The biggest changes in life tended to happen very quickly and without much warning. One moment, you're using an ability you don't understand at all to fend off an angry merchant, and the next, you've been conscripted into shinobi service by some guy wearing loose bandages over half his face. No warning whatsoever.
Then you get whisked away to the leader of the village to be judged on some vague criteria, Cyclops takes you to the market for new threads, and you're told you get to live with two stranger kids who hate you. All of that had also happened very quickly and with very little warning.
As the young child who had been subjected to all of these sudden changes that day laid in a bed with soft sheets far too comfortable for his liking, he couldn't decide whether he was actually happy about any of it. He had no desire to become a ninja; he desired little more than food and maybe a friend or two. Not only that, but he was also going to be forced to work for people he didn't even know. That could hardly be counted as a good thing.
But on the other hand, the general quality of the urchin's life was bound to improve by leaps and bounds so long as he was under the Kazekage's roof. He had clothes that didn't have holes in them now, and shoes too. He'd gotten the chance to take a bath tonight, for the first time he could remember in ages. And he was sleeping in a bed with a roof over his head, instead of in an alley. Did all of that outweigh the cons of being a conscripted shinobi? In the books of a kid whose largest concerns in his short life had been survival, it probably should have.
Regardless of whether or not this was a good change, the current situation itself was something the street rat turned ninja trainee wasn't accustomed to in just a few hours. Last night he had been sleeping on the sandy ground of the village's alleyways, and now he was in a soft, fluffy bed. If anything, he was having far more trouble sleeping on this pile of feathers than his usual solid resting place.
Being unable to sleep left the young child with plenty of things to think about. The other kids in this place hated him, and he hadn't even burned anything yet, with the exception of that potted plant. He had just shown up, not even of his own accord, and instantly been rejected. He was kind of used to that by now, but usually other children were usually considerate enough to at least state their grievances. It was more like they usually couldn't help themselves. The other kids in this house with him hadn't really given a reason for hating him specifically, which made it even worse.
The blonde rolled onto his side and stared at an unfamiliar wall, part of an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar house, willing to let his right green eye be revealed to his surroundings since there was no one to harm with whatever mysterious ability it possessed. With no way of knowing how to control it or what it even truly did, hiding it was the best way to ensure accidents didn't happen. He probably could have used an eyepatch or something, but life as a street rat had been hard enough without having to deal with that all the time.
It was hard to sleep while thinking about everything that was going to happen from here on out. He really knew absolutely nothing about being a ninja at all. And first and foremost, that meant tomorrow was going to be far more trouble than he would have liked.
---
Sooner than anyone, even Baki, would have liked, the Sand Jonin and his would-be students found themselves out in the desert beyond the outskirts of the village. Fortunately, the four of them were out early enough to avoid the sun, so the temperature was at a somewhat comfortable level between the blistering heat of the day and the chilling cold of the night. It wouldn't last long, but Baki decided he might as well make the most of it.
Today was the first day of official training for the Kazekage's kids, as well as the urchin Baki had picked up yesterday. Oddly enough, Baki's primary focus was actually on the latter. While Temari and Kankuro hadn't been 'officially' trained in any capacity, they had been studying much of the Academy curriculum over the past few years, courtesy of the Kazekage and the fact that their effective guardian was an elite ninja.
So even though they were just barely of ages that would have been allowed for entering the Academy, the two siblings were actually beyond most of its curriculum. They knew nearly all of the basics a student would be taught at the Academy, and had even settled on what types of specializations they were interested in pursuing. While all of this still only placed them at the level of advanced Academy students, it was leaps and bounds ahead of where this nameless runt probably was. That said, Baki was still obligated to check.
"So… do you know anything at all about the shinobi arts?"
The blonde child, shorter than the other two under Baki's care, swished his long bangs to the side so he could look directly at the only adult present without his hair getting in the way. Naturally, he was very careful to keep the natural curtain shielding the right side of his face.
"I know that ninja can do a bunch of things that I can't. I shouldn't be here. I don't know anything about this kind of stuff."
Temari decided she needed to support that statement. "I agree, he's totally useless here…"
Although the kid had said the same himself, hearing the older girl's snide tone seemed to irritate him. Without any visible movement on his part, the street urchin seemingly ignited the small hand fan Temari was fiddling with, causing it to burst into alternating green and blue flames.
The oldest girl yelped as she tossed the burning object into the sand and stamped on it until the magnificent flames were extinguished. Fortunately, she was carrying two extra fans, but she shot the perpetrator of the act an ice-cold glare regardless.
Said child had his own snide little sneer to offer this time, something that didn't seem to belong on such a young child's face. "Guess I'm useful for something."
Temari took a menacing step towards the boy as Kankuro tried to hold back a snicker, admitting to himself that he actually kind of liked this kid. Fortunately, Baki decided to step in before anything got out of hand. "Since you claim to know nothing of shinobi arts… how did you do that? You started a fire without the use of any kind of jutsu, so far as I could tell."
The kid's brow furrowed as he was asked a familiar difficult question. A lot of people wondered how he did what he did, but he never had an answer for them.
"I don't know. I can't even do it on purpose. It only happens when I'm really angry or scared or something. I get this weird feeling inside of me... not a good one. It burns, but it's also cold. That feeling goes away when I burn something. I think it just burns stuff that's bothering me."
