Sorry the update has been so long in coming. I hope you enjoy this chapter. As a warning, Kakashi won't be as old as he is in the series. He is going to be paired with one of my OC girls, and she is considerably younger than the original Kakashi.

Please review after you read

.....

"Alright, let's take a break!" The traveling group heaved an enormous sigh of relief and came to a halt. All five boys dropped their packs and sat on the ground with a plunk. They had been going non-stop for three days...and were still only along the mountains that bordered the harsh Land of the Sphinx.

They'd been told at the border that the mountain path would be easiest, as the desert land went for miles without the relief of an oasis. Most of its cities were in the center but they did have a couple of tribes that wandered about the desert. And they rarely came near the bordering countries. So it had been a call from Kakashi: should they risk not running into the native people of the Sphinx by daring the desert, or take the safer route that had at least a slight promise of survival.

"At last! I did not think I could go much farther!" Lee said, collapsing. The youth had joined the group almost as soon as they had started. He had tried to be discreet about it, but failed. Kakashi sensed him and brought him up to the group. Lee had stated he thought they would have rejected his help, but Naruto assured him that they would probably have use for his abilities, and that the girls were his friends too. If he wanted to help, more power to him.

"How much longer until the Land of the Dragon?" Naruto asked, still breathless. Even though they stayed on the lushes side of the mountains, away from the dry arid side that lead into the desert, it was still relatively hot and the terrain was not easy to navigate.

"According to the people at least another four weeks. But they suggested we should take a detour and head to the center of the desert to restock on supplies," Kakashi responded, pulling a map out of his pocket.

"Are they nuts?" Kiba exclaimed. He waved his hands wildly in the air. "It's hot enough on this stupid mountain range, why would we want to go out there, where the heat is ten times worse!" Lee, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Gaara, and Naruto couldn't help but agree. Sure they were starting to run low on rations of food and water, however, they would much rather keep going to the Land of the Dragon by the mountain than go through the desert just to feed up on supplies.

"Look at it this way," Sasuke said, much more calmly than Kiba had spoken. "The sun will take up most of our energy, and we'll get thirstier faster." His reason was hard to knock looked up from his map and looked at them seriously with his one eye not hidden underneath his bandana. Suddenly he smiled.

"Easy enough to fix. Gaara can simply make the sand move underneath us, creating a moving sidewalk of sorts!" He said this with such cheer the others could only simple stare for a moment. Naruto turned to look at Gaara quizzically.

"Can you really do that?" he asked. Gaara shrugged.

"I've never tried," he said simply.

Rock Lee, however, was excited. He balled his hands into fists and leaned exuberantly towards Gaara."That would be most exciting! I say you give it a shot! It will show how much stronger you have gotten, and I can strive further to improve my techniques in order to defeat you!"

Gaara said nothing for a moment. "Fine. I'll give it a shot."

"Great! This way!" Kakashi took off towards the east, moving without warning. Exasperated the team moved swiftly to catch up. It annoyed them to no end when he did that. Dodging trees and leaping across rocks the group wound their way towards the side of the mountain. The longer they traveled the more they felt the temperature change. It slowly got warmer and warmer and warmer. The steepness of the mountain side got less and less. Running was easier than it had been as the ground steadily grew flat. Panting Naruto wondered when they would reach the desert he knew was looming somewhere ahead. He didn't expect it to be so abrupt. In an instant the team changed from running among life to running across barren sand.

They came to a skidding halt in surprise. Dunes of sand dragged on for miles, farther than the eye could see. The sun beat burning hot in the sky, a big yellow ball of glaring light. Lee shaded his eyes.

"This is a most tremendous sight! I did expect this desert to be so...so..." He seemed at a loss for words.

"Empty?" Sasuke suggested.

"How are we going to find anyone in this forsaken place?" Kiba said. Burning up he pulled off his coat. He wasn't so sure about bringing Akamaru know. The dog now lay in the sand, panting already from the heat.

Kakashi pointed forward. "We just go straight. A traveler who comes here often marked the map so I would now exactly where to go."

