When Time Stops
Chapter 4: Law and Legend

Kakashi was focused on one thing and one thing only. Naruto could hardly even pull him away to eat or sleep. The only thing the boy ever wanted to do was train, and he asked Naruto to help him daily. He did, of course, help the young version of his sensei learn to call upon his chakra and teaching him the proper way to wield weapons. They often discussed strategies and the like over meals and while walking and the boy always wanted to check out a new book from the library. Naruto often wondered if Kakashi had been this interested in ninja related things growing up or if he had been too much of an influence on the boy. He guessed the first, seeing as how, after Uchiha Itachi, Kakashi had been one of the youngest ninja to graduate from the academy, doing so in only one year.

Kakashi had been living with Naruto almost eight and a half months now. The two were familiar with each other by now and both had adapted to their daily way of living. Strange had become the normal. Every day held new challenges to be dealt with; each night held new dreams to be dreamt. There were many sleepless nights and often times Naruto would notice that Kakashi mixed up past and present. He never corrected the boy. This morning was no different than every other day in that things were not as they normally were. This particular morning, Naruto rose to find Kakashi sitting on the couch, reading a book and wearing his too-big jacket, zipped all the way up over his face. Naruto shook off the odd clothing and moved on to the kitchen, fixing up something quick for breakfast.

Kakashi closed his book and followed Naruto into the kitchen. He was a laughable sight; the jacket fell below the boy's knees and he could never find his hands in the tunnel of sleeves. Naruto chuckled lightly to himself, shaking his head. He had an idea where this was headed.

"Naruto-nii," Kakashi began slowly, following closely behind the blond from one side of the kitchen to the other, only a few feet away, "Do you think we could go to the store today? I need a mask…"

Naruto paused and looked behind him as the boy with a small knowing smile, "Why?"

"Because," he started, thinking through his words, "to be a ninja you must cut off your emotions from your duty; Dad always used to wear a mask. As a Hatake, I have to follow in my dad's footsteps."

"But Kashi," Naruto playfully whine and rubbed the boy's messy hair, "then we can't see your cute little face!"

Kakashi frowned deeply at this and pouted, crossing his too-long sleeved arms.

Naruto smiled, and tapped Kakashi's chubby cheek playfully, "Come here, little one."

Kakashi turned and trotted after him, curious as to what Naruto was doing. Naruto led them to his closet where he rummaged around and eventual pulled out a small blue mask. He handed it carefully to the boy who examined it intensely. He wasted no time in trying it on, pulling it over his messy grey hair and fitting it right over his mouth and nose. He grimaced at the confining nature of it. He would wear it anyways; it was his duty.

"I thought you might want one sometime, so I bought one a while ago. How's it fit?" Naruto asked, smiling still. He was sad to see Kakashi's cute little face go, but Kakashi was one step closer to being his old self and for that he was happy.

"It feels weird…" Kakashi complained, pulling at it and adjusting it. He turned and ran to the couch, again cracking open his book, continuing life as normal.

Naruto followed after him languidly, returning to the kitchen but stopped in his tracks; a small track of dirt lay in the middle of the kitchen. He was sure it hadn't been there before and neither he nor Kakashi wore their shoes inside. He scanned the room defensively with his piercing blue eyes, all his senses on high alert and feeling uneasy, but found nothing amiss. He swept up the dirt and continued with his morning carefully; making a note to talk to Granny Tsunade and keep a look out for anything else that was remotely suspicious.

Later that evening, the two had gone to the training field to practice as Naruto had promised. They were practicing hand-to-hand combat, and while Naruto was barely exerting any energy at all, the little Hatake was out of breath and perpetrating profusely. Yet, he didn't stop, going at the blond with everything he had. After several hours, in which time Kakashi could still not manage to land a hit on his blond brother, Naruto decided they would be done for the day.

