pulling a book from the pack by his feet, beginning to read by the faint light of the moon that peeked through the window.Turning her head to the other side, Rei looked at Risa. She’d barely moved from the position she’d been in when Zane Sensei had slipped into her bed, and her eyes were glassy. She blinked once, then turned over very slowly.Rei turned over the events of the last several minutes in her mind until she thought her mind would explode. The pain of her wounds had come flaring back to life, and her exhausted body got the better of her. As she slipped into unconsciousness, she noticed a dark patch of blood growing on Risa’s blanket near her legs.

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Risa’s bed was empty when Niko Sensei sounded the wake-up call. The blanket and pillow were gone and the sheets had been stripped from the mattress. Her shorts were gone. When the girl on the other side of Risa’s bed saw, she looked away quickly, as if trying to forget she had seen. Rei jumped out of bed, quickly remembered that she was supposed to have trouble walking, and fell to her hands and knees with a cry.The girl looked like she wanted to help, but after a calculated glance at Niko Sensei, walked on toward the door with her robe in her hands. Several other girls passed in much the same manner. Niko Sensei huffed and marched across the room, the girls parting around him like he was a rock in a swiftly flowing river.Rei was hauled to her feet mercilessly. She was intensely thankful that she wasn’t as injured as she had to pretend to be. Niko Sensei released her bicep and made to move back towards the door, but Rei squeaked an attempt at a question. “Sensei… where…?”No emotion touched his voice when he said, “She expired in the night.” Then he was gone.Rei stood there, shell-shocked. She knew that Shinobi-in-training died frequently at the Academy, but she hadn’t imagined that her only friend would be one of them. There was no outpouring of tears and there were no screams of frustration.Instead, Rei turned to her trunk, brushing the dirt off the lid that Niko Sensei had left the night before, and retrieved her robe. She snatched her shorts from the floor where they had been tossed and slipped her feet back into them. She went with the other girls to the showers.She was in a fog. The edges of her vision were fuzzy, like she was on the edge of losing consciousness, but she was very awake. She remembered to move slowly, painfully, the way she’d seen some of the other girls walk after their nights of being chosen.No one spoke to her and she did not want to speak to them. She let the lukewarm water of the small showerhead pelt her face, and maybe a few tears fell then. She wasn’t sure.The entire day passed in a blur. She sustained a few minor injuries during training, but it was nothing the medics couldn’t stitch back together in three seconds. She had no idea what she ate during the day. She only grew a little more alert when Zane Sensei called for lights out that night.Who would he pick tonight? Would they die, too?“Please,” she whimpered when Niko Sensei appeared by her bed, “just leave me alone.”He ignored her and slid under the covers, resting his hand on her shapeless waist. He turned her onto her back slowly, forcing her to look him in the eyes. Rei started when he lowered his mouth to her ear. “If I don’t, someone else will.”Why did he care? She set her mouth in a firm line and endured as he slid her shorts down once again and made those strange movements against her, the ones that brought neither pain nor pleasure. She made no sound this time. She just counted the seconds until he would leave.But he didn’t. On this night, when he was done with his business, he settled onto his side and rested his head on her pillow, pulling her into his embrace. Nausea rolled in Rei’s stomach as she felt him breathing against the back of her head. Why?She thought she had mouthed the word, but he answered in the softest whisper. “We need you for something more.”Three days passed in much the same way, and Rei was sickened that she was beginning to get used to the feeling of Niko Sensei’s body against her back. And even worse, she was starting to feel safe.Rei had heard a few girls muttering in quiet voices that sensei didn’t usually show such favoritism, and she couldn’t decipher the latent emotion in their voices. She didn’t care what they thought. She didn’t care about anything.Her bed felt cold and strange when she slept alone now. When Zane Sensei and Niko Sensei ended their shifts as monitors, two other sensei took over. They were patrolling the lane between the two rows of beds, making sure everyone was in bed and ready for sleep, and they paused when they reached Rei’s bed. “Not that one,” the one with a dark beard said. “She’s Niko’s girl.”Tonight was Tanoka’s night, apparently. As the violet-haired girl struggled across the room, Rei shut her eyes tight. She was Niko’s girl.Niko Sensei was gone from the Academy the next morning, and Rei took her seat in the classroom, well away from most of the other students. The girls avoided her eyes whenever possible and the boys ogled with unabashed curiosity. What was so special about this girl that a sensei had chosen her for himself?Rumors had spread very quickly. Hina Sensei hadn’t said a word to Rei in days. The young woman watched the girl avidly, unable to shield her morbid interest. The Headmaster couldn’t allow this to go on. A short dalliance of a night or two, here and there, was one thing. But staying all night with the same student multiple days in a row? It was unheard of.Shadows appeared under Rei’s eyes and she knew she was losing weight as the days wore on. Niko Sensei had been gone for over a week, and more rumors were constantly being born. Niko Sensei had been fired. He had been relocated to another school. The Mizukage had sent him on a very dangerous mission. He had fled.Rei didn’t really care where he was. She felt a very strange sort of pride at being the girl that everyone was talking about, but she didn’t want to. She knew what was happening was gross and wrong. She was twelve and he had to be close to thirty. He hadn’t done anything to her, but everyone thought he had. She hated this, but what did that matter?No one cared about the Blood Mist orphans.

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“It’s pain training day.”                    Everyone sat a little straighter at Zane Sensei’s declaration. Rei flexed her toes inside her boots. The last such day had included running barefoot over hot coals, only to have their feet healed immediately after. The rapid healing hadn’t dulled the pain of the moment, which Hina Sensei said was the point.                    “Everyone out into the courtyard.”                    Rei’s stomach churned. She hadn’t eaten as much recently, which she supposed was a good thing. Tanoka came up by her side and shot her a cautious side-eye. They didn’t speak, but they walked in tandem. It was as comforting as anything could be at the moment.                    The B-barracks girls lined up on one side of the courtyard and A-barracks girls on the other side. They segregated themselves habitually, and any passersby who happened to glance at the courtyard through the chain-link fence would immediately be able to tell which group was prioritized.                    “It’s been a few weeks since our last session,” Zane Sensei said, taking his spot between the two groups of girls. “So let’s review. Pain training is not about skill, and it is not a sparring session. Your task is not to beat your opponent and not to defend yourself. What is the purpose of this training? Anyone?”                    An A-barracks girl raised her hand and answered immediately. “To build pain tolerance and dull automatic reactions to pain in battle.”                    Zane Sensei nodded with a small dip of his chin. “This morning, the B-girls will participate. This afternoon, the A-girls will be tested with the A-boys. Prepare yourself. We will begin in three minutes.”                    Rei wished fruitlessly that there was enough time to run to the bathroom.                    The A-girls chattered, completely unbothered. Not a single word passed between the B-girls. Rei doubted that she’d even have a word for Risa, had she still been there. The conclusion of this day was foregone; they were all about to hurt very badly.                    Zane Sensei was watching them all with eagle eyes. He met Rei’s eyes for a split second before she looked down at the ground. “Alright, let’s get this over with. Kitagawa and Yokota, report.”                    All the girls backed away from the center of the courtyard, leaving the glamorously blonde and healthy A-girl plenty of room to decimate Mihoko Yokota. Mihoko was like most of the B-girls: thin, pale, and terrified.                    “Weapon of choice today,” Zane Sensei announced like a game show host, “is bladed weapons. Specifically, kunai.” He grabbed two from his weapons pouch on his waist and tossed them to the A-girl, Nanami, who caught them in the air and made a show of twirling them around her fingers. “Proceed.”                    Nanami didn’t hesitate. She crossed the handful of steps to Mihoko and swung her arm out like a dancer, catching the smaller girl in the left shoulder. The first spray of blood peppered the concrete. Rei had to admire her peer; Mihoko didn’t make a sound. The gash in Mihoko’s arm wept, dripping past her fingers within the space of a breath.                    Rei flinched, her gorge rising in her throat, every time the blade met the other girl’s skin. Mihoko was beginning to look like a carved ham, and the blood pool around her grew steadily. She was in danger from the start, but Zane Sensei didn’t bother to step in until the little timer in his hand began to beep. “Time has expired,” he stated, no inflection. “Kitagawa, back to your side.”                            Mihoko wavered on her feet for a split second. She hadn’t raised a hand to defend herself, and she hadn’t opened her mouth. But tears had been coursing down her screwed up face, and before the medics could reach her, she collapsed in a boneless lump, striking her head hard on the pavement.                    Tanoka shrieked, covering her mouth, and three medics took a moment to feel for Mihoko’s vitals before shoving thick streams of luminescent chakra into her body. After a few moments, she drew in a thick, gurling breath, and Rei felt herself exhale hard enough to tweak her spine. When Mihoko was removed from the courtyard for more complete healing, Zane Sensei caught them all in his gaze. “In future matches, refrain from catching your target’s major arteries and vital spots. We don’t want anyone to die, after all. That would defeat the purpose of pain training. Toki and Taira, front and center.”                    Rei closed her eyes, her heartbeat deafening in her ears. Shima Toki was already standing in the center of the courtyard when Rei looked back up, hand on her hip, blade tucked securely between her fingers. Zane Sensei scowled. “Taira. Don’t make me say it again.”                    Her feet led her to where Shima waited.                    Push back. Further.                     She didn’t hear what Shima’s lips were saying.                    Further. Don’t feel. Don’t think.                     Obviously frustrated, Shima reached out and grabbed Rei’s wrist, turning it upwards to expose the underside of her wrist.                    Think of…who? Who’s going to be there when this ends?                    Shima turned her blade to lay horizontally against the crook of Rei’s elbow, then pushed down to part the skin slowly. Pain bloomed behind Rei’s eyes, more intense and sharp than walking across coals. A whimper pushed itself past her lips.                    Who will be there?                    Shima worked the blade down Rei’s arm, peeling back her skin to the wrist. Rei’s knees gave out before Shima was half-done, and she pinched her eyes shut, praying to fall into darkness where she didn’t feel.                    The face that appeared in her mind’s eye was pale, framed by unruly dark hair. A thin scar arced over the left eyebrow. A half-quirked smile on the lips.                    Niko Sensei. Where did you go? Why?                     Shima’s foot flew out and caught the side of Rei’s jaw, knocking her limply to the concrete. Rei’s wounded arm flopped down next to her face, and she watched as her blood pulsed steady onto the ground, reaching out to caress her face. A knee came down on her spine, and she heard rather than felt the back of her shirt being sliced open.                    She tensed, preparing for whatever was coming next, and bit down hard on her tongue when the blade sank deeply enough into her back to strike the bone of her left shoulder blade.                    Rei didn’t open her eyes until she felt two unfamiliar pairs of hands lifting her back to a standing position. Time had expired. It wasn’t until she’d been taken back to the infirmary and the medics were cleaning her wounds that she mercifully sank into a deep, dark unconsciousness.                    Are you coming back?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Niko Sensei had been gone for three weeks, most of the rumors had died down. None of the students seemed to know where he had gone, and the stigma shed from Rei like an old skin. The only ones who seemed to care about what had happened were the other sensei. The men still avoided her bed at night, and Hina Sensei still kept her distance. Rei had to struggle to care. She was enduring. She would graduate from the Academy at the end of summer, and then she could start her real journey to becoming a Shinobi. None of this would matter, then.                    But if she intended to graduate, she had to step up her game.                    The graduation exam was no longer a fight-to-the-death match. A boy had slaughtered an entire graduating class when Rei had been very young, effectively putting an end to that tradition. But that didn’t mean that ideas and ideologies had changed. The Blood Mist Village was still very much alive.                    She threw herself into her training. The next time she battled Sayoko, her reservations would be gone.                    The sparring arena was pristine; no blood had been spilled on it yet today. Rei and Sayoko’s match was first.                    “Come on down, girls,” Hina Sensei called from her place on the floor, and Zane Sensei watched from the door. Rei’s numbness over Risa’s death had faded as her skills improved. She had to suppress a visible snarl when Zane Sensei ran a hand back through his hair, obviously feeling attractive today.                    Sayoko stood from her seat in the bleachers and sprinted down to the floor. A few of her friends cheered for her, making it glaringly obvious that no one was speaking out for Rei. The lack of electric lights in the arena was a hindrance today, with heavy cloudcover blocking most of the sun. Only a pale stream of white light lit the floor.                    “Rei, you lost the last match. You get to pick first.” Hina Sensei hadn’t warmed to Rei at all. She’d never been what Rei would have classified as kind, but she had taken a huge step back in the last weeks. Rei knew she shouldn’t have been surprised. The Mist was famous for beating emotion out of its Shinobi. Mental distance was key.                    Turning to the wall behind her, Rei took the few steps to the rack that hung next to a huge Mist banner. The weapons were gorgeous, every one of them. They were used for training, but part of their daily chores involved maintaining the Academy’s equipment. Rei didn’t hesitate for even a second. She fit her fingers around the familiar grip of a light katana, hefting its weight easily and admiring the glint of light that raced down the blade. She fit the sheath on her back, buckling the strap under her arm.                    She had spent the last few weeks training in sword art with a small class taught by Zane Sensei, and she’d made a promise to herself that she’d destroy him one day. A small part of her knew that feelings like that were normal for girls in her position. She also knew that the reality was painful: most girls never got that chance. Female Shinobi were few and far between in the Mist, usually because of what went on at the Academy. The odds were stacked against them from the beginning.                    “Sayoko, make your choice.” Hina Sensei crossed her arms and took a moderator’s stance in the center of the arena, preparing to begin the session.                    As Sayoko pondered her choices for a long moment, the doors swung open, admitting a gust of mild but heavy summer air that brushed Rei’s hair off her shoulders. She was loathe to look away from her opponent, but the immediate chatter from the bleachers signaled to her that she wasn’t going to be fighting for a few more moments, at least.                    “Don’t mind us.” Headmaster Iwa was a militaristic Shinobi through-and-through. Even now, when he should be making retirement plans, he was dressed in his best uniform and stood next to Zane Sensei with his hands on his hips. “I would just like to see for myself what this year’s graduating class has to offer us.”                    A moment later, Niko Sensei came in and stood at the headmaster’s side. The quiet chatter increased in volume, forcing Hina Sensei to clap her hands loudly. “That’s enough! We have a class spar to conduct, if you all would so kindly remember.”                    You came back. Rei didn’t know that her hand was shaking until she returned to the center of the arena and noticed the tip of her katana bouncing rapidly in place. She steadied it consciously, forcing her lungs to expand and contract. Breathe in, breathe out. Again and again. She wouldn’t look at him.                    Sayoko approached, a pouch of throwing daggers fastened around her trim waist. “Ready, Sensei.”                    Another man came in, taking a casual stance next to Niko Sensei, and Rei refused to evaluate him the way she had been taught. It would be distracting right now.                    Hina Sensei certainly appeared to be distracted. She was no longer looking at her students, and her eyes kept flicking between Headmaster Iwa, Niko Sensei, and the third man. It was only when the headmaster cleared his throat that she swallowed and raised her hand, fingers stiff. “Ready?”                    The girls nodded silently, and the bleachers fell into an easy rhythm of quiet speculation. Rei consciously set her feet apart, falling into a low stance with the katana at the ready. Sayoko prepared, pulling two daggers from the pouch and fitting them expertly in her fingers.                    “Begin.” Hina Sensei’s hand swept down in a starting motion and she jumped back out of the way.                    Sayoko hurled one of the daggers, and it passed within a finger’s breadth of Rei’s left ear as she ducked. It was to Sayoko’s advantage to keep at a distance, and it was Rei’s responsibility to move it into close quarters so she could strike.                    Rei darted forward, her eyes on Sayoko’s other hand, ready for the second dagger, and tightened her grip on the sword. Naturally, Sayoko leapt back, and when she drew her dominant hand back, a surprising jolt of electricity struck Rei’s arm. She hesitated, but only for a second. It was immediately obvious what had happened.                    A thin retractable wire connected the thrown dagger to Sayoko’s finger, and after the blade missed its target, she had drawn it back to her hand, striking Rei’s arm from behind. That wouldn’t work again.                    Rei’s steps stuttered for less than a second before she was running again, dodging two more free-flying daggers. A girl shrieked in the bleachers, and Hina Sensei shouted, “You know to keep your eyes open for projectiles in the arena!”                    Sayoko was still retreating, but she paused for just a second to weave an amazingly fast series of hand signs. Rei missed the first two, so she didn’t bother trying to decipher the rest. Rather, she ducked her body a little closer to the ground and veered slightly to the right, preparing to meet Sayoko’s right side. She was just lifting the katana to strike when a sharp blast of heated air struck her body and lifted her straight off of her feet, throwing her halfway across the arena.                      Her reflexes weren’t as sharp as they should be, but she still managed to catch herself on her feet. The impact jarred her bones, and her new arm wound sang with pain. Her own Ninjutsu skills were rudimentary. She knew the hand signs and how to shape the chakra, but it never quite seemed to execute the way that she planned.                    Rei had known that Sayoko was good offensively, and it appeared that she was solid defensively, too. If she could be thrown off her rhythm, made less confident, then the odds would shift.                    The Ninjutsu type that Rei sucked least at was Lightning, but she couldn’t maintain electrical bursts for very long. It took three valuable seconds to slide her katana back into its sheath on her back, but Sayoko didn’t seize that opportunity. Rei fit her hands into the proper signs, preparing for failure, and pressed the fingers of her right hand to the floor. The floor was made of concrete, which did not conduct electricity, but the blood trail that Rei had left in her wake would.                    A tiny spark leapt from Rei’s fingers to the first smear of blood, then visibly bounced the next one, and then the next one. Sayoko had actually stopped her own hand signs to watch the little ball of light jump across the floor. It didn’t move nearly as quickly as electricity usually did, which nearly made Rei roll her eyes, because of course it didn’t. She’d made it, hadn’t she?                    After a very long two seconds, the little spark landed on Sayoko’s bare leg, disappearing into her skin, and making her jump like she’d been zapped. Which, in effect, she had. She yelped loudly, and a small chorus of giggles came from the bleachers.                    Sayoko made to weave another couple of hand signs, but Rei pushed her fingers down once more, and another spark appeared, this time moving more quickly. Sayoko tried to jump back a step, but it latched onto her and disappeared into her leg again in exactly the same spot. A little red burn was materializing on her skin. She made a noise that could definitely be categorized as a scream this time, and Rei grinned. She’d been right.                    Sayoko was so used to winning her matches that she didn’t have any pain tolerance built up. She probably hadn’t been through many pain training sessions, either. Another bolt of lightning raced towards her, and this time, she made to run the opposite direction. Her senses were scrambled. She wasn’t making Shinobi-like decisions anymore; she was just trying to get away from what was causing her pain.                    Rei pulsed out a new bolt every second and a half, enjoying the show. It was pleasing to see one of the more privileged girls knocked down a peg or two. The bolts were strengthening with each burst of chakra that Rei directed to leave her hand, and after ten or so, Sayoko’s calf had taken on a deep red, almost brown color, and she stumbled to her knees.                    Rei stood then. Her hands were trembling by her sides and the blood leaking from her wound dripped off of her fingertips. She felt every iota of agony in her arm, but she ignored it. Unlike her opponent, she’d lost many times before.                    Sayoko stood again, favoring her leg, but harboring a new resolve in her eyes. It was wild, angry. “It’s just like a whore to play dirty,” she muttered. Her voice was low, but still loud enough for her voice to carry around the entire arena.                    Rei blinked. She knew what Sayoko wanted. She expected her to fly into a rage, to attack blindly, to drop her defenses. Pressing her lips together, Rei had to suppress a chuckle. “I’m not playing.”                    Sayoko grabbed for another dagger, but before she could get her fingers around the handle, Rei was upon her, slamming her fist into the girl’s face. Sayoko’s head was flung to the side, a spray of blood peppering the floor, and Rei reached out for the girl’s perfect black ponytail. With a vicious jerk, she kneed Sayoko in the jaw, splitting her lower lip like an overripe tomato.                    With that, she dropped Sayoko’s ponytail and let the girl collapse to the floor limply.                    Well, if I wasn’t before, I’m part of Blood Mist Village now.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As the medics were called over and Rei was ushered to the bleachers to have her arm taken care of, she finally chanced a look at the door. Headmaster Iwa and Niko Sensei were whispering intently to one another, their eyebrows lowered. Niko Sensei was making urgent hand gestures that he was obviously trying to rein in and keep close to his chest.                    The third man was staring straight at her, arms crossed across his slender chest, and Rei’s shoulders tensed. The last time she’d seen a look so intense in a man’s eyes, Risa had ended up dead. Rei looked away from him quickly. She wasn’t defenseless anymore, not now that she was training seriously, but she knew she’d never hold her own against someone who had graduated. And this guy was obviously powerful.                    Rei shut her eyes tight as a medic silently sponged the blood from her wound while the skin was woven back together with chakra. “Make sure her wounds have been tended to in their entirety.” Rei looked up too quickly at Headmaster Iwa, making her head swim. “I need to speak to her when you are finished.”                    “Of course, sir.”                    As her shoulder was tended to more carefully, Rei glanced at her classmates on the bleachers several rows above her. Most of them were speaking quietly to one other, casting wary glances at Rei, Sayoko’s battered body, and the newcomers by the door. The mysterious man still hadn’t looked away from Rei. He lifted a covered water bottle from a belt around his waist and took a long pull from the straw, narrowing his eyes at her and offering a cunning smile. His teeth were sharp and pointed.                    After defeating Sayoko, Rei felt like a new person. If Niko Sensei came to her tonight, she’d electrocute him. She’d never executed that Jutsu so well before, and she held that knowledge in the forefront of her mind. She’d grown since the last time he had seen her. He hadn’t even seen her work with a sword yet.                    “Alright, Rei,” the medic said. He was the same one that had treated her the day that Risa had died. He gave her a sympathetic smile. “You did great, you know? Just like a real Shinobi.” With that, he got up and strode to where two others were bending over Sayoko, working on her face. Rei hoped it took them a long time to fix.                    Rei had never had a wound healed so completely by a medic before. There was thin line across the back of her arm where she’d been cut, and aside from the still-wet blood on her shirt and pants, there was no other evidence that she’d been injured.                    Niko Sensei was coming her way, so she stood slowly, holding her hand to her head when her vision blurred, and speed-walked right past him. She could almost hear his eye-roll. “Yes, Headmaster?” she asked when she was close enough to him. He looked down at her, nodding once firmly. He’d never acknowledged her before.                    “Please accompany me to my office.”                    There was that pang of terror of again, intensified tenfold when she saw Niko Sensei and the unnamed man making to come, too. Her fingers twitched towards her boot, where her shiv was always handy, but she knew without a doubt that any one of these men could take her down with a single hand.                    The men walked in a predatory formation around Rei, with the headmaster directly in front of her and the others on either side of her. Niko Sensei was looking straight ahead, and the other man was sucking noisily on his almost-empty water bottle.                    The cloud cover was almost complete, the sun only shining through in a few scarce places. The open space between the sparring arena and the main building stretched for about a hundred feet, but it felt to Rei like a mile. She was only twelve. These were grown men. She knew that the Shinobi did what they did to drive emotional responses from the students, but that didn’t make her any less afraid right now.                       The man with the water bottle stepped a little more quickly to pull the door open, and he winked at Rei when she passed. She entered as close to the other side of the door as she could. The headmaster’s office was only a short distance down the hall, and Rei allowed herself to be ushered inside and guided into a chair in front of an expansive mahogany desk. Niko Sensei and the other man took the two seats on either side of her, and she clenched her hands in her lap, nervously scrubbing at the blood stains on her hand.                    Headmaster Iwa exhaled heavily as he sank into the rolling chair behind the desk. “Please introduce yourself, young lady.”                    Rei’s heart was pounding so loudly that she could barely hear his words. She opened her mouth, but all that came out was an embarrassing squeak.                    Niko Sensei sighed in exasperation. “Reimi Taira. Twelve years old. Academy third year. Orphan. Moved into the barracks at the start of April.” He paused, and the headmaster nodded for him to go on. “Average Ninjutsu skills, no success with Genjutsu, above average success in kenjutsu, according to Zane.”                    “Yes, it is a shame that we did not get to witness your swordsmanship.” Headmaster Iwa leaned back in his chair, folding his muscled hands over his stomach. “I was rather impressed, regardless. Now, moving on.” He nodded quickly at the unnamed man, who nodded back.                    “Mangetsu Hozuki. Eighteen years old. Jonin. Distinguished member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.” He cracked another grin and offered Rei his hand. “Pleased to meet you.”                    Rei would have leaned away from him would it not have brought her closer to Niko Sensei. As it was, she stared at his hand and then quickly assessed the rest of him. He was definitely younger than most of the sensei, but he exuded a calming effect that none of the Academy instructors did. How did someone grow up in the Mist and put on such an easy face?                    He didn’t withdraw his hand, just met her eyes and eased his smile, revealing those pointed teeth again. Rei slowly fit her hand to his and held her breath as he cranked her arm up and down enthusiastically. His hand was damp and cold and she squelched the need to wipe her own hand off on her pants.                    This was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?                    “Would you like to know why you’re here, Reimi?” The headmaster leaned forward again, resting his laced fingers on his desk. Rei’s nervous energy rushed out and she nodded her head about twenty times in rapid succession. “First, I need you to explain to me what happened to you in the barracks.”                    Rei could feel the blood rush out of her face, turning her an unhealthy shade of white, she was sure. She gaped like a fish a few times before she was able to say, “…Nothing, sir.”                    Headmaster Iwa’s heavy eyebrows pushed together. “Are you not anxious to bear witness to an injustice?”                    Was that why she was here? To ‘bear witness’ to what Niko Sensei had done? What had he done?                    Rei pressed her lips together, her fear slowly being overtaken by anger. It was hot, boiling under her tongue, and she pushed herself to her unsteady feet. He knew it was wrong, called it an injustice, and wanted her opinion of it? The Headmaster’s eyes were warm and kind, and Rei’s fear reared back to life. This was all a trap. They were liars, Shinobi who took advantage of girls like her. Mental images of the three men teaming up against her, overpowering her, forced her back into her seat.                    Rather than waiting on Rei to answer the Headmaster’s question, Mangetsu Hozuki spoke. “You’re frightened. It’s natural. The abuse you’ve seen has been going on for decades.” He paused for half a second before adding, “It happens in the B boys’ barracks, too.”                    “It’s to kill the fear. The emotions. It makes us better at making hard choices. I know. When we die, it’s no loss to the village.” She never spoken to superiors like this, and as soon as the words were out, she wanted to reel them back in. Mangetsu straightened but didn’t speak up again, and Headmaster Iwa’s forehead crinkled.                    The only sound in the office for the next several seconds was the light patter of rain against the small windows behind the headmaster’s desk. Finally, Niko Sensei spoke. “Breaking tradition, especially in a village like ours, is nearly impossible, Rei.”                    “But it is our lives’ mission to end the cruelty that defines the Village Hidden in the Mist.”                    Rei snapped her head to the side, unsure if she’d heard Mangetsu correctly. He looked at her with intense violet eyes, as if he were trying to search her soul. Her heart still pounded with fear, with suspicion, but a small flicker of the light that was hope was beginning to spark in her chest. She hadn’t felt something as foreign as hope since she was a very small girl.                    “And to do that…” Niko Sensei’s voice was so quiet that Rei could barely hear him until he raised his head and finally locked eyes with her. “We need your help.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Headmaster Iwa refused to discuss anything further until they had eaten, since Rei had skipped breakfast and lunch that day in preparation for her sparring match. She had absolutely refused to vomit in front of her classmates, so she’d bought a food pill from one of the older students and had eaten that instead. It was supposedly nourishing, but disgusting.                    Rei was thoroughly surprised that her shaking calmed when she had some decent food in her stomach. She picked up a steaming roll with great reverence and ripped off a chunk with her teeth, swallowing it with the minimum amount of chewing required. She hadn’t eaten this well in… She didn’t think she had ever eaten this well.                    Mangetsu was obviously amused. “Will you hear us if we try to talk to you?”                    She didn’t trust him. She didn’t trust any of them. “I’ll listen,” she said through a mouthful of buttery potatoes. She’d never had butter before, and had had to ask Mangetsu for its name. He’d made what was obviously a pitying expression, but Rei was well aware that it was probably a façade. Blood Mist Shinobi didn’t feel pity.                    She couldn’t relax around these men, no matter what they said.                    Headmaster Iwa put down his fork and sighed. “Where to start,” he muttered. Rei ignored him and kept eating.                    “Let me begin, Headmaster.” Niko Sensei still had a full plate of food; he hadn’t taken even a single bite. “Rei, I need you to understand why I did what I did.” Suddenly, the potatoes grew hard in Rei’s stomach, and she set down the last bite of her roll. “Will you let me explain?”                    He hadn’t actually violated her. Rei knew that. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of being held down, being out of control of her own body. She couldn’t forget what Risa had gone through.                    She didn’t answer, just continued looking at the food that was becoming more and more unappetizing by the second, so Niko Sensei cleared his throat. “The day you were grabbed on the street, I sent my dog to chase off the man who had you. You had fallen on the ground, and I knelt down to help you up.” He hesitated, searching for words, and finally said, “I still can’t really put into words what I felt. It was like… a vacuum. Like my chakra was being sucked out of me.”                    Rei finally looked up at him, but he was staring down at his own hands, which were clenching and unclenching in his lap. “I took you back to the Academy, and pushed you inside. When I put my hand on your shoulder, you panicked, and that feeling grew much stronger. It took me a few moments to recover before I could go sit with the other sensei.”                    “He came to me immediately following the meal,” Headmaster Iwa said. “He told me of his suspicions, and I instructed him to protect you until I could get approval to add a student to our team.”                    Rei held up her hand, feeling powerful all of a sudden. They were talking about her, using her for something important. Ending the cruelty of the Mist? With her help? “What team?” she asked.                    “All in good time,” Mangetsu said quietly.                    “Anyway,” Niko Sensei said, “as you are aware, B-ranking students are fair game for abuse. It’s one of the many tactics Shinobi of our village are authorized to use in order to break the resistance, the emotional push-back from students in training. After a while, you stop feeling anything because that’s the only way to protect yourself.” He inhaled, his breath unsteady as it left his lungs. “The only way to keep other men from your bed was to be in it myself. I outrank most of them, and just knowing that I had selected you for my own use would keep them away. That was why…” His words dropped off, and he fell back into silence.                    Rei’s mind was bursting with new information, but they weren’t done. “The night he visited you,” Headmaster Iwa interjected, “he was on a mission from me to determine as much about the nature of your chakra as possible. And also to keep other Shinobi at a distance from you.”                    “If any other Shinobi at the Academy had discovered what kind of chakra you have, you would have been killed on sight,” Mangetsu said. That information hadn’t registered in Rei’s brain completely before he continued. “The Mizukage is… radical. He’s undoubtedly the most powerful Shinobi in the nation, and there are only a few types of Jutsu that he might be vulnerable to.”                    All three men looked at Rei meaningfully. “A person who can drain another of their chakra would be one of those that the Mizukage would fear,” Niko Sensei said.                    The shock of what they were telling her had dulled her senses, but Rei understood. “You’re… deviants from the Mist?”                    “Mhm,” Mangetsu confirmed. “We are only a few of a larger group of Shinobi who are very angry at the way that the Fourth Mizukage runs the Hidden Mist. And we’re hoping that you will be, too.”                    Rei’s words rushed out before she could stop them. “If he finds out, Lord Fourth will have you killed. He’ll hang your bodies on display.” Lord Yagura was known for his brutal tactics against defectors, and Rei wasn’t particularly keen on being on the receiving end of them.                    There was no silence after her harsh words. “I’d rather die than let children be raped and brutalized as part of their ‘training,’” Mangetsu said. “I have a six-year-old brother. I can’t even imagine…”                    “Were…” It was on the tip of Rei’s tongue to ask if he’d been assaulted as a boy in the barracks, and just the thought sent a flush up to the roots of her hair. She was anything but comfortable now, but she didn’t feel like she was in imminent danger, either.                    Mangetsu was quiet for a long moment, and Niko Sensei was drawing in a breath to speak when the younger man exhaled hard. “When I was twelve, my parents died and I moved into the B barracks. Fair game. And I won’t let the same thing happen to Suigetsu. That’s why I’m doing this.” His own face was reddening now, and his voice wavered when he asked, “What would turn you against your country, Rei?”                    Rei had the answer as soon as the question left his lips. She still didn’t trust them, but she had to admit that she would rather be uncomfortable with these men than in terror in the barracks every night. “I’ve never been for this country.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“It’s a necessary precaution. Do you know what to expect?”                    “Pain? A mark on my tongue? Yeah, we studied Curse Marks in class.”                    Headmaster Iwa looked a little taken aback, which gave Rei a small sense of satisfaction; evidently he had only asked out of courtesy. He hadn’t really expected her to know anything. He muttered something to himself about double-checking the curriculum and motioned for Rei to sit in the foreboding-looking chair in the center of the room.                    She crossed her arms and looked at him with eyebrows raised.                    Niko Sensei made to put a hand on her shoulder, but she took a rapid half-step away, keeping herself out of easy reach. He may have explained himself, and Rei accepted that explanation, but she wasn’t about to let him touch her. He drew his fingers back into a fist awkwardly. Another thing that gave Rei a little bit of satisfaction.                    “So, this room is used primarily for Sealings,” Mangetsu said, and Rei looked around skeptically. It was a simple concrete room just below ground level, and its only feature to speak of was an archaic reclining chair-shaped stone. Four manacles were embedded where arms and legs would rest.                    “And you want me to sit on that.”                    Mangetsu offered her another of the easy smiles that Rei was quickly learning to associate with him. “If I could do it, I’m sure a strong, independent girl like yourself will have no trouble.”                    Quirking her lips to the side, Rei tried to mask her unease. She’d been running the possibilities over in her mind. Either these three were telling the truth, or they were lying. If they were truthful, then this procedure would ensure her entrance into a secret foundation of Shinobi, a foundation bent on changing the Mist. If they were lying, she would probably be turned over to the Mizukage as a defector. If she refused to play along, then she’d have to return to the B girls’ barracks, to grow up with her classmates and have her emotions smothered. She took a hard look at each of the men before her. It was the first time any adult had made her feel a… lack of danger. She didn’t feel safe or relaxed, but she felt like she could possibly turn her back on them without worrying if they’d throw a blade at her. That alone made her decision easy.                    There was only one possibility that led to a future worth living.                    The ritual was short and surprisingly devoid of pain, though Rei had to admit that she was surprised by the flashing lights that erupted from her mouth. When she was released from the manacles, Niko Sensei provided a folding mirror from his pocket for her to look into. On the surface, everything was about the same. She still had drab dark hair, eyes the color of mud, and a face that was too thin. Otherwise, a line of symbols that she had no familiarity with had been written in blood across her brow and under her chin. And when she opened her mouth, the jagged black lines of the Seal were just visible on the very back of her tongue.                    She smacked her lips, contemplating the odd feeling in her throat. “Tastes like I’ve been chewing on a kunai.”                    “It’ll fade,” Headmaster Iwa said as he bandaged his hand.                    Mangetsu was brandishing a dingy rag, wiping up the stray drops of blood from the stained stone chair. “Yeah, but until then, food isn’t going to be very appealing.”                    “I’m used to that,” Rei said, accepting the same gross rag from Mangetsu to rub the markings from her face.                    “Well, now you can get un-used to it.” Headmaster Iwa held out his uninjured hand, offering it to Rei with a kind smile. “Congratulations, Reimi Taira. You are officially a graduate of the Academy of the Village Hidden in the Mist.”                    Rei only stared at his palm for a second before meeting it. “Why?”                    “Because we can’t send you back to the barracks,” Niko Sensei said. He was leaning against the stone wall, one foot propped up behind him, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. “We can’t risk it. The longer you stay there, in what is basically the public eye, the greater the chance of the nature of your chakra being discovered.”                    “So you’re being promoted.” Headmaster Iwa released Rei’s hand and reached into his back pocket, handing her a standard Mist headband. The metal plate was shiny and untarnished, the Mist’s symbols were engraved boldly enough for enemy Shinobi to see from a distance.                    Her fingers brushed over the plate and the soft black band it was set in. “I don’t feel like I earned it.”                    The headmaster sat slowly down on the stone chair, resting his hands on his knees. He looked at Rei straight on instead of from above. “The graduation exam is in six weeks. It will consist of a one-on-one battle between students, and whichever students are able to fully incapacitate their opponents will graduate. The others will be given the choice to drop out or re-enter in Academy courses for another year. You passed that test today, and by choosing to join us, you’ve revealed that you have a strong will to survive. The Mist needs that desperately.”                     Rei wanted so badly for this to be real, but she was sure that the thundering of her heart was audible to everyone else in the room. If they were playing her, they were doing a marvelous job. “Come on,” Niko Sensei said, motioning toward the door. “I’ll show you to your apartment.”“What?”“Well, where did you think you’d stay?” Mangetsu asked. “You think we’d toss our new recruit into the streets?”Rei clamped her mouth shut. Her initial prediction had been that she’d be sent back to the orphanage, which was only slightly more appealing than the barracks. But the idea of sleeping on the streets again hadn’t been far from her mind, either. “I don’t know,” she muttered, eyes down.This time, when Niko Sensei set a hand on her shoulder, she didn’t flinch. It was strong, steady. “We take care of our own, Rei.”Headmaster Iwa and Mangetsu followed them out of the Sealing chamber and into the weak remnants of daylight. The rain was gone, and Rei savored the damp smell of earth. This was the start of a new era. She was officially a Genin, and she was about to do something big with her life.                    “We’ll meet you in the morning,” the headmaster said, the skin by his eyes crinkling with his smile. “You need to be introduced to your new squad mates. Congratulations again, Reimi!” He offered his hand for her to shake again, and she did so quickly.                    When Niko Sensei touched her this time, her skin crawled. “Don’t look around,” he whispered in the absolute quietest voice possible. His arm had snaked around the back of her shoulders, gripping her far bicep with a shockingly stern strength. Headmaster Iwa and Mangetsu were chatting loudly behind them, throwing out phrases like “exceptional” and “Genin” and “graduation.”                    Someone had to be watching them.                    Zane Sensei was leaning against the rain-darkened walls of the cafeteria, hands in his pockets, nonchalant. Niko Sensei drew in a deep breath, his fingers tightening further against her arm, and murmured, “Put on a good show.” His lips were so close to her ear that she could feel his skin brushing hers, and she had to consciously stop herself from yanking away.                    “What’s that you have there?” Zane Sensei asked, pushing away from the wall and approaching with a jaunty stride.                    The pressure on Rei’s arm was suddenly gone. “Just what’s mine,” Niko Sensei said easily, smiling.                    Zane Sensei actually laughed. “Not you, man. Her.”                    Rei had forgotten that her headband was clenched in her fist, and she thrust it toward Zane Sensei with all the revulsion she could muster. He took it from her, ignoring her scrunched face. “So you made Genin six weeks early. Really not surprised after that performance. We need all the Shinobi in the field that we can get.”                    He handed it back to her. “What a shame.” He turned his eyes back to Niko Sensei. “Your little toy is leaving the very night that you get back. I can’t wait to hear the story of where you’ve been.”                    “You won’t.” Niko Sensei’s voice had gone from easy and smooth to absolute granite. “The file is confidential under orders from Lord Fourth.”                    “Sure.” Zane Sensei’s eyebrows went up with great exaggeration, like he’d never heard anything more ridiculous. “I bet Lord Fourth recruits you for all his sensitive missions.”                    “Me more than you.” That easy tone was back, and Niko Sensei punched Zane Sensei’s arm lightly. “See you in the barracks.”                    “Yeah, now that you’ll have no distractions, I can spend a little more time with mine.”                    Rei genuinely hadn’t noticed whether Zane Sensei had taken another girl, and the combination of rage and absolute despair pushed her face into an epic combination of expressions, she was sure. He didn’t even spare her a glance as he turned and headed back for the cafeteria.                    Niko Sensei grabbed her arm and steered her in the opposite direction, toward the civilian quarters. “Let go,” she growled, ripping her arm from him and taking a solid four steps to the side.                    “I’m never going to get back in your good graces, am I?”                    “Not likely.” She kept several feet between herself and her sensei as she followed him down the street, keeping a watchful eye on literally everything. This was her first time in this part of the village.                    Rei’s apprehension increased with every minute as the distant sun sank below the misty horizon. Being out after dark was dangerous for children. She took a few steps closer to Niko Sensei, so she could use his body as a shield, if the need arose.                    “Alright, Rei.” Niko Sensei pointed at a small, shabby building on the left, and Rei’s chest tightened. “That one’s it. Let me show you around.” The steps wound around the outside of the building, and Rei noted that the handrails were rusty and corroded, and sections of it were missing completely. “Watch your step,” Niko Sensei cautioned, and Rei crouched to leap across a two-foot expanse in the rickety wooden stairs. “Not that a Genin would fall,” he added with a kind smile.                    Whatever. He wasn’t going to win her over now.                    They stopped on the third floor, and Rei noticed immediately that the door swung open easily when Niko Sensei applied a little pressure, without a key. The dilapidated hallway was lit with a single free-swinging bulb, and two doors on each side boasted that there were already people living here.                    Niko Sensei stopped at the first door on the left. “This one’s yours.” He pulled a dingy silver key from a pocket on his vest and fit it in the keyhole, though not without a bit of a struggle.                    It was as if a pin pricked Rei’s spine when she heard the first creaking of the wooden door.                    “I know it’s in the low-rent district and the neighbors aren’t the best, but you’ll won’t be here all that often, so…”                    Niko Sensei was babbling in the background, but Rei didn’t hear a word. It was a studio apartment, all basically one room, and she stepped through the door. The walls were covered in what had once been some kind of floral paper, but which was now yellowed and peeling. Cobwebs hung in all the corners, and the small kitchenette looked to be at least fifty years old. The bathroom consisted of a sink, toilet, and a showerhead with a drain set in the floor. The concrete floor was bare and smudged, and the mattress against the far wall was set on the floor and covered with a thin grey blanket. Dust particles danced in the air, and the stale smell of stagnant air assaulted Rei’s nose.                    “It’s mine?”                    Niko Sensei had been mid-sentence, but he stopped and tucked his hands in his pockets. “It’s yours. And you’ll be getting an allowance as well to help you sustain life on your own.” The corner of his mouth quirked up. “No more cafeteria food for you.” Rei’s chest tightened beyond what she knew how to handle, and she blinked so quickly that she might as well have just kept her eyes closed. “It’s okay,” Niko Sensei said, his voice low, soothing. “They did it for me, too, a long time ago. I know how you’re feeling, and I’ll leave you to get acquainted with your new place. Meet me by the Academy at eight in the morning.”                    He set the worn key in her hand wordlessly, closing her fingers over it, and let himself out, shutting the door securely behind him. Rei’s instincts kicked in then and she turned to the door, throwing the deadbolt immediately and wishing she had a chair or something to brace against the knob.                    But when she looked back at the room, at her new home, she let the tears come. She wanted to jump up and sing – if it wasn’t after dark in a strange building and if she knew how to sing.                       There were so many things she could do to make this apartment more to her liking, but for now, she didn’t care. It was safe, and it was hers. She didn’t care that there were no curtains on the windows and that the sink made a weird noise every few minutes and that bugs flitted about the ceiling light. She didn’t care that the bed was uncomfortable or that the blanket was too thin.                    For the first time in her life, she had a home.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Finding her way back to the Academy proved to be a bit of a challenge. Everything looked different in the daylight, and the buildings seemed to be almost identical to one another. Rei hoped that she wouldn’t need to ask Niko Sensei for directions back to her own apartment.                    She kept her hand over the pocket of her black pants, guarding her key with her life. She’d never had something like that to protect before. She’d have to find a more secure way to carry it around.                    She was beyond grateful for her new place, but it definitely made the walk to the Academy uncomfortable. Most homes she passed were ramshackle at best, and plenty of children in rags dotted the streets. When she saw a little boy who couldn’t have been older than four digging through an overturned trash can, she had to start running. She would have lost her composure otherwise.                    Rei didn’t know exactly why the other members of this secret group wanted to change the Mist. She knew about Mangetsu’s motivations, but so far, she hadn’t even met most of the other members. If Lord Fourth were disposed of somehow, whoever the Fifth Mizukage was would have to be better. They would have to clean up the Mist. They would have to get the children off of the streets and into homes.                    Children deserved better. She had deserved better when she had been that small.                    She knew she was heading the right way when the buildings started looking a little more put together and wealthy. The Academy was due south of the Headquarters Building, where the Mizukage lived, and she could see the Headquarters Building with no problem now, so she exhaled with relief and took off in that direction. She didn’t know what time it was since her apartment didn’t have a clock, but she hoped it was before eight.                    She noticed keenly the questioning looks that she got as she tore through the streets. She was sure that it wasn’t often that children in uniform wandered the neighborhoods. Most didn’t wander far from their homes for safety. She hoped that the boy digging through the trash was taken to the orphanage before he was noticed by the wrong person.                    The Academy loomed overhead, its gloomy concrete walls filling her with a sense of relief for the very first time. She was no longer an Academy student. She didn’t have to endure beatings while her sensei looked on, and she didn’t have to dread going to sleep at night anymore. A smile pulled at her lips, and a gust of damp wind threw her hair into her face.                    Niko Sensei swirled into existence at her side, crouched low to the ground as if prepared to spring. When he looked up at her, his eyes reminded her of stone. Hard and unforgiving. “You’re late.”                    Rather than explain her lack of a clock, she nodded, pulling her hair back into a ponytail and tying it with a band she kept around her wrist. “Sorry. I got lost.”                    Niko Sensei stood, towering over her, making her feel small and defenseless. The events of yesterday had convinced her that she didn’t need to fear him, but it was a hard habit to break. “Come on. You need to meet your teammates.”                    He swept his hand out to the side, gesturing for her to walk before him, but she crossed her arms, giving him a pointed look. She was his subordinate, but they apparently needed her. She had at least a little bit of pull with this group of defectors, whoever they were.                    With an eye-roll, he led the way, keeping to the right so he could quite obviously keep an eye on her. “We’ll be meeting them at a sushi bar in town. I’m assuming you haven’t eaten yet?”                    She shook her head. “No money.” She kept her arms crossed over her chest, only letting them fall when Niko Sensei reached into the weapons pouch at his side and pulled out a small roll of bills.                    “I’d forgotten,” he murmured, peeling off three and offering them to her. When she didn’t immediately reach out to take it from his hand, he made to grab her wrist, but she leapt away instinctually. He sighed in exasperation, but this time, there was understanding in his expression. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “You have every reason to be nervous, but I won’t hurt you.”                    When he held the money out a second time, Rei took it with trembling hands. “I get this much?”                    “It’s really not that much,” he said. “Just enough for three meals a day and maybe a little spending money. You’ll get an allowance every week, and you’ll get to keep seventy-five percent of what you earn as an active Shinobi.” His voice was suddenly pitched to carry no further than the two of them. “The remaining quarter of your earnings will go into the foundation’s purse.”                    “Wow.” Rei heard what he said, but it was hard to make sense of the words. She was still holding the three bills in her open hands, unable to look away from them. “This is all for me?”                    “For this week. Next week, I’ll issue your next allowance. Be sure to make it last all week long.”                    While they continued on their way around the edge of the village, Rei folded the money and tucked it into her pocket underneath her apartment key. They hadn’t had many lessons at the Academy about money and how to spend it, but she knew basic math. One thing that the orphanage did well was teach the children how to read, add, and subtract.                    A new breeze that promised an afternoon of rain brushed by, and Rei inhaled deeply, practicing in her head several times before quietly uttering, “Thanks.”                    Niko Sensei’s steps did not stutter, nor did his voice. “Like I said. We take care of our own.”                    There wasn’t an abundance of foliage in the Mist, but a sparse covering of trees spanned the outer ring of the village, separating the buildings from the surrounding mountains. As it was now, Rei could hardly see the silhouettes of the mountains themselves for the thick layer of mist that shrouded them.                    A faint overlapping of voices reached them as they left the relative civilization of the buildings for the forest. Rei glanced at Niko Sensei and he seemed to work hard to suppress a sigh before falling into a light run. “Come on.”                    She followed, suddenly keenly aware that she carried no weapon besides the shiv in her boot. Her fingers twitched toward it, like they did often, but she curled them into fists and focused on where she was placing her feet. Though the wind rushed past her ears and her senses were assaulted with the natural smells and sounds of the forest, the voices became much clearer.                    “Say that again!”
