Chapter 5 - Chapter 5: Welcome to the Service

"Alright Ash, let's try it again!"

"The number of times we do this doesn't seem to be changing the outcome, Cyclops…"

"Alright, let me reiterate. Try it again without your typical sass!"

A week after their trial by fire with Baki, the Kazekage's children were training hard for the Genin exam that the regular Academy students would be taking soon, and that they themselves would be participating in for one final test.

Baki had already told them that he had no doubt they would ace it with no problems, not only because they were exceptional students, but because it was almost impossible to fail the exam in the first place. The Hidden Sand was short on just about everything these days, and that included combat-ready ninja that could run missions to support the village economy.

That being the case, unless an Academy student was literally a hopeless case, just about everyone graduated to Genin. More Genin meant more available personnel for missions, and that equaled more money for the village.

Taking all of that into account, Ash didn't see why he and his two siblings had to prepare at all, especially in the sweltering heat of the sun. Today. Baki had taken them out into the open desert at noon, and needless to say, none of the three children were very happy about this. In fact, Kankuro was even more vocal about his unhappiness than Ash was, and that was a rare occurrence indeed.

"Man, I'm sweatin' like a fat guy's pony over here!"

Temari, some distance away from him, made a disgusted face at the rather odd comparison. "Whose fault is that for wearing a full black body suit, huh? And make sure you stay downwind of me."

"Right, because you've been sweating perfume this whole time."

As the two of them descended into petty bickering, Ash turned his attention back to his own problems, which included Baki's ceaseless heckling over his now partially tamed flames. In the week he had been practicing with them, Ash had been unable to muster an attack as powerful as the one he had used to dispatch Baki's clone in the oasis. In fact, he was struggling to muster anything that could possibly be considered an attack at all. Needless to say, this frustrated his sensei to no small extent.

"Are you even trying, Ash? The flames you're producing now can hardly be called flames at all!"

The objective of the blonde's current training was to successfully vitrify sand with his flames: to turn it into glass. That was a daunting prospect, as even skilled fire jutsu users had trouble producing fires that hot. But Baki was under the impression that Ash's unique flames were somehow more potent than the norm. Besides, even if he couldn't vitrify sand at this point, training to increase his firepower now would be beneficial later.

Still, Ash was irritable, since he was having almost no success and suffering for nothing. The only good thing about his current predicament was that he didn't feel the heat as badly as his siblings did. That chilly feeling from his core often surfaced when he was trying to manifest his flames at will, though nowhere near as prominently as a week ago. It was like all the charka in his body turned to ice. Ash honestly didn't know why it happened, but since it was a boon in the harsh glare of the sun, he didn't rightly care about the specifics.

Despite the lack of headway, Ash had actually learned a bit more about his flames in this past week. Probably more than he had ever known about them before. Though it had only been during a moment of crisis, now that he had finally grasped his flames and used them on command, Ash had an easier time of doing it in general. It was kind of like growing accustomed to a new skill or new knowledge. Not knowing how to do it was an insurmountable barrier to success, but once you managed to do it once, you knew what to look for and how to do it, and each subsequent attempt came easier than the last.

He'd also learned a few other interesting things about them: they did consume chakra, like any ordinary jutsu, but oddly enough, Ash found that he didn't have to actually mold his chakra to produce his flames. That was something that one generally had to do in order to use elemental jutsu of any sort. If you just wanted to pump chakra into your legs for a jump, raw chakra would suffice, but for an elemental attack, you had to mold your chakra specifically into a form suited for the technique. The ease with which one could do so determined their 'elemental affinity'. Temari had a natural wind affinity because, for her, molding her chakra into the right form for wind techniques came easier to her than any of the other elements.

Point being, Ash did not actually have to mold his chakra into the right form for a fire jutsu to manifest his flames. It felt more like just... expelling raw chakra from his body. Which begged a lot of questions: were his flames actually fire at all? Did they look like fire, or were actually something else entirely? That could have explained the strange colors and the fact that the 'flames' sometimes felt cold. But Ash had no way of determining any of that. And in some ways, he supposed it didn't matter. Even with the widespread usage of chakra by the ninja world, its inner workings were still a mystery in many ways. Both researchers and warriors were discovering the new limits of chakra every single day.

For now, Ash figured he should save the academics for later. It would make more sense to focus on using the damn technique before investigating its inner workings. Still pretty new to the exact feeling of commanding this technique, Ash concentrated on the chakra amassed in his core, the engine that produced chakra through the combination of physical and spiritual energy. Drawing it out towards his fingertips, he couldn't help but acknowledge the near alien sensation of both chilling touch and searing heat as it moved throughout his body. He'd felt it many times, but now that he was actually controlling it somewhat, he was more acutely aware of how strange it felt: like pushing thick sludge through his body's muscles, chilling his skin but heating his innards.

He wasn't sure if he could ever get used to it.

The blond focused the opposing temperatures at his fingertips before slicing his hand through the air to create an arc of multi colored fire. The display looked intimidating, but the flames crashed into the sandy ground with no more success than usual. The sand was still sand, and that meant the fires that had attacked them were still not hot enough.

Baki stroked his chin as he was once again met with disappointing results. For some reason, Ash's attacks were weaker than when he had first used his inherent ability at will. Clearly there was something else that had amplified his power, something that was not present in the current situation. So what had changed? Perhaps it was the belief that he had been in a life or death situation? A ninja could produce more power than usual when in dire straits, and when Baki had attacked his students, he had made sure to convince them that they were in a real combat situation.

But then again, he had assaulted Ash directly multiple times, and not once had he countered with his unnatural flames. In fact, when he had used them, he himself had been in no danger at all...

Baki cast a glance over at Temari, who was still arguing with Kankuro over something that was probably meaningless. When Ash had destroyed Baki's clone, it was Temari who had been in danger, rather than himself. In hindsight, it was obvious: Ash had managed to unleash something new in order to protect his beloved sister. Few things were more motivating than the need to protect a loved one, though this was admittedly just an assumption on Baki's part.

Baki could have easily put Temari in a dangerous situation in order to have Ash unleash his maximum potential once more. But not only would that be cruel and maybe even turn his students bitterly against him, but such a training method would serve no purpose. Of course Ash could use his flames to the max when his sister was in danger: the idea was for him to be able to do that all of the time.

That being the case, it was time to try a different approach. "Ash, let's stop for now. You and I can take a break for a few minutes."

The two older siblings apparently heard this, because they turned to Baki with indignation, Temari voicing their unified misgivings. "Hey, what about us!?"

"The two of you have spent more time bickering than training, so you can both keep going."

Temari and Kankuro grumbled something to themselves, but obeyed Baki nevertheless, who took the opportunity to lead Ash over to a sand dune that was high enough to block out some of the sun's blistering heat. The two of them would have to crouch to be completely in the shade, but that was a small price to pay in exchange for any amount of relief from that accursed ball of fire in the sky.

"Ash, let me ask you a question. Do you know exactly what you were feeling when you unleashed those flames on my clone? Do you know what you were thinking?"

The diminutive blond shrugged as nonchalantly as always, though it was notably more evasive. "I don't know, Cyclops. It happened a little too fast. I felt a lot of different things and didn't have much time to think."

"Come on, Ash: surely there was something. What was happening when you felt your powers awaken?"

Ash glanced over at his sister, who was still bickering with Kankuro. He, of course, knew what the source of his sudden surge in control and power had been, but he didn't want to admit it. And yet, of all the people he could confide in, he supposed Baki was the best choice.

"You're expecting me to say it was to protect her, right? That I rose to the challenge to save my sister. But... that wasn't it. Not really. The moment I brought my flames under control, I wasn't doing it to save Temari, I was doing it to punish the enemy. To kill him for trying to take something I cared about away from me. I did it to protect Temari, but it was selfish. That's how I felt when I did it, Baki, and I hate it."