"Come on Kashi, let's go get cleaned up and grab a bite to eat, "He held a hand out and pulled the boy up to his feet from laying on the grass, completely wiped out. Besides, it was getting dark already and he still wanted to visit Tsunade after he had put Kakashi to bed and talk about his concern from earlier that morning. He had not noticed anything amiss after the incident this morning; that fact partially unnerved him even more. He wondered what someone would even be doing in his house. As far as he knew, there was nothing valuable there.

They walked home silently in the near deserted streets – by now most people had gone home for dinner and were settling in for the night – Naruto lost in his thought and Kakashi was too tired to waste energy on such a thing as talking. The boy adjusted his mask. They took the shortcut, as they always did, through the rougher part of town; the part a normal civilian wouldn't want to go down alone. Drunkards and trouble makers usually waited in the shadows in this part of town, but it didn't worry Naruto in the least; he could easily protect himself and Kakashi.

He jumped when three men suddenly appeared in front of them, having been lost in his thoughts. He recognized them instantly as they had not changed one bit since the last time he'd seen them; his heart sped up and eyes widened. "Kakashi," he said deadly serious. Half-terrified eyes looked up to him. "Run."

The boy stuttered and was pushed back, before he started running in the direction they had just come. Naruto took off at the ninja, pulling out a kunai. He would not let them hurt Kakashi again. The time ninja attacked him; he couldn't keep up. He was sliced on the shoulder, then across the cheek and leg almost simultaneous. He could hardly see but a blur from his attackers. One of them punched him, hard, in the face and he fell backwards several feet, holding his, likely, broken nose. Two ninja took the opportunity to appear at his side and restrain him. He fought back, thrashing around, and received a harsh blow to the chest that knocked the wind out of him and would undoubtedly leave bruises. As he heard Kakashi yelp, he froze, eyes wide, as the third Time nin appeared several feet ahead holding a kicking Kakashi tightly to himself, his arm wrapped around the boy and tightly covering his mouth.

"What do you want with him?" Naruto screamed, furious.

The man in front of him laughed, switching to a position that was relaxed and somehow even more intimidating. His thick accent ran heavy in the air, "You see, Uzumaki, we want to live forever and be the greatest ninja there ever was. This new jutsu we've created will let us continually rewind time, thus never die. Once perfected, we will be able to retain all of our knowledge each time we slip back to our younger bodies. We need to borrow him to run tests on him and see what parts of our jutsu need improving, you understand." His sly grin shot through the dark and crushed Naruto's soul.

"No!" Naruto growled, unconsciously releasing a coat of red chakra, eyes turning blood red, "Give him back!" He pulled out of his attacker's grasp and went at them, attacking with the ferocity of a beast. He received a hard kick to the back, knocking him forward and caught sight of little Kakashi's watery, terrified eyes looking at him helplessly, begging for Naruto to help him.

Naruto's breath caught in the back of his throat. In the blink of an eye, all four disappeared, leaving Naruto alone on the street. Unblinking and choking on tears, he fell forward to his knees, seeing and feeling nothing. His heart seemed to stop beating. Kakashi was gone…he had failed to protect his sensei when he was helpless to defend himself. He felt hollow. How would he tell Sakura?

Not a moment later, like a dream, Kakashi appeared in front of him, falling unsteadily to his feet and looking around wildly. In an instant the boy barreled forward, running full speed into his chest, bawling and desperately pleading for Naruto not to let them take him away again. Unable to think, Naruto wrapped his arms tightly around the terrified, bloodied boy, and they stayed there, Naruto silently holding the crying boy in the middle of the road, until ANBU had arrived at the scene, having noticed the burst of demon chakra, and escorted them to the Hokage.