                    “Why? Did your tiny brain fail to process it the first time?”
                    The two voices were obviously male, and the boys came into sight in a small clearing lit only by the faint shafts of light breaking through the thick clouds above. There was almost a foot difference in their heights, and the shorter one had drawn a kunai and fallen into a predatory crouch. The other was leaning against a tree, arms crossed, completely relaxed. Fury overtook the smaller boy, and he made to leap, but Niko Sensei skillfully maneuvered himself between the two, grabbing the boy’s wrist and keeping the kunai well out of striking reach.                    “Let me go!” the boy shouted, a lock of his white-blonde hair falling over his headband and onto his forehead. “There’s no way I can ever be on a squad with this guy!”                    Niko Sensei thrust the boy to the side, keeping the kunai for himself and tucking it into his weapons pouch. “You don’t get to pick your squad mates.” The boy had regained his balance and huffed. “You learn to work with whoever you get paired with. That’s the system. Get used to it.” Niko Sensei narrowed his eyes meaningfully. “Especially considering our situation.” The boy lowered his eyes and Rei understood. They were part of the foundation as well.                    The boy against the tree was smiling faintly, cunningly. His deep brown hair was near the color of her own, and it fell across one of his golden eyes attractively. He had to be an older teenager, several years her senior, and she felt her face color.                    Niko Sensei turned to the older boy. “That goes for you, too. Don’t rile him up.” Shrugging, the boy glanced at Rei, who looked away pointedly to hide her blush. She didn’t think she’d ever genuinely blushed in her life.                    She noticed immediately that she was the only one among them who was not dressed in the standard Mist uniform: black pants, black shirt, forehead protector, and grey flak jacket. She had the black, but only because that was what the Academy students wore every day. Her forehead protector was cinched around her left bicep, giving her a smattering of satisfaction. She belonged, even if only in appearance.                    With a measured glance between the three of them, Niko Sensei said, “So what, you didn’t make it to the restaurant?”                    “It’s not that we didn’t make it there,” the blonde said.                    “It was full of hunter-nin in full garb.” The taller boy moved his head a fraction of an inch, encouraging the hair that covered his left eye to reveal it for a fraction of a section. “We thought it would be smarter to get out of their way.”Niko Sensei motioned Rei forward. “Right. Did you two notice anything amidst your bickering?”                    The blonde boy looked pointedly at the older one. “You were on sentry duty.”                    Niko Sensei opened his mouth, probably to scold him, but the brown-haired boy just nodded. “Well, I’m good at my job. Unlike some others.” Before anyone could reply, he uncrossed his arms, held his right hand out, palm up, and looked up to the sky. A bubble the size of a baseball floated serenely down to him, landing on his outstretched fingers and exploding with a gentle pop. “There’s no one nearer to us in any direction than the Academy students in the cafeteria.”                    Nodding once, Niko Sensei asked, “And did you search the area for –?”                    “Traps, listening devices, et cetera?” The younger boy cut him off, apparently done sulking. “Yeah, that was the first thing we did.”                    “I’m glad to see that your training has not completely forsaken you,” Niko Sensei said. As soon as he turned his back, the boy stuck out his tongue mockingly.                    “So we finally have a real squad?” The older boy had pushed away from the tree, but every motion he made was poised and graceful. “It’s about time.”                    Ignoring him, Niko Sensei perched his hands on his hips and smiled widely. “Let’s do introductions for our new member’s sake. I’m Niko Okuda, and I’ll be your squad leader for the foreseeable future. I’ve been a Jonin for six years, and I’ve been working at the Academy for the last four. Starting today, I’m officially on leave so I can work with you three. Let’s see…”                    “Don’t forget to mention that you’re old,” the blonde boy said, snickering.                    Aside from a quick glare, he was also ignored. “I live within a few blocks of all three of you, so if you need anything outside of our missions, you should be able to find me easily. So, for you three, state your name, age, and anything you think your teammates need to know about you.”                    Rei suddenly forgot everything about herself, so she emptied her lungs with relief when Niko Sensei pointed to the blonde boy. The boy stood a little taller, sure of himself as he spoke. “Yeah, I’m Koichi Osaragi. I’m thirteen, I’m a Genin, and I’m pretty great at lightning techniques. Um… my parents are Shinobi, too?” He looked at Niko Sensei for confirmation, who nodded and spoke directly to Rei.                    “Koichi’s parents are two of the founding members of our organization,” he said just above a whisper, casting his eyes about quickly. “You’ll likely meet them later.”                    After a somewhat awkward pause where Rei was unsure if she was supposed to speak, the older boy said, “Utakata Sato. Fourteen.” He stopped there, crossing his arms, and Niko Sensei filled in the rest of the information.                    “Utakata is a Chunin. He specializes in water techniques, and he’s become very adept at working with bubbles as well, as you saw with the reconnaissance technique he used earlier. His parents are nobles of the Land of Water.”                    They all looked at her expectantly, and she stared down at the scuffed toes of her boots. “I’m Reimi Taira, but please call me Rei. I’m twelve. Um, I really suck at most Jutsu. But I’m pretty good with a sword. Oh, and I just graduated from the Academy.”                    She didn’t even have a second to draw a breath before Utakata said, “You added someone to our squad who sucks at most Jutsu?” It was said matter-of-factly, no malice in it, but Rei still sensed the condemnation. She felt a flash of shame yet again. Headmaster Iwa mentioned that she was special somehow, that her chakra was dangerous to the Mizukage, but she had no idea what she could possibly do as a Shinobi. How was she supposed to help change the Mist when she could only fire off a handful of Jutsu?                    Niko Sensei brushed off Utakata’s statement. “I have a theory about that, but we’ll worry about it later. Today, we’re completing our first mission as a true squad."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It took Rei no time at all to determine that Koichi had the potential to become a fast friend.                    “So you just graduated, huh?” He approached her the moment that Niko Sensei gave them the order to find breakfast somewhere in the village and to meet back at the Academy front doors in an hour. “I thought graduation was scheduled for the end of July.”                    “It is.” Rei reflexively took a step back when he got within three feet of her. “I graduated early.”                    “Stay together.” Niko Sensei surveyed their surroundings one more time and, finding that they were still truly alone and unobserved, said, “I know that none of you need to hear this, but listen anyway. The village is dangerous. The outskirts even more so. The only time you should be alone is when you are in your homes. Understand?”                    “Yes, Sensei,” Rei uttered alone. The boys glanced at each other before nodding in affirmation.                    “So, where to?” Koichi asked Rei as Niko Sensei left them to their own devices.                    Rei was careful to keep several feet between herself and either of the boys. She’d just met them literally moments ago, and though they seemed friendly enough, that meant nothing yet.                    “B barracks?”                    Utakata’s voice was so low that Rei barely registered it, but his golden eyes captured her attention. He gazed straight at her, as if he were playing her experiences over in his mind, as if he could see every second of her past. It turned her stomach. “Yeah,” she muttered, turning her eyes back to the ground.                    Silence covered them for several seconds, and Rei felt that strange combination of rage and embarrassment that always struck her when she remembered the last few weeks of her life. Even these boys that she’d just met knew what happened to girls like her. “But I was lucky,” she said quickly, too loudly. “Niko Sensei made sure of that.”                    “Our group has been doing that for years.” Koichi smiled brightly. Surprise battered Rei’s chest when she felt a smile tugging at her own lips. “It won’t be long now before we’re able to put a stop to all this.”                    “By killing Lord Yagura?”                    A slender, strong hand was clapped over Rei’s mouth and another fit itself around her waist, jerking her off her feet and against a tree. She had no time at all to react before Utakata’s face was just before hers, invading her personal space atrociously. Her heart was racing, and she forced herself to breathe, to figure out how to escape if he made a move to strike at her.                    His flak jacket pressed uncomfortably against her ribs, and she could smell the floral scent of soap solution on his fingers. She opened her mouth to scream, but he pressed against her lips harder, smothering the sound completely. “Shut up,” he hissed, looking around frantically. His hair brushed her forehead, and she grabbed onto the lapels of his jacket, ready to grab at his throat. Koichi was by them in half a second, kunai already drawn and surveying their surroundings.                    After two or three tense seconds of nothing happening, Utakata dropped her. Her back slid against the rough bark of the tree, scraping her spine and tearing a small hole in her shirt. She caught herself without a stumble, and the moment she looked up, she was met with a sharp slap across her face. She reeled back with the force of it, crashing back into the tree. Her fingernails scraped against the same bark, and she held a trembling hand to her stinging cheek.                    “That was the perfect way to get us all killed.” Utakata’s voice was a low growl, animalistic, and Koichi tucked the kunai back into his weapons pouch, frowning. “If anyone were to hear you say anything so direct, there would be no defending yourself against the accusations.”                    “I thought you’d already gotten the Curse Mark?” Koichi’s eyes were huge, uncertain.                    The boys’ expressions were accusatory, both of them tense and ready to lash out at her if the need arose. She sank to the ground, leaning her sore back against the tree trunk. “I did.” She opened her mouth to prove it, and Utakata’s expression darkened.                    “What is the benefit of your lie?”                    Rei’s mouth clamped shut and she looked at Koichi for affirmation. He’d lost the easy expression he’d had earlier and his eyebrows were raised in obvious confusion. “But… Niko Sensei wouldn’t have lied to us.”                    That gave Utakata pause. Rei was still reeling with the information that they couldn’t see her Curse Mark. “Go get some food and bring it back here,” Utakata said without taking his eyes from Rei’s face.                    “You go get it,” Koichi responded. “I’ll stay with her.”                    Utakata quelled his irritation. “And if she attacks you? If she runs? If she shouts our plans to the whole village? Can you do what will be necessary?”                    Koichi did not look away from Utakata’s hard eyes for several seconds, then gave Rei one final glance before turning and leaving the cover of the trees. She was alone with a boy who was several years older than her and very clearly stronger than her. Her fingers tapped against the damp soil anxiously.                    Utakata stood above her, arms crossed, never letting his gaze stray. The silence between them was already deafening, and after several agonizing moments, Rei found her voice. “It’s really gone?”                    Rather than answering her question, Utakata blurted out, “What did you do to me?”                    Irritation prickled under her skin. “You’re the one who attacked me.”                    He squatted in front of her, and she pressed her back harder against the tree, keenly aware of the small trickle of blood running down her spine. “Think carefully before you answer. What was that… sucking feeling that you gave off? When I grabbed you?”                    “I…” Her voice failed her again for a moment, and she swallowed hard. “My chakra is different. Weird. That’s why Niko Sensei helped me.” Any other explanation was beyond her reach, and she looked back up at Utakata’s face. The angry lines had faded only to be replaced with evidence of deep contemplation.                    “Yes,” he finally said. “That would definitely be true.”                    She endured his stare until Koichi finally returned with rolls, honeyed fruit, and a canteen of tea. They ate in near silence, only speaking when they were all ready to pack up and meet Niko Sensei at the Academy. “He has some explaining to do,” Utakata muttered, and Rei couldn’t help but agree.                    The boys walked on either side of her, and though Rei was bewildered by whatever had happened to her Curse Mark, she had to admit that she was mildly flattered. She didn’t think anyone had ever been nervous to be around her before. They didn’t know that she probably couldn’t do any damage to them.                    Niko Sensei was already outside the Academy when they arrived, and he held a simply wrapped parcel under one arm. Rei watched as understanding dawned on his face as they approached, and he asked, “What happened?”                    Koichi opened his mouth like he wanted to speak, but nothing came out, and Utakata just looked at Rei pointedly, crossing his arms. He was starting to annoy her. “Niko Sensei,” she said quietly, picking up on their habit of looking around for anyone who might be listening. “My Curse Mark is gone.”                    “What?” He nearly dropped the parcel, but his training kicked in and he recomposed himself. “We’ll talk about that on the way.”                    “To where?”                    Reaching into his pocket with his free hand, Niko Sensei pulled out a meticulously folded piece of cream-colored paper and shook it open. “The east border of the village. A herd of goats was separated by a cougar and about twenty are still missing. We are to return as many as possible to their field by sundown tonight.”                    Koichi groaned loudly, throwing up his hands. “That’s got to be a C-rank!”                    “Actually, it’s a D-rank,” Niko Sensei said, and Rei bet that Koichi’s cry of exasperation reached every ear in the Academy. “It’s a good way to gauge our cooperation as squad mates.”                    “At least there won’t be anyone over there to learn what we’re hiding.” Again, Utakata didn’t speak with malice. Even so, Rei ground her teeth together and glared at him.                    “But first,” Niko Sensei said, extending the parcel to Rei. “You need to get properly dressed.”                    Today was truly a day like no other. She’d slept in her own apartment, she actually had money in her pocket, and she was getting a gift. No one had ever been so kind to her before, and she was able to completely forget about Utakata’s unease as she unwrapped the brown packing paper from around a brand-new grey flak jacket.                    The paper fell flatly to the ground and she held the jacket in front of her, blinking back the surprising sting of tears. “Thanks,” she whispered, unable to stop staring at her new item of clothing. It was the first new thing she’d ever had.                    “Put it on!” Koichi urged, venturing a step closer to her. “You’re a Genin, aren’t you?”                    Her fingers fumbled with the straps on the side, but she slipped the sleeveless jacket over her head and buckled it into place, immediately comforted at the extra weight it provided. Her headband sat comfortably below the left shoulder pad, and she couldn’t suppress her smile.                    “And this is yours as well.” The weapons pouch that Niko Sensei handed to her was smaller than theirs, but then, she was smaller than them. She buckled it around her waist and opened the top flap, nearly lightheaded at the sight of so many weapons. It was pre-packed with kunai, shuriken, flash bombs, paper bombs, and steel wire, along with a few odds and ends.                    “With that taken care of, let’s be on our way.” With a sharp jerk of his head, Niko Sensei motioned them off in the direction they would travel. They walked in silence until nearly noon, Rei nearly trembling with joy, until they were near enough to the eastern mountains that the Headquarters Building couldn’t even be seen for the mist overhead. The nearest houses had been out of sight for over an hour.                    “I didn’t know we’d be hiking today,” Koichi said. None of them were out of breath, but Rei knew that she would be nursing some blisters on her feet when she got back to her apartment tonight. They stood at the base of the eastern mountains, and Rei understood immediately why the Mist was so safe from intruders.                    The rocky mountains were foreboding to say the least. They were craggy, free of most vegetation, and looked to nearly touch the sky. Only a few select openings allowed people to pass through to other places, but those openings were heavily guarded by Shinobi.                    The bleating of goats could be heard faintly, and Utakata sent a bubble overhead to discover their exact location. “While we wait, we need to talk,” Niko Sensei said. They checked for a few moments to ensure that they were alone, then they sat in a loose square on the ground beneath an outcropping of jagged rock. “Rei, let me see your Curse Mark.”                    She opened her mouth, sticking her tongue out as far as it would go, and Niko Sensei shook his head. “Gone. I’ve been thinking about this and what it means the entire trip.”                    Utakata’s eyes were on the sky, tracking the movements of the bubble. “What did you come up with?”                    “Well, it’s only a theory.” He gripped his knees with his hands, meeting Rei’s eyes with hard intensity. “Boys, you are not to spread this information. Understand?”                    “Yeah,” Koichi agreed readily, and Utakata gave the faintest of nods.                    “So, Rei has a unique chakra. I suspect it may be some type of bloodline trait, but I’m not sure. Anyway, it seems to allow her to absorb someone else’s chakra when her emotions are heightened.” Utakata’s head snapped to the side, his narrowed eyes leveling on Rei suspiciously. She gave him a fierce What? face, and he looked back to their squad leader. “Which could be very useful to our primary goal.”                    “Except that she sucks at most Jutsu,” Utakata quipped.                    He received three equal glares. “That’s beside the point at the moment,” Niko Sensei admonished. “Everyone sucks at Jutsu until they are properly trained. And as a former instructor at the Academy, I can tell you that students that come from the B barracks are not the top priority.”                    That weight settled over her shoulders again and she raised her knees to her face, setting her chin on her kneecaps and wrapping her arms around her legs. “How am I supposed to do anything against the Mizukage?”                    They didn’t seem surprised at her words this time, but both of the boys visibly flinched. “Rei,” Niko Sensei said, “you are going to have to be incredibly careful of what you say. More so than any of us. The Curse Marks on our tongues will stop us if we begin talking about our mission, so it’s a safeguard, but you don’t have that. It looks like your chakra dissolved it, so we’ll have to find another method. Until then…” His voice faded as he considered the grass before him. “There’s a good chance that you’ll need to stay in our command center until we can find a solution.”                    Panic. “Why?” Her hands fell from her legs to smack onto the ground on either side of her, steadying her body.                    “It’s a good idea,” Utakata said. “There’s no other way to be sure that the secret won’t be revealed.”                    So many huge changes. “Did you leave any personal effects in your apartment?” Niko Sensei asked.                    “What would I leave?” Rei asked, gesturing to herself. “I don’t have anything. My stuff at the barracks was all borrowed. I was going to get a toothbrush and stuff before I went back today.”                    “Don’t worry about that; we’ll take care of it,” Niko Sensei said. “Our priority is going to be to keep you safe and to keep our mission a secret.” He stood and brushed the grass off of his pants. “Now let’s go round up those goats.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was surprisingly hard to focus on life’s difficulties while wrangling headstrong goats.                    Niko Sensei probably could have gathered all twenty by himself in a couple of minutes, but he sat back and watched the younger Shinobi do it instead. Utakata and Koichi had clearly worked together before, and Rei watched jealously as Koichi created a make-shift electric fence with kunai, steel wire, and his Lightning Style Jutsu. Utakata barely moved from his initial position, blowing human-sized bubbles from a bamboo pipe that floated over the scattering goats and enveloped them one at a time, lifting them into the air and depositing them in Koichi’s pen with a smatter of soap. The goats did not appreciate the process one bit.                    Rei watched Utakata’s actions for a minute, then turned her attention to Koichi, who was guiding one young black goat toward an approaching bubble with little bursts of electricity. What could she do to help?                    About half of the goats were in sight and the rest would have to be hunted down, so she turned away from the foot of the mountain and headed back into the trees. She didn’t know anything about goats except what she had observed today, so she leapt into the nearest tree to get a better view of the forest floor.                    She didn’t see anything, so she leapt from tree to tree until she heard the terrified bawling of what she hoped was a goat. She followed the sound through the treetops until she caught sight of what was making the sound: a brand-new baby goat, flanked by its dead mother and sibling. The mother goat and one of the tiny offspring had been wounded across their throats, and blood colored their bodies and the ground around them.                    The lone baby had cornered itself between a crevice in a boulder and a tree trunk, screaming its terror as a cougar prowled around the bodies of its family. Its jaw was already wet with gore and it closed the distance between itself and the baby with slow, calculated steps.                    Rei’s lack of fear surprised even herself. She dropped to the ground fifteen feet below and landed in an easy crouch on the fresh summer grass. The cougar’s ears flicked perceptively before it turned its sharp yellow eyes in Rei’s direction. It lifted its head, assessing her quietly, as if trying to determine if she were predator or prey.                    The idea of killing the cougar soured Rei’s stomach. She’d never had the opportunity to formally learn about nature in the Academy, but if cougars were like any other animals she’d seen, it was probably just trying to feed its family. It was a better parent than Rei’s own parents had been.                    She reached for the new weapons pouch on her hip, feeling out the contours of the new and unstretched leather, until she found the buckle that kept the top closed. She didn’t dare look away from the big cat. Its muscles were bunching subtly, and Rei would have bet anything (if she had anything) that it was going to spring in a moment. Her fingers closed around one of the circular balls beside the kunai, and she squeezed her eyes shut for a split second, just long enough to throw the flash bomb and hear it ignite on the ground with a sharp hiss.                    Even from behind closed eyelids, Rei saw the world take on an instant white glow. She pulled her eyes open reluctantly (she’d never thrown a real flash bomb before), and saw that the cougar was wheeling around, its huge paws padding silently against the ground as it retreated. It didn’t complain or growl at her as it left, and it didn’t look back.                    The little goat had fallen over, all four of its legs sticking straight out from its body, and its sides heaved as it cried out repeatedly. Rei chewed on her bottom lip as she approached the baby slowly; she hoped she hadn’t broken it. There were already two that were dead, and she needed to have something to show for this mission.                    It was starting to loosen up when she crouched next to it, and she touched her fingers lightly to one of its velvety ears. It bleated again, like it was dying, then scrambled back to its feet. It made to run, but Rei grabbed its back legs and pulled it back to her, picking it up under her left arm. It was not happy, but Rei supposed that was to be expected.                    With one more look back at the slaughtered mother goat, Rei took the surviving baby back towards the foot of the mountain. She wasn’t surprised to see all the remaining goats trapped in Koichi’s pen when she made it back, but she was a little miffed. She’d only managed to get one measly baby.                    Her teammates were standing about anxiously, shoulders tensed, and Koichi shouted when he saw her. “We were about to come looking for you!” He broke into a smile when he saw she carried a goat. “Hey, you found one!”                    “I couldn’t have been gone more than ten minutes!” Rei handed the baby to Niko Sensei, who set it down in the pen. “It was with its mom, but the cougar killed her.”                    They all looked to the little one. It was still crying loudly, calling for a mother that wasn’t there, and most of the other goats ignored it. “Come on,” Utakata said, nodding his head to where the sun would set. “Let’s get them to their field and get back to the command center.”                     The boys took down the makeshift pen and led the goats in the direction of their home. The animals didn’t seem to be in the mood to deviate, and they all tramped diligently in the direction that they were directed. The orphaned baby walked along too, trying to sidle alongside an older female.                    “Well, that was easy money,” Koichi said, flipping a kunai three times in the air before catching it effortlessly by the blade. “The hardest part was getting out here.” In the same breath, he said, “So you said you sucked at most Jutsu.” Rei looked his way, shrinking inside again. “Which ones are you good at?”                    “Well…” Rei thought for a moment. She didn’t really think she was good at any Jutsu in particular. “I can handle two or three simple Lightning Style Jutsu, and I can make clones if I concentrate really hard.” Utakata scoffed quietly.                    “Hey, you’re in luck!” Koichi grinned and pointed at himself with his thumb. “Lightning Style happens to be my specialty. Show me what you’ve got.”                    As they made their way across the foot of the mountain to a tiny farm near absolutely nothing, Koichi critiqued Rei’s techniques and offered suggestions to improve. “So, when you’re gathering chakra in your hands, right, I’m pretty sure that you’re sending it to your fingertips immediately before converting it into lightning. Try to make that happen while it’s still in your palms. That way it has time to strengthen in your fingers before it hits the target.” He munched on a flat biscuit that he pulled from his weapons pouch while she practiced what he’d said.                    It was much easier said than done. Chakra came from the core, and it moved so quickly that by the time she’d completed the handsigns it was already racing into her hands. Stopping it in her palms felt unnatural, like trying to grind to a halt while running full speed. It took seven or eight consecutive tries before she was able to do anything close to what Koichi had said, and even then, he tilted his head to the side and said, “Well, that’s better. I guess it’s a start.”                    But Rei felt amazing. She performed the handsigns quickly and thrust her right hand outward, pointing at Utakata’s feet ahead of her. The chakra flooded her chest and rushed into her arm, and Rei tried to keep up with it. When it reached her wrist, she squeezed down on it, slowing its progress. It swirled around the center of her palm twice, something she had never made it do before, and wove the lightning energy into it consciously. By the time it exited her fingers, it felt more powerful than anything she’d ever made before. It raised the fine hair on her arms.                    The ground just behind Utakata’s left foot exploded in a shower of sparks, and both he and Niko Sensei started, instinctively grabbing for their kunai.                    “Ahhhaaa!” Koichi exclaimed with a wild laugh, pointing at Utakata. “She almost barbecued you! You have no idea how much that would have made my day!”                    Rei couldn’t keep the smile from her face, and she looked down at her palm as she flexed her fingers. “Wow.”                    “Yeah, wow!” Koichi said. “Look at that crater!” Her lightning attack had kicked up about three square feet of grass and dirt, and its edges were singed and blackened. “Man, I’m a good teacher.”                    Rei’s heart thudded quickly, and she didn’t recognize the feeling that squeezed her chest and throat. She wanted to grab Koichi’s arm, but she didn’t. Instead, she said, “Teach me another one.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Once the goats had been dropped off and the owner had thanked the squad with a hot meal, the sun had already fallen behind the mountains. Dusk fell over the village and the easiness that Rei had been feeling throughout the afternoon had evaporated.                    She was safe, she told herself. She wasn’t in the barracks. She was with her own squad.                    “It’ll be nearly midnight by the time we make it back,” Utakata observed. “We might want to camp out for the night.” Rei could not even fit into words how much she did not want to do that.                    Niko Sensei surveyed the purpling sky and looked as if he planned to agree, but then he must have caught sight of Rei’s face. “No, let’s get back. Sleeping out in the open isn’t the best idea.”                    “What’s wrong with camping?” Koichi asked as they started back in the direction of the Academy. “I used to do it with my parents all the time. And my feet are killing me from all this walking.”                    They continued to walk in silence for a time as the daylight faded completely from the sky. No one spoke until Niko Sensei said, “I’m going to speak honestly for a while. So listen up.”                    If it was possible, the three younger Shinobi grew quieter.                    “More so than any other hidden village, the Mist is fractured.” Rei could barely discern her Sensei’s voice. “We lost so many in the war, and we haven’t yet recovered.” As one of the few subjects covered at the Academy, the Third Great Ninja War was something that Rei was familiar with. She’d been little when it had ended, so she didn’t have any memories of the war itself. “Because our nation is made of islands, we were safer than most of the others. We thought so, anyway. We didn’t have much in the way of warfare here, but we traveled across the ocean to fight on the mainland for years.”                    Utakata was the one setting the pace. He kept an even stride, like he wasn’t listening. Koichi, however, kept his voice low when he said, “We would have been better off just staying out of it.”                    Utakata proved he was listening by chiming in darkly. “That never would have happened. The war gave the Mist a chance to prove its prowess and to weaken the other villages. The Mizukage couldn’t have passed that up.”                    Clearing his throat, Niko Sensei said, “Listen. The village is on the edge of collapse, and most of us know it. We lost too many Shinobi in the war. We’re weak. Our leaders are inhumane. And the other villages are becoming aware of that fact.”                    “But they’re weak, too,” Koichi pointed out, walking a little more quickly to match Niko Sensei’s steps.                    “The Mist has fewer Shinobi left than any of the other Five Great Nations.” Niko Sensei’s words were coming faster, with agitation, with nerves. “Part of that is due to the Mizukage’s cruelty. Part of that is due to the war. But regardless, it has become common knowledge. The village hasn’t been able to build security back up completely, so we’re infiltrated by spies often. The truth of the matter is that the Village Hidden in the Mist is doomed.”                    When Niko Sensei stopped talking, he was breathing much too hard. It was too dark to see his face clearly, but Rei could see the exaggerated movement of his chest and shoulders. He had to stop walking for a moment and braced himself against the trunk of a tree. “Formation Two. Check the perimeter,” he hissed.                    Rei had never performed a formation with this squad, but she knew it by heart from her classes. She fell to Niko Sensei’s left flank with Koichi on his right and Utakata between them. They all kept their senses tuned for intruders, and Utakata extracted his pipe from his jacket to blow a surveillance bubble. It rose above their heads and disappeared into the darkness. After a few seconds, Utakata confirmed that no one was near them. Niko Sensei exhaled in obvious relief and sank into a trembling crouch.                    “If anyone outside of our organization had heard me speak those words, I’d have been sentenced to death,” he said. Rei’s skin prickled with goosebumps. “Shinobi risk their lives every day for their villages. What we are doing is a little different. We’re trying to destroy everything that our village currently stands for. Make sure that you are able to live with that.”                    When Niko Sensei had recovered his breath, they continued their trek. They couldn’t see the shape of the moon through the mist, but its blurry, pale light was high in the sky when they arrived back at the Academy. The lights in the streets still blazed, and people still came in and out of restaurants and bars. “I’ll deliver your payment to you in the morning,” Niko Sensei said. His eyes were shadowed, like he hadn’t slept in weeks, and Rei felt her lips part in surprise at the drastic transformation. “Boys, we’ll all meet at checkpoint one at noon tomorrow. Get some sleep.”                    Koichi offered Rei a tired, but still excited smile. “I have so many more Jutsu that we can work on, now that you know some basics. See you tomorrow!” Utakata nodded to her, which was more than Rei had expected considering how she had used him as a test dummy.                    The boys headed off together in the direction of the apartments, and Niko Sensei said, “Rei, come with me. We’ll stay with the Headmaster tonight.”                    “Doesn’t he live at the Academy?” she asked.                    Niko Sensei didn’t answer, just shook his head in negation. It was more of a movement warning her to stop talking than an actual response. Despite what he had told them and how haggard he looked now, Rei had a hard time tempering her excitement. She’d successfully performed a Lightning Style Jutsu that wasn’t really weak. That was huge!                    They passed a darkened boutique, and when Rei glanced at their passing reflections in the large glass windows, she almost didn’t recognize herself. Her hair had come loose from its ponytail at some point throughout the day and was trailing loose over her shoulders, tangled and wild from the activities of the day. Even in the darkness, she could see that her eyes were bright and shining.                    Niko Sensei led Rei to a two-story cylindrical building behind the Academy, and its six visible windows were all shining, illuminating the street below. “This is where Headmaster Iwa lives?” Again, Niko Sensei didn’t answer directly.                    They went up the steps onto the concrete porch and Niko Sensei took several seconds to check for anyone who might be watching before pressing his palm to the door. A dull pulse of visible energy rippled outward across the door from his hand, and a few moments later, Headmaster Iwa pulled it open. He looked Niko Sensei up and down for a moment before stepping aside to allow them entrance. “You look like you’ve had better days.”                    Niko Sensei walked in and Rei followed, looking around the inside of the house with great interest. It was beautiful. The living room stretched the whole length of the house. It was painted a cheerful yellow with white accents across the floor and ceiling. Charming paintings and pictures of flowers decorated the walls, and a dining room table separated the kitchen from the living space. A couple of sofas and recliners were placed strategically near a fireplace. Bookshelves dotted the walls. Rei suddenly wasn’t convinced that she’d ever want to walk outside again.                    “I had a panic attack.” Niko Sensei unbuckled his weapons pouch and tossed it onto a side table by the door. “The first in years. But we made it back, so I’ll try to sleep it off.”                    Headmaster Iwa turned his attention to Rei, who still hadn’t moved from her place just inside the door. “Reimi. Welcome.” He motioned her forward then stepped behind her to close the door and lock the three different latches. Peeking through the nearest window, he performed a rapid series of handsigns before pressing his palm to the secure door. The same energy pulse Niko Sensei had created before emanated from his hand. “Now,” he said, drawing the curtains to the two windows nearest him, “what brings you here tonight?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Headmaster Iwa’s house was the command center of the foundation to take down the Mizukage. Rei couldn’t believe it when he led her to the back of the house and slid aside a bookcase to reveal… a wall. With another meticulously placed palm and pulse of chakra, a panel of the wall slid aside to reveal a wide stone staircase that led deep underground.                     Rei’s jaw nearly hit the ground. She’d had no idea that technology like this even existed. As she followed the Headmaster down the stairs, she tried to quell her rising fear by asking questions. “Niko Sensei mentioned that the village’s security has been bad since the war. How can that be true when you can do this in your house?” She was unable to keep the awe from her voice.                    The Headmaster glanced back at her with a tiny smile. “Because the village doesn’t know about it. So far, my house and a select few others outside of the village are the only buildings with this kind of security because I’m the one who invented chakra-touch identity detection. The Mizukage himself wouldn’t be able to enter this house without knocking the whole thing to the ground.”                    “This is pretty amazing,” Rei said. The staircase led them at least two stories down before they came to another thick door that needed a chakra signature to get through.                    “We’ll code your signature into the system soon enough. For now, just focus on making yourself at home.”                    Niko Sensei had quietly explained the situation with Rei’s disappearing Curse Mark before excusing himself to take inventory of his weapons pouch. “Will Niko Sensei be staying here, too?”                    “Yes.” Through the door was another living room-type area, and it split off into multiple hallways. Rei couldn’t believe that someone could build something like this undetected. “Sometimes others live here semi-permanently for their own protection.”                    The hallways were respectively labeled A, B, C, and D above each arch, and each door was numbered. Rei had never been in such a massive structure. “So, the kitchen is in room A4, and the bathrooms are number 8 on each hallway. You’ll be staying in B6.”                    The room assigned to her made her apartment look like the dump that it was, and she felt a twinge of shame for thinking of it that way. The apartment was hers, after all. This room was borrowed.                    The walls were a pale off-white to match the blanket on the bed. A plain brown dresser sat across the room from the bed’s footboard, and a side table with a lamp was beside a standing mirror on the far wall. “Thanks,” Rei murmured.                    “You’ll find changes of clothes in the dresser. It’s been prepared for someone your size.”                    When Rei looked at him questioningly, he said, “Rooms have been prepared for a variety of people. We’re a safehouse. You’re safe here.” Then he shrugged his shoulders like it was a small thing he’d just said. “Shower and rest up. Your squad will meet here tomorrow, then we can talk.”                    He left, smiling at her kindly, and shut the door behind him. Rei waited a few seconds before trying the handle herself, and she breathed a little easier when she saw that it was not locked. Sure enough, the dresser was filled with shirts, pants, and underclothes, and Rei grabbed a few at random and made her way down the hallway to the bathroom. She’d never had such a comfortable or long shower before. She dried herself with a fluffy white towel from the closet by the sink and pulled on the new clothes. They were a tiny bit loose, but Rei was nowhere near complaining. She shook her apartment key and three pieces of paper money Niko Sensei had given her earlier out of her dirty pants and put them carefully in her room’s dresser beneath a pile of underwear. When she slipped beneath the blanket in her borrowed bed, she closed her eyes and only opened them when someone knocked softly on her door.                    With bleary eyes and what she was sure was a matted head of semi-dried hair, she pulled the door open a fraction of an inch. Koichi’s bright blue eyes met hers and she was awake instantly. “Good morning!” he shouted, making her recoil to cover her ears. He pushed the door open and let himself in, surveying the room. “Nice! Once you build up your savings, you could really make this place cool.”                    Rei dragged the back of her arm across her eyes, trying to force them to feel as awake as her mind. “I won’t be here that long.”                    “Then we’ll work on your apartment. Either way, you’re not in the barracks anymore.” That was true. A smile snuck onto Rei’s face. “Anyway,” Koichi said, “Niko Sensei and Butthead are waiting in the common room. Come on out when you’re dressed and everything.” He flashed her another bright grin before heading out. “You did great yesterday.”                      That same unusual warmth in Rei’s chest propelled her forwards as she searched through the dresser for clothes suitable to wear outside. She settled on a pair of black shorts and a blue T-shirt with the Mist Village’s insignia on the right breast pocket. She pulled on her boots, and though they were scuffed and dirty, they were familiar. After attacking her hair with a found brush and brushing her teeth for the first time in several days, she left her room.                    Four faces turned to her expectantly as she approached: Headmaster Iwa sipped at a cup of something hot from the blue sofa; Niko Sensei had been filling out some paperwork at the dining table to the right, and he flipped the folder closed now; Koichi was throwing away a banana peel and smiled with his mouth full; Utakata had been twirling his bubble pipe between nimble fingers and caught it suddenly, tucking it into an internal pocket of his flak jacket.                    “What time is it?” she asked quietly, waving off the new banana that Koichi offered her. “I’m allergic.”                    “Allergic to bananas?” He shivered dramatically. “That’s a sad life.”                    She smiled weakly. “Yeah.”                    Headmaster Iwa beckoned her forward. “It’s just before noon. You certainly needed your sleep. You all did.” Setting his mug on the coffee table before him with a soft clink, he laced his fingers together contemplatively. “Any mission that we go on these days can be treacherous.” Rei stopped on the other side of the coffee table and he stood, meeting her eyes. “Can I see your Curse Mark?”                    His lips shifted into a frown when he beheld what she assumed was a tongue free of any mark. “Hmm. That’s troubling. Let me think about this for a while. I’ll need to confer with some colleagues.”                    When the Headmaster said ‘a while,’ Rei had assumed that he meant a few hours, maybe a few days at the most. But after a week of nothing but reading and training with Koichi, she thought her brain would melt. “How much longer am I going to be stuck down here?” she moaned, her head hanging off the side of her bed. Koichi threw a piece of popcorn at her and laughed when it bounced off her forehead.                    “Hey, there’s unlimited food and books,” Koichi said from his place on the floor. “You can’t be too upset.”                    “I need to do something!” She sat up quickly, glancing longingly at her boots. She hadn’t worn them in days. “My muscles are going to rot away.”                    “Well…” Koichi pushed himself to his feet and tugged anxiously at the hem of his T-shirt. He hadn’t come down here in his uniform since Headmaster Iwa had left. “I guess we could train in the Sealing Chamber.”                    Rei whipped her head towards him. “There’s a Sealing Chamber down here?”                    “Kind of. It’s still in construction, and they’ve got to be really careful with it.” He opened the bedroom door and peeked down the hallway. “If they vibrate the ground too much or too often, the village might start to ask questions that the Headmaster won’t be able to answer. Come on.”                    It had become so easy to trust Koichi. In fact, everything had become easier. Rei had surprised herself multiple times in the last week by realizing that her shoulders weren’t tensed or that she wasn’t looking over her shoulder every few moments. “Are we not supposed to go down there or something?” she asked as Koichi led her to the door at the end of hallway C and checked again that they weren’t being followed.                    “Not really.” He twisted the handle carefully and pulled open the door, revealing an extremely dark staircase. “The Headmaster doesn’t like the Sealing Chamber being used for anything yet, but the arena is still being shaped, so we can’t even get in that one yet.”                    “This is crazy.” The stairs were rough and unrefined, and Rei almost missed her footing a few times. “Are there things like this all over the village?”                    “No way.” When they reached the bottom, Koichi pulled a penlight from his pocket and shined it around. Rei could only make out vague shapes, but she could tell that the room was built in a large circle, probably fifty feet in diameter. “Lord Fourth would murder anyone that had anything to do with something like that. He doesn’t like secrets.”                    “Well, our secrets could get him killed, after all.” Rei stepped towards the wall to the right, tracing her fingers over the pale engravings on the wall. “What is all this?”                    Koichi joined her and illuminated the pattern. It ran the entire perimeter of the room, lending a mystical aura to it. The lines rose and fell like ocean waves, twisted over themselves serenely, then looped back into jagged spikes, no rhyme or reason to it all. “All I know is that it’s a really ancient pattern, and it’s supposed to signify something important. They’re going to put one on the floor, too.” He aimed the light at the floor, where the pattern had already been sketched out in chalk. “My mom is a Sealing specialist, and this room is pretty much her project.”                    “This is amazing.” Rei didn’t consciously decide to kneel; she just found herself on the floor, tracing the unfinished lines. She could feel the tiniest little dregs of energy drawing into her fingertips, like static electricity. “How does she do that? Put chakra in the pattern?”                    “I dunno. Oh, there it is.” Leaving her in her crouched position on the floor, Koichi walked across the room and picked up something small from a cluttered table, the only piece of furniture in the room. It snicked in his fingers, and then a tiny flame jumped to life in his hand. “We’re not supposed to use anything electric down here.” He touched the lighter to a torch mounted on the wall, and the whole room was suddenly revealed. Rei felt her breath whoosh out of her mouth as she took in the entire pattern.                    “You gonna be okay?” Koichi smirked at her, tossing the lighter back onto the table.                    “Yeah.” She rose and touched the wall again, drawn to it with magnetic-like force. “I really am.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“You’ve got quite the bank account now,” Mangetsu commented one morning at the common room dining table. “Let me know if you need us to get you anything.”                    The spoon of porridge paused halfway to Rei’s mouth. “Where’s the money coming from?”                    “Missions. Donations. That kind of thing.”                    “I haven’t been on a mission since we caught those goats.” She abandoned her porridge now, stirring the pieces of fruit idly with her spoon. “Why hasn’t the Headmaster figured out anything about a new Curse Mark for me yet?”                    Mangetsu’s water bottle gurgled as he took a long pull from the straw. “It’s not exactly an easy thing to do.” He glanced to either side, probably out of habit. “Everything we do has to be covert. You wouldn’t believe how many Shinobi are out looking for the answer right now.” He stood, pushing his chair back to the table neatly. “Just hang in there. One of these days you’ll get to see the sky again.”                    With Mangetsu back above ground, Rei found herself staring back down at her porridge. She hadn’t yet found a way to train her chakra-sucking-whatever-it-was by herself. It had taken several days of working with Koichi and Niko Sensei to even begin to feel the way that chakra entered her body from someone else’s. She flexed her fingers trying to find that odd sixth sense. It wasn’t present now. There was no one to take chakra from.                    The natural questions to ask had come to her multiple times: what kind of person stole someone else’s life essence? Was she a monster? Would she be able to drain someone’s chakra to absolute zero? Would she be able to kill them?                    It was an easy answer. She cradled her right hand in her left and stared at the small scars that dotted her fingers, her palms. There had to be a way to control it. There had to be a way to keep it from draining her friends, her friends. A grin plucked at her lips.                    When Koichi returned that night, he knocked on her bedroom door and came in with two small boxes of shrimp and rice. “You really need to start telling me what you want so I can bring it for supper. I don’t even know what kind of food you really like.”                    “I don’t even know what kind of food I really like,” Rei replied, accepting one of the boxes and inhaling the seafood aroma and crossing her legs under her, leaning back on her pillow. “It’s not like I had the chance to try many different kinds before I came here.”                    Koichi hopped up on the bed next to her, a solid two feet from her knees. She flinched for a microsecond. If he noticed, he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he opened his own box and plunged in his chopsticks, shoveling the food into his mouth.                    “I guess I’ll get my own utensils, then.” She set her rice down on her side table and slid to the floor.                    “Can you get me a water?” Koichi asked with a smile.                    “Maybe.” She enjoyed bantering. The conflicting emotions, the warring between her current knowledge and her ingrained instincts were constantly at the forefront of her mind, but she was getting better at tempering them. If she’d lived in the barracks longer, if she’d suffered the way some of the other girls had, she wasn’t sure that she’d ever have been able to speak to Koichi like this.                    Before she exited the hallway, her fingers began to tingle in the most subtle of ways. An unfamiliar chakra was in the kitchen. She tried to tease out its characteristics, but she hadn’t schooled herself on how to do that yet. It felt… spicy, maybe? No, more like ants running over her skin, but through her organs instead. What did that even mean?                    She didn’t have any weapons on her, so she pressed her back to the wall and sidled along it until she was just outside the kitchen door. Those flighty instincts that she was trying so hard to suppress roared back to the surface, and her hands began to tremble. She should run. Someone she didn’t know was in her safe place.                    She had just begun to turn back the way she had come when the door slide aside, and an attractive middle-aged woman walked through casually. One look at her face revealed her identity to Rei, who exhaled hard enough to see spots in her peripheral vision. She braced her hand on the wall next to her for support.                    The woman reached out and took Rei by her shoulders gently. Rei had never felt such a touch. “Sweetheart, you need to sit down. You almost fainted just now.”                    “I’m okay,” Rei insisted, but she allowed herself to be led into the kitchen and guided into a chair at the only dining table. She wasn’t able to take her eyes off of this woman, Koichi’s mother. She had the same blonde, almost white colored hair, which was pulled back into a professional bun. A few unruly strands had escaped their confines and wisped around her eyes. Her eyes were darker than her son’s, brown, but they were kind and twinkled familiarly. She was probably forty or so, but she was definitely in top physical shape. Her arms were corded with finely tensed muscle beneath her flak jacket.                    “I was planning to speak to you tonight, but Koichi insisted on coming straight here. I haven’t seen him in over a month, and all he could talk about was his new squadmate.” She sat in the seat across from Rei and interlaced her fingers, resting her chin atop them. “The one that I needed to meet right away.”                    The spots had faded from Rei’s vision by now, and she sat a little straighter. “You’re his mom.”                    She nodded, smiling in a way that Rei could only assume was maternal. “Mhm. You can call me Kohana. It’s very nice to meet you, Rei.” She extended her perfectly manicured hand for Rei to shake, which she did weakly. “I’ve been told that you are struggling with chakra control.”                    Rei could only nod. “I’m struggling with pretty much everything.”                    “I’ve heard that, too.” Kohana stood slowly and came around the table, kneeling next to Rei’s chair and looking her in the eyes. Her proximity was uncomfortably close, but Rei forced herself not to draw back. “I understand all of it. I was in the B barracks, too. I was one of the first that the Headmaster rehabilitated in this bunker, dear.” For a moment, they just looked at each other. Then Kohana leaned forward and pulled Rei into a hug, a gesture that the girl had never in her life experienced. The woman was warm, strong, and… safe. “I will do everything that I can to make sure that you survive what’s happened to you.”                    The tears came then, the ones that had been dammed up in her for months, maybe years. Kohana just held her, rocking with the sobs that threatened to tear Rei apart. Rei had never felt anything so intense as the barrage of emotions that crashed against each other in her chest now. Rage at the Mist. Sorrow at never knowing a safety like this before. Gratitude that she had it now. Helplessness for her future and those of her new friends. Fear of losing all that she had gained.                    When her cries tapered off into embarrassing hiccups, she allowed Kohana to wet a rag and dab at her dampened face. “You’ve been through more than any child should. All of you at the Academy have,” Kohana almost whispered. “And there is more injustice waiting for you. But we’re going to make sure that you’re strong enough to withstand the storm.”                    Before Kohana could say another word, footsteps clopped down the hallway in their direction. “The chopsticks aren’t that hard to find, Rei.” Rei scrubbed at her face, which she was sure was as red as a tomato, and did her best to look normal when Koichi practically pranced into the kitchen.He took one look at her face and his own began to color. “Um, sorry. I guess I’ll go back to your room.” He turned to leave, but Kohana said, “Freeze.” He did. “Not her room. The common area. Where you’ll be having all of your meals in the bunker from this point forward.”“Mom, you just got back, and you’re already making new rules?”What it must be like to grow up in a family like that. Koichi retrieved their food from the bedroom and brought it back to the kitchen, where the three of them sat together and discussed all kinds of different things. Rei found herself laughing when Koichi told them about how he and Utakata had been assigned to escort a noble girl across the village, and Koichi had gotten stuck walking her prissy little dog. It was only made better when Utakata decided that air travel would be faster and encased himself and the girl in a huge bubble, leaving Koichi and the dog behind. The girl had looked down from above and given Koichi a cheeky little wave, and Rei was certain that he had given her some rude gesture in return, but he wasn’t going to admit to that in front of his mom.With the food finished, the trash disposed of, and the table wiped down, Kohana placed her fists on her hips and leaned back in an aggressive stretch. “What a day. And it’s only…” She turned to check the clock that hung above the fridge. “Six o’clock. I’m going to see how the Sealing chamber is coming along.”“Can we come?” Koichi asked.Kohana didn’t even hesitate. “Please. I want to try something out with you two, anyway.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The rough, dark stairs into the even lower level of the bunker didn’t seem so discomforting with Kohana leading the way. She exhaled heavily in what Rei assumed was satisfaction when she lit the torches that lined the decorative walls. “They’ve come a long way,” she sighed. “It won’t be long now before it’ll be completely finished.”                    The room was no longer empty. A solid stone slab had been erected in the very center of the room, and the floor designs moved outward from it like waves. If she tilted her head, Rei could almost see the shivery lines moving with chakra. The stone was set on a platform, and it really didn’t look like anything special. She ran her fingertips over the surface, expecting the same tingling that she felt when she touched the walls or the floor of this incredible room, but there was nothing. “What is this for?” She found herself whispering, as if this place were too sacred for raised voices.                    Kohana looked Rei’s way and came to stand beside her. “This is our Sealing Stone. Anyone receiving a Seal of any kind can lay on it and be administered to easily.” At Rei’s skeptical look, she added, “It can absorb small amounts of excess chakra. Too much uncontrolled chakra can be toxic to certain people. It protects those of us performing the Sealing.”                    “Can you teach me?”                    Rei didn’t realize exactly how much she wanted to learn something like this, something useful, until the question had escaped her mouth. And she suddenly realized how crushed she’d be if Kohana refused.                    Kohana paused for only a moment. “We can always use more Sealing specialists. But first, we need to make sure that you can control that ability of yours.”                    Shame pricked at Rei’s already raw sensibilities. “I don’t know anything about it, really. I mean, have you ever heard of someone who can suck away chakra?”                    “Not the way you can, no. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t be trained to control it.” Kohana extended one hand, palm up, and the air above her fingers began to shimmer, like the air above an open flame. “Can you see it?”                    Rei was tempted to reach out and touch the air, to see if it felt as different as it looked. “I see something.”                    “Have you always been able to see the flow of chakra?”                    Shaking her head vigorously, Rei said, “I’ve never seen anything like that.”                    Closing her fingers into a fist, Kohana made the unusual air disappear. “You’re a Sensory type, like me. I’d bet that with some specialized training, you’ll be able to detect chakra the same way that you can detect the sound of a human voice.”                    Rei couldn’t imagine herself with such skills. “You’ll really teach me?”                    Kohana’s face lit up again with that smile that made Rei feel so warm. “We’ll start in the morning.”                    Kohana was the best teacher that Rei had ever had. She knew that the bar wasn’t particularly high, but she’d never spent so much time with someone so skilled who was dedicated to just helping her improve before. Within a month, she was able to suppress her chakra vacuum deep inside her chest, only releasing it when she consciously decided to.                    “Think of it like a basic pentagonal Seal,” Kohana had told her. “You can create a mental Seal within yourself to keep your own chakra in check. It’s just mental, of course. Physical Seals aren’t going to work on you.”                    When she shook hands with Headmaster Iwa and his eyes widened in shock, Rei nearly cried. “Kohana has certainly accomplished something special with you,” he had said. “I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary.”                    When Rei asked Kohana why no one at the orphanage had ever mentioned this strange feeling that she gave others, Kohana’s answer was simple. “They probably never noticed. I’m guessing that this ability didn’t start to manifest itself until shortly before Niko discovered you. That happens sometimes with Bloodline Limits; manifestation around the onset of puberty.”                    It was Kohana who explained what Niko Sensei had been pretending to do to her in the barracks. It was Kohana who explained what was going on when Rei’s first blood appeared just before her thirteenth birthday and she’d thought she was dying. And it was Kohana who had discovered how to place a Seal on Rei to the foundation’s satisfaction.                    “She’ll have to do it herself,” Kohana had announced in the common area of the bunker one morning in early December.                    “What?” Headmaster Iwa asked, lifting his head from the folder of data he was scanning. “Do what?”                    “Rei will have to put a Seal on herself.”                    Koichi and Rei had been sitting on the couch across from the table, reviewing a few math problems that Kohana was forcing them to practice, and they both looked up at this statement. “How am I supposed to do that?”                    “Well, you remember how you put that mental Seal on your chakra vacuum?” Kohana excitedly took the seat next to the Headmaster, ruffling some of his papers when she propped her arms on the table. “It’ll be just like that, but this time, it will be pertaining to all information regarding the foundation and our plans for the Mizukage.”                    Headmaster Iwa sat back and rubbed his forehead, like he was exhausted. He probably was. “Kohana, how can she understand the delicacy of what this Seal needs to entail? And how in the world are we going to check and see if she’s done it right? We don’t have access to the kind of mind-reading intelligence that the Leaf does. “                    Kohana’s enthusiasm didn’t fade. “Such easy answers. She’s been studying Seals with me for months; she can perform at the level needed for this one. She’ll just need to practice before actually applying it to her mind instead of her body.”                    “How am I supposed to do that?” Rei asked again. She closed the math book and stood from the couch, going over to the table. This was a much more exciting conversation.                    “Why don’t you practice on one of the new recruits?” Koichi offered. He tossed his book aside too, and when he came to stand next to Rei, she noticed for the hundredth time how much taller he had gotten in the last six months. The top of her head was now level with his chin, and he greatly enjoyed looking down at her.                    Headmaster Iwa cocked his head to the side contemplatively. “I don’t know about the new recruits, but if it goes wrong, can you undo the damage?” He looked to Kohana.                    For the first time, Kohana hesitated. “The psyche is a delicate thing. But… if worse comes to worst and she botches the Seal, I should just be able to remove it.”                    Rei couldn’t believe it. She was going to place a Seal on someone. She was going to do something useful. Then she’d put a Seal on herself. Then she’d be able to go outside again. Then… what? What was the next step?                    “I’ll have to run it by the council.” He swept his loose papers back into some semblance of order and tucked them away in a brown folder. “But you might as well start practicing.”                    Rei glanced at Koichi. “With who?”                    It was at that moment that the door at the top of the stairs that led above ground opened, and Niko Sensei and Utakata descended with brief greetings. Koichi raised his hand. “I volunteer Utakata.”                    “Whatever it is, I don’t want it.” Utakata barely spared them a glance before taking a seat on the couch and leaning over to untie his boots. He and Koichi were about the same height now, but there was definitely a noticeable age difference there. Koichi was just starting to look like a teenager really, but at fifteen, Utakata had been at that point for longer than Rei had known him. His long bangs fell away from his perpetually covered eye for half a second as he sat back up and pushed his boots to the side of the couch.                    “Well…” Headmaster Iwa regarded Utakata carefully for a moment.                    “What’s going on?” Niko Sensei asked, sliding off his flak jacket and hanging it on the peg by the stairs that also held Rei, Kohana, and Koichi’s vests.                    “I was just deciding that Utakata would make an interesting test subject for Rei’s Sealing Jutsu.” The moment that the last word left the Headmaster’s lips, the room virtually erupted.                    “Yes!” Koichi bellowed, laughing so hard that he had to lean on the table for support.                    “No way!” Utakata shouted at the same time, but he was drowned out by Koichi’s noise and Niko Sensei’s questions. Rei watched them all with wide eyes until Kohana grinned and came to her side, wrapping her arm around Rei’s shoulders.                    “Well, now that that’s settled, why don’t we head down to the Sealing chamber?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I am not doing this.”                    “Come on, man. She’s been practicing for two days.”                    “Oh wow, two whole days.”                    Koichi shoved Utakata’s shoulder lightly, not so subtly pushing him in the direction of the Sealing Stone. “Just lay down like a big boy. She’s not going to hurt you.”                    Utakata’s glare was so sharp that Rei silently thanked whoever was listening that it wasn’t pointed at her. “Keep it up and I might actually kill you.”                    “Alright, boys.” Niko Sensei stepped between the two of them and faced Utakata. His chest heaved with a deep breath, and he set his hands on Utakata’s shoulders. “You know why you were selected for this?”                    “I know why you told me I was selected.” Brushing Niko Sensei’s hands down, Utakata finally pinned Rei with his golden eyes. She froze at the contact, and the chakra tickling her fingers nearly numbed her entire hand. “Because I have the most experience of the ‘young Shinobi,’ and my mind will bounce back from injury more easily than an adult’s. Yeah, I got that. I’m still not doing it.”                    The other Shinobi congregating by the stairs were beginning to mumble amongst themselves at the conflict. This was the first time that Rei had seen most of them, though Kohana had quietly pointed out each person as they’d entered the chamber. They were council members of the foundation, and they were here to witness what she could do. No pressure.                    “You’re such a baby.” Koichi hopped up on the Sealing Stone, making his mother cry out softly in horror, though Rei suspected that it was more at the thought of someone jumping on the stone than at the idea that it was her son up there. “I’ll do it. I trust my teammate.”                    Headmaster Iwa rubbed his forehead like he was getting a migraine. He was doing that more and more frequently these days. “Koichi, your father would have my head if I let you be a test subject.”                    Crossing his arms, Koichi sat forward, tensed. “So I’m more important than Utakata? I can’t be risked? Is that what you’re saying?” He smirked.                    “To me?” Headmaster Iwa’s voice was strained, but he matched Koichi’s snark. “No. But to your father, who outranks me? Yes, I’m sure you are more important. You’re your father’s precious boy.”                    Koichi’s leer morphed into a snarl and he hopped down. “Just get on the stupid rock.”                    Utakata turned his eyes from Niko Sensei to Headmaster Iwa and sighed. “You both owe me big.”                    As Kohana and Niko Sensei strapped Utakata’s wrists and ankles down to the Sealing Stone, Headmaster Iwa turned to the council members. “The restraints are for both Reimi and Utakata’s protection. Sometimes during Sealing rituals, the subject loses control of their extremities, and they have been known to injure the caster. Jolting can also cause the caster to lose focus, which is critical in a Sealing ritual, and is also why I encourage all of you to hold your questions and comments for when the Jutsu has been completed.”                    Most of the council members nodded in understanding, but several stared blankly. Kohana had explained earlier that a few weren’t Shinobi at all, but that they were nobles from the capital of the Land of Water. They were the few who funded most of the operation to bring down the Mizukage.                    Koichi had taken his place by Rei’s side, and she leaned near to him to whisper, “Why is the council here? I’m not doing anything that your mom couldn’t do.”                    “Something about rating your potential. That’s what Mom said.” Koichi shrugged, his shoulders almost meeting his ears. “You’re the first one they’ve met with the potential to kickstart everything.”                    Rei wasn’t sure she’d heard that correctly. “What does that mean?”                    “Well, it’s not like there are a lot of Bloodline Limits still around, after all. You’re probably the only one they’ve ever met.” A quiet clang of metal came from the Sealing Stone as Utakata tested his restraints and confirmed that he couldn’t escape.                    “What are you talking about?” Rei asked, begging Koichi with her eyes to answer quickly.                    “What?” Koichi looked genuinely puzzled, and then Headmaster Iwa was motioning Rei forward. Her mind whirled, fighting against her single focus of the task ahead as she was led to the stone. Standing beside Utakata’s right shoulder, she met his eyes again and hoped that she looked confident. But it didn’t matter how she looked. As composed as her teammate was on the stone, his eyes wavered from side to side quickly, just short of frantic, and he was beginning to breathe more rapidly.                    “Reimi Taira is our most promising new recruit,” the Headmaster said for the benefit of the council. “She was rescued from the Academy six months ago when we discovered that she possessed what we can only assume is an extinct kekkei genkai. This information is included in the restrictions of your respective Curse Marks, so bear in mind that if you attempt to discuss Rei’s condition with anyone outside of the foundation, you will suffer the consequences.” He paused for a moment to glance at Rei, but she couldn’t pay him any attention.                    Utakata was breathing so hard now that Rei could hear the harshness of the air as it entered and exited his lungs. He was showing the same kind of symptoms that Niko Sensei had on their first mission, when he’d had a panic attack and had slept for almost an entire day afterward. Rei wasn’t exactly sure what a panic attack felt like, but she knew panic. She knew terror. He shouldn’t be feeling that way.                    While Headmaster Iwa kept talking about whatever he felt was important, Rei reached out and brushed Utakata’s hair off of his forehead. His face was as pale and ghastly as a sky awaiting a thunderstorm. Rei could almost see his heart pounding through the thin fabric of his shirt. She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes, searching her mind for the wall she’d built. She’d gotten very good at keeping it out of her immediate range; she’d accidentally breached it twice a few months ago, and she didn’t intend to draw anyone’s chakra away unintentionally ever again.                    There you are. Upon finding the wall, she went through her list of requirements that would allow the barrier to open. She’d been able to shorten her list three times now, and Kohana assured her that it wouldn’t be long before she’d be able to call and dismiss her ability at will, without needing to wall it away. Unfortunately, that day was not today, and it took several nerve-wracking seconds for her to sift through the correct information before the wall allowed a small stream of chakra to drift into her reach.                    The moment that her special chakra met the invisible wisps above Utakata’s head, it grabbed on and drew it back into Rei’s body. Utakata’s chakra was cool and felt carbonated, little bubbles tickling her veins as they ascended into her core. Slowly, slowly. The bubbles almost halted completely, but she pulled them forward consciously, holding her breath.                    Utakata’s heartbeat was slowing back to a more normal rate, and his chest was beginning to rise and fall with ease instead of straining under dread.                    The wall began cracking, forcing more of Rei’s own chakra through. Her chakra grabbed furiously at any foreign energy it could find, and she felt a sudden onslaught of unfamiliar mental flavors. Before she could lose her grip on her teammate, she slammed the barrier back into place and snapped her eyes open.                    All talking in the darkened room had ceased, and all eyes were on her. The light thrown by the torches flickered aggressively over every face, and a variety of expressions twisted visages that she was already unaccustomed to.                    Headmaster Iwa’s voice cut through her fog. “Did you see it, Taji?”                    A middle-aged bald man with a thin salt-and-pepper beard nodded and crossed his arms over his bulky chest. “I did. You spoke the truth.”                    Looking back to Rei, Headmaster Iwa inclined his head. “Rei, please proceed with the Sealing.”                    If she hesitated, she’d get distracted, and she would fail. Utakata stared straight up at the ceiling vacantly and a thin line of panic wove into Rei’s chakra. She hoped she hadn’t broken him. With a deep, cleansing breath, she placed a palm over each of her teammate’s eyes, and she felt his eyelashes flutter for a moment.                    Quickly, but carefully.                     She knew the incantation by heart. She repeated it hundreds of times over the last few days. She knew how to combine different energies to get the desired result. She’d been taught well.                    But she was still terrified.                    Her lips moved silently as she worked through the chakra combinations, weaving them together seamlessly before moving the energy into her fingertips and forcing it through Utakata’s eyes as gently as she knew how.                    She could feel the self-imposed barriers in his own mind, and guiding her strain of chakra through another person’s mind was strange beyond compare. If she really tried, she could probably access some of his memories. She could feel where they were stored: behind shimmery walls of something that gave off an aura of a water-like energy. She had no idea how she knew what was behind those barriers; she just knew.                    Here. There was a spot for mental Sealings resting just behind the eyes, in the dead center of a person’s head, Kohana had said. Rei would know it when she saw it. And there it was. A strange column of energy was in the exact center of Utakata’s mind, and Rei could sense the already existing residual energy from his Curse Mark. Without hesitation, she wrapped her chakra around the column and muttered the required phrases.                    By the final few words, she could feel her chakra leeching out of her and ingraining itself into Utakata’s psyche. It was done. All that was left to do was retreat and hope that they both came out of the process intact.                    When Rei lifted her hands from Utakata’s eyes, the silence that had overtaken the Sealing Chamber was broken.                    “Sit him up!”                    “Did it work?”                    “Wow, I can’t believe we’ve got a kekkei genkai among us.”                    There it was again. As Kohana and Niko Sensei started undoing Utakata’s restraints, Rei looked to Koichi and blinked. There were two of him, then there were three, then two again. Then everything went dark for half a second. “Woah, there.” Koichi was at her side immediately, one arm on her waist and the other guiding her hand over his head and around his shoulders. “Looks like you might have overdone it.”                    For a moment, no one was looking at her. Koichi guided her to the wall and slid her into a sitting position. She leaned her head on the hard stone, feeling the tiniest tingle of the wall’s chakra against her scalp. “What… happened… to the people… with kekkei genkai?”                    “Just breathe for a few minutes,” Koichi said, kneeling in front of her. “You might pass out.”                    It was good advice. Her vision blacked over again and a ball of nausea rolled up her throat for a moment before retreating.                    “Utakata,” Headmaster Iwa said loudly and clearly, obviously as some sort of show. Rei peeked her eyes open. “Say ‘mashed potatoes.’”                    Utakata was sitting up on the stone, his hand pressed to his temple lightly, but he narrowed his eyes at the Headmaster now. “What?”                    “Say ‘mashed potatoes.’”                    “Why?”                    The council members started to mumble again and Koichi snapped, “Just say it!”                    Utakata sighed, exasperated, then said “M—”                    Before the word could be formed, Utakata’s entire body seized, and he fell back on the Sealing Stone, rigid as a statue. Everyone in the room except for Rei suddenly made some kind of small movement. Some touched their foreheads and others looked around as if they’d heard a voice they couldn’t place. Then their eyes all moved back to Utakata.                    “Well,” Headmaster Iwa said, smiling broadly. Rei supposed his headache was gone. “I’d say that was a success.”

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“I can’t believe how long it took you to just get on the stupid rock.” Koichi was lying on the floor of the common area, hands behind his head, a book about the history of the Land of Water spread over his face.                    Aside from a venomous glare, Utakata did not reply, but he did shoot Rei a brief glance that she couldn’t interpret. “By the way,” Koichi continued, rolling over and letting the book fall to the floor. “Why ‘mashed potatoes’?”                    “Hm?” Headmaster Iwa looked up from his never-ending paperwork.                    “I said, why ‘mashed potatoes’?”                    “Why mashed potatoes for what?”                    Koichi dropped his forehead to the floor, so Rei took a seat next to the Headmaster at the table. “Why was ‘mashed potatoes’ one of the key phrases that would paralyze Utakata?”                    “Oh.” A small grin. “I was starving when I was writing the Jutsu, and it was all I could think about.”                    Utakata took the seat next to Rei, giving her a not-unfriendly side-eye. “When can you undo it? It’s such a ridiculous thing to be paralyzed for.”                    “Not only paralyzed,” Koichi said, hopping up and joining them. “Everybody with a Curse Mark got the message that you were a traitor.”                    “For saying ‘mashed potatoes’?” Rei asked, looking between the three of them. “I didn’t know that would happen.”                    “It’s like this.” Headmaster Iwa bent back to his work, talking while he wrote. Rei had a feeling that he would regret that later. “The Curse Marks are encoded to a specific series of words, but also to the speaker’s intentions. Chakra is very unique in the way that it can sense someone’s future actions. In Utakata’s case, if he were to say the word ‘mashed potatoes,’ describe mashed potatoes, or seriously intend to tell anyone about mashed potatoes who didn’t have the same Seal, his body would freeze and render him incapacitated until the original caster were to free him. In addition, an automatic chakra signal would be sent to anyone with the Seal to notify them that Utakata had betrayed them.”                    When neither of her teammates looked surprised, she said, “Seriously?”                    “It’s the same premise with our Curse Marks,” he continued, making a sloppy scratch that Rei assumed was his signature on a file. “The same thing would happen if one of us were to speak of our plans against the Mizukage to someone outside of the foundation. The paralysis wouldn’t even be released under torture.”                    “Which brings me back to my original question.” Utakata’s fingers were tightly clenched. Rei wondered if he was ever un-stressed. Even when he put on that totally relaxed front, something about him was tense.                    “It all depends on when Rei is feeling up to it. She lost a lot of chakra to put that Seal on you. It could take a couple of days.”                    Rei smiled when Koichi said, “I definitely know what we’re eating tonight. Wanna guess, tight-wad?”                    “I hope you’re not joking. I love potatoes,” Headmaster Iwa said absently while turning a page.                    While the boys bickered, Headmaster Iwa looked up and gave Rei a warm smile. “You have accomplished something big today. The council was very impressed.” Rei looked down at her lap. A warmth of usefulness, success washed through her. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you were out on a mission this time next week.”

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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.

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Koichi finally caught up with them a little before noon, and it took the better part of the day for them to scout the northern border and remove old traps from the side of the mountain.                    “I can’t believe how old some of those paper bombs were,” Koichi said as they sat down for their evening meal in a small sandwich shop. “I bet they date to back to the Second Great Ninja War.”                    “Some of them, definitely.” Niko Sensei flipped his menu around, scanning their options like he probably hadn’t been here a hundred times. For Rei, the experience was novel. She’d never ordered food from a restaurant before.                    “What’s a Reuben sandwich?”                    “Corned beef, sauerkraut, and cheese,” said Niko Sensei.                    After a brief pause, “What’s sauerkraut?”                    “Pickled cabbage,” from Utakata.                    More quietly, Rei asked, “What’s corned beef?”                    “Just get the sandwich.” Koichi leaned forward to take a sip of his water. “It doesn’t matter what’s in it. It’s delicious.”                    “Okay.” Pickled cabbage didn’t sound great, and the idea of some combination of cow and corn was too strange for her to wrap her mind around. But Koichi endorsed it, so she was willing to try it.                    Niko Sensei stood and motioned for Rei to follow. “This is a vital skill for surviving in the real world,” he said. “Watch and learn. This is how one orders food at a restaurant.”                    They walked up to a desk where a young woman was collecting money and Niko Sensei ran his hand back through his thick hair, just like he used to do when talking with Hina Sensei. Rei rolled her eyes behind his back. She was prepared to watch him order, but her attention was stolen when a large, very obviously male hand settled on the back of her neck beneath her ponytail. It didn’t squeeze, but there was a definite threat in the movement.                    “It’s been a while,” Zane Sensei said in a harsh whisper, leaning down specifically to exhale on her ear. “I was wondering if you had run off and died.”                    Rei was shocked that she wasn’t afraid. She had friends and a sensei here to protect her. Her lungs squeezed painfully, and every nerve and cell in her small body urged her to whip around and strangle her old teacher. The one who had murdered Risa.                    Her ability, her kekkei genkai, was beginning to thrash behind the barrier as her anger rose. No. Stay back. Build the wall stronger. She had to shut her eyes for a moment to concentrate.                    “You’ve grown in the last few months,” he continued quietly. She felt the light pressure of his lips, his nose on the top of her head, and he inhaled deeply while she saw red. “You’re looking so much better.”                    Finally, Niko Sensei came to his senses and stopped flirting with the girl behind the counter. When he saw what was going on, he crossed the six feet between them in two furious steps and wrenched Rei out of Zane Sensei’s grip. Rei’s footing was tenuous as her sensei let go, but she found her balance and grabbed onto the counter while Niko Sensei kept his body in front of her.                    The few people in the restaurant were now staring at them warily. If there was going to be a fight, they were ready to clear out. “Wow,” Zane Sensei said, putting his hands in his pockets nonthreateningly. “What an overreaction.”                    After a few deep breaths, Niko Sensei shut his eyes and straightened. “You’re right. Sorry. It’s the first time I’ve brought her in public.”                    Zane Sensei’s eyebrows went up. “You’ve been keeping her in your apartment for months? Man, it’s a wonder she’s not white as a piece of paper.” Rei’s stomach was rolling in revulsion, and her neck burned. She touched her fingers to her throat, wincing at the sting. “Sorry about that, Rei,” Zane Sensei said, leaning around Niko Sensei to see her. “He jerked you away so fast that I may have tightened my grip a little too much. Shinobi instincts and all that.”                    Rei could see Utakata and Koichi from where she stood. Until a moment ago they had been oblivious, but upon seeing her with her hand on her neck, they stood from their seats and started working their way up to the front of the restaurant silently. People were beginning to trickle out, uncomfortable with the new atmosphere, and the girl behind the counter had disappeared.                    “Whatever you’re doing to her, it must be working.” Zane Sensei’s voice had taken on a new quality, one that didn’t help Rei’s nausea. “She’s starting to fill out. How long are you going to keep her around?”                    “Hey, what’s going on?” Koichi’s overly chipper voice sounded so painfully fake as he marched over to Niko Sensei and gave Zane Sensei a once-over. “Wow, Sensei, it’s been like three years. Did you hear how like half of the Cypher Corps got taken out last week?”                    The hesitation on Zane Sensei’s part was intentional, heavy. His eyes clamped back on Rei, serpent-like. “Of course. Kisame Hoshigaki graduated the year after me. We knew he’d be the survivor in that group from the beginning. There’d be no one better to eliminate our own.”                       Utakata took the moment of brief distraction to slide his fingers around Rei’s wrist and pull her away from the counter and towards the door. However, Zane Sensei’s eyes never left her. She could feel the ice from his gaze on the back of her neck until she was out the building and around the corner.                    As soon as she was through the door, the breath she’d been holding exploded in a sob, and Utakata tightened his grip, tugging her towards the street. “Can you run?” He didn’t wait for an answer; he just burst into motion, leading her along. She ran on adrenaline, and she didn’t see anything that they passed. All she could see was Risa’s face the night she’d died.                    They finally entered a pretty well-to-do neighborhood, and Utakata pulled a shiny silver key from his jacket pocket. He stopped before a solid black door with a silver knocker. The key let him in easily, and when she hesitated, he grabbed her wrist again and pulled her inside.                    She didn’t bother looking around. She just fell to her knees and let her trembling arms hold her up. She heard the latches on the door snick soundly, and then Utakata was kneeling in front of her. “What was that about?” he asked. Rei couldn’t be sure if his voice was really emotionless, or if she was just too emotional to interpret it. Her anger was gone as if it had never existed.                    There was no speaking now. Every time she tried, her voice broke into uncontrollable heaving cries, and her arms finally gave out underneath her. She knew that she looked like a puddle of misery, but she didn’t care. How could Zane Sensei appear in front of her on her very first day out of the bunker?                    She didn’t know how long she was on the floor, how many times Utakata’s feet passed her blurry field of vision before his hands were under her shoulders, helping her to her feet. She let herself be led to an expansive dining table, bigger even than the table at the orphanage, and she let herself be served a cup of hot, bitter tea.                    While she drank and while her emotions tried to settle rationally, Utakata sat across from her. He kept checking the clock across the room, arms crossed over his chest. To any passersby, he’d look like the picture of disinterested serenity. But Rei could sense the disruptions in his chakra, the questions that he was barely holding in.                    When her mug was empty, Rei cleared her throat. “Thanks,” she whispered. With her breakdown subsiding, she finally took stock of her surroundings. This was more than an apartment. It was more like a full-sized house with other houses above it. It was immaculate. The walls were a clean off-white with some kind of fancy trim along the ceiling and the floors, and the hard wood floor that she’d cried on for who knows how long was so shiny that she could see her reflection in it from where she sat at the table. Several different rooms could be reached from the open dining room, and Rei looked back at her teammate. Her voice was still strained when she said, “No wonder you don’t live at the safehouse.”                     He scoffed. “We’re not talking about that. What happened back there?”                    “I don’t know,” she answered after a moment. “What was he doing there? What was with the touching?” She rubbed at her neck again, relieved that it no longer stung, but knowing that it would bruise.                    “Yeah, that’s going to be dark tomorrow.” Utakata got up from his seat and came around beside her, setting his hand atop her head and tilting it slightly to the side. With an instinct she thought she’d conquered, Rei smacked his arm away. He held up both hands in surrender, backing a foot away. “I’ve got some salve that might help with the bruising.”                    Utakata disappeared into one of the rooms and Rei buried her head in her arms. This was not how she’d imagined her first day out to be. When Utakata returned, he held a clear little jar with a decorative glass lid out to her. As she applied the eucalyptus-scented cream to her neck, Utakata sat next to her, resting his arms on his knees. “Can you talk about it?”                    “I don’t know.”                    After a short pause, he asked, “Can I ask you some questions?”                    “Fine.” She felt ridiculous. Zane Sensei hadn’t even done anything to her.                    Utakata’s mouth opened slightly, then shut. Opened again, then shut. He looked like a fish, but Rei couldn’t find it in herself to be amused. “Can you explain… why Niko Sensei was shielding you from another Jonin?”                    Rei’s reflection on the floor seemed much more willing to answer than she herself was. “He was a sensei at the Academy. He killed my best friend.”                    “And?”                    Rei tore her gaze from the floor. “That’s not enough?”                    A slight tightening of his shoulders, a flicker of bright eyes. “It doesn’t seem like it is.”                    It had darkened outside only a little while ago, but it seemed like midnight to Rei. The darkest part of night. It might as well be; she was revealing her darkest memories. Wrapping her arms around herself in a makeshift hug, one exponentially less comforting than one Kohana would have offered, Rei murmured, “No, I can’t. Just living in the B barracks was enough. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”                    Sudden understanding dawned in Utakata’s expression, and Rei knew she didn’t have to say anything more. “Oh,” he breathed. “I’d…forgotten.” He shook his head, looking as uncomfortable as Rei felt. There was nothing to speak about anymore. He knew everything he needed to. So she was surprised when she heard his voice again. “He’s the one who picked you?”                    “No. Niko Sensei was.” When Utakata started and rose to his feet, she amended her statement. “But he didn’t do anything to me. He kept everyone else away.” Risa’s blank face, pale as flour, assaulted Rei’s mind again. She lurched up and stumbled to the sink, emptying the contents of her midday meal into the drain.                    She slid down the counter when she was sure nothing else was coming up, vision swimming. It was like nothing had changed. She was right back where she was six months ago. She was just a little orphan girl in the cruelest country in the world.                    Utakata fixed her a cup of water, and she nearly dropped the unexpectedly heavy crystal glass before she could take a single sip. The water sloshed against the decorative engravings as her hand trembled. “I need to go out and figure out where Niko Sensei and Koichi are. Will you be alright by yourself?”                    Rei guessed that she nodded, because Utakata was gone when she looked back up. Crashing her head back against the counter, she wondered if he would care if she crashed on one of those expensive couches. The open living room was only about twenty feet away, and she honestly wasn’t sure if she possessed the willpower at this point to get there.                    She was just pulling herself into a standing position when the latches on the door began to rattle and slide open. It wasn’t Utakata.

