The Mask Of Turmoil

by Ajisaito

The fourth shinobi war lasted for nine long years. Naruto's spirit had died along with his friends. Just as he had thought the war won, that peace had finally been achieved: There came one final twist of the knife in his heart. The tailed beasts formed a desperate plan; send the unresponsive war veteran to the past to fix the world. But he wanted no part of it. AU/Time Travel

5. Chapter 5- First Day Of Preparation

Chapter 5- The First Day Of Preparation

---

"La mémoire du passé

n'est pas faite pour se souvenir du passé,

elle est faite pour prévenir le futur.

La mémoire est un instrument de prédiction"

-ALAIN BERTHOZ

Translation:

"The memories of the past

are not there to remember the past,

they are there to prevent the future.

Our memories are instruments of prediction."

---

The sound of something made of glass chinking against metal exploded within the complete silence of Kamen's apartment. As if he had been hit with a raiton jutsu, Kamen's form shot out of his bed sheets, kunnai in hand without making a single sound.

His midnight blue eyes flashed across his familiar surroundings, his slightly hung over mind processing things at an annoyingly slow rate compared to usual. However that did not mean he didn't notice the several key signs that someone other than him had been in his room. The carpet, which he always walked over in the same places had noticeable drag marks on its surface, along with traces of dirt and bits of leaf. The clothes that he always set out on his dresser before going to sleep were not there, which made sense as he vaguely remembered passing out, however one of the drawer's knobs, which he had purposefully unscrewed slightly, had been screwed back into place by someone's curious hands. The most noticeable thing however was that the tripwire hooked up to a kunnai launcher, one which he stepped over every morning and every night, had been snapped and a tiny splash of blood stained the door frame. The door belonging to said door frame being slightly ajar.

Moving cautiously and quietly despite his pounding headache, he silently opened the well oiled door of his bedroom, slinking stealthily into the kitchenette. To his shock and mild amusement, the first thing that his eyes caught sight of was Kakashi, Metal forehead protector resting carelessly on a bottle of sake, the latter not being the only one of its kind. The man was slumped over the room's small square dining table, what was either a bit of spilled sake or drool staining a small part of the oak table's surface.

"Just how much did you drink Kakashi?" Whispering to himself while quietly moving over to the table, he shadowed his sensei and gazed fondly at the man's resting figure, "Since when did you drink as much as Tsunade, eh?"

Kamen couldn't decide whether, when he was young he had never seen this side of Kakashi or if his arrival in this world had distorted and changed reality already. He settled on the first answer, still concretely believing that nothing could be changed. His mind flashed back to his dream, that dark void that haunted his nights... It had gotten to a point that he had tried not to sleep, just so that he wouldn't have to go back to that void... But soldier pills and chakra stimulation couldn't keep a person awake forever. One second, one momentary laps in attention, a slight flicker of his eyes and he was back in that damned void.

His thoughts were distracted by the pain that flourished in between and in his ears, as Kakashi moved his head slightly, scraping his forehead protector against the empty sake bottle's surface. He couldn't remember a time his brain had hurt so much from a hang over, in fact he couldn't remember a time he had had a hang over.

'Right... No more fuzzball filtering out the toxins for me... I miss being able to guzzle that stuff down like fizzy drink...'

Only now did Kamen notice how dry his throat was, stumbling slightly towards the sink to drink something. He had barely lost his concentration for a second, enough to make only the slightest of sounds, and yet just that had set Kakashi off, his form stirring with a slight groan.

"I'm lucky I don't buy alcohol, otherwise you'd have probably drunk all of it."

Kakashi's groan grew slightly louder as the silver haired man sat up in his seat. Rather than focus on the debilitatingly hung over jonin, Kamen focused on pulling two glasses out of one of his cupboards along with two small silver sachets. Twisting the tap with a louder than was comfortable metallic screech, water began running into one of the glasses.

Kamen flashed another look backwards trying to determine exactly how many bottles of Sake Kakashi had tried to drown his sorrows in. He counted up to five before he had to turn back to his glasses, making sure not to spill the water out of them. His mission accomplished he padded his way towards the jonin, not having missed the bandage that was wrapped around his left bicep. He set one of the glasses, along with the small packet of painkiller, down in front of the silver haired teacher, following up by moving to the other side of the table and sitting down.

"Sorry about the kunnai trap, I gave you something a little stronger than just hangover medication to help with the pain."

The usually immaculate man was a walking disaster, his clothes crumpled, his hair greasy and messy, his eyes droopier and lazier than usual. Kamen could barely hold back his laughter. However despite this, the ex-anbu's eye smile didn't have anything less than its usual vigour.

"Maa, it was my fault. I should have been expecting it, if I hadn't already drunk three quarters of a bottle of the strongest sake around I probably would have dodged it."

Kamen didn't doubt that, but rather than voicing his trust in Kakashi's skills he settled for a light nod as he poured the white medicinal powder into his glass, the sound of the product sizzling reassuringly reaching his ears. Kakashi did the same, but rather than down the whole disgusting mix in one fell swoop like Kamen had, he simply stared at the substance. At the blue eyed man's questioning gaze, Kakashi spoke.

"Mou, maybe I can stay like this a little bit longer, that way I can see the frustration on my cute Genin's faces when I arrive late."

"Or you can make this one of the days you get there early. Besides, you need to prepare them for the chunin exams... The way they are now..."

Kakashi didn't miss the dark look in the man's eyes, though it lacked any sort of ill intent.

"Ah... They told you about that did they ?"

"They were happy to be able to complain about you to an adult."

"Mhh... Most people I'm around on a daily basis are used to it by now."

Kamen couldn't help but laugh, he could very well imagine how most people Kakashi knew had already given up trying to make the man arrive to things on time.

"Seems your students won't be for a long time..."

"Speaking of which you didn't seem very affected by my attitude... Most normal people would think I was neglecting them."

Kamen took this chance to stand up and rinse his glass out so that he could drink some more water.

"Every ninja has their hobby or their quirks... The stronger the shinobi the more dominant they are... Ordinary people assume that they've been driven mad... In truth it's the only reason strong shinobi don't go mad- At least that's what I think."

Kakashi hm-ed slightly, as he himself downed the horrid concoction meant to make him feel better, almost gagging at its taste. Shaking his head from side to side and instantly regretting it, Kakashi threw a glance over his shoulder at Kamen as he filled his glass up.

" You call them 'Quirks', ne? I like that word... It's better than 'Alcoholism', 'Tardiness' and 'lack of respect'... "

Kamen turned around to fully face the man, his arm raising his glass of water up towards his face before stopping just below his chin. A frown graced the man's slightly pale skin, an indication that he didn't go out much and that he hadn't been eating properly, then again it may have also been because he felt like retching his guts up.

"You know Kakashi, you might want to work on those, when the next war comes you'll need to be in peek condition."

