Hundreds of miles away, two ninja stand over the deepest water of the ocean. A man and a girl. Neither gave a thought to the brewing storm approaching them.

The man was tall and gruff. He was bald, and riddled with scars. Most prominent was a scar running from the left side of his mouth leading all the way to his left ear. Or at least, where his left ear would be if it was still there. He had patchy, inconsistent stubble. He hadn't shaved in many days. His body was almost entirely wrapped up to the neck in bandages, and he wore a loose grey robe that went down to his ankles, tied in the middle by a ninja belt. He stood on the sea, legs shoulder width apart with his arms folded across him, the picture of strength and solidity. He ignored the waves that hit his feet and splashed against his ankles. He didn't budge an inch.

"Pick yourself up." Even his voice seemed to carry all of the scars his body had.

The girl with her hands on her knees in front of him was clearly a bit more green. Her brown hair was tied back in a ponytail. She wore netting underneath a dark green shirt that opened up a bit, tied by a large blue cloth at her waist that also functioned as a sort of skirt. She was biting her lip, stopping herself from panting or groaning in pain. Her whole body was trembling. Her eyebrows furrowed in frustration to his comment.

"I'm still standing, aren't I?" She retorted. To her credit, she managed to keep the fatigue out of her words. Instead they had a bite to them.

"Don't be flippant, Minori. If you can't do this correctly I won't let you pass."

The words cause ripples of pain in her ankles that so desperately wanted to collapse.

Minori exhaled but it came out as a whimper. She lifted her hands from her knees and slowly straightened her back. Her eyes were clenched shut as a reflex to the pain she was feeling.

"Why are you closing your eyes!?"

Minori mentally berated herself. She was supposed to be battle ready at all times.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just...I'm so tired, and the week is almost over, and I'm really tired. I just need a small break, please."

She hoped that the pleading in her voice would win the man over and cut her some slack. It wasn't often that Susume Minori actually begged, she hoped that would reach her master.

His expression told her everything she needed to know. It was remarkable how much meaning he could put into his face, especially with all of his scars. She could see disappointment in his eyes, fury in his eyebrows, and disgust in his half-open frowning mouth.

Even with all of the analyzation, she was completely unable to do anything about the swift kick to the chest he delivered her. She flew back and started sinking into the water.

"Your enemies will not be as kind as I am. Ninja who are able to stand upon the ocean for a full week and are still ready to fight possess a stamina and chakra control far beyond average. If you can't beat 'em, outlast 'em. I need to be able to count upon you at all times, because our mission will be far more excruciating than this training exercise. You have failed, Minori."

As Minori sank into the water, the shame she felt from his words was far overshadowed by the relief she felt.

"At least I can finally go to sleep..." was her final thought before drifting into slumber.

"Professor!"

Shigarami sighed and slowed his walk down. He hardly had a moment of free time that his student wasn't aware of.

"Yes, Guy?" He said as the young man matched his pace beside him.

"I have a question about chakra frequencies from the reading you gave me last time, sir." Studious as always. When Guy had been sent to Shigarami, he was already a master in all popular forms of hand to hand combat. He practiced his forms and worked out everyday. He wore his father's trademark green tights not so much to honor his namesake but more to show off his impressive physique. Only the Hokage and his own parents could defeat him in a pure close combat fight. Unfortunately he had super focused so badly that he was severely lacking in chakra theory, even the most basic kind. He was sent to Shigarami after an embarrassing mission. He was supposed to read the contents of a scroll in the dead of night and leave it without letting the owners aware of the fact. He ran all the way back to the village, scroll in hand, waking up the Hokage in the dead of night to simply unseal the scroll with chakra so he could run back before anybody realized what happened. The next day he was off missions and assigned private lessons.

"Is it actually a question this day? Or is it just excitement as usual?" Shigarami jokingly replied. Guy had long since learned how to unseal simple scrolls with chakra under his tutelage. That was all that was required to get back to mission duty. Guy had never done anything half-heartedly though, and was intent on getting through all the advanced work before returning to duty. He was making the Hokage crazy and driving Shigarami up a wall.

"Well, I guess it's not really a question. I can make it a question if you like, sir?" Guy shrugged and scratched the back of his head. Even with all of his annoying habits and intense personality, Shigarami couldn't help but like him. "I just didn't realize all this stuff about chakra frequencies and nature affinity and stuff. It's cool, sir."

"Yes, it is cool."