Not at all expecting this response, Baki was unsure of how to respond at first, though he eventually managed. "There's no need to be bothered, Ash. You still saved her just the same."

"But I saved her for me, not her. Because I didn't want to lose something."

Baki peered at the sky for a moment, wondering how to handle a situation a bit out of his usual comfort zone. "I know it may seem strange coming from me, but... that selfishness is part of love. Everyone is afraid, and sometimes angered, by the thought of losing something they love. To be angry at someone trying to take something from you is only normal."

While Baki's words did console Ash somewhat, they weren't quite enough. "She deserves better than that."

"You're still a child, Ash; the selfish desire to keep things you love for your own benefit is something you will grow out of, if you strive for it. Besides, none of this means you don't truly love your siblings. Your fury at the thought of losing one of them proves just how important they are. When you're older, the thought will make you no less angry. It will just be a different kind of anger, one that burns for their sake just as much as your own. Trust me on this."

It wasn't everyday that Baki stopped all of his shouting and complaining about complaining to speak to Ash so seriously, and the blonde couldn't help but take his words to heart. After all, Baki had been his age once too. Surely he knew about growing into a different kind of person.

"I will. Still, though, without that anger, I don't really know how else to use my flames..."

"It's enough to know you're making progress. Your powers are a mystery to all of us, Ash, only time and lots of practice will reveal their full potential. For now though, I think you've all had enough for one day. Now seems like a decently good time to head home."

"Couldn't agree more, Cyclops."

---

The first priority for all three children when they returned home was to bathe. Unlike children in other places, kids in the Hidden Sand had no issue with baths because they hated the sweat and the stink as much as any adult. The desert was a hot place, so training at almost any time of the day resulted in a nasty, grimy feeling that no one wanted to keep for long. And that didn't even take all the dust and sand into account.

Once that was accomplished, the three children in question opted to sit about their living room, with Ash and Temari on the couch and Kankuro on a chair across from them. Discussing the upcoming exam was their current topic, but so far, only Temari was really taking it seriously. Kankuro was spending half of his attention fixing the damaged part of his puppet's skeleton, and Ash was completely lost in his own thoughts. The only girl in the trio was basically talking to herself.

"It'd be really nice if we knew what the exam was going to be. Some sort of mission would be easy for us, but if it was a written test, Kankuro would probably fail and hold everyone back..."

This little jab had only been made to pull Kankuro back into the conversation, and with no small amount of indignation, it did. "Hey, what are you saying!? There's no way I'd hold us back! You already know that it's almost impossible to fail the test for becoming Genin in the first place! They pass even amateurs these days, so strong pupils like us will have no problem. Even Ash could ace it and he's actively against even being a ninja!"

Kankuro and his sister turned to face Ash in order to hear his inevitable excuse on that matter, but the young boy wasn't paying any attention at all. With his head propped up by his hand, his gaze was locked on the opposite wall. He wasn't even blinking all that much.

Mildly concerned by the sight, Temari nudged the younger blonde until he finally turned his attention on her.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Are you alright? Are you feeling OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."

Kankuro cocked an eyebrow at him as he polished out another scratch on his avian puppet. "Well that was some pretty deep thought there, Ash, especially for you. What's on your mind?"

Ash returned his gaze to the wall it had been on previously, wondering how to best word his previous thoughts. "I'm... trying to figure out what I'm passionate about, I guess."

For someone like Ash, who seemed dismally dispassionate about ninety percent of everything, Temari found this line of thought rather intriguing. "What you're passionate about? I'm not complaining, but why are you so interested so suddenly? Did something happen?"

The boy shrugged, unsure of how much he wanted to elaborate. "If by something, you mean the mock battle with Baki. I've just been trying to get a better handle on my own flames; I feel like emotion is probably the key to them somehow, but... I'm not sure how exactly. I mean, it's fire, so passion or energy or something just seems fitting, right?"

Of course, Ash was aware that blinding rage had helped, but he was trying to convince himself that there was an alternative to just being angry.

As for Temari, she couldn't have possibly known what was really going through his mind. "Well I mean, there's gotta be some things... you've always really liked learning new ways to fight. And surely you're passionate about your family, right?"

Ash's body noticeably stiffened at Temari's final suggestion, wondering how she could be so direct about matters she wasn't even fully aware of. The mock battle in the oasis had resulted in many uncertain feelings and thoughts for Ash, who had since been considering a painful truth he often refused to acknowledge. A truth that brought his feelings for his siblings into jeopardy.

Not that he was going to give such an answer to his sister. "Of course I am, come on. Did you even need to ask?"

"No, I just like hearing you say it."

Ash shook his head, amused by the sweeter side of his usually tough sister. "Well, about what you said about the exam, I don't think they're going to have a written test. I don't think the village cares that much about how smart the new Genin are. If they have at least enough skill to run missions, then they'll probably graduate. So the three of us don't really have to worry at all. We'll pass."

Kankuro nodded and looked down at his puppet again. "Yeah, Ash is right. Why are we even worrying? We're practically guaranteed to pass, so we might as well not even plan at all. Let's just relax."

Ash agreed wholeheartedly with that plan, much to his older sister's displeasure. "How can you two be so lazy? No matter what the situation is, you should always plan for it!"

Her youngest brother shrugged, recalling something Baki had mentioned in a long-winded lecture once. "No plan ever survives contact with the enemy. Baki said that once, so really, why even bother having a plan?"

Temari crossed her arms and glared at the boy, not put off by his excuse. "Ash, did you know that laziness is one of the things I hate most about people, especially people who are going to be ninja?"

Ash frowned as he glanced over at his sister. "Really? So are you saying you hate me for being lazy?"

"Now who's asking ridiculous questions? I'm just saying, if you can't be motivated as an actual ninja, can't you at least be motivated for me?"

Ash looked like he had taken a physical blow at that, his defenses crumbling entirely. "I-I suppose I could..."

Kankuro shook his head as he watched the exchange. Temari was still young, but she was still a girl, and that meant she was already good at manipulating others. His poor little brother never even had a chance. In fact, the young puppeteer would even call it an unfair advantage. As the only person that could pretty much convince Ash to do anything he didn't actually want to, Temari always had reinforcements at her side in their constant squabbles and minor points of contention.

---

With a conscious effort on his part, for the sake of his sister's happiness if nothing else, Ash spent the last week before the Genin exam actually preparing for what it might entail. This meant that he even studied a lot of the boring propaganda nonsense that could be on a written exam if there actually happened to be one, much to his own distaste.

But what he was certain there would be was some sort of skill assessment, so what he really wanted to do was get his flames under control. Unfortunately, he had reached a wall of sorts in his progression, which was frustrating since the entire process seemed to be nothing but walls.

By now, he was fairly certain there was something personal, emotionally or psychologically speaking, that was holding him back from his full potential. Admittedly, Ash had no idea why this was. From a purely technical point of view, your emotional state shouldn't have had any impact on your ability to use chakra in any particular way. Outside of emotions like anger or fear driving one's adrenaline up, there should have been no psychological influence preventing Ash from doing what he wanted with his chakra.

But then, he had already acknowledged that the mechanics of his power was a mystery to him. He couldn't say with absolute certainty that there were no chakra-based techniques or abilities out there directly affected by one's emotional state. Unless he could confirm that his theory was outright wrong, there was no reason to blatantly assume emotion had nothing to do with it.

At any rate, Ash's current theory was that his emotional turmoil was preventing him from manifesting his flames properly. The good news was, he knew what this hang-up was about. The bad news was, he had no idea what he could do about it.

The way he had felt about Temari's imminent demise in the oasis had raised some very unsettling questions for him. Baki had said that the emotion was normal, but that wasn't good enough for Ash. He had always believed that love was supposed to be completely selfless, completely about the other person. And yet what he had felt in regards to Temari possibly dying was all about himself.

