Manifest Destiny (Naruto Fanfiction)

With nothing to hinder their progress, the group of ninja to be plus one found themselves in the desert an hour after their half-baked briefing on the roof, making their way towards the first oasis closest to the village's walls. After all, if a flower was going to bloom in the desert, it would likely need to be near a decent amount of water. Fortunately the first oasis was only about a mile away from the village, near the hidden exit to the emergency tunnels the civilians would use to evacuate during a crisis.

Being so close, it only took about fifteen minutes to arrive at the location, where all four members of the squad realized that their task would not be as easy as they had thought.

Ash walked slowly around the very edge of the small body of water that was the center of the oasis, scanning the sparse green around him for the faint glow of his objective in the evening light. The vegetation around him was covered in flecks of sand, and it occurred to the ninja-in-training that the flower he was looking for might be in the same condition or worse. The country wasn't called the Land of Wind for nothing, and it was possible that the flower in question could be completely covered in sand, blocking out its telltale glow. That could make things much more difficult for him and his team.

"I'm assuming no one has found it yet?"

There were three answers, and as expected, Temari, Kankuro, and Baki had all failed to locate the flower as well. Ash found it strange that Baki himself would help with a D-ranked mission, but assumed it had something to do with the fact that his private students could possibly fail. Failing a mission meant forfeiting the income, and that was something the village just couldn't afford, no matter what mission rank was in question.

After the group combed the entire patch of greenery and water from center to edge with no luck, Ash brought up his theory on the possible hindrances they might encounter with the sand.

"So, it occurred to me that this flower could be covered in sand or something. Or at least dusted enough to make it harder to pick out. Just a thought."

While he wasn't sure if his observation really made a difference, Ash was pleased to find that Baki agreed with the insight. "That's good, Ash; discovering possible obstacles to your mission early on is a trait all shinobi should excel in. Now we all know to be even more prudent in our search, especially as it gets darker. We'll have to be extra thorough."

Kankuro lightly slapped his little brother on the back. "Yeah, thanks, Ash. Now we have to be extra thorough."

Temari provided retribution on Ash's behalf, smacking the young puppeteer quite a bit harder than he himself had done to the youngest sibling. "Well at least he actually thought of something useful. I think that you really did do a great job, Ash. You thought of that before Baki even."

Said Jonin cleared his throat to interrupt the conversation, lest the children capitalize on the fact that, yes, Ash had thought of something important before he had. It would be best for his sanity if they forgot about it before they could hold it over his head like the little jackasses they were.

"Yes, well, now that we have established some of the difficulties we might encounter, we should move along to the next oasis. If the sand really has obscured the Moonglow, it will be harder to find the darker it gets. We have no time to waste."

With no disagreement on the kids' part, the group departed for the next oasis, although this one was several miles off, unlike the first. Not only was it farther off, but its distance from the village meant there was more open desert to traverse, which, even for Sand ninja, could be tricky. Moving at full speed on sand dunes was rather difficult, since it shifted under the smallest disturbances. You couldn't just use typical shinobi water walking techniques either: even if you could stick your feet to the grains of sand on the surface, that didn't stop them from sliding around thanks to the shifting sand underneath those grains.

There was a actually a technique used by the village to take advantage of this, allowing ninja to slide around intentionally less friction, but none of the children present on this mission had mastered such a technique yet. It was useful, but not high priority for ninja-in-training to focus on.

Therefore, their progress was slowed considerably, which was certainly not doing the group any favors as the sky grew darker. Nearly an hour of sliding, tripping, and grumbling separated them from the next oasis, where their luck was just as rotten as it had been the first time. A complete and thorough sweep of the small haven was met with no results, putting Ash into an even worse mood than he had been in the first place.

"This is such a stupid assignment... what are we supposed to do if there just isn't one of these flowers to find? What if there just aren't any this year?"

Feeling slightly discouraged himself, Baki found himself wondering the same thing. There was always a possibility that there just wouldn't be a flower to find. "That is a fair point, Ash, but we must be absolutely certain that is the case before writing off this mission as a failure."

Not one to be left out of the complaining, Kankuro found it necessary to say something himself. "And how many more of these places do we have to search? It's practically night already."

"There are two more oases that we must search, each even further than the last. By the time we're done, there will be about thirty miles between us and the village."

As soon as his words came to an end, a small bush near the water burst into alternating blue and green flames, no doubt a result of Ash's mounting frustration. Used to it by now, the only reaction from his three comrades was a gust of wind Temari used to splash the fluorescent flames with water before they burned down the whole oasis.

It was likely that Ash would inadvertently ignite more things as he grew more irritable, but seeing as there was nothing to burn in the open desert besides the clothing on their backs, Baki decided that a break was necessary, if only to keep all of their belongings safe in the long run. "Let's take a small break before continuing on to the next oasis. Ten minutes, and then we're moving again."

With all of the invitation he needed, Ash flung himself onto the sparse grass and heaved an awfully mighty sigh for a nine-year old kid. It didn't take too long for his siblings to join him on the ground, although they both opted for sitting cross-legged. Kankuro wasted no time in bringing out the small, foot long avian puppet he was constantly working on and expanding, which had been his hobby of choice since Ash had first met him. Temari on the other hand, decided that she would rather spend her ten minutes fretting over her youngest sibling. Despite her initial worries about the relationship they shared now, she had swiftly grown into it over the years.