"Does this mean that if a ninja has two affinities but the ability to use more than two elements he can change his chakra frequency, sir?"

"Exactly, a ninja may have one or two affinities to an element, or a frequency. Just like your voice is predisposed to be at a certain pitch. But singers can change their pitch when singing just as ninja can change their chakra frequency."

"That's amazing!" Guy was genuinely passionate about the subject. Almost every day since Shigarami had assigned him the next level work in chakra theory he had seeked out his tutor and proceeded to gush about his discoveries. None of which were particularly noteworthy or hard to figure out. Shigarami is more annoyed in Guys uncanny ability to find him around the village than he is with Guy's love of reciting the obvious. He didn't like being a man who could be found so easily.

Shigarami dragged his feet up the steps to his apartment. The sun had long gone down. Guy had pestered him the whole afternoon. He tried to brush him off, but the boy had superhuman determination like his father. Shigarami brought Guy to the library in an attempt to bore the Chuunin, but Guy had only pulled out half of the books in the chakra theory section and demanded lectures from Shigarami. He was too sincere of a boy to resist. Shigarami silently damned the boy for inheriting his mother's studiousness.

Shigarami opened his front door. He didn't ever bother locking it. The apartment was bare, and missing even the most basic of furniture. Besides a toaster, a mattress, and a bookshelf, there was hardly anything of value. The bulb in the one lamp in the corner had long burnt out. Shigarami hardly cared about darkness. He was a ninja.

Shigarami stepped into the musty room. Dark and lonely as ever.

"Interesting. I've never met a man to survive a sword through the heart"

All of Shigarami's training screamed at him to pull out his kunai and take off the head carrying the voice. The man standing behind him seemed to be mere centimeters from his head. His common sense triumphed. The voice, deep and smooth, was soaked in killing intent, and it told him that he'd feel a lot of pain if he attempted to defend himself. Shigarami knew that if the man wanted to kill him he could have done it already. So he decided to play along.

"I'm not just a man, you know. And I've never meet somebody who could kill me twice in one day"

The voice chuckled. Shigarami recognized the voice disguising technique that all ninja above chuunin knew how to use. The voice continued.

"Well I'm something special too. But nothing like you. I'm still human. Tell me are you immortal?"

"No. Let me see your face and I'll show exactly what I am."

"I think I prefer it this way...I'll enjoy the challenge you present me."

"You mean you plan on killing me again? Why?"

"Prey shouldn't care about their predator's intentions. All they can do is run."

Shigarami frowned. The voice sounded ancient, like it was merely reciting a long known truth of the world. The voice continued talking.

"So, please, Shigarami, do your best to figure me out if it makes you feel better. Nobody covers tracks better than me. I've killed a lot of people to accomplish my goal and I won't let an unkillable man get in my way. And it doesn't matter that the Hokage is in the know now. Such meager powers are below me. This village, the Hokage, you, everything will burn. Until then, I will merely be a bad nightmare to you"

Shigarami grinned. He almost let out a snort. "You're wrong."

"I assure you, I will find a way to deal with your-"

"No, you're wrong. You already left tracks."

The silence chilled Shigarami enough to make him keep on speaking.

"I'm still alive, that's bad enough. Even worse though..." Shigarami smirked. He turned his head to the side so the mysterious man could see it. "Your technique, your genjutsu or whatever you do isn't perfect."

"What?"

Shigarami thought back to the incident in the morning. Once he had approached the desk of the Hokage and slammed his palms down, he got a good look at the Hokage. Shigarami wasn't an emotional man, he wouldn't be weak enough to lose his cool in front of the Hokage without a purpose. He saw the pupils readying themselves to fight, the veins that were just a bit too prominent on his skin, and the drop of sweat tumbling down the Hokage's forehead that he didn't seem to notice.

"You didn't stop the Hokage's fight or flight instinct. Once I got close, I could see his blood pumping, preparing his body for a battle his mind didn't know existed."

A long silence. The voice spoke.

"You're smart. That's not enough to figure out my technique however. Certainly not enough to figure out my identity either."

"I am on the right track though, aren't I?" Shigarami stood still, awaiting the assassin's response. The air was silent for a long moment, it seemed like minutes. Shigarami got fed up, he spun around, kunai in hand.

The night greeted him. Not a soul in sight and nothing showing evidence of his dark visitor.

Nothing other than the massive broadsword, threateningly impaled into the ground at Shigarami's feet.