The air inside the cavern was already growing stale by the time they finished gathering what they could carry. Weapons, food, water, anything worth salvaging was bundled tightly and strapped across weary shoulders. The freed trainees, still weakened from their captivity, were kept in the center of the formation, shielded by those strong enough to fend off another ambush.
They emerged just as the last threads of sunlight bled away across the horizon. The desert's sudden chill bit into sweat-soaked skin, and above them the stars burned bright and merciless in the cloudless sky.
The first hours of their march passed in near silence, broken only by the crunch of boots in sand and the occasional ragged cough from one of the rescued. Temari kept her post near the front, eyes sweeping the dunes, though her mind strayed often to the group behind her.
She noticed it quickly.
The rescued no longer looked at Isan with fear, but with something closer to respect, and, even, gratitude. They stayed near him when they could, shoulders squaring whenever he walked past. It was subtle, but Temari had grown up watching her father manage the shifting loyalties of Suna. She knew the beginnings of a faction when she saw one.
And it was forming around him.
It didn't help that Juro's death was already the quiet heartbeat of every whispered conversation.
"Better off without him.", one boy muttered as they stopped to adjust their packs.
"Murder, that's what it was.", another whispered back, darting a glance at Temari before looking away.
The words slid through the group like sand in a crack, small, but enough to grind at the edges.
If these whispers reached her father, unchanged, Isan would be lucky to leave the Kazekage's office alive. And yet… if the version that painted Juro as a traitor took hold, Isan's influence could grow even faster.
It was a dangerous game, one she wasn't sure she was ready to play.
By the second night, they reached the edge of the Red Dunes. The Red Dunes were their only option now, the fastest route to their destination, and one that would take them far from any possible pursuit from bandits.
It was unknown if there any remaining sand bandits out there searching, robbing, hunting or anything else, for resources or for the fun of it, before returning back to the camp or were part of another camp entirely.
The Dunes, while treacherous, would offer a kind of cover. The vast, shifting sands were nearly impossible to navigate for anyone who didn't know the way. In a sense, the Dunes were a natural barrier, dangerous, yes, but protective, at the same time. The risk was worth it.
The moonlight turned the dunes into an endless sea of crimson, the wind dragging ghostly ripples across its surface. Temari called for a rest before they crossed.
"We enter the Red Dunes at first light.", she said, her voice steady, though she felt the weight of the decision pressing on her chest. "The Dunes will eat your strength faster than you think, so be ready for it."
No one objected, though the unease among them was palpable. The Red Dunes had earned their reputation. Heat mirages, ever-shifting sands that could swallow a person whole, and predators that hunted anything foolish enough to linger.
When dawn came, the air was already heavy with heat. They moved in tight formation, following a winding path Temari had learned from her father's maps. The hours stretched on as if the very air had conspired to slow them. The rescued, still weak, stumbled often, their feet dragging through the hot sand.
That was when Temari saw it.
Shira was pushing one of the rescued forward - not gently, but with sharp, impatient shoves. His face was hard, almost unrecognizable, his movements quick and decisive. There was no hesitation, no softness in his actions. What troubled her more, however, was the fact that it was one of the rescued who had been among those murmuring badly about Isan the night before.
By midday, the dunes shimmered with heat mirages. Twice they had to stop when someone swore they saw water only to find dry, cracked sand instead. Sweat turned to salt on their skin, and every breath tasted like grit.
Then, overhead, a shadow passed. The group froze as a desert raptor circled lazily in the sky, its wings slicing the air before it drifted away in search of easier prey. It was a stark reminder. Out here, they were not the hunters.
By the time they reached the far edge of the Red Dunes, the sun was setting, staining the sand a deep, dark red. They set camp among a cluster of wind-carved rocks, the rocks sheltering them from the still-strong winds of the dunes.
Temari's eyes went to Isan, who sat apart from the group, carefully repairing one of the chipped kunai. Two of the rescued stood near him, asking questions in a hush and calmed way. He didn't smile, but he answered them in a calm, almost detached way.
Temari looked away before their gazes met.
Nearby, Shira was working on the bandages of his arms. She couldn't help but notice how much he had changed. The boy she had known at the academy, the one who had fought with raw determination and a smile at the end of each day, was slipping away, replaced by something colder and harder.
And then it hit her. The realization was like a cold wave crashing over her: She wasn't just watching Isan's influence spread. She was watching it reshape everyone around him. One by one.
Including herself.
It was a thought that made her uneasy, and for a moment, she wondered if she, too, had already begun to change. She couldn't deny that her pulse quickened whenever she found herself thinking of him, or when their eyes happened to meet. She had brushed it off, convincing herself it was just the stress, the exhaustion of the journey. But even as she tried to ignore it, her heart would beat faster, a traitorous rhythm she couldn't quite explain.
What was it about Isan that made her feel so… unsettled?
She swallowed the thought, pushing it aside for the moment, but deep down, Temari knew the answer was already beginning to take root. And she wasn't sure whether she was more afraid of Isan's growing influence over others, or the changes she couldn't seem to stop within herself.