Tsunade had ordered ANBU to double their guards, finding it troubling that the Time ninja would and, could easily, walk into Konoha. Sakura had come over that night to stay with Naruto and Kakashi, both having been badly shaken. Naruto would hardly let little Kakashi out of his sights and he certainly didn't sleep on that that long, unforgiving night. His mind kept running over the one-sided fight against the Time ninja. He had stood no chance against them; they were simply too fast. They had said something about a jutsu that could rewind time. He thought it quite possible that they could also manipulate time and move virtually undetected. They could even, if they chose, remain near nonexistent to the rest of the world, something, it seemed, they had been doing a fairly good job at. There was only one jutsu that he knew of that could possibly keep up with their speed; he vowed to master it, for Kakashi's sake.

Kakashi had just had his fourth birthday and would start school today. Naruto, admittedly, was worried for his little charge. Kakashi was naturally a loner and somewhat antisocial, but since…that incident…he had grown even quieter and distant from everyone. Naruto worried, as they walked towards the academy, if kids at school would pick on him for his age or personality, or if someone would ask questions about Kakashi's condition that would cause problems. Not only that, but Kakashi had been tested and put into both a second and third year class, meaning half of the day would be spent with the second years, and then he'd join class with the third years for the other half. He glanced sideways as the young boy, who walked quietly beside him. If the four year old was worried, he hid it well. Naruto assumed that Kakashi was more excited to finally start his ninja training that anything else.

They stopped outside of the school yard fence, where they would part. "Are you ready?" Naruto asked lightly and forced a smile.

Kakashi nodded bravely but softened, worried eyes looking to the children that were already heading into the school building.

Naruto smiled softly at the rare moment of emotion Kakashi was displaying, "I'll be waiting here for you after school, okay?"

Kakashi looked back at him, with those same eyes and abashedly moved forward, hugging the blond's waist tightly and digging his face into the material.

Naruto embraced him tightly in return, but soon peeled the boy off, crouching down and looking him in the eye, "You'll be fine Kashi. You're strong; a Hatake and an Uzumaki." Naruto smiled brightly, his blue eyes shining.

Kakashi nodded, courage growing in his grey eyes, "I'll see you after school Nii-san."

The blond nodded resolutely as he stood back up. "See you after," he replied, more to himself as he watched Kakashi walk determinedly through the kids (most at least twice his age) and into the academy.

Naruto waited outside well past the start of classes. He wanted to be able to come to Kakashi's aid should something happen. Eventually, he pried himself away from the academy and shuffled down the street, not completely aware of where he was headed until he noticed he was headed towards the hospital where his pink-haired teammate was working today. He made his way inside, not bothering to stop at the front desk, but instead wondered the halls himself. Eventually he spotted Sakura as she busily went from room to room and carried supplies from place to place, stopping and talking to patients and doctors briefly on her way. Her green eyes spotted him moments later and looked at him curiously. He smiled and made his way over to her.

"Hey Naruto, it's surprising to see you here." She greeted, smiling back as she slowly set down several rolls of gauze and tape she had been holding onto a small cart. "What's up?"

Naruto shrugged, "Nothin' really, just came by to see you."

The medic-nin gave him a sidelong glance, but continued on, pushing her cart of supplies down the hall. Naruto followed without pause, watching Sakura and passersby's with little interest. "Today is Kakashi's first day at school," he commented suddenly.

Sakura glanced back at him smiling, "It is, isn't it? I'm sure he's excited about that." She entered a patient room, picking up a clipboard, and scrawling down numbers from the monitors.

"Mm, yea…" Naruto trailed off, gazing out the patient's window, "You think he's okay?"

Sakura gave a small laugh, not looking up from her task, "Naruto, this is Kakashi we're talking about. I'm sure if anyone tries to give him a hard time he'll hit them right back."

Naruto couldn't help but smile at that.