Baki cocked an eyebrow at the crispy remains of Temari's fan. He doubted the tool itself had been the source of irritation. "Have you ever lit a person on fire? Have you ever hurt anyone with this power of yours?"
The kid caught onto the reason for the question pretty quickly, as he had obviously not turned the only girl in the group of four into a matchstick even though she had been the one to irk him. "No, I've never done that. I don't really wanna hurt anyone, even if they're being a jerk… I don't know how it works, but I guess the fire can like, tell that I don't want to burn the person? If a person bothers me, usually something on them catches fire instead. Just to scare them, I guess."
Temari muttered something about a heart attack, but refrained from commenting on anything else that was said. Kankuro just mentally decided to stay on this kid's good side, lest he set fire to the avian puppet he was just beginning to build.
Baki contemplated how to best hone a skill even the wielder had no idea how to really use. What good was spontaneous combustion if you couldn't do it at will? Besides, the boy had mentioned that the energy he felt when he used this fire hurt him, so perhaps it was best to leave it be until more could be discovered. A technique that could backfire and injure the user needed to be understood before any sort of practice could begin.
"Dismaying though it is, we'll worry about your fiery powers later. That said, is it safe to assume you don't know why they are such strange colors either?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Cyclops."
"I feel that such an answer is one I'm going to be hearing very frequently with you. Tell me what you did to that man in the village yesterday. Even if you don't know what you did exactly, walk me through it."
The kid in question became noticeably more antsy as this question was posed to him. As for Temari and Kankuro, both of them were a little surprised to hear 'what you did to that man.' That was vague, but it certainly didn't sound good.
"I, uh... don't know, really. I've done it a few times to people, but what it does... I don't know. It happens when I really, really want to hurt someone. Only to people I hate. When it happens, people just start to freak out. Sometimes they yell and scream about stuff. Sometimes they just curl into a ball and cry. Sometimes they fall over and make weird movements. When it's over, my body always feels really bad. Sometimes I get sick. Sometimes my head just hurts a lot."
Though he remembered the boy's seeming exhaustion in the alley yesterday, Baki commented on this nonetheless. "You didn't say anything about feeling bad when I encountered you yesterday."
"You didn't ask."
Baki had to admit, he wasn't particularly fond of this boy's overall personality at this age. Too uppity and sharp for his tastes. Even so, his unhelpful explanation was of more concern. The way he described it, Baki couldn't quite tell what the kid's ability did to people. A psychotic break? Immense agony? All in all, it still sounded a lot like a genjutsu to him.
"You didn't tell me what you actually did to the man. Physically, I mean."
The small blonde pointed to the eye hidden behind his hair. "I looked him in the eyes with this one. That's why I hide it."
Baki narrowed his eyes as he contemplated this information. "You said this only happens when you really hate someone and want to hurt them. So why hide that eye?"
The small child shrugged. "Just in case. Because I don't really know how it works, I worry about hurting someone on accident..."
Baki inwardly admitted that maybe he was about to be a little too gung-ho to be safe, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Leaning down to the kid's level, Baki reached forward and brushed his hair aside fast enough that he couldn't resist, though the boy flinched nevertheless.
What Baki found greatly surprised him. Not because he found anything particularly noteworthy, but because he didn't. Granted, the boy's right eye was a different color than his left, being a deep forest green instead of an oceanic blue, but other than that, there was nothing to indicate that said eye was capable of anything special. Baki would have expected something akin to the Sharingan or the Byakugan. Of course, it wasn't like every dojutsu in existence had a unique eye to go with it, but he could think of more that did than ones that didn't.
This unfortunately made his job even harder. If there was a distinctive marking or pattern of some sort, it would be easier to investigate this power. If he paid a trip to the village archives now, he'd have nothing to go on but the boy's description of what it did. Not ideal, to say the least.
Baki took his hand away from the child in front of him as he rose back to his feet. The kid swiftly hid his right eye once again.
"I suppose further investigation into this will have to wait as well. No point in doing that out here in the desert, and on the time of others. That said, we may as well move onto a more general inquiry. I probably know the answer to this already, but do you know anything at all about the basic skills of a shinobi?"
The blonde actually contemplated this question for a moment. "Uh... they sneak around and stab people in the back? But like, not in a bad way."
Hearing this answer, Baki could only sigh. "Well, I suppose that's not entirely inaccurate..."
Temari crossed her arms and glared at the stranger in the group, quite clearly embittered about what he had done to her fan. She had spares, but it was the principle of the thing.
"So he doesn't know anything at all. If that's the case, why not just send him to the Academy instead of saddling him with us? It's not like he can do anything with us if he doesn't even know the most basic things."
Baki pinched the bridge of his nose, foreseeing a long and arduous road to form a team out of two bitter siblings and an estranged six-year old child. He was getting too old for this kind of thing, and he was actually still on the young side.
"Temari, despite your best efforts to rid yourself of your new teammate, he is not going anywhere. I need him to be at a satisfactory skill level by the time you and Kankuro are ready to be Genin. If I let him go through the Academy regimen, he'll be years behind the two of you. If I take it upon myself to teach him from the beginning, he'll be much closer to you two in skill level when the time comes to become a legitimate team."
The sandy blonde wanted to raise some kind of objection, anything to get rid of the unwanted eyesore in her midst, but she couldn't argue against Baki's logic or authority. There was no point in arguing anyway, because Baki was not a man to be swayed out of his decisions.
