Manifest Destiny (Naruto Fanfiction)

"At this point I wouldn't be surprised if they unironically called capturing a stray cat a mission."

There was a unanimous nod of agreement to Ash's comment as the three children of the Kazekage walked down one of the dusty streets of the Hidden Sand, each of them carrying something their current D-rank missions required. The D-ranks were indeed plural for them, as each of the three young ninja had their own. In most cases, a team of new Genin would get D-rank missions to participate in as a whole, but Baki's recently graduated Genin did not operate this way. D-ranks were almost always missions from within the village itself, so there was no revenue to be earned: instead, most D-ranks in the Sand involved making repairs around the destitute village as cheaply as possible, which was why new ninja did it instead of hired laborers.

Since the village was almost always in a constant state of disrepair, there was always a whole slew of D-rank missions to undertake, so when a team like Baki's, which was comprised of already competent Genin, went to the Kazekage for missions, they each received their own to perform. After all, it didn't take three capable Genin to patch a hole in the roof of a building.

That being the case, the three of them were burdened with items relating to the day's respective tasks. Kankuro had a pile of broken puppet parts in his arms that needed to be recycled for some other use in the village. Temari had an overly large bag of fertilizer that was to be used for the indoor gardens the Sand used to grow some of its own food. Ash, on the other hand, had a squirming baby vulture in his hands, one that had apparently escaped from the intel division. He was being very careful to avoid its already dangerous talons.

"Catching stray birds isn't exactly what I wanted to do during my first three months as a Genin."

Kankuro cast a mild glare at his younger brother. "At least your mission let you jump around the rooftops and stuff to catch that thing. Mine was literally just sifting through broken puppets for spare parts."

"But don't you like taking apart puppets?"

"Well yeah, but... look, that's not the point! Your D-rank was at least a little more fun than mine."

Temari shifted the weight of the burden in her arms. "And besides, your mission is basically already over. All you have to do is get that bird back to the intel division and you'll be done. Kankuro and I still have to deliver this stuff and help out with it when we do. You're lucky."

Ash's catch flapped its tiny wings, but didn't get anywhere with its attempts to escape. "Am I really? It's barely past noon. Baki will expect me to go back to the old man for another mission, since I've got the time."

Temari sighed; her brother's annoyance with the ninja life was something that had grown quite prominent during the three months they had all been official Genin. At first, he had tried his best to be optimistic, but the dozens upon dozens of menial tasks he had been forced to shoulder since becoming a ninja had swiftly made him irritable and bitter about all of it.

"Ash, you know these D-ranks are important, even if they're boring. A lot of little things need to be done around the village to keep it running, and we just don't have the money to hire contract workers. Someone has to do these small jobs, and it can't be the Chunin and Jonin. They have a lot more important things to do."

The younger blond didn't look convinced, but then again, he spent a lot of his time scowling, so it was hard to tell when anything actually changed. "All ninja have more important things to do than this. Genin like us could be running C-rank missions that are worth actual money. Why doesn't the village have a civilian volunteer force or something? They're better suited to running errands than us."

"While that's not a bad idea, more Genin doesn't mean more missions. Just because the entire Academy class graduated doesn't mean the village is suddenly getting more jobs. For all we know there might not be any C-rank missions to run, or if there are, they're probably all taken by Chunin or something."

Kankuro stealthily pocketed a piece of puppetry in his arms that he thought might be useful for his own creations later on. "Yeah, since the Hidden Leaf keeps getting all of the real high-profile jobs, our Jonin probably don't have anything above B-ranks to run. So they get those, and the Chunin take the C-ranks, and us Genin get the crappy stuff at the bottom of the barrel."

Ash scowled up at the sun. He knew he was being pissed and angry all the time, but he really couldn't help it. He had at least envisioned being a ninja as following orders that could be exciting. As things were now he may as well have been a slave for manual labor. "I definitely didn't become a ninja for stuff like this. Any normal person could do these little odds and ends jobs. Why be a ninja at all if this is what they're gonna have us do?"

Knowing that there was no way to quell her youngest brother's grumbling, and not entirely disagreeing with it besides, Temari decided to drop the conversation, turning instead to Kankuro. "Hey, I heard that Lady Chiyo is going to call it quits soon. She was the one teaching you puppetry wasn't she? How's that going to work out?"

"I think her grandson was going to take the reins. He's already head of the puppeteer unit, and some say he's even better than Lady Chiyo was. Maybe he'll teach me?"

Ash cut in from the side, only mildly familiar with the renowned Sasori of the Red Sand. "Don't count on it. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy with a lot of time on his hands, and if he's anything like you, he's anti-social."

"Well, Lady Chiyo didn't have a lot of time to spare either. C'mon, Ash, you know how it works: masters of certain arts are always busy, but they usually like taking on students who are really passionate about their knowledge. Maybe her grandson is looking for an apprentice to pass his knowledge to?"

