Much to Ash's surprise in the days after his fight with Shinji, the incident didn't come back to haunt him in any way. Pakura hadn't spoken to him about it, there had been no accusations or punishment leveled against him, and both Temari and Kankuro were completely ignorant of the occurrence. Ash had been able to continue his training with Pakura as if it had never happened at all, and he hadn't seen Shinji or any of his gang since the fight.
That didn't mean Ash hadn't spent a lot of time thinking about the incident, however. He felt no guilt over Shinji's injuries, but was disappointed in his inability to control his emotions. It may have happened to someone he hated like Shinji, but who was to say that Ash would never snap like that at someone he cared about? The prospect was terrifying.
"Dodge!"
Startled out of his musings by Pakura's voice and a command he'd come to loathe, Ash immediately ducked in a vain attempt to evade an attack he didn't see coming. Unfortunately, the incoming strike was an upward vertical kick, so Ash's maneuver did nothing to help him escape the blow, and he was once again sent careening into the shallow water of the oasis that had become his unofficial training ground with Pakura.
Though Pakura had clearly held back, Ash still felt a bruise coming on as he surfaced from the warm water, his blonde hair slicked against his face. It barely did anything to cover his scowl, even though he said nothing—he knew this situation was his own fault.
Pakura, standing across from Ash on the sandy ground, had no qualms saying that. "It's important to avoid getting so deep into thought that you ignore your outside surroundings. If that had been a fatal blow, you'd be dead for the fourth time today."
Ash grumbled to himself as he waded back onto the sand. He'd been 'killed' four times today by Pakura, who counted any attack he couldn't dodge as a lethal one. That was better than yesterday's death toll of nine, but it was only early afternoon, and Pakura still had plenty of opportunities to 'kill' him again.
Seeing that Ash wasn't going to respond, Pakura raised a question. "You've actually been remarkably inattentive lately, Ash. Something on your mind?"
Ash spat out a response. "No."
Though it was meant to deflect her inquiry, that answer and attitude were enough for Pakura to discern the problem. It was the same attitude that flared up occasionally ever since the day Ash beat up that kid in the streets. She doubted it was guilt dragging him down, however.
"You worried about something?"
"Like what?"
"Something to do with a little incident that may have happened in, I don't know, the timeframe of about a week or so? You know, if someone was going to punish you over it, that would have happened already."
The blonde boy glared at his teacher, not pleased with her astuteness. "That's not it."
"You should enlighten me. This hangup is clearly impacting your training. Besides, a teacher doesn't only focus on ninja skills, you know? You can share your personal problems. Us adults usually have some wisdom to share."
Ash glanced away from the woman for a moment. "I thought you were upset with me. I mean, you had to stop me from doing something pretty bad."
Pakura raised an eyebrow. "Hey, only an idiot writes off a kid for doing something wrong one time. We were all kids once, and I promise, there's no one in the world who didn't do something wrong as a kid. Just talk to me, Ash."
Though he didn't look entirely convinced, Ash tentatively shared his thoughts. "I... I've always known that I could get really angry with people, but... I don't know, the thing with Shinji was something else. I wasn't just mad—I really, really wanted to hurt him. Because I felt like he asked for it. And it felt... good. I liked that I was so much stronger than him, that he couldn't stop me, that I could put him in his place like that. Feeling like that over something so petty... what can I even do to stop that from happening?"
Pakura raised a finger, drawing Ash's attention. "Never tell yourself there's nothing you can do about your thoughts and feelings. Your anger is not some separate entity with control over you. It's an extension of yourself, and that means it's under your control."
"It didn't feel like that during the fight."
With a sigh, Pakura folded her arms. "Look, I'll be blunt; you might have some serious anger management issues. You severely overreacted to Shinji's actions, and to be honest, you didn't seem to think there was a problem with that reaction. I'm not gonna lie and say that it isn't a potential problem, but I honestly don't think it's as serious as you're afraid it is."
"Really? You said it yourself, I might have killed him if you hadn't shown up. That's not serious? What if I lose control like that with someone I actually care about?"