The child in question twirled his index finger around the longest lock of his stark blonde hair, pointedly ignoring the ill talk about him. Then again, he seemed quick to try and turn the conversation elsewhere.
"So, are we gonna do something or stand around and talk all day? The sun is going to be up soon, y'know."
Kankuro looked over his shoulder at the rising sun, and wondered once again why he had decided to wear black as his primary color. Dark colors absorbed a hell of a lot of sunlight.
"The kid's right. We've wasted away a good bit of the cool hour. We should start sooner than later."
Baki eyed the sun as well, inwardly cursing the daytime hours of the desert. Sweltering heat would be good for building stamina later on, but for a bunch of kids, hours of intense training in the heat would be more detrimental than anything else.
"I suppose that's a valid point. In that case, I will take him elsewhere to teach him the basics while you two practice on your own. I assume you both read the relevant sections in the books I provided for you last week?"
Being the type of ninja that never saw any reason to procrastinate, Baki had provided the two siblings with relevant reading on the ninja tools they were interested in even before he officially began training them. It was just the kind of teacher he was.
And while the required reading had been tedious and unwelcome, both Temari and Kankuro had done it: they knew better than to ignore valuable basic lessons and knowledge in favor of trying to figure things out themselves. Kankuro took it upon himself to say as much.
"Yeah, yeah, start to finish. We're not going to hurt ourselves trying out the basics with our tools."
"Glad to hear it. Begin familiarizing yourself with your tools then. Don't do anything that wasn't mentioned in the primer."
Temari huffed as she turned on her heel and stalked away from the others, looking to practice alone, since even weak wind jutsu had decent-sized areas of effect.
Kankuro had the same idea, so he turned to walk in a different direction, waving a hand over his shoulder as glanced at the pile of soot that had once been Temari's fan, blending with the sand. The image have him an idea.
"Have fun, Ashes. A lecture from Baki could take you to the grave."
The addressed child cocked an eyebrow after the would-be puppeteer. "If that's supposed to be a nickname, it should just be Ash, right?"
"Uh, sure?"
Baki placed his hand on the blonde's shoulder as he expressed his opinion on the matter. "You need a real name, not some silly gimmick given to you by Kankuro of all people."
The blond urchin leveled a frown at the older man. "Who gets to decide what is and isn't a real name?
Baki shook his head as he judged the worth of this conversation. "For a kid, you ask questions far too deep for your age. Call yourself what you want for now, I suppose. We'll discuss a name in greater detail when it's time to actually enter your identity in the books. Now, it's about time we start discussing chakra, and what it can do for you..."
'Ash' grimaced, well aware that a lecture was coming his way. Now he was kind of worried about being perceived as 'deep.' Did this mean Baki was going to feel even more inclined to drone on?
As the Jonin started saying something about physical and spiritual energy melding together, the blonde boy conscripted into shinobi service sighed.
This kind of sucked.
---
The trio of trainees, it being their first day 'officially' training or it being their first day learning anything at all about shinobi, were only to practice throughout the morning, to avoid the hottest part of the day. Throughout all of that time, Temari and Kankuro practiced the basics of their desired arts alone, as Baki and his amateur student had not returned to them at all. By the time all four of them had reunited in one spot, it was noon, and the sun had reached the pinnacle of both its height and heat.
Kankuro looked the new kid over, noting his undeniably 'mentally tortured to death by speech' expression. Knowing himself how Baki could get, he actually felt bad for him.
"Hey, Ash. Manage to survive the lecture? Or six lectures? Who knows how many there were."
The blond simply stared ahead, corpse-like. "Save me..."
Temari, on the other hand, crossed her arms as she looked curiously at Kankuro. "Did you just.. name him?"
Apparently her brother didn't find this as odd as she did. "Actually I did it earlier. He was fine with it. Why, is that weird?"
"Yes, Kankuro, it's weird. Unless you're a parent, naming other human beings is weird."
Brought out of his trance by being the topic of conversation, Ash turned his gaze on the only girl present. "You don't like it?"
Seeing the somewhat pensive expression on his face, and not entirely sure why it bothered her so much, Temari inexplicably sought to placate the boy. Not altogether untruthfully either.
"I-I guess it's kinda cute... and appropriate, obviously."
Baki muttered something about not encouraging silly nicknames, but his objection went unnoticed by the kids.
While pleased to receive Temari's praise in a certain regard, Ash didn't correctly interpret the second half of the comment, believing the girl was still irritated over the now incinerated fan from earlier.
"I'm sorry about your fan, you know... I would've put out the fire before it burned all the way, but I don't really know how to do that..."
Taken by surprise, Temari didn't know how to react at first. As the seemingly genuine apology registered in her mind, she tried her best to remain displeased with Ash's presence, but couldn't really help the slightest of smiles. It wasn't like she didn't have plenty of backup fans anyway. Those little hand-fans weren't hard to come by. It was the full-sized shinobi battle fans that Temari looked to wield in the future that were expensive.
"I uh… guess it's OK. Just learn how to put that crazy flame out, would you? You're gonna burn something important one of these days…"
Kankuro smirked as he braved his older sister's wrath. "Yeah, did you know Temari takes care of a bunch of flowers on her windowsill? Burn those, it could be an adventure."