"Isn't he a little young to be looking for someone to pass his knowledge to? If he weren't, he'd be retiring too."

Kankuro frowned at Ash, the purple makeup on his face increasing the potency of the look. "Do you have to bring the bad out in every situation? I mean, would it kill you to be positive for once?"

Temari nodded in agreement, always siding with anyone that tried to argue against Ash's pessimism. "He's right, Ash. It's no fun being around someone who's negative all the time. You need to perk up and look for the good in things."

Ash scowled at her as the vulture in his hands crapped on the ground in front of him, the stressful nature of its plight clearly too much to handle. "If you can find the good in this situation, I'll never complain about anything again."

"Well... alright, you can complain in this instance. Just keep that advice in mind for later! Girls don't like guys who complain all of the time!"

The three siblings came to an intersection, where each of them would separate to go and complete their assigned tasks. Ash made sure to get the last shot in before they separated. "I thought you wanted the girls to stay away from me?"

"That's not the point, don't take away the wrong things from my lessons!"

"Your lessons? Have you become that crotchety already?"

"Just shut up and take that bird back to the intel division before it craps on your shoes or something."

Glad to have gotten one over on his sister, Ash chalked this little conversation up to a victory as he strode away from his siblings, holding his captured bird a good distance from his feet.

---

Six months after becoming a Genin, Ash felt like the weight of his headband had increased tenfold. So far, being a ninja was not at all what he had hoped it would be, which may have been because he had performed one hundred and forty seven D-ranks in his career so far. And that didn't even include all of the little side-tasks Baki had him do that basically were D-rank missions, but not official.

More than ten dozen worthless, menial jobs that any half-competent oaf could perform. This was exactly why Ash had not wanted to be a ninja, and exactly why he was in a very bad mood today, as he sat on the roof of his family's residence. Under normal circumstances, it would be very hot up there, but since it was before noon, the heat was mild and bearable: plus they had an erected tarp up here to provide some shade. Still, the provided comfort didn't prevent Ash from glaring at everything.

He was alone up there, since his siblings were spending the day as any aspiring ninja should have been. Apparently Chiyo's grandson, Sasori, had decided to teach Kankuro a thing or two about puppetry in his spare time. In the short time Kankuro had been learning under the man, his own skills had increased tremendously, and the redheaded puppet master was basically a hero in his eyes. Why Sasori had decided to train a specific individual was a mystery, though it was also possible that the Kazekage had simply ordered it of him. Either way, no one could say for sure.

Temari was out practicing her wind style on her own, since there wasn't really a master wind user in the village to teach her, or if there was, they didn't have time. Ash was not training at all, because despite his usual desire to improve his fighting skills, the six months of manual labor had crushed his passion into a little sphere of pessimism and bitterness.

Truth be told, he hadn't actually done a lot of self-improvement since becoming a Genin. He just hardly felt motivated to do such a thing when his role in the village amounted to that of a construction worker.

"Ash! What the hell are you doing up here!?"

Not at all surprised that Baki had gone out of his way to interrupt Ash's solitude, the young blonde leveled a displeased gaze at the man that was his teacher, rapidly coming up with a fitting excuse.

"Training my ability to pick out specific sounds and identify their source among the loud atmosphere of the village. A very useful skill, wouldn't you say?"

Baki folded his arms, his displeased glare not diminishing. "Do you honestly expect me to buy that?"

"Can you say with one hundred percent certainty that I wasn't doing that?"

Amazed that Ash's intellect had grown so clever at such a young age, Baki shook his head in defeat. He honestly didn't think he ever really won these exchanges.

"I suppose I can't, even though I'm fairly certain you're just lazing around. That said, I have good news that might lift your spirits for once."

"That's suspicious. Are you sure this isn't the kind of good news that will only lift your spirits?"

"That depends. How would you classify a C-rank mission?"

Ash cocked an eyebrow at him, unwilling to immediately accept such a thing lest it be a cruel joke or a letdown altogether. "Do we at least get to leave the village?"

"We'll be going out of the Land of Wind altogether. Good enough for you?"

"So we'll get to leave the desert, right?"

"Round trip, this mission will likely take us a little under a week and a half. A fair amount of that time will be spent outside of our own country, and by extension, the desert."

Ash was on his feet in a flash, excited to leave the sandy terrain he despised so much, even for such a short time. He'd instantly pulled a complete turnaround from his usual attitude. "Yes, finally! When are we leaving!?"

"Today, if you prepare fast enough. Go find Temari and let her know. I'll find Kankuro, and if you're all ready by noon, we can leave then."

For the first time in a long time, Ash obeyed Baki without a single word of dissent. The Jonin couldn't deny that it was a little disconcerting that the young boy was so eager to get away from his home, but at least he was excited about something for once.