Kakashi's eyebrow raised almost instantly as he shifted his position to better look at the only other man in the room. When he did, there was a slight sharpness to his keen black eyes, one that hadn't been there just a few seconds before. There were several things very wrong with that phrase that he could have just passed off as being due to the black haired man's hangover, but...

"No -san ? Well not that I mind. Makes me sound old and I've already got the white hair doing that for me."

Kamen had said 'when the next war comes', not 'if'... Now Kakashi had seen a lot of cynical people in his time, but outright saying there was going to be another war, and in his lifetime, with such certitude... It was off-putting to say the least...

Kakashi might have been distracted by his own thoughts, but not so much as to not notice the flash of pure black which danced across Kamen's eyes.

It wasn't strange that he had forgotten to use -san, in fact given the circumstances - in his own home with a hangover - it was perfectly acceptable, but it seemed as though Kamen felt he had committed a grave error.

But Kakashi understood him, if only a bit. He didn't want to get attached, didn't want his roots to sink into the ground because he knew, rather he believed he knew, that they would just be thoughtlessly and ruthlessly torn up.

He had been forced to leave his home because of the Third Great Ninja War, that was the only thing Kakashi knew for certain. Well, that and that Kamen had travelled a lot in between leaving his motherland and arriving in Konoha. So it was understandable that he didn't want to settle down, in fact he had probably grown used to travelling around and never stopping in one place for very long.

"Anyway... I think perhaps I'll take your advice, maybe shunshin behind Sasuke-kun and make him jump out of his skin, make a chip in that pristine mask of his."

Kakashi got up from his seat, straightening his clothes out and running a hand though his hair to form it into some semblance of a style. His feet began carrying him towards the door before he paused, throwing a discreet glance back at Kamen, who was currently staring at the ground, his bushy black hair obscuring his eyes. And then, Kakashi said something he hadn't meant to, as words seemed to slip out from in between his lips without him wanting them to.

"Would you like to come with me?"

Kamen's head shot up, his eyes as round as saucers as he stared back at the man before him, completely unbelieving of what he had just heard. Kakashi hesitated slightly before fully turning towards the other masked man in the flat.

" I... Uh..." Scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly and trying to form his jumbled words into a cohesive phrase, he finally spoke, "What I mean is, that I'm sure the kids would like to see you again... And... Truth be told I feel a little out of my depth looking after these kids… You seem knowledgeable too… You know?"

The tiny flicker, hidden within Kamen's midnight blue eyes came to the surface for a mere second before sinking back into nothingness.

"Sorry... Maybe another time..."

Saying Kakashi was crestfallen would be a bit much, but at the very least he seemed disappointed and surprisingly rather than giving up, he insisted.

"Maa, don't be like that, it would do you some good..." When the dark haired man didn't respond Kakashi took a step forwards, his voice becoming slightly more desperate, "Listen, don't shut yourself away like this, I know what it's like, but doing what you're doing right now won't make anything change..."

"Going outside won't make anything change either..."

That was more than mere pessimism, just what had this seemingly young man lived through to make him like this? Kakashi could just about imagine it, but he didn't really want to. It didn't matter, did it? Kakashi didn't know this man, he was a complete stranger. For all he knew he was an enemy and yet... And yet something made him want to reach out and help... Like a niggling itch that wouldn't go away... As if it were the right thing to do... Because it was.

"Nothing is unchangeable. Even the slightest action can make things differ completely from what might have happened. As long as you go outside and do something, possibilities for change will arise. Have you never thought 'what might have happened if I had gone left instead of right', isn't that decision to go either way already a form of change? If you go out, something might happen, you might discover something that'll change your life. But there is one thing I can tell you for certain, if you stay here forever, nothing will ever change."

Kamen looked into Kakashi's eye and could see the flame in it, a blazing inferno in comparison to the flicker within his own. The will of fire... The old man, the third Hokage, had always gone on about it... The will to fight and protect, to live and to die. It was all about what you believed in... If you could believe in something then there would always be hope, and right now Kamen believed in nothing more than the man who had, in another time, been his most beloved sensei. Kamen wasn't exactly cured of his dark thoughts, such a thing would be impossible with mere words, but the flicker of light in his eyes seemed to be more prominent, more alive. All he needed was the slightest push in the right direction.

"Now come on, or I'll get my hyperactive blond little genin to drag you out of here. He lives right next door, as it would happen."

Kamen's foot moved on its own, but as soon as the first step came down, others quickly followed. Before he knew it he was locking his door behind him as Kakashi stretched and squinted at the sun's morning rays, the slight humidity from yesterday's rain still hanging in the air.

Kakashi still couldn't help but think that it might be a bad idea, having an unknown interact with the jinchuriki of the kyuubi... After all, it couldn't be mere coincidence that he ended up living next to the boy and then started interacting with his team, right? And it seemed like Kakashi wasn't the only one who was slightly on edge as he could feel the extra Anbu guards' presence.

"Mou, Kamen-san, why is it that you live in this place anyway ?"

Kamen spun around lazily, placing the key in one of his cargo pants' pockets.

"Cheapest place around. Not sure why but it's only a thousand ryo a month and I'm dirt poor."

Kakashi could tell the man wasn't lying, but he hadn't expressly stated that he wasn't there because of Naruto... Though if the man had done anything suspicious at all, the Anbu would have reacted by now.

Just as Kamen and Kakashi were about to walk down the concrete steps of the apartment block's walkway, the sound of a door unlocking resounded from behind them. Both men turned to see one Naruto Uzumaki, bright orange jumpsuit, sand in his eyes, a wide yawn gracing his features and a sleeping cap on his head.

"Naruto-kun you might want to leave that at home, it's not really a fitting look for a chunin-in-training."

Said blond child let out a slightly high pitched surprised yelp at the familiar and unexpected voice.

"Kakashi-sensei?! What are you doing here?"

Without batting an eyelid, the blond boy ripped the sleeping cap from his scalp and tossed it back into his apartment, slamming the door shut and locking it as if nothing had ever happened.

"And Kamen-san as well? What are you both doing here?"

Kakashi eye smiled mischievously as a wicked smirk graced his concealed lips.

"Maa, it's nothing a kid like you should know about."

A thousand and one thoughts swam though Naruto's head at those words, from secret missions to cult reunions, he was still a child after all and it was his imagination that made him as dangerous a fighter as he was. Ironically, not even a trace of the thoughts Kakashi had attempted to elicit from young Naruto were present within his mind.

"First off, creepy. Secondly, you're lucky he's as dense as he is, I do not want that sort of rumour circulating." Turning his slightly amused, slightly peeved gaze from Kakashi to Naruto, Kamen continued. "Kakashi, light weight as he is, got himself drunk and crashed at my place."

Kakashi grumbled slightly before whispering, "Says the guy who passed out after a single saucer..."

Naruto puffed out his cheeks at being called dense, he knew it was some sort of insult but he couldn't quite remember what it meant. Before completely forgetting the jab at his intellect in favour of happily tugging at Kamen's sleeve.