"Well, that was obviously a bit extreme... but I meant in the sense that I don't think you'll ever hurt your family or anyone else you care about. Admittedly, I've only known you for a little while, but I don't think you've got some buried psycho side that you can't control. It's obvious to anyone who knows you how much you value your family. And considering how often children get into fights in their younger years, you still have never snapped at either of your siblings in such a way, right?"
"I guess not..."
"Look, maybe you have the potential to let anger take over in some situations, but I think that's something that can be worked on, like any flaw. Personally, I think it will wear down as you mature, especially if you make an effort to do it. You're a good kid, Ash. The fact that you make mistakes doesn't change that."
Ash nodded in understanding, content to work towards greater control of his negative emotions. "Thanks. That means a lot."
Pakura smiled at him, trying to take his mind off things by returning to their training. "So, back to your failed attempt to dodge me a few minutes ago..."
"Yeah...?"
"Can you tell me why you still got hit even though you tried to dodge?"
"Because I dodged the wrong way, obviously. Your attack was vertical, and I needed to move left or right to get out of the way. Any type of vertical dodge wouldn't have worked."
"Exactly. As far as Taijutsu is concerned, all attacks form a line of some sort. Horizontal attacks, vertical attacks, diagonals; in a way, hand-to-hand combat is a lot like simple geometry. To dodge an attack, you almost always have to perform a dodge in the opposite direction the attack makes. Horizontal swings should be ducked or jumped over, while vertical ones should be sidestepped. Of course, our world is three-dimensional, so there are also depth attacks and dodges, like straight punches and jumping backward."
Aware that this was likely going to turn into one of Pakura's combat lectures, Ash moved to sit under one of the palm trees and got comfortable, staying silent so his Jonin instructor could continue.
"Being fast enough to dodge an attack is great, but if you dodge in the wrong way, you're still going to get hit. And of course, in a real fight, you don't have time to examine an incoming attack to make sure you dodge accordingly. You have to encode the proper responses into muscle memory, which is the point of my surprise attacks on you. You need to be able to dodge on reflex in the most efficient way possible. An expert in evasive maneuvers can avoid injury, flank opponents, and easily get the upper hand in almost any battle. And the first step to becoming an expert is encoding the moves into muscle memory. The second step is knowing the risks of every dodge."
"Meaning...?"
"Well, what's the danger of jumping over a horizontal swing?"
Ash only had to think about it for a moment. "You'd be open to a follow-up attack because it's almost impossible to dodge in midair without some sort of force to push you."
"Good. Your body needs something to push off of to move itself under normal circumstances. Of course, ninja have some other options; wind users especially have the ability to move around in midair. Any ninjutsu with some force behind it can usually push you around, and some skilled shinobi can even push themselves in midair with sheer chakra pulses. But both of those methods are inefficient, not to mention wastes of chakra, so the best thing to do is simply avoid jumping to dodge if you can, unless you're sure you can touch the ground again before the enemy follows up."
Ash folded his arms as he gazed at Pakura curiously. "The way you talk about fighting sounds like reading a manual, you know?"
While she didn't mean to brag, Pakura couldn't help but gloat a little. "Actually, aside from being a Jonin, I'm also a combat theorist. We study the technical details of fighting to better devise combat forms and maneuvers. Most of the stuff in Academy books was written by combat theorists, albeit for lower-level students. One day, my teaching probably will be in a manual."
"Wouldn't every teacher be a 'combat theorist' then?"
"In a way, all ninja are, but only a few actually spend time outside of battle to analyze and dissect the art of fighting. After all, where do you think most battle techniques come from? Few ninja manage to come up with new ideas in the heat of battle, since you react more than think. Most techniques are formed outside of combat. For instance, most of our village's expertise in puppet warfare was achieved by combat theorists..."
Pakura smiled as something occurred to her. "Of course, that's not to say that you can't think up new moves on the fly. I heard from Baki that the explosion your brother used against Raiga was something you came up with during a combat test. That's very impressive; the most useful skill a shinobi can have is the ability to adapt in an instant. Few people are creative enough to do it."
Glad to be praised by his teacher but unwilling to show it, Ash nodded. It seemed he was actually pretty good at being a ninja.