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The man that walked through the door laid eyes on Rei the moment that he entered. He was a stringy middle-aged man who looked as if he suddenly wanted nothing more than to be elsewhere. “Oh my,” he exclaimed quietly. “The master didn’t mention that he was having guests.”                    He rushed to her side, and Rei could tell immediately that he didn’t mean her any harm. He reminded her of a panicked bird, flitting from here to there with no real purpose. After a few moments of indecision, he asked permission to help her to the living area.                    She stuttered out a yes and let him take her hand. No one had ever asked for permission to touch her before.                    The couch in the living room was softer than anything she’d ever rested on, and the man raced away to light the fireplace. The room filled with a comfortable warmth, and Rei felt her eyes closing of their own volition. She’d nearly dozed off when the man let out a startled cry and appeared back at her side.                    “Miss, what has happened to your neck?” He seemed to be putting puzzle pieces together in his head for a moment before a look of absolute horror overtook his expression. “The… young master didn’t do this?”                    Rei blinked at him for a moment, unsure of what he was talking about. “Oh! No, he was helping me.”                    Obvious relief. “Miss, I am sure that the master would insist that you reside in one of the guest rooms for the night. Please allow me to prepare one for you.”                    Rei was tired of making decisions for the day. Her body, mind, emotions, and spirit were all exhausted. “Fine.”The man made to rush away again, but first he stopped by the kitchen and delved into a cabinet. After a bit of rummaging, he pulled out a tin of butter cookies. “Please help yourself.” He deposited the tin her lap and disappeared down a hallway.                    What was even going on anymore?                    Rei nibbled timidly on a cookie, checking over and over that she wasn’t dropping any crumbs. This sofa cost more than her whole life, she was sure. Her mind was growing increasingly fuzzy. The only sensation that seemed to belong in the spotlight at the moment was pain. Her neck throbbed, and she feared what she would see when she next looked in the mirror.                    “Miss, if you would follow me?”                    Rei didn’t sense any chakra at all from the skinny man as she traveled the hallway behind him. Not only was he definitely not Shinobi, but he probably didn’t have a developed chakra network. That would be unusual for the Mist Village.                    He handed her a linen parcel as he gestured to an open door. “In here, you’ll find the necessities for a lady. There is a connecting restroom off to the right. Would you like me to arrange a wake-up call for you?”                    Rei shook her head wearily, hugged the parcel to her chest, and barely made it to the bed before collapsing. The man, whose name she hadn’t even asked, wished her a good night and shut the door gently.                    When Rei slowly rose back to consciousness, it was full dark, and she didn’t make a move before she assessed her surroundings. There was no sound save for the quiet rasp of her breath and the beating of her heart deep in her ears. Her arms were folded underneath her, wrapped around a solid object, and it took to a few agonizingly tingly moments for her deadened fingers to determine what that object was.                    Oh, right. She was at Utakata’s house. That knowledge didn’t quiet the pounding of her heart, but she still needed to get up and get into the bathroom immediately. She couldn’t see anything but the dull outline of furniture around her, but she managed to find the connected bathroom after only stubbing her toe one time.                    She blinked in the harsh light of the bathroom, no longer surprised to be faced with opulence. She didn’t bother looking in the silver framed mirror until she had taken care of her body’s basic needs, and she was pleased to discover soap, shampoo, fresh underthings in roughly her size, and sanitary napkins in her parcel. She set the light nightgown aside.                    As she was toweling her hair dry, she finally caught sight of her reflection. The mark on her neck wasn’t dark purple like she had feared, but it was still visible, pale red, and very obviously the evidence that she’d been restrained by a large hand.                    She threw her uniform back on over the new underclothes, pocketing the sanitary napkins and her old underthings. She needed to get out of here and back to the safehouse. She didn’t know exactly where it was, but if she could find the Headquarters Building, she could find her way from there.                    The moment that she cracked the door to the guest room, she could feel several familiar chakra signatures, and she exhaled away the anxiety. Niko Sensei, Koichi, Utakata, and the skinny man were in the kitchen/living room, all of them holding steaming mugs, and they turned their heads all at once towards her when she exited the hallway.                    Niko Sensei’s eyes hardened and he looked down at the floor for a split second, then he immediately apologized. “I shouldn’t have dropped my guard.”                    The unnamed man scurried over to a coffeepot and opened the cabinet above it to find another mug. “Shoda, don’t bother,” Utakata said from his place by the mantel across the room. “We’re about to leave.”                    “Maybe,” Koichi said from the couch. “What’s Leo say?”                    “He doesn’t say anything; he’s a dog.” Utakata looked to Rei. “Sorry for rushing out like that. I’m glad to see that Shoda took care of you.”                    “Of course I did.” The man known as Shoda offered a new mug of coffee to Rei, having ignored Utakata’s instructions. It was black, so Rei took a sip, suppressed a wince, and used the cup to warm her hands. “I was certain that she wasn’t a target, so I treated her like any guest of the house.”                    “Hey, come sit,” Koichi said, scooting over. “It’s like one in the morning, and you still look like you could fall over.” He did a terrible job of pretending not to look at her neck as she took the spot next to him. She pulled her legs up on the couch and hugged her knees with one arm, resting her mug on her kneecaps, ensuring that her hair would fall around her shoulders and shield the marks from view.                    Niko Sensei moved over to the window by the front door and pulled back the curtain an inch or two, peering out carefully. After a moment, he shook his head. “Leo’s restless. Someone’s lurking around. We’re not going anywhere until morning.”                    Utakata turned to look out the window, hip resting against the stone fireplace, one arm still folded across his chest, mug in the other.  “It’s probably someone on my mother’s payroll.” When everyone but Shoda looked at him questioningly, he continued. “She’s been trying to contact me for a few weeks, but I’ve been busy.”                    “Then just go out there and talk to them so we can go home,” Koichi said. “I’m already sick of your house.”                    “No, thanks.” Utakata took a leisurely sip of his coffee.                    “Does she know what we’re part of?” Rei’s voice was quiet, and goosebumps pricked her skin when her teammate turned his eyes on her.                    He didn’t answer, but Niko Sensei did. “Utakata’s family does not know about the foundation, and it would probably be the end of us if they found out.” Utakata’s gaze fell to the demure flames of the fireplace as Niko Sensei murmured, “They are cousins to the Mizukage, and they are sympathetic to him.”                    No one else looked surprised, so Rei kept any emotion from her face. Why would a wealthy noble’s child seek out the ungrateful life of a Shinobi, and then plot to destroy his family’s position? Utakata’s face was completely closed off, allowing no insight into these questions, and Rei hugged her knees a little tighter.                    “What’s keeping them from just coming in?” Koichi asked. “It’s officially your mom’s house, isn’t it?”                    Utakata motioned at the front door with his mug. “Wards. A more informal version of what Headmaster Iwa has at the bunker. It’s worked so far.”                    “You’re going to have to face them sooner or later.” Niko Sensei peeked out the window once more. “They’re liable to abduct you if you don’t willingly speak to them. Your mother has more than enough influence to accomplish that.”                    It took all of Rei’s concentration to keep her mind from boiling into overpowering anxiety. Shoda hadn’t stopped moving since Rei had entered the room. Even in the moments when he had no task to complete, he was wringing his hands or pacing from one end of the room to the other. “He’s right about that, sir. The Madam doesn’t like to be kept waiting, not at all.”                    “Believe me, I know. I’ve lived with her.” Utakata joined Niko Sensei at the window for half a second before turning away and moving into the kitchen to dispose of his cup in the sink. “But I’m not going out there in the middle of the night.”                    “So I’ve got to spend the night in your overdone, ugly house?”                    “Yes.” Niko Sensei smacked the back of Koichi’s head. “We appreciate that Utakata isn’t going to throw you out into the street to be harassed by his mother’s thugs.”                    While Koichi continued to complain, Rei shut her eyes and focused on the heat seeping through the porcelain mug and into her fingers. With a quick mental assessment, she confirmed that the wall trapping her ability was still intact and strong. She hadn’t used it on Zane Sensei, but she had no idea what a real violent encounter would do to her barriers.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It took several days for the marks on Rei’s neck to begin to fade and for Kohana to let her out of the safe house again. “The only way to ensure that your barriers don’t break down is to put them to the test,” Kohana said as Rei tightened the straps on her flak jacket. “A real test.”                    The sparring she’d done with Koichi and Utakata had revealed that she had perfect control of her chakra, even when one of Utakata’s kunai cut a thin line across her bicep. But she also knew that her life wasn’t in danger from those two. They’d been working together for months now, and the three had developed an instinct to protect and defend one other, in spite of any and all differences and squabbles.                    Rei flexed her arms back and forth for a moment, ensuring that the bandage around her wound was tight, but flexible. “I know. I’m ready.”                    Kohana’s mouth turned down at the corners just slightly. “Remember that if your barriers drop, you need to retreat and disappear immediately. No one can know about the kekkei genkai.”                    Koichi’s offhand comment from the day of Utakata’s mental Sealing rushed back to Rei in a whirlwind, and she faced Kohana, summoning every ounce of courage inside her. It turned out there wasn’t much there. Her voice quavered a bit as she asked, “What happened to all of the Bloodline Limits?”                    Kohana had just turned away to grab Rei’s weapons pouch for her, and she started visibly. “What do you mean?”                    “I…” Rei took the pouch from the older woman and buckled it securely around her waist, phrasing and rephrasing her words in her mind. “Where… are they? Why aren’t there more? My… family. Where are they?” It didn’t hurt to ask, though Rei knew logically that she should love her parents. She just didn’t remember them, so there was no one to feel anything for.                    Kohana’s pause was long enough to be uncomfortable. “Didn’t they teach you about the kekkei genkai in the Academy?”                    Rei’s head shook from side to side, uncertain. Had they? She certainly didn’t remember hearing about people born with special abilities beyond regular chakra control.                    “Come here.” Kohana took a seat on the couch and motioned for Rei to join her. They sat close, and Kohana pulled the girl into a tight side-hug. “You have to be so careful, dear.”                    “I know.”                    “But you don’t know why.” For a few moments, they just held each other in what Rei assumed was a familial embrace. If she’d had a mother, she hoped it was someone who’d been like Kohana. “Tell me what you know about the history of the Hidden Mist Village.”                    Rei pulled back a few inches and looked Kohana in the face incredulously. “How much of it?”                    “Just start and I’ll tell you when to stop.”                    “Um…” Rei wracked her brain for facts that had been pounded into her from her first weeks at the Academy. “The land was split up into a bunch of islands, and the First Mizukage united them as the Hidden Mist Village, and we’ve pretty much been fighting with other nations ever since, and—”                    “And who else?”                    “Who else what?”                    “Who else have we been fighting?”                    Rei hadn’t gotten much information about current events in her time at the Academy, but she knew the answer to that question. “Each other.”                    “Exactly.” Kohana pulled her close again and Rei tried to quell her anxiety, her confusion. “We’ve been at war in some way, shape, or form since our very foundation. We’re a restless state, and our leadership is corrupt to its core. Those early wars were dominated by Shinobi with kekkei genkai, and it became obvious that they outranked normal Shinobi in every way. They became a source of fear for us.”                    Clarity. “So they were all killed.”                    Kohana didn’t pause this time. “Yes, dear. Some remain, those with powers that don’t seem especially threatening. But others… The few that are left are in hiding, like you. And until the leadership of our nation and our mindsets change, you are going to have to live in anonymity. It is the only way to stay safe here.”                    For now. Kohana’s unspoken words rang between them. You could be the agent that sparks a change.                     When Rei exited the safe house, Koichi and Niko Sensei were already waiting on her, as she knew they would be. “Where’s Utakata?”                    Koichi snickered. “His mom finally caught him.”                    “He’ll be with his family for a few days,” Niko Sensei said, motioning with his head for them to follow. “I imagine that Lady Sato has a few words to say to him about ignoring her summons.”                    The snow lay thickly on the ground this morning, and Rei flexed her fingers inside her skin-tight gloves. She’d only spent a few nights on the streets in weather like this, and she’d been very lucky to find shelter under a bridge, the eaves of a house, and an alley, along with the others without a place to stay. She didn’t doubt that right now street sweepers were removing bodies of the homeless who’d frozen last night.                    “Since our squad is down a man right now, you two have been given a unique opportunity,” Niko Sensei said, offering them a genuinely relaxed smile.                    “For real?” Koichi danced away from Rei and leapt in front of their sensei. “What are we doing? Tell me we’re going off-island or something. Something really cool!”                    “I think I’ll let Mangetsu fill you in.”                    Rei had never seen Mangetsu Hozuki without a water bottle, and today was no exception. The different thing about today was immediately obvious: Mangetsu had a massive bandaged sword strapped to his back, and he wasn’t alone.                    “Hey, Niko.” Mangetsu and Niko Sensei met hands enthusiastically, and Rei kept her distance to observe. Koichi was a few steps ahead of her, and he didn’t seem to share her reservations. Then again, he really didn’t have reason to, she supposed.                    Niko Sensei had brought them to the Intelligence Building near the southern border of the village, and the cylindrical stone building looked much like most others around it. The distinguishing feature of this building was that it was several stories taller than its counterparts. Mangetsu had been leaning on the wall by the front door with his companion, but he had greeted them all warmly upon their arrival.                    “What are we doing?” Koichi asked, subconsciously reaching to his belt and tightening it in preparation. “Please don’t tell me you’ve arranged for another mission where we have to find farm animals.”                    Mangetsu’s companion threw his head and back and laughed heartily, and after a brief pause, Koichi joined in. “I would say that this ranks slightly higher.” This man was tall, like seven feet tall, and his skin was so pale that it had taken on a bluish tint, darker around the gill marks on his cheeks.                    “Where is he?” Niko Sensei asked.                    “On our floor, appropriately restrained.” The tall, gravelly-voiced man peered through his unusually small eyes at Rei. He smiled sneerily. “She’s just a little girl. Are you sure she’s the right one?”                     Rei didn’t even know what they were talking about, but she had a pretty good idea. They wanted to do something with her abilities, something that would fit Kohana’s idea of a “real test.”                    “Come on.” Niko Sensei motioned for her to walk ahead of him, and she followed Mangetsu and the sharklike man through the door of the Intelligence Building.                    Rei had never been inside this building before, and she was suddenly glad she hadn’t. The granite floors were so clean and clear that she could see a blurry reflection of herself, and she made sure to scrape off her boots at the mat. Cool-colored landscapes and portraits hung on the slate grey walls, and each door was closed securely with a name plate or sign marking it. A garbled voice echoed over an intercom system in an upper floor, and a few distant beeps sounded, reminiscent of an alarm.                    It was a bit intimidating for a little girl.                    The elevator was just barely big enough for all of them to ride together, and Rei made sure that she weaseled herself to one side. They exited on the seventh floor, and Rei could feel her heart beating harder than usual in her ears. They expected something of her, and she’d better be able to deliver.                    “Alright, we’ll start here.” Mangetsu took a step ahead and typed in a many-numbered code into the pad next to the door across the hall. The sign on the dark wood proclaimed PROPERTY OF THE SEVEN NINJA SWORDSMEN OF THE MIST, and then in slightly smaller print underneath: Unauthorized users will be executed.                     The tall man closed the door once they’d all entered, and Rei couldn’t quite believe what she was looking at. The room they stood in was lit brightly, showcasing every type of sword and knife and cutting implement imaginable on three walls. A few sofas were set up in a loose square in the center of the room with a wide coffee table between them. Rei’s eyes had wandered back to the blades. They gleamed with reflections from the artificial lighting above, and Rei’s fingers itched to reach out and caress them.                    The fourth wall was made of opaque glass, like a frosted over window, and Kisame strode over to it with purpose. “Wait,” Mangetsu said quickly. “Let’s update them first.”                    Rei had stolen over to the furthest wall to get a better look at a ninjato sword with a blade roughly the length of her arm. “Rei,” Niko Sensei said, a slight reprimand in his voice. She started, as if jolted out of a daydream. “Join us, please.”                    The others had already taken seats in the square of couches, and she took the spot next to Koichi, sitting straight while he slouched casually. “Alright, guys,” Mangetsu said after taking a sip from his water bottle. “This is—”                    “Kisame Hoshigaki, we know,” Koichi broke in, his fingers laced behind his head.                    Both swordsmen raised their eyebrows.                    “It’s big news when there’s a new member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen,” Rei said. “Of course we know.”                    Kisame smirked, showcasing his sharpened teeth. “So I’m that famous.”                    Niko Sensei cleared his throat sternly. He was a bit uptight today. “Beyond the Mizukage, the Seven are the most powerful Shinobi in the village.” Mangetsu turned his eyes to the floor at that statement, and Kisame crossed his arms across his broad chest. “They’ve agreed to help us.”                    “With…” Koichi glanced around the room for a moment, then pointed at Kisame. “Can we trust him?”                     Rather than answering verbally, the older men looked to Kisame, who erased his sneer and opened his mouth, revealing the Curse Mark of the foundation on the base on his tongue. Koichi and Rei both exhaled visibly, the tension in their postures suddenly evaporating.                    “This room is soundproofed and warded by Headmaster Iwa himself,” Mangetsu said. “We can speak freely, but let’s keep as much to ourselves as possible.”                    “Agreed,” Niko Sensei murmured. “I have faith in the Headmaster, but I’ll never be comfortable in a building officially run by…” His voice petered out.                    There was silence among their group for a moment as Rei and Koichi absorbed this news. Kisame Hoshigaki, the notorious new owner of Samehada, the sharkskin sword, wanted the Mizukage out of control. They had more power at their disposal than Rei could believe. But even so…                    “Why are we here?” Koichi asked, brazen as ever.                    Mangetsu, despite being the younger of the adults, seemed to be in charge right now. He ran his hand back through his straight pale hair and exhaled hard. “We have in our possession a captured Leaf Shinobi, and we need his information.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Rei had never seen a foreign Shinobi before.                    “For real?” Koichi jumped up, energy obvious renewed. “Where? What’s the plan?”                    “First things first.” Niko Sensei stood and looked to Rei. “Hold out your hand.”                    Rei’s suspicious instincts wouldn’t let her. “Why?”                    Kisame got to his feet as well, towering over them all. He extended his hand to Rei from across the coffee table. “We haven’t officially met. My name is Kisame Hoshigaki, of Clan Hoshigaki, and newest member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.”                    Well, that was redundant. Rei just stared at him, and he didn’t blink. He didn’t flinch. He just kept standing there with his hand outstretched to her while everyone else watched.                    Koichi finally reached out and met Kisame’s hand. “Hey, I’m Ko—” Then he froze, his mouth wide open, and yanked his hand away after a few seconds. “Man, why didn’t you warn me?” He whirled on Rei. “He does what you do. He sucked a bunch of my chakra out.” He sat down hard and let his head fall into his hands, limbs almost jellylike.                    Rei’s world narrowed to a pinprick in that moment that consisted of nothing but Kisame’s face. She got to her feet and opened her mouth, willing the right words to come out. “How can you do that? Is it—”                    “I’ve been able to do it for a few years.” He flexed his fingers before his face. “And with Samehada, it’s got a much more powerful draw.” He held his hand out to her again, inviting. “What do you think? Care to see who’s stronger?”                    Rei continued to stare at the hand in front of her, several times larger than her own. What would happen when she touched him? Was he maybe a relative of hers? How could he just come by this power as an adult?                    He interrupted her mental roller coaster with an offer. “I’ll tell you what. If you best me, if you are able to take my chakra, then…” He looked around the room in an obvious show of consideration. “Then you can have that one.”                    The sword he indicated had a narrow blade about three feet in length and a plain leather-wrapped hilt. It was set on a small wooden bracket between two ceremonial katana with sashes dangling from their guards. “We call that one ‘The Bastard,’” Mangetsu said with a small chuckle. “It’s been there longer than any of us have been part of the Seven, and no one seems to know where it came from.”                    “It’s yours.” Kisame looked down at his own hand, still outstretched, pointedly. “If you’re stronger. Your sensei seems to think you are.”                    Niko Sensei just looked at her impassively.                    With Koichi by her side and her sensei looking on, Rei instantaneously lowered her mental barriers and reached out to let her hand make contact with Kisame’s palm.                    There was a burst of color behind her eyes. Blue, purple, deep red. His chakra was cool, rich, and thicker than anything she’d ever felt. And it was strong. It was pulling on her, like it had reached into her soul with long-fingered hands and taken hold.                    So this is what other people felt when she touched them.                    Her mind tried to keep up with what was happening inside her body. While Kisame’s chakra had taken root and was trying to take control, her own was fighting back of its own accord. Her lungs were squeezing painfully at the foreign intrusion, making it difficult to draw a breath, and all of the muscles in her arms and legs had gone stiff. She felt her fingers tighten around Kisame’s hand.                    Her chakra needed no direction from her, not like when she had placed Utakata’s Seal. This time, it worked all on its own. It pried at the hand on her core, peeling back the fingers and flinging them away. Suddenly she could breathe again, and she could feel Kisame’s chakra retreating to his own body. But before it could, her chakra latched onto it and drew it back, devouring it.                    Rei’s eyes were open, so while her mind’s eye watched the chakra battle within her body, her physical eyes watched Kisame’s face. At first, he was self-assured, calm, bland-faced. But the moment her chakra had taken control, his eyes had widened and his mouth had opened. It appeared that he was trying to speak, but no words escaped his mouth. In fact, his face seemed to grow thinner and more pale as she watched.                    And she was feeling more vigorous, more lively with each moment. For the first time, she was intentionally drawing power into her body to strengthen herself, and it was working. It was working very well. Her chakra system was thriving, pulling every bit of energy it could grasp into it, and she savored the myriad of different colors, flavors, and textures.                    Suddenly, she could understand why Headmaster Iwa had chosen to save her. Kisame Hoshigaki of the Seven Ninja Swordsman was about to fall to his knees before her, drained of his life force.                    Dead.                    With a quick inhalation, she slammed her barriers back into place, releasing Kisame’s chakra and his hand.                    The world seemed to start moving again, and Rei collapsed to her knees, not because she couldn’t stand, but because she had been the only one remaining on her feet.                    When she’d erected her barriers again, Kisame, Mangetsu, Niko Sensei, and Koichi had all fallen, desperately drawing air into starved lungs, and all were an unhealthy shade of off-white. Mangetsu and Niko Sensei both had their hands on their throats, like they’d been strangled, Kisame was on his hands and knees, and Koichi was sprawled on his back, arms and legs at all angles, eyes closed.                    If she could expel all the energy she’d taken… could she?                    “Koichi,” she breathed, kneeling by his side, suddenly terrified to touch him. Her hands trembled over his arm as she checked three times that her barriers were still up and flawless. “Koichi, are you alright?” She shook his shoulder gently.                    His eyelids flickered faintly and he gasped in a shallow breath. His chest rose and fell steadily, if weakly, and Rei pressed her hands down onto his chest, like she was about to perform CPR. Her heart was still racing. When she looked inward and found her store of chakra, she grasped it with her newly inhaled breath and exhaled, sending it into her fingertips. But it wouldn’t exit her hands. She inhaled and exhaled again, focusing intently on pushing her chakra from her hands.                    Kohana had taught her this. She could do it. She’d done it for Utakata, and she’d do it for Koichi.                    She was just starting to exhale a third time when Koichi forced a rattling breath through his lips and coughed harshly once, twice, three times, then worked to sit up. Rei pulled her hands back to her chest, not about to touch anyone else.                    Mangetsu was the first to get his breath back. “Rei…” He coughed and braced his arm on the nearest couch, hauling himself up onto it. His face was regaining its color a little more with each second. “Wow.”                    “You could have killed us.” Niko Sensei was pushing himself back to his feet, but he kept his hand on the table for support. “I knew you could.”                    Rei snapped her eyes shut and hugged her legs to her chest, burying her face in her knees. She would not cry. She would not. She’d almost killed her best friend, her sensei, and two of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. She would not break down. She focused only on breathing deeply and turning her mind into a blank canvas.                    There was no telling how much time had passed before Niko Sensei set his hand on her shoulder. “Rei.” She didn’t look up. “Rei, you weren’t touching us, and you took our chakra. Then you stopped. Do you know how incredible that is? How important that is going to be?”                    Kisame pushed himself off of his knees and sat back, leaning on a couch, sweat coating his face. In spite of his heaving chest, he grinned again. “Go get your sword, girl. I’ll teach you to use it myself.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was unanimously decided that none of them were fit to interrogate a foreign Shinobi at the moment. “We’ll meet you here again at noon in three days’ time,” Mangetsu decided. “That should give us plenty of time to recuperate.”                    Rei had taken The Bastard down from its bracket and tested its weight. It was surprisingly light for its length, and her hands almost fit the grooves in the grip. Once she had amassed enough money from missions, she was going to have a back-scabbard made for it.                    Mangetsu and Kisame parted ways with the small squad outside of the Intelligence Building, saying nothing but nodding a farewell. Niko Sensei and Koichi were coherent, but lethargic, and Koichi stumbled going up the steps to the safe house. Rei caught his arm and fit it around her shoulder, supporting his weight. “This is embarrassing,” he mumbled.                    “Nobody’s going to see you but us,” she countered.                    When they descended the stairs into the common area, Kohana looked up from a notebook she’d been scribbling in and rushed to their sides, taking over care of her son as Niko Sensei departed for his own room.                    The plan to meet again in three days was changed when Niko Sensei and Koichi were still bedridden the morning they were supposed to meet Kisame and Mangetsu again. One of the nobles who had witnessed Utakata’s Sealing had training as a medic and had come to check on them when they couldn’t get out of bed after two days.                    “This is common with cases of extreme chakra depletion, unfortunately,” she had said. “It’s not unusual to be nearly comatose for days, if not weeks, while your body recovers its chakra and rebuilds damaged tissues and network lines.”                    Niko Sensei wasn’t white as the walls of his room anymore, but he could barely lift his head from his pillow when Kohana led Rei in to speak to him. Her steps stuttered when she saw a catheter bag draped over a metal stand near his feet, then steadied as she determined to look at his face and his face only.                    He genuinely looked like he was a patient in a hospital, complete with the intravenous tubes running into his arms. She had done that to him.                    “Don’t make that face,” he said, smiling weakly. “I need a favor. Check on Leo for me? He’s fine on his own, but I don’t usually go more than a day without seeing him.”                    “Yeah, of course.”                    “Take him with you when you go meet Kisame and Mangetsu. And Utakata. He got back this morning and the Headmaster asked him to meet you here before lunch.”                    “Oh. Alright.”                    They fell into silence for a moment, and Niko Sensei expended far too much energy lifting his hand and motioning for Rei to come closer to his side. “Hey, you know you did great, right?”                    She tried to smile in confirmation.                    “Rei, this is amazing,” he continued. “Koichi and I will be fine in a few days. This is exactly what the foundation needed to see. You’ve impressed them.”                    “Okay.”                    His eyebrows creased and he frowned. “What’s wrong?”                    “Nothing.”                    He obviously didn’t buy that, and she knew it wasn’t true, but she didn’t have the words to verbalize what was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. She’d hurt her best friend and her teacher. Hurt them badly. And apparently that was a good thing. She had this power that was more potent than even she had known, and she didn’t know how to control it. She couldn’t seem to dispel the chakra she’d taken in, even though she’d done it before. Everyone seemed to be relying on her as some kind of cornerstone for this whole organization. She was only thirteen.                    “Come see me tonight, okay?” Niko Sensei squeezed her hand and she squeezed back. It was easier to remember that he meant her no harm, but she did her best to keep her mind away from those first weeks in the barracks. Separating the Niko she thought she knew then to the one she knew now was a complicated ball of memory and logic that she couldn’t untangle. “I want to know how your first session with Kisame goes.”                    Headmaster Iwa had suggested that she stop by her own apartment today as well. “We want to keep you safe above all, Rei,” he had said. “But we need to keep our members moving. It’ll eventually be noticed that you’re here and who you’re meeting with if we don’t get you into another home soon. All of us have permanent lodgings around the village that we frequent and change around for exactly this purpose. Would you be comfortable starting to transition back to your own place?”                    Rei’s feelings were so muted at the moment that she didn’t know how to answer him, but she nodded her head and agreed to go back today, just to get reacquainted with it. She strapped her sword to her back with a borrowed scabbard that the Headmaster had found for her and ensured that her apartment key was safe in the right breast pocket of her flak jacket. There was no one to accompany her up the stairs today, and she stepped into the bleak December fog alone.                    If anyone messes with me, I can just suck them dry, I guess. It was supposed to be a self-deprecating thought, but she prepared to lower her barriers, just in case.                    She had no intention of waiting for Utakata. His specialty was surveillance; he’d find her. After a brief glance around that didn’t reveal his presence, she inhaled, set her eyebrows and lips in a determined, hard expression, and began the short walk into town.                    As she passed the Academy, she waved at the handful of students doing pain training in the fenced-in courtyard. Tanoka waved back, only to shriek shortly when another student Rei didn’t know smacked her across the face with enough to power to bloody her mouth.                    Rei wouldn’t watch anymore. They’d be healed as soon as the training session ended, broken bones and all, but the endurance tactics and emotional scarring would remain. Almost unconsciously, she raised her right hand to touch the raised skin behind her left shoulder. She supposed the medics had been amused that Shima had chosen to carve a glaring capital “B” into Rei’s back. They’d closed the wound but left the scar.                    She glanced at the sky, measuring the time. She had a solid couple of hours before she needed to meet Mangetsu and Kisame. There wouldn’t be a better time to check out her apartment.                    She remembered the way. It had been months, but the tiny apartment with broken everything and dust everywhere was the first place to really be hers. An old man appeared to be sleeping against a trash can outside the building, a thin blanket peppered with snow covering his emaciated body. He didn’t move, not even to breathe.                    Rei’s fingers tightened against the frail metal railing as she ascended the rickety outdoor stairs and she bit her bottom lip hard. He could have used my apartment last night, she told herself. He didn’t have to die.                    It took three tries to steady her hand enough to fit her key into the door. The little room was exactly how she’d left it, dust and cobwebs and all. The only real difference was the presence of an especially pungent odor coming from the refrigerator.                    She shut the door behind her and let a random burst of inspiration wash over her. First, install a new doorknob and deadbolt lock with stronger screws. Then, get a clean mattress and pillows and blankets. Check to make sure the bathroom and kitchen things were in working order. Get cleaning supplies. Move her clothes and things from the safe house here.                    A smile tweaked at her lips. Home.                    She was making her way to the old refrigerator and working up the courage to open it when there was a polite knock on her door. She didn’t even need to pull down the wall around her chakra this time; when she turned her eyes to the door and focused, she could see the faint familiar blue, sparking chakra remnants that always exuded from Utakata wafting under the door and through the cracks at the hinges.                    The look she imagined on his face was exactly the one he wore when she opened the door and invited him in. It lasted only a fraction of a second, but it was clearly one of disgust. Then it disappeared.                    “So I guess this is ‘Home Sweet Home’?”                    “I’ll give you half of my next mission’s pay if you open the fridge and throw out whatever is making this place smell like a dead animal.”                    Utakata raised his one visible eyebrow. “Living in the safehouse has spoiled you.” He was brave enough to crack the fridge. “Yeah, it’s going to take some industrial level cleaner to take care of that.”                    Rei’s smile was larger now. Her muted emotions from the morning were flaring to life, and she crossed her arms. “I need to go to the store anyway.”                    She locked her apartment behind her and shoved her hands in her pockets, out of the cold, subconsciously scanning her surroundings as she walked with her squadmate towards the general store near the Academy.                    “So…” Utakata intoned as they passed the frozen man out front. “I hear that you and Koichi got to meet the new Swordsman.”                    Rei nodded. “I got a sword out of it.”                    “That one?” He indicated The Bastard, still strapped to Rei’s back.                    “Mhm. Kisame is going to train me himself.”                    “Wow.” They fell into silence for several minutes, and Rei tried not to feel self-conscious, but she was completely aware of her breathing, of the way her boots crunched in the snow, of the way she kept sneaking glances at Utakata out of the corner of her eye. Her face reddened, burned, and she dipped her head to let her hair swing forward and hide it.                    “What did your mother want?” she asked, clearing her throat, willing her blush away.                    It took a moment for him to answer, and when he did, her face had hopefully returned to its normal coloring. She looked up when he said, “She’s heard the rumors.”                    Rei’s heard picked up tempo, beating in double time. “Rumors about what?”                    They both scanned their surroundings continually, habitually. His voice lowered. “The missing Tailed Beast.”                    Rei exhaled hard. “That’s it?”                    “Not quite.” The store loomed ahead of them, the owner visible through the front glass window at the checkout counter. The man who had a habit of turning the other way when children were assaulted across the street. “There’s a plan in place to find it, and when they do, because they will—” He reached out and gripped her bicep hard. “They want to use it as a weapon.”                    His eyes…both of them were hard as stone. “Why is that a big deal? It would be good protection for the village, right?”                    His fingers loosened. They’d stopped walking, and Rei could feel the store owner looking their way. “For some. Not for you.”                    “I can’t say anything else here.” He looked pointedly at the man walking their way down the street. “Later.”                    His words bounced around Rei’s head as she blindly chose bottles of cleaning solution from the store shelves, not even glancing at the labels. “Does Headmaster Iwa know?” she whispered.                    Utakata nodded with the smallest of motions. “He has his own plan.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“We should get back,” Utakata muttered, hefting half of the load. The groceries and a new blanket had cost Rei a decent percentage of her savings, but what else was there to spend her money on?                    “I still have to meet Kisame,” she replied, but she couldn’t hide her anxiety, her fear. Why wouldn’t she be counted under the umbrella of the village?                    “That can wait.”                    “They won’t know why we didn’t show.”                    “We’ll leave a message with the secretary.”                    Utakata was too reasonable to fight with, and Rei’s mind was otherwise occupied. They did as he’d suggested and took the shortest route back to her apartment, dumping the bags on the floor and locking up immediately. “Niko Sensei wanted me to check on Leo.”                    “Leo’s fine; he’s always fine. There are bigger things to worry about right now, Rei.”                    Utakata was descending the stairs in front of her, and she reached out and poked the back of his shoulder, hard, when they’d reached the bottom. “Why are you in such a hurry?”                    He didn’t look back at her, but he slowed his urgent pace. “I don’t know what you mean.”                    Rei pursed her lips in annoyance. “I bet you won’t know what I mean when I do this, either.” Almost without consciously deciding to do it, she kicked a glob of mud-darkened snow at him. Her accidental aim was right on point, and it splattered against the back of his left thigh.                    He stopped. And for a moment, so did Rei’s heartrate.                    “I am not juvenile enough to respond to that cheap shot,” he said evenly.                    “Oh, whatever.” Rei walked past him, not looking back. “You’re a Shinobi; your reflexes should have been good enough to get you out of the way.”                    “Not if I was expecting my squadmate to have my back instead of stabbing it.” When she glanced at him this time, he was grinning, just a tiny bit. It disarmed her. It disarmed her enough not to see it coming when he grabbed her shoulder and shoved her to the side, forcing her off her feet and into a dirty snowbank. “Whose reflexes need work now?”                    For a moment, her shoulder buried in slush, Rei felt a resurgence of that old panic that used to take over before pain training. But then Utakata was holding his hand out to her to help her up, and she allowed herself to be hauled to her feet. “You’re a jerk,” she said sullenly, brushing off her jacket and pants. Her fingers burned with the cold.                    As per usual, Rei reached out with thin fingers of chakra to ensure that no one was near and watching when she and Utakata got nearer to the safehouse. “Have you seen Niko Sensei and Koichi, yet?” she asked.                    Before he got a chance to answer, Rei’s mind filled with words that she wasn’t creating herself. It was the strangest sensation she’d ever had, and she had to stop mid-step when her focus on something as simple as walking suddenly became too difficult.                    Take notice, the voice declared in a deep, male, monotone voice. It sounded vaguely like Headmaster Iwa. Takeru Osaragi has violated the conditions of the Liberators’ Seal. Take all necessary precautions.                     The moment the voice faded from her consciousness, Rei heard Utakata mutter an expletive. “Go, now. Inside,” he commanded, shoving her towards the door of Headmaster Iwa’s house. “This is bad.”                    They ran down the secret stairs to the common area of the safehouse, where Rei was surprised to see quite a gathering of Shinobi in various degrees of tension around the room. Headmaster Iwa was seated at the dining table, papers spread chaotically in front of him, and Kohana was seated to his left, head in her hands and shoulders shaking. A few men that Rei distantly recognized from Utakata’s Sealing ritual were scattered about, arguing loudly, but Rei couldn’t make out their words. One was yelling across the room at Headmaster Iwa. “What’s the next step? We aren’t ready!”                    Much to Rei’s surprise, she easily recognized the two quieter inhabitants who were keeping to the far right, away from the chaos. Kisame and Mangetsu were here, both with their swords still strapped to their backs, both with their arms crossed across their chests. They were like living statues, completely still, observing.                    “We need to get a message out to the others,” Kohana nearly whispered. Rei barely heard her, but her voice threw the rest of the room into near silence. “But discretely. They’re going to be looking for anyone moving in groups or with any special urgency.”                    “I’ll do it,” Mangetsu volunteered, stepping away from the wall. “There won’t be any suspicion if one of the Swordsmen is patrolling the village and asking questions.”                    “Absolutely not.” Headmaster Iwa looked away from his papers and stood, suddenly animated. “More eyes will be on you than ever before. He’s going to be using the Seven to try and hunt us down.” Pressing his lips together emotionlessly, Mangetsu nodded once.                    “I need to do it.” All eyes fell on Kohana as she stood on shaky legs. “They’ll be coming for me, anyway. I need to be where they’ll expect to find me.”                    “Wait, wait, wait,” one of the unnamed men said, waving his arms before him rapidly. “If they’ll be looking for you, they’ll look into whoever’s home you visit.”                    “We’ve prepared for this inevitability, remember?” Kohana crossed the room stoically, setting her hand firmly on Rei’s shoulder in passing, taking her weapons pouch from a peg by the stairwell. “I’ll leave a short message in each of the agreed-upon locations.”                    Rei’s heart thudded hard. She’d recognized the name that had been so calmly stated into her mind. “What’s happened?” she found herself whispering.                    No one seemed to want to answer her. It was Kohana who finally spoke. “Now you get to see the real consequences of what we’re doing, Rei. My husband was arrested early this morning. We don’t know why or what led the Mizukage to him. But something has happened that—” Her voice broke, only for a second. “That made him attempt to share our secret. Now he’s under the Seal’s paralysis, and no matter what they do to him, he will not be able to speak.”                    “They’ll come for his family next.” Headmaster Iwa was coming their way now, and he set his hands on Rei’s shoulders, looking her solidly in the eye. “Takeru will likely be executed for his crimes.” Rei shot her eyes to Kohana, whose eyes still shone liquidly, but whose face was set in a mask. “And Kohana will likely follow. This is the path we have chosen.”                    When Rei forced her eyes from Headmaster Iwa’s gaze, she saw that everyone in the room wore the same expression: an unmoving, determined look of resolution. Utakata shook his head faintly. “I’ll get the message out instead. We can’t risk someone tracing the message to Kohana when others find it.” When someone tried to interject, Utakata interrupted. “I’m of noble blood. I’ll be fine.”                    “Good.” Headmaster Iwa released Rei, nearly knocking her over in his haste to turn, and scribbled something down a piece of paper. “This is what they need to know. Bare minimum. We’ll have to cease meeting in person for now.”                    Rei watched as Utakata gave Kohana a short, respectful nod before disappearing back up the stairs. “Time is short. Koichi would try to stop me.” Kohana said, buckling her weapons pouch around her waist and pulling her pale hair back in a tight ponytail. “You’ll take care of my son?”                    Headmaster Iwa put his hands together and bowed to her respectfully. “With my life.”                    Rei’s eyes burned. Kohana met her gaze for only a moment before pulling her close, pressing Rei’s head into the hollow of her neck. “Take care of yourself, dear.” Rei kept her eyes tightly shut, willing the tears back, as Kohana raised her head regally. “It’s been an honor to know you all.” She made for the stairs, but stopped and looked back to Headmaster Iwa. “Tell him…” Her mouth gaped, and she couldn’t seem to finish her request.                    “We know, Kohana.” Headmaster Iwa approached her and pulled her into a tight embrace, letting her sob for several long moments. “We never would have come this far without you and Takeru. Koichi will be under my protection for the rest of my life, however long that may be.”                    Kohana lifted her head, wiping away the tears from her blotchy face, and nodded.                    Then she was gone, ascending the stairs without looking back.                    “Rei,” Headmaster Iwa said quietly. “Please go check on Koichi.”                    “No.” Kisame Hoshigaki moved for the first time, drawing all attention to himself. “She needs to leave.”                    “It is not imperative—”                    “It is the most important thing we could do,” Kisame insisted when Headmaster Iwa tried to interrupt. “We are more powerful than the foundation could have ever imagined in the beginning. But until we have a Tailed Beast of our own, we are only a shadow of them.”                    “Them?” Rei’s voice had fallen to a whisper, her mind racing to keep up with every word that fell from their mouths.                    “Lord Fourth and his puppet-master.” When Mangetsu spoke now, the muttered and frantic arguments around the room fell silent. “We don’t dare speak about it anywhere else. Most of us are now aware that the Mizukage alone is not to blame for the decline of the village.”He turned his gaze meaningfully to Kisame, who said, “The puppet-master revealed himself to me when I killed my predecessor. He effectively has full control over Lord Fourth and the Three Tails.”A Tailed Beast… Utakata had mentioned something about that before the world fell apart. “How are we supposed to get one of those?” Her words pushed a tear over the edge of her eyelid.                    “You are going to help us,” Mangetsu said. “Tailed Beasts are just sentient embodiments of chakra. And if what we saw a few days ago from you is any indication, you should be able to weaken one enough for us to capture.”                    “And then implant into the Shinobi of our choosing,” Kisame finished.                    Headmaster Iwa grunted in affirmation. “Go. I trust you implicitly. Collect Utakata when he finishes his task and take him along. He works well with her.”                    Rei allowed herself to be shuffled back to her room to throw together a travel bag. Her head was spinning and everything seemed to be wrapped in fog. This wasn’t how her day was supposed to go. She was supposed to be moving back to her apartment. She was supposed to be meeting with Kisame to learn how to use her sword. The foundation wasn’t supposed to be found out.                    Koichi. I need to see him. He didn’t even know that his parents were gone.                    She was just turning towards his room when Mangetsu stopped her and gripped her bicep, hard. “Hurry,” he muttered roughly. “We need to get out before the Anbu mobilize.”                    There was no chance to ground herself in what was now reality. She was forced up the steps with no ceremony, no goodbyes, and felt the biting winter air attack her cheeks when Mangetsu and Kisame on either side of her led her into the open. All three had swords strapped to their backs, and Rei reached back for the hilt of hers for reassurance. Of all things in her life right at this moment, The Bastard felt most solid.                    “Can you keep up?” Mangetsu asked, not looking at her.                    “Yes.”                    There was no need for stealth. No one was around. Not yet.                    “They’ve all taken shelter,” Mangetsu muttered as they ran, keeping to the shadows. “Most of them have nothing to do with us, but they’re terrified of getting caught in the crossfire.” Even having their names mentioned could spell death, Rei knew well.                    Rei had never seen the streets so empty. The store owners had retreated, shut their shops and shaded the windows. Homes had shuttered windows. Even the Academy was under a kind of lockdown, and all the students had been pulled back inside. “Isn’t it suspicious that we’re out here when no one else is?” Rei asked, following Kisame’s steps, leaping to the top of the doctor’s office with ease.                    “No.” Kisame paused, surveying their surroundings. “The Seven are fearless. The Fourth will expect us to keep the peace.” He sneered with undisguised disdain. “But you? Yes. Quickly.” He leapt off the building, each of his strides taking at least two of hers to keep up, and she could tell that the two men were restraining themselves from moving at top speed.                    “Maybe we should have Sealed her in a scroll,” Mangetsu muttered. Kisame came to such an abrupt stop that Rei almost slammed into his back. Kisame yanked a scroll from his weapons pouch and unrolled it in a single motion, mid-air.                    The last thing Rei heard before her consciousness was forcibly snuffed out was Mangetsu’s deadpan voice. “I was joking.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Rei swirled back into awareness, it was like she’d hung upside down from a tree for hours. Her head throbbed, she was too dizzy to open her eyes for more than a second, and her limbs trembled spasmodically. Her blood roared in her ears, and the first voice she was able to pick out from the din was undeniably Utakata’s. “I’m pretty sure two days was too long.”                    Kisame responded gravelly. “She looks fine.”                    Then, from Mangetsu, “You’re awfully flippant about something that could have killed her.”                    “These days, everything could kill her. Hiding her to get her out of the village was the best course of action.”                    Rei could feel her fingers trembling as she lifted them to her temple, trying to quell the earthquake going on in her brain. “Where are we?” she croaked.                    A pause from the men gave Rei a moment to survey what she could with her limited sensory perceptions. Beyond the sounds of their breathing, she could hear quietly rushing water and the creaking of trees, heavy with snow. There was no scent of the village, no cooking food or industry that she could detect. She peeked her eyes open.                    “For lack of a better phrase,” Mangetsu said, figure blurry as he went through the motions of a kenjutsu stance with his massive sword. “We are camping in the woods.”                    “We’re fugitives,” Utakata said as he helped Rei into a sitting position. “The whole organization.”                    Memories of the last time she’d been conscious were coming back to Rei in pieces, like a shattered mirror being gradually fitted back together to form a clear image. “Kohana? Koichi?”                    “There’s no way for us to know.” Mangetsu exhaled slowly, bringing his sword back around in the finishing pose of the lowered stance before setting it aside, leaning it on a nearby tree trunk. “We’ve barely stopped moving.”                    Rei made to stand, pushing herself to her knees, wobbly in every movement. “What are you doing?” Utakata asked.                    Narrowing her eyes at her squadmate, Rei said testily, “I’m going to relieve myself, if you must know.”                    “I’ll go with you.” He gripped her bicep firmly, steadying her.She yanked out of his grip, stumbling to the side. “Are you out of your mind?”Mangetsu snickered. Kisame, who was distractedly examining a map stretched out on a piece of canvas, acknowledged none of them. “We can’t go out on our own, Rei. It’s not safe.”                    “Get this.” Rei’s head was pounding, her limbs were still shaky, and her bladder was screaming. “I’d literally rather die than have you come with me to use the bathroom in the woods.” She whirled away with all the dignity she could muster. “I’ll be back in a minute.”                    “Stay in earshot,” Mangetsu warned.                    She ignored him, tramping through the snowy underbrush until she found a sufficiently shielded place to relieve herself. She’d begun shivering as she finished. If she’d known she’d be traveling across the country, she’d have dressed more warmly when she’d left the safehouse, apparently two days ago now. The sun was going down and the wind was rising, biting any bit of exposed skin. When she found her companions again, Utakata was staring off into the distance, tapping his foot impatiently.                    “I was about to come looking for you.”                    “I would have knocked you flat on your butt.” Vision clear now, Rei took in the little shelter they had for the night. There was no fire, but there was a small canvas tent that was barely big enough for all of them. She hugged herself, annoyed that she could see her breath in the air before her.                    “Come here,” Kisame murmured absently, still peering at the map. “Let’s make a plan for the morning before we lose all of the light.” They gathered around the canvas, a map of the Land of Water and the surrounding islands. “We’re somewhere around here,” Kisame indicated, stabbing at a western portion of the mainland, about an inch from the coast. “There’s a port here.” A star drawn in faint pencil lines had been marked where Kisame pointed next. “We can get passage to the Land of Fire easily.”                    “Not if Lord Fourth has put out a notice for our arrests,” Mangetsu muttered.                    “Are you sure you’re a Shinobi?” Kisame quipped. “Sneaking onto a boat is a challenge for Genin.”                    Unhurt by the insult, Mangetsu reached into the pouch on his waist and withdrew a handful of food pills. “Eat up. It’s all we get until we’re out of the country.”                    Mangetsu took the first watch, which meant that Kisame, Utakata, and Rei were to share the tent. And it was weird. The men insisted on sleeping on the sides, which meant Rei was stuck in the middle. She couldn’t stand the idea of breathing on either of their faces all night long, so she grabbed the flat pillow and tossed it to the other end of the tent. She’d sleep with her head next to their feet.                    Once they were all in the tent, trying to find semi-comfortable positions, Kisame made to shuck off his flak jacket. Rei watched with wide eyes, feeling her breath come more quickly, completely against her will. She forcibly released the death-grip she’d had on the fleece of her blanket, breathing away the instinctual terror that was still screaming in her chest. She was overreacting. They weren’t going to touch her.These were her friends. Kind of. Utakata was her friend. She clamped her eyes shut, bracing her jaw, forcing herself to breathe slowly. Calm. She slid beneath her blankets, completely aware of every piece of dirt on her clothing, of every pocket and button and strap that pressed against her as she stretched out.                    It was surprisingly warm inside the tent, and even though she’d been Sealed into oblivion for two days, Rei was exhausted. She only woke when Utakata finished his own watch and shook her awake. “Hey. We need to get moving.” She scrambled out of the tent before either of the others could even sit up.                    They allowed themselves five minutes to eat yet another round of food pills and splash their faces before Kisame handed the map to Mangetsu, who took it and tucked it away in his belt. “Get there by midday so you can depart on the evening barge. Kazan assured me that your contact will be in place at the Onkawari Tea House. The vessel is in scroll F-5932.”                     They exchanged a formal nod and Kisame bounded away, back in the direction of the village.                    “So, we’re on our own now?” Utakata asked.                    Mangetsu’s shoulders seemed to tighten for a moment. “It’s better for him to return. He has the puppet-master’s trust. And he has a reputation for being willing to kill his comrades. He’s going to be needed.”                    There was no need to speak their thoughts. But Rei couldn’t contain her voice.                    “Wait, he’s going to…?” She didn’t realize how shrilly she’d spoken until Utakata stepped up behind her and slapped a hand over her mouth.                    “Just because we aren’t taking special pains to be silent doesn’t mean we should scream,” Mangetsu said. He turned his back to them and began unhooking the canvas of the tent. “When we signed on for this ideal, we all knew that this moment was not only a possibility, but an inevitability. This is Kisame’s part to play. This is Kohana’s part to play.” He shook the canvas fiercely, freeing it of snow, before wrapping it and Sealing it in a scroll. When Mangetsu turned back to them, Utakata let his hand fall from Rei’s mouth. “You have roles, too. And right now, that includes staying alive so that we can find the Six-Tails.”                    Rei’s heart thundered and blue and red spots flooded her vision. Her mouth took on the texture of sandpaper. Utakata supported her for the fifteen seconds that she felt her legs tremor, then she broke away to kick snow around the campsite to shield their presence.                    “Don’t bother.” Mangetsu pointed up at the trees overhead and fired a round of water bullets from his fingertip, all of which struck the heavy branches and relieved them of their snow. The only thing they would be leaving behind was their footprints.                    Their journey to the port was quite nearly silent, the only words coming from Rei when she felt the telling cramps strike her deep in her abdomen. “I need to stop for a minute.”                    “We’re only an hour from Kakase Niyo.” Mangetsu didn’t slow even a pace, but a completely expected internal stab forced Rei to stutter her steps. “Are you sure you can’t wait?”                    Embarrassment colored her cheeks, though Rei was sure that neither of the men would be able to tell the difference. All of their faces were raw and chapped from the freezing wind. “Hurry,” Utakata said, pulling the collar of his jacket a little higher on his neck. “I don’t like the way the sky looks.”                    Snow was beginning to fall around them in peaceful drifts, but Utakata was right. The clouds overhead were the color of the village slush, and the gusts of wind tugging on their hair were becoming more frequent and agitated. “Don’t follow me,” Rei said as she turned her back on them, hoping the unspoken ‘I might be a few minutes’ didn’t need to be verbalized. This was embarrassing enough as it was.                    For not the first time today, Rei wished that her gloves weren’t fingerless. She had to rely solely on her eyes to tell her what her hands were doing as she grabbed a scroll from her waist pouch and unrolled it on the ground. On the bright side, she felt only the barest pinch as she pricked her thumb on a kunai and swiped the small red smear over the parchment.                    She looked back over her shoulder to make sure that Utakata really hadn’t followed her when the two tampons and wet wipes appeared in the center of the parchment. As she turned and picked up her necessities and made to re-roll the scroll, a rush of warmth started in her stomach and rose to her eyes, where tears suddenly began to overflow. She didn’t shake and she didn’t sob, but her breath hitched a single time in her chest.                    After you get caught unprepared one time, you’ll never let it happen again. You may run out of kunai or smoke bombs, but anything can be a weapon if you’re creative enough. However, you should always have sanitary supplies, no matter what.                     Kohana had laughed. She had laughed, and then she had helped Rei pack a scroll with all kinds of feminine necessities. Where was Kohana now? In prison? Being interrogated? Tortured, even? An intrusive image of Kisame being the one to behead Kohana wiggled its way into Rei’s mind, and she bit down hard on her bottom lip.
                    Not now. Now I have to deal with my cycle in the snow before Utakata gets here with his stupid protective self.