On one hand, Ash felt that he may have been acting dramatic. His brain told him that Baki was right, that it was only normal to be infuriated by the thought of losing someone he cared about, even if it was in a selfish light. But his heart questioned why the source of his power hadn't been for Temari's sake rather than his own. Wondering about the answer to that question had presented another very serious obstacle for Ash, in the sense that it unearthed a bitterness he'd always had, but refused to acknowledge.

In some small way, no matter how unwarranted and unfair, Ash hated his adopted family. He was angry with them, because he knew that their current love for him was a product of chance more than anything else. Had Gaara never disappeared, neither Temari nor Kankuro would have ever cared for him at all. A roll of the universal dice was the only reason they loved him now, and Ash hated to acknowledge that fact, and somewhat hated them because he knew it was the truth.

He wasn't an outright idiot; he knew that feeling was stupid and wrong and petty, but acknowledging all of those things didn't lessen the bitterness itself.

Because of this, Ash was scared to truly test the limits of his pyromancy. He couldn't help but wonder if his own anger and bitterness towards those he loved was more powerful than his actual love for them. If his training with these flames proved that to be true, he didn't know if he'd be able to live with himself.

And yet, Ash knew that the only way from here was forward. He could bury his issues, but they wouldn't disappear. And he couldn't begin to try solving the issue unless he figured out where he stood. That was why, on the last day before the exam, Ash was out in the desert's nearest oasis alone, with nothing but the occasional scorpion to disturb his efforts. Temari and Kankuro thought he was out in town doing his own thing, perhaps playing with that younger girl he'd started getting along with this past year, Matsuri.

He'd deliberately allowed them to believe that. If he'd revealed the truth of his current conflict to Temari, it was unlikely that she'd leave him to his own devices. And needless to say, her presence would only make his current struggle more difficult.

Digging his feet into the sand, Ash gathered the by now familiar feeling of fluctuating heat and cold in his body. He still had no clue why his flames were those two colors specifically, but he had deduced something about it over the past week: when he was in a better mood, the flames tended to be more green than blue. When he was in a bad mood, they tended to be more blue. The green made him warmer, while the blue was chilly. Unfortunately, the blue half of his flames had been the dominant one on display since he had begun training with them.

Oddly enough, when he managed to output one color almost entirely instead of a mixture of the two, the power seemed to be more formidable, even if it was almost completely blue. Technically speaking, Ash imagined that he could grow quite competent with his flames if he doubled down on the blue side and intentionally tried to use it that way... but even at his age, he could foresee why that could be a bad idea. Giving into negative emotions to an extent where you needed them to use your strength seemed like a recipe for disaster in the long run.

In an attempt to try and force some sort of headway, Ash did his best to focus on happy thoughts as he prepared to launch his next attack.

Aiming for a particular hill of sand in front of him, Ash punched his right hand forward, launching out the stored energy he had as he did so. The fire came out in a relative bolt, but its color was not what he wanted: it was still an uneven flux of forest green and ocean blue. It blasted his target forcefully, but the impact was completely without heat of any sort. He may as well have launched a gust of wind at the dune before him.

With a sigh, Ash berated himself for thinking it would be so easy. It wasn't like he could trick himself into not being emotionally distraught just by thinking about it. Still, now he had to wonder why his unevenly balanced flames did nothing in the heat department: or if they did, and he just wasn't picking up on it. Aiming for one of the nearby trees this time, he attacked that target as well, confident that he would fail to scorch it at all.

As Ash predicted, the plume of flame hit with an explosive burst that blasted bark off of the tree, but it didn't set it alight. At this point, it was obvious that he would not be able to make the most of his ability until he settled the emotional crisis he was having in regards to his family. Concussive force was still useful, but it was clearly not as much as the blond could be doing under ideal circumstances.

Sitting in the sand in a moment of frustration, Ash wondered how he could possibly be this unsure of himself.

He obviously loved his adopted siblings, but now that he allowed himself to truly ponder his situation, he was angry with them as well. By now, Temari was his one and only big sister, but if Gaara had never disappeared, she would have never cared about him at all. Even if she and Kankuro had met him on the streets, they would have ignored him or shunned him just like anyone else. The fact that he had a loving family through the whims of fate alone just embittered the young boy to no end. Even after all this time, Ash still felt like a replacement. If Gaara had never left, he would have never been needed, and that pain released itself in anger towards the only viable targets.

Not even sure how he could go about fixing this emotional disparity, Ash launched another futile blast at the waters of the oasis before turning on his heel and heading to a home that was currently reminding him of something he hated.

---

The rest of that day consisted of no training whatsoever. Ash could think of no way to get around his conflicting emotions, so he was not going to try. Late into the evening by now, he merely sat on the living room's couch as his sister packed everything she thought she and her brothers might need for the test tomorrow. Honestly, this all seemed like a waste of time to Ash. It was an exam to become the lowest rank of ninja there was; surely it wasn't going to be all that hard.

Still, Temari loved to be prepared, and her brother got the feeling that organizing things may have also been a stress reliever for her. That being the case, Ash never said anything about what he thought was unnecessary work on her part. And besides, he couldn't deny that it had its merits. She had been the only one to possess paper bombs during Baki's test, and those had proven very useful. Even so...

"Let's see... pills, holsters, bandages... extra kunai? Yeah, extra kunai."

Ash shook his head with a slight smile on his face, though he had to force it with what was currently on his mind. "You know, we should just make three mission ready bags to keep around so you don't have to do this every time, Sis. Don't you ever get tired of packing things?"

"Not really. I actually kind of like doing this every time. That way, I can make sure that you and Kankuro always have everything you need out there, and you're both less likely to get hurt."

Ash's smile grew slightly more genuine as his sister stuffed another obscure tool in one of her brother's bags. He still thought she was doing something unnecessary, but at least Temari was doing it because she worried about her brothers. It was moments like these that were trying to prove his stupid feelings of being a replacement wrong. "Speaking of Kankuro, where is he? I haven't seen him for most of the day."

Temari shrugged, focused on the task at hand. "He's probably in his room, tinkering with his puppet again. You know how antisocial he is. He's going to be alone for most of his life, you know?"

"Give him some credit, he's not all that bad."

"Oh c'mon, Ash. You're younger than he is and you already hang out with more girls than he does. Though I'm not so sure I like that idea..."

Ash frowned at her, having not foreseen this particular gripe on Temari's part. "Matsuri is only seven, and I'm just a kid. What idea are you so unhappy about?"

Temari cocked an eyebrow at him, perhaps thinking his question was foolish. "Hey, I'm your big sister. It's my job to worry about how many girls you hang out with. I mean, a kid as cute as you is going to have girls all over him in no time, and I have to protect you from them."

"I'd really appreciate it if you didn't."

"That's too bad. I can't just ignore my duty as a sister."

Ash rolled his eyes, though he couldn't hold back another smile. "Seems more like simple jealousy to me..."

"Oh, shut up. You should be glad I care so much."

The two siblings fell into silence as Temari continued organizing bags and Ash went on to dwell on what she had said. Yes, he should have been glad that she cared so much. But that feeling of being second to another still persisted, and it kept him from being happy about his sister's affections in this moment. Honestly, it was ridiculous, but there was no helping it. The only way to settle things in a way that would satisfy him would be to ask.

"...Temari?"

Sensing an unusual weight and hesitancy in Ash's voice, Temari completely turned towards her brother to give him her undivided attention, her expression serious. "What's wrong, Ash?"

"Nothing's wrong, I... I just need to ask you a question."

"You know you can ask me anything. Just tell me."

"Do you... do you miss your little brother?'

It was no surprise really that Temari misunderstood his question. "Well you're right in front of me, so I don't see how I could..."

"I mean your real brother, Temari. Gaara."

