Shinoe Hozuki walked through the Ferrum Hills until she reached an area in front of the abandoned mine. Holding a hand over her eyes, the girl looked up above the hills to where Lamina Peak stood. It was hard to believe that she had fallen from there and hadn't even gained an injury. Though not on her own she had to admit. And that was why she was here now; to receive training from Eden Shinteki. He had been nice enough to get her in as a genin for Tsukigakure, which was more than she had hoped for when first coming to this country. She would make sure that his kindness wasn't for nothing. Looking around at the empty area, the brunette decided to begin warming up until the man decided to show up. Cracking her knuckles, Shinoe rolled her neck, then her shoulders and reached down to her toes. Then she extended her left foot leftwards far away from the center of her body, brushing up small amounts of dry dirt as it skidded across the ground and she bent her right knee so she could lower her two hands to the ground. She repeated this stretch again for her right leg before stretching her hands above her head and finally lowering them to in front of her neck area and tightening them into fists. Shinoe alternated between practice punches and kicks, making small grunts as she did so.

The day still was young, the sun shone brightly in the clear sky. Though, it was not so early that the sun was still rising from the oceans to the East. A new day. A new set of tasks to complete. What lay in store for me on this day. These thoughts ran through my head as I stood atop a single tree which was slightly taller than the others in the area, looking to the clear sky above my head. Though this time around, I knew what lay in store for me at least this morning.

On this morning, I was to begin the teaching of the new girl, Shinoe who had just arrived at Tsukigakure not too long ago. I saw potential in her merely by her attitude. It was something I was a bit fond of due to the contrast in my own demeanor. Speaking of new girls...Shinoe herself had just arrived at the place I had described yesterday to her. She herself was early, and it was worthy of being applauded. Not many kids her age were able to be awake, much less functional so early in the day even though it was a couple hours from noon already.

The girl was well off into her stretches by the time I actually got a lock on her through the trees. Her posture was pretty good, though it wasn't very balanced. She could be tipped over without much effort. It was different...training a girl. It reminded me of...that girl back then. Before that girl grew up with me. Hisame was similar to Shinoe in such a sense. Not very balanced.I was sure Shinoe would also grow into a very strong woman eventually, which was my main reasoning for having accepted her as my student, though perhaps another reason was so that I'd have a reason to get closer to the people within my village. Such things were important for a Kage, right?

After such thoughts and memories ran through my head, I jumped down to the ground beneath me and landed a few feet behind the girl Shinoe as she had just begun exercises of some sort. Instead of just standing there, though, I spoke aloud so that she'd know I was there. "I'm glad that you arrived early. Not many your age like to get up even this early. Shall we begin the day, Shinoe?"

Shinoe was so concentrated into her warm up punches and kicks at the air that she had not noticed Eden's silent landing behind her until he spoke to alert her of his presence, causing her to hair's to raise and her body to instantly go on alert, involuntarily swinging her right fist wildly at the man as she exclaimed, "Shit!" Thankfully or rather humiliatingly, the punch never met it's mark as her boots slid on the dry dirt, causing her to keep spinning and punching too far to the left. Barely catching her balance so that she wouldn't fall forward, the brunette shrugged in a non-committal reply to his observation that she was not like most others her age in that she was willing to wake up early. She didn't bother telling him that she had been sleeping until two hours ago in a forest. At his rhetorical question of getting started she stated in turn, "Might as well get started before you have to fly off or something. New Kage must be busy as hell."

She honestly wasn't sure how to react to him being in his new position. They hadn't really interacted much since he was promoted and she didn't see much reason to change that, though she wasn't stupid enough to turn down training from a current kage. She felt as if she needed to watch his every breath and take notes on it. If she was to ever become kage of Shippugakure, maybe the masked man wasn't the only one who had some answers. Yet she was also wary. Eden was now a man in power, privy to very privileged knowledge she was sure. Did he already know her last name and the heritage it carried? The true reason she was in Tsukigakure? Or was he blissfully unaware and her own anxieties making him suspicious about her demeanor? All of these thoughts were distracting her as she stepped back from Eden, awaiting for his direction.