When no response was forthcoming from her blonde protege, Pakura tapped her finger to her chin. "Say, would you be willing to do some practice with Maki tomorrow? She could use a sparring partner."
"Sure. I don't mind."
"If she's up for it, Temari can come too. I'd like to see the extent of her wind nature prowess."
"I'm sure she'll be excited. She really looks up to you, since you're one of the strongest wind-style users in the village..."
This garnered a grin from Pakura. "Oh, really? She's not going to fawn over me, is she?"
Ash couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Temari fawning over anything. "I doubt it."
"Then it's all good. Now, in the meantime, don't you have something in particular that you're supposed to be doing?"
Ash honestly didn't know what she was talking about. "Like what?"
"Dodge!"
Ash's 'death' count quickly rose to five.
---
When he returned home later that evening, Ash was pleased to find that there was a red hawk perched on top of the doorway, a small canister strapped to its back. Since it wasn't a native desert species, he could only assume that it was a messenger bird from the Hidden Stone.
What, are they sending it directly to my house now? Guess the intel division doesn't like doing deliveries...
Holding out his arm to signal the bird, Ash waited patiently as it flitted down to him. Extracting the message took him only a few seconds, and soon the hawk was on its way home. He wasted no time in unraveling the scroll as he pushed open the door to his own house.
Without reading a single word, Ash easily recognized Kurotsuchi's sloppy handwriting, though a small section at the bottom was significantly neater. Before he could actually read the letter, Ash felt a prick in his shoulder as a small dart struck him there. It didn't hurt that much, but it nevertheless earned a confused glance out of the blonde as he looked up from the scroll. The only thing he saw in the room was Kankuro, silently sleeping on the couch with his hands folded on his chest. That was more than enough to arouse suspicion.
"Kankuro, did you just shoot me with a dart?"
The puppeteer couldn't hold back a smile. Obviously, he wasn't sleeping. "I have no idea what you're talking about, bro."
Ash pulled the tiny projectile out of his shoulder. "Right... I sure hope this wasn't poisoned or anything."
"Of course not, Ash, c'mon. If I ever need to test a new toxin, I'll do it on Baki. So, have you still not seen it yet?"
Ash assumed his brother was talking about the puppet he'd used to launch the dart at him. He was honestly surprised Kankuro had managed to build a new one so quickly. Vulture had been destroyed when they fought Raiga, and Kankuro had been hospitalized since their return, minus the past few days...
"If you're talking about some new puppet, then no, I still don't see it."
With a twitch of his finger, Kankuro's puppet, hidden in the corner of the ceiling, retracted a small umbrella of fabric that'd been covering it from Ash's view. It had blended perfectly with its surroundings. As the contraption folded into the puppet's neck, Ash identified it as a small lizard, a little less than half a foot long.
"Hiding in plain sight, huh? How did you do that?"
More than eager to share his newest acquisition, Kankuro enthusiastically dived into an explanation. "Adaptive camouflage. I was screwing around with some of the stuff in my room, trying to make a new puppet to replace Vulture, and I was experimenting with a special flower extract... well, to be honest, I spilled it on some cloth, but the stain was practically clear, so I forgot about it until I used it for the new puppet to cover its joints. But when I attached my chakra strings to it, it changed color to match the floor! Pretty sweet, huh?"
While not big on puppets himself, Ash knew this was pretty impressive. "No kidding. Talk about useful discoveries. I wonder if Sasori or Chiyo know how to do that?"
Kankuro smirked, looking completely smug. "I doubt it. The extract I used was beyond rare."
Ash cocked an eyebrow at him. "Yeah? How rare exactly? Which flower did you take from her room?"
Kankuro frowned as Ash caught him red-handed. Unfortunately, his little brother was smart enough to figure that Kankuro had not gone into the desert to find flowers, which only left the specimens Temari took care of as an option.
"Well, y'know... that special flower we went on a mission to get...?"
Ash sighed and shook his head in mock dismay. "First of all, that thing is still alive? I didn't even know flowers could last that long. Second, you know Temari will kill you if that flower dies, right?"
"Of course I know that! Look, I'm not completely stupid. She takes really good care of that thing, I made sure not to damage it. Extracting stuff from delicate objects is part of being a puppeteer, you know."
