Having taken a break from their training at the Toraono dojo, the nameless newcomer to Sunagakure made their way into the desert sea beyond the Dojo's gates. If they were to be taken into the clan which guarded the entry to the village, then it was only fitting that they learn the lay of the land outside. However, that necessitated a degree of study just as all aspects of shinobi life did. As with their investigations into the layout of the underground village itself, they would need to know the lay of the countryside of Wind Country better than they presently did. When it came to terrain, the best way to plan around it was to immerse oneself in it. To that end, they sent their selves about, Sharingan alive and memorizing theirview from atop a huge, clay creation. The toujigikou form piloted the immense chakra clay creature that bore them through the dunes. Below, their sand-shifting Sunaku self set out feelers to sift and sieve the dunes, while drifting sedately above the ever eroding dunes perched atop a nimbus of silicate particulate. Though a new sensation, the split-souled sage reveled in the rush of riding the creature. The rush of the wind in their ears, tugging at their clothes and running across their skin, combined with steady, relaxing wumph wumph wumph of the clay beast's fet, set them in a clear-headed state of focus. It reminded them of the distillation of awareness which had always accompanied them into battle. There was no future. There was no past. Only the now.
Beyond simply learning the topography of the dunes, they also tracked what life the lay within the desert. Their original body filed away memories of the size, sort, tracks, and other relevant information of any creatures encountered. As with all knowledge, an understanding of the local lifeforms could only benefit a guardian. If one knew nothing of the local wildlife's habitual behavior, then one had no way of recognizing when the same creatures were startled, disturbed, or otherwise acting unusually. Beyond the utility of such knowledge, the shinobi once rightly named Uchiha Akane had been far more comfortable in the presence of animals than people. Animals were typically straightforward in a way that people were not, but they also possessed an intuitive grasp of matters which most people, adults at least, had long since learned to distrust and second-guess. And there was, of course, the matter of the rumored megafauna inhabiting the country's environs. Immense, intelligent beasts as well as the colossal sandworms of wide renown. And so she scanned, searched, and observed the desert expanse from afternoon into evening and on from evening into the chill moonlit depths of night, reasoning that any large creatures residing in the desert would either be burrowers or would be likely to rest during the day in favor of reserving activity for the cooler evening and nighttime air.
WC: 509
Linked to Contract mods here.