To be honest, Temari had expected a question similar to this at some point, but she hadn't expected it so suddenly. Just ten seconds ago they'd been joking together. "Before I answer that, we need to make something absolutely clear. Don't you dare ever imply ever again that you aren't my real brother. I won't forgive something like that, even coming from you."

Ash was taken aback, but managed to nod his understanding of his sister's words. His clearly shocked reaction stung Temari more than she would have thought possible. He was actually surprised that she had opposed his notion so vehemently.

And that was downright, absolutely unacceptable. She wouldn't let that stand, not for another minute. "Ash, make sure you remember everything I'm about to say for the rest of your life, alright? Because every word of it will always be true no matter what happens for as long as I live."

Temari's younger brother would have almost been taken aback by the gravitas from someone not much older than him, but he was too enraptured by how serious Temari was being. Whatever conviction she was about to reveal to him, it was something unshakeable.

"Alright... I do miss Gaara. I wonder about him a lot: if he's still out there, if I could have made him happy if he were still here with me and Kankuro, or how things would be if he had never left. I'll admit, I don't think about him every day like I use to... but I never forget about him, and it always hurts to know he's not here with me. I didn't get a chance to know him, but I'm still his big sister, and I still love him. That will never change."

Ash frowned, not hearing what he wanted even though he knew what he desired was selfish. "So, you wish he were still here..."

"Of course I do. But I know what you're thinking right now, and you're wrong: I wouldn't trade you for him. I don't want him back at the cost of losing you. Gaara's my little brother and I love him, but that's just as true for you. In fact, it's even more so for you, because I've lived with you and loved you for years now. You're both special to me in unique ways, and you're both my family. No matter what you think, I wouldn't trade you for anyone: not even Gaara."

Ash didn't seem fully convinced, perhaps picking out the fatal flaw in Temari's rhetoric. "B-but, you did say you wished Gaara were still here... and if he were, then I wouldn't be, so...?"

Temari tried to think of a way she could explain something even she didn't fully understand. She knew that without Gaara's disappearance, Ash never would have been a member of her family. And of course she wished Gaara were still here, but at the same time she didn't want to lose Ash, who was just as much her brother as Gaara or Kankuro. Actually, if she were honest with herself, she knew for a fact that there was one unshakeable truth to admit to both herself and Ash, though the admittance was painful in its own way.

"It's true, if Gaara had never disappeared, you never would have been a part of my family... and it's true that I wish Gaara had never left. But I'm also immensely happy that I have the chance to be your sister. I wouldn't trade the years I've had with you for anything in the whole world, even in exchange for the years I could have had with Gaara. And I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, because with the way things played out, I could definitely only have one or the other..."

Temari focused her gaze on the ceiling, taking a deep breath as she questioned the true nature of what she was about to say.

"Look, Ash... on one hand, this feels wrong for me to say. It makes me feel like a bad sister, or maybe just a bad person in general. But, it's the truth and there's no point in denying it. You're... more important to me than Gaara was. More important than he is now. I never even really got a chance to know him, and you've been my baby brother for years now. Wherever he is, I hope he can forgive me for saying this, but... if I had the chance to go back and choose what happened back then... I'd still choose for you to become part of my family. Even... even if it meant Gaara couldn't be."

Having admitted something that was, in a sense, absolutely terrible, Temari seemed to be distraught. And Ash, despite being so monumentally joyous to learn that he, the reluctantly adopted replacement, was more important to Temari than her own blood brother, also felt awful. It was his own stupidity that had forced Temari to admit something so cruel. He should have known without any doubt whatsoever how precious he was to her without having to hear it from her like this. He should have known that she would never have traded him for anything, even the potential future she could have had with the brother she had lost.

"Temari, I... I'm so sorry. I didn't... I didn't mean to force something like that out of you..."

Wiping away a few rogue tears she'd been unable to stop, the oldest daughter of the Kazekage smiled somewhat forlornly. "Don't apologize to me, Ash. That'd be the same as apologizing for ever being a part of my life. This is something I've known for a long time now... and it was worth admitting to explain how much you really mean to me. Like I said, I want you to always remember everything I just said; because no matter what, it will always be the truth."

A soft smile graced Ash's face as he searched his heart for the disarray that had been there before, only to find no trace of it whatsoever. He had been a fool, to question his family's love for him after all this time. The petty emotional failings of a child, it seemed. Well, although he couldn't pretend that he'd never do anything stupid again, Ash could at least convince himself that this was the last time he would be so foolish as to question an absolute.

He was not a replacement. He was the first choice, not the consolation prize. Maybe he had only gotten into this situation because of luck, but regardless of the reason, his family wanted him here now. The replacement had become the irreplaceable, and that was enough for him.

---

One would have expected an exam to take place early in the morning, but in the Hidden Sand, the most grueling time of the day was at noon, and that made it the perfect time to test the endurance and perseverance of aspiring ninja. This was a double-edged sword really: the desert at noon sucked, with that damned sun beating down. But on the other hand, Ash was not a morning person, and was glad to take the exam at noon rather than six or seven in the morning. Though honestly, he wouldn't have been all that bothered either way.

Ash couldn't remember a time he had felt this downright content before. The joy from his conversation with Temari the night before had readily carried over to the next day, filling him to the brim with a satisfaction he had never truly known before. Even in the years he had spent with his adopted siblings prior to now, he had never felt this content with life as a whole. Even when he was happy during those times, the bitterness had lurked in the shadows, hindering the joy he should have experienced every day.

With those asinine thoughts now purged from his mind forever, Ash had never felt so at peace with everything. He didn't even mind that today was the day he practically surrendered his existence to the Kazekage—though he was sure that distaste would come back later, when the high from Temari's admittance to him wore off a bit.

This likely temporary immunity to displeasure, irritation, or any kind of negative emotion at all even had Ash at the door to his home, armed and ready before either of his siblings. Not that he was looking forward to the life of a shionbi in and of itself, but he was blatantly ignoring everything he hated about the idea and focusing on the positives; being a ninja alongside his siblings meant he'd always be with them, would always be around to help protect them, and would get to experience all sorts of adventures with them.

Thinking of it like that, maybe the life of servitude and irrelevance wasn't as bad as he constantly told himself it would be.

Regardless of his stance on the matter, skewed as it may be due to his currently invincible good mood, both of Ash's siblings were surprised to find the blonde ready and waiting to go before they were. It was definitely a rarity when it came to anything ninja-related other than fighting.

Kankuro drew it up to Ash just wanting to get the test over with, but Temari found even that idea to be strange. Even knowing why he would be in a good mood, she didn't think it would affect his outlook on the Genin exam. He made it obvious how he felt about being a shinobi at least once a week, after all.

"It's, uh... unusual to see you this excited, Ash. Especially about something like this."

The boy hefted the pack of ninja supplies Temari had packed for him last night, trying to tone down his blatant enthusiasm. He was actually kind of embarrassed to be this giddy in general. "I-it's nothing like that, Sis. But this is gonna happen no matter what right? Might as well roll with it."

Temari smiled as she saw through the flimsy excuse, but decided against teasing her fellow blond over it. Besides, she was admittedly quite happy herself to see the effects of her words on him. She had never known that he had felt the way he did about Gaara and his place in her family. And while the admittance of choosing him over her lost blood brother still stung and likely always would, Temari was still glad she had brought what was likely a permanent satisfaction to Ash's life on this matter.

As for Kankuro, he was completely lost. He had no idea what had spurred this sudden change in demeanor from his little brother. It seemed so out of place that the possibility of a doppelganger actually seemed likely. Still, he was sharp enough to see that both of his siblings were in on whatever had sparked this shift, and the fact that they were both happy was enough to placate the budding puppeteer entirely.

"Ash, eager to become a ninja... never thought I'd see the day."

While staving off a frown entirely, Ash's mood still soured just slightly. "Don't get the wrong idea, Kankuro. I'm still not happy with the idea and I'm not looking forward to most of what it'll include. But you two are determined to be ninja, and there's no way I'm going to be left out. I can find a solution for all the downsides later."