"Are you feeling alright, Ash? You should drink some water before we start moving again."

"I'm not thirsty."

It was futile to try and brush Temari off with an excuse like that; now that Ash thought about it, it probably wasn't even worth the effort to resist his sister. If she got it into her head that there was something wrong, there was no swaying her. She deftly dug her hand into Ash's bag and withdrew one of the water-filled canteens within, shoving it into her youngest sibling's face with a stern look that left no room for argument.

Well aware that there was no way to get out of it, Ash took the canteen from his sister and made an obvious show of drinking it, just to make sure she got off his back. She would have been just as overbearing if he didn't drink enough. Of course, as he guzzled some of it down, the ninja in training couldn't help but realize that he had been rather thirsty, not that he would admit it. Apparently his sister just always knew what was best.

"I bet that was refreshing, wasn't it?"

Ash was not at all pleased to see the smug look of victory on Temari's face; perhaps he had let just a bit too much satisfaction show on his own. Either way, he crossed his arms and said nothing, ever unwilling to admit defeat.

If his denial bothered Temari in any way, it didn't show on her face at all. She was used to Ash's childish behavior, and found it more adorable than anything else. She could only find it in herself to smile at the boy. "Alright then, if that's the way you want to be about it. But how about everything else? You've been training hard but you're still younger than us. Are you tired?"

In all honesty, he did feel a little winded, and a bit sore from the running. Having to run on shifting sands was twice the work that running on any flat surface would be, since one had to constantly fight to keep their balance as well as move forward. But again, he wouldn't admit to feeling anything beyond fine. He hated showing weakness, especially in front of his sister, who always seemed to think he could be amazing and great and anything he wanted to be. To let down someone who had so much faith in him, even in something so small, felt very wrong.

"I'm fine, Sis. It was no problem."

A small frown made itself known on Temari's face, but it lasted only a moment before she returned to her usual smile. Oh, she was well aware that Ash was just putting up a front. He was a proud little squirt that didn't like being called out on his weaknesses. Besides his lack of motivation, it was probably his biggest personality flaw.

"So you're not feeling tired at all, huh? Not even a little bit?"

Ash shook his head defiantly, wondering why she bothered to ask when she definitely already knew the truth. "Not even a little bit."

If Ash had noticed the slightly devious look that came into his sister's eyes, he probably would have found some way to escape from her immediate reach. Unfortunately, he was making a point of looking away from her, so there was no way he could have known that she was about to make a move against him. She had subtly reached her hands to her brother's exposed sides before he could realize the 'danger' he was in.

In a dour mood, Ash did not expect an attack in the form of something as silly as what his sister decided to employ. Temari jammed her fingers into her little brother's sensitive ribs and began to tickle him mercilessly, taking advantage of what she knew was a weak spot for him.

"How about now, Ash? Feeling tired now? Hm?"

Absolutely refusing to laugh in the face of Temari's onslaught, Ash clenched his jaw as tight as he could to suppress his giggles, all the while trying to twist away from his sister's cruel fingers. He reached a hand out to Kankuro in hopes of being rescued, but the slightly older boy decided that right that moment would be a good time to remember Ash's smart-ass remark about letting him fall earlier that day, and abandoned the blonde to his fate. Even Baki looked on with an amused air about him, the heartless bastard.

Unable to get away from her but still refusing to surrender either way, Ash did his best to curl into a ball and block off Temari's access to his sides, but to no avail. She tortured him ruthlessly for almost a full minute, determined to make her little brother laugh, even if it was against his will. But unfortunately for her, Ash held on to the bitter end, surviving until Baki roused the three kids from their break to get back on the move. But even after convincing Temari to give it a rest, the older Jonin gave Ash a minute or two to catch his breath, showing that he was at least slightly more sympathetic than he appeared.

Ash rested his hands on his knees as he gave Temari the most powerful glare he could muster from behind his long bangs, and it may have been somewhat intimidating had he not been gasping for air as heavily as he was. "Sis... you... jerk...! What was that all about?!"

The group's only girl grinned sheepishly at him, perhaps realizing that she had taken it just a little too far, even if tickling the boy had been more or less harmless. "It's your fault for acting so sour all the time. I just wanted you to smile or laugh or something."

Ash tried to maintain his bitter countenance, but it was impossible to do so after such an explanation. Whether or not Temari's maneuver had been underhanded and torturous, she had playfully assaulted him only to try and cheer him up a little. And though he was loathe to admit it, Ash did actually feel a little less irritable now that it was all said and done. That being the case, he couldn't really resist giving his sister a big smile; after all, it was what she had wanted.

"Well geez, Sis. Just tell me a joke next time or something."

The older girl stuck her tongue out at the boy, an action that reminded Ash that no matter how mature Temari acted sometimes, she was still a kid, all the same as he was. "But Ash, that isn't nearly as fun as making you squirm."

Ash reciprocated his sister's immature action, aware that she was joking and only taking mock offense. The truth was that Temari just wasn't really all that good at jokes. She could be playful, but actual creative humor was not her strong suit.