                    Her timing was pretty remarkable. She was just zipping her pants back up when she heard her squadmate’s voice, ridiculously close. “Rei, are you alright?” He wasn’t even shouting, just projecting his voice a little. He was probably ten feet away. “You’ve been gone a while.”                    She fumbled with her zipper, turning instinctively away. “Hang on! Don’t come any closer!” Her face flamed anew, her voice panicky.                     The nearly silent sound of crunching footsteps halted abruptly. “Sorry.”                    Rei dropped to her knees before the scroll, willing the leftover tampon and soiled wipes back into the scroll with the smallest wisp of colorless smoke. The snow seeped through her pants and shocked her knees. She was already filthy and travel-worn, so she guessed she didn’t mind the fresh dampness now. “You’ve got surveillance Jutsu; you could’ve just sent a freaking bubble.” She was just realizing that sending a bubble her way would have given him full view of what she was doing when he said, “A bubble wasn’t going to be able to do much if you were in trouble.”                    Shoving the scroll back into her pouch, Rei huffed and stepped forward. She saw Utakata on the other side of some snow-coated bushes and brushed past him, jostling his shoulder. His statement had pleased her. He didn’t need to know that.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The port was bigger than Rei had thought it would be, and she had to admit, she’d half-expected there to be no ships in the harbor. However, there were three big barges being outfitted for travel, and everyone was bustling around like it was some kind of market day, even as the snow began falling harder.                    “Keep your hoods pulled low, just in case,” Mangetsu warned. They’d outfitted themselves in nondescript grey cloaks before they encountered any people, and as the terrain shifted from snow-covered dirt and foliage to snow-covered streets, Rei noticed with a breath of relief that they fit right in. She couldn’t see anyone’s face, and they couldn’t see hers. Even Mangetsu’s ridiculously bulky sword didn’t look too out of place; everyone seemed to be carrying something with them under their cloaks.                    The tea house that Kisame had mentioned before darting off back to the village was small, but not something from a low-rent district by any means. When Mangetsu led them through the doors, the looming storm clouds and frigid air became a distant memory.                    The faint herbal smell embraced her so tightly that she had to remind herself to walk forward, to follow Mangetsu, or she’d be left behind. Everything about the little establishment was cozy, from the deep green walls to the subtle lantern light to the tinkling chimes at the windows.                    A few patrons glanced up at their entrance, but quickly turned back to their companions, disinterested. “Stay,” Mangetsu muttered with a small hand movement, and Utakata and Rei hovered in the background while he made arrangements for them.                    “What can you feel?” Utakata whispered, not looking down at her. His arms were crossed nonchalantly, but Rei could see the tension in his stance.                    “Should I feel something?” she whispered back.                    “Unblock your…” He didn’t finish his statement, eyes flitting about the room.                    “I can’t just suck in random suspicious chakra from all over the place on a whim,” she hissed. “That’s not how I work.”                    “You’re a sensory type!” he hissed back. “If I can feel it, you should be able to.”                    Mangetsu glanced back at them in irritation for a split second.                    “Fine.” In spite of what she’d just said, she could sense very tiny wisps of chakra floating about the room. None of the patrons of the tea house were Shinobi; there would be stronger chakra signatures attached to them. The man behind the bar, however, definitely was.                    As was the man downstairs.                    His signature was strong. Though he was at least ten feet below her and behind at least two walls, Rei could faintly sense his aura: yellow, lively, erratic. She glanced back over at Utakata. “Who do you think it is?” she whispered.                    “Maybe the other Swordsmen. Maybe Anbu.”                    “What?”                    He turned his eyes inconspicuously to the window to their right, and Rei did the same after a moment. People were passing to and fro on the street, purchasing food, trinkets, and tickets for ship fare, but no one seemed particularly strange. “There are three of them,” Utakata said, inclining his head. “By the stall with the purple banner. The big one hasn’t stopped watching the door of this place.”                    “They might not be here for us,” Rei said as her pulse began to race again.                    “Good catch,” Mangetsu said aloud, turning back to them and motioning them forward. “But they are here for us.” Before Rei could complete her heart attack, he amended his statement in undertone. “They’re lookouts for Kazan here.” The man behind the bar stepped out from behind it and bowed shortly in introduction. He was exceptionally short, likely only about as tall as Rei’s shoulder, and completely bald. But his skin fairly crackled with energy.                    “They do what they are ordered to do,” Kazan said quietly. “And right now, their orders are to look out for your best interests. Kyoko!” he suddenly shouted. “To the bar.”                    A teenaged girl scuttled out of the kitchen, wiped her hands on a rag, and took Kazan’s place at the desk. “Yes, sir.”                    “Please follow me.” Kazan started for a curtain hanging behind the bar and swept it to the side just long enough for Mangetsu, Utakata, and Rei to pass through with him. “You actually arrived a bit earlier than I was expecting.”                    Behind the curtain was a long corridor lit only by dim flickering candles in iron sconces. Once, not terribly long ago at all, Rei would never have considered entering such a place with three men. But today, she kept pace with Utakata, refusing to move more than a few inches from his side. The candles threw large black shadows on the decorative forest-colored wallpaper, and Rei’s ears couldn’t pick up any unusual sounds due to the thudding of her heartbeat in her ears.                    They descended a set of stone stairs into an almost complete darkness, and Rei surprised herself by grabbing onto Utakata’s elbow. For balance, she told herself. After a moment, he shifted her grip so that he held her hand tightly in his and slowed his steps just enough to keep by her side.                    “How far do the corridors reach?” Mangetsu asked quietly. The walls seemed to absorb his question, and the candles leapt excitedly.                    “Not much farther,” Kazan answered. “We’re just barely above sea level here, so special care must be taken with all subterranean rooms. We use a lot of chakra…and money…to keep the water out.” They’d passed several nondescript doors, but Kazan stopped before one that gave off the faintest pulsing chakra signature.                    “Is that…?” Utakata asked, reaching forward as if to touch the door.                    “Your Headmaster is very talented.” Kazan rested his palm against the door for a moment before reaching for the knob. “He could make a fortune if he chose to market his security measures.”                    Behind the door was yet another hallway that seemed to stretch back in the direction they’d just come. Rei was running through escape strategies, should they become needed, when Kazan authorized the opening of one more door. That same yellow chakra Rei had felt in the tea house before suddenly became almost tangible.                    “This is your contact.” Kazan gestured into the room, lit much more pleasantly than the corridor, to reveal a tall, slender man in a black-hooded cloak, much like theirs. He had his back to them as he thumbed through a thin book that he’d grabbed from one of the many bookshelves lining the wall, and he didn’t bother turning to them.                    “Took you long enough,” he muttered.                    Kazan bowed up with offense. “Watch yourself, boy. You’re here as a favor; nothing more.”                    The man turned to face them now, snapping the book shut and tossing it onto the small wooden table in the center of the room. “Don’t remind me.”                    Rei took immediate notice that this man wasn’t wearing a village headband, and he wasn’t in the traditional blues of the Mist. Rather, his jacket was a deep green, and his pants of thin fabric and open-toed boots seemed more appropriate for a temperate climate than that of the wet, snowy atmosphere outside. When he brushed the hood from his head, he revealed grey-tinged dark hair, a face that hadn’t seen a razor in days, and world-weary eyes.                    Mangetsu had stiffened and his fingers flexed subtly, ready to reach for his sword. “Kazan. This is a Leaf Shinobi,” he said through clenched teeth.                    “Aren’t you an observant one.” The man from the Leaf took a seat at the table, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. Despite his pose of relaxation, his eyes never strayed from Mangetsu. “Planning on using that sword on me? I hear you Mist bastards are vicious.”                    Mangetsu’s fingers stilled. Kazan took Mangetsu’s bicep carefully. “If you’re planning on entering the Land of Fire, you’ll need a guide.”                    “He’ll guide us into an ambush.” Utakata spoke for the first time, and the Leaf Shinobi snickered dryly.                    “I suppose you’ll just have to take that chance, won’t you?”                    Snorting with impatience, Kazan took a few steps forward and smacked the side of the foreigner’s head, making the man start in surprise. Rei jolted in place, prepared to dart back down the dark hallway. “You’re wasting time, and you’re wasting my money. The barge arrives in a few short hours, and I need you all to be fast friends by the time you leave. Tell your side and get on with it.” With that, the small man went back above ground, shutting the chakra-powered door behind him.                    There were three very quiet, very powerful seconds that passed before Mangetsu asked the question. “Why are you in the Land of Water?”                    When the man looked back to them, his grey eyes were unguarded. “To rescue my son.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Sachio Takata was his name, they’d come to find. Born in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, he’d become a Shinobi young and graduated as part of the regular forces. He’d fought in the Third Great Ninja War, eventually married, and had a son. He gave them no details, and they didn’t ask.                    Over the summer, his son’s squad had been dispatched to the border of the Land of Fire to relieve another team, who had been guarding a nobleman and his entourage while they handled some “diplomatic business.” Upon arrival, the entire group had been overrun by vagabonds and sold off to different parts of the continent, which the Leaf had only discovered after one of the captured Shinobi had been recovered by chance en route to the Land of Lightning. It had taken weeks to discover the locations of the others. The other squadmate had been killed at some point, the nobleman had been rescued, and Sachio’s son had been sold to a group of mercenaries in The Land of Water.                    “I knew what that meant,” Sachio murmured. “The Hokage wouldn’t authorize a mission to this country for a single Shinobi, and definitely not after...anyway. So I asked for an assignment on the coast, where I could be on the lookout for any news from the Land of Water. I waited for so long.” He looked up and met all of their eyes, one by one. “Then I met a man who worked for one Takeru Osaragi.”                    Rei’s mouth dried.                    “We spoke casually. He wasn’t Shinobi; he was just a tradesman, but he had heard rumors that the Village Hidden in the Mist was about to have a shift in power. A secret organization was forming, and though he didn’t know much more, he knew that the village was beginning to destabilize, and the man he worked for was benefiting from it.”                    Things were starting to fall into place, and a sharp breath from Utakata brought Rei back to herself. She’d unconsciously drawn blood from his hand with her fingernails.  She let go, not watching as he rubbed at his palm for relief.                    “I began communicating with this man every time he came to port. Eventually, I came to communicate with Takeru Osaragi himself through writing. When I asked for information on Leaf Shinobi in the Mist, he was able to give me an affirmative answer, that one had been placed in the custody of the Seven Swordsmen.” He looked pointedly at Mangetsu, whose face revealed nothing. “He sent my son’s headband back to me as proof. We made a bargain; I would secure a stronghold for Mist defectors in the Land of Fire, and he would make arrangements for Bijin to come home.”                    Sachio’s fingers scraped absently at a loose splinter in the surface of the table. “In his last letter, Lord Takeru asked me to report to this location, where Bijin would meet me with some of the organization’s members in need of shelter outside the country. I had to agree to receive your group’s mark before he’d arrange passage, which that little man upstairs made sure was as painful as possible.” He opened his mouth for a moment to prove his point. “By the time my ship arrived yesterday, this port was buzzing with the news.” He met Rei’s eyes, and the edges of her vision darkened. “Lord Takeru and his wife were executed for treason, and their organization is being hunted down by the Anbu Black Ops, one member at a time.”                    Mangetsu released a breath that he’d probably been holding for a while and sank down into the chair across from the Leaf Shinobi. “We hadn’t heard.”                    “Mhm. There’s an active warrant out for their son. Anbu haven’t located him, last I heard.”                    Utakata gave a strangled cry when Rei grabbed his hand again. “Why didn’t we bring him, Mangetsu?” she demanded, throat almost too tight to allow words to pass. “They’re looking for him! If they find him…!”                    “Rei, he’s the face of the foundation, now.” Utakata was the one to answer. “If Koichi were to disappear, to flee the country, the remaining nobles and Shinobi on our side would crumble. He’s the son of the founders, and they’ll need to know that he can rebuild the organization one day.”                    “Besides,” Mangetsu added, rubbing his eyes. “Headmaster Iwa has sworn to protect him. And Koichi’s face has probably been broadcast all over the country by now. One clumsy moment, one disguise that slips, and we’d be in custody if he were with us. We can’t afford to let that happen.” Rei opened her mouth to respond, but Mangetsu had already moved on. “Have you been briefed on our task?”                    “No, but if it involves leaving without my son, I won’t be going anywhere.”                    Mangetsu sighed, nearly vibrating with sorrow, frustration, rage. “I don’t know if you completely understand our situation now.” He pressed his index finger to the surface of the table, drawing out the invisible points as he spoke. “The commander of the organization is dead. The second-in-command is in hiding. I, me, one of the Seven, have gone rogue. Members have been captured, are probably being tortured as we speak. The village is on highest alert. There is absolutely no way that we will be able to get your son out of the Mist. If he is even still alive.” When Sachio just stared, Mangetsu added, “I’m sorry if it’s harsh, but that is the truth as I know it to be right now. The village will be on lockdown, with no one allowed in or out until the Mizukage is satisfied he’s eradicated all of us. And that will take a very long time.”                    They sat in silence for several moments, all of them turning the information over in their minds. Finally, Sachio spoke. “Despite what you may think of me, I am a reasonable man. I knew the possibilities when I became a Shinobi, and Bijin knew them as well. Until I know what’s become of him, I will not stop my efforts. But I suppose right now, those efforts include assisting you. What is it that you need to do in the Land of Fire, and how will it help the situation here?”                    Needing no further pause, Mangetsu drew a many-times-folded map from his pocket and spread it on the table between them. “We are searching for one of the Tailed Beasts. I assume you’ve heard of them?”                    Sachio’s look was withering. “Do you remember where I come from? The village nearly destroyed by the Nine Tails?”                    “Right, right.” Mangetsu looked back down at the map. “We’ve been tracking the Six Tails for the last few months. It’s been tricky since we’re relying on second-hand reports, but our most recent intel indicated that the Beast has not had a human host in decades. It’s been roaming the Land of Waterfalls, the Mist, and most recently, the Land of Fire. We believe it to somewhere between Suisen Lake and the eastern coast.”                    “That covers over 20 miles of territory,” Sachio said. His forehead screwed up in thought. “Hope you’ve got some pretty powerful sensory types.”                    Rei and Utakata glanced at one another. “I do,” Mangetsu said. “Finding it should be the easy part, considering. It’s the catching it that I’m more concerned about.”                    Sachio nodded. “Indeed. So you’re one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. That’s great, but do you really think you can take down a Tailed Beast solo? No offense, but I was in the Leaf Village when the Nine Tails attacked. It took the Fourth Hokage sacrificing himself to contain it.”                    “Do let my companion shake your hand,” Mangetsu muttered, still poring over the map. “She’ll convince you.”                    “He’s kidding,” Utakata said, keeping a firm grip on Rei’s hand when she made to approach Sachio. “Rei can absorb massive amounts of chakra with a touch.”                    The man’s eyebrows rose, impressed. “I’d ask you to prove it, but I’d like to keep what strength I have left. And you, boy? What can you do?”                    “He’s a skilled Water-Type sensory Shinobi.” Mangetsu looked up. “When we have collected the Six Tails, we will return to the Mist and make finding information about your son a high priority. But right now, our village is on fire. We have to get out.”                    With a heavy, resigned sigh, Sachio stood and pulled his hood back over his hair. “I agree. We’ll all depart on the barge tonight. We’ll be in the Land of Fire in two days.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The ship to the Land of Fire was completely booked, but it was a simple matter to sneak tickets for passage out of people’s pockets, Rei had come to find. With four in her possession, she had met back up with her group at the tea house, where she slipped into the civilian clothes that Kazan had arranged to have quickly delivered.                    It seemed to physically pain Mangetsu to Seal his sword away in a scroll.                    “That, too,” Mangetsu said, pointing to the bubble pipe poking out of Utakata’s new coat. With an eyeroll, Utakata relinquished it, allowing it to be stored. “Sure hope we don’t need our weapons on the ship,” he muttered.                    “Anything can be a weapon,” Sachio said, tugging a fur cap down over his hair. “And I’m sure there are some less conspicuous items on the ship we could use.”                    Even so, they each kept a Summoning Scroll on their hips, beneath their several layers of clothes.                    The sun fell, the snow began to drift down more peacefully, and the barge began belching smoke, preparing for departure. A quick series of Substitution Jutsu got them all on board, and their tickets told them where they’d be bunking. Some tactful trading with other passengers got them all in the same room, and Rei claimed the upper bunk of the nearest pair of beds immediately.                    The evening meal was a bland porridge the likes of which only the Academy or the orphanage would serve, but it was warm. Utakata had grabbed several servings from the main deck and brought them all back to the bedroom, where they were shielded from the wind, snow, and sea spray.                    Mangetsu and Sachio continued to speak casually, talking about backgrounds and sharing differing techniques based on villages, but Utakata and Rei remained silent. The Land of Fire was massive, and they wouldn’t be welcome there any more than they were currently welcome in the Land of Water.                    The other residents of the bedroom began trickling in as night fell. The other four sets of bunkbeds filled quickly, and Mangetsu struck up a conversation with a couple of old men who apparently had been traveling back and forth between the nations for years. “I didn’t think we’d even bother returning to the Leaf, but the winters here are too brutal for these old bones,” the thinner of the two said.                    “You’re Shinobi?” Mangetsu asked politely. He was quite good at disguising the incredulity in his voice, Rei decided.                    “Not likely, son.” The larger man grinned broadly, showing a mouth almost devoid of teeth. “Ryujiro here and I own a cattle farm in the Leaf Village. Someone’s gotta feed all those ninja!” He bellowed with laughter, and Ryujiro gave him a lightly poisonous look, one that Rei imagined was the look of a long-suffering spouse.                    “At least we did, before you gave it over to Haigo and her horde of brats,” Ryujiro muttered. “Hope the place is still standing when we get back.” Rei couldn’t suppress a little smile at their good-natured jibes.“What brought you to the Land of Water?” Mangetsu asked, scraping the last of the porridge from his bowl.“Eh, you’re one of those sharky-guys!” Akio, the larger man, exclaimed. “In all the years we’ve been traveling across the ocean, I’ve never actually seen one of your type. What’s the clan again?”Rei and Utakata looked to Mangetsu in tandem. He grinned at the old men, showcasing his teeth. “There are several local clans with the trait, but mine in particular is called the Momochi clan. Pleased to meet you.” He shook hands with both men before redirecting them back to the question. “What brings you to the Land of Water?”The two exchanged a brief glance. “The Leaf wasn’t a place we wanted to stay after the Uchiha massacre.”Sachio, who had been silent all this time, nodded in understanding. “Had it not been for my wife’s family, we also would have left the village, most likely.”“Has there been any word on the killer?” Utakata asked, collecting all the empty dishes.The men deferred to Sachio, who shook his head in negation. “Not to my knowledge. It’s been months, but he disappeared into thin air, it seems. I admit, it shocked quite literally all of us. I had the boy pegged as a candidate for Hokage one day.”“The boy?” Rei asked. It seemed she was the only one who hadn’t heard about this apparently momentous event.“He was only about your age, I think,” Akio said. “Just one night got up and killed every single member of his clan, the village’s police force, and was gone before sunrise.”“But he left that little one,” Ryujiro interjected.“Right, right. He left one kid. But the rest of the Uchiha clan is gone now. Just the two of them. Anyway, after that, a lot of us regular folk got a little uncomfortable in the village, started taking vacations and trips if we were able. We gave our farm to our daughter, Haigo, and planned to stay away, but…” Akio shared a look with Ryujiro. “In spite of everything, we miss our home.”Rei almost got a little emotional out of sympathy for the men. But the Mist wasn’t her home any more than anywhere else now. She already missed the handful of people she thought of as family, and knowing that she’d never see Kohana again twisted her throat. “I’m ready for bed,” she murmured.Many of their other roommates had already taken to their beds, and Rei burrowed under the blankets on her bunk as deeply as she could. Maybe that way no one would hear her cry.Rei woke early the next morning to discover that Utakata was already awake, reading a book by the thin light shining through a near porthole. “Why are you already up?” Rei whispered as she slid down her bunk’s ladder.“On watch.” He didn’t even look at her.After visiting the shabby shared restroom to wash up and change her clothes, she returned to the bedroom. The others were all starting to stir, so she didn’t bother lowering her voice much. “Where did you get a book?” He gestured to a scroll sticking out of the pocket of his flak jacket, which he’d hung from the underside of the ladder leading up to her bed.“I always carry a few with me.”Rei couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of that. “I’ll get some myself whenever we see civilization again.”“Don’t get this one.” Setting the open book down on his chest to mark the page, Utakata reached for his jacket.“Why?” Rei snatched it quickly, though Utakata didn’t try to stop her. “Is it that bad?”“It’s pretty bad. Tag, you’re it.” He left the bedroom, leaving Rei on watch as she introduced herself to the first novel of the Icha Icha series by one Jiraiya Monogatari.By the time she’d reached page 3, she could feel her lip quirking upwards in revulsion at the second-hand cringe, but she kept reading. There were certain things that she actually found fascinating buried beneath the super-sugary dialogue.The very first scene was a love scene, one that gave an amazing amount of detail about the two characters touching each other and how they felt when doing so. Hands on hips, mouths on necks, bodies touching, that kind of thing. But the part that Rei couldn’t quite wrap her mind around was the way that the characters clearly enjoyed it.Her heart slammed against her ribs out of nowhere as her mind played back images she’d rather forget.
Zane Sensei’s hand on her neck, his lips on the back of her head.

Niko Sensei pulling her against his chest, thrusting against her. “Scream,” he’d said.
Her gorge rose, and she threw herself out of Utakata’s bed and raced out the door into the open air, lurching herself against the nearest railing and emptying the contents of her stomach into the ocean. She was mindless of the biting winter wind.  “Looks like someone hasn’t got her sea legs yet,” a man chortled from somewhere behind her. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, it comes in time.”                    “Hey,” Mangetsu said suddenly, warning her before he placed a hand on her shoulder. “It happens to the best of us.” Rei nodded mutely. She needed something else to think about. People enjoyed touching one another like that. It was normal. She hadn’t seen much of that in her life, but it had to be true. Children existed, didn’t they? They all had to come from somewhere. Even now, a month later, Rei still hadn’t quite gotten over her shock at learning how babies were made. Of course… some probably came from girls like those in the B-barracks. Those without a choice.                    Her throat tightened again. That had almost been her.                    “Come on.” Mangetsu gestured back to the bedroom, taking a sip from his water bottle before placing it back in his hip holster. “We need to talk.”                    The bedroom was empty of legitimate passengers now, all of whom had departed for breakfast, Rei assumed. Utakata and Sachio were sitting across from one another on opposing bunks, and Mangetsu closed the door behind him when he’d ushered Rei inside. “Let’s be quick. We don’t know how long we have until they start coming back.”                    Rei took the spot next to Utakata, sitting as close to the foot of the bunk as possible. The three men gave her a series of questioning looks, but she acted like they hadn’t and said, “I’m ready.”                    “…Okay.” Mangetsu leaned forward, signaling the others to do as well so their voices wouldn’t carry. Rei just stared, and he pressed his lips together for a moment before starting. “We’re arriving in less than twenty-four hours. The shelter is how far away?”                    “A little over a mile from the port,” Sachio responded. “It’ll take us no time to get there.”                    “Good. Since we’ll have done nothing but rest on this boat, we’ll plan to track the Six Tails right away using your bubble jutsu—” Mangetsu motioned to Utakata, “—and your kekkei genkai.” When he gestured shortly to Rei, she offered a brief nod. “We don’t know what form it’ll be in, but we have to prepare for every eventuality.”                    In as few words as possible, the small squad laid out loose plans for tracking, cornering, attacking, and capturing the Six Tails with as many different contingencies as they could imagine. Sachio listened with great interest, interjecting here and there with advice as the one who knew the physical lay of the land.                    “It can’t have been in the Land of Fire for long,” Sachio reasoned. “The Hokage would have directed that it be captured.”                    “I don’t know,” Utakata said. “It sounds like the Leaf has had more important things to deal with lately, especially with the police force eliminated.”                    After a brief pause, Sachio conceded. “You’re not wrong.”                    “Sachio, what are the chances that we encounter Leaf Shinobi on this mission?” Mangetsu asked.                    “I’d say pretty low. We’ve been kept close to the village since the massacre, or in larger cities around the nation. There aren’t enough of us to spare for missions in the rural spots.”                    Rei’s breath shuddered in her chest. She’d only ever learned about Tailed Beasts from the textbooks at the Academy, and then only in passing. Utakata had said she could absorb massive amounts of chakra with a touch, but that much? The thing would probably chew her up and spit her out as a puddle of human goo.                    As the other inhabitants of the bedroom flitted in and out throughout the day, Rei tried to keep her mind occupied. It wasn’t easy. The first thing that always wanted to weasel its way into her thoughts was the idea that Headmaster Iwa, Niko Sensei, and Koichi were on the run, but they were stuck in place at the safe house. Other foundation members were probably being tortured, unable to speak due to their Seals. Kisame was out there in the midst of it all, ‘playing his part.’                    The second night on board fell uneventfully, but the sun rose with the chaos that accompanies a ship docking at the destination port. Rei was a bit disappointed that the Land of Fire was still cold.                    They checked in at the port with their false tickets, walked inconspicuously out of the tiny town of Asagao, and into the wilderness. “Hope port security is still that loose when we try to get back out with a Tailed Beast,” Utakata muttered.                    “Like you said earlier, boy.” Sachio was leading the way through the snow drifts, and he glanced back. “They have more important things to deal with.”                    True to his statement the day before, Sachio’s stronghold for Mist defectors was only about a mile from the port, but to an outsider, it might as well be in the center of absolute nowhere. Trees surrounded the shed-like building on all sides, and no obvious walkway had been created to reveal its location.“It looks like an outhouse.” Rei wasn’t terribly impressed. After living in Headmaster Iwa’s safe house for six months, the eight-by-eight shelter was less than she had been expecting.“Well, I didn’t have endless time on my hands, and I did it all myself, so you’ll have to be at least a little bit grateful,” Sachio quipped. “Let me show you around.”The tiny structure had a single wooden door (hanging off its hinges), no windows, and a shabby wooden floor that Rei was certain would give her splinters if she walked over it barefoot. She chuckled to herself at the thought. When had she gotten so spoiled?There was a small table large enough for one, possibly two people, a single three-legged stool, a pot-bellied stove whose open shutter revealed an abandoned bird’s nest, and a partially unraveled hammock folded over itself and hung on the wall. “I guess it could be a hunter’s cabin,” Utakata mused.Totally disillusioned, Rei was prepared to accuse Sachio of not upholding his end of the bargain when the Leaf Shinobi leaned down, pushed aside a tattered red rug, and revealed a ramshackle trap door. “This place has been here since the First Great War,” Sachio explained, pulling the trapdoor open. The wooden flap was shockingly silent when opened. Dark stone steps led down into absolute darkness. “After Lord Takeru asked me to secure a stronghold, I came across records of old shelters that had been used by non-Shinobi while the nations were at war. The ones on the outskirts of the nation have largely been abandoned, and this one was in complete disrepair.” He began to descend into the darkness, and after a moment, a light below was ignited. “Are you coming down?”Neither Utakata nor Mangetsu had any expression on their faces, but Mangetsu exhaled quickly and motioned them forwards. “I’ve got your backs.”Utakata took a moment to flatten a scroll on the ground and Summon back his weapons pouch and bubble pipe, securing them around his waist. Rei did the same, buckling The Bastard to her back.After they had all entered the underground chamber, Mangetsu glanced around quickly before following and pulling the trapdoor shut behind him.“No electricity, no plumbing,” Sachio said, tilting a lit candle over another’s brand new wick. “But it’s virtually unknown. Unless a Sensory type happens to walk by, you’ll be fine.”“That’s no problem.” Mangetsu glanced around, retrieved his sword from a scroll, and strapped it to his back as Rei had done. “We don’t intend to be here long.” Everyone took a moment to step outside and relieve themselves, double-check their supplies, change into their uniforms, and eat a food pill. “Sachio,” Mangetsu said when they were all back above ground. “Can you arrange passage for us back to the Land of Water?”“I can, but there likely won’t be anything available for a few days.”“That’s fine.” Turning to his subordinates, Mangetsu offered up a smile. “Let’s get going.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I hope we’re not being horribly naïve.” Utakata pushed an icy branch out of his way, picking his way carefully through the woods.                    “Send out another bubble,” Mangetsu said. “Anything, Rei?”                    “No.” Rei was not impressed with the quite mediocre Land of Fire. The snow wasn’t as thick as it had been back home, but it was still cold, wet, and thus far, empty. “I thought you said finding it would be the easy part.”                    Mangetsu didn’t look back at her. “If memory serves, I believe I said, ‘finding it would be the easy part, considering.’”                    One of Utakata’s several surveillance bubbles floated back down. “Wait.”                    Rei almost stopped mid-step. “What?”                    “There’s disturbance of the snow up ahead. There’ve been people around.”                    Straining her eyes, Rei panned the entire area. Mangetsu exhaled heavily. “Alright, then. It may not be Shinobi, but we can’t take that chance. With this kind of terrain, they’re the kind that run through trees. Up we go.”                    Rei’s chakra control was effortless after Koichi and Kohana’s training, but running through trees was going to take some getting used to. Her concentration was split between surveying the area and maintaining her balance, and she almost flipped completely around a branch once time, catching herself clumsily before she could plumet to the ground.                    “Nice,” Utakata chuckled, and she stuck her tongue out at him.                    Taking a careful four-foot leap, Rei landed next to Mangetsu, who had come to a stop. “What?”                    “Quiet,” he murmured, eyes flicking back and forth attentively. He silently touched a hand to the trunk of the tree, letting his eyes drop closed. Utakata joined them, much more sure of himself than Rei. When Mangetsu opened his eyes, they were narrowed in concentration. “There are three up ahead with active chakra signatures. Fully trained Shinobi, by the feel of it.”                    “How can you tell? I can’t see anything.”                    “I guess this is as good a place as any to teach you new techniques,” he said under his breath. “Give me your hand.”                    She hesitated only a moment. He took her palm and placed it against the trunk of the tree, just where his had been, and withdrew his own hand. “You’re a Sensory Type. You can detect chakra networks from what kind of distance?”                    She thought back to the handful of times she’d tried. “Probably about half a mile.”                    “That distance will increase as you get older and more powerful. But when that fails, you can rely on the earth to give you information that your eyes can’t.” Mangetsu placed his palm next to hers. “Close your eyes. What do you feel?”                    “A tree.” He was more patient than Rei deserved, she knew.                    “Think of it like a person. If you were touching someone and wanted to analyze their chakra network, what would you be looking for?”                    Alone in her mind, Rei concentrated on her palm. Her chakra was trying to draw something from the tree, but wasn’t succeeding. It was a pale green, faint, softly waving energy, and it ignored her chakra completely. “It almost has its own chakra, but not quite. It’s…”                    “It’s the life force, the physical energy,” Mangetsu filled in. “Plants lack the spiritual energy that humans possess to create chakra. But they can still communicate with us. Keep your eyes closed and focus on the life force. What do you see?”                    The tree’s energy was so pale, so difficult to grasp onto, and Rei felt her fingernails begin to scratch the trunk. The life force quivered, barely perceptible, then blipped with a jolt of yellow energy. “Whoa,” she said, snapping her eyes open. “What was that?”                    “That was you detecting a foreign chakra signature.”                    “Wow.” She flattened her palm against the trunk again. “How were you able to get all those specifics?”                    “You don’t have anything to compare it to right now, but when this is all over, we can work on that. Eventually you’ll get to see the differences between Shinobi and civilians, children and adults, even individuals if you are familiar with their chakra.” He stood, pulling his sword from his back. “I’m not even a Sensory type. Anyone can do that with enough practice. Ready for lesson number two?”                    Rei nodded mutely. “What’s that?”                    The expression didn’t change on his face as he said, “Assassination.”                    Utakata tilted his head slightly, like a bird. “Is that really necessary? They’re probably only scouts.”                    Mangetsu offered the twin hilts of his massive flat-bladed sword to Utakata, who took it hesitantly after a moment of contemplation. “It’s necessary. If they’re scouts and they are left alive, they’ll eventually report our presence back to the Hokage, who will then issue an order of war against the Mist. We can’t risk that, not now. Not even if we want the Mizukage out.” He pulled a pair of kunai from his weapons pouch, testing their sharpness with his thumb. “Better three dead men than three thousand.”                    “Would it be a bad suggestion to offer that we could just avoid them?”                    “Yes,” Mangetsu replied, but didn’t explain why.                    Setting her lips firmly, Rei stood next to Mangetsu and pulled her sword from her own scabbard. “This time, you watch,” he said. Rei replaced her sword with a huff.                    Rei and Utakata followed Mangetsu through the treetops, Utakata toting the huge, wrapped sword, and stopped the moment that Rei could detect the foreign men’s chakra. “There.”                    “Okay. Utakata, stay about a two hundred feet back and keep an eye out for Leaf backup.” When Utakata nodded his agreement, Mangetsu motioned for Rei to follow. They crept across the snow, leaving silent footprints, and concealed their presence behind a thick tree trunk. Rei was tempted to look for this one’s life force, too, despite there being enemy Shinobi on the other side.                    Mangetsu was tense, but not with any kind of fear, Rei noticed. It was anticipation. “What do you notice, Rei?” he asked, just above a whisper.                    Closing her eyes, Rei inhaled deeply and centered herself before turning her gaze to the enemy. “Three. Like you said, definitely Shinobi. Distracted. They’re playing some kind of card game on a stump.”                    “Good. Ages, power levels, anything of interest?”                    “Um…” She looked for marked differences between their chakra levels and compared them to the kinds of people she’d seen in the Mist and on the ship. “Older. Maybe in their forties? One of them is a woman. Probably Chunin-level, all of them.”                    “Excellent.” He inhaled deeply, then met her eyes. “This is one of those times that you need to let your emotions die, just for a while. If you hesitate, if you treat this as anything less than a moment of war, you’ll be the one who is killed. Got it?”                    Kill the emotions, but only for a while. She nodded. “Yeah.”                    “Alright. Here’s what I’m going to do.” The whispered explanation lasted less than ten seconds, then he said, “These are the handsigns. Try it yourself. Water-type from your mouth, in mist form. If you didn’t have enough chakra, you could pull the moisture from the snow. Try for about forty feet ahead to cover my presence. If you don’t get it perfectly, it’s alright. I’ll be fine.”                    “Wait, you want me to do the Hidden in Mist Technique?”                    “What better way to learn than under pressure, Rei?” Then he dissolved into a puddle of liquid person that slid forward over the snow, toward the Leaf Shinobi.                    “Okay, okay, okay, okay,” Rei whispered to herself, closing her eyes to concentrate. Ox, snake, ram… Forcing her chakra up into her mouth and using her Water-type chakra exactly has Mangetsu had said, she forced a thin stream of mist from her mouth. Crap. That’s not going to be enough. She inhaled and tried again, squeezing her eyes tightly enough that she saw spots when they opened again. But that was almost all that she saw.                    Everything ahead of her was covered by a thick, almost soupy fog, and all she could see was the collection of chakra networks ahead of her: three Leaf chakras and one very obviously Mangetsu-like puddle on the ground. Nice. I did it. Never again would Utakata pick on her for sucking at most Jutsu.                    She crept forward into the mist, hoping to get a better view of their actual bodies, but had to stop when she realized that her mist hadn’t reached as far as she’d hoped. It had gone maybe twenty feet before dissipating into the air, creating a very solid (and suspicious) cloud on the ground.                    And the Leaf Shinobi had noticed.                    “Never seen that before,” one of the men murmured, tossing down a card onto the stump. “I hate winter.”The other two were less oblivious. “That’s full of chakra,” the woman said, standing and immediately falling into a defensive stance. “Formation Six.”Before the Leaf men could move, Mangetsu had materialized back into his human form, walking through the mist like it had been his plan all along. “Greetings, Leaf Shinobi.” Before any of them could respond, he darted forward, quite literally too fast for Rei to see at first, and reappeared behind the first man to have spoken. His kunai sliced through the man’s neck effortlessly, dropping him, and as the woman made to swing Mangetsu’s way, he re-liquified and her blade cut through the space where his body had been. He materialized again behind the other man, who was quicker than his teammate, and they met blades fiercely. At least, it was supposed to be fierce.      The Leaf man’s teeth were grinding together and his feet were planted firmly in the earth, giving him traction as he pushed his kunai against Mangetsu’s, but the famous swordsman had a light smile on his face. “Thank you for your service,” he said, then he let his hand fall and when the Leaf Shinobi rushed past, pushed by his own momentum, Mangetsu cut his throat as well. In the same motion, he faced the woman.“Oh, god,” she whispered, the tips of her knives shaking as her eyes fastened to his headband. “The Blood Mist.”Mangetsu’s lips quirked downwards in distaste. “Why are Leaf Shinobi this close to the border of the country?” Emotionless. Cold.The woman’s voice was no such thing. “W-We live in this country! The Hokage sends us wherever he wants!”Mangetsu took two threatening steps in her direction. Obviously outmatched, the woman tried to retreat, planning to leap into the surrounding trees, but the moment her feet left the ground, Mangetsu was upon her, grabbing her by the neck of her flak jacket and yanking her backwards into the snow. His fingers were around her throat, choking off her air supply, and she wheezed helplessly.“Why did he send you here?” Mangetsu loosened his grip just an iota, enough for her to draw in a tight breath and scream, but a sharp blow to the side of her head put an end to that. “Why did he send you here?” he repeated.“I…I don’t know!” she finally shrieked. “We were just a lookout squad!” Her chest heaved with frantic sobs. “Please! Let me—”“Thank you for your service.” With that, Mangetsu slit her throat as well, silencing her forever.Rei hadn’t even noticed that Utakata had come up to stand with her. He stood rigidly with his hand over his mouth, deep in thought, and she suddenly realized that she had been gripping his arm as if her life depended on it. She let go in the jerkiest, non-Shinobi way possible. So much for killing the emotions.Mangetsu hadn’t yet looked their way. He’d pulled a scroll from his jacket and spread it flat on the snow next to the woman’s body. With a few whispered words, her body was transferred into the scroll, leaving behind only smatterings of blood-spotted snow. He did the same with the two men.Rei and Utakata left the shelter of the mist while Mangetsu worked, covering the bloodied ground and retrieving the discarded playing cards. Rei’s hands shook as she opened one of the packs by the stump. Inside were classic Shinobi weapons, paper bombs, wire, all the good stuff, which she pulled out and transferred into one of her storage scrolls. There was some loose cash, which she also took, and a small photo album.Nope. She snapped the pack closed and delivered it to Mangetsu to Seal away with the bodies. “Quickly,” he said as he finished with the last one. “She did get a little loud there for a moment. We need to be prepared for another squad to show up to relieve them or provide aid.”Only two or three minutes later, the small spot in the woods looked the same as any other spot.“They weren’t very good lookouts,” Rei mentioned as they left, once again up in the trees.“They were comfortable,” Mangetsu corrected. “They’ve probably done it a thousand times and couldn’t imagine meeting an enemy this far out in the sticks.”“What’ll you do with the bodies?” Utakata asked, offering the sword back to its bearer.Mangetsu took it gratefully, swinging it onto his back. “We’ll give the scroll to Sachio on our way out of the country. They seemed like honorable Shinobi. They deserve proper burials by their kin.”After another hour of walking, they still hadn’t detected a trace of a Tailed Beast.“How long are we prepared to stay out here looking?” Rei asked.“Until we find it, or until we get word that it’s changed locations.” Mangetsu set his hand against the nearest tree.Rei did the same. This tree was the same type and same-ish size as the first tree she’d read, but their life forces varied the tiniest bit. Rei would have bet that this tree’s energy was a slightly more blue color than the last. She’d forgotten that she was looking for something when an orange spark interrupted the tree’s flow. “There’s someone else out here,” she whispered.Mangetsu had already pulled his hand back to his side, but he replaced it on the tree now. “I don’t feel anything.”Rei looked to Utakata, who set his hand next to hers. Almost immediately, he flashed a look to their superior. “That’s no Shinobi. But it’s something.”“Where?” Mangetsu asked, once again pulling his sword from his back.Rei had no idea how to verbalize the thing’s location. “I think it’s… further away than the others were when we found them.”“You said we were near a lake, right?” Utakata asked.“Yeah, Suisen Lake.”“Yeah, it’s at the bottom of the lake.”Rei had a frustrated groan on the tip of her tongue, but Mangetsu chuckled and rubbed his hands together. “My favorite place for a fight.”

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Rei stared at the murky brown surface of the lake, still rippling despite the icy buildup on the shoreline. “Not gonna lie; it looks like someone already captured it.”                    “What makes you say that?” Mangetsu asked, already slipping out of his jacket.                    “Because it’s in some kind of jar, I think.”                    Utakata was verifying Rei’s every word. “Maybe it was some kind of attempt at destroying it, for someone who doesn’t know about Tailed Beasts.”                    Mangetsu shrugged. “If they Sealed it in a jar and hid it where people were least likely to come upon it, they didn’t do too terrible of a job. And it means that I won’t need Kazan’s vessel after all.” His long-sleeved shirt followed his jacket, revealing an extremely white chest. Rei could already picture Koichi making a joke about it, had he been with them. “However, I admit that my excitement has dimmed a bit.”                    “I thought you’d be relieved that we found it on the first day,” Utakata said.                    “Relieved, yes.” Mangetsu kept a tight grip on his sword, then became one with the lake, sliding into the water in liquid form. His disembodied voice rose back to them quietly. “But I fear that something is missing.”                    “Like what?” Rei asked, but she got no answer from the water. The lake stretched out nearly as far as her eyes could see, and the treeline across the way was just barely a speck in the distance. Mangetsu was over a mile away in no time at all, and his chakra disappeared from her sight. But the jar with the Sealed chakra inside remained on her radar, hovering deep beneath the waves, pulsating orange.                    Utakata hadn’t relaxed his posture at all. “This is too easy.” He’d sent up several bubbles, and his eyes were on the sky now. “What were those Leaf Shinobi patrolling for? All the way out here? There’s something important we’re not seeing.”                    “Mangetsu knows this could be a trap, right?” Rei had lowered her fingers into the freezing water, feeling desperately for a trace of the swordsman’s chakra.                    “He’s not one of the Seven for nothing.” Utakata still hadn’t taken his eyes off his bubbles above. “I don’t see anything.”                    “Then it really could just be this easy.”                    “Doubtful.”                    Rei stood and turned a full three hundred and sixty degrees. No chakra signatures anywhere but at the bottom of the lake.                    Mangetsu had been submerged for nearly three full minutes when Rei experienced the chakra explosion of the Six-Tailed Beast.                    In the space of a single second, the chakra jar that she could so clearly sense disappeared. In its place was a fiery ball that shot upwards towards the surface, leaving behind a volcanic propulsion of bubbles that threatened to create a full-sized cyclone underwater. When the ball broke the surface, everything in Rei’s line of sight flashed red, and she and Utakata were both thrown off their feet and into the air with the power of a hurricane. Rei slammed against a tree, cracking her head against the trunk, and her vision went black.                    It could only have been for a spilt second.                    What?                    The creature that was materializing on the water’s surface was huge, bigger than the Mizukage’s Headquarters Building, and it looked unmistakably like a gigantic slug. The entire thing exuded an angry red sheen, its chakra flaring erratically, and Mangetsu was doing what he could to keep it from reaching the shore.                    He was still merged with the water, but the top half of his body was corporeal, and he kind of looked like a king of the ocean, if Rei was honest with herself. He’d created a massive wave of lake water to rival the size of the giant slug, and equally large waves were forming on the other side of the beast, crashing against it in an attempt to extinguish its chakra.                    Mangetsu was holding his crazy sword with his left hand, and in one smooth motion, he brought his hands together on the handles and swung at the creature. Mid-swing, the sword began to glow, pushing out more chakra than Mangetsu could possibly hold in his body. The deep blue glow, tangible chakra, lengthened into what Rei could only describe as a god-sized blade, and it probably would have decapitated the beast had one of its slimy tails not come down right on top of it.                    Mangetsu recovered his hold on the sword and reared back for another swing.                    A wet cough from Utakata drew Rei’s eyes from the fight. He’d been thrown against a tree as well, but it looked like he’d suffered more than she had. He was trying to sit up, favoring his left arm, and a huge red mark was already purpling on the left side of his chin. His chakra flickered quickly, almost as if it was trying to keep from blowing out like a candle. He coughed again and a trickle of blood dropped from his mouth onto the back of his hand.                    The lake itself was turning red, like it was reflecting the most furious nighttime sky. Mangetsu had landed several blows on the Six Tails, which Rei could only assume was why it had gotten a little smaller. Crap. She was supposed be doing her part.                    Pushing herself to her feet, Rei made it about two steps before her head throbbed, blackening her vision anew. Okay. Okay. You can do this. She took a chakra-controlled step onto the water, reassuring herself that she still could do that, and took off running towards the Six Tails.                    The water roiled and tossed brutally, and Rei was thrown off her feet before she was halfway to the battle. She caught herself on the surface, but she pushed herself back to her feet as soon as she possibly could. Holding her trembling hands before her face in shock, she inhaled shrilly through her teeth. Her skin was a vibrant pink, stripped, like a searing burn. A quick glance down told her that the soles of her boots were sizzling, being eaten away by whatever this monster had done to the water. She ran, eyes on Mangetsu.                    She was still at least a hundred feet away when she began pulling at the Six Tails’ chakra. It flooded her body with a feeling like boiling water, and she couldn’t stop herself from screaming when it engulfed her. But she didn’t stop pulling. The thing actually stopped battling Mangetsu and turned its face to her, its eye stalks twitching in her direction curiously.                    Interesting.                    The invasion of this new high-pitched voice in her head on top of everything else nearly sent Rei to her knees, but the memory of the burns on her hands kept her standing.                    Mangetsu took advantage of the beast’s distraction to level it with yet another blow from his massive chakra sword, and the thing shrank down to the size of a small house. “Rei!” Mangetsu shouted. He was manipulating the water, shoving the Sealing jar to her on a wave. “Do it!”                     The water that dripped from the jar stung her already raw hands, but Rei clutched it tighter. She hadn’t been through pain training for nothing. Okay. Okay. One hand kept a hold of the jar and the other tried desperately to form the handsigns that would call the beast back into the jar. Kohana… You knew I’d be able to do this, didn’t you?                    The density of the air changed all of a sudden, and Rei watched, excitement and relief ballooning in her chest, as the Six-Tailed Beast began to dematerialize into little red orbs that floated peacefully towards her and into the jar. When the last one was contained and Rei was certain no more were to follow, she whispered the last words of the incantation and shoved the hinged lid down, where it stuck like it had been welded shut.                    We did it… I… I did it.                     Before her exhaustion, her pain, could get the better of her, two freezing cold arms had caught her and spirited her back to shore on a wave. But instead of setting her down gently, Mangetsu dropped her on the ground and she skidded a few feet, holding the jar tight to her chest.                    “Nice job,” Mangetsu murmured, and Rei forced her head to the side. She had to blink twice to be sure she wasn’t hallucinating.                    Mangetsu had collapsed on his chest half-in-half-out of the water, no longer merged with it, naked, and his entire body was a fierce lobster-like red. Patches of skin on his arms and back and been completely worn away, exposing muscle tissue. His lips were cracked and even the whites of his eyes were violently bloodshot. As Rei watched, the natural creases in his elbows and fingers began to ooze blood.                    Before she could speak, someone began to applaud slowly back in the treeline. “That was inspiring to watch. Really.”                    Mangetsu tried to push himself back into some kind of battle-ready stance, but he couldn’t even get his arms under him. What he had just endured went so far beyond pain training.                    Zane Sensei swaggered towards them, already pulling a kunai from the weapons pouch on his waist. “Our orders were to get you back alive, but it doesn’t look like you’re going to make it even if we Seal you.” Crouching at Mangetsu’s side, Zane Sensei slapped him hard on his ravaged back, like maybe a brother would. Mangetsu couldn’t even cry out. “Where’s the sword?”                    Zane Sensei made to slap him again, and Rei pushed herself into a sitting position. “It’s in the water! Stop!”                    With a small nod, Zane Sensei directed a Shinobi Rei had never seen before to fetch it. The water was already regulating back to normal. “It’s a shame, Mangetsu. You had so much promise. But there is no forgiveness for traitors.”                    Rei scrambled forward on bloodied, burning hands, trying to reach him with all her might, but slender arms of iron fastened themselves around her chest and pulled her upright. “Stop, Rei,” Hina Sensei said. “It’s no use.”                    With a tremendous amount of willpower, Mangetsu turned his devastated face to Rei, panic in his eyes. “Rei, Suigetsu—” Then Zane Sensei pierced the swordsman’s throat with the tip of his kunai, letting him choke on his words, on his blood. Rei sobbed as she watched Mangetsu’s light drain slowly, and Hina Sensei rocked her like a child.                              The Mist Shinobi Sealed Mangetsu’s body in a scroll, along with his sword. Rei couldn’t see or sense Utakata anywhere.                    “Put her under,” Zane Sensei said. “You saw what she does. Probably killed Niko before she left.”                    Rei didn’t even care that Hina Sensei was about to knock her out when the whir of a thrown kunai cut through the blood-scented air, burying itself deep in Hina Sensei’s neck. The woman’s embrace loosened and Rei stood on wobbly legs, bracing her wounded hands on the nearest tree.                    The Mist Shinobi were shouting, looking for the source of the flying blades. When two more had fallen, Zane Sensei closed the distance between himself and Rei in a few long strides. He grabbed her around the waist and fit his other arm across her neck, pulling her back against his chest so tightly that she could barely breathe.                    Pull. Her chakra didn’t answer her. It rumbled in her chest, still fighting the intrusion of the Six Tails, and it ignored her summons completely.                     “Ah, the sign of the weakest kind of man.” The voice came from high in the trees, and Rei turned her eyes about wildly. “The kind that hides behind little girls.”                    “Show yourself, you Leaf bastard!” Zane Sensei barked, pulling Rei higher so that her feet were dangling above the ground. Pull.                     I was right, the high-pitched voice of the Six Tails whispered into Rei’s mind. You are interesting. You just need a push.                    A feeling that reminded Rei of a key being turned in a lock clicked behind her eyes, and an odd sensation flooded her body. Like it wanted her to…push?                    Zane Sensei screamed in agony, dropping her, and she hit the ground hard. Her head bounced off an exposed root, but she rolled over and kicked away from her teacher. He was clutching his chest, blood seeping through his fingers. What had the invisible Leaf man thrown that had pierced a blade-proof flak jacket?                    Rei kicked harder, pushing herself backwards, but there was something sticking to her back, something stopping her from making it over a thin fallen tree. She looked over her shoulder, then immediately lost consciousness.
                    Was that a… was that one of my bones?              
*Hey, everyone! You've made it this far, and I'd really like to give you guys a chance to have some input on something that I'm really waffling with on with this story. Thank you for taking the time to fill out this short survey :) It'll be open until July 14th.*https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S62WPDT

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When Rei woke, she was drowning. Three successive breaths pulled in only a fraction of the air she needed, and she heaved her body into a sitting position in the pitch blackness, trying to leverage herself to breathe better somehow. She coughed heavily, her chest tightening. Had she forgotten how to do something as instinctual as breathing?“Rei!” Utakata’s frantic shout from somewhere nearby was the best possible thing she could have heard, but it didn’t give her her breath back. “You’ve got to calm down and stop coughing. They’ve suppressed our chakra; it’ll take a minute to get used to. Calm down!”Calm down, he said. Rei’s chest continued to rattle emptily. She couldn’t sense anyone or anything. Everything was silent. Utakata continued to say words that she could barely hear, but after several moments, her coughing did indeed ease and she was able to pull in a full, labored breath.“Good,” she heard her friend say. “You’re okay.”“The little girl must be very attached to her chakra,” an old, raspy voice chimed in off to the left with a quiet, sardonic chuckle. “That’s the most I’ve heard someone cough in ages.”“Shut up, Hideki,” someone else said, and Rei blinked furiously, trying to see something, anything. She’d woken on a cold, hard floor, and she could smell only the powerful odor of unwashed bodies and human waste. Quiet chatter was all around her.“Don’t worry, dearie,” a woman to her right said. “Having your chakra points stricken for the first time is always quite shocking.”“Utakata?” Rei called out, feeling her panic rise. “Where are we?”The old man who’d spoken before chortled now. “Only the finest of all prisons in the Hidden Leaf Village! Where only the most hardened criminals have the privilege of living. Darkness, rats, and all the charms that come with no indoor plumbing.”“Where are you two young ones from?” the woman asked warmly. “Your accents aren’t familiar.”“The Mist,” Utakata muttered as Rei tried to absorb this new bit of information.The old man whistled through his teeth. “The Blood Mist. No wonder they tossed you in here with us. What are Blood Mist kids doing here in our peaceful little village?” The sarcasm in his voice was scathing.“We can’t tell you.” Utakata’s voice was growing quieter, and Rei inched forward, trying to touch him. Her fingers met cold iron bars after a foot or so. “Literally.”Her hand didn’t hurt as she gripped the bars. “Utakata, how long has it been?”“I don’t know. At least a day.”They’d had healers work on her. Her palms were whole and unscathed, showing no signs of the burns from the Six Tails. She suddenly reached back, pressing her fingers frantically to the spot on her shoulderblade where she’d seen it. She felt only coarse, unfamiliar cloth, and her own completely intact skin. She must have been going absolutely insane on the lake shore. She’d just seen Mangetsu murdered. It was understandable, she told herself as she swallowed the lump in her throat.“Have they questioned you yet?” the woman asked.Rei shook her head, remembering after a moment that no one could see her. “No,” Utakata said for her.The woman sighed. “Brace yourselves. The Yamanaka can be cruel.”Rei almost laughed. “It can’t be worse than what we’ve seen.”Hours passed in darkness. Rei came to discover that her cell was littered with straw or hay or something, which she steered clear of. It made her itch. A rickety metal cot was placed against the back wall with a thin blanket over it, and it smelled strongly of the same hay. She’d been stripped of her Mist uniform and been redressed in what she could only assume was a nondescript prisoner’s uniform: loose, rough-clothed T-shirt and pants made of the same coarse material. The pants were at least a size too large and hung low on her hips.Her neighbors talked amongst themselves, but Rei sat silently on the cold floor and let her head thud against the stone wall that separated her from the kindly woman. She hadn’t gotten any kind of mental alarm that someone else had attempted to betray the foundation; how had the Mist discovered their plan? What were they going to do without Mangetsu? Had Headmaster Iwa and Niko Sensei and Koichi been found out? Were they even still alive? What if she and Utakata were the only ones left?Her stomach roiled, reminding her that she’d been on her cycle when she’d last been awake, but a quick assessment proved that she was no longer wearing her sanitary items and she was clean. Her face heated so that she nearly lost her breath again. She supposed prisoners, much like Academy students, didn’t get to call their bodies their own.There was no way to tell what time it was when she’d woken, but as time passed, a single pale white ray of light made its way down to the floor and grew until it was roughly the size of a dinner plate. A skylight in the ceiling high above illuminated the prison interior, if only a little bit. If she squinted, Rei could just barely make out Utakata’s form across the way, locked behind his own set of iron bars. His arms were crossed and he was leaning on the wall much the same way that she was, and he stared blankly up at the ceiling.An indeterminate amount of time later, a door opened somewhere out of Rei’s line of sight, suddenly flooding the floor with harsh yellow light. Rei pinched her eyes shut for a moment, nearly seeing stars.“Block F!” a male voice shouted from someplace that seemed very far away. “Stand against your far wall with your backs to the doors. Anyone who does not comply will not receive their daily ration, and they will not receive their exercise time.”Exercise time? The Leaf Village certainly treated their prisoners better than the Mist was purported to. There were plenty of rumors of people being imprisoned and dying quickly simply because the jailors forgot about them.“Which block are we?” Utakata asked no one in particular.“You are Block A, on that side,” the woman said. “On this side, we’re Block D.”Utakata and Rei met eyes across the aisle. They wouldn’t be going out together.No one spoke as cell doors rattled and prisoners were escorted outdoors into what Rei could only assume was still a snowy landscape. The door to the outside remained open as a few wardens in green official-looking garb slid trays of mush through the two-inch gaps that separated each door from the floor.But when one Shinobi warden got to Rei’s cell, he looked at her with the strangest, most expressionless white eyes, then looked over at Utakata. “You first, boy. Stand against the far wall with your back to the door and your hands on your head.” Rei could almost feel the resentment, the thoughts of rebelling wafting off her friend, but after a long, dramatic pause, he finally did as he was told. The warden entered his cell and fell into a loose jutsu stance that Rei had never seen before, leaning forward with one arm stretched upwards over his head and the other nearly touching the floor. Then, with a speed that Rei couldn’t follow in the least, the warden struck Utakata over and over and over, all over his body.When it was finished, Utakata had all but collapsed against the wall, and he had to be hauled out of the cell, unable to walk under his own power. His eyes were open, but they might as well have been blind. The whole thing was so fast, so horrific, that not a sound escaped from Rei as he was taken out of the prison.“Damn,” Hideki muttered to her left. “He was just blocked yesterday. They didn’t have to do that.”“How long do they usually go between…?” Rei didn’t know what to call it.“A week for most of us. Less for those with greater chakra reserves.”Utakata was not brought back before another warden came for Rei. The tall brunette woman didn’t have to speak; Rei got up and strode the couple of steps to the back wall, hands on her head. She had no idea how to prepare herself for this attack; she’d been unconscious the first time. When the woman began to strike her, she didn’t feel pain, not at first. It was a dull pressure that fell on her neck, her back, her hips, her arms. But over the course of the agonizingly slow seconds, each touch carried more weight. The woman seemed to be punching chakra into Rei’s body, and by the time that last blow fell, it felt like she’d been stabbed a hundred times.No longer able to hold up her arms, Rei leaned against the wall, willing it to keep her on her feet. If she coughed now, she was sure it would bring up blood. Her feet left the ground as the woman picked her up and carried her away, and the bite of the freezing outdoors air shocked her back into some kind of awareness.She wasn’t really outside after all. The woman was carrying her from one building to another; they were connected by a crosswalk bridge with open (but barred) windows. Another warden, Shinobi, whatever was waiting on the other side of the crosswalk, and this one tossed Rei carelessly onto his shoulder, letting her legs dangle down over his chest and her arms behind his back. He carried her down a long grey hallway, down a flight of stairs, and into a nondescript grey room full of people.“Put her there,” a man with a long blonde ponytail ordered, and her temporary captor laid her down flat on some kind of medical gurney. She couldn’t move if she tried, all of her energy sapped, but she could see. The room was lit dimly, probably so the screens flashing numbers and graphs could be seen more easily on the walls. Machines were set on desks every few feet along every wall, and a person was seated at each, printing out what looked like miles of intricately coded papers.And in the very center of the room was a metal dome, probably ten feet in diameter. The blonde man, the one obviously in charge, seemed to be calibrating it on a computer screen. “Tenzo, update me on her medical status.”“Based on the blood collected from her at the scene, she’s approximately thirteen years of age.” Rei used every particle of energy in her body to turn her head to the voice. It was the same one that had spoken in the forest on that day. The boy was probably Utakata’s age, so only a few years older than she was. He was reading from a paper with large dark eyes, and long brown hair fell far past his shoulders. His grey Anbu garb was spotless, and his Leaf forehead protector framed his face, reaching down nearly to his chin. “The report is fuzzy on specifics, sir.”“Just tell me what it says. We’ll tease out the rest in the exploratory session.”“Of course.” The boy, Tenzo, turned back to the paper. “Intelligence Capability: 85%. Physical Conformation: 80%. Parent One: Undocumented. Parent Two: Undocumented. Bloodline Limit: Confirmed.” The boy paused. “There’s an ellipsis after confirmed, sir. Then it goes on to list blood type and probability—.”The man stopped typing. “What?”Tenzo held the paper out to him. “The ellipsis?”The man came toward him, snatched the paper, then looked to Rei. A strange smile turned on his lips. Typically, when men smiled at her, it was a sign of bad things to come. “An ellipsis like that means that there was more to be revealed than the machine could put to text. She likely has more than one kekkei genkai.”Tenzo looked at her then, too, open wonder on his face. “Has that ever happened before?”The man shrugged noncommittally. “Not often at all. It’s most common in the Land of Water, where bloodline limits are being interbred and hunted to extinction, but still, if there are others, they are hiding well.”“Master Inoichi,” someone called from the metal dome’s computer. “It’s ready for her.”“Alright, then.” The man lifted Rei’s limp form in his arms and carried her to the machine. “Let’s see who you are, little girl.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The metal dome spilt in half horizontally, top rising like a clam, revealing that it hid a chair (complete with arm and leg braces) inside it. The front also divided, sliding away from a set of three stairs. Rei’s head lolled backwards as the man in charge set her down in the chair and fastened her limbs to it tightly, but not so much that it hurt.With Rei secured, this Master Inoichi pressed a button on the computer keypad, and the top of the dome descended. A hole just barely large enough for a human head opened right in the center, and Rei found herself essentially buried up to her neck in metal. Then the entire dome began to sink into the floor with an electric humming. She didn’t even have enough energy to panic.The descent halted when Rei’s head was only about three feet above the floor. The paneling that made up the floor slid forward, meeting the dome flawlessly. Master Inoichi came to her then, and without a warning of any kind, set his palm on her forehead.She’d never before felt anything quite like having another person inside her head.The Six Tails had been a presence in her briefly, but it had been alien, like it would never condescend to care about her little life. This man was leafing through everything, every detail about who she was, about what made her the person she’d become. Her memories played back in her mind as he touched them, from the blurriest days at the orphanage to the night Risa died to every day at the safe house to Mangetsu’s death. He’d dissolved the Curse Mark on her mind that she’d placed so meticulously with nothing more than a nudge.He lingered for a moment longer on the moment at the lake when she’d thought she’d seen a bone poking from her back.Then he lifted his hand, and it was over.Rei blinked open her eyes, but one didn’t seem to be working right. A flood of warm, sticky fluid wept over her cheek, and she couldn’t wipe it away. “Tenzo, please see to it that the medic on call reports here immediately,” Master Inochi said. When he returned to the computer and pushed a few buttons, the dome hissed and rose back to ground level before dividing in half again. “So, Reimi Taira,” he said quietly. “You’ve really gotten yourself into a mess, haven’t you?”She was released from her restraints, but she still could barely move a finger. She was returned to the gurney, where a pretty young blonde medical Shinobi was waiting. “Uncle, you spent too long on her,” she said gently, shining a penlight in Rei’s face. “She burst several vessels in her eye, and one of the ciliary arteries is ruptured.”“I had good reason,” Master Inoichi said. “But I had faith you’d be able to fix her quickly. See to it that both she and her companion are healed and cleaned.”The doctor started, shining the light directly in Rei’s good eye and forcing her to squint. “Where should I put them? Back in their cells?”“No, that won’t be necessary.” Master Inoichi paused, glancing around at some of the other people around him. “One moment.” He turned and left the room at a quick trot.“Alright then.” The doctor flashed an easy smile. “You’re going to be fine. Just lay still and I’ll take care of you.” She placed both hands over Rei’s eye and the familiar pricking of skin and muscle being pulled back together washed through her face. “What’s your name?”“Rei.”“Nice to meet you. I’m Kina. You and your friend have certainly made some waves in the village.”“We didn’t mean to.” With the new chakra flooding her system, her chakra points were slowly trying to flicker open, lending her some of her strength back. “We were hoping to be back in the Mist after a few days.”Kina helped Rei into a sitting position and pressed a warm, damp cloth to her face. “Hold that there for a bit. It’ll ease the ache until your vessels finish mending. I’m pretty new at this, so I wasn’t able to get all of them,” she said apologetically.“No problem.”Master Inochi returned with Tenzo at his side. “Lord Third is indisposed until this evening, so I’ll be leaving you in the care of one of our most accomplished Anbu operatives. Tenzo, they are to stay in the Sealing Chamber until I send for them, understood?”“Yes, sir.”“Kina, will you assist him?”“All afternoon? My shift ends in an hour.”Master Inoichi’s stoic face didn’t budge. “We rarely have the privilege of adhering to shifts as Shinobi, and you know that. I’m sure your young man won’t mind waiting a few hours.”Kina’s face colored faintly. “Yes, sir.”Rei tried to stand, but her knees buckled and Kina caught her, fitting her arm around her shoulders. “Take it easy. You’ve had a rough few days.”I’ve had a rough thirteen years, Rei didn’t say. What she did say was, “Where is he?”“Your friend?” Kina asked. “He’s recovering in the hospital ward. We’ll pick him up on the way downstairs.”Tenzo was quiet, eyes shifting to the two girls periodically.So far, these Leaf Shinobi didn’t appear to be the monsters that she’d presumed they’d be. “So, what, I’m not enough of a criminal anymore to be left in prison?”Kina met Tenzo’s eyes briefly before answering. “It’s not that. It’s more like Uncle doesn’t perceive you to be a threat to the village security, based on what he saw in your mind. There’s nothing about you now that he doesn’t know. I know that sounds awful, but it means that you’re safe for now.”The pain behind Rei’s eye was easing, and she attempted to continue walking on her own. “What happened to the Six Tails? What about the other Mist Jonin?”“The Mist Shinobi were all eliminated,” Tenzo said, deadpan for a moment until he glanced Rei’s way. “Except for you two. As for the Six Tails, I can’t reveal any of that information.”“Shocker,” Rei murmured, but her mind buzzed. Zane Sensei was dead, and she hadn’t been the one to kill him. And she… did not care. The band of anger and fear that she hadn’t known had tightened around her chest these last months was suddenly loosened, and she felt both a smile creep onto her lips and a stinging in her eyes that had nothing to do with broken blood vessels.“Lord Third is probably going to have some tough questions for you,” Kina said, placing her hands in the pockets of her white doctor’s coat as they continued down the clinically white hallway. This building that attached to the prison apparently served many functions. “It’s our Intelligence headquarters,” Kina explained when Rei asked, but wouldn’t expound on it. Her two guards were so non-hostile that it had been easy to forget that she was in enemy territory.They soon approached the end of the hallway, where a large set of metal double doors proclaimed that the hospital ward lay just beyond. “You cannot enter here,” Tenzo said. “Unless you consent to being restrained.”Rei blinked at him. “Did you just ask my permission to…what, tie me up?”He rolled his eyes. “You’re a Shinobi from the Blood Mist Village. Just because Master Inoichi doesn’t think you’re an immediate threat doesn’t mean that you can go into secure buildings of the Leaf. If you want to go in there and get your friend, you’ll be restrained.”She almost agreed to it, purely because he’d been kind enough to ask her preference about something that she knew she had no business having an opinion of. But when she held her hands out and he wrapped his fingers around her wrists, she quickly shook her head. “I’ll wait here.”Neither Tenzo nor Kina seemed surprised. “Give me a few moments. I’ll have to make sure Uncle’s orders got through to the administration,” Kina said, then she swiped a card through some kind of reader that unlocked the door and disappeared behind it.Rei found herself left alone with the young Anbu Black Ops Captain from the Hidden Leaf Village who had saved her life. They both stood rigid as boards, refusing to look at each other for several moments. Then he sighed and said, “You should sit down before you pass out.”She chanced a look at his face. He was still serious, still professional, but there was some small fragment of sympathy in those dark eyes. “If I sit down on this floor, I won’t be able to get back up,” she replied seriously. After a long moment of uncomfortable eye contact, Tenzo muttered something under his breath and formed a few silent handsigns before crouching and touching his hand to the shiny tile floor. And up from the floor came a wooden bench, almost as if it had grown there like a plant.When Tenzo looked back at her, Rei was still staring at the bench, well aware that her mouth was hanging open stupidly. “Oh…my,” she said.The boy stood and gestured at it. “Sit. Enjoy.”Rei did, still so flabbergasted that she didn’t even know what questions to ask or what to say. She ran her fingers gingerly over the unpolished seat while Tenzo stood across the hall, arms crossed. She finally found a few words. “How did you do that?”Tenzo actually grinned for a moment, losing that Shinobi persona that he’d kept in place like a mask. “You’re not the only one with a bloodline limit, you know.”Rei’s grip tightened on the bench’s seat so that she could feel her pulse in her fingertips. “You’re like me.” She’d never been able to say those words before, and it was shuddering her to her core. It wasn’t until she felt the cool brush of air on her face that she realized that tears were coursing down her cheeks and dripping from her chin.“Um…” Tenzo said quietly. He was scratching the back of his head, obviously profoundly uncomfortable. “Did I…say something…?”Rei shook her head, choking on her surprised sobs. Tenzo could create wooden objects out of nothing. He wasn’t hiding his abilities. He was a respected Shinobi in this village. How had the Leaf and the Mist become so vastly different? Why had she been born to the Mist?Tenzo didn’t take a single step in her direction while she tried to compose herself, and she was just getting her breathing back under control when the door swung back open and Kina reappeared with Rei’s favorite person. She was on her feet and running at him before he could draw in a breath, and she flung her arms around his neck without reservation.He was weak; Rei could see the bruises and battering he’d gone through, but he didn’t falter and wrapped his arms around her tightly. Like he’d never let go.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Rei had hardly any time to enjoy the Intelligence Building’s Sealing Chamber. “Woah,” she breathed, taking in the sight of the massive subterranean room. The foundation’s Sealing Chamber had been beautiful, but it had been built roughly, under the cover of night and chakra. This one had clearly been a professional effort, one that had employed dozens to shape, polish, and inscribe.The room was lit with torches, just as the Mist’s was, but it was easily twice the size, and the stone walls and floor were unblemished. The ancient pattern on the walls and floors was achingly familiar, and Rei set her fingers to the nearest wall, nearly ready to cry again when she couldn’t feel the whisper of the pattern’s chakra.Utakata leaned against the wall for support, breathing hard from the descent. He hadn’t recovered as quickly as she had. Even after the hours under the care of Leaf medics, he still showed heavy dark circles under his eyes. He was in the same prison-issued sackcloth-like uniform that she was, but his sleeves were just too short to hide the darkened bruises from the beating he’d taken in the jail.Kina and Tenzo gave them their space, staying near the stairs that led back aboveground. Rei set her hand lightly on Utakata’s shoulder, shocked when he started and shied away from her an inch or two. “Sorry,” he murmured with a small smile. “Pain training for me wasn’t what it was for you.”“They were supposed to heal you.”“I imagine it’s harder for them to get me back to battle-readiness.” He lowered his voice, trying to ensure that his words only reached Rei’s ears. “I’m older and male. And of an enemy nation, no matter what the mind reader says. They’ll see me as more of threat than you.” He laughed wryly. “Regardless of the truth.”“Did you see Mangetsu…?” Utakata’s head dipped forward, just slightly. “I didn’t see him die. But I saw your battle, and I saw what kind of shape he was in before they managed to overpower me. He didn’t last long after getting to shore, did he?”Rei shook her head in negation. “Zane Sensei killed him.” Her fingers opened and closed helplessly as she tried to put her feelings to words. “There was no reason for it. It wasn’t mercy. He…he killed Mangetsu so slowly.”She suddenly found herself being pulled back into Utakata’s embrace. There was nothing weird about it, nothing uncomfortable. “He died for it,” Utakata whispered into her hair. “He died for what he did to Mangetsu, and for what he did to your friend. Now we just have to make sure that…” He paused, glancing over at Tenzo and Kina. They were being very obvious about pretending not to listen. “That someone else dies soon, too.”“Our Curse Marks are gone.”“I know.” He sighed and let his arms fall from around Rei, making her suddenly feel very cold. “But they were there for a reason. Now the Leaf knows what our plans were.”“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Rei said. “Everything is different now.” She nodded her head at their Leaf companions. “The Anbu has a kekkei genkai, too. His name is Tenzo. I’ve never seen something so amazing. Can you believe it? That there are still others like me?”The door above clanged open and another Shinobi in typical Leaf greens appeared to tell them that the Hokage had made a cancellation in his schedule and was ready to see them now. Rei and Utakata allowed themselves to be led back up the stairs and down several hallways before ending up back in the interrogation area, where the big metal dome still sat, open and ready for its next victim.“In order to get you to the Headquarters Building, you’ll be blindfolded and restrained for both your own safety and that of the villagers,” Tenzo said. He sounded like he was reading from a manual. He took Rei’s wrists and held them before her, forming a very solid set of wooden handcuffs that crossed one wrist over the other, presumably so she couldn’t form handsigns. Kina tied a strip of black fabric over Rei’s eyes and cinched it behind her head as Utakata was put through the same motions.“It’ll be alright,” Utakata said under his breath as Rei’s heart began beating faster.It was hard to believe that as she was led outside into the cold and had to listen to Leaf villagers gasp in surprise and horror at the Mist prisoners being led to the Hokage. Rei was certain that more than one person spat in her direction.Only when they’d been led into the massive building, up a set of stairs, and into the final room were they pushed onto their knees, side by side, and relieved of their blindfolds. Looking around, Rei had never felt so small. There were six full-grown Shinobi in front of them, flanking the Third Hokage, though Rei doubted that they were there for the old man’s protection. The Third Hokage was seated in a throne-like chair, and he almost looked like he would blow away with a strong gust of wind. But the look in his eyes betrayed nothing but pure, unadulterated strength and confidence. What Rei wouldn’t give to be able to feel his chakra.The old man stood from his chair and walked towards them, hands comfortably clasped behind his back. The Shinobi around him seemed to relax similarly, shoulders dropping a fraction of an inch here and there, eyebrows loosening. The Hokage walked slowly, making a complete circle around Rei and Utakata before stopping in front of them and pinning them down with a stern glare.“So. The Mist has taken it upon themselves to set foot in the Land of Fire.”Neither Rei nor Utakata bothered to respond. Rei was fully expecting to be struck the moment she opened her mouth, so she looked down at her knees, letting her hair hide her face. “You entered the Land of Fire under false pretenses, with the intention of reclaiming the Six Tailed Beast. All for what?”The pause that followed was so long that Rei risked glancing over at Utakata. He had pressed his lips together tightly, but she could almost read his thoughts in his posture. They were fugitives from the Mist. Their quest had been a colossal failure. Their Curse Marks were gone. What was left to lose?“So our people have a fighting chance against a monster,” Utakata said, meeting the old man’s gaze.The Hokage remained indifferent. “Utakata Sato, correct?”“You know it is.”Rei would have swatted him, had her hands been free. But the Hokage chuckled. “As the nephew of the Mizukage, your safety is all but assured. Joining a rebel organization is quite a gamble for someone of your position. And as such, it’s put me in an awkward position.” Utakata stayed quiet, and the old man pulled a cigar from within one of his voluminous white sleeves. He smoked for several long moments as he considered the two before him, and finally said, “What is your intention now, young Mist Shinobi?”Does it even matter? Rei wondered. The Hokage was well within his rights to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives. But he listened intently when Utakata said, “If it were up to me… I’d take the Six Tails home and help prepare its new host to destroy my uncle. Then… I suppose I’d want to work with the new Mizukage to make sure that the village becomes a place free of my family’s…stain.”The Hokage exhaled a ring of smoke, pensive. “That is admirable, young man. The leader of the Hidden Mist certainly isn’t one of compassion. And I respect your initiative to try and remove him. But based on what the Head of the Intelligence Corps has reported to me, your uprising has failed spectacularly. So let me tell you my position. The Mizukage has demanded that you be returned to him unharmed, along with the Six-Tailed Beast, which belongs to the Mist by all rights. If we refuse either condition, we have been threatened with yet another war. And that is something that my village cannot afford to endure.”Utakata’s frame wilted, just enough to signal his defeat. There was no opposing the orders of this Kage. Not without allies, not without resources. It was just the two of them. “Sir,” he said softly, one last try. “Our people thrive on battle. But we are weak. We have fewer Shinobi than any of the other nations, and it would take very little effort from another village to—”“But you, young lady…” Completely ignoring Utakata, the Hokage looked to Rei, and she caught her breath. “A child of the Kaguya should not be sent back to the Mist.”Rei’s question stuck in her throat as the Hokage turned his back on them and waved his hand at his lackeys. “For the good of the Leaf, send the boy and Six Tails back to the Mist with a guard of six. The girl is to be confined with the Intelligence Corps until a decision can be made about what to do with her. Send a missive with the boy that the girl was eliminated in a crossfire.”  “As you wish, sir.”“What?” Without her chakra, Rei could do nothing against the two men who grabbed her arms and hauled her to her feet. Two more went for Utakata. He was in a fragile physical state, but he had the tenacity of a warrior. Springing to his feet with a speed Rei had never seen from him, he swung his bound arms at one of the Leaf Shinobi and cracked open the guy’s nose. As blood gushed and the moment of surprise was broken, Utakata was brought to the ground.“Should have expected as much from the Blood Mist,” one of the men on Utakata’s back muttered.“No!” Rei cried, kicking out in a weak attempt to free herself. “You can’t send him back! They’ll kill him! They know we betrayed the Mist!”The old man turned his head a degree towards Rei. “Rest assured, Reimi Taira. The Mist won’t allow the son of the Mizukage’s sister to come to harm. The Will of Fire does not always burn painlessly.”Utakata turned his head to where Rei was being pulled backwards, towards a side door. She caught only the briefest glance of his golden eyes before she was taken from the Hokage’s chamber and the door slammed shut, separating her from all she had left.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Rei’s cell in the Intelligence Building was much nicer than it had been in the prison, but it was still just that: a cell. With dimensions of twelve feet by twelve, she had little room to do much more than eat, sleep, and read. The room and everything in it were a blinding white, and Rei had grown used to the subtle pain behind her eyes that struck for a few minutes every time she woke up.She’d been left completely to her own devices for the first twenty-four hours, locked away, ignored when she screamed and threw things. They only looked through the windows that made up one entire wall of her cell. Her bathroom was hidden behind a white curtain, offering the tiniest modicum of privacy, and it was tempting to just sit by the tiny sink.    Kina was the first person to make a peace offering. On day two in her cushy white prison, Rei was refusing her fourth meal to be slid through a slot in the door when Kina came by with a covered basket the size of a large shoe box. The young doctor looked at Rei apologetically through the glass, then pressed a button by the door that projected her voice inside. “Can I come in to give you something?”Rei hadn’t even gotten out of her bed yet and turned over to face the wall, pulling the blanket up to her neck. An electric buzzing signaled that Kina had entered anyway, and the slight pressure down by Rei’s feet made her look over incredulously. Kina had seated herself at the foot of the bed, and she smiled tentatively. “I thought you might like some company.”“We both know that it doesn’t matter what I’d like,” Rei spat, heaving herself into a sitting position. “Because what I’d like is to get out of this box and find Utakata, then get home so I can find out if what’s left of my family is still alive. If you can’t make that happen, then get away from me.”Kina didn’t look surprised at Rei’s outburst; she just nodded sadly and stood, setting her basket down where she’d been sitting. “Let me know if there’s anything I can get you.” Then she was gone.Rei tried her hardest to ignore the basket by her feet, but it proved too tempting and she snatched it up and retreated behind her curtain. Closing the toilet lid, she sat and pulled off the top, feeling that same sentimental prickling behind her eyes that she was coming to hate.Her Mist uniform was folded neatly inside the box, complete with some acid burns, and her headband lay on top. She pulled it out and held it to her face, inhaling deeply. It had been cleaned since the battle at the lake, but it still retained hints of her life before: the smells of the sea, the mountains, the snow.There was so little she could do against these people, but whatever she did, she’d do it as a Shinobi from the Mist. She muttered insults and expletives about the Third Hokage as she stripped off her prison clothes and dressed in her black shirt and pants, tying her headband around her bicep and sliding her flak jacket over her head. It had, naturally, been relieved of all weapons, but she discovered a small slip of paper in the left breast pocket.Screw the ‘Will of Fire,’ it read. I’m coming to get you. Rei had to cover her mouth to stop the little scream that actually found its way out. That handwriting was unmistakable.
Koichi.
Days passed. Rei had no company but her own horrifying thoughts until one evening, when her meal was delivered personally. Kina pushed the door open and set the tray of food on the small white table by Rei’s bed, looking at her almost as if asking permission.“Sorry for before,” Rei murmured. “I was angry.”“Well, I’m angry now,” Kina replied, but her face was serene. “Look like we’re having the most mundane conversation ever. They can’t hear us unless they press the surveillance button outside the door.”“Oh.” Rei stood and took a seat at the table, taking the roll from the tray. Kina took the chair opposite, her back to the glass wall, and laced her fingers together.Even though Kina had just said no one could hear them, the young woman kept her voice low. “There have been some developments in the last few days. Listen, don’t talk,” she said the moment Rei opened her mouth. “The boat that was to take Utakata back to the Mist was carrying some of your other friends. They were able to disable the guard and escape into the woods. They managed to make contact with Tenzo, and they are waiting for you.”Rei could hardly breathe. “You’re letting me go.”Kina’s nod was barely perceptive, as was the smile on her face. “The Jonin Council votes tomorrow on what to do with you, and it’ll be close. Release isn’t even an option, and there are several of us who can’t stomach the idea of someone in your position being executed for situations totally out of your control.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “Including the Third Hokage.”So the old man wasn’t totally evil after all. “When?”“Midnight.”Rei forced herself to nod. She supposed that was as good a time as any to risk her life.Kina passed her a wad of napkins, which Rei immediately noticed was wrapped around something small and solid. “Be ready.”Rei couldn’t choke down any of the food Kina had left. She knew it would be suspicious to retreat to her bathroom immediately, so she stuffed the napkins in her jacket pocket and tried to nibble on the roll. Koichi was alive. Utakata was alright. Somehow, everything might actually be okay.There was no way for Rei to tell the time, so she decided to be ready anytime Kina returned. She waited what she assumed was probably half an hour before hiding behind her curtain and unraveling the napkins to reveal another familiar item: one of her scrolls. “Hope this is the one with the weapons,” Rei muttered to herself, tucking it back into her pocket and flushing the napkins down the toilet.Time had never passed so slowly as it did while Rei waited for midnight.There was always someone in the Intelligence Building, but hall traffic slowed considerably at night. Every time someone walked by, Rei watched them until they were out of sight, hoping against hope that it would be the person to release her. She was sure that she looked quite suspicious.One of the handful of times that she looked away was when the door finally buzzed and swung open. “Tenzo,” she breathed, and the young Anbu gestured with his head.“Quickly. The cameras are disabled, but they won’t be down for long.”Rei ran by Tenzo’s side as he bypassed several electric security checkpoints, and she was suddenly grateful that the Leaf hadn’t yet started using chakra barriers like the ones Headmaster Iwa had created. “Wait,” Tenzo said before they reached the final door, the one that would take them outside. “Can you feel your chakra yet?”Focusing intently on her hands, Rei tried to summon any little power that she might have, but only the smallest flicker answered her call. “Maybe a little.”“No problem. This way.” Instead of heading into the night, they took a left turn into a different room. This one was full of computer screens showing the different hallways of the building. They were all being monitored by a single Shinobi. “Aika,” Tenzo said, “Can you…?”“Of course,” the woman said, standing and turning to them. She had those same large, white eyes as the woman who’d blocked her chakra network. “I was waiting for you.”For only the briefest of moments, Rei wondered if this had all been a ruse of some kind, if Tenzo was leading her into a trap, but then the woman placed her hands on either side of Rei’s head and closed her eyes. She spoke something soft under her breath, then exhaled hard. And it was like the sun exploded behind Rei’s eyes.Suddenly, she saw everything. The woman in front of her had a mild purple peaceful chakra, and Rei wondered how she’d ever mistrusted her. Tenzo’s chakra was the same pale green as the trees Rei had learned to read with Mangetsu, and it was flickering anxiously. “Are you done?”“Yes,” Aika said, turning back to the computers. “I’ve wiped the memory from the last five minutes, from before you entered, and replaced them with dummy files. She’ll have been there one moment and been gone the next.”“Thanks,” Tenzo said while Rei tried to remember what was going on. The Leaf Village was beautiful. Even in winter, the trees were lively and reaching out to her, and the people she could sense were typically happy, at peace, not scavenging the streets for a meal or dying in the snow. “Come on, Rei. We don’t have much time.”“Right.”Rei’s first Jutsu since being imprisoned, a Transformation Jutsu, was flawless. She stepped out of the Intelligence Building disguised as Aika and didn’t let it drop until she and Tenzo were far outside the village walls. They finally slowed to a stop when Tenzo was certain no one was following. “We have a long way to go,” he said, fishing a couple food pills from his pack. “Your friends will meet us at Inaho Village, which is still a solid day’s travel.”Rei took a food pill and swallowed without tasting. “We can’t stop yet.”“Wasn’t planning on it,” Tenzo quipped. “Just waiting on the rest.”“The rest of what?”“My team.”Rei actually shook her head in disbelief. “Tenzo, how many people are involved in this? Aren’t you all going to get in trouble?”The young man just looked at her with pity and shook his head in negation. “Rei, you’ve got no idea how things work here.”“Clearly,” she scoffed. “Because we tried something a little like this, and it got some really good people killed.” Tenzo ignored her for several moments, surveying their surroundings. “There’s no one anywhere around us,” Rei said testily. “Would you talk to me?”“About what?” Finally facing her, he narrowed his dark eyes. “You’re not a Shinobi of the Leaf; there’s not much I can tell you.”“I don’t want any insider information. I don’t need codes or names or anything that you might have that you don’t think you should give me. All I want is to know how your Hokage decided to let me go, even though the Jonin Council was about to decide something very different.” She almost kicked a little snow drift in frustration. “What’s the point of even having a council if the Hokage is just going to do whatever he wants anyway?”She didn’t look at Tenzo until he cleared his throat, obviously trying to get her attention. “That’s what your Kage does, right?”“Of course he does.” Rei pulled her scroll from her pocket and spread it on the snow, sighing happily when she was easily able to Summon her weapons pouch and shortsword. “The Mizukage doesn’t answer to anyone. If he wanted someone dead, they’d be dead. And since he’s the jinchuriki for the Three-Tails, no one can beat him.” Rei hadn’t expected how good it would feel to tell someone else the foundation’s secrets. “And that’s why you were trying to recapture the Six Tails.”“We weren’t trying to do anything. We did recapture the Six Tails.”He chuckled lightly. “And it ended up with us all the same.”“Tenzo, we can’t let the Six Tails end up back with the Mizukage.”“I know.” Releasing a long-held breath, Tenzo muttered something about his senpai always being late and crouched to touch the snow by his boots. Almost instantaneously, a house rose from the ground, upturning a few trees and showering Rei with dirt clods and slush. Despite knowing about his abilities, Rei was shocked into silence again. Dusting his hands off, Tenzo set his hands on his hips and surveyed his house, trying to pretend that he hadn’t used every scrap of energy the food pill had just given him. “Come on,” he said, stepping over a mound of displaced dirt. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan to wait in the snow.”

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*Hey, everyone! So sorry for the delays; posting twice a week may have been a bit ambitious for me with a job and college courses. I’ll aim to post on Sundays until things calm down. I seriously appreciate every comment and view! Getting feedback has become a serious highlight of my week. Thank you all 😊* Rei didn’t know why she was surprised when she saw the entire interior of the house was made of wood.It was a small, one-story building, but it could have easily been lived in comfortably with some electricity and plumbing. And comfort items. Even so, it was preferable to standing in the windy winter forest, especially after having the underground of the woods rained down upon her.“I hope you know exactly how much you rocked the ground out there,” Rei quipped, brushing her fingers through her hair and stretching out on a wooden approximation of a sofa. It was quite uncomfortable, and all she had was a scroll that definitely wasn’t carrying camping supplies, so she didn’t complain.“We’re far enough away from the village to remain undetected,” Tenzo said, sliding his forehead protector off and setting it carefully on a counter by the door. His bangs fell over his brow, covering beaded sweat, and he exhaled hard.Rei raised an eyebrow. “You know, it would really suck if we were attacked right now. You look like you’re about to fall down.”“I’m fine,” he said, leaning both arms on the counter. “It just takes me a minute to recover.”It took him more than a minute to recover, as he was still breathing hard when two chakra blips showed up on the edge of Rei’s consciousness. “That better be your team. If you get me killed just before I find my friends because you had to build a house, I will come back from the dead just to kill you.”Tenzo actually laughed at that, and Rei couldn’t help but smile back. “A man with a… strange chakra in one eye, and a girl that isn’t Kina. Is that them?”“Yeah, that’s them.” Tenzo stood up straight, fitting his forehead protector back to his face. “Late, as usual.”Rei followed Tenzo onto the house’s small, covered porch to wait, and she kept a kunai tucked subtly inside her sleeve. The new arrivals seemed strangely mismatched when they arrived: a slender teenage girl with long violet hair in full Anbu garb, white and red porcelain mask included, and a tense sense of urgency; and then a silver-haired man probably just out of his teens in the uniform of the regular Leaf Shinobi forces and an unmistakable air of leisure.Although the entire lower half of his face was covered in a form-fitting black mask, Rei recognized him, and it sent a shiver of terror through her, which she tried to quash immediately. They were here to help her.“We must really be late if you went out of your way to build such an elaborate shelter,” Kakashi of the Sharingan said, obviously amused.Tenzo, who was finally recovering his breath, said, “I was preparing for the worst-case scenario.”“The worst-case scenario would be the council sounding the alert and sending squads on pursuit missions.” The man’s legendary eye was covered by his regulation headband, but the other focused squarely on Rei. “If that happened, I’m sure your house would have protected you.”The Anbu girl seemed to be losing her patience. “We need to get further from the village before stopping for any extended time. You were foolish to expend so much energy and chakra.”Tenzo opened his mouth to reply, then let it clamp shut on whatever words had been on the tip of his tongue.“Can we just go?” Rei found herself asking timidly.All three Leaf Shinobi looked at her for a moment, and while Rei’s heart tripped into double time, the man whose face had made it onto ‘Wanted’ posters in the Mist Village nodded once. “Yes, we can go.”Tenzo took a moment to reabsorb his house into his body, a process that once again made Rei gape like a fish. Headmaster Iwa would kill to meet this guy. “I don’t suppose you have a reason for taking so long?” he asked as his chakra levels rose steadily.“As a matter of fact,” the girl said, shooting a sharp glare to her superior, who had raised his hand apologetically, “we were called back by Lord Third before we were permitted to leave. Let’s talk while we run.”With her weapons pouch back on her waist, The Bastard strapped to her back, and the ability to taste all the chakras in the air around her, Rei ran shoulder-to-shoulder with the Leaf Shinobi. She couldn’t keep from sneaking glances over at Kakashi Hatake. He was probably more famous than anyone she’d met before, even among her own countrymen. He definitely noticed her noticing, and he offered an invisible smile behind his mask, making her turn away at once.“Lord Third is doing everything in his power to turn attentions away from you tonight,” the girl said, leaping over a fallen log gracefully. “The Jonin Council has gotten suspicious since the Mist boy’s guard never sent back any kind of missive before the ship was to depart, and they want to send reinforcements.”“How did he plan to stop that?” Tenzo asked.“He didn’t,” Kakashi said. “He sent us.”“Nice.”Rei had so many questions. She got that the Hokage wasn’t in favor of senseless murder. That in itself made him a completely different leader than the Mizukage, but why would he go to these lengths to get an orphan from an opposing country back home?The night stretched on, growing even darker and colder as midnight became the early morning hours. Rei had been stuck in one place for over a week now, unable to stretch her legs beyond pacing the length of her cell, and her cramping muscles protested at the sudden exertion.No, she told herself. If I let myself stop, they’ll catch me. They bypassed several small towns, and Rei took note of how the landscape became gradually more rural as they moved further away from the Leaf Village. Just before daybreak, Kakashi signaled them to stop. They’d come upon a tract of farmland, and the trees had thinned so that there was little cover for them.“We’ll stop for now,” he said. “Even once they discover what we’ve done, they won’t reach us before we start again.”Rei’s legs had progressed from the feeling of fire to absolute numbness hours ago, and she knew they were giving out when the ground suddenly rushed up to meet her. Before she had to catch herself with her hands, the girl grabbed her and helped her to sit in the snow. “Thanks.”Nodding in acknowledgement, the girl looked to Tenzo. “Think you’ve still got enough juice to make that house now, when it’ll actually be useful?”Ignoring the jibe, Tenzo created an exact copy of the house he’d made before, settling it just inside the treeline where it was less likely to be noticed by anyone passing by. Except this time, he nearly lost consciousness from the effort. Kakashi caught him before he could fall and shook his head in exasperation. “Two down. Yugao, help the girl into the house.”“This is why you’re not supposed to run to the border and back and then try to run back to the border within a week,” Rei heard the man mumble as he settled Tenzo’s limp form on the floor inside. Yugao, the violet-haired girl, offered Rei a hand up and Summoned a pile of blankets and pillows from one of many scrolls in her pack. “Take what you need and get some sleep. We’ll start again at midday. That should get us to Inaho Village by nightfall, hopefully.”Kakashi shook his head. “Probably not. We’ve taken a small detour to stay off the trails. It won’t throw anyone off for long, especially if they’ve got hounds, but I’m hoping our intervention keeps the Council from sending anyone else for another day or two. Anyone hungry?”“Oh, and I suppose you packed a bunch of fresh ingredients?” Yugao retorted over Tenzo’s strained voice saying “Yes” as he lifted his head in exhaustion.“You and I both know that fresh food doesn’t keep well in scrolls,” he replied, pulling a kunai from his weapons pouch and twirling it around a finger. “Keep watch and I’ll go find something.”“Oh, please.” Yugao strode towards Kakashi and snatched the blade from his hand. “You’ll get distracted by your book or something and forget to come back. You keep watch; I’ll find something.”Yugao walked out the door without looking back and Kakashi crossed his arms, clearly pleased. “My apologies. She gets a bit snippy when her plans change.”Rei had just grabbed a pillow and blanket from the pile and was laying them out near the door. She couldn’t quite drown the feeling of maybe needing to flee from these Leaf Shinobi. They had done nothing to suggest that was a possibility, but old habits didn’t die. “It’s fine.” She curled up under the blanket and closed her eyes.   When she opened them again, it was much brighter in the house and the smell of a rich seafood broth pulled her from her makeshift bed. She ran a hand back through her tangled hair and tied it into a rough ponytail, seeking out the scent. She hadn’t really eaten anything substantial since arriving in the Land of Fire, and whatever was cooking smelled better than about anything she’d ever tried.Tenzo still slept hard, as he should, and Yugao was asleep propped up against a far wall, a blanket pulled up to her chin. She’d abandoned her Anbu mask, revealing a face as pretty as Rei had known it would be.She found Kakashi outside the front door, reading a book as he slowly stirred something in a metal pot over a smoldering fire. He glanced up at her when she hesitated to come nearer. “I need a taste-tester, if you’re up for it.”Her boots crunched over the snow that covered the few feet between them and she knelt next to the fire, reaching for it. The small flames held such delicious warmth, and she turned her gloved hands over, absorbing as much as she could.Kakashi set his book down. “I thought someone from the Mist would be more accustomed to the cold.”She almost didn’t answer him. Her earliest memories that were so easy to forget these days had a way of reappearing when she least wanted them to. “I’m accustomed to it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” She wished she had some kind of proficiency for Fire Style chakra. She’d leech as much of it into her body as she could. “I slept outside in the streets during the winter more than once when I was little.”She saw him blink in surprise at that, and she forced herself to hold his gaze. He looked away first, dipping a wooden ladle into the soup. He brought it out full of broth and pieces of greenery and some kind of meat. “Try it. I think it still needs something.”Taking the ladle from him and spilling a few precious steaming drops onto the snow, Rei tasted it, then decided she’d never want to eat anything else in her entire life. She inhaled the contents of the ladle and dipped it back into the pot herself for another helping.“Wait, wait, I’ll get you a bowl.”When they both had a serving before them and Rei was halfway through it, the man who had so intimidated her a few hours ago set his bowl aside and looked intently at her face. “So, how does a girl from the Mist Village end up as a prisoner of the Leaf?”Rei came up for air after a moment. “They didn’t tell you?”He shook his head. “Honestly, I was pulled into this mission at the last possible moment. So I know the basics, and I know what’s happened since you’ve been in the village. But I admit, I’m curious. You were found with one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, a Tailed Beast, and you were being apprehended by a group specifically sent by the Mizukage. I know what I was told, but I’m certain there’s more to the story.”“It’s a long one.”“Hey, I love stories.” He set his hand on the book by his side as if to prove his point. “Try me.”

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Kakashi of the Sharingan was a good listener.“Koichi isn’t going to be happy to learn that the Leaf knows our secrets now,” Rei said, standing and brushing the snow from her pants.“If he’s the kind of friend you suggest he is, I’m sure he’ll understand that you had no control over losing that information,” Kakashi said. “And I’m sure he’s happy just to know that you’re alive. It’s more than many can hope for.”Rei pondered that idea as she watched the icicles in a nearby tree drip in the wake of the sunlight. “I know. Honestly, we’ve all lost so much. Mangetsu—” Her voice caught in her throat, and it took her a moment to regroup. “All we want is a safe, fair place to live. And some of the best people have died for that.”“Good people suffer and die for their ideals every day.” Kakashi collected her bowl from the ground and set it with his own, ready to be packed back into a scroll for travel. “And those of us who survive get a choice: will we continue their work and uphold those beliefs, or will we go our own direction? You’ve been through more than most, and it looks like you’ve got more to fight through. Your friends have taken on a huge, worthy task, but it won’t be an easy or bloodless one. So.” He paused, and Rei turned to meet his gaze. He smiled behind his mask, giving her an open, honest look that warred with his next words. “Are you prepared to die for your village?”Rei had crossed her arms against the chill in the air, and her fingers bit into her biceps. Die for the Blood Mist? She hadn’t thought of it in quite those terms before.“It needs more salt,” Yugao said, having just come up to the pot and sampled the soup. Rei had barely noticed her presence, and she shook her head, trying to recalibrate as the question rattled around in her mind. Would I willingly die…for the Mist?“I haven’t gotten a single complaint,” Kakashi said, already picking up a vial of salt from his stack of spices by the fire.“Well, your soup was tasted by a girl who grew up between an orphanage and an Academy.” When Yugao offered a good-natured smile in Rei’s direction, Rei had to return it. She wasn’t wrong. “You go by Rei, right?”“Yeah.” Suddenly feeling self-conscious in front of these older, more experienced Shinobi, Rei lowered her eyes. “I’m not sure why you’re doing all this to get me back home, but thank you. I’ll find a way to repay you.”Kakashi and Yugao exchanged a quick look. “You said you wanted a safe and fair place to live,” Kakashi said quietly. “The Leaf Village tries to be like that, and the Mist deserves a chance to become the same.” He turned back to the soup and sprinkled in a dash of salt. “I guess I’ll go kick Tenzo awake.”He’d just disappeared into the house when Yugao approached Rei, sipping at her bowl daintily. “Don’t worry if he’s a little standoffish to you.”“Hm?” Rei responded noncommittally.“It’s just…” The violet-haired young woman glanced back at the house shortly. “He’s had a lot happen to him, and I imagine that seeing another Mist Shinobi, even someone as young as you, would be tough for him.”“Gotcha.” Rei had no intention of prying. She’d never see these people again once she got back on the ship to her family. Just because she’d spilled her entire story to a complete stranger didn’t mean she was entitled to his. But Yugao was looking at her expectantly, so she asked, “What about you?”“It’s strange. We’re typically assigned assassinations, not escorts.” She set a hand on her hip as she looked out over the flat stretch of farmland, which sparkled as the snow began to melt. “And the Mist has threatened us yet again. So, why are we sending someone back to them who could return as an enemy one day?”Rei chanced a look back at her, this young Anbu operative. She stood a few inches taller than Rei, and though she was really slender, she was poised with confidence and strength. Rei really hoped the question had been rhetorical. “The Mist has made an enemy of me, too.”Yugao did not reply; she just finished her soup in silence.Tenzo was still shaky when he woke, but after he’d eaten and reabsorbed the house, he insisted he was fine. “I promise I’ll rest for two days when we get back home.” Kakashi narrowed his one visible eye at the younger Shinobi, who amended his statement to, “Fine, three days.”Running across the open land was terrifying, and Rei kept a laser focus on any chakra signatures that could possibly be human. They stayed as far away as possible from anyone she could sense, though the vast majority had completely inactive chakra networks. “Out here, it’s mostly farmers and herdsmen,” Tenzo explained. “And the odd group of Shinobi scouts to keep an eye out for foreign invaders.” The corner of his lip quirked upwards as he shot her a knowing glance.Rei wondered if Tenzo had recovered Mangetsu’s scroll with the Leaf scouts’ bodies in it, but she supposed this wasn’t the right time to ask. It was, however, the perfect time to ask, “So are you planning to return Mangetsu’s sword to the Mist as well?”None of the three Leaf Shinobi stumbled or even bothered to glance at her as the trees in the far distance grew slowly larger. “Of course we are,” Kakashi said. “Everything that you brought into the Land of Fire is going back with you.” He chuckled softly. “It seems to me that Lord Third does not want you for an adversary.”As the sun began to fall that evening and they had covered countless miles, Tenzo said, “Inaho Village is probably another four hours or so to the Southeast. Should we keep going?”“They were expecting us sometime tomorrow.” Kakashi had been leading their group, and he slowed now. “We can rest for a few hours, at least. You need it,” he said pointedly to Tenzo, who suppressed a cringe.They elected not to let Tenzo create a house this time, for his own safety. Instead, Yugao produced camping supplies from a scroll and they got to work erecting two tents. “I’ll see if I can find some dry wood,” Rei volunteered. There certainly wasn’t going to be much on the ground, so she turned her eyes upwards into the treetops for barren branches.Tomorrow. Koichi and Utakata were okay, and they were waiting for her. They were going back to the Mist. They were going to pick up where Koichi’s parents and Headmaster Iwa had left off, and they were going to kill the Mizukage.As she walked away from the campsite, Rei pulled loose bark from some of the thicker trees, stuffing it in her pockets to use as kindling. She hoped that the safehouse was still available. There was nowhere else she could go now. Her hand froze for a moment on a thin branch that she intended to pluck from a tree trunk. There was nowhere else for Utakata to go, either. Or Koichi. They were wanted criminals.The sun sank beneath the horizon and the sky turned a deep, peaceful blue. When her vision got a little more tenuous, she placed her hand against a tree and closed her eyes. When she felt the tree’s life force point her back in the direction of the camp, she had to hold her breath. She was not going to cry. Mangetsu had saved her life, and he had given his for the hope of peace in the Mist. And his last request echoed in her head now. She had to find Suigetsu.  She was just pulling down her last branch when Kakashi found her. “I thought either you had run off on your own, or you’d been attacked.” He grinned behind his mask, his one visible eye closing. “I’m glad to see that I was wrong on both counts.”“I got distracted,” she said, hefting her load higher in her arms. “Thinking about what’s left of my life.”He took half of the bundle and they started back for the tents. “So, what is left of your life?” he asked.“You ask a lot of questions with hard answers.” Rei took a moment to look at this tall, mysterious man in the darkness of a Land of Fire forest. He watched her openly, studying her. According to reports back in the Mist, he’d single-handedly derailed one of the village’s plans to destroy the Leaf Village back during the Third Shinobi War. He’d only been a kid, then.“Well, life doesn’t give us easy answers most of the time,” he replied. “From what you’ve been through, you know that.”Rei huffed. “Don’t I ever.”“So, how proficient is your Fire Style?” he asked when they dropped the wood between the tents.“I can’t use Fire Style. I can do Water and a little Lightning.”Kakashi’s visible eyebrow rose. “I’d think someone with two kekkei genkai would have discovered at least one other nature by now.”A twinge of irritation in her chest. “We’re not all geniuses known across the world.” Then she fully registered his words. She watched him effortlessly light the wood with a Jutsu, then nearly forced herself to ask the question she’d kept buried beneath her tongue for days, despite the fact that she already knew the answer.
A child of the Kaguya should not be sent back to the Mist.
“So, will we be graced with a five-course meal tonight, senpai?” Yugao asked playfully, tossing a stick into the gently wafting flames.“I wouldn’t want you to get too comfortable out here and forget that you’re Shinobi,” Kakashi said. “Food pills and anything else you find for yourself tonight.”Rei nibbled on a food pill for a few minutes and listened to the Leaf Shinobi banter back and forth before she decided that she needed time with her thoughts. “I’m turning in. See you in the morning.”She crawled into the tent meant for her and Yugao and slipped into one of the sleeping bags.Yes, she knew who the Kaguya were, and she knew what they could do.

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Rei slept restlessly that night, lost in a torrent of memory that had long been buried.The Academy had gone into a lockdown when the Kaguya had attacked the Village Hidden in the Mist, once upon a time. Rei had been in her second year as an Academy student, and she had been preparing to make the short trek back to the orphanage that had been her home for so long when one of the sensei had pushed past her and thrown the thick double doors shut. He had turned to her and pointed back in the direction she’d come. “Back to the arena, now!”She’d fallen in with the other low-ranking students, all of them racing down the darkened hallways towards the arena where blood from the day’s sparring matches still dotted the floor. “What’s happening?” one girl Rei had never seen before screeched. “Why are they sending us back?”“Probably another big fight,” an older girl had stated calmly, even while running. “There are more and more of them lately.”Over a hundred students were gathered into the arena, where the open windows just beneath the high ceiling let in snowflakes and frigid wind. Two sensei stayed with them, silent as stone at each door. The students chattered quietly, some even chuckling together. There was no way out of here for now, so why not have a little fun?Rei had turned in a complete circle at least twice, looking for Risa. Where could she have gone? She lives here; it’s not like she was on her way home when the sensei shut the doors. She had finally set herself down cross-legged next to some girls who were telling their fortunes with thin sticks. “See the way that this one doesn’t touch the long one? That means that you’ll grow up old and alone.”Minutes passed so slowly. Some of the students eventually curled up in the bleachers or on the floor for a nap. The sensei still hadn’t said a word. Then, as the sun had begun to fall, a commotion outside the Academy silenced everyone for a split second. A woman had screamed. Not a scream of pain or terror, but rage. The sensei suddenly abandoned them, running outside and locking them in.Something was finally happening. Rei found herself swept up in the excitement, running with the other students to the wall, where two of the older boys ran up the surface with chakra to grab onto the window ledges, at least ten feet above their heads. “What’s happening, Taiyo?” one of the girls yelled.The boy swore loudly. “It’s a fight. Looks like that crazy clan with the bones.”A few sighed in exasperation. “Man, that’s it? Those people are always starting something.”“Uh uh,” Taiyo had said, shaking his head emphatically. “This is way worse than the other ones. There’s…” He fell silent, and the other boy spoke up after a second.“God,” he exhaled. “There’s blood all over the place.”Rei could hear it. Screaming. Shouting. The visceral squishing of blade meeting skin. Crying.“There’s Zane Sensei!” Taiyo yelled, pointing out of the window. “He’s cutting them down everyw-” Before he could finish his sentence, he flew backwards from the window, like he’d been struck by a sonic blast. When he hit the stone floor behind the rest of them, his head bounced with a hollow resonance, and he was instantly surrounded.One of the girls cradled his head in her lap, but all Rei could see was the projectile that protruded from his throat. It was pale white, about the length of her forearm and maybe an inch in diameter, and it was so sharp that she imagined she’d cut herself just from looking at it.The girl holding Taiyo’s body grabbed the bone weapon and pulled it free from his throat, dropping it in horror as the blood gushed…and gushed…and then slowed. He’d been dead before he’d hit the ground.The cries and crashes still sounded outside, and Rei had backed away from the group of her classmates, needing to put some distance between her and the blood. Her stomach contents were rising, and she’d have lost them right then had she not heard a familiar voice outside.
“Please! Don’t come any closer!”
Without a thought, Rei scaled the wall where Taiyo had been perched, unsure if any chakra had been involved at all in her climb. She peeked over the edge of the window, searching desperately for Risa, but she saw everything else instead. The Academy had been built amidst many small shops, but it may as well have been in the middle of a war zone at that moment. Everywhere Rei looked, there were blue-vested Shinobi locked in battle with the Kaguya clan, the dark-haired heathens who kept showing up every few months to satisfy their bloodlust.There were usually only a few of them in the village at a time, but this time, Rei couldn’t count them all. Most of them held makeshift swords, and Rei watched as one tall Kaguya man stretched his arm and grew a bone sword straight out of his palm. It was every bit as sharp as the one that had killed Taiyo, and the man used his other hand to pull it free from his skin and slash it downwards on a villager who was basically already a corpse.Then Risa screamed, and Rei looked straight down below the window. Her best friend was pressed against the outside wall of the arena, no weapon to protect herself, arms held before her defensively. And a Kaguya woman was advancing on her slowly, ignoring the pandemonium all around. “Do at least try to make it a challenge for me,” the woman snarled, then pushed a bone from her hand in the same way that the man had a moment earlier. She charged.But before either Rei or Risa could scream, a flash of blue and blonde cut the woman down from behind. Her sword fell into the blood-and-mud smeared snow, and Zane Sensei picked Risa up like a baby and ran her around the side of the arena. Rei took one last look out the window before she let herself fall back to the floor.The Kaguya were pulling people from their homes: men, women, and children. They were stabbing at them with metal and bone weapons, leaving no one alive that they encountered. The Shinobi were doing all they could to slow the bloodshed, but it seemed to be a losing battle. Niko Sensei was locked in a showdown with three Kaguya men. One of them was able to find an opening and slashed open Niko Sensei’s brow, but he shook the blood from his eyes and struck back.Zane Sensei had opened the arena doors just wide enough to thrust Risa inside, then slammed it shut and locked it once again. Rei had thrown her arms around her friend, and she hadn’t let go until they were released from the arena the following morning.It had taken intervention from several of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen to put the attack down. Taiyo had been far from the only casualty. The Shinobi had gathered the bodies of the dead Kaguya and thrown them into a bloody pile in the center of the village. But before he was satisfied, the Mizukage had ordered that all other Kaguya who had stayed behind, who had not participated in the battle, be hunted down and exterminated. Later that afternoon, three of the Swordsmen had returned with a contingent of Shinobi, all of them carrying a murdered member of the Kaguya clan. Many of them were children.With all the bodies in a pile, Lord Fourth had personally set their bodies to the flame, sending a message to the Land of Water that uprisings, that discontent, that kekkei genkai, would not be tolerated.Rei blinked her eyes open. Even now, three years later, she could still smell the smoke. There was nothing else like it. Burning flesh, hair, and bone imprints itself on one’s memory.She wasn’t sleeping any more tonight.She crawled from the tent silently, and when she was sure she hadn’t woken Yugao, she pulled on her vest and her boots and she walked. She didn’t know where she was going, but she had to go somewhere.Those heathens…those murderers…those people…had been her people.Her hands quivered in the cold as she looked them over, still walking. Her bones would be staying on the inside, that much was certain.After a bit, she came to a stop when she realized she’d walked right into a softly moving river. The icy water invaded her boots, caressing her toes with prickling little bites.“You’ll catch your death.”Rei hadn’t been paying any kind of attention to chakra signatures, or she’d have noticed him long ago. She didn’t speak; she couldn’t. Her throat was closed tight.“Come on,” he coaxed gently from the shore. “We need to get you back to camp.”She was still staring at her hands when he came into the river after her, getting wet up to his ankles, and guided her back to land. She knew Lord Fourth was so wrong in insisting that Shinobi kill their emotions. But it would certainly make moments like this easier.She landed on her knees in the snow, unable to move another step. Kakashi of the Sharingan knelt next to her and set a hand on her shoulder, trying to catch her gaze. “You need to talk,” he said. He didn’t ask, and he didn’t make another move.With heaving breaths, Rei clutched absently at handfuls of snow, relishing the burn. “I watched…my clan…die.” Kakashi blinked, both eyes visible, one a startling red in the deep darkness of the night. He still crouched there next to her, quiet, waiting. “If I am a child of the Kaguya, then I watched my family, maybe even my parents, bleed and burn. We all watched.”The man nodded slowly. “We heard of the Kaguya massacre here, too. It’s been…mentioned a time or two since the incident with the Uchiha.”“They weren’t people I would have wanted to be raised by,” Rei admitted out loud at the same time she admitted it to herself. “They fought for fun and killed for no reason. And they were destroyed for it.” The sobs that she’d been consciously holding back rushed forward, and she found herself leaning on a Leaf Shinobi who probably wanted to be anywhere but here right now. “I just—didn’t want—this to—be my truth,” she choked out.“Your people are brutal, Rei.” She looked up at the mismatched eyes with the blurriest vision. “But you aren’t. So let’s finish this night, and tomorrow we’ll meet back with your friends. Then we can decide what to do about the Mist Village.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“It’s been peaceful so far,” Yugao commented when morning came.“Don’t count on that to last.” Tenzo was just coming back from the river Rei had directed him to in order to wash up. “We’ve been travelling across farmland and forests. The city will be a whole different scenario.”Yugao laughed out loud. “You say that like you’re not the youngest Shinobi here. Other than the foreigner.”Rei knew she probably looked like she’d been fighting off a week-long cold, but she smiled. She’d embarrassed herself last night, breaking down and crying all over the most famous Shinobi she’d ever met, and he hadn’t spoken to her yet this morning. It was for the best.Her heart pounded from the exertion of running, but also from anticipation as they drew nearer to Inaho Village. By late morning, the trees thinned, houses began appearing, and the dirt paths they’d been loosely following stretched into bona fide roads. Before they passed someone, Rei made sure to stow away her flak jacket and headband that would identify her as a Mist Shinobi. Yugao and Tenzo did the same, and when Rei raised a questioning eyebrow, Tenzo said, “Word travels fast. If it gets back to the village that this is where we went, they’ll be here before we can blink.”“Maybe not that fast,” Kakashi said. Rei glanced at him, then had to look a little longer. He was clearly very good at the Transformation technique. He’d managed to turn into a completely different person, sporting shaggy brown hair, loose civilian clothing, and pale violet eyes. He still wore his mask, but Rei supposed he wasn’t the only person with one, so it wouldn’t be a dead giveaway who he was.They slowed their pace to a walk, and Rei pushed her chakra out as far as it would reach, searching for familiar flavors. Where are you? Where are you?Hundreds upon hundreds of chakras tickled the edge of her consciousness, blues, greens, and purples. Where…where…“Slow down,” Yugao muttered, reaching out with lightning speed to snag Rei’s wrist. “We’re about to start passing people, and you look like a toddler trying to get away from us.”Rei didn’t bother to respond. She kept her eyes on the road, sidestepping horse-drawn carts and waving genially at passersby, but her mind was trained on one thing and one thing only: feeling for Utakata and Koichi.“Hope there aren’t any other Sensory types nearby,” Tenzo said quietly. His fingers kept twitching just slightly towards his pocket, where he held his scroll.“Why not?” Rei asked, only half-listening for his reply.“Because if they’re Shinobi, they’ll recognize us. Even if they don’t know exactly who we are, they’ll notice that we’ve trained with chakra. And they’ll definitely feel you reaching around like that.”With a breath, Rei drew her senses back into her body and held them tightly. “I didn’t think about that.”“Don’t worry about it too much,” Kakashi said. He smiled through his mask, and Rei saw a touch of crimson peek through the false violet of his left eye for a moment. “We know all about evading detection, right?” He looked pointedly between Yugao and Tenzo, who both nodded a little sheepishly.“Yes, senpai,” they said in quiet unison.As they continued forward and Rei struggled to keep her chakra from racing ahead, she let the Leaf Shinobi teach her how to conceal her chakra. “You’ve got to keep enough of it moving visibly through your networks so that you blend in with civilians,” Tenzo explained. “But any excess will definitely be noticed by Sensory types. You know the difference between a Shinobi and a civilian; how would you mimic someone who’s never activated their network?”This technique was much more difficult to master than talking to trees had been, Rei mused. She still wasn’t very good at it when they passed the sign that declared they were entering Inaho Village. It was bustling: people came and went on their way easily. Shops lined most streets, and kiosks were set on each corner. They strode past inns and restaurants and at least two bath houses, and Rei wanted badly to follow her nose to a roadside stand selling something fried.“Did they say where to meet?” Yugao asked no one in particular, allowing herself to be tugged aside by a saleswoman, who held a sparkling yellow blouse out for inspection.“Nothing specific,” Tenzo answered.“Well, we do have some Sensory specialists among us,” Kakashi commented, and nodded his permission to Rei. She exhaled gratefully, internally exhausted from trying to hide her chakra. Her vision exploded, colors becoming brighter and more potent, and before she stopped to try and make sense of them all, movement overhead caught her attention.A bubble.Her breath rushed from her chest, and she darted away from the stall. She waved frantically up at the chakra-tinged sphere, afraid her face might split with the force of her smile. People all around were looking at her like she was a lunatic, and she probably was, but she didn’t care. “Come find me,” she whispered.Yugao extracted herself as gracefully as possible from the saleswoman. “Anything?”“Oh, yes,” Rei breathed, still staring up at the sky. The bubble was drifting lazily on the breeze, but it had a purpose. He’d see her soon. She looked at her temporary squad with steel eyes. “We need to stay right here. This is where they’ll find me.”“In the middle of the street? No.” Yugao glanced around quickly. “I need food. Something better than undersalted soup, senpai. Full offense intended.”“It doesn’t feel like a very genuine honorific when you’re insulting me,” Kakashi said, following her down the road. Rei lost sight of the bubble behind a rooftop, and only then allowed Tenzo to shepherd her back to the group.She allowed them to buy her a meal that she barely tasted, and she got up while they were all still eating and stood by the restaurant’s door, probing the area with chakra. Utakata had to have received the bubble by now. They had to be on their way.Several minutes later, Kakashi joined her. She didn’t have to ask what he was doing when she felt the chakra in his left eye intensify. They did not speak; they just kept watch as soft snowflakes once again began to fall.“Shinobi on the right,” Kakashi said lowly, lowering his chakra presence almost instinctually, and Rei turned to survey the newcomer. She didn’t recognize the muted chakra signature, and he was too far away to see clearly, but Rei took a few steps towards him anyway. He was tall and wearing a long grey coat, shoulders hunched against the cold. Most of the shopkeepers had retreated back into their buildings with the onset of the snow, so the man walked alone. Then a big black dog was loping beside him.Rei exhaled and almost forgot to inhale again. “Leo!” she shouted, much too loud for where they were. “Leo, come to me, boy!” The dog left the man’s side and galloped straight to her, bowling her straight over onto the ground. She crashed into the snow, cackling with relief as the dog licked her face and pawed at her chest. She hugged him desperately, burying her face in his thick fur.Kakashi and Niko Sensei reached her at the same time. They were apprehensive of each other, but each of them took one of Rei’s arms and helped her back to her feet. Leo bounced around excitedly, sniffing Kakashi and deciding he was a friend, and Rei threw her arms around her sensei’s neck, laughing with wild abandon when he picked her up off the ground and spun her around once. “I thought you’d died!” she almost cried. “But you’re here! You came for me!”“Didn’t I tell you that we take care of our own?” He set her back on her feet, surveyed her appearance for a moment, and just chuckled when she couldn’t resist hugging him again. Yugao and Tenzo had joined them by then, and Tenzo seemed to be taking great care to stay as far away from Leo as he could.“You’ve gotten so tall,” Niko Sensei said. “And you’re safe.” He turned to the Leaf Shinobi and offered his hand in thanks. “I can’t begin to thank you all for what you’ve done for us.”Kakashi brushed it off. “No thanks required. But we would very much appreciate meeting with you in a more private location. We have a lot to discuss.”Rei tilted her head, confused. They weren’t leaving?“We have some rooms at the Lunar Traveler.”“Good. Let’s get going.”They walked the streets together, and Rei looked up at her sensei. She was taller than his shoulder now. “Who all came with you?”He hesitated, then brushed a lock of black hair from his eyes. “Pretty much everyone who was left.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Home.
It didn’t matter that she was in the Land of Fire. It didn’t matter that she was about to walk into a hotel. It didn’t matter that she’d never known her parents, or any blood relations. All that mattered was the way that her heart filled to overflowing when she saw Koichi and Utakata standing side by side outside the building. Both of their faces were alight with the same joy, relief, love that she was sure was on hers.She took off from under Niko Sensei’s arm, racing Leo to the boys, and laughed when Koichi pushed Utakata into a nearby snowbank so he could get a head start. Koichi and Rei met in an embrace like a thunderclap, and he whispered, “You don’t get to go on missions without me anymore, okay?” All she could do was nod. She couldn’t imagine leaving him behind, not ever, never again.A moment later, Utakata was there, and Rei released Koichi to be enveloped by someone she just now realized was still her favorite person. He’d been there through every part of this horribly failed mission, and his eyes had haunted her nightmares since the day he was tackled in the Hokage’s office to be hauled back across the Land of Fire. But he looked at her now with clear, golden eyes that showed no reservation, no pain, no fear. They didn’t speak; they didn’t need to.“We honestly don’t have a lot of time,” Kakashi said. “The special forces are probably eighteen hours, maybe a day behind us. The sooner we can get moving, the better.”“Of course,” Niko Sensei said, and they all went inside.The Mist Shinobi had rented out an entire hallway of the hotel, Rei discovered, including a living room-like area that sported couches, two fireplaces, and a kitchen with a dining area. Headmaster Iwa was seated at the table, and he lurched to his feet to accept the first hug that Rei had ever given him.Headmaster Iwa caught her expression when she released him and nodded solemnly. “Rei, in spite of everything that you’ve been through, I’m grateful that you were not in the Mist Village this last month.”She ached to know what had happened, but it had to wait. Headmaster Iwa sent Koichi to knock on the doors and call the remaining foundation members out to the common area, and Rei watched them all as they entered, trying to put names to faces. She didn’t remember many of them.She did, however, remember Sachio. The older Leaf Shinobi smiled softly at her, and she remembered with a start that his son was still in the Mist as a captive. When they were all gathered, the common area held less than twenty people, Leaf Shinobi included. Most of the adults were Land of Water nobles. The only Mist Shinobi present were Headmaster Iwa, Niko Sensei, Rei, Utakata, and Koichi.“Utakata told us about Mangetsu. And Kisame is okay,” Koichi said quietly. “Depending on how you define it.”“I had to remove Kisame’s Seal for his own safety,” Headmaster Iwa explained. “Lord Fourth was checking everyone, and by then, it wouldn’t have mattered what information was shared.” He sighed, hanging his head, showing his age. “Losing Mangetsu is… a great loss indeed. He was a good boy.”Rei had taken a seat on a sofa, and Utakata and Koichi had immediately taken up the spots on either side of her. She grabbed one of each of their hands, still trying to make herself believe that they were all together again. “How did you get out of the Mist?”A few of the nobles were murmuring with quiet conversation, but Headmaster Iwa called everyone to attention. “Let me start at the beginning, to fill in both you and our new Leaf comrades,” he said, nodding to Kakashi, Yugao, and Tenzo, who were the only ones still standing, “and then we’ll make a collective decision about our next steps.”Rei listened to the story in horror.Koichi’s father, Takeru Osaragi, had been betrayed to the Mizukage by a villager who had managed to overhear a conversation between foundation members. Takeru had been tortured by the Mizukage himself until both he and Kohana had been executed on the front steps of the Headquarters Building. The next weeks had been a witch hunt in the village, with neighbors turning on one another in the hopes of receiving a reward from Lord Fourth for their loyalty. Anyone with the Seal of the foundation was executed without question, and at least twenty others were killed despite not having the mark. Even the noble families of the Land of Water had come under scrutiny, and the Feudal Lord washed his hands of the whole matter, declaring that the Mizukage was free to handle the uprising as he saw fit.After his parents’ execution, Koichi had immediately become a suspect, but no one could find him. When Headmaster Iwa and Niko Sensei failed to report to the Academy, they’d also come under suspicion. All they could do was stay in hiding in the safe house, and when Headmaster Iwa’s house had been burned to the ground above them, they stayed put for several days more, protected by the chakra barrier and surviving on the rations the foundation had been putting aside for that very eventuality.It was only when Kisame ventured back on his own two days after the fire that he found the three survivors still living underground. The swordsman ferried information back and forth between Headmaster Iwa and the nobles for days. And then the coup had happened.“What?” Rei asked, interrupting Headmaster Iwa in the middle of his sentence.He nodded, clearly exasperated at the absurdity of the situation. “Yes, there was another rebellion in the works, and our two groups managed to be completely unaware of each other somehow.”Zabuza Momochi, another of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, had taken advantage of the Mizukage’s distraction and launched an attack against the village with his own group of followers and hired mercenaries, but they had been unprepared for Lord Fourth to defend the village with his Tailed Beast.“So while the Three Tails demolished half of the village, we took our chances and got out,” Headmaster Iwa said, his voice thick with grief. “We gathered who we could and ushered them out of the village walls, and those of us remaining in the foundation headed for the ports. We knew we weren’t safe in the Land of Water, and he’d hunt us down one by one.”Zabuza’s coup had failed, and Kisame had been dispatched to hunt him down as a traitor. The survivors of the foundation had travelled through the rural land and hadn’t stopped until they’d reached the same port that Rei, Utakata, and Mangetsu had departed from, and with the help of Kazan, who’d stayed behind to assist stragglers, they had sailed straight for the Land of Fire, the country’s nearest neighbor.“And by some stroke of good luck or divine intervention, we happened to be on the same boat that was set to pick up Utakata and take him back to the Land of Water.”Utakata chuckled darkly, looking down at his fingers that were so tightly intertwined with Rei’s. “I’d never seen more surprised guards.”“So we took shelter in the woods for, what, two days?” Headmaster Iwa looked to Niko Sensei, who nodded in agreement. “And then Utakata remembered that young man had been sympathetic.” He pointed to Tenzo, who blushed. “He was more than willing to help us when we reached out to him at the port.”“And we didn’t even know if you’d really be able to escape,” Koichi said. “So thank you again, all of you.”Kakashi suddenly seemed to remember that he was Transformed, and he took the moment to release his Jutsu. When his wild silver hair and brilliant red eye revealed themselves, Niko Sensei and Headmaster Iwa both stood in alarm, reaching for weapons from the pouches scattered about. Kakashi held up his hands, palms out. “Please. I know what the Mist thinks of me. But I’m here as an ally.”Sachio stood then and went to Kakashi’s side. “You can trust him, I swear. He’s young, but he’s proven, and he has a good heart.” Clapping Kakashi on the shoulder, Sachio bragged for a moment like a proud father. “He was the only student who ever beat my son in a sparring match. And he studied under the Fourth Hokage and served in the Anbu Black Ops for years. There’s no one better to help fugitives from the Mist. Especially since he holds the Third Hokage’s trust now.”Clearly embarrassed, Kakashi laughed uncomfortably. “Um. Anyway—”“He’s also the one who single-handedly destroyed a whole platoon of Mist Shinobi in the war,” Niko Sensei almost growled. He had grabbed a kunai, and the blade shook in his hand. The nobles among them had leapt from their places and retreated to the walls or back to their rooms, trying to protect themselves from a fight. “He completely decimated their bodies. I’d never seen brutality like that before, where one person could rip people apart and…”Kakashi still held his hands before him, but his eyes had narrowed. Rei felt her blood suddenly ice in her veins.“What did the Mist expect would happen?” Kakashi’s voice was low, deadly, and his Sharingan almost seemed to glow. “When they Sealed a time bomb into a girl and released her on her own village?”Headmaster Iwa had regained his control, and he stepped purposely between the two men, holding a hand up to each of them, breaking their eye contact. “Boys.” He looked between them, making sure to catch each of their gazes. Koichi and Utakata were both absolutely spellbound. “The war was hell like none of us had ever seen. We all had to do… unconscionable things.” He paused, letting his words sink in. “But what we’re trying to do now is our penance. This, fighting the travesty that the Hidden Mist has become, is how we can start to atone for our sins. All of us.”Niko Sensei still breathed hard, still clutched the kunai with a deathgrip, but he lowered it a few inches. Kakashi shoved off Sachio’s hand and walked out of the hotel.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The moment Kakashi was gone, Niko Sensei visibly relaxed. His shoulders dropped and the kunai fell to the carpeted floor. He gripped the back of a chair tight enough for the tips of his fingers to turn completely white. “I know,” he murmured when Headmaster Iwa made to speak. “It was a knee-jerk reaction. I wasn’t ready to see him, and I was already on edge from being here again.”Yugao and Tenzo had disappeared in the moments Rei wasn’t watching, but her chakra assured her they were nearby.“There’s obviously a story here that I don’t know,” Koichi said. He stood and went to their sensei, tall and serious, nearly foreign to Rei. “If we’re going to work with the Leaf, we need all the information we can get.”“I know, I know,” Niko Sensei repeated. “Just give me a minute.”Koichi turned to Rei. “Are they coming back?”Following the nudging of her mind’s eye, Rei stood and moved to the window overlooking the hotel’s courtyard. Yugao and Tenzo had caught up to Kakashi, and when Yugao reached out to put a supportive hand on his shoulder, he shrugged her off roughly and walked through the gates, heading back into town.Rei clenched her teeth. “Not right now.”With a burdened sigh, Headmaster Iwa sat back down at the table. “At the moment, it’s for the best. Sit, all of you.”Rei, Utakata, Koichi, and Niko Sensei did as they were told. Sachio joined them, and after a moment, three of the nobles did as well. Rei recognized one: a bald older man with a salt-and-pepper beard who had definitely been present when Rei had Sealed the “mashed potatoes” ban on Utakata. He now had a vibrant burn mark that stretched across his right cheek, and it was only in the early stages of healing. He noticed Rei’s stare. “Like the Headmaster said. It was good that you were not in the Mist recently.”“Okay,” Headmaster Iwa said, clasping his hands together in front of him on the table. “The last thing that I want to do is give you a history lesson. You all know the background of our nation. You know how we have operated as a country, and most of us remember the horrors of the Third Great War. But you, young ones—” He met eyes pointedly with Rei, Utakata, and Koichi in turn. “—you were very young then.”“I remember bits and pieces,” Utakata said quietly. “Mostly the stories from those who returned.”“It ended only seven years ago.” Niko Sensei refused to look any of them in the eye. “But in some ways, it might as well have been yesterday. Utakata, if you hadn’t been born noble, you’d have been on the battlefield with the rest of us. We saw Genin slaughtered right beside Jonin.” He paused, taking in a long, shaky breath. “Which is why it was so shocking to find the carnage left behind by a thirteen-year-old Leaf Shinobi.”“I was shocked, too,” Headmaster Iwa admitted. “This was the first time I’ve ever laid eyes on him, but… he’s well known to our village now.”“What exactly happened?” Koichi asked authoritatively. “We know the basics of the war; we had to study the different battles. That man is Kakashi Hatake, right? He’s the one who stopped the Mist from destroying the Leaf Village?”Niko Sensei still kept his eyes on the table, tracing the patterns of the wood grain. “The Land of Fire was our battlefield for months. This is the first time we’ve been back since the war. The Leaf has always been one of the most powerful of the Hidden Villages. We were under orders to destabilize it however we could. So one squad managed to get their hands on a young Leaf kunoichi, and they Sealed the Three Tails into her.”“The Three Tails,” Utakata said emotionlessly. “The one Lord Fourth now holds.”“Yes. It was a long and difficult process. Sealing itself is difficult and takes a remarkable amount of concentration.” He spared a glance for Rei before looking back down. “But Sealing a Tailed Beast is something else entirely. We had an incredibly powerful specialist with us who was able to do it all himself. Then he put a Curse Seal on top of it that would trigger a release when the girl reached her village. We were prepared to watch.”At that, Niko Sensei stopped. Without an additional word, he stood and walked over to the sink, where he looked up and opened several cabinets, searching for something. He finally found what he was looking for in a cupboard next to the stove, and he returned to the table with a dark green bottle. He popped the cork and downed a long draught.“Niko, is this really the best time?” Headmaster Iwa admonished gently.Niko Sensei responded by taking another drink. “The best time would have been before I started talking. I’m going to have to be drunk to have this conversation.” He set the bottle down, but never removed his hand from its neck. “We were going to watch the Leaf Village get blown to bits. Women, children, elderly, all. We watched the girl run.” Another drink. Another. “She disappeared over the horizon. Not long after, all we could see was a reflection of lightning in the sky. Some went to investigate. They didn’t come back.“By the time the rest of us got there, it was too late. Those who had gone before us were scattered around the field. In pieces. We were only able to identify the bodies by their Shinobi ID tags.”“How do you know the Three Tails didn’t do it?” Rei asked, sensibly, she thought.Niko Sensei didn’t even hesitate, nor did he slur. “We weren’t that far away, Rei. We would have seen the beast. What we did see was a massive flash of lightning, and when we got to the location, we found not only our murdered squadmates, but the girl lying in pool of her own blood, a hole punched through her chest. And at her feet, exhausted, and the only person alive, was Kakashi Hatake. Those of us left were moving in to capture him, but what seemed like a legion of Leaf Shinobi had apparently seen the lightning as well. There were too few of us to stand any kind of a chance against an army like that, so all we could do was retreat and come back later to collect what was left of our friends, our brothers and sisters.”With nothing further to say, Niko Sensei stood and left the table, disappearing down the hallway with his bottle. A door opened, shut, and the lock was thrown.Sachio had listened wordlessly to the entire account, and he exhaled heavily. “Kakashi was questioned about the battle many times back then. He was so young, but we all knew the son of the White Fang was capable of such things. It was never made public information, but my brother was on one of the Jonin Councils that evaluated him. Kakashi doesn’t remember much from that night. It was his attack that killed Rin Nohara. He remembers that. But it was the determination of the council that he probably blacked out with the force of his emotions and slaughtered the Mist Shinobi. It’s not…unheard of to unlock powerful abilities when under extreme duress.”Don’t worry if he’s a little standoffish to you, Yugao had said. He’s had a lot happen to him, and I imagine that seeing another Mist Shinobi, even someone as young as you, would be tough for him.Yeah, Rei told herself. She imagined it was.The adults at the table talked amongst themselves for a while, and Rei, Utakata, and Koichi excused themselves. No matter their roles, they weren’t the strategists now. Mangetsu was gone. Kisame was out there on his own mission. Kohana was dead. Headmaster Iwa and Niko Sensei were on their own with the nobles in that respect.“What I wouldn’t give for a good night’s sleep now that I’m not worrying about you,” Koichi said easily. Rei shoved his shoulder gently, and he dramatically feigned careening into a wall. “But seriously, we need to get out of here. If the Leaf reinforcements are really as close as they’re saying, we need to put as much distance between us and them as possible.”“Right.” Alone with the two of them for the first time in so long, Rei was overwhelmed. She stopped and pulled them both into another embrace, snickering when she saw the looks of disgust they gave one another in such close quarters. “I’m going to get them, and I’ll be right back.”“I’ll come with you,” they predictably said in unison, then glared at one another.“Don’t start that.” She knew exactly where all three of the Leaf Shinobi were; she could sense their now-familiar patterns with clarity, even through the walls. “Kakashi is right downstairs on the front steps. I know them. I’ve traveled with them for days. I’ve got this.” They both looked at her skeptically. “I’m not a baby. I can handle myself.”After a moment, Utakata gave a small nod. “I’ll be watching from the window.”“Psh, whatever. I’ll be watching from literally right to next to her,” Koichi declared.Rei stifled an internal groan, but she also felt a little like laughing. They hadn’t changed at all. “I’ll push you into that wall for real,” she threatened. “Give me five minutes.”With both Koichi and Utakata upstairs watching from the window like creepers, Rei made her way to the front of the hotel. Just as her senses had told her, Kakashi was on the front steps. He ran his gloved fingers absently through the fur of Leo’s neck, and the dog groaned contentedly.“Niko Sensei isn’t going to be happy with you, you turncoat,” she muttered as she sat down on the dog’s other side. He glanced her way, then flopped down on the snow-covered step, sighing like he’d done a full day’s work.“Your sensei shouldn’t worry,” Kakashi said quietly. “I’ve been around dogs my entire life. They tend to love me.” He was looking straight ahead. “My mother was from a clan of hound handlers, so I get it honestly, I guess.”Rei ran replies and explanations through her head, but none seemed sufficient. No matter what she’d been through, no matter what she’d seen, all of these older Shinobi had been through, had seen worse.“Before you speak, I am not angry,” Kakashi said. “Not anymore.”“You’re not?” Rei couldn’t hide her surprise. “They pulled blades on you.”“Had I been surprised by the sudden appearance of the person who killed my friends, I’d have done worse.” The pause was heavy. “Of course, that person is me.”Rei watched the snow fall, she watched the people treading through it, and when a little girl ran ahead of her mother and tripped, falling face-first into a drift, she wanted to chuckle, but the man at her side was stoic. He continued petting Leo, who was clearly in heaven.“That man was right, earlier,” Kakashi said. “The war was a hell like none of us had known. But it’s over now. We all know that. We’re trying to stop another one from igniting. And we know that you need allies.” He silently got to his feet and dusted the snow from his pants. “The Leaf wants to be that for you. Come on. We have a lot to talk about.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Seeing three Leaf Shinobi take their seats amongst what was left of the Hidden Mist’s foundation was surreal, and Rei wasn’t going to miss a second of it. Kakashi and Headmaster Iwa did most of the talking, going back and forth over what the Third Hokage was willing to concede to, and what the foundation needed to get back on its feet.“Unfortunately, the Land of Fire isn’t going to be a viable place to harbor you,” Kakashi said apologetically. “Lord Third is already going to be in hot water when the Mizukage discovers that Utakata was…waylaid. We can’t take the chance of him discovering that you have the Leaf’s support until we’re all ready to strike definitively.”Headmaster Iwa agreed. “Does he have any suggestions?”“None that pleased him.” Most of the Shinobi nations were still staggering, still recovering from the war. There weren’t many that willingly worked with one another. The Land of Rivers was a possibility, as was the Hidden Rain. “At least there, anyone searching for you would have to cross the Land of Fire, or they’d have to sail all the way around the Land of Tea. There would be a better chance of us getting advance notice to you.”“Travel is going to take some time, especially since we have non-Shinobi with us,” Headmaster Iwa mused.Kakashi nodded. “If it makes a difference, Lord Third is willing to assimilate the nobles into the Hidden Leaf Village. New identities, backgrounds, everything. It’ll be easier to hide them as civilians than it would be to hide Shinobi.”Headmaster Iwa had all but collapsed in relief. Several of the nobles they’d brought with them had small children. “Our debt to your Hokage grows with every word out of your mouth. We’ll find a way to repay him one day.”It was agreed that Tenzo and Yugao would shepherd the noble families back across the Land of Fire circuitously until they reached the village.“Who is this pursuit group coming after us?” Koichi asked. “If you’ve the Hokage’s permission to work with us, what’s the point?”Kakashi ran his hand back through his hair, considering his answer. “After the Uchiha massacre, different factions in the Leaf made themselves known. Some of them oppose the Third. He’s benevolent and merciful, and they think that makes him weak. Take it from someone who knows: he’s anything but. So there are a select few of us with his trust that operate outside of the normal bounds of Shinobi protocol. Everything that Yugao and Tenzo and I have done for you falls under that category. The pursuit squad coming after us is essentially doing it for appearances, so that Lord Third can report that he did all in his power to stop you. But make no mistake. They don’t know about my special orders. They will try to take us down if they catch us.”Before the two groups divided, Tenzo approached Headmaster Iwa respectfully and offered him a tightly bound scroll. “This scroll contains the body of your murdered swordsman and his weapon. The bodies of the other Mist Shinobi and their belongings are Sealed there as well. Take them with you with the Leaf’s condolences, apologies, and support.”Overcome by emotion, Headmaster Iwa could only nod, misty-eyed.Sachio chose to return to the Leaf, heavy-hearted. The Mist was closed to them now, as was any chance of rescuing his son. It had been a long shot from the start, but having the possibility snuffed out with such certainty brought a new kind of pain.When the sun sank behind the horizon, lighting the snow-covered city with brilliant streaks of orange and pink, the Mist Shinobi went one way and the nobles went another.“You don’t have to accompany us,” Headmaster Iwa assured Kakashi. “We’re capable of protecting ourselves.”“I know,” Kakashi replied. “But my mission won’t be complete until I have confirmation of where you’ve decided to settle. And it’ll make me feel better if I know you’ve gotten there safely.”Over the course of their five-day journey through the western Land of Fire, the Land of Rivers, and part of the Hidden Rain, Kakashi and Niko Sensei never said a word to one another, which Rei supposed was for the best. Koichi never really stopped talking about anything and everything, and Utakata remained the quiet, serious presence that Rei was used to.The Hidden Rain Village had control of most of the Land of Rain, and the small nation still suffered greatly. It had been decimated during the Second Great War decades ago, and the Third had done it no good. Rei could see the towering greyscale buildings miles before they actually reached the border of the village.“If I’m being completely honest,” Kakashi said quietly as the sky grew heavier with storm clouds. “I don’t think that this place is much better than the Mist, and it’s going to be really important that you stay under the radar at all times.”Utakata glared at Koichi a little. “We’re so good at that.”“Hanzo of the Salamander is still Village Head, correct?” Headmaster Iwa had brought their group to a stop. Thunder rumbled overhead.“Mhm.” Kakashi’s comfortable confidence seemed to drain from him a bit as he looked up at the village’s architecture. “I wish you’d reconsidered staying in the Land of Rivers.”“We discussed this,” Headmaster Iwa rebutted. “There just wasn’t enough assurance of the shelter that we’ll need to regain our strength. If Hanzo accepts us as refugees, at least we know that the Mist won’t be able to waltz through the Rain’s gates and ambush us.”“That’s an awfully big ‘if,’” Kakashi murmured. “The Rain is known for being tight as a drum.”The closer they got to the village, the more uneasy Rei grew. This land was so desolate and grey, and the rain that had begun pelting them didn’t detract from the depressing atmosphere.“We’re being watched,” Kakashi said lowly, just loud enough for them to hear, at the same moment that Rei spotted chakra networks on the outskirts of her consciousness. They were doing a really good job of keeping their chakra suppressed, and Rei had trouble counting them. “Get ready, because they’re probably going to ambush us.”Leo growled low in his throat, and Niko Sensei set a firm hand on the dog’s head, quieting him. “How many?”After a moment of subtle surveillance, Kakashi said, “At least twenty.”They fell into silence, all of them quietly reaching for their weapons. Rei’s heart thundered in her ears as the distant chakra networks grew brighter, nearer. The watchers knew they’d been detected. The travelers fell into a loose circle formation: Headmaster Iwa and Kakashi nearest the watchers, with Niko Sensei and Leo just behind to the right, Utakata to the left, and Koichi and Rei closing it at the rear.Headmaster Iwa straightened his flak jacket. “Diplomacy it is.” He tucked his kunai into a pocket discreetly and held out both hands in the universal I’m-not-a-threat gesture. “We are here as refugees from the Hidden Mist,” he said loudly and clearly. “We seek asylum from Lord Hanzo of the Salamander.”A stunning young woman dropped out of a nearby tree, rising slowly. Even from twenty feet away, Rei could see the way the woman’s entire body shimmered with unspent chakra. “Hmmm,” she purred, stepping towards them, secure in every step through the puddles. “Lord Hanzo certainly doesn’t accept just everyone.”The other Shinobi in hiding were close enough now that Rei could make out the individual nodes of their chakra points, but still their bodies remained hidden. “We’d be grateful for the chance just to speak to him,” Headmaster Iwa reasoned. “We have a proposition that he may be very interested to hear.”“And what might that be?” The woman had come within touching distance of Kakashi now, and she reached out slowly with an outstretched finger with the intention of touching his face. Without flinching, he snared her wrist before she could and thrust it away from him. She almost seemed to pout. “I was just curious about that eye that you’re keeping so carefully covered,” she said. “There’s no chance that the Kakashi Hatake felt it prudent to visit our little village. And with a group of Mist refugees? No,” she declared suddenly. “You all are more than that. I sense…” Her eyes snapped to Rei suddenly, who nearly dropped her kunai with the force of her surprise. Koichi moved a few steps in Rei’s direction, clearly making a silent statement. “You have kekkei genkai among you. And… something else. Something very powerful.” Her smile for Headmaster Iwa was snake-like, threatening. “I think Lord Hanzo will see you after all.”As they were led through the streets of the Hidden Rain Village, Rei realized exactly how spot-on Kakashi’s statement had been. This place was every bit as bad as the Mist, at least in some respects. The fear was almost palpable in the air. Homes were shuttered closed, very few walked the streets, and Shinobi seemed to stand guard on corners, maybe waiting for a crime to take place, Rei mused.“Don’t stray,” their guide advised. “Visitors are not welcome. If you leave the group, I can’t promise that we’ll be able to find you again.”“Well,” Koichi said, eyebrow raised. “How comforting.”The rain soaked every inch of them. The Rain Shinobi were dressed for it; their uniforms repelled the rain flawlessly. Many of them wore rebreathers over their mouths, prepared to jump into the lake that surrounded the village at a moment’s notice. Rei hadn’t heard much about this nation, but their similarities to the Mist were becoming more and more apparent with every block they passed.“I hope we’re not trading one dictator for another,” Utakata all but whispered.Hanzo of the Salamander lived in a tower at the very center of the village, and as they neared it, their guide said, “Prepare to be disarmed. Lord Hanzo does not permit any weapons in his presence.”Niko Sensei nearly stopped, but kept walking after a moment. “Headmaster,” he murmured. “Are we really going to leave…it…with them?”Headmaster Iwa nodded. “We must. Our choices are almost non-existent at this point, Niko. As much as I wish there were another way, or another place, the Rain will give us the security we need.”“As long as Lord Hanzo will accept you,” Kakashi added.Upon entry of the tower, they were immediately stopped and relieved of all weapons, their headbands, and their flak jackets. They were also told to empty all pockets. “Any use of Jutsu is strictly forbidden within the confines of Lord Hanzo’s tower,” their guide told them as they placed all their worldly belongings on a table near the entrance. Three different Rain Shinobi began to rifle through it all. “Don’t worry,” the woman assured them. “Everything will be exactly as you leave it. We of the Rain are people of honor. You’ll now be searched before being granted an audience with Lord Hanzo. Follow your handlers’ instructions and I will return for you shortly.” Leo whined as they left him with their things.Being ‘searched’ sounded a lot more innocuous than it turned out to be.Rei got a bad, sickening feeling when she saw that they were being led into a room very reminiscent of a hospital, with beds and privacy curtains. “Lord Hanzo’s orders are for all visitors to be searched for hidden weapons or materials before entering his presence,” the woman assigned to them said cheerfully, snapping on a pair of latex gloves. Three other Rain Shinobi stood as guards along the far wall.Koichi went first. He disappeared behind the curtain with the woman, who instructed him to open his mouth, then narrated her actions as she looked in his ears and nose and ran her fingers through his hair. A moment later, in the most sugary-sweet voice, she told him to disrobe. There was a pause, and then Koichi said, “What?”“The process includes a cavity search,” she replied in that same tone. “Set your clothing there, then grasp onto that rail with both hands.”Rei’s head swam and her vision blackened for a moment. No no no no no…“Uh, Sensei?” Koichi called questioningly, almost pleading.“We’ll all have to do it, Koichi,” Niko Sensei admitted, leaning against the nearest wall. “Think of it like the fitness exam we have to take to get our Shinobi registration renewed.” He looked to Rei, then cut his eyes away quickly.“Okay. I need you guys to talk out there about something.” Even as he spoke, Rei could keenly hear unbuckling, unzipping. “Distract me.”They all looked blankly at one another for a second, then Utakata said, “Mashed potatoes.”Kakashi tilted his head in confusion, and after a moment, Koichi’s voice came from behind the curtain. “Someone tell me that he fell over. Tell me that he’s— AHHH, God!” A few choice swear words followed that Rei had never heard come from anyone’s mouth before. “You’re cleared, young man,” the woman said. She exited from behind the curtain to dispose of her gloves.Koichi was still pulling his wet shirt back over his head when he came back out. He went immediately to Niko Sensei and shoved a finger in the older man’s chest. “That was nothing like the fitness exam.” Then he turned to Utakata. “Why aren’t you paralyzed?”“That was the one benefit to being captured by the Leaf,” Utakata answered easily. “All Seals, including that ridiculous one: gone.”The woman brandished another pair of latex gloves. “Who’s next?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Somehow, being searched this way was less traumatizing and humiliating than Niko Sensei’s nighttime visit had been months ago. Less so than Zane Sensei touching her in the restaurant. Rei didn’t dwell on it. She disrobed and laid back on the bed as instructed and allowed her feet to be fit into the stirrups and pulled apart. This was cold, impersonal, like the woman was looking without seeing, touching without feeling. Rei flinched at the intrusion of fingers, but it was over quickly, and she got dressed with such speed that she pulled her dampened shirt back on inside-out.She sighed in frustration, just glad that the whole thing was over, and righted her shirt. When she exited from behind the curtain, she was plainly aware of how inconvenient it was to be the only girl in the group. All of these male people, looking at her with pity, with worry, with what she supposed was some kind of paternal concern. “I’m fine,” she surprised herself by saying. “Really.” But she stayed a solid three feet from anyone else, just trying to reassure herself that she had control of her body again as her flaming face began to cool.Kakashi went last, and once behind the curtain, the woman instructed him immediately to remove his mask. He must have done so, because the woman inhaled quickly and said, “Oh.”“Please just proceed with the search,” he replied, right on the edge of rudeness, and Rei heard the splat of wet fabric hitting the floor.Not for the first time, Rei wondered why he wore that mask all the time. But she got a pretty solid suspicion when the faintest burst of deep purple chakra snuck through the curtain. She glanced at her comrades, asking with her eyes if they’d seen it too, but it didn’t seem like any of them had noticed anything out of the ordinary.The rest of Kakashi’s search was silent, and when he was cleared, he came from around the curtain and met Rei’s eyes immediately. He shook his head from side to side with the smallest motion. He knew she’d seen. She could see it even now, though it was fading quickly to invisibility, dormant, behind the mask.Kakashi Hatake had a Sealed Curse Mark on the lower right side of his jaw.“Now that we’ve all been properly violated, will Lord Hanzo see us?” Headmaster Iwa asked of the woman, who was washing her hands at a nearby sink.“He is certainly interested in what you have brought to our village.” Their guide had entered the room at some point during Kakashi’s search, Rei assumed, because that was the only time she’d have been distracted enough not to notice her. “Now that you’ve all been cleared, let me introduce myself: I am Emiko Ozawa, and I serve Lord Hanzo as the Head of Threat Detection.” Now that they were out of the rain, Emiko had let her long, dark hair down around her shoulders and she smiled cunningly at them. “Do follow me.”They followed Emiko up several flights of stairs. With the obvious industrialization of this village, Rei was surprised that there wasn’t an elevator or something.Koichi fell back to climb by her side. “Are you okay?”“I said I was and I don’t want to talk about it. Do you want to talk about your experience?”He got the point.Hanzo of the Salamander resided very high up in this tower, it seemed. Rei stopped counting floors after they’d passed the eleventh. Though her clothes were drying, she could feel the skin of her thighs chafing. That was going to hurt so much tomorrow.“You’re the leader of this group of outsiders?” Emiko asked Headmaster Iwa.“Something like that,” the older man replied.“Lord Hanzo will speak with you, and you will speak for your people.”They were nearing the right floor. Rei could sense chakra presences all around them, but none were as potent as Emiko’s until a bright orange one appeared with a flash somewhere overheard. “Wow,” Rei murmured.Koichi looked to her. “What?”“That’s got to be him. Lord Hanzo. He’s… really strong.”“He’d have to be to have a grip like this on a village.”“Yes,” Kakashi said from a few stairs ahead, voice low as Headmaster Iwa and Emiko continued talking. “Saying he’s strong is an understatement of massive proportions.”They finally leveled out with the bright chakra signature, and Emiko led them off of the stairwell and down a corridor at the end of which two Rain Shinobi stood at rigid attention on either side of a thick steel door. They nodded at Emiko in tandem and unlocked the door, but before they swung it open, Emiko turned to the travelers. “You will all remain here until you are called for. There is a waiting area through that door—” to Rei’s left, “with refreshments.” Then she took Headmaster Iwa through to the leader of the Hidden Rain. The metal door slammed shut, and the guards swept the remaining members of the group with intimidating glares.“Alright, then.” Niko Sensei ushered everyone into the room Emiko had indicated. It was more comfortable than Rei had expected it would be, considering the surrounding atmosphere. The sofas were neutral colored, but soft, and gentle music wafted downwards from invisible speakers. Koichi had immediately gravitated to the table against the far wall, where shrink-wrapped foodstuffs waited.A bookshelf by the snacks held a variety of board games and several decks of cards. Utakata snagged a pack of cards and looked questioningly to Rei, who nodded and took a seat on the floor. Niko Sensei joined them a few moments later. Kakashi kept watch at the door, invisibly anxious, and Koichi observed the game in silence.No one spoke. They weren’t naïve. There was almost certainly a listening device somewhere in the room, ready to absorb all their secrets. Even bland conversation could be turned on them, Rei knew.They were on their second game of Seven-Stack-Slap when the metal door whined open and Emiko approached. “You and you,” she said, pointing turn to Kakashi and Rei. “Lord Hanzo will see you now.”Rei met Utakata’s eyes as she stood, her own fear clearly mirrored. “Don’t look at my cards,” she said, her voice only shaking once. She walked so close to Kakashi that their arms almost brushed, and she briefly contemplated ducking behind him before deciding that making a first impression as a coward was not the way to go here.The room behind the metal door was revealed to them, but Rei almost couldn’t see what it looked like. The orange chakra of the man sitting behind the big desk was so overpowering and oppressive that Rei had to stop walking and close her eyes in order to concentrate enough to minimize her Sensory detection. Kakashi stopped ahead of her and looked back. “Are you alright?”“Yeah.” She could still see a faint orange haze covering the room, even purposely ignoring her mind’s eye. She inhaled deeply and stepped around Kakashi, passing Emiko, who stood just inside the door with her arms crossed.Hanzo of the Salamander was an older man, probably around Headmaster Iwa’s age, and he had clearly never planned to retire from Shinobi life. His bulky, muscular body radiated strength, and the thick scar that stretched across his right cheek creased slightly when he narrowed his dark eyes at her. “That’s her?” the man asked Headmaster Iwa, who was seated in a stiff leather chair in front of the desk. “She’s just a child.” The rebreather he wore over his mouth hissed.“With all due respect, Lord Hanzo,” Headmaster Iwa replied, “you were just a child when you took on the venom of the black salamander and earned your enemies’ fear.”Rei stood next to Headmaster Iwa’s chair, setting her hand on its arm to disguise the trembling of her fingers. Kakashi stayed back, out of her line of sight. “It’s true,” the leader of the Rain considered aloud. “Age is not necessarily an indicator of strength.” He stood, pushing back his chair slowly, and came from behind the desk. He was well over six feet tall, and his grey garb matched that of the other Rain Shinobi Rei had seen. He leaned back against his desk and examined Rei visually for what felt like a very long time. She fought the need to squirm uncomfortably.“Your headmaster tells me that you are in possession of two kekkei genkai,” Lord Hanzo said. “I’m interested to see how they function.”“Um,” Rei began. “I’ve never actually used one of them. Not on purpose.”“Many bloodline limits begin that way,” Lord Hanzo answered. “They can be developed with time and training. But the other?”Rei looked at Headmaster Iwa for permission, who nodded. “I can draw in large amounts of chakra.”“And do what with it?”“I…don’t really know.”Headmaster Iwa broke in there. “Before her death, our Sealing specialist theorized that Rei had an excessive affinity for chakra manipulation. We were discovered before we could test her abilities to our satisfaction. But we witnessed her mold a squadmate’s chakra to calm his anxiety, and she drained a Genin, a Jonin, and two of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist of their chakra almost to absolute zero at the same time. We believe her to have great potential.”Lord Hanzo blinked and crossed his arms, never looking away from Rei. After a long moment, he said, “Show me.”Rei’s heart tripped into a quicker rhythm. “Um, what do you…want to see?”Lord Hanzo glanced around his office, which was lined with at least ten Shinobi that Rei had paid little attention to before now. He named four of them, who stepped forward without hesitation. “These four are Chunin assigned to my personal guard. Do you think you could disable them if they were to attack you?”“If… by myself?” Rei asked, incredulous. “I’ve never tried to use it like that.”“Then you’ve been wasting that potential.” Lord Hanzo motioned for Headmaster Iwa to stand, directed him to stand with Emiko and Kakashi, near the door. “If you are as special as your headmaster says, then you’d be quite an asset to the Hidden Rain. I’d like to see what I may be getting myself into.” He walked past her. “Emiko, ensure that the recording is working. I’ll be watching from upstairs. Clear the room.”Lord Hanzo left, along with his six unnamed guards. Rei could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate, and the edges of her vision blackened.“Rei,” Headmaster Iwa said, coming to her and bracing his hands on her shoulders. “We will be right outside this door. You have nothing to worry about. You are stronger than you realize. You drained Mangetsu and Kisame by accident. And you’ve trained hard since then; you’ve been in the field. You can do this.”Emiko finished fiddling with a handheld device, and a camera in the corner of the room chirped. “Let’s go.”Before they left her alone with the four Chunin, Kakashi smiled beneath his mask and said, “I doubt they can compare to a Tailed Beast.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The metal door slammed shut and clicked, and the four Chunin looked at Rei, and she looked back. They were young, maybe in their early twenties. She had expected them to be sure of themselves, to be extremely confident and try to take her down immediately, but one of them spoke up in a soft voice. “Before we get started, I want you to know that my name is Jakai, and I have a wife and a baby boy. And all I’m asking is that you don’t kill me. Please. My family will have no way to survive without me.”His voice was raw, full of emotion, and Rei’s brow furrowed. “Shouldn’t I be asking that?”One of the others glanced at Jakai, then back to Rei. “Lord Hanzo doesn’t usually leave the room for these… tests.” He fell into a defensive position, clenching his hands into fists. “So we won’t hold back.”None of them had weapons, and there was no warning when two of them darted forwards, one on each side, preparing to level her with a kick, a punch. She just barely managed to drop to the floor by Lord Hanzo’s desk, avoiding the blows by millimeters. Jakai aimed a well-placed kick at her head, one that would kill her if it connected, but it wouldn’t.Her Sensory perception woke up and her chakra lashed out instantaneously. She could feel the chakra around her faster than she could understand all that she was experiencing, and her chakra instinctively knew that it had to feed. It didn’t need to be sated; there was no hunger. There was only survival.And to survive, it fed. It gorged.Without physically moving a finger, without touching any of the four Chunin, Rei grasped onto their auras all at once and yanked.Like the lights in their heads had all been extinguished at once, all four of them collapsed bonelessly to the floor. Their chakra lay suspended in the air, still held firmly by the hands of Rei’s own chakra. The four bodies were all connected to their own chakra by only the tiniest threads of life force.Forcing herself to inhale and exhale, to concentrate, Rei had slammed her eyes shut. She wasn’t going to pull all of that chakra into herself. She wasn’t. She didn’t need it. They needed it.She hadn’t even had to think about drawing their chakras from their bodies. This time, it had been instinctual, like breathing. But releasing it once it was in her grip was much harder. Each of their chakras were a different color: pale blue, deep yellow, pink, and the darkest red. They danced before her eyes, struggling in the grasp of her own chakra, and she pushed herself up on her hands, eyes flicking from one energy to the next.
Release.
Nothing happened. Her chakra was trying desperately, instinctively to pull the others’ into herself, and only her intense concentration kept that from happening. She didn’t know the effects that this was having on these men, but she was sure that having your chakra removed from your body and held in front of you wasn’t good for your body.None of the four were breathing.
Okay, okay, okay, okay…
Rei pushed herself up to her feet, the only one standing, eyes still closed. She just had to visualize it. That had to work. She stretched her right hand out before her, clenched into a tight fist. Then she began to open it slowly, unfurling one trembling finger at a time. Her chakra did the same, reluctantly. She watched in her mind’s eye as the fingers of her chakra began to release the chakra of the men, and the threads holding the men to their respective life forces began to thicken. Then, on a final exhale, their chakras were free. All five chakra signatures retreated back into their bodies, and all four men drew in deep, gasping breaths as their eyes flew open as one.The men coughed and heaved, trying to catch their breaths as their heartbeats steadied, and Rei sank to her knees, exhausted. Letting their chakra go had been harder, required more exertion than running across the Land of Fire had. She didn’t see it when the door was wrenched open, as her eyes had already dropped shut.Feet rushed in, some to the downed Chunin, some to her. She blinked her eyes open when she felt hands on her shoulders, pulling her back into a sitting position. She hadn’t realized that she’d fallen. “Rei,” Utakata said, hands moving down her arms and helping her to her feet. Her knees knocked together, legs like jelly. “That was incredible.”Emiko stormed in like a tidal wave. “Get the guards to the infirmary for an examination.” Rei felt the woman’s eyes on her and looked over weakly to meet her gaze. There was something there that Rei couldn’t read, but the small smile on the woman’s face was no longer snake-like.Utakata eased Rei into the chair previously vacated by Headmaster Iwa. This power isn’t going to be of much use if I can’t stand after using it, she thought. The guards were taken out on stretchers and the Mist Shinobi clustered around Rei’s chair. Kakashi had come in as well, and he was watching her thoughtfully. “How long?” Rei asked.“Rei, the doors were closed for less than a minute,” Koichi said, smiling broadly. “They let us watch on a screen in the side room. It was rather anticlimactic, actually.”   It took a few moments for Lord Hanzo to reappear, and when he did, everyone fell into a tense silence. The big man strode past them and took his seat back at the desk, lacing his fingers together in front of his mouth contemplatively. His gaze did not stray from the girl who’d defeated his Chunin without so much as touching them. But he directed his words to Kakashi. “Kakashi Hatake of the Leaf. Why are you here?”“I am here as an ally of the Mist defectors,” he said easily. “The Hidden Leaf is prepared to act in support of the foundation when they strike at the Mizukage.”“Then why does the Hokage not house them himself?”As Kakashi went over the same information he’d given the Mist Shinobi the week before, Hanzo of the Salamander nodded slowly. The leader of the Hidden Rain looked from one face to another slowly, as if gauging their individual worth. “Reimi Taira.” She met his eyes. “You’ve earned your people a place in the Hidden Rain Village. For now.” No one sighed with relief, but everyone lost a measure of tension. “However,” he continued. “There will be some… stipulations.”He pointed to Rei, Utakata, and Koichi. “You young ones will be integrated into the village as Rain Shinobi. You are no longer of the Mist, and no one should suspect it of you. You’ll be evaluated individually for your ranking, and you’ll be instructed on history and protocol. You’ll also work with a linguist to minimize your accents. Your names will be changing. We will not have the Blood Mist knocking on our door because of rumors that I’m housing defectors. Should you prove incapable of integration or move to betray me, you will be dealt with accordingly. I will assist you in your attempts to unseat the Mizukage, but I expect that you will return to the Rain when your goal is accomplished. And I will have the final say in who becomes the Fifth Mizukage.”  Before anyone could agree or object, he turned his attention to Headmaster Iwa and Niko Sensei. “You will retire from Shinobi life, effective immediately. You may stay, but I don’t plan to reeducate people who have been set in the ways of the Mist for decades.” Headmaster Iwa nodded readily, but Niko Sensei’s lips tightened.“And you.” He pointed to Kakashi. “Leave. The Rain and the Leaf are not allies. Should your Hokage like that to change, I am open to that conversation.” He sat back, having addressed everyone, then said, “Now tell me about your plans for the Six Tails.”Rei hadn’t realized that Headmaster Iwa had told so much to Lord Hanzo. “We were intending to Seal it into one of our members who is now deceased,” Headmaster Iwa said. “The Mizukage is in possession of his own Tailed Beast, as you know, and he has enough control of it to keep it reasonably in check. We saw the results of his rampage during the uprising last month. Should we come face-to-face with him, it’ll be imperative that we can meet him on his level.”“So now that your potential jinchuriki is dead,” Lord Hanzo interjected, “what is your proposal?”“We have few options now, I’m afraid,” Headmaster Iwa said. “Mangetsu Hozuki was unparalleled in skill and dedication to our cause. Replacing him is impossible. Should we try to Seal it into one of the three young ones left to us, it’ll take remarkable amounts of time, patience, and training to bring them up to the Mizukage’s level.”Lord Hanzo nodded again. “It seems to me, Headmaster, that you have nothing but time now. Regardless, we will delay any Sealing until I’ve had a chance to gauge exactly how loyal these young ones will be to my country. Perhaps one of my own Genin will show some exemplary promise. The Six Tails belongs to the Rain now.”Before the day’s end, they’d been given new surnames and each had a pre-loaded bank card with enough to see each of them through a modest few months in their new village. They were Mist Shinobi no more. Kakashi walked with them to the new apartment building they’d be sharing. “This is… incredibly generous of Lord Hanzo,” Headmaster Iwa said as he looked around the studio apartment he’d been given. It was small and plain, but the appliances were all in working order, and there were no cobwebs or strange smells.“Lord Hanzo has a reputation of being a harsh ruler,” Emiko conceded. “He has earned that title, but he takes care of those of us who are loyal to him. How effective is your fighting force if they are struggling to survive?”“This is so much better than what I imagined would happen,” Koichi said, tossing himself down on the bed in his own apartment. “We’re safe. We’ve got a way to make a living. We’ve got a way to get stronger before going back to the Mist.”The five of them were given apartments on the same floor, and Rei’s heart leapt happily. She didn’t care about the rest of it, not right now. What was left of her family was here with her, and they had a home together.Kakashi stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around Niko Sensei’s apartment, the one across the hall from Rei’s. “Not much space for a dog bed the size that Leo’s going to need.”Niko Sensei nodded in agreement, his hand on the dog’s head. “We’ll make it work.” With a sheepish smile, he offered his hand to the man from the Leaf Village, the one he’d spent so long hating. “Thank you for all that you’ve done. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without you.”Kakashi met Niko Sensei’s hand with a friendly smile. “We all deserve a safe place.” He looked to Rei and offered his hand to her as well. She stared at it for a moment, eyebrow raised. “When all of this blows over,” he said, taking his spurned hand and putting it back in his pocket, “you will all be welcome back in the Leaf Village with open arms, I’m sure of it. If things don’t work out here for some reason, send me a message. Even if the Rain isn’t allied with the Leaf, you are allied with the Leaf.”Before he could turn and walk away, Rei thrust down her nerves and wrapped her arms around him. She’d never hugged so many people in her life as she had this last week. He was rigid, clearly surprised, and after a moment he allowed himself to hug her back. “You’re going to become a force to be reckoned with, Rei Maeda,” he said, using her new name. “You’ve got a bit of the Will of Fire, yourself.”Rei let him go. “What even is that? The Hokage said something about that, that the Will of Fire does not always burn painlessly.”“Hm,” Kakashi chuckled wryly. “He’s right. How do I put it into words?” Rei waited while Kakashi thought, and after a moment, he said, “The Will of Fire is part of what makes my village home. It’s the belief that we’ll protect each other as family, that we’re all part of something bigger than we are alone. And if I’ve seen anything from you, it’s that you’re going to do whatever it takes to protect your family.” He pulled his headband back down over his Sharingan and gave them all a departing wave. “Be safe.”“You, too.” Just before he was out of sight, Rei remembered. Crap. I forgot to ask him about that Curse Mark on his face.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Two and a Half Years Later

“Rei, it’s the first day in over a month that it isn’t raining.” Isana paced back and forth from the door to the window, sandy ponytail swinging. “We should be out there. I should be out there.”“I’m not keeping you here,” Rei replied, turning to the next page of her novel. “Go on. Have fun. Enjoy the clouds.”Isana collapsed on Rei’s bed, groaning dramatically. “You are the worst friend.”“Just be grateful I’m letting you spend the night.”“Oh, I am. Koichi’s going to be here, right?”“Isn’t he always?”“Just checking.” Isana rolled over onto her back, legs dangling off the edge of the bed. “You’re so lucky to live on your own. And I mean that in the least offensive way possible; it sucks that you have no parents. But at least no one yells at you when you want to have a boy over.”“Eh,” Rei shrugged. “Emiko kind of yelled at me once, but if we’re old enough to go out there and die, I think we’re old enough to decide where we sleep.”“Man, I’ve got to make that argument to my mom.”“Don’t. She’ll never let you come over again.”“What are we eating tonight?”Rei shut her book. It was a lost cause to try and read when Isana was over. “Whatever Koichi brings with him. I told him you were staying, so he should bring plenty.”Isana sighed airily. “One of these days, I am going to seduce that boy.”“Just don’t do it in my apartment.” Rei tied her hair back and pulled on a jacket. “Come on, let’s go enjoy the clouds.”The Hidden Rain Village had been good to the Mist refugees.Rei was locking her door behind her at the same time that Emiko was sneaking out of Niko Sensei’s apartment. Rei shook her head in mock disappointment. “Mm, mm, mm. In the middle of the day, too.”Emiko blushed, her chakra flickering with her surprise at being noticed. She and Niko Sensei had been together for almost two years, but they were determined not to move in together. Which resulted in the occasional awkward encounter. “Your shirt’s on backwards,” Isana pointed out, and Emiko looked at the ceiling in exasperation.“Don’t you girls have anything better to do? Somewhere to be?”“Not really,” Rei said. “But we’re gone.” They waved goodbye to Emiko and descended the stairs, giggling at the color in the older woman’s face.“Hope the Head of Threat Detection knows how to use protection,” Isana joked, not for the first time.“Do you know how to use protection?”“Puh-leeze,” Isana drew out. “Just because I’m a virgin doesn’t mean I’m uneducated.”“Just making sure,” Rei laughed. “The last thing I need is a mini-Koichi running around annoying me as much as the original one does.”“Keep joking. One of these days, that boy will be mine.” It wasn’t raining, but the sky overhead still managed to look angry. The girls sidestepped puddles and chatted about the latest episode of the serial out of the Land of Stone. “No missions on the docket today, girls?” The old lady who ran the small bakery across the street from Rei’s apartment building smiled at them as she wiped down the shop’s smudged window.“Not today, Grandma Kura!” Isana called back. “We do tomorrow, though!”The old lady nodded and wiped her hands on her apron. “Stop by my shop before you leave in the morning and I’ll have pastries ready for you.” They thanked her and moved on.“Let’s go on and grab your stuff from your house so you don’t have to worry about it later,” Rei suggested, but when they arrived at Isana’s house, her mother was waiting for them on the front steps, arms crossed.“Young lady,” Isana’s mother said sternly. “Did you forget something before you left this morning?”Isana sighed loudly. “What did I forget, mom?”“Take a wild guess.”When Isana shrugged in annoyance, her mother said, “You left your weapons pouch on the kitchen table. I found your brother with a kunai blade in his mouth. In his mouth, Isana! I have a mind to keep you home tonight.” Without waiting for a response from the girls, the woman turned and marched back inside.“Mom!” Isana called desperately. “I’ve got to smooth this over, Rei. See you tonight.” Then she ran inside, letting the door swing shut behind her slowly.Hands in her pockets, Rei surveyed Isana’s neighborhood, now alone. The houses here were actual houses, not grey skyscrapers, and the people who lived here were obviously a bit more well-to-do, but Rei wouldn’t trade her tiny apartment for one of these houses. At least in her apartment, there was the surety that her family was next door and down the hall.“Alright, then,” she said to herself. Turning back the way she’d come, she figured now was as good a time as any to stop back by Lord Hanzo’s tower. A sharp twinge in her chest forced her eyes shut for a moment, but she kept walking with determination.She strode through the front doors, leaving her jacket with the guards. “Hey, Rei,” they said familiarly.“Hey, guys. Anyone interesting come through yet?”“Only you,” Kenshi said, playfully flirting. “You know what would make my day even more interesting? Let me take you out tonight.”“Gross,” Rei replied. “You’re like twenty-five.”“I’m seventeen, for your information.”“Date someone your own age.” They went through similar banter every time, and Rei nodded to the handler by the stairs. For the last year, she’d been one of the handful of Shinobi allowed to see Lord Hanzo without submitting to the search.She climbed the flights of stairs effortlessly, and when she arrived on Lord Hanzo’s floor, she pressed the intercom button outside his office to let him know she’d arrived. The door buzzed and she entered, no longer overcome by the now-familiar cloud of orange chakra that always surrounded the leader of the village.“I had a feeling you might come by today,” Lord Hanzo said, not looking up from a ledger before him. “I wanted to check in before the mission tomorrow anyway. How are you feeling?”Raising a hand to her chest, Rei inhaled carefully, turning her mind inward. The ball of compressed chakra behind her ribs slept, responding only minimally when she prodded it. “It’s a little hard to breathe around it sometimes, but it’s contained. It hasn’t spoken.”“Well, it was an experiment, anyway,” Lord Hanzo said thoughtfully. “No one knows?”“I haven’t told anyone.”“Not even your family?”“No one.”“Good.” Lord Hanzo stood, still towering over her even though she’d grown several inches since first arriving in the Rain. “It’s been ten days since the initial implantation. If it doesn’t wake by day twenty, we’ll talk about removing it and trying it with someone else again.” He shook his head regretfully. “What a shame that we can’t place Seals on you.”“Tell me about it,” Rei muttered.“You’re nearing a point where you’d be a real threat to the Mizukage,” Lord Hanzo said. “You three have shown remarkable progress.”Frustration ballooned in Rei’s chest, and the chakra ball shifted. “Being a threat isn’t going to be enough. We have to be certain we can win, or there’s no point. If we fight him and fail, we will never have another chance. That’s why…” Her hand rested on her chest again, willing a secondary voice to speak to her mind.“Ten more days, Rei. Then we look for another host.”“Yes, sir.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Isana showed back up at Rei’s apartment just before dark. “You have no idea how hard it was to convince my mom to let me out of the house again. I listened to her talk for over an hour about how I could have killed Jotaro and I shouldn’t have ever made Chunin if I can’t remember my weapons.”“She makes a good point,” Koichi replied around his toothbrush, stepping out of Rei’s tiny bathroom. He was already in pajama bottoms, but he hadn’t put his shirt on, which Rei knew was completely on purpose. She watched Isana start at the unexpected sound of Koichi’s voice, then immediately run her eyes down his damp chest.They weren’t going to be able to do this much longer, just the three of them. Not if her two best friends were going to be a couple of horndogs around each other. They were already pushing it.When they slept over like this, they set up a pallet on the floor with all the blankets from both Rei and Koichi’s apartments so no one got the bed. Rei always slept between her two friends. She watched them watch each other for a moment, then stood from her bed and pushed Isana out into the hallway, shutting the door behind her.“Remember what I said?” she hissed. “No seducing in my apartment.”Isana grinned. “I’m pretty sure he’s the one seducing me.”“Stay,” Rei said, then went back inside.Koichi had finished brushing his teeth and was pulling a T-shirt over his head. He blinked at her innocently, but she stormed up to him and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him down to her level. “Your clothes, all of them, stay on all night. Got it?”“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I’m hurt,” he said, straightening and moving to the door.“Freeze.” He did. “If you two turn this sleepover into something that I’m going to regret, I will stop inviting you over. Whatever you do, do it in your own apartment. But not tonight. Tonight is my time. Isana and I have a mission tomorrow, and she cannot be distracted by you.”“I get it, Rei. Seriously.”They let Isana back in and baked two pizzas while a movie played on Rei’s new television. “So what’s the mission for tomorrow?” Koichi asked from the kitchenette.“Something about smuggling,” Isana said, nibbling delicately on her third piece of pizza. “The Jonin has the rest of the information.”“Who’s it going to be?”“We’ll find out tomorrow.” Rei hugged her knees to her chest. She loved horror movies, but something about watching them at night gave her the shivers. “Has there been any word from Utakata?”Koichi shook his head. “I haven’t heard.”Utakata had been sent on a mission to the Land of Rivers in February as part of an investigation into a corrupt organization that frequently did business with the Rain. It was May, now. He’d been good about sending letters once a week or so, but it had been a while since their last message.Utakata had been promoted to Jonin quickly after their initial arrival once he’d proven his capabilities as a tactician and stealth operator, and more and more high-profile missions had been handed to him. This last one had taken him away for so long. Rei forgot to focus on the movie, her throat tightening as she thought of her friend. It was so easy to be killed in their line of work. And there were so many things to be killed for.They hadn’t heard from Kisame since arriving in the Hidden Rain Village over two years ago. Headmaster Iwa assumed he was dead. They’d gotten a message from Kakashi the year before, updating them on the nobles from the Mist who had moved to the Leaf Village. They had all arrived safely and were living under assumed names. Two of the children had decided to enter the Academy to become Shinobi.Aside from a few side-glances that Rei found suspicious, Koichi and Isana acted like normal people. As they all lay down for the night, Rei promised herself that if she felt Koichi climbing across her to reach Isana, she’d knee him hard enough to ensure that there were no mini-Koichis ever.The next morning, Koichi was still asleep when Rei and Isana slipped out. “Did you see his chest? And his back, my god.” Isana gushed as they approached Grandma Kura’s bakery. It was raining again, and the girls both slipped their hoods up over their heads.“Isana, I have seen his chest. Due to an unfortunate incident, I have also seen the rest of him. But he’s like my brother, and I’m getting nauseated talking about it.”“How unfortunate of an incident could it have been?” Isana was about to swoon. Rei’s nerves ground together. Koichi and Isana had both gotten very hormonal since they turned sixteen. Yes, Koichi had grown up well. He was quite attractive. And if Rei had to hear any more about it, she was going to projectile vomit.Before they went into the bakery, Rei grasped Isana by the shoulders and ensured that her friend was looking straight at her. “Isana. You have to talk to someone else about this. For the love of all that is good in this world. Please.”The blonde girl laughed. “Fine! I guess I get it. At least I don’t have to worry about you being competition for his affections,” she said playfully, nudging Rei’s shoulder.“Don’t even joke about that. I’ll be sick.”It was nearly six in the morning, and Grandma Kura was just pushing back the curtains of the bakery for opening hour. “Right on time, girls!” The little woman reached to the cupboard to the right of the front door and brought down a sizeable brown paper bag. “Cherry, peach, and yuzu. Fresh baked thirty minutes ago. May they bring you energy and luck.”Rei opened the bag under the cover of the bakery’s awning. “There must be fifteen pastries in here, Grandma. It’s too generous.”Grandma Kura waved her objection away firmly. “Take them. I am doing well, and what kind of person would I be if I didn’t share my blessings? Offer some to your captain.”Covering the bag with her cloak, Rei ran with Isana through the city, heedless of the splashing about them as they passed countless other citizens on their way to work. Water bothered no one here.Lord Hanzo’s tower loomed overhead, a dark beacon against the gradually paling sky. The tastes of hundreds of chakras tickled Rei’s mind, touching her consciousness briefly before she dismissed them all in turn.“Oh, look!” Kenshi called from the table waiting for their belongings as they ducked through the tower’s front doors. “Someone interesting! Maybe she’ll take me up on my many offers!”“Shut up, Kenshi.” Rei barely glanced at him. The ground level of Lord Hanzo’s tower was multi-functional. To the right was the hallway that led to the room for full-body searches, straight ahead was the enclosed staircase, and to the left were three windows hosting the Chunin who distributed classified or personal information to the villagers. Rei and Isana gravitated to the nearest one.“How lucky. Yours in on top,” the girl at the window said with a kind smile at Isana. “This looks like a big one; you know how long it’s been since I went on a real mission?”“It’s because you’re so good at your job here,” Isana replied, so barely sarcastic that the girl didn’t notice, and she took the manila envelope and slid the flap open carefully, keeping the contents well hidden. “Come on,” she said to Rei. They went together down the long hallway behind the staircase, counting doors. “Room Seven,” Isana muttered. “We’ve got Captain Ryuji.”Rei’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know that one.”“I’ve never been on one of his squads, but I’ve heard the name,” Isana said. “I think he was part of the defense squad that put down the border skirmish by the Land of Wind. It was a big deal.”The man waiting for them inside Room Seven was definitely one that seemed capable of putting down a fight. The rooms for mission debriefings and intelligence were always set up with tables and chairs for conferencing, and their captain had set himself at the central table and spread several papers out before him: maps, profiles, and written information that Rei couldn’t decipher. He was writing notes in the margins of the map when the girls walked in, and he looked up with expressionless grey eyes. “Rei Maeda and Isana Kurogane. Welcome. I am Ryuji Mizutani.”Without hesitation, both girls took seats opposite their new captain. “We’re ready whenever you are, captain,” Isana said.Captain Ryuji looked intently at the map in front of him, which Rei could see detailed the sewer systems underneath Lord Hanzo’s tower and the adjacent buildings. “We’ll proceed when our last member arrives.”Probably in his early thirties, Ryuji Mizutani looked like the embodiment of what a Rain Jonin should be. His deep blue hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, revealing a long ragged scar that stretched from his left ear to the corner of his mouth. He wore his Rain headband around his neck, and lean, muscular shoulders were obvious even underneath his tattered black coat.He continued to jot notes in silence.“Want a pastry?” Rei offered into the quiet, almost wincing at the loud crackling the bag made when she set it on the table.The pencil stilled. After a long moment, the captain asked, “What kind?”“Cherry, peach, and yuzu. With icing.”“Made fresh this morning at The Cooling Rack,” Isana added.Captain Ryuji finally looked back up, eyebrows set a little higher, eyes a little lighter. “Peach. Thank you,” he said as Rei offered him one from the top. He surveyed the girls before him for a moment, the ice apparently broken. “So, this isn’t your first mission. I’ve been looking over your profiles. Lord Hanzo set up a nicely balanced squad for this mission.”“Lord Hanzo hand-picked us for this mission?” Isana’s pastry paused halfway to her mouth. “Wow. Why would he have done that?”“That’s a question for Lord Hanzo,” Captain Ryuji said. Isana gave Rei a meaningful look, which Rei ignored. “Isana, you’re reported to be a strong Genjutsu user and adept at quick, agile maneuvers.”Isana nodded, humility having no place here. Complete honesty was paramount in moments like this, when the Jonin had to begin strategizing. “That’s right.”“And Rei, your profile states that you are a powerful Sensory type with Sealing experience, and you can absorb chakra from a distance.” He narrowed his eyes at her, searching. “What kind of distance?”After a moment of thought, Rei said, “If I really pushed myself, maybe twenty-five feet? It’s a stronger pull if I’m closer to the person I’m trying to draw from.”The captain blinked in surprise, then made a note on Rei’s profile. “And you have a reasonable control of Water, Lightning, and Earth-Styles?” Both girls nodded. Having the same proficiencies made training together much easier.The knock on the door made Rei jump in her seat, and she exhaled in relief when Karasu Shigure came in and took the seat on the other side of Isana. She’d worked with him before, and she knew what to expect from the quiet older boy. Captain Ryuji took a moment to confirm Karasu’s details, then looked at the three of them in turn.“Today, we’re going to be starting an extended mission that could take a decent amount of time to complete. But Lord Hanzo has requested that the three of you work under my leadership, and I trust his judgement. Our ultimate objective is to investigate and eventually dismantle a smuggling ring that had been operating in the tunnels beneath the city. The resulting black market is disrupting the economy, and Lord Hanzo is particularly concerned about contraband weapons.”Rei passed a pastry to Karasu, who took it gratefully.The captain continued. “Karasu: your specialty is stealth and disguise. You’ll be the infiltration specialist. We’ll be replying on you to gather as much information as covertly as possible. Rei: You’ll be working as the Sensor. It’ll be up to you to identify and follow smuggling trails. You and Isana will also be taking the lead in disabling the subjects. Between your Genjutsu and chakra absorption, you should be able to weaken them enough for Karasu and I to bring the operation to a close.”Tapping the papers into a pile and stowing them back in a folder, Captain Ryuji stood. “It’s just a basic outline. We’ll uncover more details as we go.”Alright, then, Rei thought. Here we go.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Part of the squad’s job had already been done for them, Rei was relieved to discover. Interviewing villagers about general information was her least favorite part of every mission. Captain Ryuji gave them each a copy of recent interview transcripts, then waited for their feedback before they left Lord Hanzo’s tower.“The docks on the southern border of the village are a hotspot,” Karasu said. “There are a lot of abandoned old shacks out that way.”“And isn’t there a big sewage pipe thing that dumps into the lake over there?” Isana asked. “They could be using it as an entrance to the tunnels. A very gross entrance.”It was a good place to start. They took shifts watching the collection of abandoned fishing huts for two days before they finally spotted a group of men using one of them as a meeting place. “Bingo,” Karasu whispered. Rei barely heard him over the sound of the rain around them. They were on a nearby rooftop, letting the rain pelt them mercilessly as they kept watch. “How would you place them?”“One Shinobi, mid-level,” Rei answered in an equally quiet whisper. “The others are non-Shinobi citizens. Go do your thing.”With a grin, Karasu covered his dark hair with his cloak and slipped down the side of the building silently. He crept over to the hut and leaned his back against the wooden wall. His head was right next to an open window. Had Rei not been able to see his chakra, she’d have had trouble seeing him. His cloak was designed with a chakra pattern so that it mimicked the colors and forms of the rain around it, and he blended in flawlessly. Rei pulled out a scrap of paper from her weapons pouch and hunched over it, shielding it from the rain as she scribbled a quick note to Isana and slid it into a plastic protective pouch. She slipped it half underneath a roof tile and waited, peering through the abandoned walls on the other side of Karasu. She couldn’t see bodies, but she could see chakra as clearly as if they were right before her.She didn’t recognize the Shinobi’s chakra pattern, but she committed it to memory, should she lose him. After having a brief discussion that Rei couldn’t hear, the men began to shuffle around the small hut, moving things about and pointing. The Shinobi smacked one of the others across the face, probably chastising him for being too loud, Rei assumed. Karasu hadn’t moved a muscle.The men left the hut after about twenty minutes, and Karasu waited only a handful of seconds before discreetly leaping back up to Rei. “That’s them. Let’s go.”Leaving their post, the two teenagers melted into the rain, following their quarry. It would have been easy to discount the non-Shinobi, but through a series of subtle hand movements, Karasu offered to follow them when they inevitably split. As they grew nearer to the heart of the village, they both worked to subtly change their appearances. Karasu stowed his cloak away and pulled on a skintight diver’s hood, complete with a rebreather. Rei pulled out her own rebreather and fit it securely over her mouth before wrapping her hair up into a bun and hiding it beneath a wide-brimmed fisherman’s hat that she unfolded silently from her pack.The Rain was painted a thousand shades of gray. It was easy to become completely forgettable.When they reached the edge of the residential quarter, two of the men bid goodbye to the others and departed for their own home. Rei and Karasu noted the location mentally and continued to follow the remaining two until they divided as well. Nodding to each other in confirmation, the two young Shinobi diverged paths.To Rei’s slight annoyance, her subject did not go straight home, nor did he lead her to other smugglers. After hours of following a man who stopped to eat at a sandwich shop, buy groceries, and feed ducks in a nearby pond, he finally stopped for the day. At a motel.He wore a Hidden Rain Shinobi forehead protector, but he was staying at a motel?It wasn’t an impossible situation, but Rei’s suspicions rose. She watched subtly from across the street as the man waved to the woman behind the welcome desk and ascended the stairs, presumably to his room. She watched his chakra rise until he entered a room on the second floor, dropped his pack, and entered an alcove, probably the bathroom. The moment he sat down, Rei sprinted across the road and dug through her weapons pouch for her newest device.Headmaster Iwa had certainly made himself useful as a non-Shinobi civilian in the Rain. He’d been tinkering constantly, always bouncing ideas off his fellow refugees, and then letting them test everything that he developed. This would be the first official use of the Droplet Eavesdropper, and Rei prayed that it would work correctly.People were passing on the street, heading home for the evening, and climbing up the side of a motel would definitely be noticed. She sighed inaudibly, looking up at her target’s window. She wished she were better at the Camouflage Technique. Utakata had spent days trying to help her perfect it, but she had never been able to flawlessly mask her visible presence unless she was standing perfectly still.“You’d think someone who could manipulate chakra would have no problem bending the reflection of light with it,” Utakata had thought aloud.“Yeah, you’d think,” Rei had replied in frustration.“Well, no one can be good at everything. You come pretty close, though.” He’d smiled, one of those rare ones that lit his whole face. “Don’t let one failed technique bring you down.”Rei remembered how she’d frozen, trying to glean a deeper meaning from his words than he’d intended. But he had moved on to a different skill, and the two years that separated them in age suddenly felt like an ocean.She exhaled hard. She had no better option today. She stepped off to the side of the building, ensuring that she was completely shielded by the motel’s trashcan, and focused her chakra on the Camouflage Technique. Her feet disappeared, then her ankles. The invisible cloak of chakra rose up her body until she couldn’t see her shoulders anymore. She tugged a lock of hair out of her bun to reassure herself that she couldn’t see it and suppressed another sigh when she realized that it wasn’t completely invisible. It had greyed to a near transparency, but it was still detectable. Her hat was still completely unshielded, so she folded it up and stowed it away. That was all she needed, for someone to scream because a possessed hat was creeping up the side of a motel.The Droplet Eavesdropper vial clutched tightly in her hand, Rei scaled the motel until she got to the window in question and jimmied it open silently. Headmaster Iwa’s new invention was a tiny listening device that perfectly mimicked a droplet of rain on a surface. Rei couldn’t begin to understand how he’d done it, but he’d somehow developed a transparent, flexible polymer that perfectly mirrored the appearance of water, and he’d used a combination of technology and chakra to turn it into a highly sensitive listening device for espionage.With the window open a few inches and the Shinobi still in the bathroom, Rei touched her finger to the liquid inside the vial and transferred a single droplet to the inside of the window. It wouldn’t move or evaporate, and should the Shinobi move to wipe it away, it would simply dissolve and lose all function. If it worked, it would be perfect.She slid the window shut and dropped back to the ground, hiding behind the trashcan again before releasing the Camouflage jutsu. She also packed away the rebreather and let her hair down. The rain had lightened to a drizzle; she’d enjoy the walk back to base.Her squad was waiting for her back at one of the unoccupied fishing huts, and she shucked off her jacket the moment she was through the door. Captain Ryuji triple checked that the windows were covered sufficiently and lit another lantern, lighting their faces in the darkness eerily. “Alright, let’s hear it. What’d you get?”Karasu began to relate what he’d heard. “They civilians are lackeys, very low on the totem pole. But the Shinobi was giving orders. He’s probably still an underling of some sort, and he had a strange accent that I didn’t recognize. He was wearing a Rain Shinobi uniform, though.”“What were they talking about?” Isana asked.“Snow grass, mostly.”Rei almost rolled her eyes. Snow grass was the newest recreational drug that was making the rounds on the street. The longest users were already displaying blackened teeth, sunken eyes, and extreme weight loss, but supposedly the high was monumental.“And they were talking about other cargo, but they didn’t mention what it was. There’s going to be a drop-off tomorrow night, and they’re planning to store it under the hut. There’s a hatch that they were opening and closing in the floor.”Rei related the events of her day in turn and took out the receiver that was set to pick up the signal from the Droplet Eavesdropper. It was made from an old, outdated radio that Headmaster Iwa had repurposed, and Rei anxiously turned the dial, listening for the telltale crackling that always came before the first recorded voices.The sound of a door opening and closing finally came from the radio, and Rei breathed easier. The only sounds to come after for several minutes were those of the television, and Captain Ryuji crossed his arms. “Is there a way to…fast-forward?”After accidentally rewinding, Rei got the recording to skip forward quickly, but slowly enough that she could pick up the voice of a real person. “Did anyone see you?” a woman asked, and a door shut.“No,” the Shinobi said. “I was alert all day. The team is collecting the cargo as we speak, and they will ensure that it is all delivered to Site B tomorrow evening.”Rei’s smug pleasure at a successful surveillance was completely overshadowed by a realization that paled her, and the Six Tails shifted uncomfortably in her chest. She knew that accent. She’d spoken with it herself until very recently. That man was a Blood Mist Shinobi.