As the last golden ambers of the burning sun shimmered under the horizon; night crept in silently, tearing the last shreds of colour from the cloudless sky. Now what light that shone down oozed out from the ghostly moon, lazily dangling on a point in the vast open canvas called space. In unison the stars too, specked in their millions, shone their light down from their place millions of light years away. The birds slept and crickets took up their song; sending it into the chill northern breeze, which rustled the Konoha trees. All the while they watched silently. Observing.
It was late. Very late, but a certain ninja didn't know that. Oblivious to his surroundings and time itself, he was completely absorbed. A thin sheen of sweat laced his forehead, glistening in the moonlight as he moved a hand through his blonde locks. Throbbing all over, his muscles had worked intensely since the break of dawn. It was now past breaking point. But he had to go on, just for one more round.
Planting his feet onto the ground, once again, he began. His hands began the seals moving fluidly at the speed of light. From the pit of his stomach energy pulsed through his being concentrating to his bloodied finger tips. Charged ions crackled in the air as the dust began to rise, disturbed from its rest. At once he began to move his hands in a swift circular motion. A sphere of energy collected growing with each complete circle. Then with intense measure he forced the air particles themselves into the sphere, ordering them to obey. First one then more flooded in. Compacting, shrinking, getting more agitated. This was it. Forcing the last possible air particles in, he pushed the last dregs of energy into the sphere. Make or break. "RASEN SHURIKEN!"
The air could no longer be contained as the energy forced it out the sphere through four spikes. The ninja released its hold and sent it flying through to the stars. Success. Finally after working on it endlessly, with bleeding, breathlessness, nausea, hunger. The fruits of success were great. Tasting his own victory, his knees gave way to gravity, landing with a thud onto the soft earth. It had been done. Looking up, the wiley blonde ninja could see the stars, twinkling, enveloped by the calm dark void. As the wisps of all his energy left his body through one sigh, the calm darkness enveloped him too inviting him, as he slipped slowly away from the skies to the earth.
At the same time past the tired beaten stumps, through the sleeping thicket of trees, over the over grown bushes. A certain kunoichi was finishing her training too. Her pale skin was pink and flustered from the rigorous exercises and tasks she had to perform. After having to climb all the way to the Hokage mountain and back down again, just in time for a low rank mission around the town and to top it nicely off some hardcore medical Nin training, her muscles were beginning to protest at even the slightest move. But hey, that's the life of a ninja. Isn't it? Well so she thought but as she did her legs almost surrendered so she decided not to think any more of it. Besides everything, looking closely, it had been a lovely day and the moon was out. That's when it clicked to her; she had been walking alone aimlessly for a while now, lost in her thoughts and had ambled slowly into the forest. Getting to grips she lightly tugged the front of her white hooded cloak as a chilly breeze picked up. The cloak had been a birthday present from Neji, when he had gone on one of his ANBU missions to the snow country. Turning around to go back the way she came she heard a soft thud on the ground. Normally she would have walked on but fearing it was a poor animal in danger, she followed the direction from where the sound came.
Coming to a clearing, she recognised the patchy grass and wooden stumps to being a training ground. But it was late and no-one should have been training. She thought. Then again, oh, it must be some determined novice trying their hardest. A smile teased her cheeks as she remembered the first days of when she became a ninja. I'll just go have a look see to check if it's someone I know. She decided as she moved some bramble that were blocking her view. But from where she was, she could not see in the pale light, two things that were for certain. The first was she most definitely knew this person, and the second was that they were unconscious with dangerously low chakra.
.