Seeing that Ash was no longer a gasping heap on the ground, Baki ushered his proteges out of the oasis with haste, he himself not all that eager to be out until sometime in the morning. Unlike his pupils, he had to be up the next day far earlier, and for far more tedious work. Fortunately for his sanity, complaints were kept to a minimum on the way to the next oasis, which likely had something to do with the fact that Ash was in a better mood than he had been previously. The amount of influence Temari held over the boy never ceased to amaze Baki. Both Temari and Kankuro were Ash's siblings now, but the puppeteer in training did not hold the same sway over their adopted brother as his sister did.

With little to be said while traversing the desert's open dunes, the group of four arrived at the next oasis in silence, hoping they would find their objective there. This particular patch of liveliness among the desert was a fair bit larger than the last ones, sporting a wider area and a slightly more diverse selection of trees and shrubs, although only by one or two species. There where actually two spots of water in the middle of it all, although it had likely been one pool that had just accumulated enough sediment in the middle to make a little stretch of earth, separating the water into two bodies.

Without a word, the desert natives spread out and searched for the flower they sought. They each believed that this was better than having to hunt down house cats of any sort, but were vexed nevertheless, as the elusive plant was just as annoying to locate, if not more so, as it did not move or make sounds to give it away. For about fifteen minutes, their search was absolutely fruitless, much to everyone's chagrin. It occurred then to Temari, being a little more knowledgeable about flowers than the rest of her group, that they might be looking in the wrong places.

"Hey, Baki? Were you told what kind of flower this is? Like where it grows?"

Kankuro piped up from across the oasis before Baki could speak, although the Jonin was only mumbling about not being called Sensei. "It grows where there's grass and water right? Where else would you find a flower?"

"You idiot, flowers can bloom in more places than that, you know. Some only grow in certain conditions. There are some flowers that only grow in certain types of soil, and some actually bloom in the shade rather than in the sun. And there are a few that can actually grow and bloom completely underwater. This Moonglow thing might be growing somewhere we haven't looked."

Kankuro seemed to take no interest in any of this, since his most prominent interest involving plants was producing poisons. Baki saw the potential for Temari's knowledge in that regard as well, and Ash just saw it as his sister being as knowledgeable as always. "So, Sis, are you saying that we're wasting time here? That maybe this stupid flower isn't even growing in an oasis? Is there such a thing as flowers out in the desert?"

The girl rubbed her chin for a moment, clearly struggling to recall what she knew about straight up desert flowers. "Well there's a few, like Scorpion Weed. Or Sand Lillies, Sand Verbana... what's that other one? Um... oh, and Desert Fairy Dusters."

The boys of the group all cast Temari a questioning look, though only Kanakuro voiced the group opinion. "A Desert... Fairy Duster? Is that a real thing, Temari? Are you making that up just to try and sound smart? Because it's not really working."

The accosted girl placed her hands defiantly on her hips. "Of course it's real, you dope! I'll go find one for you right now and prove it!"

The mention of a second flower hunt drove Ash to intervene, not being all that eager to perform this dreaded task twice. "Maybe we should find the flower we're getting paid to find first."

His two older siblings looked like they wanted to make some sort of retort to their youngest brother, but Baki put an end to any squabbling before it could really get started. "Ash is right about that. It's already late enough as it is, and I imagine that we'd all like to get home sooner than later. The information on the Moonglow did not include anything beyond the fact that it blooms near ground water-sources. Apparently our library could use some updates."

There was a shared groan between Kankuro and Ash, who could already foresee having to trek to the final oasis for another sweep, one that would likely be as useless as the ones before it. Ash decided to verbalize his dissatisfaction.

"Really, Cyclops, can't you do it? You're way faster than us, and probably not as tired. It wouldn't even be hard to check on your own."

Temari frowned, not happy that her little brother was coming off as lazy. He should have known better than to ask Baki to do the work for them. The chances that he would say yes were pretty much nonexistent...

"Fine. I suppose you have a point, Ash."

"I do?"

Temari parroted the sentiment immediately. "He does?"

Apparently even Ash hadn't really thought Baki would accept his complaining, so it was no surprise that his siblings didn't either. They all knew that Baki was not a man to let them shirk their duties. Except for now, apparently.

"You're right in saying that I can move faster without you three, and as I said before, we'd all like to go home sooner rather than later. I'll use clones to help me search the final oasis alone. You all stay here and rest. I would let you go back to the village, but I fear you ignorant twerps might get lost on the way back."

Temari took more offense than the other two, who didn't listen to Baki all that much anyway. "Whoa, ignorant twerp?! Me? I could get back to the village with my eyes closed! Don't compare me to Kankuro, that's terrible!"

"Hey! What about Ash? You're being compared to him too!"

"But he's actually cute, so I don't mind as much."

Kankuro scowled and leaned over to whisper menacingly to the diminutive blonde boy beside him. "Enjoy it while you can, Ash. One day that whole 'cute littlest brother' thing is going to wear off."

"Don't count on it, Kankuro. I'll always be better looking than you."

Temari couldn't help but fan that flame. "Well, that's certainly true."

"Yeah, well you're not exactly the cutest girl in the village or anything!"

Baki sighed, deciding to make his exit before his pupils inevitably descended even further into one of their petty squabbles. He flickered away without a word, leaving all three children to their own devices, although they hardly noticed his departure, as busy as they were with their personal popularity contest.