"Ne, So does that mean you live next to me? Landlady-obaasan said that someone new had moved in, so that must mean you do right? Oh, and, and does that mean you're going to be teaching us again Oh great and wise Kamen-sensei? Oh and-"

Kamen was bombarded with questions by the hyperactive young boy as the trio gradually made their way towards the third training ground, he would answer when he could, but he was sorely lacking in energy to deal with his younger self at the moment. Not that Kakashi was any help, more intent on chuckling and being glad that for once he wasn't the target of the bond's limitless energy.

It was around six in the morning when Kakashi, Kamen and Naruto made it to training ground three. The bridge separating it from the village had two people stood on it, one Sasuke Uchiha and one Sakura Haruno. The prior doing his best to ignore the latter while blinking sleep out of his eyes.

There was something definitely off about Sasuke's personality, and Kakashi's as well now that Kamen had a clearer mind to think about it. But so what if Sasuke was a little less emo than in his timeline, and so what if Kakashi was a little more emo? Nothing was going to change... At least not if you don't do anything, a small part of him thought.

"Good morning Sasuke-kun, Sakura-chan."

It wasn't Kakashi's voice that pulled the time traveller from his thoughts but rather the sound of a kunnai whistling through the air straight at said man.

"The jig's up, you're not even half an hour late! Where's the real Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi lowered his right hand with the weapon belonging to Sakura, which was inches away from piercing his skull, caught between his gloved fingers. A slight pout stuck out from under his mask as he turned to look down at the student closest to him.

"Mou, I'm not that bad am I Naruto-kun? Sakura-chan seems to think so..."

Naruto squinted up at his sensei and placed a hand under his chin as if he were trying to solve the world's most complicated puzzle.

"If I couldn't tell you were Kakashi-sensei because of your smell then I'd probably react the same way."

"Hn, you a dog as well as a dobe now ?"

Naruto turned towards the raven haired genin, a slightly miffed look crossing his face.

"Hey!"

"Wait what do you mean by that ?"

As everyone rounded on Kamen because of his question, it didn't take a genius to tell he was confused. The man looked about as confused as a dog looking for the stick his owner hadn't thrown, something Kakashi seemed to take note of.

"Ah of course you wouldn't know Kamen, but Naruto-kun here has got a very developed sense of smell, as long as there are no other strong smells or crowds he's almost as good at tracking as me."

"That's im- impressive."

Impossible. It was completely and utterly impossible... Even if people had changed a bit compared to his time line or at the very least had seemed to change, his own past self having a sensorial difference was impossible. If his younger self had a keen sense of smell then that meant he should have had one as well, right? But he didn't, not without applying chakra anyway... It must have been the work of the nine tailed fox... But again, that didn't explain why he didn't have it... If time worked the way he thought it did - and he knew it was, he was almost certain he had learnt about it somewhere, possibly from Jiraya - then this was an impossibility. He felt a migraine coming, and this one was not alcohol induced.

Naruto thumbed his nose and puffed out his chest in pride, a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Anyway, never mind Naruto-baka's sense of smell, if you really are Kakashi sensei than can we start training?"

Kakashi's eyebrow raised at the pink haired girl's enthusiasm, usually it was one of the other two members of team seven asking to be trained.

"Ma, ma... Patience is a virtue, often in a woman, never in a man and all that."

As Kakashi walked passed his team into the third training ground's clearing, the four other people following behind him all had a single thought cross their minds.

'That isn't even close to the actual quote...'

"Now then," The silver haired scarecrow began as he stopped in the middle of the clearing, "I was thinking today you might continue you chakra control exercises!"

The eye smile that was gracing his eyelid as all three genin groaned in annoyance was dazzling. However, Kamen didn't skip a beat as he realised what the white haired man was doing. Either it was to ascertain his trust worthiness or it could also have been just because Kakashi couldn't be bothered to do his job, but no matter the reason, he was obviously trying to get Kamen to step in.

"I don't mean to be rude," And so Kamen did step in, too tempted by the figurative dangling piece of meat, "but are you sure that's the best thing for them to start with?"

Kakashi loosened his eye smile and turned from his team to the man who was stood a few paces behind them, keeping a safe distance.

"Mou, you already showed me up yesterday Kamen~sensei, do you have to do it again?"

Though it was clear that his voice was laced with sarcasm, Kamen still took it as a cue to continue.

"Well, it's just that in two weeks they'll be taking the chunin exams, right? If that's the case then they'll be judged on the qualities of a chunin... Meaning having good chakra control is pointless, am I wrong?"

Kakashi perked up fully again, clapping lazily and then suddenly pulling out a little scoring stick with '10' painted onto it.

"Full points Kamen-sensei!"

"Hey!" Naruto interrupted, arm pointing accusingly at the white haired jonin, who responded with an obviously fake oblivious look, "Don't try and make it as if you were planning to do that all along Kakashi-not-a-real-sensei!"

At that Kakashi began crying fake tears, falling on all fours as a black depressed miasma seemed to surround him.

"My cute little genin don't love me anymore, a new and cooler version of me has shown up and I've been tossed on the trash heap! Woe is me!"

Kamen sweatdropped as Naruto tried to reconcile the man, worried that he might have actually struck a nerve. Rather than focus on the pity party that was going on in the shade of some of the outlying trees, Kamen turned to look at Sakura and Sasuke, who were both looking at him with expectant eyes.

'Is this gonna become a thing? I really hope not.'

"Well... I'm not really sure what to say..."

Kamen awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, doing his best to avoid the expectant stares of his 'students'.

"Well last time you only gave us hints at the light kind of exercises that we could do, but isn't there anything more ninja related that you can teach us, like you said we'll be needing the qualities of a chunin if we even hope to pass the chunin exams right?"

Kamen blinked slightly, Sakura was definitely more enthusiastic about learning something 'ninja related', as she put it, than he had ever seen. Meanwhile Sasuke was doing his best to try and seem uninterested and failing miserably.

"Well leadership skills and teamwork can't really be taught. They are something which build over time, based on mutual trust and respect... However just because they can't be taught, does not mean that they can't be encourage to flourish. Therefore I propose we have a round of spars."

It was now Sasuke and Sakura's turn to blink slightly. Sparring wasn't something they did very often -especially not between each other- and neither of the two could see how pummelling each other into the ground was going to help them become close team-mates.

"I... I don't think I can really measure up to Sasuke-kun..."

"Hn, she's right, with my sharingan and jutsu-"

A wicked smile crossed Kamen's lips, though hidden under his scarf and mask, neither of the two children in front of him missed the slight shift of the fabric nor the crinkling of his eyes.

"Then we'll set out a few rules, no using chakra can be the first, ne? All though in order of importance 'no lethal strikes' is probably at the top. No jutsu and no sharingan. Taijutsu, shuriken, ninja wire, kunnai, all the rest is open for use. Ah and when I mean no using chakra, I mean no using chakra."