With a shrug, Ash happily noted that Temari was taking care of the flower he'd given her with such dedication. He moved towards the kitchen to find something to eat. "You're not gonna try to shoot Temari with a dart too, are you?"
Kankuro grinned evilly. "You kidding? Of course I am."
"Your funeral."
Digging a bread roll out of the pantry, Ash sat on the counter next to the fridge to read the letter from Kurotsuchi. He was eager to see her reaction to the news about his mission to the Land of Water.
Dear Squirt, are you insane?! What on earth were you thinking, attacking one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen like that?! You idiot! You dipshit! You could have died out there! According to you, you almost did die out there! Geez, I had you pegged for a sensible kid, but I guess I jumped to conclusions, huh?
Well, I didn't want to make this letter completely about me berating you for being reckless, so just be more careful in the future, would you? If it makes you feel any better, Deidara was pretty impressed and said that he liked your style. Guess you two have more in common than a haircut. I guess I'm impressed too; I mean, you took on a pretty tough opponent, and that took guts. Though I am a little jealous that you've got such a high-ranking mission under your belt before I do. Don't think you'll stay ahead for too long, though, you little runt! We'll catch up in no time! Anyway, write back soon and tell me how your brother's doing. Don't get yourself in that kind of trouble again too soon, alright?
That was the end of Kurotsuchi's sloppy penmanship, at which point Ash took note of the neater handwriting. Surprisingly, it was from Deidara. Or at least, he assumed it was. Based on the context and overall syntax, it was a pretty safe assumption.
Hey, kid. I wrote this after Kurotsuchi, so she doesn't know I said anything. We're having an argument right now and I need someone to back me up against her. What's your opinion on true art? It's an explosion, right? Real art is a burst of emotion, short-lived and brilliant. But Kurotsuchi thinks art is something that lasts long enough for people to admire in later generations. That's crazy, right? Do me a solid and back me up on this one, yeah?
Ash thought it was funny that Deidara had neater handwriting than Kurotsuchi. He also found it amusing that the older blonde would try to get his support on such an argument, but maybe he was outnumbered or something? Maybe Akatsuchi was siding with Kurotsuchi. Either way, he didn't mind giving his opinion in the next letter he wrote back.
Before he could get to that, though, Ash heard the door to the house being opened again, followed by his sister's voice. "Hey guys, I'm ho- ow! What the-?!"
Ash could hear Kankuro snickering to himself, but he was quickly cut off by a pained grunt. Rolling his eyes, Ash could only hope Temari hadn't made his neck any worse.
---
"Nice to meet you. My name is Maki: I hope we can get stronger together."
Ash and Temari stood across from Pakura and her first student, Maki, on top of the plateau formed by the village's defensive cliff walls. Usually, they would be at the oasis, but it was surprisingly cloudy that day, providing them with enough shade to train comfortably elsewhere.
Since it was his first time seeing her, Ash took a few moments to examine the girl he would be sparring with. Maki was quite a bit older than him, and she was clearly a few years older than Temari as well. If he had to guess, Ash would have pegged the brunette at thirteen or fourteen. The most prominent aspect of the girl's appearance was the markings on her cheeks that identified her as a member of a particular clan. The purple markings were reminiscent of upside-down L's, with more pointed columns. The color coupled nicely with her pale, slate blue eyes, and brunette bangs peeked out from under a head wrap.
Her apparel wasn't extremely eye-catching. Maki wore a yellow blouse with a red shirt underneath that exposed her navel, a black skirt, thigh-length fishnet stockings, and sandals, as well as a head wrapping not all that dissimilar from the kind Baki usually wore. She seemed very pleased to have other Genin to train with, even if they were a bit younger than her. Pakura had never taken on any other students besides her, so she rarely got a chance to train with anyone besides her Sensei.
Ash bowed back to the girl. "No problem, Maki. Glad to be here."
There was no need to introduce himself, since everyone in the Hidden Sand knew who he was. The same went for Temari, but she didn't exchange any pleasantries at all, mostly because she was a little wary of Ash training one-on-one with a girl closer to his age. Considering that he was only nine, Ash was positive that it was simply paranoia on her part. He was already thinking about girls pretty often, but it wasn't like he was actually going to try to hit on a teenager.