Ash glanced between the two blood siblings as Temari bashed her younger brother over the head with her fist, saying something about spouting nonsense, although the obvious red on her face told that her personal flower garden was most likely very real.
It was an endearing sight. Sure, it was little more than an indignant young girl smacking her snickering little brother on the head, but it had the clear vibe of sibling intimacy, something Ash had never experienced before. He had always been on the outside looking in at such relationships. Just like he was now.
Neither of the two siblings noticed the sudden downcast look on Ash's face, but Baki could see the way the young child seemed to shrink in on himself as he witnessed the closeness that had always eluded him. The Jonin knew that it would be best to keep him distracted, until he could develop some sort of bond with someone around here, preferably his other two trainees. If there was one thing that Baki had learned from Gaara's case, it was that isolating a young child and denying him relationships with others led to... negative consequences.
He decided to break the one-sided tension in the group by asking about the details of the first day of training.
"So, how did things go with the two of you? Have you reaffirmed your desire to train with the tools you have chosen? It would be best to be absolutely sure of the art you wish to master at the very beginning of your training. It would be counter-productive to begin training in a certain art now only to learn that you would rather master a different one a little ways down the road."
Both siblings gave little incredulous glances at each other before directing the same look at their sensei, as if his question as to whether or not they were sure about their choice in ninja arts was ludicrous. The younger of the two was a bit more vocal about it though.
"Are you kidding? If I have to choose between waving a flimsy fan around or killing someone with a deadly war machine, the choice is obvious isn't it?"
The older sister placed her hands on her hips as she responded to Kankuro's subtle challenge. "Oh yeah, it's obvious alright. One of them doesn't require you to be a hermit that plays with dolls."
"They're not dolls, they're machines of war! And I don't have to be a hermit!"
"You already are a hermit! And you haven't even really gotten started yet!"
Baki cleared his throat to prevent the altercation from progressing any further, much to Ash's chagrin. He thought it was rather amusing.
"Anyway… I'm taking that to mean that you are both confident in the paths you have chosen. They both have very unique pros and cons. Although…"
The two siblings turned away from each other to face the veteran ninja. "What?"
"The two arts you have chosen leave a hole in the team's combat potential. The wind style Temari has chosen is best suited for long-range, while the art of puppetry that Kankuro has chosen is best suited for medium-range. So both of you will be at a disadvantage in close-quarters combat."
Kankuro seemed put off by this, realizing that he really would be in trouble if he ever came face to face with a taijutsu expert or some such, but Temari just shrugged it off.
"Well that's what Ash is here for, right? He can specialize in close quarters for the team."
Ash had been listening quietly all of this time, but he jerked his head and his eyes towards the girl who had, just a few hours ago, been itching to get rid of him.
"R-really? I mean... that means I'd be sticking around, you know..."
The older girl looked a little embarrassed to be looked at in such a hopeful manner, but she tried to play it off with another shrug.
"Well… it's not like you're going anywhere, right? You're gonna be part of this team no matter what, so you might as well fill in this gap in fighting potential Baki is talking about."
The older ninja grunted something about being called Sensei by his students, but none of the children paid it any mind. Ash was still too busy gawking at Temari, who was making an effort to avoid his stare.
"I... I can do that. I can definitely do that! You can count on me!"
The more vocal his gratitude became, the more red in the face Temari got, until she was literally inching towards the village, subtly expressing her desire to leave her awkwardness behind with a valid excuse.
"Y-yeah, sure… can we go already? It's getting hot out here!"
Although the question was asked, she didn't wait for an answer. Without waiting for anyone's reply, Temari retreated towards the village, kicking up desert sand in her effort to escape the little boy that had flustered her so easily.
The boys in the group watched her go, and Kankuro let out an exasperated sigh. "The first boy to make that girl blush and it's a six year-old kid. Nice job, Ash."
"Thanks?"
Kankuro turned his attention to Baki. "Anyway, if we're done, we can head back too, right? I wanna work on this puppet a little more."
Baki nodded sagely, perhaps trying to exude a bit more of a 'sensei' type persona. "I think we're done for the day. Well, at least you and Temari are. I'm gonna take Ash here aside to learn some chakra control exercises."
Kankuro looked to the child beside Baki with amazement. "He's that far already? Weren't you just teaching him the basics this morning?"
"He's a surprisingly quick learner. He actually understood the concept of chakra within the first few minutes of the lecture. And I mean chakra theory in itself, not just what it's used for."
Kankuro grimaced, imagining how likely Baki was to go into fine detail for a student who learned anything quickly. "So what did you spend the rest of the time teaching him?"
Ash cut in, likely trying to spare himself. "Please don't get him started again. None of it was interesting."
Baki looked down at his new student with disdain. "Those 'uninteresting' things are the fundamentals of being a skilled shinobi! You should be grateful that you are receiving such advanced teaching from a master such as myself instead of those lowly Chunin at the Academy!"
"I don't even know what a Chunin is. So how can I appreciate your 'advanced teaching?'"
The affronted Jonin glowered at the boy, and Kankuro decided it would be best to make his escape before he got roped into something nasty, scuttling off as the argument continued.
"Well, you'll appreciate it when you're far above the level of the other students your age! You'll make Genin far before any of them!"
"I never even wanted to be a ninja, so why would I care?"
"You little ingrate! I bet another lesson will fix that attitude!"
"Can this one be about giving good lectures?"
