Naruto Impostor shows you five shinobi at a time. Four of them share a hidden trait, one does not, and you have to tap the odd one out. The trait is never written on screen, so you have to spot it from the lineup itself, whether it is four members of the Akatsuki, four Hidden Mist ninja or four Sharingan users with a stranger slipped in among them.

The categories cover the big dividing lines of the series: the Hidden Leaf, Sand, Mist, Cloud and Stone villages, the Uchiha and Hyūga clans, jinchūriki, Kage, female ninja and characters with very high power. Shippuden mode adds Edo Tensei revivals, Sage Mode users, the tailed beasts, medical and sensor ninja, kekkei genkai wielders and the Six Paths of Pain. Every round is generated to keep the answer as unambiguous as possible.

The daily run lasts 120 seconds. Each round shows five character cards under the question 'Who doesn't belong?'. Tap the one you think is the impostor. A correct pick scores a point and the next lineup appears immediately.

A wrong pick shows you the category you missed, for example that the character you chose is not a Kage, and ends the run. You do have one spare life a day: it can continue a failed run or start a second daily run, and the clock pauses while you choose.

When the time runs out, your score is posted to the daily leaderboard. Classic mode gives you two extra practice runs a day with no timer and a spare life of their own; they are for learning the categories and do not count toward the leaderboard.

Look for the loudest shared feature first. Four red-cloud cloaks, four matching village headbands or four sets of pale Hyūga eyes jump out long before you have consciously reasoned about each card, and the one card that breaks the pattern is your answer.

When nothing visual stands out, run through the invisible categories in order: are four of them Kage? Jinchūriki? Very high power? All women? Checking the list the same way every time is faster than staring and hoping the connection appears.

Watch for characters who belong to several groups. Gaara is a Hidden Sand ninja, a Kage and a jinchūriki; Itachi is an Uchiha, a Sharingan user and an Akatsuki member. If a trait seems to fit all five cards, it is not the hidden category. Look for the trait that fits exactly four. And because a miss can end the run, one extra second of checking is usually cheaper than a wrong tap.