Author: I'm being mean to the poor characters. Ah, well. He couldn't exist in ignorance forever; I wouldn't let him. so, thank you all for your reviews! They mean the world to me. Seriously. So, since you know that, it won't kill you to comment(again). Now, onward!

Disclaimer: Who the hell would think Naruto would belong to some stupid American fangirl?

Kawao was taking the day off. The rain had cleared since yesterday, when he and the group he had been guiding made it to Konoha with no mishaps. The Fox had ground caution into him, though. If he could avoid injury and annoyance, all the better. The Fox liked Kawao in one piece, and so did Kawao. He had been meandering around the town, and was amused, as on his previous occasions, that Konoha was almost like any other village he had visited. There were always the same type of people everywhere he went. The only addition to this village were the forehead protectors that so many bore with pride. Kawao idly touched the dark blue band at his neck, and his eyes became sad. The Fox had forbid him to wear it correctly, because that would a)draw attention to himself, b)mark him as something he wasn't and c) could scare away potential clients. All those put together convinced him that while he would never let the band out of his sight(unless it was to woo and shmex Sasuke...);he would never wear it, either.

He hadn't been looking where he was going, and stopped abruptly, and let a wayward shuriken wiz by his chest. It embedded itself into a tree, and Kawao pulled it out with some amusement. He heard a male voice scolding someone, and Kawao turned to look.

It felt as if time abruptly stopped and then dropped him with a crash into a time long ago.

The same man was there, but looked a little younger. The scar across the bridge of his nose, his voice, his demeanor...everything spoke volumes to something within Kawao. But he found that he was looking up at the man. The man then moved, and Kawao was back in the present. The man gave Kawao a rueful smile.

"You should be more careful where you wander," he said, is voice still holding a bit of a scold, but also laced with exasperation and amusement.

"Iruka-sensei?" Kawao said softly, his eyes a bright blue, wide, alarmed, and confused. "Did you get shorter?"

Iruka became mildly wary, but also confused. "I'm sorry, but I don't think we've met before."

Iruka watched as Kawao looked away, blue eyes hurt before the blue abruptly disappeared and was replaced by a strange tawny. Kawao looked back up at Iruka, and gave him a grin.

"You're right. We haven't met. You just reminded me of someone I knew once, a long time ago."

Kawao lightly tossed the shuriken back to Iruka, controlling it well enough to make it easily catchable. He then looked at the group of children practicing throwing shuriken, and his smile became rueful.

"You must have a lot of patience to deal with so many. I trained a few kids in my village to defend themselves, but I guess the training, being more rigorous in a ninja village, requires more patience than teaching a few brats how to punch and where to punch."

Iruka looked back to the kids with a faint smile on his face.

"They're a handful, but they're this village's future." Iruka's voice became a little strained. "But it's sometimes hard to remind myself of that."

Kawao grinned and laughed a little. "I'll leave you to them. I've disrupted your class long enough."

Kawao nodded politely(enough), then turned and walked away.

Iruka watched him recede, and his mind was working overtime. That voice, those eyes...he had sworn he had seen three parallel scratches on that man's cheeks. The sense of recognition was overwhelming. He just needed to think a little. And then he would know who that man was.

---

Kawao leaned heavily against the fence, and a hand found its way up to his head.

'What is...going on?'

He pushed off the wall, and regained his composure, even though how he had known Iruka's name was still a mystery to him. As was the onslaught of feelings, confused and muddled images, and words that occasionally got past his barriers. There was one word left out of every sentence he heard though, and he felt that it was vitally important to hear it, to know it. He turned a corner, lost in thought, and almost bumped into a young woman, but with their combined reflexes, they were both far apart from ever hitting each other.

"Oh...sorry..." Kawao said, and rubbed the back of his neck in chagrin, giving her an apologetic smile.

"N-no, it's okay," she said softly.

Kawao looked at her, and felt that she was pretty, but would be more so if she had a little more confidence in her body language. Her hair was dark black, and her eyes were a pale white/grey that would have creeped him out if they had not felt so...familiar.