"You little-! I am a ninja of the highest caliber…"
---
The days that followed were a whirlwind of exercise and lessons for the newly christened addition to Baki's pupils. Being the street urchin he had been, Ash's body was far from healthy, and fixing that was top priority for his new teacher.
That being the case, Ash's pale skin had been sunburned quite nicely already, as he had spent many hours out in the sun getting his body in the shape it should be. Even though he'd been living on the streets before, he'd usually avoided any long amount of time in the sun when he could help it.
Thanks to all of that strenuous activity, the boy's appetite had returned as well, in full force. His famished state as a homeless runt combined with the new physical training regimen was enough for the young child to clean out the pantry in his new home with little delay. A lot of the weekly budget for the household was forcibly reallocated to restocking food stores.
Completely apart from his physical health, Ash's mental state was surprisingly sharp. He was ignorant of many things, which was not surprising considering his background, but he grasped most concepts with ease. Baki only had to spend a week to teach the child the most basic lessons of being a shinobi, something that usually took a few months with the standard Academy regimen. This startling progress was what Baki was relating to the Kazekage right now, as the child in question waited outside with Sohara once again. Hopefully he would refrain from incinerating her lunch this time.
"His progress is amazingly fast. I can only assume that he has a natural aptitude for learning, maybe even more potential for being a shinobi than I thought. I'll admit, I am impressed by him."
The red-headed leader of the Sand shuffled through some of the many papers on his desk as he contemplated what he was being told.
"Are you sure it is not merely because he is receiving direct tutelage from a skilled Jonin like you, Baki? It is no big surprise that he would advance more quickly than the Academy students, that being the case."
Naturally, Baki had already come to this conclusion, but he still couldn't attribute all of Ash's rapid learning to his advanced teaching.
"I'm sure that has something to do with it, but even so, I can't take all the credit. I can only assume he is just a quick learner. It is possible that his speed may slow to a normal rate when we get to more complicated lessons."
The Kazekage nodded. "That is a possibility. For now, let's just be glad that he is learning quickly. The faster he learns, the closer he will be to his teammates' skill level in the future. Speaking of which, how is he getting along? A team with an alienated member will be no good for anything."
Baki knew that this question was not about concern for the boy or his integration into the family unit. The Kazekage almost certainly didn't care on a personal level. He barely even inquired about his children. This was all practical.
"They got off to a rocky start, but I think those two are slowly warming up to him. However, I believe the boy is in better standing with Kankuro than with Temari; she's still bitter about Gaara. I get the feeling that it will take a bit more effort to earn her acceptance, as Kankuro never cared much for getting to know his younger sibling anyway."
This earned only another nod from the Kazekage. He never was a very expressive man, regardless of the topic at hand.
"I see. Hopefully that will work out soon. As far as this child goes, have you figured out anything about his natural abilities? Does he possess a Kekkei Genkai?"
Unfortunately, that was something Baki was still altogether unsure about. He didn't really have a straight answer for his leader. He had visited the village archives over the last few days and inquired about the powers Ash had described, but neither avenue of investigation had shed any light on the matter.
"I'm still not sure, Lord Kazekage. He himself does not even know what his power is. Even his description of how it works does not seem accurate."
"He described it?"
"According to him, he makes eye contact with his right eye, and if he utterly despises the person, they suffer some sort of seemingly mental or psychological damage. It sounds like Genjutsu to me, but until a few days ago he knew practically nothing about the shinobi arts."
"This right eye of his: is there anything special about it?"
"It's a different color than his left, but otherwise there are no special markings to indicate a dojutsu of some kind."
"I see. I will conduct my own investigations into the power being described as well. For now, there's little else to do but train him and see what we can learn..."
While it irked him to have to take the situation so slowly, Baki couldn't help but agree with the plan of action. There was so little to go on, they had little choice but to wait and see what else they could learn over time.
With little else to discuss on that front, Baki inquired about another matter.
"Lord Kazekage, it is my understanding that the scouts dispatched to locate Gaara returned earlier today. Did they find any trace of him?"
For the life of him, Baki knew it was extremely dangerous to have a wayward jinchuuriki on the loose who was likely holding a terrible grudge against the Hidden Sand Village. But he didn't really know what the point of finding the child was, considering that no one had ever managed to successfully kill him even within the village. Unless the Kazekage went himself, Baki didn't know if anyone could actually take Gaara down.
Either way, Rasa wasted no time in answering. "Nothing. His trail has long since been erased by the desert's winds."
Baki could sense an underlying disgruntlement with that statement, so he tried to alleviate it somewhat.
"A child his age has almost surely perished, alone in the desert with no supplies..."
Rasa's brow furrowed as he responded to this optimism. "Shukaku is the desert incarnate. So long as it resides within Gaara, he will not meet his demise amongst the sands."
Baki didn't really have much to say to that. Part of him wanted to ask what they were supposed to do, if they couldn't find Gaara and couldn't count on him conveniently dying of his own accord.
But what would be the point of that? If anyone was considering all of the options on that front, it was surely the Kazekage. And if Baki had some sort of role to play in dealing with the situation, then his leader would let him know.
That being the case, the half-veiled Jonin bowed low, preparing to make an exit. He did have other things to attend to, after all.
"Lord Kazekage, if you require nothing else of me..."
Rasa waved a hand dismissively.
