Chapter 4- The Trusty Kunnai

"He who has a why to live for

can bear almost any how."

-FRIEDRICH NIETZSCH, Twilight of the Idols, "Maxims and Arrows"

It wasn't that late, around half past two, but the big grey and black clouds hanging in the sky had blotted out the sun, meaning that most of Konoha was in darkness. Lights which would normally be used during the night had been powered on and many neon business signs flickered along the side of the busier avenues.

Two men of around the same age walked through an almost empty street in total silence, not even their footfall made a sound. The ongoing quiet was slightly awkward, it had been like that since Kamen and Kakashi had parted from team seven in order to go for a drink.

They had been walking for so long that Kamen had begun to think that Kakashi didn't even know where he was going, until suddenly he turned to the left and headed down an alleyway. Not wanting to be left behind, Kamen swiftly followed suit.

On either side of the cramped alley were stone walls belonging to the buildings surrounding them, water pipes and ventilation conduits giving off steam lined them by the dozen. It was surprising how long and how many turns the alley seemed to take, almost like a maze, and although Kakashi seemed to be arbitrarily deciding which way they were headed, there must have been some logic to his choices.

Finally the pair stepped out into a strange street, it couldn't have been more than five buildings long but it was completely cut off from the rest of the village, save for the alley they had just come through.

The square cul-de-sac had varying different signs hanging off of its buildings, some of them seemed to be of the more illicit kind.

'Some sort of red light district? For Shinobi by the looks of it.'

The guess was not made at random as many of the establishment had rather tongue-in-cheek names such as 'The Kage's Rest', a love hotel, 'Anbu Oddments', a shop selling pieces of worn looking anbu gear, 'Katon Cuisine', a restaurant where the chef cooked the food using jutsu and finally, 'The Trusty Kunnai', the bar that the out of place pair had apparently been heading to.

Kamen paused outside of the place to scan its structure and sense who was inside. The outside of the building seemed to be made of some sort of brick, its few windows were blacked out by curtains which prevented anyone from peeking in. He could sense about six or seven people inside, though for some reason the feeling was fuzzy, as if something was preventing him from getting an accurate reading.

"Are you coming Kamen-san ?"

The dark haired time traveller snapped back to reality, his eyes focusing in on the source of the voice. Kakashi... He had invited him to this place and under any other circumstances he might have been overjoyed that his father figure wanted to spend some quality time with him... But Kamen was in the past, Kakashi didn't know him, didn't see him as a son and if anything the son of the white fang was probably imagining many different scenarios in which he was a spy.

"Uh yeah..."

The duo stepped into the bar, again without a single sound, one seemingly accustomed to the place and the other seeing it for the first time.

Despite its outwards ramshackle appearance, the inside of the bar was rather sleek, the dim lights overhead giving it a very exclusive feeling. To the right of the entrance was the bar, its dark rich wooden surface with iron bar stools and a long iron pipe to tie your belt to, were all things you would expect to shine and reflect light, instead they seemed to have been purposefully buffed so as to be as dull as possible.

To the left were several cubicles with comfy looking sofas and sleek marble tables, each cubicle had a partition and a curtain so that the occupants could remain hidden. The fact that two of the curtains were closed, at opposite ends of the room, suggested that the people who came here usually did so for both peace and privacy.

Rather than heading to the private looking cubicles, Kakashi lazily veered off towards the bar, behind which stood a huge hulking man. His head was completely bald save for his dark moustache and eyebrows, both of which curled at the ends, however the comedy of his looks was offset by the large scar which ran from his left ear and ended just above his chin. Otherwise, the man was dressed in a posh looking red and black suit, just as posh and sleek looking as the rest of the bar.

Despite seeming to be completely uninterested by our entrance and instead focused on polishing something, the most trained of shinobi might have been able to make out the most minute tensing of his muscles, unfortunately Kamen was not that good at reading body language, otherwise he might have been a little more on edge.

"Kakashi."

Surprisingly the man's voice was neither loud nor gravely, which was what you would expect of a man of his stature. Instead his voice was low and soft, however that did not mean that it didn't carry weight.

"Kyodai."

The huge man's purple coloured eyes moved from Kakashi to Kamen, his eerie gaze scanning the man from head to toe, not missing a single fold in his clothes.

'There's no chance this guy is related to Nagato, right?'