Kankuro shifted the strap of his backpack, eyeing the younger boy curiously. "What does that even mean? The things you hate about being a ninja pretty much define being a ninja."

"My point exactly."

Not eager to get into this for numerous reasons, Temari decided now was a good time to interject. "OK, Kankuro, let's not question good fortune. Ask too many questions and he'll turn into a downer again."

"I'm not a downer, I'm a man who values freedom."

His sister scoffed at the term 'man,' but let it slide in favor of ushering her brothers out the door and towards the first real step of their career as ninja, regardless of how much they were looking forward to it individually.

---

The spot where the exam was going to take place ended up being a good ten miles from the village's natural walls. That was because, unlike the Academy graduation exams in some other villages, there was an actual test to take that required space. Even a village that was low on ninja was going to make sure to test them properly, even if they were almost guaranteed to pass regardless of their performance. It was the principle of the thing, really.

So, surrounded by nothing but scorching sand, twelve children, the Kazekage's kids included, stood in a rough circle around a female Chunin with dark red hair that drifted just over her the edge of her headband. Her bored, brown eyes made her look like she would rather be anywhere but in the middle of a desert administering a test that was, for all intents and purposes, pointless. Ash couldn't blame her for that one.

"All right, you squirts: you all know why you're here, so I'm not going to explain that. It's almost impossible to screw this test up, but I wouldn't put it past some of you to do just that. Remember that if you turn out to be a hopeless case then it's very likely that you won't graduate. Any questions so far?"

One of the Academy students with dark brown-hair and equally dark eyes jabbed a finger at Ash and his siblings. "What are those three doing here, Izumi-Sensei? They aren't even part of our class! How could they be ready to graduate at all?! That dumb looking blond kid is barely old enough to even start classes in the first place!"

Even had Ash been in a typical mood rather than his uplifted one, he still probably wouldn't have taken offense to such a plebeian insult. Still, something about it, and the person saying it, struck a distant chord of memory. Before he could extrapolate on the vague nostalgia, the proctor retorted in Ash's place.

"First of all, these three are Lord Kazekage's children, so I'd show them some respect if I were you. Secondly, they're here to take this test because they're good enough to do it, age and class participation notwithstanding. I'm willing to bet a year's salary they could throttle you with little trouble, so it might not be a good idea to tick them off. Still, if you want to pick a fight, at least have the damn courtesy to wait until the test starts."

The boy in question crossed his arms and shut his mouth, though he glared at Ash regardless. Said target of the glare couldn't shake the feeling that the guy seemed kind of familiar, but if he was, Ash didn't remember him at all.

Seeing that the fight had been settled before it had even started, Izumi went on to describe how things would take place. "Unlike what some of you may have been thinking, this test isn't going to be as simple as showing halfway decent aptitude for a basic technique. This is going to be a full-on team competition, in a game I'm sure a lot of you have played before: capture the flag."

Many of the present children shifted at the mention of the full team based competition, mostly because those from the Academy didn't have much experience in the matter. In this regard Ash and his siblings had a distinct advantage.

"Now, a lot of you are probably wondering how a game like that could possibly serve as a test for becoming a ninja. Well, if you think about it, this is more or less a simulation of an objective retrieval mission, as well as a point defense mission. And since there are four teams of three, and you must defend your own flag as well as steal the flags of the enemy, you will all be forced to deal with the Sand's very real problem of low manpower. Any of you with half a brain are probably aware that our village has a major shortage of shinobi personnel. Therefore, most of the missions you squirts run in the future will usually involve you being outnumbered or otherwise not having the proper number of shinobi for the job. So this test, with a three against nine free-for-all in which you must attack and defend, is designed to get you accustomed to performing well even with a numbers disadvantage. Questions?"

There wasn't a word from any of the students, so Izumi moved on to describing the test itself. "Each team of three will receive an object that is their flag. You may plant this flag anywhere within a five mile radius of this point, but once you plant it, it stays. That's the location you'll have to defend, so choose wisely. The objective is to acquire the flags of all opposing teams and return them to your own base, while also protecting your own. It's up to you to decide how to split up your team for both attack and defense. You may use all skills, tools, and tricks you know during the test so long as you don't kill or critically injure one of your opponents. Like I said, this village needs every shinobi it can get its hands on, so keep the injuries down to things that will heal. Finally, be aware that you can and probably will graduate even if you lose. So long as you aren't literally a downright hopeless, pointless case, where a civilian could probably beat you up, you'll likely pass. Watch out for heat exhaustion, poisonous scorpions, and try not to break your neck slipping on a sand dune or something. So, is everybody good?"

There was a collective nod from the twelve test-takers, and Izumi passed each group of three a scroll. "The object that will be your flag is sealed inside these scrolls, and will unseal itself when you open the scroll. When the scroll opens, your team will also be temporarily marked with a seal, which will allow me to know if you try to cheat by moving your own flag after deployment. The purpose of this exam is to defend a stationary objective, so that's that. Finally, you can begin attacking the other teams the moment your flag has been placed, and the test will last two hours, starting right now. Get to it!"

Scrolls in hand, three of the four teams immediately moved off to find a suitable location to plant their flags. However, Ash and his siblings stayed exactly where they were, prompting a confused glance from Izumi.

"Hey, didn't you three hear me? The test is starting, what are you standing around for?"

Ash hefted his team's scroll in his hand. "Are we not allowed to set up here? The center of the circle is an option, right?"

Izumi cocked an eyebrow at the trio. "Well, it's not against the rules or anything, but why would you want to set up right smack in the middle of the circle? If the enemy deploys all around you, you'll be surrounded."

Temari took the scroll from Ash and unrolled it, unsealing a rather large clay figure that would likely take any of the test-takers two hands to carry. Theirs was shaped like a lizard. "We know this place pretty well. There's an oasis to the east where one of the teams will probably set up because there's water and shade. There's also a sandstone formation within a mile of that oasis that another one of the teams will set up at because it's easy to defend. Finally, there's a small cave past both of those points that the last—and smartest—team will probably set up in."

Kankuro grabbed a white sheet—not a common tool for most shinobi but very useful for Sand ninja—out of his bag and placed it over the team's flag. "So while the two teams that are basically right next to each other fight it out, we can sneak in from the side and flank them, or go around and deal with the other guys while they're distracted and then come back for them."

To finish up the simple disguise, Ash began to spread sand over the sheet and the flag. It would look a little irregular, but the end product would be a sandy dune difficult to distinguish from the surroundings. "Besides, the open desert is the most difficult place to locate things, especially if they're well hidden. Even if the other teams thought to check the center of the field, they probably won't even remember where the center is since it looks just like everything else out here. Not to mention that they would never be able to tell that this dune we just created wasn't real unless they were right on top of it. We could almost leave it completely undefended like this, and not worry about its safety. Even if there's no guarantee the other teams will set up where we think they will, this is a much safer location than most of our other options."

Izumi was honestly a little impressed with the strategy being displayed here. It was all simple logic really, but inexperienced ninja often failed to employ something like that as frequently as they should. Then again, all three of these kids were younger than the average graduating age, so they obviously had to be more advanced than their Academy counterparts in one way or another.

"For your sake, I hope whoever is defending brought enough water to hold down the fort out here. But you kids seem to know what you're doing, so I'll leave you to it."

With that, Izumi flickered off of the field, leaving the Kazekage's kids alone to their test. The moment she was gone, Kankuro whipped out another white sheet for himself. "So, I'm assuming that you guys want me to stay here and defend the flag, right?"

Temari nodded, glad he didn't need to be informed of the obvious decision. "Your puppet would allow you to hide while safely engaging anyone who gets too close. If anyone is going to stay on defense, it should be you. Ash and I will try to get the flags from the other teams."