"Go. Inform me if the situation with the boy changes."
The Sand Jonin bowed once again before turning on his heel and leaving the Kazekage's office. He pushed through the doors and immediately scanned the waiting room for any fire-related damage, wary after the last time.
Fortunately, Sohara hadn't done anything to cause Baki's young charge to burn something. The bespectacled brunette was at her desk, speaking animatedly with the blonde on the opposite side of it, seemingly appalled by something or other.
"But that's so terrible, to call you something like that! You don't want to be associated with burning stuff, right? Why not pick a nicer name, like… um… Jin?"
"No."
"Kyo?"
"No."
"Er… how about Ryu?"
"Absolutely not. Temari and Kankuro both like it, so it's fine."
Baki cleared his throat both to get the attention of the two conversationalists and make his presence known. It was actually convenient that this topic was at hand.
"Well, you had best settle on something. I told you before, a nickname is acceptable for your personal life, but you must have something respectable for official records."
Ash sighed, clearly frustrated with this ultimatum. He didn't really see what made a name respectable or not. Did it have to be traditional? Culturally appropriate? Only adults really seemed to care.
Picking up on his distaste, Sohara tried to put a bright spin on things. "Come on, you said Kankuro came up with the nickname, right? You don't really want to tell people you were named by another kid barely older than you are, do you?"
Ash's frown deepened even further. "Why would I introduce myself with a story about who named me?"
"Well, uh... I guess that would be a little weird..."
Seeing that the two of them were getting off track, Baki intervene once again. "Stay focused. You need to pick a name so Sohara can enter you into the village's records."
The small blonde shook his head in dismay. "It's not like I know a bunch of names to choose from."
Fortunately, Sohara had this part covered. Maintaining records was a major part of her job after all.
"Hang on, let me get something that might help..."
Leaning under her wooden desk for a moment, the brunette came back up with a fairly thick book with leather bindings.
"Here we are: this book is a record of all the shinobi that served our village for the last 50 years. I bet you can find a name in there."
Ash cocked an eyebrow at the book as Sohara plopped it down on her desk and opened it up.
"It's a big book, but that still seems kind of thin for fifty years..."
"Ah, well... there haven't been too many names to add in recent years, if you catch my drift..."
Naturally, the boy did not get her meaning. He was too new to the village overall to have any understanding of how far it had fallen over the past few years.
Instead, he put his hand on the page Sohara was currently on, stopping her from flipping any further. Since he couldn't see over the edge of the desk, he requested a little aid.
"Show me."
Taken aback by the bluntness, the Kazekage's secretary nevertheless turned the book around and stood it up so Ash could see. On the page was a number of names with accompanying data: ages, ranks, techniques, and stuff like that.
Ash perused the pages for a few seconds as he tried to spot anything he wouldn't mind being called by the people in charge, at least on the surface.
"Rōzeki."
For her part, Sohara was surprised that he had chosen one so swiftly. "A-are you sure? There's tons of other names you know, and this is something you'll be called your whole life..."
The short blonde stepped away from the desk, seemingly fine with the severity of Sohara's insinuation. "Only by people I don't really like."
As for Baki, he saw no issue. He was actually pleased that the predicamet had been resolved so quickly. He'd been worried about the situation becoming tedious.
"He's made his choice, Sohara. Write him down as Rōzeki, age...?"
He glanced at the boy next to him, clearly looking for an answer. He'd yet to ask this question.
Unfortunately for him, Ash's answer was not immediately forthcoming. "Uh...six? Maybe seven."
"Let's just say six."
Still a little put off by how quickly such a major decision had been made, Sohara nevertheless did as she was told, putting away the current book and beginning her search for a different one. After all, until Ash was an actual ninja, he couldn't be entered into the prior.
Now that the situation was resolved, Ash turned his attention to Baki and his meeting with the Kazekage.
"The old man have anything nice to say, Cyclops?"
Baki's eyebrow twitched as he tried to contain a scowl at the rude affront to both himself and the Kazekage. "He'd never have anything nice to say about a rude little upstart like you. Show some respect for once!"
"Why? He hasn't done anything except sit in that office and stare at papers every day. What's so respectable about that?"
"He protects the village!"
"From what, the scorpions? Nobody else is stupid enough to live in this place besides you sand people."
"You just insulted the entire village. Does your audacity know no bounds?"
"Cyclops, you and I both know I don't know what that word means."
"Ugh, evidently not..."
Sohara giggled over the exchange, perhaps a little too dense to realize that she had been insulted as well. As for Baki, he decided that it would be better for his sanity if he just ignored the boy's question and neglect mentioning anything that had been said in the meeting.
Instead, he began to usher the boy out of the room, actually opting to use the door this time. Sohara waved after them, but her only response was a half-hearted wave from Ash.
Well, it was better than she got on most days. For now, she just hoped those waves would get a little more enthusiastic in the future.
---
Unfortunately for Ash, he wasn't able to return home immediately after choosing a name for official records. Baki, being a man that believed in very little waste, figured there was still plenty of time left in the day to go on lecturing again.
From Ash's point of view, such lessons seemed to be in endless supply: chakra theory, the basics of ninjutsu, types of weapons, logic exercises, math... it seemed like Baki wanted to teach him all of the knowledge in the world.
It wasn't even that Ash didn't understand most of what was being taught: it was just tedious. What did a ninja need math for anyway?