---

Ash hunted down his sister in no time at all, whisking her back to the house to prepare for their first C-rank mission. She was not originally happy to be interrupted while training, as she was apparently close to making some sort of breakthrough. However, Temari always found Ash's excitation infectious, since his enthusiasm had been curbed so severely by his Genin career. She was glad that her brother was eager to go on a mission, and she herself wasn't disliking the idea of leaving the Hidden Sand for a bit either.

So she was fine with putting her training aside and joining Ash in his excitement for something other than a dull D-rank. The two of them had packed all of the things their team would need by the time Baki showed up with an irritable Kankuro at his side.

"Man, why'd there have to be a mission now!? Sasori was about to show me something totally awesome! I really wanted to see the Iron Maiden!"

Ash tossed Kankuro's already packed bag at his face. "Sasori's got no social life, it's not like he's going anywhere. We, on the other hand, finally get to leave this place for once. Show some enthusiasm!"

"Oh, that's rich coming from you."

"Hey, I don't recall you or Sis ever getting excited for your D-rank sideshows. And on that note..."

Ash turned his attention to Baki now that they were all gathered. "You haven't given us any details on what this mission involves. Fill us in before I get my hopes up."

Baki nodded as he folded his arms, confirming Ash's suspicion of a low-key mission. "We're making an exchange of information with the Hidden Stone Village. We're going to meet a team of theirs in the neutral Land of Claws. We'll make the exchange, and then head back here. There should be no fighting whatsoever."

Kankuro cocked an eyebrow at the man. "Land of Claws? Is that even a real place?"

The young puppetry practitioner immediately regretted his words as his sister metaphorically pounced on him. "You idiot, the Land of Claws is one of the three buffer countries between us and the Land of Earth! It's literally right next to the Land of Rain. And let me guess, you don't know anything about the Land of Fangs either, do you?"

"Seriously, you're sure you're not making these up?"

Ash sighed, before stepping up and explaining the problem away for his brother, before Temari's disdain transformed into something physical. "Look, Kankuro, you know where the Land of Rain is, right? To its left is the Land of Claws, and to the left of that is the Land of Fangs. They're both neutral and have no hidden villages, but they serve as buffers between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, just like the Land of Rivers between us and the Land of Fire."

Everyone was surprised that Ash had known anything about this at all, considering his lack of motivation to learn things unrelated to combat, but for Temari and Baki, it was a pleasant surprise. Only Kankuro was miffed to know that Ash was more knowledgeable than him. Fortunately, he couldn't get a word in edgewise as Temari praised her littlest brother.

"Someone's been studying harder than he lets on..."

Ash frowned, not finding anything praiseworthy in knowledge he thought was common. "That was basic stuff, Sis. Everyone should know it."

Kankuro glared at the boy, who immediately donned an apologetic smile at his mistake. The idea had been to take the heat off of his older brother, but he had inadvertently made it worse, if Temari's glare in the puppeteer's direction was any indication.

"Oh you're right about that, Ash. Everyone should know this stuff. Right, Kankuro?"

"Your thinly veiled jabs really aren't necessary, Temari. I get it, I'll brush up on my map skills sometime."

Seeing that the little exchange was over, Baki coughed to get everyone's attention back on him. "Now look, even though we are making a somewhat diplomatic exchange on this mission, remember that we are not exactly friends with the Hidden Stone. They have a record of producing quite brazen shinobi, and chances are that the team they send will be older and more experienced than all of you. I don't think there will be any conflict with them, but try not to start anything regardless. Especially you two."

Baki ended his words with a glare at Ash and Kankuro, both of whom donned innocent smiles, though they looked more like smirks to Baki. "I'm serious, you brats..."

Temari grabbed her two brothers by their collars. "Don't worry, Sensei: if a fight breaks out between us, I guarantee it won't be because of these dolts. Right, guys?"

The two boys gave mock salutes as they answered simultaneously.

"Yes, ma'am!"

---

Never before had time flown for Ash the way it did as he traveled to the border of the Land of Claws. It was true that he would spend the majority of his time in The Land of Wind's accursed desert, but he was too hyped to get away from it for even a day to care. The mere idea of being in an environment that didn't consist of miles of sand was enough to put Ash in a good mood, which had been a rarity lately.

That was why the past two days of travel had not mitigated his excitement at all. Never mind the fact that he and his team still had a day's worth of travel to make before they got to the Land of Claws: no amount of sand in his shoes would get Ash down now. He was so excited, that when Baki suggested that they take a break in the shadow of a nearby dune, he was the only one who didn't want to do it.

"C'mon, we don't have time to waste sitting around here. We're almost to the Land of Claws, we might as well keep going. We could get there today!"