Kankuro nodded reluctantly and wrapped the white sheet he had around his body, covering as much of his black outfit as he could. "Man, I'm glad that you brought this thing, Temari. I'd hate to think about sitting in the sand for too long decked out in black."

For obvious reasons, the older girl frowned. "Well, when are you going to realize that black is literally the worst color for the desert? It absorbs a ton of heat and sticks out no matter where you are!"

The puppeteer scowled as he searched for a good spot to bury himself among the sand. "Yeah, yeah... I guess you have a point... but white is just so lame..."

"Pick the lesser of two evils and stop complaining about it."

With nothing but grumbling to offer to her in response, Temari turned away from Kankuro and towards her youngest brother, who was waiting patiently for her. "Are you ready, Ash?"

The young boy adjusted one of straps from his pack, the fabric already facilitating more sweat along his shoulders. "As ready as I'll ever be. We're going to check out the oasis first though, right?"

"Right. It'd be stupid to just assume that the enemy planted their flag there, so we should scout out the places we thought of before actually forming a strategy. Winning this will be much harder if the other teams moved around though..."

"Then we'd better get moving. I know that the oasis is at least a mile from here, and we don't have all the time in the world."

"Unfortunately. Let's go, then."

---

Because they had deployed their flag so quickly, Ash and Temari reached the oasis in question before the team that had actually set up there was even ready to defend against an assault. The three twelve year-old kids, one girl and two guys, were huddled around their flag, which was a clay statue of a scorpion, likely discussing their strategy.

Ash lay flat on his belly alongside Temari, the two of them prone in the sand as they viewed the oasis from a distance. They took extra care to keep any of their bare skin off of the hot grains beneath them.

"So, Sis, do you think we should just take them now? I know the plan was to let them fight it out with one of the other teams, but... they're wide open. We could probably knock them out and take the flag in under a minute."

Temari raised a hand to shield her teal eyes from the sun. "It does look that way, but they could be faking it. They might be trying to make themselves look vulnerable just to draw someone out."

"Do you really think they're that smart? They look completely focused on talking. They could have at least sat back to back while they talked to keep an eye out. They're just amateurs, that's all. We should just knock them out now."

His sister seemed a little put off by the eagerness for battle. "I know you've got a knack for fighting and all, but you sure are ready to go at it today."

Ash did his best to sound neutral about it, not wanting to come off as too excited. "These guys are the first people besides Baki I'll ever go up against that are along the lines of being ninja. I'm just curious is all."

"I'll take your word for it..."

The two siblings turned their attention back to the situation at hand. The oasis team still wasn't done discussing whatever they were talking about. This was either because they were unable to agree on a course of action, or because they were waiting for someone to attack them. Ash couldn't be sure either way, but he doubted it was the latter.

"Why don't I just throw some fire at them to scare them off?"

Having been present during Ash's many failures in getting his flames to be potent, Temari eyed him curiously. "I thought you were having trouble with that?"

Ash refrained from mentioning that Temari was the only reason he had managed to get his ability under control. Mostly because he hadn't tested them out since last night, so he didn't actually know if the emotional stability he had reached would actually improve their potency at all. For all he knew the reason his flames were so weak was something else entirely and they still wouldn't work.

And yet, he was completely confident at the moment. Despite his lack of concrete knowledge about how his own ability worked, he was certain that his newfound emotional stability was the key to using it properly.

"I... sorted it out this past week. I could do it."

Temari turned the idea over in her mind once or twice. What Ash was suggesting was against the original plan, but it would also take advantage of an obvious opportunity. The enemy was unaware and unprepared, and taking them and their flag by surprise would be easy. "Alright, Ash, if you think you can do it, I believe you. Just try not to, y'know, actually set anyone on fire or anything."

Feeling far more spirited than usual, Ash rose to his feet. "Alright. I'll distract them and you go steal the flag. It'll be no problem."

His sister nodded to him before sidling off to the far right, preparing herself to rush in and snatch the prize once Ash began his diversion. She was counting on him to do his part, even though Ash had been experiencing several problems with his flames over the past two weeks. Strangely, that fact didn't cause Ash to feel nervous. In fact, knowing that his sister was trusting him so readily was uplifting.

Still, even though Ash had no doubt in his ability to produce only his positively correlated green flames now, he didn't know how strong they would be. He was a fair distance from the oasis: would his attacks even reach that far? Could he try and do it spontaneously, instead of launching the flames from his own limbs? He had only ever done that on accident, and didn't know if there was some way to do it intentionally with any real potency. Well, at any rate, the best thing to do right now was stick to what he actually thought would work.

Ash gathered that feeling of warmth in his core, preparing to draw it out through his arm and hands once enough of it had been mustered. There was a palm tree that was pretty close to the three kids huddled around their flag that would probably make for a good target. The Kazekage's adopted child noted with satisfaction that the physical sensation creeping through his body was completely warm, with no trace of the chill he had often experienced during his past attempts.

Ready to see the fruits of Temari's assurance to him last night, Ash launched a condensed fireball at his target, though it didn't keep its form for long. The sphere of gorgeous green flame lost its flawless form as it traveled, until it hit the targeted tree in a random smattering of tendrils. While this was a little disappointing, Ash figured that this loss of form was because he was inexperienced with projecting this power with complete control. Besides, while the attack didn't hit with the same force it would have had it kept its shape, there was still a loud bang and a small explosion of bark and sand, which was more than enough to startle the enemy team.

Keeping up the assault, Ash launched more blasts of fire in the general direction of the enemy, though he made sure to aim far enough to the left or right to avoid actually hitting anyone. Like his first attack, each ball of flame dissipated into an indistinguishable blob before it made contact, but they caused the enemy to scatter regardless. The three members of the opposing team completely abandoned their flag as they ducked behind anything that could shield them from the purposely misguided green flames that were landing all around them in small explosions of scorched earth and wood.

None of them even thought to peek out from behind their cover to watch their flag, each too concerned with their own safety to care about the exam. This allowed Temari to move into the oasis completely unopposed. Ash made doubly sure to give his sister a wide berth as he attacked, watching with amusement as she leisurely waltzed towards the enemy flag and scooped it up in her arms. It was heavy enough to require both limbs, but Temari managed to dash back to Ash's position easily enough, and before the enemy team even dared to stick their heads out to assess the situation, the two siblings had disappeared over a sand dune, effectively hiding them from sight.

The very first thing Temari did after reaching relative concealment was to smile widely at her brother. "That was amazing, I had no idea you'd gotten so good with them already! And they were so pretty!"

Ash's more boyish side wasn't altogether pleased with his pyromancy being labeled as 'pretty', but he was able to ignore that entirely since it had brought such a pleased smile to his sister's face. Besides, the emerald tendrils of light were enrapturing, in their own way. Though he had to admit, even though he hadn't used that much, he could already feel a noticeable drain on his stamina. Well, aside from the fact that he was young and therefore had less chakra reserve than adults, maybe he shouldn't have been surprised that throwing chakra around in large waves was taxing. Hopefully, an efficiency issue like that was one that he could solve with further practice in time.

At any rate, he did have to respond to his sister. "W-well, I was kinda just flinging it at them randomly, Sis..."

"It was still impressive, give yourself some credit. Still, before you let that go to your head, we should probably get this thing back to Kankuro."

Eyeing the clay scorpion and wondering why it had to be so heavy, Ash buried his joy at successfully controlling his latent flames and returned his focus to the exam. He'd have time to congratulate himself for the success later.

"Fair enough. We still have to get two more, after all."

"Well, we don't have to."

The smaller blonde eyed his sister with a smirk. "But we're going to, aren't we?"

"Oh yeah, we're gonna crush these guys entirely. No mercy."

With a smile, Ash started to lead the way back to their only missing sibling. He almost forgot about this competitive side of Temari sometimes.