Thankfully, such lessons did come to an end eventually, around the time the sun began sinking beneath the horizon. Figuring that even a smart kid could only handle so much knowledge in a short amount of time, Baki had seen fit to send the boy home for rest.
Naturally, the man didn't feel the need to accompany him on the trip. Apparently he trusted a six year old enough to navigate the village on his own. Granted, Ash had been doing that for some time in his brief life.
Besides, it had been long enough that he could memorize a route home.
No, the path to his new home wasn't unfamiliar to him: it was the experience of walking there.
Before, when he bore the appearance of a dirty, unkempt urchin, it was impossible to ignore the way people looked at him. Be it pity or disgust, or even just discomfort, people always looked at him with some sort of negative emotion.
It had never really bothered Ash: he hardly cared what strangers thought of him. But even so, being unnoticed by most people on the streets because he now appeared ordinary was an interesting experience. Admittedly, it was a nice sense or normalcy.
Better yet was being able to actually walk through the streets without thoughts of survival on his mind. Before, he was constantly vigilant regarding danger, sources of food, and a safe place to sleep. It was relaxing to forget about most of that, even if he did continue to check corners and his back at regular intervals. Old habits.
The evening was one of the few times when it was actually comfortable around the Hidden Sand, so Ash's walk home didn't occur with any urgency. Even so, he arrived at the place in good time, what with the lack of detours and all.
Honestly, the blonde was still surprised that this place was the Kazekage's personal residence. It was made of the same sandstone as every other house, shared the same street as plenty of other residences, and wasn't any bigger or better than any of the other houses around it.
Two uniform floors with a window for each room, and a small greenhouse on the roof. It was completely unremarkable. Then again, maybe that was the point: things that looked important tended to be targets.
With little to actually take note of on the outside of the building, the small blonde made his way towards the door, still a little unused to the idea of being able to enter a house without permission of any sort. It was weird for him, to be 'welcome' somewhere. Especially somewhere he didn't feel wholly welcome.
It wasn't that the resident children treated him badly at this point: both Temari and Kankuro had come to terms with the fact that he was going to be sticking around for the foreseeable future. And even if they still had some qualms with his presence and role in their life, it wasn't like he was someone they only had to interact with once every few days. He was a constant now: they saw him in the house, they saw him during training, and they saw him around the village as a whole.
Being testy and combative with someone you only saw occasionally was easy. Acting that was with someone you saw very frequently, and more often than not every day, was in and of itself exhausting, so the two blood siblings had already moved past that.
Of course, this wasn't to say they really treated him well either. His presence was... accepted, in regards to being inevitable and unavoidable. But they didn't embrace him either. He was mostly a shadow, being ignored by both siblings. To be fair, Ash wasn't sure if Kankuro was intentionally ignoring him: the slightly older boy spent most of his free time locked in his room. That being the case, he didn't spend that much time with Temari either. In the few times Ash had caught Kankuro outside of his room, he didn't seem particularly antagonistic. Still, he usually didn't bother talking to Ash outside of a few sentences either.
Stepping into the building, Ash saw that no one was in the living room, which was occupied by a couch and a lounge chair of sorts. On the far side, the blonde could see into the kitchen, which was likewise empty. Ash headed for that area, since he was pretty hungry after a long day of lectures. Perusing the cabinets for something he could eat, he turned his thoughts to the other sibling.
Unlike Kankuro, it was clear that Temari was actively trying to ignore his presence. She spoke to him very rarely, usually only when she had to ask him a question. Most of Ash's attempts to start a conversation with her were cut short. The older girl at least managed to be relatively polite about it, but somehow, she always had 'things' to do whenever Ash tried talking to her. She wasn't rude, but she clearly wasn't interested in fraternizing either. So basically, while the blonde's living situation had been vastly improved lately, he wasn't doing much better in the social department. It was still pretty lonely.
And of course, even though he had access to a lot more food, made evident by his search of the kitchen's stores, some things still hadn't changed: he didn't know how to cook. No one had ever taught him and he never had the chance to learn on his own. So while having access to more food, he surprisingly still ended up eating a lot of bread, because that didn't require any skill on his part. He had caught Temari cooking things a few times, but he had never worked up the courage to ask her to make something for him as well.
So he ripped a chunk of bread off a loaf and sat on the counter to eat it. Sure, there were seating options in the room right next to him, but he didn't feel like going over there. He chomped on his sparse meal for a few moments, most of his thoughts wandering to pointless places as he was distracted by eating. His peace didn't last long, however, since someone else walked into the joined rooms from the hallway that led to the bedrooms. It was Temari, her hair down since she didn't have anywhere to be.
Since he was impossible to miss, Temari of course noticed Ash's presence in the kitchen. But as usual, she didn't say anything to him even though she walked into the kitchen as well. Feeling awkward and out of place, Ash had half a mind to leave, but he couldn't muster the will to do so. Maybe she would actually speak to him if he stuck around long enough.
As Temari began rummaging through the cabinets herself, it didn't seem like she had any intention to do that, though Ash did notice her glancing at him every once in awhile. Or rather, she was looking at the bread he was eating. Ash didn't know why this was, but surprisingly, she made it known soon enough.
"We do have food other than bread, you know."
Surprised that she was actually initiating a conversation of her own accord, Ash didn't know how to respond at first. Ultimately though, he figured that he should just be honest.