At that Kamen pulled out two sealing tags and in the blink of an eye was behind his two students, lifting their shirts and plopping the tags onto their backs.

It was to the sight of Sakura and Sasuke looking as groggy as if they had just woken up from a ten year nap, that Kakashi and Naruto returned to. The silver haired jonin was slightly on guard, taking note of his students' abnormally small chakra signatures.

"What did you do?"

Kamen shrugged off the man's slightly cold gaze, the worry in his eyes rather understandable.

"I applied some chakra seals to them so that they could spar without using chakra."

"Hn, I don't see the point."

A look of comprehension flashed across Kakashi's eyes as he relaxed and observed the strange dark haired man at work.

"It's simple really. Having your chakra sealed has three uses; one, it means the both of you are on completely equal footing for the spar. Two, it'll get you used to the feeling of not having access to your chakra, which can happen on missions rather easily. And finally but most importantly, shinobi, unlike civilians have chakra constantly reinforcing their muscles and organs, meaning they become dependant on it, this is why chakra exhaustion can be lethal for shinobi. Having your muscles and organs function with as little chakra as possible slowly gets rid of that dependence and means that, even when your chakra is almost completely exhausted, you can still fight, something which can again be crucial on a mission."

Naruto seemed completely confused but at the same time desperately seemed as though he wanted to understand.

"So basically... Chakra for shinobi is like air for lizards? And so we can slowly train to become fish, who don't need a lot of air? Right?"

Kamen blinked a couple of times at the twisted logic before chuckling loudly and walking over to ruffle Naruto's hair, who simply pouted in response.

"Well you're not right but you're not wrong. That is kind of what we're going to be doing."

Swatting the older man's hand away, Naruto's eyes lit up.

"So cool! Can I do that too?"

A grim look crossed Kakashi's face, he was at arms length from the pair, he really didn't want Kamen to agree... If he did then there was a risk that limiting Naruto's chakra might give the kyuubi more influence over the boy than was safe. There was also the risk of Kamen's seal interfering with the seal on the blonde brat's stomach.

"Of course, but first let's have Sasuke and Sakura spar, you can wait by meditating."

The slightly sadistic smile that was obviously stretching his concealed lips would have been off putting if anyone could see it. Perhaps it was because he had been through the same torturous kind of thing, like when Fugaku had forced him to meditate while the old toad was eating some the delicious food that he had had one of the toads fetch from Konoha. Mount Myoboku only had grubs and insects to offer, so seeing the only ordinary food he would have been able to eat for a few months get eaten by someone else, and not being able to do a damn thing about it else he would have turned to stone, had been true torture.

It didn't take long for Sasuke and Sakura to prepare themselves, having recovered from the abnormal feeling of not being able to control or feel their chakra. They faced each other down, one with cool confidence and the other with nervousness.

"Now remember, no lethal blow, everything else goes. You are not allowed to leave the clearing, if you do, you lose. The winner is the one who can securely hold a kunnai to the other's neck for ten seconds or force the other out of the clearing. Ready?" Two nods was all he got, leaping back from between the two, he took in a sharp breath as he stood next to Kakashi and Naruto, both of whom were being abnormally quiet, "Hajime!"

Neither fighter moved to begin with, their eyes flashing over each other, waiting for the slightest of movements. Unsurprisingly Sasuke was the first to make a move, pulling out a kunnai and flicking it straight at his pink haired team-mate. The blade cut through the air but with chakra no longer being fed to his muscles and being unable to reinforce the throw, Sakura easily dodged out of the way.

Unhindered by his failure Sasuke sped towards his opponent as fast as he could, intent on pushing her back to the edge of the clearing with taijutsu. Surprisingly however, Sakura rushed towards him as well, with a decent amount of speed to her movement. Taken aback by his pink team-mate's speed and still trying to get used to the feeling of having his chakra sealed away, Sasuke stumbled slightly, not enough for it to effect the battle, but enough for Kamen and Kakashi to spot it with ease.

"You know Kamen, you're quite talented at dealing blows to people's pride... Right where it hurts too."

Naruto looked up away from the fight to his sensei, a curious look on his face.

"Waddaya mean sensei?"

"He means that Sasuke is going to lose."

Despite having been cheering Sakura on, Naruto hadn't been expecting that, in fact he was already formulating a plan to win her affections by comforting her after her loss.

"But Sasuke-teme is super strong!"

Wincing at realising what he had just said and slamming both hands over his mouth, he threw a glance back to the fight in time to see both his team-mates cross kunnai blades and then leap back, pausing to take in their situation.

"Even you have to admit that, ne? While it is true that Sasuke is likely ordinarily stronger than Sakura, she has been training and living her whole life with small chakra reserves, whereas Sasuke has trained and lived quite easily with much larger reserves. Do you get it yet?"

Naruto shook his head in confusion, perhaps it had been a bit much to expect the blonde boy to understand, he had always been a bit on the blunt side when it came to intellect, though that would change in time.

"It means that Sakura is used to not having a strong and consistent flow of chakra to her organs and muscles. It also means that when she was training, even if she didn't take weight training seriously, her muscles were working harder than Sasuke's because of the lack of overflowing chakra reserves. Basically, the difference between those two is the same one between a person who trained their whole life using light training weights and someone who hasn't."

Naruto seemed to have a flash of understanding before suddenly turning back to the fight as Sasuke and Sakura came to blows with a shout.

So far neither of them had landed a solid hit and though that greatly frustrated Sasuke, Sakura seemed abnormally calm about the situation. The raven haired boy had found it strange that she had accepted to spar at all, it would have been much more like her to squeal and go "Hit Sasuke-kun, No way!" or something like that... But apparently the few words Kamen had given her yesterday must have motivated her in peculiar ways.

The raven haired boy slid his kunnai blade along his pink haired team-mate's in order to knock the instrument out of her grasp, while attempting to throw a jab with his other hand at her stomach, but to his great surprise, not only did she retract her blade, causing a bright angry red mark to slide its way along her arm hence keeping her blade firmly in her grip, but she also grabbed his jab, tugging on it and knocking the raven haired Uchiha off balance.

Intent on letting her black haired love interest slam into her fist, she released the grip she had on his wrist and then crumpled her hand into a fist. It was her turn to be surprised however, as Sasuke kicked into the ground slightly, spinning to avoid her punch and using the momentum to slam a kick into the back of her head. Reacting in time, the cherry blossom crouched down and leapt back slightly, letting Sasuke land on his feet.

Sasuke began straightening himself up as he focused in on his opponent, he felt strangely winded and the fact that his opponent barely even seemed out of breath rubbed him the wrong way, so much so that he was about to try and channel chakra to his eyes and activate his Sharingan, but just as he was thinking about doing it a voice ripped trough the air like an arrow, a calm and low tone, yet also with a hint of danger.

"I wouldn't if I were you, the small amount of chakra left unsealed by that tag is only there to support vital functions, if you use it, I can't guaranty that you won't just drop dead."