Kakashi walked casually through the halls, rambunctious kids running around him, many giving him strange looks. He made sure to pointedly ignore them. When he finally reached his classroom, it was filled with hopeful ninja-to-be, all chatting with their friends from the previous year. A large group of kids gathered in the center, laughing and joking. A few were sitting quietly or sleeping. He chose the back left corner, it was quiet and it didn't seem he'd be distracted by other students in that area. He was hardly noticed as he climbed up the steps and took a seat in the very back row, next to a quiet, sleeping boy. He quickly pulled out his notebook and two, finely sharpened pencils, ready and excited for class to begin. He clenched his tiny fists; this was the first step to becoming an actual ninja and serving Konoha. He would study hard and become the greatest ninja there ever was just like –

A paper ball suddenly hit him in the side of the head. He snapped his head to the source, a loud red haired boy, one row down and five seats to his left, who held the class's attention. He glared metaphorical daggers.

The boy threw his head back and held his stomach to keep it from bursting with laughter. When he contained himself he smirked at little Kakashi, "What's a shrimp like you doing in a second year class?"

Kakashi glared harder. The only things he could think of to say would likely make him sound more childish. He decided to work on his comebacks that night.

"Why don't you just go back home to your mommy so she can feed you some milk and then tuck you in for nap time, okay?" The rest of the class joined in the chorus of taunting laughter.

"Alright, alright, everyone take your seats so we can begin." A young looking woman entered the room and dropped her books on the table with a resounding thud then turned to survey the room.

Kakashi examined her closely. She was certainly not what he was expecting in a teacher. Young, fit, stern, attractive. She was wearing navy ninja attire with a black belt and shoes, and her black hair was pulled up in a bun. She seemed better fit for active duty than teaching academy students.

Someone whistled at her from the very back of the room. Her eyes narrowed and a piece of chalk flew through the air and pelted the perpetrator in the middle of the forehead. He whined as a few students snickered.

"My name is Ohta Toshiko and I am the new second year teacher. I will tolerate no disrespect and I expect you all to study hard and do well. If you do this, you will enjoy this year. Since I'm new here, and don't know any of you, let's start by going around the room and saying your name and one thing you like to do."

Each student stated their name and something about themselves, starting from the front. Kakashi dutifully memorized each person's names and made a note of each person's comment. The red haired boy, he found out, was named Hideaki and was the class clown. Eventually, it was the turn of the boy next to him, who was fast asleep. Kakashi discreetly kicked the boy's leg. He looked up with groggy eyes and examined the room.

"We're going around and sharing our names and something we like," Ms. Ohta supplied unsympathetically.

"Oh, uh Taichi and I like sleeping."

"I hope you don't get used to sleeping in class, Taichi," Ms. Ohta replied as she relined against her desk, arms crossed, "or you will find yourself spending many afternoons in detention with me."

"Tch," he lazily rested his head on his hand.

Ms. Ohta's gaze turned to Kakashi. "My name is Kakashi, and I like taijutsu training with my brother."

"Don't you mean potty training, shorty?" Hideaki teased. The entire class burst out in laughter and Kakashi blushed behind his mask, glad for its protection.

"That's enough!" Ohta yelled, "Hideaki, if you'd like detention on the first day of school, then keep it up."

The class quieted and she took a moment to look at Kakashi who seemed unphased, besides the way he kept close to himself. "Kakashi, how old are you?"

Kakashi glanced around at all the eyes that were zoned in on him. Weary of more teasing, he spoke quietly, "Four."

Quiet whispers started up. He ignored them as best as he could.

Ohta's face lit up in recognition, "Oh right, you're the kid who's taking second and third year classes this year. Isn't this your very first day of school today?" Ms. Ohta meant well, Kakashi thought. He nodded mutely. Chattering raced through the class about him. "Everyone, make sure you help Kakashi out and show him the ropes around school, okay?"

"Yes, sensei!" The class chorused.

"Good, now let's review what you've learned last year. Can anyone tell me the hierarchy of ninja in the village?" She turned towards the chalkboard and began writing.

Everyone's hands went up.

Somehow, Kakashi knew it would be a long morning.