The time traveller was pulled from his humorous thoughts by the man's voice, as he had now turned back to Kakashi.

"Weapons ?"

The short and to the point question was swiftly answered by Kakashi as he pulled off the pouch that had been attached to his right leg and placed it on the counter, swiftly followed by an identical pouch which had been clipped onto his belt at his rear.

The giant's purple gaze seemed to study the two pouches before he nodded, seemingly satisfied, when he had done so Kakashi retrieved the pouches and sat down on one of the slightly precarious bar stools.

"What about you ?"

Kamen was somewhat surprised at the man's question, as he wasn't even looking at him, instead focused once again on polishing the object which was obscured by a white cloth, but Kamen didn't outwardly show it and instead answered honestly; after all, he had reluctantly left his only kunnai at home, not wanting to be caught job scooting with an illegally owned weapon.

"I don't have any."

Instead of relaxing at those words, Kyodai tensed, this time much more visibly, his gaze flickered over to Kamen, seeming to reassess the dark haired man.

"You're either a fool or confident in your abilities."

The words weren't said harshly or even as a threat, instead they were said like a fact, in the same way that you would say 'the sky is blue' or 'the grass is green.'

"Maa Kyodai, there's no need for that, he's with me after all." That didn't seem to ease the burly man's tension, but he didn't look like he was about to sock Kamen in the face, so it was fine. "I'll have the usual Sake... You don't mind sharing do you Kamen ?"

The ex-jinchuriki didn't have much choice, but still nodded lightly as an indication that he didn't mind and took a seat next to Kakashi. Before Kamen had even answered, the bar tender had already wondered off to find whatever Kakashi's usual Sake was and two saucers.

"So Kamen-san, you're new to the village ?"

It seemed like small talk as the pair waited for their drinks, but Kamen could tell already that there was something else underlining Kakashi's words.

"That's right..." The time traveller replied, he had to be careful what he said next, but not too careful as to let on that what he was saying was painstakingly thought out. "I got here a few weeks ago, travelled from the land of claw to here... There was nothing left for me there... Not anymore..."

Kamen's backstory had been meticulously drawn up, just in case this sort of situation arose... In fact he might of unconsciously done it because he hoped this sort of situation would arise... Either way, his time with Jiraya, one of the greatest spy masters of the Elemental Nations, had allowed him to pick up more than a thing or two.

However this was the first time he would be putting the pervy sage's teachings into practise and that was worrisome. After all, there wasn't much room for subterfuge during the Fourth Shinobi War.

"Now see here kid, the trick to convince someone you are who you say you are, even when you're not, is to nail down some solid facts about your character, add to that a few key phrases that you can improvise around and you're good to go. Thing is, a pro will be able to tell whether or not lying, no matter how prepared you are, so the best thing to do in that case is to associate every piece of your made up character's story with something that triggers an emotional response in you. Say you're pretending to be looking for your favourite pet, try and think back to a time when you had actually lost something you cherished at the exact same time that you tell someone you're looking for your pet."

"Ne, Pervy Sage, what does this have to do with cool jutsu?"

"Now listen brat not everyth-"

Kamen shook his head from side to side, trying to forget about the painful memories of his godfather.

"So you picked Konoha mhh ?"

Kamen chuckled lightly, the tone in Kakashi's voice was so conversationally pleasant and yet both men knew that the exchange had much deeper meaning than what was on the surface.

"Well it is the strongest and safest hidden village there is, right ?"

"That's what everybody says."

Before either men could continue, Kyodai reappeared, a bottle and two saucers clutched between his oversized hands. Placing them down rather roughly, he moved off towards the opposite end of the bar so as to give them some limited although appreciated privacy.

Kakashi didn't hesitate to reach for the bottle and poor himself a saucer of sake, almost spilling it by overfilling the receptacle. Without batting an eye the man began drinking through his mask, expecting the man next to him to act surprised in some way or another. What Kakashi hadn't expected was for Kamen to chuckle, poor himself a saucer and begin drinking through his scarf. Both men paused slightly and eye smiled together, the action seeming almost natural.

Of course neither of the men had actually drunk through their face covers, rather they had cast a rather crude genjutsu, if it could even be called that, to maintain the illusion that their scarf and mask were up. It was true that Kamen had no talent for genjutsu, but thanks to his rigorous training he could at least cast the simplest of illusions, even though they wouldn't fool even a novice, they were still of some use.