Sakura watched as Sasuke seemed to curse under his breath, preparing to rush towards her for another attack, so she took the initiative and launched herself towards him, tossing the kunnai she had in her hand at the last loyal Uchiha to keep him in place. The kunnai gained her enough time to get up close and personal with her opponent before he could recover from his dodge. She placed one palm on the ground and pushed, aiming a wild kick at Sasuke's chin.

Not willing to take such a vicious and possibly debilitating blow, Sasuke loosened his body up and let gravity take him backwards as he stumbled out of the way of his pink haired team-mate's kick. Taking this chance to try and strike downwards at his opponent, he lashed out with a fist, though having not recovered from his haphazard dodge, the blow only just grazed her ribs.

Sakura quickly recovered from her risky kick, holding her ground as Sasuke retreated slightly and tried to slow his ragged breathing. It seemed as though fighting without chakra was exhausting for him. Not willing to let the fight drag on any longer, Sakura made a 'come at me' motion with her hand, knowing that Sasuke's pride would take the bait.

As Sasuke leapt forwards, Sakura leapt back forming half of a ram hand seal. Just as Sasuke passed over a slightly disturbed piece of grass, he caught sight of something white, red and black hidden among the blades of grass. An explosive tag.

The explosion wasn't big enough to rock the clearing, but there was just enough force from it to knock Sasuke flat onto the ground. His ears ringing, vision blurry and his heart pumping he cracked an eye open just in time to see Sakura reaching towards him.

The pink haired girl grabbed Sasuke by the collar of his shirt and tensed her muscles. Slamming her feet firmly into the ground she lifted her team-mate and threw him towards the tree line, which thanks to the movement of battle wasn't that far away.

Sasuke, recovered mid air and upon landing prepared to dive back into battle, however his motivation to continue was cut off by Kamen's voice once again.

"Matte, Sasuke, you've lost."

It took the raven haired Uchiha a few seconds to register the words and his surroundings. He only now noticed the shadow cast over him by the trees' canopy. Knowing that the fight was over made all of his tense and tired muscles relax as he fell to the ground, but knowing that the bout had been his loss was infuriating.

"Sasuke-kun! Are you all right ?"

Sakura ran over to her downed team-mate, swiftly followed by everybody else. She gently reached out a hand to aid the boy in standing back up, which he surprisingly accepted.

"I lost..."

Back on his feet, an unhealthy looking amount of sweat and grime built up on his face as he squinted in the direction of his dark haired 'teacher'.

"When sparring there are no losers, only winners and runners up. You both did well for your first time sparring without any chakra and against a team-mate too. Though you both look exhausted."

"Hn, get this stupid thing off of me."

As the raven haired boy tried to swing his arm back to rip the tag of, Sakura just about to do the same, his wrist was caught by a firm grip. Kakashi's dark eye was looking down at his student, a slightly worried look on his face.

"I'm guessing you can't just rip this kind of fuinjutsu off."

"And you'd be right, chakra feedback is a bitch... I should know, I was lucky to survive the first few times I tried out those seals."

Kakashi looked over to Kamen, happy that Sasuke wouldn't try and tear the thing off despite his tired state.

"So you made these? They aren't exactly something a beginner would be able to make, not of this complexity and durability."

Kamen eye smiled cheekily, unperturbed by the jonin's cold gaze.

"Who said I was a beginner?" Turning towards Sakura and Sasuke, who were stood merely a single step apart, he approached the both of them and planted a firm hand on both of their heads, ruffling their already dishevelled hair, "Now, let's get you back to the clearing so that I can remove the seals."

Doing as they were told and followed by a silent Kakashi and Naruto, the latter of which still seemed to be in shock over his Uchiha team-mate's downfall.

"Now both of you sit down and pull the back of your shirts up, I'll remove both at once and apply a bandage to Sakura's wound."

"I'm sure this was a good learning experience for the two, but I don't think I like the fact that you put such a dangerous seal on them."

"I don't think," Kamen began with a cheeky glint, "That such a negligent sensei has anything to say about that."

"Touché."

Kamen kneeled down next to his two patients and clasped his hands together in a snake seal, pulling them apart to reveal almost invisible tiny little threads dancing from the tips of his fingers. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at what he saw while Naruto just seemed confused.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, what are those things?"

As those 'things', as Naruto put it, slowly slinked their way towards the complex looking tags on his young team-mates backs, Kakashi could barely pull himself away from what was going on before him to answer.

"Ah, they look like Chakra threads, something know to be used by Sand shinobi, although mainly by their puppet corps... Other countries know the basics behind the technique, but you have to have a very good control over your chakra to use them for anything more than pulling or pushing a light object towards or away from yourself..."

Naruto nodded slightly, turning back towards Kamen, he vaguely noticed the previously almost invisible blue threads slowly began turning black as the scribbles on the tags stuck to Sasuke and Sakura's backs gradually seemed to fade.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, what is he doing now?"

Sweatdropping at the blond boy's childish curiosity, Kakashi focused in and tried to understand just what the strange man was doing.

"Well it looks like..." The silver haired scarecrow's eye widened as he slowly understood what was happening, "He's pulling the ink off of the paper, slowly shutting down certain parts of the seal to gradually restore their chakra to them... This definitely isn't the work of an amateur..."

After a few seconds more of Silence, Kamen finally let out a breath as he removed the paper tags from his patients' backs.

"There we go... I haven't done that in a while, took quite a bit of effort, especially with you two noise polluting my space."

The slight squinted glare that Kamen pointed at Kakashi was answered by an unapologetic eye smile. He noticed his three students -all of them now stood up- begin to talk together, likely going over the fight that they had just been through.

Pulling the confused time traveller just out of earshot of the three genin of team seven, Kakashi turned to Kamen with a serious look.

"You don't actually intend to apply that seal to Naruto do you?"

Kamen blinked a couple of times, confused.

"Why wouldn't I? Don't you want him to have the same experience as his other team-mates?"

Kakashi gritted his teeth slightly. He wasn't allowed to talk about it, so how could he tell this peculiar man that Naruto was the Kyuubi's host? And if he did tell him, how would he react? Kakashi looked up towards Kamen's slightly lighter blue eyes than usual and a pang of something pulled at his heart, he couldn't really tell what it was. Guilt? Pity? Understanding? All three?

He had only known this other man for two days, though in reality it was more like less than twenty four hours. So then why did he feel such compassion and blind trust towards this man? It was a warm and yet unnerving feeling. It was a feeling that the hardened veteran Shinobi side of Kakashi hated and it was the human side of Kakashi that seemed to like it.

"Is there something wrong? It's true that because he has such large chakra reserves he might have more trouble adapting to the feeling than the other two, but he's an Uzumaki, they're known for their durability right?"

An idea popped into Kakashi's head, a possibly treacherous and sly idea, but oh how he loved it so.

"You know about the Uzumaki?"