When the kids were done introducing themselves, Pakura folded her arms. "Alright, you guys, here's how this is going to go down. Maki and Ash are going to spar—taijutsu only for now—to try tp get a feel for adapting to enemy styles. I've noticed that both of you have very different methods, so this should be a good exercise for your adaptability. As for you, Temari, I want you to show me just what you're capable of with those fans of yours. After we determine what you do and don't know, I can decide what to teach you today. Sound good?"
The trio of Genin nodded, and Temari followed Pakura away from the other two to avoid catching them in any type of wind-based attack. With them out of the way, Maki and Ash turned to face each other.
"Alright, please take it a little easy on me, Ash. Taijutsu isn't my strong suit..."
Ash cocked an eyebrow at the girl. Strong suit or not, she was taller than him and probably more experienced. She had an edge in close combat, without a doubt. "I'm sure we'll be evenly matched..."
Maki's smile was practically angelic. "I hope so. I don't want to hold you back in your training."
Oh no, a meek one. Those are the types that can always kick your butt if you underestimate them...
"Well, don't worry about that until we start. C'mon, let's go."
With that out of the way, Ash waited for Maki to take a combat stance before he moved towards her at a slower speed than his max. Not that he didn't think she was capable of handling more, but sparring with a new partner required feeling them out first so you knew how much strength would be safe to use against them. It wasn't a good idea to go all out before you knew how good your training partner was—that just sent people to the hospital.
Ash threw an obvious right hook at the older girl, who easily ducked under it. He followed that up with a low-to-high kick, which was also dodged effortlessly. Seeing that Maki was having no trouble with such easy moves, Ash made each consecutive attack a little faster and less obvious, but even so, Maki managed to avoid all of them, from surprise sweeps to kick-to-punch feints. No matter how he tried to surprise her, Ash couldn't land a blow on the teen, though he was still not trying his hardest.
"You said taijutsu wasn't your best skill, but you're pretty fast, Maki."
"With Pakura as my teacher, are you really surprised? The first six months of taijutsu practice were literally nothing but learning to dodge."
Ash froze, his face horrified as he stopped mid-punch. "Six months?! This nightmare is gonna go on for six months?!"
Giggling, Maki threw a leg at Ash now that he had ceased his assault. Even reeling as he was, Ash still managed to crouch under it. "Don't worry, Ash; Pakura said you were a really quick learner. I bet you'll have it down in three."
"That really doesn't make me feel better."
At this point, the two of them began exchanging blows instead of one of them just evading, but neither managed to land a hit. Maki's height advantage made it difficult for Ash to throw high attacks at her, while on the other hand, horizontal punches were difficult for Maki to use against someone who was nearly a foot shorter than her. She couldn't throw a proper hook against him. Ash's height made him susceptible to kicks, but thanks to Pakura's rather painful regimen so far, he managed to avoid even those.
Several meters away from the sparring duo, Pakura watched her students with an analytical eye. They were both doing a stellar job of dodging, but they weren't actually making any progress. The whole point of this exercise was for them to adapt to the enemy's style. Thanks to Pakura, the two of them were both fighting in the same way, trying to evade and counter. They were essentially running around in circles, but she wasn't going to say anything to them. They had to learn to fight on the fly without her direction. Though in all honesty, Pakura had full confidence that they would get the idea without her help.
Besides, Temari was her focus today. The oldest daughter of the Kazekage had a lot of potential as a wind-release user. Anyone with an eye for future shinobi could tell that the girl would be capable of top-class wind jutsu. That made Temari's training all the more important. She could have all the potential in the world, but if it wasn't properly guided, it could amount to nothing. That left Pakura with one very important question.
"Temari, do you not have a battle fan yet? The hand fans you're using won't be able to handle any wind jutsu above C-rank."
With her attention fully on her brother's sparring match, Temari was a little startled by the Jonin's sudden question. "Ah, well, Baki said I should hold off on a battle fan until I've completely surpassed the hand fans... battle fans are pretty tough to handle for someone inexperienced..."