"Hinata-sama!"

Kawao's muscles instinctivly tensed, and he had to suppress a feeling of unreasonable irritation.

"Hinata-sama." The voice he had heard belonged to a young man with the same type of hair and eyes, only his eyes were colder, arrogant, and severely grated on Kawao's nerves.

"Neiji-kun, I'm sorry. I just felt...a familiar presence, and went to check it out."

Neiji sighed softly and looked over at Kawao, and tensed. Neiji saw the barely checked anger, saw the orange and red flickering like fire in the man's eyes. Kawao gave Neiji a barely-visible smile that said he wouldn't kill him–yet, and nodded before turning and heading off in another direction. Neiji came up close next to his cousin, and put one hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

Hinata nodded, and watched Kawao disappear around a corner, and she frowned slightly, brow furrowing in thought.

"He felt so...familiar. Like...Naruto..."

Neiji scowled slightly at that name. "Naruto is dead. Perhaps you're feeling a little sick, and so your perceptions are distorted."

"Maybe..."

Hinata allowed herself to be led away, but she knew, on the most instinctive level, that the man she had nearly run into was Naruto. She was certain. How it was possible, though, was another story. She would seek him out again. Perhaps that would give her more answers.

---

Kawao had to get out of this god-forsaken village. NOW. He walked slowly away from the town, and after a turn came to a spot with a magnificent view of the mountain that overlooked Konoha. Kawao felt his breath leave his body in an instant, and he could only stare, transfixed, at the faces that looked benignly down upon the village of fire. Before his eyes, Kawao saw Sandaime's face(how did he know that!)alter, become more alive, with a rueful smile and sadness in his eyes as Sandaime looked upon Kawao alone. With a great effort of will, Kawao tore his eyes away and then began to sprint in the direction he knew the gates were.

He was never, ever, going to enter this village again. He'd guide people to it, but he would never pass beneath the gates again. Even if those eyes wanted him t...no, he would return if Sasuke asked. So, the only way he would ever return would be because of Sasuke. He slowed down to a walk, and gave the people guarding the gates a small smile and a nod before walking into the forest. He picked a random direction and began to run, relishing the pain that tore through his legs as he overworked himself by taking the hardest course, leaping over roots barely in time.

To some surprise, he broke out into a clearing. There, he saw three well-worn, wooden poles, and some sort of monument to one side. Curious, and going against his better judgement(when had he ever listened to it anyway?), he walked slowly over to the monument. Name after name after name. His gaze rested on one name, one that seemed fuzzy to his eyes. He reached out and touched it, trying to brush away whatever was hiding it.

Uzumaki Na–

"Yo."

Kawao turned abruptly on his heel, and relaxed only marginally when he saw it was the strange grey-haired, one-eyed ninja that had allowed him to take Sasuke in exchange for the map.

"Hi."

Kakashi stopped by Kawao's side and looked where he had been.

"Have you heard of that one?"

Kawao paused, then shook his head. "No. Should I have?"

Kakashi looked at him with the one visible eye and shrugged.

"These are the names of the heros of the village; those who died in battle for our sake."

Kawao's eyes looked a little sadder, and there was a flash of blue in them, hurt, and sad, and completely understanding the significance.

"Huh. So you think only those who die are heros? I think I'd rather be a living hero than a memory on some stone."

Kakashi looked at Kawao evenly, and it did not escape his notice that the man was shaking a little, and his voice had not been so certain. His eyes were an uncertain mud-color, also betraying his unease.

"Whatever. Who am I to judge?" Kawao gave Kakashi a wry, almost mocking, smile and then turned. "I've got more important things to do than stare at some stone."

With that, Kawao disappeared into the treeline, and out of Kakashi's physical sight.

"What is more important than knowing who you are?" Kakashi asked softly, and then turned his head back to looking at the stone, and his heart felt marginally lighter knowing that at least one of those names did not belong on this stone.