"Well... Yeah..." A sombre look seemed to cross Kamen's face, "I went there, to the land of whirlpools I mean... Just after Uzushiogakure fell to Kumogakure... I found a survivor of the war there, he must have seen something in me because he taught me almost everything he know about sealing."

It pained Kamen somewhat to attribute his knowledge of sealing to some non-existent Uzumaki, when in reality he should have been attributing it in part to Jiraya and in part to his father... Minato may have just been a reincarnated corpse, but his mind was as sharp as it had ever been and in the short time that he was around, the fourth Hokage had not only directly imparted a portion of his sealing knowledge onto his son, but had also given him the location of a hidden fuinjutsu research facility buried underground belonging to his truly.

"That explains your skills in fuinjutsu then... You know about the Uzumaki... Good."

Kakashi was unsure of his next words, he had never been this nervous about saying something in his whole life... Should he? Shouldn't he? Each time he weighed his options a flash of his very short time with Kamen popped into his head, the memories still very much fresh... However, muddled into these recent memories were also the somewhat old ones of his long deceased sensei, mentor and friend...

"Then you must know what one of the key roles of Uzumaki clan was? Especially when it came to Konoha?"

A flash of understanding crossed Kamen's eyes, a mix of fake and real emotions blending seamlessly together, he had gotten good at acting.

"There was a strong bond between Konoha and Uzushio, Senju and Uzumaki... That much stronger because the host of the nine tailed fox was supplied to Konoha by Uzushio... The Uzumaki always did make better Jinchuriki than others, not just because of their sealing prowess, but also because of their large chakra reserves..."

Kakashi nodded hesitantly, watching Kamen like a hawk for a reaction that was out of place. To the man's complete and utter shock he could feel the earnest smile gracing the man's concealed lips.

"Thank you for telling me Kakashi... I'm humbled that you would entrust such a secret with me... I probably would have figured it out sooner or later... This explains the slight ominous chakra I could feel from him... But the fact that you told me means a lot."

Kakashi seemed to relax slightly, perhaps he had been a bit hasty in his judgement, but if Kamen had indeed been a spy with ill intent, that information given away so liberally would have tripped even the most professional spy up.

The pair begin to walk back towards their kids, but a slightly mischievous glint crossed Kakashi's eye.

"Maa, maa. It's nothing, just and S-rank secret that you can be executed for revealing."

Kamen stumbled slightly at that, the look on his face being priceless. It was lucky that Kamen had never known that the information about him being a Jinchuriki had been such a highly ranked secret, otherwise he might not have played his role as well as he had.

Kamen's dumbfounded and speechless state was broken when a certain young blond ran up to him and began bouncing on his feet.

"Ne, did you know that Sakura put that explosive note down when she crouched under Sasuke's kick? I didn't even see her do it! So cool! Anyway do I get to spar now? Do I?"

Kamen planted his hand on the boy's head and ruffled his hair back towards his two team-mates.

"They both seem a little tired don't you think? Besides with your large chakra reserves it could be lethal to seal off your chakra, that and I'm not even sure my seals could contain it." Naruto's chest puffed out with pride at the words, but there was also a wave of disappointment, one which would soon disappear, "So how about you spar with me, without any chakra seals?"

Naruto lit up at the idea and agreed without any hesitation, though Kakashi had wanted to be the first one to spar Kamen, he quickly conceded to the orange ball of hyperactivity, not just because he knew that the blond boy desperately wanted to spar the man but also because he wanted to see Kamen's fighting capabilities.

For Kamen, he felt that it would probably be surreal for an outsider who understood everything to watch the two of them prepare to face off, after all Kamen and Naruto were the same person in all technicality.

"Okay, now remember, no killing blows or jutsu that can destroy the landscape understood? Good."

Naruto nodded, he didn't know nor understand that the second rule wasn't really for him, after all he didn't know any landscape destroying jutsu. The only jutsu he really knew were kage bunshin jutsu, henge jutsu and kawarimi jutsu. Whereas Kamen, well let's just say that mount Myoboku might not stand a chance against him, despite the fact that in his despair he had thought himself useless, barely measuring up to Zabuza, in truth if he fought all out he might have been stronger than even Kakashi. Unfortunately being in the past and trying not to get discovered meant almost all of his usual jutsu were off the table, anything he hadn't learnt during the nine years of the fourth Shinobi war were unusable and even then some of them would blow his cover as well. Shadow clone, rasengan, sage mode and a handful of others were straight off the table.

Barring out landscape destroying jutsu, Kamen was left with ordinary clones, henge, kawarimi, a handful of low ranking wind jutsu and that was it. Of course who was to say that his taijutsu wasn't any good?

"Hajime!"

Kakashi shouted lazily from a distance, though his shining eyes betrayed his intrigue in the fight. Almost as soon as the final utterance of his word had left Kakashi's lips, Kamen sped forwards, barely a blur to the untrained eye.

The time traveller approached his younger self at a blinding pace, keeping his upper body almost parallel to the ground as he leaned into his momentum, meanwhile Naruto who had been about to form his favourite cross hand seal and summon his shadows clones was instead forced into striking out at the rapidly approaching blur.

Naruto's fist only hit air, he felt his opponent's fist begin moving towards his face before he saw it and deciding that trying to dodge it was a waste of time, so he took the blow to the face, using Kamen's surprise to latch onto the man's arm with his left hand and strike forwards with his right.

Like past self, like future self, you might say as Kamen also decided that dodging would be a waste of time, though instead of taking the hit, he used Naruto's strong grip on his arm to fling the boy into the air, tossing him a good fifteen meters into the sky.

Naruto panicked as he felt the reassuring feeling of ground beneath his feet suddenly disappear, realising quickly what was happening, he twisted himself in mid-air like a cat. Quickly and without hesitation the young blonde formed a cross hand seal in order to create seven other Narutos.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

"Wind release: Wind Cutter Jutsu!"

Kamen finished off his jutsu with a dragon hand seal following it up by slashing his hands, fingers flat, in an X shape up towards his blonde target. Two blades of wind shot off towards their target, intent on slicing it into pieces, although with the power Kamen had put behind the attack, they would have only bruised him.

Thinking quickly, Naruto replaced himself with the closest clone he could feel, the unlucky chakra construct being dispelled on impact. Ignoring the loss, the seven remaining Narutos reached into their pouches and all tossed a shuriken down at Kamen, who was patiently waiting for his prey to land.

Unable to deflect the tools, as Kamen didn't have any weapons on his person, he reached out his hand and snatched the spinning metal death machines out of the air with practised ease. Not waiting a second longer he tossed the seven instruments back up at the raining Narutos, making sure to aim for the legs or arms.

Naruto watched with slight annoyance as his own shuriken came flying back at him. With the speed of the hail of weaponry and being unable to dodge in the air, all of Naruto's clones were dispersed and the sound of something lodging itself into his flesh reached his ears.