Kankuro knelt in the sand before pulling out his canteen and gulping down some water. "Calm down, Ash, we're only going to rest for a few minutes. The Land of Claws isn't going anywhere."

"Neither am I at the moment, which is the real problem."

Temari did some stretches in the shade of the dune as she questioned her brother. "Kankuro's right, Ash. We're only taking a break for a few minutes. What's so great about the Land of Claws that you want to get there so badly anyway?"

Seeing that there was no way to convince his siblings to give up their break, Ash slumped into the hill of sand beside him. "It's not that the Land of Claws is so great, it's just that any place that isn't here is amazing. I would go anywhere at all if it meant getting out of the Land of Wind."

Temari frowned at the boy, none too pleased to hear his response. The Land of Wind was her home, and as far as she was concerned, it was Ash's home too. The fact that he detested it so blatantly greatly stung.

Baki on the other hand, was disconcerted for another reason entirely. The starting point for any rogue shinobi was to become disillusioned with their home or their position in life. Ash was already questioning both of those, and that worried the Jonin to no small extent. Ash had the potential to be a very skilled shinobi, but he also had the potential to be a very dangerous rogue ninja. Quite literally, it was up to him and Ash's adopted siblings to keep him on the right path.

With that in mind, Baki decided it was to his advantage to get his team moving again, ordering them forward once more. The less time Ash had to dwell on his distaste with the Land of Wind, the better.

---

The Land of Claws was not the most beautiful of places. It was rather dull, compared to places like the Hidden Cloud or Waterfall. But the moment Ash set foot over its borders, he might as well have been in heaven.

"Holy crap, is that grass!? Yes, it is! Grass, and trees, and most importantly, there's no sand! This is what paradise must look like!"

While their own joy was a bit subdued, Kankuro and Temari shared Ash's feelings. The two of them had never been outside of the Land of Wind before either, and although they didn't share the same distaste for their home that Ash did, neither Genin could say that the change of scenery wasn't nice. The temperature had been growing slowly more tolerable as they neared the border of the Land of Claws, but now that they were officially there, it was nice to know that they were in a country that had an average temperature below eighty degrees.

And admittedly, the Kazekage's children had never seen an environment like this. Which was kind of sad to say: it was just a light forest, with dozens of trees and significant underbrush flanking both sides of an ordinary dirt road, but they had lived their whole lives in the desert, so they had literally never been to such a place. Technically, Ash had been in such an environment before, but it was so long ago that he didn't remember it at all. So to the kids, something as ordinary as a forest was actually an exciting new place.

Only Baki was unimpressed, but he was an experienced Jonin who had left the Land of Wind many times, so that was to be expected. "Don't get distracted. We still have to reach our meeting point with the Stone ninja on time. There's no time to waste dawdling! Enjoy the scenery as we move."

Ash wanted to spend a little longer just absorbing the unfamiliar environment, but he figured that he would have plenty of time for that along the way to the destination, so he joined his team in the treetops without dissent. "So how long is it supposed to take us to get to the meeting point, Cyclops?"

"About a day and a half."

"So, three days to get to the Land of Claws, a day and a half to get to the meeting point, and day and a half back to the border, and three days back to the Sand... nine days total, but only three of them are in the Land of Claws... that sucks."

Temari glared at him from his left, somewhat irritated that Ash once again blatantly disregarded his own home. "Ash, you should take what you can get. Three days is better than two, right?"

"Well I was hoping for more, but I guess you're right. Besides, if we get more C-ranks in the future, we'll probably get to leave the Land of Wind more often. There's really no point in complaining now."

Not missing that his perspective hadn't shifted in the slightest, Temari nevertheless considered his momentary optimism as a minor victory. "Optimism is the first step to real happiness, Ash. You should think that way more often."

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

Temari couldn't tell if she was really getting through to her brother, because he honestly didn't seem to give her words much thought at all. Truth was, Temari had been expecting his attitude to grow a little worse after becoming a Genin, but he had spiraled further than she had assumed he would. She wouldn't have cared quite so much if his pessimism extended only to his career; she could deal with that, even if it grew tiresome from time to time.

But the negativity had been much more pervasive. Ash's demeanor had shifted for the worse in nearly all aspects of his life over the past few months. He didn't laugh or smile as much. He didn't pull nearly as many stupid stunts with Kankuro. He didn't even get excited about learning new fighting techniques any more.

Needless to say, Temari was not happy with the change. While Ash had never been the happy-go-lucky type of kid, he had at least known how to relax and enjoy life at some point not far in the past. His big sister missed his happier, more carefree self that cared most about having fun with his siblings and just enjoying the small things. And even though she wasn't sure how she would go about it yet, Temari was absolutely determined to bring that person back to the surface, for both her sake and everyone he would ever meet in life.