Pakura folded her arms, not buying into that line. "But until you get one, you'll always be inexperienced, right?"
Temari nodded slowly, unsure of what angle Pakura wanted her to entertain. "I suppose. But I'm not sure what model I should get, though..."
"Well, what model were you thinking of? Are you leaning towards one in particular?"
Temari averted her eyes, looking a little uncomfortable talking about this because she knew what she was about to say was unusual. "Well... I was thinking about a Kuwagata fan, honestly..."
Pakura's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. The Hidden Sand's battle fans came in many models, each designed to cater to different strengths, like agility, raw size, or sturdiness. Incidentally, the Kuwagata model was the heaviest battle fan, often weighing roughly twelve pounds. Unlike most fan models, they were actually designed to block attacks. A folded Kuwagata fan could take nearly any mortal blow. But being so heavy meant they were rarely used, especially by kunoichi. You almost had to boost yourself with chakra just to carry and use the thing over long periods without exhausting yourself.
"You do know that the Kuwagata model is the heaviest of them all, don't you?"
Temari looked offended that she would even ask. "Of course I know that. I've done a lot of research on every model. I've put a lot of thought into this. I know it's heavy, that's why I'm a little hesitant to get one..."
"Well, I won't say it's wrong, but why do you want one? Surely it has something the others don't that you want?"
The sandy blonde glanced back at her brother, who was still having trouble against Maki. "I want a fan that can take a hit. If I ever need to block something... I need a fan that can handle it."
Pakura followed her gaze to Ash. "Temari, Ash has to be able to take care of himself. When you guys are on dangerous missions, he can't rely on you to block everything for him. A shinobi has to be self-reliant, and I'm certain he won't need you to protect him in due time."
"I know that, I'm just saying 'if' he needs me to. No matter how good he becomes, no one is ready for every attack."
"That may be true, but you can't be a crutch-"
Temari glared at Pakura, though her words stayed polite and respectful. "Do you have any siblings, Sensei?"
With a sigh, Pakura shook her head. "Alright, I know where you're going with this. I don't have any siblings, and no, I don't know what that need to protect them feels like. Especially when you know they'll be in life-or-death situations nearly every day... but you know that using a Kuwagata won't be easy. There's a lot of muscle involved, and at your age, that fan is a little taller than you are. You'll have to work much harder than if you chose any other model. Never mind the cardio you'll have to work on to carry that thing around everywhere. You know that, right?"
As she had said herself, Temari knew all of this. She knew everything there was to know about the fan models available. "I know. I'm willing to work as hard as it takes. At any cost, I'm going to be the shield for my brothers next time. I'll be able to block anything that comes their way."
Pakura could practically see the memory of the mission to the Land of Water replaying in Temari's mind. Did she hold herself accountable for the injuries her brothers had taken? Knowing her unshakable love for her family, it was very likely. And because of that, Temari was willing to master the most difficult weapon in the Hidden Sand arsenal, despite the grueling suffering wielding such a weapon would entail. Pakura could appreciate that.
"Tell you what, Temari—if I could get you a fan just as tough as the Kuwagata, but only half the weight, would you train just as hard?"
Surprisingly, Temari's first response was one of skepticism. Pakura's second question went over her head entirely. "Hold on, there is no model like that! I've checked every single weapons store in the village, and looked through every codex in the village library. No fan model is as tough as the Kuwagata without suffering from the same weight that it does."
Grinning, Pakura leaned down to whisper to the girl. "Well, maybe the reason you've never heard of it before is that it's top secret~? You don't think the ANBU uses the same run-of-the-mill fans that everyone else does, right?"
The idea of a super-secret model only the elite ANBU used elicited an enraptured gaze from the young wind enthusiast. "B-but, how would you get one of these for me?! You're not in the ANBU, and why would they let a Genin like me have one anyway?"
"C'mon, you don't think I'm a kunoichi without connections, do you? I got permission to make top-secret requisitions years ago. So if you promise you'll work just as hard as you would have with a Kuwagata model, then I'll get you a top-of-the-line Tatsumaki. Trust me, you won't find anything better."