Kamen watched his younger self pull the shuriken out of his arm, the wound healing almost instantly, and then land on the ground with a roll. Before he had time to gather his surroundings, Kamen was on top of the boy, aiming a kick to the side of his head.

Naruto ducked under the kick and tried for a leg sweep only for his opponent's leg to come slamming down onto his head before he could complete his movement. A horrid pain blossomed in his skull for a split second before it disappeared, deciding he had had enough he attempted to leap back to create more clones. However Kamen wasn't going to let that happen.

Following the young blonde in his retreat, Kamen ruthlessly grabbed onto the jinchuriki's golden locks, and pulled his head down onto his knee. Unfortunately, Kamen had grown used to fighting people without forehead protectors and had also grown used to the nine tails pain dulling chakra. So rather than deal a solid blow to Naruto the only thing that came out of his attack was a sharp pain in his knee that almost felt as though something might have cracked.

Using his opponent's mistake against him, Naruto grabbed the wrist that was holding onto his hair with one hand and brought a kunnai up to cut it with the other. Luckily Kamen hadn't felt like getting his hand cut off as he let the boy go, hopping backwards a bit. Though it was Naruto's turn to follow his retreating opponent, trying to drive the ring of his bladed weapon into his opponent's chin.

Rather than retreat further, Kamen completely closed the distance between himself and Naruto, darting behind the boy faster than he could blink. The ex-jinchuriki ducked lower than he felt comfortable with in order to wrap his arms around the short boy's stomach, dragging the flailing boy up and then letting their weight tumble backwards into an awkward suplex.

Naruto felt his head collide with the ground, luckily last nights rain had made the ground softer than it should have been otherwise he might have had a seriously bad neck right now. Though as the orange clad host to the jinchuriki rose to his feet, he realised that the grappling and subsequent suplex had not been to take him out of the fight, but rather to steal his tools. His hands flashed to his hip and leg to double check but his pouch and holster had indeed been stolen from him, Kamen now holding them in his hands tauntingly.

Placing the familiar pouches onto himself, Kamen couldn't help but feel slightly at ease, not having his own felt like being naked, but without a shinobi registration number, he was never going to be able to buy anything like it, let alone walk around with them on. Focusing back on the fight Kamen began tossing shuriken and kunnai carelessly and by the dozen, emptying the young genin's pouch and holster in under a second.

Naruto couldn't understand the point of what his opponent was doing and trying any harder to do so would probably end up with him looking like some macabre pin cushion. It didn't take long before Naruto realised what Kamen had been planning. Though the throws had seemed wild, with only a handful seeming to be properly aimed at him, that had been the point. As Naruto looked back at his opponent he could make out the thin razor sharp wires hanging in the air, tied to weapons which had been pinned to the trees and the ground around him.

Kamen had Naruto well and truly cornered, the only way out of his razor wire cage was up or backwards, the latter not being an option because of the rules of the spar. The time traveller's midnight blue eyes watched as his younger self thoughtlessly leapt into the air, reaching high enough to clear the web of wires, though that of course had been what Kamen was expecting him to do.

"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"

Finishing with a bird hand seal and then clapping his hands together, Kamen thrust both his palms forwards, the gust of wind created by this movement was strong enough to tear up the grass at his feet before it arched upwards towards its target.

Naruto was hit and sent flying back into the forest, there was a brief silence before the sound of breaking branches and a heavy 'thump' echoed out of the forest, several birds flying away from their habitat to escape the ruckus.

It didn't take long for Naruto to skid back into the clearing, his eyes bright and sparkly as he ran up to Kamen.

"That. Was. So. AWESOME! Didja see? I was FLYING!"

Kamen sweat dropped slightly, unnerved by his younger self's ability to shrug off something that would have killed anyone else.

"Well I wouldn't call it flying but..." Kamen looked down into Naruto's sparkling puppy dog eyes, almost blinded by the brightness, "Yes, it was 'AWESOME' as you put it."

Steadily walking back over to the center of the clearing the pair noticed that Sakura was clutching onto her arm and that her face was slightly pale. Kamen flicked a look up to Kakashi, to which the Silver haired man nodded, their wordless exchange concluded, Kakashi clapped his hands together loudly and spoke up.

"Right then, it must be at least ten o'clock, I suggest we meet back here after an early Lunch. Sakura-chan, come with me, I'll take you to the hospital to get that arm looked at, might have cut through something important there."

With that Kakashi left swiftly with Sakura in tow, leaving Kamen to stand awkwardly as the two genin in the clearing seemed to be waiting for the other to make a move.

"So... You guys want to go get something to eat?"

Naruto lit up like a flash bomb at the words, nodding furiously, Sasuke seemed a lot less enthused about it.

"Hn, I think I'll stay here and train some more, give me one of those tags of yours."

Kamen frowned slightly, perhaps Sasuke didn't understand how dangerous those tags were, the only reason he had used them in the first place was because he had known that both him and Kakashi were nearby if anything were to happen.

"Not a chance emo-boy, you'll come and eat with us, then when you're under my watchful eye I'll help you train without that seal. For someone who's only just started using it and for someone who has as large a chakra reserve as you do, over training with it applied will only be detrimental."

"Hn, fine."

"We're going to Ichiraku!"

"Who put you in charge dobe?"

"Well I don't know what Icharaku is, but I'll take anything that's open."

Kamen sure as hell damn well knew what Ichiraku was, and he made sure they got there as fast as possible, it had been too long since he had eaten a heavenly bowl of Ichiraku pork miso ramen. It had been almost as long since he had had ramen at all for that matter.

The trio arrived before the ramen stall, the enticing aromas leaking out from it and even Sasuke had to admit it smelled delicious. Kamen froze for a second remembering the many times he had eaten here... No doubt in his timeline Teuchi and Ayame had died. The pair had always been kind to him... He remembered the first time he had eaten here...

It was just past lunch time and Naruto was starving, he hadn't eaten in more than four days, sure Hokage-jiji stocked up his fridge every weekend, but this week not only had the man not shown up on the day that he usually did so, there was a terrible storm shaking the village, thunder and heavy rain coming down from the dark clouds above.

The little blonde boy was freezing and starving, he had gone out in search of food each day, but every time he had been kicked out of shops and restaurants because he didn't have any money. His muddy and damp shirt clung to his chest, his eyes were red from crying though his tears had long since been washed away.

He had gone past one place several time, as it was close to his flat. Though he couldn't make out what the sign said because he didn't know how to read yet, he knew that it was somewhere he might be able to get food because of the people he had seen eating there. Running out of options he decided he would go there again and see what would happen.

The feeling of the cold air cutting into his skin and rain hammering down on his little head like little bullets pushed the young boy closer to the small shack, its cracked walls and dusty interior told many stories, though the main one was of age.

Naruto spotted the same man he had seen several times before, his back turned to him, doing something to the cooker he had behind him. Sneaking closer and closer, the little blonde boy could feel the warmth emanating from inside, a delicious salty and meaty smell coming with it.