---

Returning their prize to their base camp was actually a bit challenging for Ash and Temari. Even though it had been their idea, it truly was difficult to locate one irregular-looking sand dune among an entire desert, especially when it was separated from any obvious landmarks. It wasn't until Kankuro guided them back to the site with his airborne puppet that the siblings managed to fully secure their captured flag. It was a testament to the effectiveness of their strategy, if nothing else.

The visit included a brief checkup on Kankuro, who was currently still staving off the perils of heat stroke and dehydration. With their concern for him assuaged, Ash and Temari had quickly headed for the next location they believed an enemy flag to be: a formation of large sandstone deep in the desert, jutting out from the grains like sunken ships in shallow water. An easily defensible position like that was almost guaranteed to be occupied, especially by amateurs who believed a physical fortification was better than being undiscovered at all.

By the time the two Sand siblings arrived at this familiar place, the sounds of fighting and yelling were already echoing out across the desert hills. Ash and Temari quickly moved behind a buried slab of sandstone to get their bearings on the situation. Ash commented on the sounds of battle, first. "Sounds more like a street brawl than a fight between ninja."

Temari peeked over the edge of their hiding place to witness a handful of Academy students engaged in a close-quarters scuffle. She couldn't disagree with Ash's assessment: the skirmish looked amateurish to her. She recognized only one person who seemed to use his kunai with some appreciable proficiency: that boy who'd been insulting them before the test began. He looked kind of familiar, but Temari couldn't place him.

In truth, maybe the skills being displayed were normal for kids just about to graduate. It was just Baki's high expectations and harsh teaching methods that made average skills seem subpar.

Ash peered over the edge of the stone as well. "So, can you see the flag? Is it in the open?"

Temari scanned the battleground for the objective, but couldn't see it among the struggling bodies of the enemy. "Nope. But it's got to be around here somewhere, or they wouldn't be fighting like this."

"It might be behind one of the other rocks. But someone will probably be guarding it."

"I think we can handle them together, no problem."

Ash nodded his agreement, and the two of them crept around the outskirts of the battle area to avoid being spotted. They checked behind every piece of sandstone they could find, until they found not only their goal, but a pleasant surprise along with it. As Ash and Temari rounded a rather large protrusion of red stone, they spotted not one flag, but two. Two clay statues of both a vulture and an ant. Apparently, one of the teams fighting here had lost its flag to the other, and now, with four of the combatants a little further out in the field, only one member from each of those two opposing teams was fighting over the flags themselves.

One girl with short brown hair and gray eyes was trying to defend her team's captures from a boy with longer black hair and glasses. It was rather one-sided, though, as the girl was deflecting anything that came her way with small gusts of wind. Nothing compared to the techniques Temari was already capable of, but not bad for an Academy student by any stretch.

The wind-style girl used one of her gusts to spray sand into her opponent's eyes, which his glasses were not completely capable of blocking. Stunned by the underhanded move, the boy could do nothing as his foe took advantage of his temporary blindness and planted a solid kick in his gut. The poor sod reeled backwards and landed flat in the sand, either too pained or too dispirited to get up again.

Victorious, the brown-haired girl threw a fist into the air and congratulated herself, feeling like she was on top of the world, right up until she heard the sound of more potential opponents behind her. The brunette turned to face these new foes with a cocky grin on her face, but it quickly disappeared when she realized that it was two on one, and that her enemies were probably not as weak as the boy she had just bested.

Still, she was going to try, so she blasted a modest gust of wind at the younger children across from her, only for Temari to negate the attack with wind of her own with almost no trouble at all. After this, the Academy student just raised her arms in surrender. "Crap, just take them. If it's that easy for you to stop my attacks, I might as well not even try."

Temari frowned at her opponent, a bit disappointed in her lack of will to fight, even though it made her job easier. Kunoichi were often looked down on as being weaker or less capable of fighting, so when one of them gave up so easily, it only fueled the stereotype that she obviously detested. Still, she wasn't going to argue when it was an advantage for her and her own team. Besides, the girl was right: if all she had was wind of this low caliber in her arsenal, then fighting against Temari was really just a huge waste of time.

That being the case, the girl from the opposing team didn't try to stop the Sand siblings at all when they each scooped up one of the flags that were there and began to move off.

Leaving the small skirmish behind, even Temari couldn't resist a huge smile at how easy that had all been. Two flags without any fight at all? That was almost too good to be true. All they had to do now was head back to Kankuro and their own base and hold down the fort until the end of the test, and that was if any of the other teams even managed to find out where they were.

With all of the opposing teams either distracted or otherwise engaged, Ash and Temari made it back to Kankuro and their own flag without any incident whatsoever. In fact, by the time they laid their new captures alongside the other flags and hid them under the sand once again, there was only ten minutes left in the test. At this point, it was almost guaranteed that the trio of siblings was going to win.

Kankuro obviously believed this as well, because he didn't even bother to hide himself in the sand anymore, probably because the heat was driving him nuts. To his credit, though, the puppeteer had been submerged in sand for nearly two hours, baking under the intense heat. The boy had consumed all of his own water quite readily, and both Ash and Temari gave him their spares to rehydrate him. The last thing they wanted was for Kankuro to have a stroke or something.

Having gulped all of the extra water down as well, Kankuro finally sat down in the sand, more than ready for the test to be over so he could go home and shower. "Man, I think that if we captured all of the other flags, they should just end the test right there. I'm so done with all of this."

Temari used her small hand fans to wave away some of the ambient heat as she sat across from her oldest brother. "Yeah, but I'm kind of disappointed, really. I mean, we barely had a chance to show our skills. Everyone either ran off or just gave up when they saw us. Only Ash had a chance to do anything, and even then, it was just shooting fire at some trees."

Kankuro shrugged as he hoisted his now sandy white sheet over his head to help shield him from the brutal sun. "Yeah, well, you know how the normal kids feel about us, Temari. We're already the Kazekage's kids, and on top of that, we're related to Gaara. It's no wonder they'd run."

The mention of her absent blood brother out a scowl on Temari's face. She hadn't expected the lost redhead to come up again this soon after she'd admitted her preference for her current baby brother. She was still pained by the admission, both to him and herself, and being reminded that the entire village had despised Gaara when he was still around didn't do anything to make her feel less awful about emotionally rejecting him herself.

"They all conveniently forget that they were the ones who shunned him all the time. He was probably a nice kid at some point."

Ash said nothing on the matter, having never seen Gaara at all back when he was still a loner on the streets. On top of that, even though he had once disliked talking about him or hearing his siblings do the same, he was now bothered more by the fact that Temari probably didn't want to talk about him much anymore. Not after what she had admitted the previous night.

Even at his age, Ash could identify how objectively terrible it was for Temari to say such a thing. To say that, if she could turn back time and choose what happened that night, she would still have Gaara betrayed by his own and fleeing into the desert for a life of pain and loneliness. All so she could relive the time she had experienced with the adopted brother who had come into her life soon after.

And yet, the alternative was equally awful. If she had gone the other way and said that she would have preferred for Gaara to have been able to lead a happy life with her in the village, she'd have been condemning Ash to a painful and likely brief existence as a pathetic urchin with no family whatsoever.

In that light, there was no right answer; while the subject at hand was love, either choice was still abhorrent in its own way. Questions like these proved love twisted just as much as it was pure. Was there no limit to the pain one would wish on others if it were for the sake of their own love? Maybe Baki was right about love being selfish as well.

Ash may have delved deeper into such a convoluted idea if only his thoughts weren't interrupted by the sound of soles crunching against grains of sand. The source of the disturbance was obvious.

"Someone's coming."

Thanks to his warning, both Temari and Kankuro managed to ready their weapons as three forms leaped over a small hill of sand—likely whichever team had emerged victorious from the skirmish earlier. Not surprisingly, it was that boy who seemed to have an issue with Ash in particular, as well as the girl with the modest wind-style skills, and another boy who had his face completely wrapped in cloth. Of all the Academy students, they seemed the most competent... at least in combat skills. The self-appointed leader clearly didn't have a strategic head on his shoulders, because instead of attacking, he jabbed a finger at Ash and started ranting.