Despite her serious nature, Temari looked like a little girl during a holiday. "A Tatsumaki, huh... oh, that's so cool! I can't believe I get to use a weapon made for the ANBU!"
Pakura put her hands on her hips. "Now hold on, I said you had to promise me..."
Temari curtailed her excitement. "I'd never slack off when it comes to this. I told you already, my goal is to shield Ash and Kankuro when they need it... the fan I use has nothing to do with it. The effort I'll put in is the same no matter what."
"Alright, I don't doubt you for a minute. But I can't just circumvent Baki, so... if you want that Tatsumaki, you've gotta unleash a jutsu that tears those little hand fans apart! Er... unless they have some sentimental value for you, of course."
Without a word, Temari drew both of her hand fans and channeled as much of her chakra into them as she could. Swinging out into the open air above the village, she was immediately knocked backward by an unfocused blast of wind.
Based on the flow of Temari's chakra, Pakura assumed the girl had been trying to use a wind blade technique, but clearly, the amount of chakra used had been too much for her small hand fans to channel properly. Glancing back at Temari to confirm this, Pakura was met with a very cheeky smile and Temari holding up two completely shredded fans.
"Well... guess I better get my hands on a Tatsumaki, huh?"
Having stopped their fight when Temari had unleashed her jutsu, Ash called out to his sister. "Whoa, Sis, that was amazing! I can't imagine what that would have done to an actual target..."
Temari beamed at Ash's praise, while Pakura looked back at the blonde boy with a smirk on her face, though it was for a different reason entirely.
The jonin watched as Maki lightly stepped up behind Ash, leaning down to whisper in his ear.
"Dodge."
"Oh no-!"
Halfway through his turn to face his opponent, Ash was swept off his feet by a low kick, landing him on the ground with a solid thud. Soon enough, all of the girls on the plateau were standing over him, each with an amused look on their faces.
While initially irritated, Ash quickly managed to grace his company with a chuckle and a laugh. "Guess I kinda deserved that one..."
Temari nodded, an equally carefree smile on her face. "Yeah, you did. Don't worry, we won't tell anyone about it."
Maki followed up with an apology for her ruthlessness. "Sorry to take advantage of your distraction, but I couldn't resist..."
Ash noted that Pakura looked quite proud of her student. "Gee, I wonder where that habit could have come from...?"
---
Over the next few days, Ash's training routine was unfortunately interrupted by the occasional D-rank mission. Despite his success in what had officially been labeled an A-rank in the Land of Water, he was still just a Genin. That being said, today he was tasked with repairing windows that had been damaged in a severe sandstorm a few days ago. He was not happy about this, but since he was making a conscious effort to be a more positive person, Ash told himself that this wasn't all that bad: the D-ranks he performed around the village were turning him into quite the handyman. Ninja or not, how many kids his age knew how to fix windows?
Still, lugging around several panes of glass was tiring. It would have been nice to have them all sealed within a scroll, but sealing wasn't exactly a prominent art in Ash's own repertoire. In this village, it was mostly puppeteers who used such skills.
Spotting a cracked window on the second floor of a residential home, Ash calmly walked up the wall to reach it. Baki had made sure his students' chakra control was at that level long before they took their Genin exam.
Technically, Ash was supposed to inform the owner of the home that he'd be replacing their window, but after looking into the second-story room to see if it was empty, the young Genin decided he would just do it without their knowledge. Thankfully, his abilities made the job pretty easy.
Concentrating his green flames into a small, focused point at his fingertip, Ash carefully cut the cracked window out of its socket, dropping the pane into the largest pile of sand he could spot below him. He had to pull out the pieces that were slotted into the wall by hand, but once that was done, all that was left was to cut a sheet of glass into the proper shape and size. With his flames, that proved easy enough as well, and soon enough Ash was hopping down from the wall. He reached down to place the cracked window pane in the pack he was carrying so it could be recycled later. The Hidden Sand could not afford to waste any resource.
Ash turned to head down the road again in search of other damaged windows, but he was stopped when the voice of an older woman he didn't recognize called out to him.
"Excuse me! Sir?"