"You say you come from claw, Kamen-san? And yet not only do you seem very knowledgeable, like a scholar, but at the same time you carry yourself like a veteran shinobi."

Kamen couldn't help but chuckle awkwardly at the praise, he couldn't tell whether Kakashi was being honest or whether he was just trying to pry more information out of him. But at least now he knew, that the elite jonin had been listening in when he was talking to team seven and he didn't seem to care enough to hide the fact.

"A lot of what I learned was from being around Shinobi and from wandering here and there…"

The truth wasn't that different from what he was saying, except the shinobi he had been around had all been of the highest calibre and the most skilled of their trade, if they hadn't been, they would have been already dead. Kamen had also taken to reading books when ever he came across them, there were no restricted access what with there being no leadership to restrict them, though the most sensitive material had mostly been destroyed to avoid it falling into the hands of Madara. It was slightly chilling when Kamen reflected on what he knew, Orochimaru would destroy half the elemental nations for a peak inside his skull, if he knew what it contained that is…

There was a bonus to having chosen to be from the land of claw, which was mainly that its hidden village, Kegawagakure, had been destroyed by Suna during the Third Great Ninja War. That meant that not only could he be as cagey as he wanted about his shinobi knowledge without drawing too much suspicion, but it also meant that most official documents, shinobi registers or anything of the same nature, had gone up in flames.

"And yet you're wise enough to fix my students after having barely met them..."

Kamen laughed slightly louder than was polite, which seemed to shock Kakashi as his single visible eye widened in surprise. It was not the light chuckle nor the short but sweet laugh he had heard from the man until now, instead the laugh was sad and almost cynical.

'I fixed them? Hardly!'

"I told them what might just, if they're lucky, set them on the right path to becoming real Shinobi. With how they are now, they won't survive very long."

Kakashi frowned lightly, not liking the tone that Kamen had begun to take, perhaps because it reminded him a little of how he had once been. Though in the silver haired scarecrow's defence, he didn't lose his cool.

"Setting them on the right path… I think you did a little more than that... Well, you're the expert I suppose. However, those things you said about chakra..."

Kakashi titled his head to the side, just enough so that his lone black eye could stare at the man sat next to him, who in response did the same. Night clashed with the twilight hours and a single second seemed to drag on, until the silver haired man continued after his very brief pause.

"That information is something that is way out of the league of a mere wanderer with a few years spent around shinobi."

Trying to deny that rock solid statement would either make him look foolish or suspicious, likely both, so the best thing to do was explain it away and try and re-direct the conversation. With a sigh laced with sadness, both real emotions and fake mixing together, Kamen began his explanation.

"Fine, fine... You got me... It was my father..." Kamen's voice caught in his throat as he thought of Minato, his loving and incredibly smart father... He had been so glad when he got to see him, both in his seal and as a reanimated corpse... But both times had left him feeling emptier than the last, as if he had simply dreamed of something unattainable, "It was my father who taught me most, if not all, of what I know about chakra and the shinobi arts... He never wanted me to be a part of that world, dangerous as it was, and yet the way things turned out... I might as well have been one..."

Kamen paused and when it didn't seem like he was going to continue so Kakashi decided he would have to urge him on a bit.

"What happened?"

"I was..." Memories of the Fourth Great Ninja War, the suffering and destruction, the physical and mental torture he had been through came flooding back, "When they ran out of genin to send into the fray, during the Third Great Ninja War, they started drafting civilians -men, women, children- who ever they could get their hands on... We were completely outclassed by Suna... It was little more than a massacre."

A flash of comprehension danced across Kakashi's face, finally seeming to understand the man's strange attitude.

"I heard about that... It was when Sunagakure was desperate, running low on supplies from the conflict with Iwagakure... They attacked pretty much every bordering country not just the Land of Claws... But the Land of Claws had the most strategic resources, which meant it was the main target..."

Kamen scoffed lightly, to which Kakashi brought a piercing gaze upon him, he was playing his role to perfection, he didn't know what had turned him into such a convincing liar, but he didn't really care.

"We had nothing to do with their conflict, our village had maintained steady trade with many different territories in the Land of Wind, Suna included... But they decided that they would rather have everything for free and we were hardly in a position to stop them... The amount of people who died, and for what? A bit of iron and water? I suppose in the end our lives are worth barely that... Death is the only thing that comes from being a Shinobi, we bring death and in turn death is brought upon us..."

Kakashi's gaze faltered, the dark look on Kamen's face was enough to depress a monk... Letting his hair shadow his face, Kakashi looked down at his saucer, swirling around the transparent liquid it contained.

"I don't think death is the only thing to come out of being a shinobi."

Kamen's sombre, almost black eyes, moved from looking at his saucer to Kakashi, who was suddenly fully turned towards him, one elbow resting on the bar's counter top.

"The kinds of stories about Shinobi, where the hero never gives up and overcomes all odds to be victorious, they're all a bunch of bullshit. They're there to convince the young and naive to throw themselves to their deaths for the greater good."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at the words, they seemed aimed at someone in particular and they definitely reminded him of his young blonde student, but the two having just met, he doubted that was who he meant.

"Ma, there's no need to be so morbid Kamen-san. I started the wrong conversation it would seem. We're supposed to be having a friendly cup of sake!"

Kamen smiled a delicate and sad smile, he knew Kakashi meant that. The man probably hadn't wanted to have this conversation, at least not in the way that they had, but his sense of duty had driven him to do so.

The pair turned back to their drinks, sipping them slowly in silence, though unlike all the other silences that Kamen had been a part of during his return to the past, this was one he did not mind. It was neither awkward nor lonely, this silence was the kind that only occurred between two people who felt mutual respect for each other and who shared a common experience... This was the kind of silence that blossomed between two war veterans.

Kakashi couldn't help but think that it was strange... He felt something towards the man before him, a sort of kinship that went deeper than just fellow war veterans... He had never felt this towards anyone other than Minato, and even then it was still different... But it was nice. Kakashi had friends, but most of them barely understood what he had been through... Losing his father, his team-mates... The things he had seen... But this man, sat next to him in this bar, right at this moment, without even saying so, understood... And yet they had only just met...

Something moving slightly caught Kakashi's attention, only half noticing that it was Kamen's head bobbing slightly, his eyes shadowed by his dark scruffy hair.

"Kamen-san?"

Reaching over the silver haired jonin placed a hand on his drinking partner's shoulder, only for the man to fall forwards, his head slamming against the counter with a 'thunk'... He had passed out... Kakashi blinked a couple of times registering what had happened and then laughed.

"Well," Kakashi began, a soft smile gracing his concealed lips, "it would seem our friend here is a lightweight."

Kyodai turned to look towards the pair and couldn't hold back the uncharacteristic smile that graced his lips. Moving over to take the bottle and saucers away, he couldn't help but notice that the passed out man had barely even finished his saucer.

"Maybe, or perhaps your choice of Sake is the thing to blame, Kakashi."

The silver haired man huffed playfully before getting off of his seat and walking over to sleeping beauty, currently almost drowning in a pool of his own drool.

Grabbing the man's wrist and slinging his arm over his shoulder he was careful to gently guide the man off of his chair. However as his quarry's feet connected with the floor he realised just how heavy he was, more than just that, he weighed enough to almost make Kakashi stumble.

Kyodai raised an eyebrow, unsure whether his silver haired patron was messing around or whether he was actually having difficulty lifting the light drinker, after all the guy looked as though he hadn't been eating properly.

"Having trouble Kakashi ?"

Kakashi flashed a look at the bartender before a sweatdrop ran down his face and he put on an awkward smile.

"Hey, just cause he's a lightweight doesn't actually mean he's light."

Kakashi stumbled towards the doorway, tempted to reinforce his muscles with chakra just to carry the man. How could he be so heavy? It didn't make sense, his physique was borderline anorexic! The only time he had had as much trouble carrying someone was when he had been dragging Gai home after a bit of heavy drinking and that was only because of all his... Training weights?

Reaching a hand up to Kamen's bicep, he poked it with trepidation and sure enough he could feel something other than skin or clothing resist his touch. He must have been using some ridiculously complicated seals, there was no way in hell that small layer of metal was enough to weigh him down this much, even if he had one on his chest and each of his limbs...

Kakashi shook his head from side to side, this guy walked around without a care in the world with this kind of weight weighing him down? Gai might just have a heart attack of pure joy! But it was strange, training weights, especially this complex were for taijutsu specialists, and yet Kamen professed to be a simple civilian drafted soldier?
The more the silver haired ex-anbu learnt about Kamen, the more questions he had... He supposed it was some sort of Karma.

