Not even the god can tell of every story. When creating a world, hundreds upon thousands of characters are born. The tales and adventures of the young Negi Springfield, son of the Thousand Master are the same. This is a story that even the author was not able to relay.
"Huff…Huff." A wild head of raven hair bounced up and down as a the youth set each foot in front of the other in quick succession. The harsh breathing was a common attribute of the young man who could only keep moving forward, in his training or life, although he was only twelve years old. His wild, dark eyes were narrowed in concentration towards horizon, and his clenched fists hid a set of sharp nails, resembling the claws of an animal.
The terrain was a humongous sandbox, with no end in sight. Hills and mounds were the only change in the scenery available, as with most deserts. The sun beat down cruelly on the only targets it had been exposed to for some time, the young boy and girl running long distance over the landscape. Not even the occasional breeze brought comfort, only more sand blown into their faces. The huge hill the boy finished trecking collapsed as he pushed off with his boots, dissolving into the rest of the scenery while he began to labor upon the next vertical climb. A small distance directly ahead of the boy was a tall figure, resembling a green scrub due to the visual distortion caused by the heat.
"Keep in pace Kotaro-kun-de gozaru," The large teenage girl puffed as she continued to run forward, her foolish-looking squinty eyes which held stores of wisdom seemingly glancing over her shoulders. A thin ponytail hanging from the back of her head reaching down to her ankles whipped back and forth as her long, muscular legs pushed against the unstable sand surface. Though lanky, the teen had an amazing swell in the chest area, and a firm behind which was baffling for one of only fourteen. The fact that she was wearing a classic ninja outfit with numerous holes, revealing a tasteful amount of skin on her supple thighs, allowed one to see past her first glance rough frame to the true beauty she held.
"Can't believe I agreed to training here," Kotaro gritted his teeth in anger towards his decision. "I could train anywhere just as well without this frickin' heat!"
"What do you think about going to the desert for training tomorrow-de gozaru?" Kaede-nee had mentioned casually while walking down the Mahora square.
"Sounds good," Kotaro had punched his fist into the air enthusiastically. "Running on sand and the heat will be good for endurance."
"Hai-de gozaru," Kaede grinned. "We should do a simple, yet effective training technique even normal people can do."
"Eh?" The dog-boy's ears stuck up inquisitively. "Howdya mean?"
"Indian running," Kaede said matter-of-factly with her finger raised in the air. "Creating our respective max amount of shadow clones, we run in a straight line and continually exchange our location from the front to the back of the line. Doing so will enhance our endurance and acceleration in movement, and increases our concentration towards our cloning techniques."
"Ah, I see!" Kotaro had grinned in anticipation for the next day.
"Geh-" Kotaro was getting dizzy, dogs don't do well with extreme heat. Kotaro looked lazily towards the endless horizon where a large red sun was halfway setting for the end of the day. Kotaro watched quietly with mouth wide open as the red sun turned into a full head of red hair, and a childish face with a small pair of glasses appeared below it.
"Ah, is that all Kotaro-kun has? That's alright, I'm the only one needed to look for my father!" The beaming face of Negi Springfield began to spew insults and degrading comments towards the dog boy.
"Mughyaaa!" Kotaro roared running fullspeed towards the sun, "No way you'll beat me Negi!"
Kaede watched the numerous youths run past her cutting a line of dust and debree. "Mmm, perhaps it is time for a rest-de gozaru?"
It took the kunoichi a while to gather up all of the sprinting dog-boys, despite her advantage in number of clones. Three of them had collapsed along the way, and another had stopped to eat an ice cream sandwich made of authentic sand. Two more were playing a game of Hop Scotch while the final one continued to burst forward trying to catch the taunting sun. The clones had been released by now, and Kaede set up a makeshift tent to give shade to the delirious youth, using a stick and a large cloak. Dampening a cloth with water from her canteen, the whimsical teen dabbed her training partner's forehead, then went outside to survey her location.
"Mmm," Kaede's small eyes had the visual capacity of a falcons, which she used to locate the markings she left upon the dune-tops. "Seems we should rest here for the night, we ran for some time, the transport rune is out of sight."
The female ninja was beginning to ponder whether this was an actual location on earth, or an entirely fabricated terrain. "If so, Eva-dono is amazing. Is rain shadow taken into circumspect or-?"
BUSHYAAA!
A roaring noise erupted from underneath the tent, followed by the heavy sound of shifting sand.
"Kotaro-kun!?" Kaede shifted her feet into instant jump to the location of her desciple's resting place. The tent was laying flat across the sandy-hillside, and thrown aside it revealed a missing boy. A gaping hole was sucking sand continuously into its maw, and assumingly, had already devoured the unconscious Kotaro.
Both Kaede's eyes were open and moving quickly around, looking for a hold to support the only decision which sprang to her mind. Unfortunately, pure sand was her only foothold. She had no choice, she dived towards the hole, spontaneously grabbing the hand of her shadow clones whom were standing by. Sand suffocated every pore of her body, and the grip on her own hand was lost. Kaede black out.