While she could have been talking to anyone, and it was a bit odd for anyone to call a kid his age 'sir', Ash turned to face the speaker just to double-check. A middle-aged civilian woman was coming towards him.
"Do you need something?"
The brunette leaned down a little to talk to him. "I'm sorry if this seems like a silly question, but are you one of the Genin on a mission in the village today?"
Ash gave a lighthearted, sarcastic salute. "Village volunteer labor force, at your service. Can I help you?"
Smiling, the woman quickly reached into a bag she had at her side to withdraw a small canteen. She offered it to him without delay. "Well, in that case, would you please accept this? It's very hot out here, and you should stay hydrated. It's the least I can do to thank you for working so hard."
Knowing that it was rude to reject someone's politeness, Ash accepted the small gift without dissent. Besides, only a lunatic turned down free water in the desert. "Thank you. I appreciate it."
With a bow, the woman then went on her way, leaving Ash to glance down at the canteen in his hands. While he seriously doubted that some civilian would have poisoned the water, Ash was too cautious to neglect the possibility entirely. Thankfully, having a brother who studied poisons quite intently, Ash knew how to check for the most common toxins with taste and smell.
He quickly determined that the water was safe to drink, at least as far as his knowledge could discern, so he wasted no time chugging nearly half of it in one go. It was easy to forget how thirsty you were all the time when this was the kind of place you lived in.
"You know, Ash, I don't think you can rightly call yourself a volunteer, considering that you get paid."
Ash looked over his shoulder to see Temari standing behind him, with the girl obviously using her entire body to hide something behind her back. When she had arrived, he had no idea.
"Considering how little that pay is, it may as well be free labor. What are you doing out here? Didn't you have your own task today?"
His sister shrugged, clearly very pleased about something. "I finished early. Besides, I actually just wanted to show you something. Check this out!"
With that, Temari flared out a battle fan practically as tall as she was from behind her back, unfolding it so she could show her little brother how cool it was.
And while he was not a fan enthusiast himself, Ash had to admit it was pretty awesome. Unlike normal battle fans, the fabric was a pure white, with the exception of the tapered ends, which were light green. The fabric was divided into five sections by double-sided blades. Each section had a green kanji on it: gust, gale, squall, storm, and tornado, from left to right.
"Man, I wonder what kind of strings Pakura had to pull to get that? I've never seen a fan with actual blades like that."
Temari's grinned. "I know, right? And get this, each of these kanji is actually a seal that releases a jutsu with just a bit of chakra from the user! This fan literally comes with preset battle-ready wind jutsu! And it really is just as tough as the Kuwagata model. I'd tell you to punch it and see for yourself, but I think you'd break your hand."
Ash eyed the black metal bars that housed the fan. "And is it really lighter, too?"
"You bet! This thing weighs seven pounds, max. I've got no idea how they managed it."
"It's probably made with some sort of special materials that are too expensive to be used in mass production."
Nodding, Temari planted the fan into the ground before crouching under it to avoid the rays of the sun. "I almost forgot its most important feature—instant shade."
Ash moved to sit next to his sister in the new shade. "Yep, the best thing about it for sure."
"Yeah, I couldn't be happier. But as much as I'd like for us to just relax together for a little while, Pakura said she needed to see you when she gave me this."
Ash raised an eyebrow. Today wasn't one of his regularly scheduled sessions with Pakura. "Did she say what for?"
"Only that it was important enough that you could drop whatever you're doing; Kazekage's orders."
Ash sighed as he rose to his feet. He would have rather taken it easy with Temari, but if the old geezer wanted something, it was better not to keep him waiting. Besides, he hadn't seen Sohara in a pretty long while... she was probably disappointed that he hadn't come to see her.
"Should I just head for his office then? Or did Pakura want me to meet her somewhere else?"
"The office should be fine. Just... Pakura looked pretty serious today. Come find me if you need anything at all, alright?"
Ash hefted the bag of glass he was responsible for. "Will do, Sis. I'll see you later."
Nodding his appreciation to her, Ash headed for the Kazekage's office, not moving any faster than he had been before. The Kazakage may have been the leader of the village, but to this day, the young blonde really didn't feel too obligated to rush on his behalf.