Kakashi struggle to drag the man back out into the more open streets, even after having given up half way through and started using chakra to reinforce his muscles. When he finally did get out of the maze like alleyway, he only had one question in his mind. Where did Kamen live?

He said he had only just arrived so he must have had some sort of visa on him, probably with his address on it.

The copy cat deftly slid his hand into one of Kamen's pockets, glad that the first one he had picked did indeed contain an old leather wallet. Luckily for him, Kamen had taken every precaution not to be caught, otherwise the silver haired man may have stumbled upon a battered and patched old frog wallet instead, which might not have raised any alarm bells yet, but definitely would have in the future.

Flipping the leather wallet open, with both hands occupied, Kakashi failed to catch the little red booklet which fell out as he did so, bouncing off of the floor a couple of times before coming to a halt.

Bending down awkwardly in an attempt to not drop his drinking partner, he managed to snatch the little booklet up and then straighten himself out. It was a standard issue visa, one that was issued by the person's village of origin and gave access to allied or neutral territories, this kind even allowed the bearer to settle down if he or she so wanted

There were several kinds of visas, residential, work, trading, travelling and combinations between the four. The ones for Shinobi were distinctly different than those for civilians in that one was green, for shinobi and the other red, for civilians. All of this in the name of heightened security, the tensions from the last war hadn't yet appeared altogether.

Kakashi's fingers flashed through the pages, taking note of several things. Kamen hadn't lied when he had said that he had been around, there were a few hidden village stamps, but mainly border stamps such as for the land of fang, water, wind, rivers and fire.

"Aha... Mhh... Oh? It would seem you live right next to one of my cute little students. Well at least that means I know where I'm going."

He hadn't expected to get a response from the dead weight he had on his shoulder, and the one he did get was just gargled noise mixed with snoring, something which Kakashi found quite humorous.

The world turns, almost as if it always has and always will, there is always a beginning and an end, but the ever flowing sands of time seem to make us forget that, as it seems to stretch on infinitely.

However inside Kamen's mind, at that precise instant, the world froze.

Midnight blue eyes slowly fluttered open, greeted only by an endless void that seemed to engulf the tiny sparks of light that remained within them. But despite the futility, despite the overwhelming odds and never ending darkness, despite all this, that tiny flickering light, that tiny flame refused to give in, it clung to life like a lone stalwart soldier facing an army.

A deep and twisted chuckle echoed out within the darkness, its point of origin being Kamen, no... Naruto's lips.

"Why ?"

The blonde man's breath seemed to disappear, absorbed into the void, almost as soon as he spoke and yet at the same time his words bounced around endlessly.

"What's the point anymore? It's like reading a book that I already know the ending to and it's definitely not ending with a 'happily ever after'..."

He waited for a few seconds which felt more like a few hours... It wasn't like he was expecting an answer, because he knew there wasn't one. There was no reason for what he was doing.

"But was there a reason before ?" His voice chilled his own blood as it came out, no longer even sounding like his own, "Protecting my precious people? Bah, In the end I couldn't even protect myself... Perhaps... Perhaps if I hadn't been born I wouldn't have had to suffer like this... Maybe if I had just stopped and done nothing when Mizuki tried to kill me, when Zabuza had... Maybe if I had just let the kyuubi out when it was still intent on taking over my body... Maybe then I could have been at peace."

His words echoed back at him in the void, sounding ever so tempting, but at the same time sounding selfish, bitter and wrong. Frustration welled within his heart as tears pricked at his eyes, threatening to spill out.

"Even if I wanted to do something, even if I still had something to fight for... I wouldn't be able to change it! If I were to save this world, if I were to defeat Madara and save all of my friends, what then? Why would the other me go back in time? Even if he did he wouldn't be as strong as I am, or as prepared! I wouldn't have saved the world, because I wouldn't have been sent back and then? That would mean I would be sent back! Again and again and again... Endlessly for ever! I don't want that!"

The tears begun to flow freely from his eyes, frustrated and hot as they were. It had been a long time since he had properly cried, even if it was in but a dream.

"T-time travel... It shouldn't ever be done... I want it to end with me... The risks? They don't give any rewards."