"What, did you three really think you could just wait out the rest of the test like this with all four flags? You trying to make us look like idiots or something?!"

Ash leisurely got to his feet and dusted off some sand. He wasn't sure why this kid was so loudly angry all the time, but it honestly just struck the blonde as pathetic. "Trying?"

Ash's cavalier degradation didn't improve the other boy's mood. "You dirty rat! Do you have any idea who you're messing with!?"

The youngest Sand sibling narrowed his eyes as that insult tugged on a faint memory. Dirty rat... hadn't someone called him something like that before? After a moment of thought, Ash's eyes widened. This dirtbag was familiar. The day he and Temari had agreed to take a shot at being siblings, there'd been some sort of scuffle with some local brats... honestly, Ash had forgotten about it, since its importance paled in comparison to what else had happened that day. Did this older kid really remember that incident, and have a grudge about it?

It was so pathetic that Ash couldn't help but antagonize the boy right away. "Hmm... stupid face, inferiority complex, scared of girls who can beat him up... yeah, I think I remember you. Still the same insecure brat you were back then, huh?"

Temari scoffed as the same memory came back to her. "Wait, really? Is it the same moron? Are you actually brave enough to fight me this time?"

The boy gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, struggling to find some sort of worthwhile comeback. But the wind-style girl next to him put a hand on his shoulder first. "Forget it, Shinji. Let's just fight them already. We can probably take them together."

Her reassurance helped calm Shinji somewhat. "Yeah... yeah, we can take these freaks! You pampered snobs are no match for real ninja like us!"

Ash buried at least three scathing comebacks he could have made, because honestly, it wasn't worth the breath. At the very least though, he was kind of looking forward to stomping this simpleton. He definitely wasn't holding the same petty grudge this kid was, but his attitude somehow made his face very grating. It was practically begging to be punched.

"Time's up, squirts! The exam is over!"

The six children in question all raised their gazes to the sudden entrance of the proctor, Izumi as she appeared on the crest of the fake hill where all four flags were hidden. "Sorry, but that's time. Your chance to duke it out has passed. Good news is, you all passed, though for vastly different reasons..."

Shinji jabbed a finger at Ash again. He definitely hated Ash the most, for some reason. "How could they graduate?! They hardly did anything during this whole test! I didn't even see them out there in the field!"

Izumi sighed, wondering, not for the first time, if it was a good idea to pass nearly everyone every year. "That's precisely why they pass, Shinji. They acquired all three objectives effortlessly, only being spotted by one person, but then avoiding a fight besides. Accomplishing a mission without being seen and without ever putting yourself in danger is the whole purpose of a ninja. Besides, as far as tactics go, they crushed all of the other teams. Even though the majority of their plans were simple, they were effective, and employed flawlessly. The only reason you even found their base was because one of you managed to see them escape from the sandstone area. If it wasn't for that it would have taken you hours to find them."

Shinji clenched his fists in anger. "But they didn't do any fighting at all! How can you know if they're any good as ninja if they didn't even fight?!"

"Fighting is not the most important part of being a ninja, Shinji, especially here in the Hidden Sand where we like to avoid losing any of our shinobi if at all possible. What we value the most out here in the desert is tenacity, and these three displayed that more than any of the other teams. Besides, why are you complaining? You and your team still graduate. Your field skills were good enough to pass you."

Having nothing to say in return, Shinji fell silent, opting to glare at those who had bested him. Ash's assessment of an inferiority complex was clearly spot on.

Izumi continued, ignoring the strange and seemingly unwarranted tension. "Alright, I have to go find out where the other two teams are and tell them that this gig is over. You all head back to the village, and drink some water while you're at it! It's hot as hell out here..."

Temari made sure to speak up before the Chunin proctor flickered away. "Hold on, what about our headbands?"

"Honestly, I don't know about you three. But I'm guessing whoever is in charge for you will present them."

With that, the woman flickered away, and Ash turned his back on everything that had transpired here. He was eager to get home and take a nap or something, since just existing in the desert was exhausting in and of itself. For a moment, he thought that Shinji was going to say something to him, but in the end, the boy wised up and kept his mouth shut, saying nothing at all as the Sand siblings left the field victorious, if only through cunning and wit.

---

As Izumi had predicted, the three children of the Kazekage received their headbands from Baki upon returning home. Naturally, this elicited different reactions from all of the children when it transpired. Temari had been ecstatic, squeezing both Ash and Kankuro hard enough to hurt their spines. Kankuro had been a little too proud of himself for passing such an easy test, but Ash had to admit that he had probably had the hardest job out there, so he deserved a little praise.

As for Ash, he had been devoid of any real joy, having retreated to his room and his bed soon after receiving the mark. His favorable mood from the night prior had faded by the early evening, allowing him to evaluate his entrance into the shinobi life as clearly as usual as he sat on the edge of his bed.

This one small rectangle of metal, stitched to black cloth, identified him as a ninja. This identification did many things for him, and against him. It acted as his pass to the pleasures of the village, as he was now considered an adult in the eyes of the law, even though he was only nine. Not that his sister would ever allow him to drink or visit the darker streets of the village, but technically, and legally, he could.

It also put a huge target on him for any enemies of the Sand village. This headband would be the only excuse an enemy ninja needed to kill him, no matter how old he was. That was a lot to take in, especially for a child like him.

But it also gave him more respect. Even Genin, the lowest-ranking ninja around, had a lot of respect around the village. After all, in a place that was suffering low income and borderline poverty, it was hard to dislike the ones who made most of the money that went into the village coffers.

But more than anything else, Ash felt like this headband enslaved him. His life basically belonged to the Sand village now, even though he hadn't been born here. He had to obey the Kazekage's every order now. And he could never leave the village's service of his own free will, because he would be labeled a rogue ninja and hunted to the ends of the earth.

In short, he was now a slave that had no say in the course of his life, until he was discarded at the end of it when his usefulness was over.

Perhaps that was an overly negative way of viewing the situation, but for the most part it was true. He really did have little to no agency now, and the lack of independence truly embittered the young blonde. He detested the idea of being subservient to anyone, and he certainly didn't like that his life was now the quintessential property of the Kazekage.

But he had always known this was coming. It had been part of the deal for being a part of this family from the beginning. He never really had a choice in the matter, at least if he wanted to continue enjoying the Kazekage's good graces.

Acknowledging that fact only made Ash even more irritable.

Still, he supposed there were some upsides. He would at least stay close to his siblings like this, and be able to aid them in dangerous situations that could cost them their lives. Those were some very big pros to an otherwise shitty situation. If he viewed the scenario in such a light, Ash was sure that he could at least tolerate being a ninja. Eventually, at least.

For now, he was still irritated about the idea of his whole future being dictated by some old guy in long robes and a funny hat, so Ash placed his newly acquired headband onto his dresser and dug around under his bed for a certain object he hoped would take his mind off of things. Withdrawing the small orange book Sohara had bought for him as part of the deal they'd made weeks ago. At the time, the young woman had said this was one of the most popular books she could find, which prompted her to choose it for him. Still, as Ash read the title, he couldn't help but wonder if Sohara had done any investigation into this book or its contents at all. The title was a bit suspicious.

Make-out Paradise, huh? I'm torn on whether that sounds nice or terrifying, but I guess there's only one way to find out.

After cracking the book open, Ash quickly determined that Sohara had no clue what this book was about and had used some very poor criteria in selecting it for a kid Ash's age. But he wasn't complaining: it didn't take long for all thoughts of ninja and service to flee Ash's mind in favor of more interesting things.

For Sohara's sake and his own, the young blond quickly decided that Temari could never learn about this.