A cold wind blew through the silent village as one lone individual marched through the thick sands toward the arena. The moon stood high in the sky as he walked; the path he took diverted him away from the public allowing him to approach freely. He hadn't a clue whether anyone was lurking in the  shadows but from what he could sense he was alone in the vast sandy landscape dubbed the 'Arena'. His eyes wondered momentarily as his attire blew in the wind, the heavy weight of the steel laced jacket began to dawn on him as he neared his destination.

Wearing a blue jumpsuit and a similarly dark jacket, he was almost invisible in the dimly illuminated night; however his crimson eyes glowed ever so slightly as he stood there and planned his next course of action. The reason behind Kanames late night wonder was because of the recently passing Chunnin exams; he hadn't qualified for them because he had been away at the time of registration but he decided to get back in shape prior to finding an alternate route to begin his ascension through ranks.

"Hmm" he muttered as his feet slowly sunk into the sand beneath him whilst the sand in his gourd began to effortlessly sweep and scatter through the area. When he was convinced that no one was nearby, he began.

Scattered around the landscape laid several large boulders varying in size. As the clouds finally cleared the sky, the hazel illumination that set upon the Arena instantly made the boulders visible. Kaname sunk his hands into his jacket as a breeze blew by, then he slowly raised the head to take note of the clear sky. The 18 year old Genin stood at around six foot above the ground while he patiently awaited the return of his sand. He glanced ahead and unzipped his jacket prior to unstrapping his gourd and dropping them both; a simple thud filled the silence of the night while the chirps of other animals slowly chimed in.

The instant he released his bag, he shot forward toward the first boulder and reached it within seconds, after all, it wasn't far from where he stood. As he approached, he knelt down and wrapped the fingers of his right hand around it prior to repeating the same process with his left hand; the boulder was fairly large and eroded, the weight of it pulled down on Kanames shoulders as he arched his back and in one swift movement lifted it. Upon lifting the large sand engrossed boulder he waddled over to a location around fifteen feet from his previous and laid the boulder down at which point it cracked a little and fractions of the grand thing fell off.

Without time to waste, he moved onto the next boulder with a little job. Upon arriving he repeated the process of wrapping his hands around the boulder prior to arching his back and lifting it. The arching of the back was essential when lifting heavy weights, if done any other way several muscles have the possibility to be torn or strained in the process and with Kanames frail physique, that's not really something he enjoys. As he positions the second boulder he repeats the same process with another two in order to form a rectangle where one boulders located roughly thirty meters from the other.

He had hardly ever trained so specifically so it would be interesting to see whether training a certain area directly would make any form of difference. Sand swirled around him as he briefly knelt at the first boulder, he edged forward allowing his toes to momentarily take his weight prior to springing off into a run...

In order to be a competent Shinobi, an individual had to have well honed abilities and be able to adapt to almost any situation and in order for Kaname to achieve this feat he had to be fast. He didn't pride himself on his speed, strength or endurance but simply on the fact that he was a well rounded individual when it came to combat as he had neither a distinct strength nor a weakness. His frail physique however, had at times worried him in the past but he has come to adapt to it and has taken measures in order to remain in good form in both training and combat.

He began his sprint from one boulder to the next while waving his hands by his side in order to further propel himself. He inhaled through his nostrils and exhaled through his mouth as would any athlete training to improve their general speed. Anaerobic sprinting wouldn't be beneficial right now as at this moment he wasn't focusing on improving his endurance but simply pushing his speed capability to its limit in order to prepare and train the muscles and body to react quick and swiftly. As he neared the second boulder, he performed a rather agile front flip by springing off his right foot and into the air; while in motion his heart began to race and for a single instant the area around him seemed to slow as sand closely followed the trajectory of his jump.

Suddenly the world around him returned to full speed and he landed just as his sand encased his chest for added weight. As he landed he didn't waste time and instantly made his way toward the next boulder, even though he was heavier, he realized that this time he was running much faster than the first time round so he smirked and pushed his body harder in order to cover the land between him and the next boulder in a matter of seconds. When approaching the third boulder he didn't slow himself but simply maneuvered around it in order to keep on his path to the final destination.

His eyes were set on the path ahead as he sprinted toward the last boulder. This time though, he had changed one thing. While running on sand, the sudden sinking of the feet from pressure slows and individual so while running toward the last boulder, Kaname took it upon himself to launch off the instant his foot touched the sand in order to maximize his speed. Within a few seconds he reached the final boulder, slowed and sat down. He sat, panting while attempting to regain his breath. The sand that had been around his chest slowly swept off and crept back into the gourd while Kaname sat and looked down at the ground. Throughout the last majority of his childhood, Kaname lived alone and the one necessity for him was training. It took his mind of things and allowed him to focus while others around him enjoyed time with their parents. Some would say it made him cold but in his opinion it made him more experienced than most genin as he experienced feelings that no child ever should early on in life while others would come across it in the future. For some, those valuable experiences will be the end to their careers as Shinobi, for others it will be a prompt to do better; personally Kaname saw what happened to his parents as an act of god and so if his parents were the sacrifice that led to him being taught a lesson then he had to make them proud so as to not let their deaths be in vein.

He sat there and promptly edged off his seat prior crouching by the boulder and wrapping his hands around it. He then lifted the boulder toward his chest and lowered it back down, repeating the process four to five times until the muscles in his left arm stiffened and fatigue grew over him. He hadn't been here long but had planned to settle down outside till down in order to tan in the health morning sun. He turned and faced the route he took around the four boulders prior to edging forward and hearing the sound of sand seeping out of the gourd and in the blink of an eye he launched off toward the second boulder: he neared and diverted himself around it prior to reaching the third: there he jumped onto the boulder and sprung off it toward the last where an unknown howl brought him to an abrupt stop.

His sand made its way back into the gourd as he hopped down and picked up his jacket, he slipped his right and left arms through the arm holes and zipped it up prior to strapping the unsealed gourd to his back and venturing back home for the night. The howl had changed his plan for sleeping out in the desert, especially since he had no knowledge of what it was. As he made his way back, the lights in the village had dimmed and the late drinkers were walking home, he took the common and quick path back home while admiring the large variety of masks that had been on display at a stall...

[EXIT]
[WC = 1520]
[Speed from E to D] - 750 Words
[Strength from E to D] - 750 Words