Sazanami

is a bounty hunter. His biggest target is Gosunkugi because of the framed murder that took place a very long time ago.

Stone Country arc
He encounters Naruto Uzumaki, Kiba Inuzuka, and Hinata Hyuga, in their search for Gosunkugi, after saving them from being attacked in a bar; he instead attacks the man Naruto provoked with his Japanese wakizashi (a kind of samurai sword with a wooden handle), knocking the foe unconscious with amazing speed, that left the three young ninjas in awe. After this, he allows the bar-keep to keep the bounty placed on the attacker as compensation for the damage Naruto caused, but is followed by the gang outside who tell him of their mission and their origin, Konoha.

Learning this, he tried to put the three to sleep because he wanted to defeat Gosunkugi himself. He then went out by himself in search for Gosunkugi. The wanted theif appears to be a shinobi as well, and he ends up getting beaten up. Fortunately, Naruto came just in time to scare Gosunkugi and his men away. However, Sazanami is badly injured. While Naruto and the others were taking care of him and tending his wounds on a small cabin, another bounty hunter called Gatsu breaks into the place. He tried to get Sazanami but failed because Naruto and the others were protecting him. Upon leaving, he accidentally drops a wanted poster. Strangely, they note that the person on the poster's name is Tokichi and has the same bird mark that Sazanami has.

They soon find out about his terrible past. Sazanami lived pleasantly in a small village and made swords. During his delivery he found a family of three killed and found that the murderer was Gosunkugi. Despite this, the villagers mistook Sazanami as the murderer and Sazanami fled. The villagers put him on wanted posts which were later found by Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata. He helps them in their fight against Gosunkugi and helps defeat them. Gatsu catches up and catches Sazanami and Gosunkugi. Later, Gatsu and the village elder revealed to the citizens that Gosunkugi confessed to his crimes and Sazanami was cleared of all charges.

Abilities
While never having an formal training, Sazanami's self-taught swordsmanship has proven to be very skillful as he easily dispatched Naruto, Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata with almost no effort.