He wanted to go in, he desperately did, hiding around the corner slightly he contemplated going in but then he remembered all those smiling faces that turned sour as soon as he mentioned that he didn't have any money... That thought alone discouraged him.

However as soon as he began to leave he heard the sound of the man inside turn around, a slightly surprised sound escaping his lips, scared that he might be scolded he dashed out of sight, though not quick enough to miss what the man said.

"Ah, wait young lad, come back!"

Naruto froze on the spot, the sound of the rain beating against his skin, the floor and the roofs getting louder, almost syncing up with the sound of his little heartbeats. Cautiously and curiously Naruto went back, peaking round the corner at the slightly tanned man, a warm smile -warmer than the air inside the shack- graced his lips.

"Come on in, take a seat."

Naruto scurried in cautiously, clambering up onto one of the bright red stools, his nose peaked into the air as he sniffed at the delicious smell that permeated it.

"Here, a nice bowl of miso ramen with chashu pork to warm you up in this cold weather; on the house."

As the steaming bowl was placed in front of the small boy, his cheeks lit up a bright red as his bright blue eyes shone with joy. Teuchi couldn't hold back the warm chuckle that escaped his lips. After a hushed, rapid and poorly pronounced 'Idadakimasu', the young boy began digging into the huge bowl with the chopsticks provided to him.

The little boy was certain this man had a hundred questions for him, just like all the others had, "Where are your parents?", "Why aren't you at Home?", "What are you doing out in the pouring rain?", but instead of all these questions, which the old man certainly had, he only asked one.

"What's your name kid?"

The little blond boy paused, swallowing the piece of meat that he had been chewing and almost chocking in the process, and then with the most innocent and heartfelt of smiles, the young boy answered;

"Nawuto!"

Teuchi smiled brightly, the action being contagious, as a light chuckled escaped his lips.

"Naruto, ey? I'm Teuchi. It's nice to meet you kid."

"Nwice too meetcha too Teuchi-jiisan!"

"Teuchi-jiisan, Ayame-chan! It's me!"

The current Naruto's energetic voice broke Kamen away from his reminiscing, the back of his hand reaching up to his face to wipe away the tears that may or may not have been forming in the corner of his eyes.

"Ah, Naruto-kun! Good to see you, and you brought friends too!"

Kamen ducked under the ramen shack's cloth flaps, realising that if he hadn't he likely would have hit his head on the metal pole holding them up. The time traveller's midnight blue eyes focused in on the people behind the counter top. Teuchi had his back turned, probably already preparing Naruto's order, as Ayame picked up a menu before turning to look at the people their little blonde customer had brought. Only now seeing Kamen in all his glory, a slight pink colour tinted her cheeks as she looked him up and down.

"I-It's rare for our Naruto-kun to bring friends, please take a seat and look at the menu."

"Hn."

Sasuke grabbed one of the menus and sat down, swiftly followed by Kamen. Both sitting either side of Naruto who had already taken a seat and began chatting away to Ayame about what they had done today.

Teuchi threw a glance back at the people who were sat at his shop's counter, noting the slightly distant look on the dark haired man's face as he seemed to pretend to scan the menu.

"I suggest the miso chashu pork ramen, it's Naruto's favourite."

Kamen looked up at the man, the distant look in his eyes only fading slightly, it was as if he could hardly believe he was even there, what a strange man.

"I-Uh... I'll take that then."

"Hn, I'll take the teriyaki chicken ramen."

"Coming right up!"

Teuchi turned back to cooking as Ayame tried to socialise with Sasuke, to Naruto's dismay. Upon failing to maintain a one sided conversation with the raven haired boy she set her sights on Kamen, padding along behind the counter to face him. Though both young boys next to him weren't even high enough to see over the counter top, Kamen was a good twice their size, more like thrice, that added to his slightly vacant eyes, gave a bit of an intimidating impression, but Ayame was undeterred.

"So are you these guys' sensei?"

Kamen focused back in on the real world, locking eyes with the young seventeen year old girl. Her long brown hair and big black round eyes were almost hypnotic but were nothing compared to staring down a mangekyo sharingan.

"Yes and no..." At the girl's questioning gaze, Kamen decided it best he clarify, "Their actual sensei is a lazy bum and somehow convinced me into teaching his students for him."

"I... See..." 'Said the blind man waving his wooden leg with an awful grin.' "That must mean you're pretty talented though, if a jonin sensei is letting you teach his students."

Kamen squirmed uncomfortably as the young girl leaned in closer over the counter top, eyes locked onto him like a predator would its prey.

"Ah-Uh-Well... I've travelled quite a bit, been around and done a lot. I suppose you could say I picked up more than my fair share of skills along the way."

Either completely oblivious to the man's slight discomfort or pretending to not notice, the young chocolate haired girl pressed on.

"I've never left this village, so tell me what are the people from other countries like?"

Kamen hesitated for a few seconds before answering.

"Truthfully, they're no different from the people of this village... They're ordinary people who are just trying to live their life through adversity. That's not to say that they don't have their own cultures, festivals, beliefs and whatnot... It's just that at their core they're the same as you or me."

Ayame puffed her cheeks out at the rather boring answer, in her opinion. However the answer hadn't really been for her, it had been for Naruto and Sasuke. Though before anyone could say anything in answer, three bowls of ramen were plopped down in front of the three clients. Teuchi grinned like a Cheshire cat, a cloth tossed over his shoulder and his arms at his side as he proudly puffed out his chest.

"Enjoy!"

And so the trio dug into their food in relative silence, Ayame and Teuchi watching happily as their carefully prepared food was enjoyed to its fullest.

---

Author's Note:

I felt like I had to justify Kakashi's actions and sentiments in this chapter, because at first it just seems as though he's being completely reckless in his attitude towards Kamen. There are three things that factor into the equation and result in Kakashi's attitude in this chapter.

The first and I find the most important is that Kakashi is a broken man (At least in my Fanfiction), he lost his team-mates and his sensei under terrible circumstances and ended up with a lot of unresolved and pent up emotions, some of which (the ones which had been directed towards Minato) are being projected onto Kamen because of his (in my and therefore Kakashi's opinion) similarities with Minato.

The second is quite simply that Kamen is (from what Kakashi knows and understands) a fellow war veteran, they both lived through the same kind of hellish and one sided fights, they both saw hundreds, if not thousands of people die and were both changed because of it.

The third and possibly the most reasonable one is that Kakashi is a cautious man, (though it may not seem that way in this chapter) his reasoning for befriending Kamen, having him train his students and revealing (albeit implicitly) that Naruto is the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi is that this way he can not only prod and test our time traveller's intentions as much as possible, but he can also keep a close eye on him. I feel that Kakashi is the living embodiment of 'Keep your friends close and your (potential) enemies closer'.

I did try and show this through several of the narrator's comments and even sometimes what the characters say, but it wasn't obvious and if this isn't understood it kind of makes everything just that bit more confusing.

Other than that I just want to thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed.