Chapter 2- A Shift In The Sands

"My friend, I am not what I seem.

Seeming is but a garment I wear

-a care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings

and thee from my negligence."

-KAHLIL GIBRAN, The Madman

The sun's rays began to rise above Konoha, though many would take this as the beginning of the day, for most it had already started many hours before, with some having worked through the night to accomplish the tasks that their occupations demanded.

However among those industrious people who worked tirelessly for themselves and the greater good, there were some who could barely find the energy and motivation to get themselves out of bed. This may sound like the perfect description of a Nara, but you would be wrong in thinking that they are the only ones who have such problems. Though the Nara clan does have a rampant laziness problem, it is not laziness that ties a certain Naruto Uzumaki to his bed sheets.

The reluctant time traveller was lying upon his bed, only dressed in his boxers and covered in a thick layer of sweat, his skin having an unhealthily pale tint to it. A pained sigh echoed out of the young man's lips as he rose to a sitting position on his bed.

His midnight blue eyes scanned his bedroom, flicking from corner to corner, the action calming his slightly jittery nerves. The young man suddenly caught the slightest of movements out of the corner of his eye, without even a trace of hesitation the war veteran's arm flashed under his pillow case and just as quickly his arm tensed, throwing the contents of his hand into the wall with an audible 'thunk'.

The man's slightly crazed and panicked eyes focused in on the Kunnai which he had mercilessly tossed into the wall, its blade pinning a spider's corpse to it. Another sigh escaped from Naruto's lips as he place his face into both his hands. He stayed immobile for a minute or two before running one of his hands through his oily unkempt hair.

As he rose from his bed, walking towards the door, he passed by a rickety wardrobe and set of drawers. Upon the oak surface of the latter, a set of dark clothes rested, set out the day before. A black long sleeved cotton padded shirt and similarly padded grey cargo pants were neatly folded atop a pair of pristine steel capped boots. These kind of clothes had been hard to find, especially in Konoha, but Naruto had managed. It might have seemed peculiar that the war torn man wanted to wear clothes that were almost a carbon copy of his uniform from another timeline, but perhaps the familiar clothing brought him a sense of comfort.

The allied forces' uniform had been altered according to the situation, the archaic sandals had grown too unreliable and the dark green, red, blue and beige attires were all too bright, even at night.

Walking out of his bedroom into the living area, Naruto quickly assessed the room, checking the small dining table and two chairs along with the kitchenette and its cupboards for even the slightest difference from when he had gone to bed. During his nine years of fighting and being on the run, checking his surroundings for any disturbances after waking up to see if anyone or anything had been around him while he slept had become a habit, one he was reluctant to get rid of.

The rays of sun that were gently peaking through the blinds of the window behind the sink of the kitchenette were used to move around rather than the electric lights which hung above. Not that if the young ninja wouldn't be able to see even in pitch black darkness, that sort of ability had become a necessity when fleeing into the void was a nightly occurrence, however another habit that grew on survivors of the Fourth Great Ninja War was to conserve and conceal one's chakra at all times. They never knew when they might have to spend a large amount of it on a distraction or a large scale jutsu. Those who hadn't picked up this habit had been submerged in the hordes of White Zetsu when their chakra pools grew empty.

The time traveller silently made his way to the bathroom which was on the left side of the living-room, the front door of his apartment being right in front of him. If anyone was looking, they might have thought that the pale half nude man was a ghost as not even the dust in the air around him seemed to shift as he made his way towards the shower. The door to the washroom opened and closed without a sound, and then like an explosion in the eerily quiet apartment, the sound of running water crashing down onto Naruto's sweat covered figure.

The ex-jinchuriki stared down at the shower's drain as the water swirled down into it along with the sweat and grime that had built up during his nightmare filled sleep. His guilty conscience wouldn't let him simply forget the horrors of his other life, as every night he was racked with gruesome and constant imagery of his cherished people's deaths. Not that even without those he would forget, the scars on his body might have been numerous, but those in his mind were even more so.

When he was satisfied that his body was the bare minimum of clean, Naruto twisted the shower's faucet shut and stepped out onto the cold tile floor, swiftly grabbing a towel and using it to dry his damp body. Stepping towards the bathroom's sink, his deep blue eyes gazed into the mirror that was hung above it, a carbon copy of them staring back. Black scruffy hair hung offer his face, almost resembling the Fourth Hokage's haircut, if it could even be called a hair cut at all, though there was a distinct lack of bangs.

Naruto's hand reached up to his cheek, his calloused fingers running over the whisker-like facial hair that rested there. There must have been some of the nine tail's residual chakra within him, as no matter how many times he shaved his face, the six whiskers grew back each time.

Stepping away from the mirror, the war hero made his way to his clothes, satisfied that he was dry enough to put them on. He opened one of the compartments of his drawers and retrieved both a pair of black cotton boxers and a very thin long sleeved undershirt that reached up to the bridge of the wearer's nose. Being unable to shave his whiskers and having little to no talent in genjutsu, concealing them with a Kakashi-esque face mask had been his final and only resort.

Pulling his clothes on without even a rustle of fabric, the silent shinobi prepared himself for his outing. His monetary resources had almost run dry and soon enough he would be unable to pay even the meagre rent of his apartment. It may have been true that his being in the past was a fruitless endeavour, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to live with the bare minimum of comfort which seemed luxurious to him after his nine years of war.

As the man slowly made his way towards the front door, like in a nightmare it only seemed to get further away. He didn't want to go outside, didn't want to risk running into his past self or any of the younger versions of the people he had cared for. His heart was already fragile as it was, he wasn't sure what would happen if he saw team seven from an outwards perspective. Seeing them would just remind him of what he had lost and what was now unattainable, in the worst case scenario he may even end up trying to stop the Fourth Great Ninja War and start a never ending paradox. Tearing the universe apart was not on his agenda.

Despite the anxiety that he felt, on the outside he seemed completely composed, moving towards the door with the key already in his hand. He stretched his arm forwards, the key homing in on its lock. The sound of metal sliding into metal grated out into the quiet apartment followed by the clicking of the lock opening as Naruto twisted the key like a knife in an open wound.

He hadn't left the apartment for three days, the last time he had gone out had been to buy the bare minimum of food, if ration bars could even be called 'food'. Perhaps that was why he was blinded by the bright morning sun and was forced to stumble forwards onto the railing of the apartment complex's walkway. Perhaps the soft breeze in the air that displaced his messy black hair would have felt nice if the lower half of his face wasn't covered up.

If he did end up meeting Kakashi, explaining away the identical fashion sense would be rather simple, after all people who wanted to hide their identity existed all over the elemental nations.

Walking down the cement steps of his apartment and out into one of the busier commercial streets, Naruto gazed out at the hundreds of people that flocked past. Before arriving in Konoha it had been a long time since he had seen so many people in one place, without a care in the world. Civilians, genin, chunin and jonin all mingled together as they went about their daily tasks, them and the stream of shadows that most didn't even notice.

All the colour seemed so vivid, the sounds were extremely loud, bits and pieces of conversation entering into his mind, his own heart beating loudly in his ears. The smell of food wafting out from restaurants, of cigarettes and unspeakable odours wafting out of public restrooms. Naruto stood frozen, if he moved even an inch, the feeling of his own clothes rubbing against his skin hurt.

His senses were going haywire along with his chakra which he was desperately trying to suppress, this had happened on a few different occasions already, but for some reason it was ten times as bad right now. The war veteran guessed that it was likely to be due to the lack of bijuu inside of him, the sudden unbalancing of the delicate yin-yang equilibrium was playing havoc with his body. A small part of his brain tried to bring the words of his fuzzy friend and loyal comrade to the attention of the rest of it, the memories of Kurama and the other tailed beasts' words desperately trying to resurface only to be ruthlessly quashed. Naruto only saw these memories as the residual chakra of the Kyuubi, trying to trick his mind as it acted on pure malice and instinct.

This residual chakra should have posed no threat even with the great nine tails' malice driving it, why then did it feel as if his chakra pathways were full of molten lava? The honed shinobi's pondering and state of immobility were suddenly shattered by a voice that entered his mind, though this one was from the present.

"If you're so sick of being in my debt, why don't you get better than me ?"

That slightly nasally yet guttural voice that seemed to drive all the young kunoichi wild was so distinct, Naruto barely even had to think to know who it was. His midnight blue eyes flicked through the crowd, from face to face, effortlessly skipping over the ones he deemed unfit for his attention. Just as he begun to think he had imagined it, he caught sight of them, two young boys glaring at each other in the middle of the street, the large crowd of civilians seeming to instinctually move around them.

One was slightly shorter than the other, dressed in bright orange with dashes of blue here and there, his face seemed slightly scuffed up and the way he held himself betrayed the injury to his left leg despite his best efforts to hide it. Meanwhile the other child met the prior one's heated glare with his hands the pockets of his grey shorts and a cool, uncaring gaze, one you could imagine he also gave to an insect if it were to land on his arm.

A slight distance away from the two was also a young pink haired girl looking on at the scene with worry etching her face. She wore a red kimono-like dress with light blue spandex shorts which clashed terribly with the person who was stood not too far from her.

Towering above the trio was a silver haired man with only a single eye visible, his other hidden by the forehead protector that hung on his face at an awkward angle, the lower half of his face hidden just like his eye. His slouching posture, half lidded eye and his hands in his pockets did nothing to hide the aura of strength which seemed to surround the man, his cold black eye as sharp as a knife.

Seeing these four people, his past self, his dearest friends and his father figure was enough to make Naruto clutch at his chest, it felt as though his heart was going to burst. As his fuzzy vision stared at the group, their broken corpses overlapped with their current living forms. The mix of emotions swirling within the veteran was enough to drive him mad, he was even tempted to retrieve the kunnai hidden at his waist and stab it into his jugular, but that thought was hindered by a sudden tension that permeated the air.
And this tension was not the one between the young jinchuriki and last loyal Uchiha. It took him a second, through the pain, to pinpoint its source, but when he found it he wished he hadn't. Apparently the fluctuating chakra within the ex-jinchuriki hadn't been missed by the elite jonin who stood barely a building's distance away.

Time seemed to slow to a halt as midnight blue clashed with coal black. He hated it, that cold, calculating and uncaring eye staring at him as if he were a complete stranger. Why couldn't it look at him with the same comforting warmth that it had always had?

That was a stupid question, and he knew it, he was no longer Naruto, not in this world. He was no longer the son of the fourth Hokage, Kakashi's beloved teacher. He was a complete stranger, an unknown and possibly dangerous element that could pose a threat to the silver haired jonin's students, why else would he be staring at them through a crowd of a hundred other people.

The tension was suddenly snapped by a high pitched screech coming from high in the sky, a messenger hawk flew in a specific pattern above, a yellow piece of cloth tied to one of its legs. The coded message was a summons to all jonin instructors with a genin team. There was something about this that seemed familiar, but the time traveller couldn't figure out what.

The feeling of a body flicker along with a slight puff of smoke were the only things which indicated the silver haired man's departure from the crowded street. His sudden exit drew the ex-jinchuriki's eyes back down from the skies and onto the trio which had now become a duo as Sasuke had left only a few seconds before his sensei.

" Oi! Little hint... No rock has perfectly square corners and eyeholes! Kind of a big giveaway!"

Naruto didn't want to observe his former self, he didn't want to see even more people especially because he knew that under that ridiculous rock was the Konohamaru corps. Konohamaru had been one of the few people precious to him that he hadn't witness die with his own eyes, but the alternative was just as bad... Even just remembering the way Moegi had seemed so lifeless as she recounted her best friend's death to him step by step was enough to make Naruto shiver.

Despite this, after regaining his composure, he leapt up onto the rooftops and concealed his presence with great care. Because he remembered what was going to happen, the square rock having been like an explosion that broke the dam, letting a flood of memories through. The chunin exams, Temari, Kankuro and... Garaa. Soon the group of kids beneath him would run into the sand siblings, both literally and figuratively.

A small part of him was doing this to keep an eye on them, see if he couldn't change a few things, like prodding the water with a toe to tell if it is cold or not. Another much larger part of him knew that his very existence was proof enough that the future was doomed and was only doing this to get a nostalgic glimpse at the young Garaa.

Three kids wearing goggles, two solid punches, a broken fence and maybe a few bones later...

"...Jeesh! That broad-browed, fire breathing hag ! Is she even a real girl ?!"

Konohamaru had never been good at using his inside voice... That had been part of the reason he had ended up dead... Shaking his head from side to side, Naruto tried to focus on something a little lighter in theme. Because even from his new hiding position, behind the fence of some alley and stood in someone's garden, the veteran could humorously imagine the face that Naruto's female team-mate was pulling at this very instant. Hadn't anyone ever told Konohamaru, 'Hell hath nor fury like a woman scorned'?

The hidden observer could hear and feel the sound of the group of four's footsteps, slamming clumsily against the ground as they darted off, trying to escape the fury of the pink haired demon. However before the chase could even properly begin it was cut short.

Konohamaru had bumped straight into someone in his mad dash away from Sakura and now had a pair of cold eyes staring down at his prone form. One pair were emerald green and the other light brown, but both held a hefty amount of contempt for the young academy student on the ground.

Both of them stood tall and proud, though only slightly taller than the other children in the alleyway. Temari, who of the two seemed like the calmest, looked to only be slightly older than the young Naruto. Her dirty blonde hair was tied back behind her head in a peculiar cross shape, which drew the eye almost as much as Kankuro's full black onesie-esque article of clothing. In comparison her one piece lightweight dress and full body fishnet that reached up to her neck, where her forehead protector hung, was positively ordinary.

Both of them had their main weapons strapped to their backs, in Temari's case it was her fan, for her brother it was his puppet. Perhaps it was tradition to have your weapon on your back in Suna, as Garaa, who was in a tree and hanging upside down from a branch just above the time traveller, also wore his gourd full of sand on his back.
The red haired jinchuriki was completely unaware of the older man's presence, instead calmly gazing at the situation unfolding before him. Though dressed similarly to his brother, in red rather than black, it was unlikely to be due to a sense of kinship, knowing the current Garaa.

The veteran leapt onto a branch just above the young Jinchuriki, without displacing a leaf, just it time to spot something rather strange. Sasuke Uchiha leaping up into the tree, which was growing crowded, and taking his time to get into a relaxed position so as to seem as cool as possible. Naruto wasn't sure how Garaa could keep a straight face when seeing such a thing, as even he was having trouble and he was certain his younger self would explode with laughter if he saw such a sight.

It was rather amusing, seeing everything for a different and distant perspective. Everything that seemed so important at the time, everything that seemed so frustrating and cool, now only brought slight amusement to the young man.

It did make sense however, that Sasuke would put so much effort in to looking good around others. He didn't want his clan's name to be tarnished by his actions. He wanted their pride, their strength and their coolness as perceived by his childish mind to continue living through himself. This also did explain why Garaa hadn't once taken Sasuke seriously in his timeline...

"Man look at you two getting all prepared to intervene at any second. So heroic."

The two figures in the leaves jolted, flicking their gazes away from Konohamaru who was currently being held up by Kankuro, to the time traveller with complete and utter shock in their eyes.

He hadn't meant to let those words slip, but the slight amusement he felt was enough to loosen his lips. After all, he had gone almost the entire war without a single hint of humour in his life. And he had once been the kind of kid who would have cracked a joke as he was dying or mocked the shinigami himself without a care in the world.

" HEY YOU IN THE BLACK PIG SUIT! RELEASE HIM NOW AND I'LL GO EASY ON YOU!"

And it would seem that that was exactly what his younger self was doing.

"Ahh, the subtlety of a bull in a china shop... Negotiator extraordinaire over there is going to get someone killed..."

Naruto felt guilty right now, he felt a guilt unlike one he had ever felt before... Because he was enjoying this, it was the same feeling he imagined a master shogi player felt when playing against a beginner. He was enjoying this despite all the people who had died, who were going to die...

It was true that his younger self had enjoyed mocking people, and he remembered why, because it was calming... The burning which had still been very present within his chakra coils was diminished with each syllable he uttered. It was true that technically he was mocking himself, but you know what they say, 'those who can't self criticise never learn.'

The war veteran's midnight blue eyes spotted Sakura holding Naruto in a chokehold, though whether she was trying to stop him from running headlong to his death or kill him, was hard to tell. That reflection alone caused the tiniest of genuine smiles to flitter across his concealed lips. Time to step in...

Garaa had been prepared to cover the strange black clad man in sand and send him to an early grave at the slightest of hostile movements, but his eyes didn't even have time to adjust their focus as his target which they had been locked onto suddenly disappeared. From what the jinchuriki of the Ichibi could tell, the man hadn't even used a body flicker, he was just that fast... And that was very disturbing, the young red head had never seen someone that fast, he didn't dare imagine how fast the man could be if he used chakra. Garaa doubted that even his father, the Kazekage could measure up to that kind of natural speed, and this worried him because his weakness was speed...

Sasuke was thinking things along the same line, though instead of being worried or disturbed he was jealous and intrigued. Why had he never seen or heard of the man before? Was he not a konoha shinobi? From what he could tell he hadn't been wearing a forehead protector, which either made him a retired shinobi, an infiltrator or a civilian. All three possibilities seemed completely impossible to him.

The young Uchiha span back around towards the street, spotting the strange man silently land on the wooden fence with the tips of his feet, crouching down while holding his balance effortlessly. There was something about the man's infuriatingly nonchalant attitude which reminded him of his sensei, that and the strange double eye smile and raised hand as he drew the crowd's attention to himself, as if he were an actor in a play.

One Kakashi in his life was already enough mind numbing yet snarky passiveness to drive the poor Uchiha to the edge, adding a black haired and slightly taller version of him was not what he needed or wanted.

There was a not so healthy amount of trepidation hidden behind the cool attitude that Naruto was giving off, he was just glad that there were only very few anbu and jonin in the area, if there had been even a few more, he probably would have stayed hidden and let things play out. After all, he knew nothing bad would happen.

"Heya Suna kiddies, might not want to kill the Hokage's grandson there... You know war isn't generally good for one's rep, 'specially if they were an ally... Could really piss off your father too, would hate for that to happen wouldn't we?"

Every single eye in the clearing fell on him like a pile of bricks made out of the heaviest material in the world. He wanted to reach his hand up to his chest and grip above his heart where an unbearable pain was present, this time not caused by his fluctuating charka. Instead he simply breathed through his nose, trying his best to maintain the cheery and nonchalant facade... Though a part of him was berating the other for acting as if everything was fine. The only conclusion as to why he had decided to do this was that the mask covering his face wasn't the only one he was wearing.

"Th-th-the Hokage's grandson ? Kankuro you dumbass !"

A stone shot out from the tree that the time traveller had been in just before, colliding with Kankuro's hand and causing the Suna genin to drop his prey. In the same instant the young Uchiha leapt down, as coolly as possible and positioned himself between the two opposing groups. All three girls in the clearing noting how cool he had been, though those thoughts quickly vanished when a cold voice echoed out from the exact same tree he had been in.

"You're a disgrace to our entire village, Kankuro."

The statement was harsh coming from one sibling to another, and only doubly so because of the chakra that seemed to saturate the air with every syllable. The pressure was almost choking the three academy students who had yet to partake in a real fight, as the source leapt down into the fray from his upside down position in the tree, his eyes still focused on the man who was currently on the fence.

"It annoys me that you would lose control in a quarrel with children, you would cost us not only the reason we came here but also start a war between our nations ?"

' Prematurely start a war and besides...'

"...You know you aren't really one to talk Garaa-san."

The first part had been in his head but apparently self control was non existent when you're from the future... His words seemed to send a spark of shock through all three siblings, for one reason or another.

'He would say that to Garaa's face ?'

'He's got a death wish !'

'Who is this man, mother ?'

Rather than linger on the man's words any longer, Garaa turned fully towards the Konoha shinobi and seemed to bow slightly. Something which shocked Temari and Kankuro, though not as much as it did the man who was observing them, it was just that he did a much better job at hiding it.

"I apologise on my siblings' behalf, I would have thought they had outgrown the need to be taught manners."

Despite looking straight at the young genin in front of him, the words seemed to be aimed more so towards the oldest person in the area, than the children who were in front of them.

"H-hey Garaa, you gotta understand th-"

"Shut up. Or I'll kill you."

The words were spoken in a cold tone and the threat was most definitely real, a detail that shook Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke to the bone. He would so easily kill his brother and team-mate ? Never would Kakashi complain about their teamwork again after hearing about this.

"Besides, we didn't come early just to play around."

"S-s-sorry, it won't happen again..."

"Let's go."

Something was off, something about all of this was wrong... At least that's how Naruto felt, having already lived through this event once before. Garaa was acting completely different than he had when it was him in the blond brat's blue sandals... Perhaps it was a matter of perspective but the dark haired time traveller could remember a lot more bloodshot eyes and invasive killing intent... In comparison despite the cold gaze and offhanded death threats, this Garaa seemed almost tame... Then again to the kids below trying their best not to shake in their sandals, it must have been a whole different story, even Zabuza hadn't been as bone chillingly cold as this.

As the three sand siblings were leaving, someone had to open their mouth, though for once it was neither Konohamaru nor the young Naruto.

"Wait! By your forehead protectors you three are from Sunagakure right? You might be our allies but according to the treaty you can't just waltz-"

"Now now pinky, don't antagonize the crazy people, they were leaving and that was a good thing... Mhh, though the the blonde girl seems pretty sane, then again anything would seem pretty sane next to those other two... Besides, surely you know about the chunin selection exam, smart as you seem, right?"

The black haired man's sarcasm was like thick honey dripping from every word. Though he was certain all three sand siblings took offence to what he had said, neither Temari nor Kankuro would react as long as Garaa didn't and the fact that he didn't shocked them both.

Though calm on the outside, Naruto was fighting an inner battle, his mind was in a state of turmoil. He knew he could sit back and do nothing, in fact in this case doing something was probably worse than doing nothing, and yet here he was... It was as if he was desperately trying to convince himself that he had to intervene, that he had to save the world just as his inhuman friends had told him to and yet at the same time he wanted nothing to do with any of this, fate had long since set out a path for his younger self.

Though you wouldn't be able to tell he was intent to not get involved as he was currently stood next to Sakura, patting her head while she looked as though she wanted to bite his hand off. Sasuke was also eyeing up the incognito time traveller with a suspicious gaze. Meanwhile Naruto just seemed completely lost as to what his future self was saying.

Temari, in reaction to the strange man and Sakura's conversation, retrieved a small leather bound booklet from one of her pockets, presenting it proudly.

"That's right, if you want to double check... Ta-da, my travelling papers."

The young Naruto ignored Temari in favour of turning to the older man with an inquisitive look.

"Umm... What's the chunin selection exam ?"

"Ah, well-"

Not liking being ignored the blond Suna Kunoichi pushed into the conversation as rudely as possible.

" Hmph, you really don't know ? If you're an example as to what the rest of konoha's genin are like, I feel a little bit of pity. Junior ninja, or genin are sent from Sunagakure and other allied nations in order to compete against Konoha's own candidates. "

Naruto just seemed even more confused, but to his merit instead of asking the same question again he passed on to the next one. Though whether that was actually because he knew it would be rude to ask the same question again or because he couldn't be bothered, only he could know. Well him and his future self, who knew it was the latter.

"Why do they test us all together ?"

"Well mainly to maintain the skill level of all shinobi at the same level... But also to foster friendship and understanding between- Hey ! It's good manners to listen to the answer of your own question!"

Indeed, Naruto, rather than listen to her answer, had instead turned to Konohamaru and begun getting himself hyped up for joining the chunin selection exam. Sasuke decided that this would be the appropriate moment to ask for the red haired's name, though Kankuro had already used it, the time traveller guessed that it was to try and gather as much intel as he possibly could, either that or it was just to seem cool.

"Hey, the basilisk over there, what's your name?"

"Garaa of the desert, at your service... And you are?"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

There was a moment of silence where both genin stared each other down, trying to determine how strong the other was just by looking. Though for Garaa it seemed more as though he was staring at the man just over the sharingan wielder's shoulder.

The spell was suddenly broken however by the orange clad jester who seemed like he had been bursting to say something the whole time and had gotten tired of waiting.

"Hey, hey! Don't you want to know my name?"

"No."

And with that the sand siblings left in hastily used shunshins. The veteran settled for ignoring Naruto who was trying to reinvigorate his crushed pride by talking with Konohamaru and failing miserably. Meanwhile the black haired man seemed to stare up at a random tree, though if someone had been paying attention they might have noticed the slight shifting of one of the branches as three figures darted off.

Though no one had noticed them in his previous timeline, it would have seemed as though even at this point, Orochimaru and the sound shinobi were lurking in the shadows. Midnight blue eyes turned to look at the raven haired young boy, worry slightly tinting them. Though said raven haired boy took notice of this and turned towards the source of the gaze.

" Who are you? You aren't wearing a forehead protector so it would be easy enough to think that you aren't a shinobi, but your attitude, skills and knowledge are way beyond a civilian. So who are you? Are you also here because of the chunin exams?"

"Ah... A good guess but no...I guess you could say I'm retired... The name's Kamen Sakamoto... Nice ta meetcha brats."

The quirky double eye smile that he gave the three genin was enough to tick off a saint, but Sasuke saw something in this 'Kamen Sakamoto's eyes, something which he thought he recognised, though very faintly.