"That's not true, Kankuro. I am definitely the cutest girl in the village. Right, Ash?"

Feeling like he had stepped on an armed explosive tag, Ash glanced at his sister's deceptively cheerful countenance, trying to gauge the amount of danger he'd be putting himself in if he dared say 'no.' In the end he decided to play it safe. "Of course you are, Sis. For sure."

An unforeseen frown descended upon his sister's face, almost like she had seen right through him. Then again, she probably had. "You're just saying that, aren't you? You don't really believe it, do you Ash?"

"Ah well, I didn't think I was supposed to think those things about my sister..."

"Of course you are, you dolt! You should always treat your sister like she's the prettiest girl in the world!"

Kankuro picked that moment to chime in. "I think playing into someone's delusions is generally considered a bad thing, Temari."

Temari scowled over at the hooded boy, wondering if Ash would intervene at all if she tried to strangle him. Maybe her favorite little brother would side with her and help bury the body?

Fortunately for Kankuro, there would not be a murder that night. Ash, in all of his mercy, decided to distract Temari for his brother's sake. It was the only reason he asked an odd question seemingly out of the blue. Truthfully, he just couldn't think of any other way to intervene in his siblings' squabble.

"Hey, Sis? If I were one of those desert flowers you mentioned earlier, which one would I be?"

Surprised not only by his sudden intervention, but by the question as well, Temari took a moment longer than usual to formulate an answer. "Well... it's hard to describe you with only a flower... but if I had to I'd definitely say Desert Bitterbush. It's as yellow as your hair and matches your pessimism perfectly."

He knew it was only a joke, but Ash frowned a little anyway. A joke like that couldn't have even been made if it wasn't at least partially true. "How about Kankuro? What kind of flower would he be?"

"Mmm... definitely Scorpion Weed."

It was obvious to Ash that Kankuro did not realize he had just been insulted, as the black-clad boy seemed happy to be associated with scorpions. "Yeah, Scorpion Weed is poisonous and dangerous or something right? And probably blood-red or black."

"Actually, it's light purple, smells awful, and gives you a terrible rash if you touch it. And of course, it is a weed."

Kankuro's scowl was ever more amplified by the paint that adorned his face, providing a few laughs at his expense by his siblings. "You two are always ganging up on me, seriously. So I'm a weed, but my blood sister is supposed to be some beautiful flower right? Typical."

The girl in question was about to respond with what was no doubt confirmation that she was indeed a wonderful flower, when something whizzed by her ear and stopped her short. It flew by and buried itself in the thin trunk of a palm tree, at which point Baki's three proteges realized that Temari had almost been skewered by a kunai.

There was a moment of paralysis among the children, a moment of shock in which they realized one of them had almost died, though they had all been laughing and joking a mere second ago. Each of them knew they should move, that they should hide behind something, or literally do anything besides sit there, but the fact that a life-or-death situation had just descended on them all so unexpectedly that it temporarily paralyzed the three children.

It took another kunai burying itself at Ash's feet to break the spell that had fallen over them, and whether they were officially ninja or not, what training the trio did have kicked in and they all leaped towards anything they could hide behind, a flurry of kunai and shuriken attempting to strike them as they moved. Each weapon missed by a decent margin, and it occurred to Ash that his family's assailant had rather poor aim.

Ash crouched behind a slightly upturned slab of sandstone that had been scoured by wind, gazing out into the darkness with displeasure clearly etched onto his childish face. "What was it that Cyclops said earlier? 'All in all it should be easy?' I told him that he had jinxed the mission."

From behind a palm tree to his right, Temari was trying her best to minimize the size her body behind cover that felt far too small. "Are you really going to complain even now?! Can we focus on the fact that someone just tried to kill us!?"

Kankuro had thrown himself to the ground behind a slight rise in the ground on Ash's left, braving a peek over the edge of his cover, only to drop his face back into the sand when another kunai nicked his hood. "H-holy crap, this is no joke..."

Strangely enough, Ash did not feel as scared or frightened as either of his siblings did. There was an underlying current of anger and indignation, seeing as how this assailant would have killed his sister if only he had possessed better aim. But beyond that, he felt no more riled or agitated than he usually did. Why this was the case, he did not know, but it did provide a certain amount of confidence. Their enemy couldn't be too skilled, if he couldn't even throw his weapons straight. Any elite would never have missed such an easy shot.

Of course, it was also possible that he had missed on purpose, perhaps to drive his team into a trap of sorts. But why waste time with such an elaborate scheme if three well-aimed kunai could have killed all three children far easier? Something about all of this didn't add up, but it was difficult to place what the problem was.

"You guys need to calm down. It was close, but he missed, and anyone with aim that bad isn't too much to be scared of."

There was a flare of annoyance from both siblings as they realized a kid even younger than they were was telling them what to do, but his words were true nevertheless. Besides, seeing their youngest sibling completely unfazed by the situation calmed them to some degree as well. Minus a bit of annoyance with herself for losing her cool, Temari noted that she felt incredibly proud of Ash, who she had always feared would crack under actual pressure considering his lack of motivation to be a good ninja in the first place.

"You're right, of course... we just need to calm down and take care of this slowly. We need some sort of plan."