"I don't really know how to make anything with all the other stuff."
Temari cocked an eyebrow at him, perhaps not realizing that most young children didn't actually have cooking skills. She had learned awhile ago since she and Kankuro were mostly left to care for themselves.
"Well, the least you could do is actually cut the bread instead of ripping chunks off like that. Shouldn't that be obvious at least?"
Glancing down at the half eaten loaf of bread he had consumed so far, the younger blonde's expression fell. "Sorry..."
Temari had intended to be cross and be done with it, but even as she tried to ignore the boy next to her and get back to finding her own dinner, she couldn't really do that. He looked so crestfallen, she felt like she'd kicked a puppy. Besides, the kid was just trying to eat in peace. Wasn't like he was trying to get on her nerves in any way.
Part of her felt that she wasn't obligated to be nice to him, but another part of her felt that she'd been unnecessarily antagonistic as of late. Truth be told, other than the incident with her fans, the newest member of their team had done his best to be unobtrusive. Considering that her ire was less about him personally and more about the situation surrounding his presence, maybe she'd been a little too harsh lately.
Didn't mean they had to be friends. But they could at least be somewhat amicable, living in the same house, right?
With a sigh, Temari kept her gaze fixed on the contents of the pantry as she made an offer. "I can make a little extra for dinner, but you get what you get. I don't want to hear any complaining about it, alright?"
Temari wasn't sure what kind of answer she was expecting. Truth be told, she didn't have a lot of experience being this nice, and it was kind of flustering. She felt kind of stupid doing it, and felt that she'd be perceived that way too. But it was clear Ash didn't feel that way about it. He looked ecstatic at the proposition, utterly shocked that it was being offered at all.
"O-of course! I'll like anything you make!"
Admittedly, Temari wasn't used to this level of enthusiasm or earnest gratitude. Kankuro was usually snide and the two of them bickered more often than anything else, so it was weird to have someone that was actually glad that she took care of them. Well, it wasn't like Kankuro wasn't appreciative, but he was a lot less vocal about it. They just had that kind of relationship right now.
"C-calm down, it's just chicken soup..."
"That's exciting though, I've never had chicken soup."
Being the target of an enthralled sapphire gaze that made her feel a little awkward, Temari ignored the implications of that statement: she didn't want to admit that it would elicit more than a little pity from her. Thinking of the homelessness this boy had recently been subjected to would only remind her of what state Gaara was probably in right now.
So instead, she grabbed the things she needed for some chicken soup and turned her back on him to find the stove, searching for some topic to distract herself from this weird dynamic she wasn't used to.
"Uh... Baki said you were getting a real name today, right? How'd that go?"
Mention of that occurrence put a mild frown on the boy's face. "It's Rōzeki. Sohara showed me a book with a bunch of names and that one was alright, I guess."
"Well yeah, it's not bad. You don't like it?"
"I still like Ash better."
Honestly curious, Temari peeked over her shoulder to glance at the boy. "Really? But Kankuro gave you that name, and it's just a nickname..."
Without missing a beat, the boy across from her leveled a gaze in her direction that made it clear neither of those things bothered him.
"But you said it was cute."
Honestly flabbergasted to hear this, Temari leveled an incredulous expression at him. "Tell me that's not the only reason you went along with it."
"Is it a bad reason? Don't people usually name stuff for reasons like that?"
Temari couldn't deny that he had a point. When people were naming things like pets or techniques, they usually picked something just because it sounded cool or cute. Even parents often named their kids things just because they liked the sound of it.
"OK, but that's just what I think. You should go by a name you like, not one I like."
Even still, her smaller blonde compatriot didn't seem too bothered. "What if I like it because you like it?"
Seeing that she wasn't going to win here, Temari sighed and turned her attention back to cooking. "Why do you care if I like it? We don't even know each other very well. And we're not close."
The boy behind her was silent for a moment as he contemplated this. But he did give an answer eventually. "I want you to like me. I've never had someone my age to call my friend. I thought maybe it could help us be close?"
Despite Ash not saying anything untoward, Temari found herself frowning at his explanation. Growing close with this boy... she still wasn't sure she wanted that. Though she had elected to be less standoffish today, he still had the dubious distinction of being 'Gaara's replacement' in her mind. She wasn't sure she could ever look at him and see anything more than that. And maybe it was childish to be bitter towards Ash for something outside of his control, but she couldn't help it. Temari had the capability to be civil, but Ash's presence still felt like a cruel affront to the family she could have had.
But these weren't things she could really out into words. At least not well enough, in her opinion. And she also didn't feel obligated to tell Ash any of this. Her misgivings about him were private.
Because of that, she didn't actually respond to the boy's statements, instead falling silent to cook dinner. Ash did not speak to her again in that time, perhaps having the social awareness to know that he shouldn't push his good fortune. Or maybe he was just feeling worried, considering that Temari had fallen silent after what he said.
Despite all this, Temari kept her promise, and provided Ash with a bowl of chicken soup when she was done making it. She didn't stick around to hear his gratitude or appraisal of her dish, awkwardly retreating back to her own bedroom with her meal in tow as soon as she could. As for Ash, though he was as bit disappointed to get the cold shoulder again, he decided to consider himself lucky today: this was definitely the nicest Temari had ever been to him, and even if it was brief, he would take the win and appreciate it for what it was.