Through the distraction of the desert Gaara had already popped the cork to his gourd. Sand poured out of the opening and sifted under their feet. In moments they were moving.

"What the-" Startled everyone looked down. The sand stayed under their feet, rolling along.

"Gaara you are so badass," Naruto commented with a grin.

"Now we just need to worry about the sun," Sasuke observed dryly.

"I'm not making shade," Gaara responded. "It's hard enough controlling the sand in this way. I'm not dividing my chakra."

"Not a problem." Kakashi did a hand sign he had copied from a Water Ninja, and water, what there was of it anyway, pooled in the atmosphere above their heads. It created a thin veil of shade. Every now and then drops of liquid would fall on them and cool them down.

"Now that's what I call ninjitsu," Naruto said proudly, crossing his arms across his chest.

The going was long and somewhat slow. Every few hours they had to stop and let Gaara and Kakashi rest. Like with the others Gaara could hold out on sheer willpower and determination alone. That was what he was doing now. Spires had appeared in the distance. They were getting closer. Rather than stopping, like his body wanted him to, he started going faster.

He could feel the others itching for the ride to be over and their relief at seeing the city looming ever closer. It seemed to take years before both ninjas could release their chakra. The water dropped down on their heads and onto the ground. Gaara's sand crawled its way back into the gourd.

The ninjas found themselves at the edge of an oasis. A sudden splash of green against the beige and brown of the desert sand was weird and bizarrely bright to their eyes, but like the sand, the color of the wall in front of them was the color of a really light brown. The wall was broken by a fancy archway with two sphinx at the sides. Woman heads looked down at them. Rather than snarling, however, the looks on the sphinx's faces were serene and noble looking. Like the faces of were carved with exquisite detail. All in the group where sure that if they jumped up for a closer look they would see the eyelashes and each individual hair in the eyebrows. As it where, each strand of hair on the head could be seen, and the claws were prominent. Even the jewels around their necks and ankles were cut like real stones. Tails were curled around hindquarters. Wings were discreetly curled against their sides.

"So that's what a sphinx looks like," Kakashi murmured, admiring the statues.

"What are they exactly?" asked Shikamaru. He too was intrigued.

"Part human, part lion, part eagle," a male said from behind them.

The ninjas turned. Before them was a young man about the age of all the group members but Kakashi, who was at least in his mid-twenties.

None had ever seen anything like was wild looking, with spiked black hair and skin a dark chocolate tan. One of his eyes was black with flashes of sapphire in it, the other was covered by a patch. What looked like dark blue slashes where tattooed across his eye, and when he blinked, they saw a flash of what could have been an eye tattooed over his eyelid. The eye of a snake.

The strange male wore some sort of pirate outfit: a simple white shirt with full sleeves that blew in the wind covered by a black vest with a silver snake stitched on the front, and loose black pants tucked into boots. Two belts crisscrossed a lean waist, one with the buckle of a skull the other with the buckle of crossed swords. He carried no visible weapon, however, and he only carried two packs: a small pack he held in his hand, and a mini-saddle bag strapped to his hip.

Naruto was unsure whether or not to take a stance. Kakashi was not reacting in a physical way, Sasuke looked as confused as Naruto, Lee stood there dumbstruck, Kiba only showed his surprise, and Shikamaru looked nearly as bored as he always did. It was Gaara who acted.

"Who are you?" he asked in a severe voice.

The man adjusted his grip on his pack. A smile curved his lips and he titled his head to the side.

"Titan."

....................................

Semi-dramatic entrance. Could have been better, maybe, I'm not sure. I warn my readers: because Titan is a representative of the Land of the Snake, he will have many things that have to do with snakes about him. He will even have a pet snake he carries with him. I already have a pairing for him but if you would like to vote as to who he should go with, please do so in a review. The lady with the highest votes will win:-). Only vote on the Naruto girls however, as you haven't yet met my girls. He is not going to fall in love with one of them.

Please review. The next chapter will be up as soon as I can get it typed. It's all just kind of popping out of my head right now.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!