Kankuro took a risk to glance back out at the darkness again. "He's over there, right? We could circle around him while one of us distracts him."

Temari glared out into the darkness as well, taking comfort in the fact that her opponent appeared to have rather terrible aim. "If he's smart, then he's moved already. We found out his position, or at least his general direction, when his first attacks missed us. Any ninja worth their salt would change positions after a failed ambush to remain hidden."

Ash narrowed his eyes at the scene of darkness before him, for once taking his role as a ninja-to-be very seriously. Ironically, he realized that there may have been some other merits to his shinobi training aside from outright combat. "Or, maybe he hasn't moved at all. Maybe he expects us to think that he'd move positions, and so stayed exactly where he is to throw us off."

Kankuro cast a confused gaze over at his brother, wondering when he had actually paid enough attention to ninja theory to think through such things. "Are you sure you aren't over-thinking this, Ash? You did just say that this guy was probably an amateur. Would he be smart enough to try something like that?"

Ash shrugged, eyes still focused on piercing the darkness. "I'm not even an actual ninja, and it's what I would have done."

It occurred to Temari that although Ash wasn't an exemplary student by any means, he had obvious potential for more than just fighting. Of course, this only made it worse that he didn't take the rest of his studies seriously. "Well, aren't you just turning into the perfect little strategist? So what do you think we should do?"

Ash was mildly surprised that his sister was effectively nominating him, the youngest, as leader in this situation. To him, the idea of faking out the enemy seemed perfectly obvious, and deserved little praise. But she seemed to have faith in his abilities at this point, and Kankuro wasn't saying anything to disagree, so Ash figured it really was up to him to lead right now. Or at least, to come up with ideas.

"Well if I could control my own flames, I'd just burn him out of his hiding place, but we all know how that's going right about now. Throwing our weapons blindly into the darkness probably won't work either, and it'd be a waste of tools we might need. Hmm... Sis, what's the strongest wind you can make?"

Temari grabbed a hold of the two small fans tucked into the sash at her hips at the mention of it, hoping whatever she could manage was enough for what Ash had in mind. "I can cut someone with it if I need to. It wouldn't kill anybody, but it'd hurt. Is that enough?"

Ash nodded, then turned to his brother. "Should be. How useful is that puppet of yours, Kankuro? What can it do?"

"I can control it well enough, but it's only got a few weapons right now: some senbon launchers and about twenty poison pellet bombs. I haven't added blades to the wings or feet yet, so that's all it can do right now."

Mentally adding his own abilities to the list, Ash tried to formulate some sort of plan that would take care of this situation without getting either of his siblings hurt. As far as he knew, their unknown enemy could be far more skilled than he seemed. Baki was much too far by this point to know that something was wrong, and would likely not be back for an hour or more. If anything was going to be done here, it would have to be at the hands of the Kazekage's children, if Ash could be included in that label.

"We need to get this guy out of cover in order to get a clear shot at him. We could try and force him out with Sis's wind alone, but it probably wouldn't work because he could hide behind one of the trees or something. Going over there to fight someone we can't see in close combat would be stupid too. We need another way to smoke him out, and if we put your abilities together, it should be easy."

Kankuro latched his chakra strings onto the vulture-like puppet he had created himself. It had a relatively small wingspan of two feet, but looked rather intimidating nevertheless. Ash imagined it would look even more so when the promised blades were added to it. "You know, Ash, last time I tried to tag team with Temari she broke this thing, so I'm not feeling so hot about this."

Ash did not allow his sister to make the indignant response she no doubt would, in case she accidentally spoke too loudly and compromised their position further than it already had been. "You won't have to put your puppet in the way of her attack. You're just gonna drop those poison pellets of yours onto the ground , and then Sis is going to spread them into the opposing area. If we're lucky, this guy can't hold his breath for very long."

It was a relatively simple plan, Ash had to admit, but for the most part it was safe, and it would likely serve its purpose well. Apparently his two siblings agreed, because they both moved to do as they had been instructed without dissent. Kankuro launched his puppet into the air, while he himself stayed safely hidden. Its flight was a little awkward, but could be attributed to the fact that Kankuro was still an amateur at his art at so young an age.

A handful of shuriken left the darkness from the opposite end of the oasis, aiming to strike the offending puppet from the sky before it could pull any tricks. Unfortunately, the weapons lacked the force needed to disable the vulture, and although it was hit three times, the puppet suffered little more than aesthetic damage.

Unhindered, Kankuro made some wide, airy gestures with his hands that further exemplified his lack of finesse in the art. He was not yet at a stage where he could manipulate his puppet with a twitch of his fingers. Still, he could command his creation all the same, and a small compartment on the underbelly of the bird slid open to drop nearly two dozen small, dark purple pellets to the ground, each of them about an inch wide. They couldn't hold as much poison as a decent sized bomb, but as they impacted the ground and burst into sizable plumes of hazardous gas, it was obvious that they didn't need to. There was plenty here for Temari to work with.

Taking her cue without a word, Temari swept her fans in a wide slash, creating a gust of wind that spread out before her in a wave. It wasn't a powerful gust, but it still pushed the majority of the poison gas in the center of the oasis into the area their enemy was supposedly hiding, spreading it across the field until it settled where it was needed.

There was no immediate coughing or gagging, or any other telltale sign that the target had been affected in any way, although it was obvious to assume that said target was holding his breath. For how long he could manage to do so, Ash didn't know. "How long until this gas fades away, Kankuro?"

"About a minute, I guess."

Ash frowned, not pleased to hear this information. He could hold his breath for a minute, and he was not even a Genin, or an adult with a sizable lung capacity. It would be smart to assume his foe could do the same.

"Is this gas flammable?"

His brother cast a confused look Ash's way, allowing his puppet to fly blindly for a moment. "I think there's a few elements in there that might be, but is that a good idea?"

Ash left the question unanswered, choosing to ask his own instead. "Does anybody have an explosive tag?"

It wasn't something pupils like them would usually have their hands on, especially in Ash and Kankuro's case, but the three of them were often given exceptions to the rules. They were expected to excel far before their Academy counterparts did, and as the most promising students in the village, were often allowed access to tools Academy students would never be allowed to handle; poison bombs and explosive tags were among them.

Ash had not brought any with him, mostly because his spontaneous combustion episodes could prove dangerous if he did. As for Kankuro, Baki didn't trust him with them yet, since he feared the boy would think to use them in some harebrained prank within the village. Fortunately, their ever responsible and reliable older sister was trustworthy enough to have access to such ordnance, and had brought a few along for this mission even though it had seemed earlier that day that they would be completely unnecessary. It would seem that she was always prepared, perhaps to a paranoid degree.

Temari wrapped the tag around a kunai, apparently finding no reason to disagree with the course of action Ash had mentioned. She merely waited for an approving nod from her brothers, telling her they were prepared for the oncoming blast, before activating the explosive and throwing it blindly into the purple smoke that was slowly beginning to dissipate. After all, if the gas was flammable, it didn't really matter where she threw the tag.

Kankuro remembered to recall his puppet just in time to escape the deafening blast that shook the ground beneath them. The bird barely escaped the scorching hot fireball that erupted skyward, creating a pillar of flame that may have been visible from the village walls, if one of the guards squinted hard enough. The fire raged for only a brief moment, until all of the poisonous gas that fed its growth had been consumed, at which points the flames dwindled down to a a few measly burning pieces of foliage.

The three children peeked out from behind their hiding places, eager to assess the damage they had caused. The targeted half of the oasis had been practically incinerated, with little more than charred stumps and vitrified sand left of what it used to be. Tiny fires burned on whatever vegetation had managed to survive the initial blast, and being the boys they were, Ash and Kankuro couldn't help but feel a little proud of themselves for being the authors of such destruction. Only Temari seemed to be displeased, and that probably had something to do with the annihilation of half of the oasis. She was a bit more attuned to nature, having a natural wind affinity and all.

There was no sign of whoever their mysterious assailant had been, much to Ash's relief. He figured it made sense; their opponent had not been all that skilled from what he had demonstrated, which had been nothing more than throwing a few weapons at them, and missing even then. He had probably not expected children as young as them to be smart enough to create an explosion with the poison gas, and being caught off guard when it came to explosives usually meant you were already dead. There were very few ninja who could outrun an infernal blast even if they saw it coming, never mind if they didn't.

"I don't regret blowing him up, but it'd be nice if some part of him had survived. Who knows what village he was from."

Kankuro looked disappointed in the lack of evidence as well. "Yeah, there could have at least been an arm or something, sheesh."

Temari cast a sickened glance in the puppeteer's direction. "Kankuro, that's disgusting. Stop being a bad influence."

Unfazed by the remark, Kankuro shrugged as he folded up his puppet and placed it in a rather large pocket in his black garb. He hadn't mastered the ability to seal them within a scroll quite yet. "Well I'm just saying, Temari. We're never gonna know what he wanted like this."

Ash looked around the destroyed area, firmly convinced his family was now out of danger. "Well the only thing that makes sense is the mission. There'd be no reason to kill us unless we were in the way of an objective. So maybe he was looking for that flower too."

"Man, I'm glad we got him first. I'd be ticked if I got killed over a stupid flower. You think Baki's on his way back now? There's no way he could have missed that explosion."

Temari was about to make some sort of retort about how that flower was worth more than Kankuro was, but the sudden eruption of the dirt beneath their feet demanded more attention. An arm shot out of the ground faster than any of the kids was prepared for, catching Ash right in the jaw with a solid uppercut. He was launched backwards before anyone could react, and it occurred to him, and his teammates, that they should not have been so sure of themselves.

The remaining children leaped away from their still very much alive enemy as he brought the rest of his body up from the ground, finally revealing himself to his foes. The first and most prominent aspect of this ninja was his headband, which identified him as a Leaf shinobi. He wore the standard uniform of a Leaf Chunin. His face was obscured by a mask, except for his eyes, which were a dull gray.

Shaking away the stars in his eyes, Ash got back to his feet and eyed their foe with contempt, and not just because of the swelling bruise on his jaw. A lot of Sand shinobi hated the Leaf village, blaming them as the cause for the past decade's financial crisis. Ash did not have a personal grudge against considering his lack of Sand Village origin, but with all the constant hate directed their way by those around him, it was still easy to feel inherently hostile.

So he dodged the explosion by going underground... I should've expected that.

Temari and Kankuro had drawn their respective weapons once again, more than a little irritated with this turn of events. Temari looked especially irate, although Ash imagined that had something to do with him getting stuck in the jaw. He only hoped such protectiveness wouldn't put her in harm's way.

There were no words exchanged between the two groups: all three of Baki's pupils knew the potential danger they faced. This middle-aged Chunin had shown no qualms about trying to kill them so far, and while they were all exceptional students, Ash wasn't sure if he and his siblings could handle this situation. Their best bet was just to survive until Baki arrived... he had no doubt seen the explosion they had caused, and was on his way to them even now. At least he hoped so.

Ash threw a mix of kunai and shuriken, his aim far better than it was a few years ago, but his opponent deflected each weapon with his own, not leaving an opening for either Temari or Kankuro. Before any of them could think of another move to make, the Leaf ninja leaped into action, hurling weapons at all three kids to distract them while he closed the distance between himself and Temari, no doubt aiming to take out the dangerous long-range fighter early on.

He used basic Leaf taijutsu, his heavy kicks and swings aiming to break bones or bruise organs, but they weren't nearly as fast as a Chunin's moves should be, and Temari managed to duck, swerve, and slide out of the way of almost every attack. It wasn't until he kicked up enough sand with a low attack to blind Temari that he managed to land a solid punch in the girl's gut, knocking the wind out of her and shoving her away from him entirely.

Taking advantage of Temari's now safe proximity from the enemy, Kankuro worked his mechanisms to fire a wave of senbon from his puppet's open beak. None of them were poisoned, but as any good shinobi knew, any damage was worth inflicting. Unfortunately, all of the dozens of senbon were neatly avoided, and it occurred to Ash that their enemy was apparently more skilled than he had let on, at least when it came to defense.

There was another exchange of thrown weapons, with nearly all of them dodged or deflected, although Ash caught the edge of a shuriken on his arm at one point. Temari recovered rather quickly and found her way back into the fight, but her presence made little difference; the Leaf ninja managed to dodge everything thrown at him, whether it was a hail of senbon from Kankuro, a gust of wind from Temari, or the decently proficient taijutsu attacks Ash used.

By the time there was another lull in the battle, Ash had grown increasingly frustrated with himself. While the execution of his melee attacks was solid, he still wasn't fast enough to actually hit his opponent. Aside from that, he did not have any unique skills like Kankuro or Temari. He was providing the least amount of assistance right now, and that made him a hindrance to his siblings, which he couldn't stand.

If only I could control those flames... there's no way he could dodge that. Then again, I still have another option...

Although it would undoubtedly end this fight, Ash wasn't eager to use his mysterious ocular ability. Over the years and due to constant investigation by Baki, Ash had a slightly better idea of how it worked, at least in a general sense. It was sort of like a genjutsu, an attack that targeted the mind. Literal psychological warfare. But exactly what type of damage it dealt to a foe was still a mystery, as Ash had not used it on anyone since coming under Baki's care. It clearly caused immense mental agony, but without knowing how exactly, there was no way to know for sure if it would work in this situation. At any rate, it was too risky for Ash to hedge his bets on it.

As the battle resumed between the four combatants, Ash briefly wondered what Baki was doing, and why he had not arrived to save his students yet. Things were going south fast, with none of the ninja trainees able to hit the Leaf ninja in the first place. That in itself struck Ash as strange; offensively, this Chunin was nothing special, but when he had to evade, his skills were almost Jonin level. Not to mention that he never blocked without a weapon. When Ash had tried to use taijutsu on him, he always chose to dodge rather than block, like he was afraid to take even the slightest hit.

Another thrown shuriken cut through the skin on his thigh, snapping Ash out of his musings. The Leaf ninja was closing in again, dodging the occasional gust of wind from Temari, or the swooping puppet of Kankuro's that had resorted to harrying the enemy for lack of senbon to fire. He made a straight beeline for Ash, which seemed like a poor strategy. As far as this man knew, Ash was the least dangerous individual on the battleground at the moment. It would have been wiser to eliminate Temari first, not that Ash wasn't glad to divert attention away from his sister.

The enemy shinobi took a kunai in each hand before leaping into the air to strike at Ash, his movements a little faster than the blonde had expected. He briefly thought of using a substitution, which he had learned recently, but he had no time to make the switch with his amateurish speed. That plan wasn't going to work, and just thinking about it had wasted valuable time. Ash was stuck between deciding to block or dodge, and his indecision would have cost him, had Temari not jumped in front of the attack to protect him.

At this point, time seemed to slow to a crawl. Maybe it was the sudden adrenaline rush, a second wave of it that only occurred because his sister was in severe danger. The only thing she had in her hands to block with right now were her small fans, which were not made to exchange blows with kunai. Even if she had been properly armed, there was no way Temari would be physically strong enough to deflect an attack from a grown man. She was tough, but she was only eleven.

With all of these factors taken into account, it was obvious that Temari was going to be injured or worse, killed. And while the thought of it did spur that inherent need to protect someone, there was a second emotion in Ash's heart that overshadowed it by far: rage. The idea of this man killing someone close to him filled the blonde with so much fury that he desired nothing more than to pulverize him with his hands. More than being determined to protect his sister, he was furious at the one that sought to take her from him.

This fury brought forth a familiar feeling: a searing heat that somehow chilled Ash's fingertips even though it burned. This was the feeling that overtook him when irate or agitated, but increased a hundredfold by a far more powerful emotion.

And yet, despite the massive surge in its potency, this sensation wasn't as wild or out of reach as it usually was. Maybe it was just a figment of his imagination, but Ash felt as though he could, for the first time ever, actually bend those mysterious flames to his will.

Perhaps it was just a feeling, and maybe he was about to doom his sister to certain death by trying something he wasn't certain of. But as that chilling burn surged through his body, Ash knew instinctively that this would work. He was too damn furious for his flames to dare disobey him at this moment, he was certain of it.

Willing his usually rampant flame to manifest at the precise moment he needed to protect his sister, Ash witnessed the beauty of his power firsthand, amplified all the more by the control he had over it. His maneuver was little more than a simple punch, an ugly and basic thing, yet it launched a plume of sapphire flame straight from his fist, illuminating the night sky as it flickered with tiny streaks of emerald.

The immediate temperature around the combatants fluctuated wildly, but the oddly uncomfortable combination of heat and chill made no difference in the destructive result of the attack. With no time to dodge or substitute to avoid it, the Leaf shinobi that had infuriated Ash could do nothing but take the pillar of flame head on.

With no means of saving himself in midair, the enemy was engulfed entirely by the unnatural flames, transforming from a deadly foe to a writhing heap in a mere moment. Though there were no screams, the sight of his flailing body was gruesome in and of itself, but Ash felt nothing but satisfaction from it. This was what the aggressor deserved for daring to strike at his family.

And yet, the lack of anguished cries was odd, and that lack was explained when the ninja's body burst into smoke, dispersing Ash's multicolored embers into the air.

A shadow clone?! The whole time it was only a clone?

Putting aside any questions or comments about the fire, the three pupils looked around the now devastated oasis for their enemy, convinced that he was still out there. However, the only thing they encountered was a reserved clapping as a lone figure emerged from what little vegetation was left in the place. All eyes turned to face him, and were all equally surprised to be met with Baki's rather proud expression.

"Very, very good, all of you. An exceptional performance indeed."

All of Ash's suspicions up to that point were then confirmed: this had all been some sort of test. There was no Moonglow to find because it didn't exist. Baki left them alone here so he could simulate an enemy attack while he was away, and the 'Leaf' ninja they had fought was just an altered shadow clone, hence why it always dodged attacks rather than blocked them. That was also why its aim had been so poor at the beginning of the encounter, as it had not aimed to actually kill any of them.

Apparently, Temari had already reached the same conclusion, as she was livid in moments. "Are you out of your mind?! You could have killed one of us! What if you had screwed up or one of us did something unexpected and one of your attacks hit us on accident?!"

Used to the blatant disrespect by now, Baki made no comment on Temari's outburst, instead choosing to speculate on the battle that had just occurred. "Your misgivings aside, the three of you did very well. The move with the impromptu explosion was clever, and very nearly caught me off guard. It seems you might have a bit more talent for the ninja arts than you think, Ash. And I assume that flame you ended my clone with was no accident."

Ash inwardly reached for the feeling he had experienced moments ago, noting that it didn't seem as distant as it once had. Still, as he tried to manifest a small candle light at his fingertip, the flame only managed to fluctuate wildly between its usual colors before sputtering out pathetically.

"It was on purpose, but... obviously it's still not something I completely control."

"Perhaps so, but this is the biggest breakthrough you've ever had with your mysterious abilities. What happened?"

Ash glanced over at Temari, not wanting to mention that the true source of his control had been fury rather than protectiveness. "Well, Sis was going to get hurt, I had to do something... I guess the bad situation just made it click or something."

Baki nodded, more than content to know that Ash had gained his first true modicum of control over his unique ability, and not caring too much about how he had done it. "Well, we'll talk about the things you all could have done better, but for the most part I am very impressed. In fact, I'd say you're all ready to graduate from Academy curriculum. That's good, because this year's graduating class is going to be testing for Genin rank soon. I see no reason why you three cannot participate."

Temari and Kankuro looked extremely pleased to hear that, although the same could not be said about Ash. Now that things were settled, he was back to normal. "Am I allowed to say no?"

"No."

With one last sigh, Ash made no more objections, although that may have been due to the proud smile his sister was giving him. That girl could turn him around whenever she wanted to, really.

With a bit more grumbling on the boys' part, the group of four departed from the annihilated oasis, but not before Ash accidentally stepped on something most peculiar. He glanced down at the ground, to discover that he had landed on a stem; a stem attached to a very unique, pale blue flower that glowed with an iridescent light. It was clearly uprooted, apparently blown out of the ground during some part of the fight, and Ash could tell it was the flower they had been 'sent' to retrieve, the one that was not supposed to be anything more than an excuse for a test from Baki.

He reached down and picked up the thing, its petals in surprisingly pristine condition. He didn't need this. It wasn't actually a mission. Still, it was absolutely beautiful, and very unique. Maybe that was what spurred him to call out to his family that had gotten a bit ahead of him. "Kankuro, you aren't going to like this; I just found the flower Temari is supposed to be."