Naruto left Sakura to her work after a while and made his way to the library, hands in pockets and lost in thought. When he arrived, the librarian welcomed him and asked if she could help him with anything and, when he asked, she led him to the section about Konoha's history. He skimmed through the titles of books and picked out one called The Yondaime Hokage: Namikazi Minato and Jutsus of the Kages. He sat down at a nearby table and began to read.

The time ninja had been on his mind constantly. He still felt guilty for losing Kakashi a second time to them. He had vowed to himself to never let it happen again and there was only one way he could think of to keep Kakashi safe, and that was to learn Namikaze Minato's most famous jutsu, the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"To activate this seal the user needs a special seal or "technique formula" to mark the destination. The Yondaime placed his seals on kunai that were then thrown…" Naruto mumbled out loud to himself. He leaned back in his chair and scratched his head. The time nin attacked in less than 10 seconds the second time. With the amount of time they spent with one hit, he'd have to throw a kunai and it hit its mark in less than 2 seconds, a nearly impossible speed. He glanced at the clock.

"Oh shit," he snapped the books closed and checked them out before jumping up to the rooftops and making his way towards the academy. It was lunchtime and he was curious as to how little Kakashi was faring. Naruto found the little silver-haired boy eating his lunch on a bench by himself in the shade. Naruto half-smiled as he peered down at him from up above in a tree, one arm holding on to the borrowed books. It wasn't altogether unexpected for him to find little Kakashi eating alone during lunch, although he had hoped his young sensei would have ventured out and tried to make friends. Then again, it didn't really fit Kakashi's personality to do so.

Three kids walked over and began talking, standing in front of Kakashi, who barely paid them any attention as he continued to eat the sandwich that Naruto had packed for him. "Shorty! Look at me when I'm talking to you!" one of the kids in the center, with wispy red hair shouted as he snatched the food away. Kakashi stood and glared at the older boy, his head only reaching the boy's shoulders "Give it back, that's mine."

"What, this?" Hideaki asked, waving the sandwich just out of his reach.

Kakashi nodded.

Hideaki smirk and took a big bite from it before throwing it on the dusty ground. His sidekicks, a small, mousy haired girl and a tall boy with glasses laughed along.

Naruto made to jump down to fend for his former sensei, but was stopped by a hand grabbing his arm. He whipped his head around to look at the offender; Ohta Toshiko, Kakashi's second year teacher. He had met her once before, when he had come to meet both of Kakashi's teacher's before the boy had started school. Then her brown eyes were kind and helpful, now they were stern and serious. "You've got to let Kakashi do this for himself. If you jump in to help, he'll only be picked on more."

Naruto reluctantly relaxed and Takashi's hand released him. They both turned their attention back to the scene below.

Kakashi stared down at his half eaten sandwich, now sprinkled with dirt as tiny red ants began crawling towards it. It was his favorite kind of sandwich; his older brother had packed it especially for him. That was the part that angered him the most.

Hideaki laughed and shoved Kakashi's chest so that fell roughly to his butt on the bench, and then walked towards the rest of his class. The mousy haired girl trailed after Hideaki and the boy with glasses soon followed after sweeping Kakashi's lunch box off the seat, dumping the remaining food to the ground.

Kakashi sat there several moments, staring at his lap. He hated being bullied just because he was younger and smaller than them. Then bell rang then, suddenly, and all the children funneled back to class. He didn't want to be late; he picked up his lunch tin and headed inside, leaving his food to be devoured by the little red ants.

Author's Note: Hey guys! Aren't you proud of how quickly i whipped this one our compared to the last 2? I ran into a writers block near the end and it took me three days to finish the school part oTL maybe because i was free ballin' it x) Bear with me. I hope you enjoyed it; send lot's of comments, because they get me through my writer's blocks and motivate me to write :)

Anyways, let me know if there's anything you guys especially want to see put into this story or if your brilliant minds come up with any good ideas! I want to write what you guys want to read, so send those requests my way!

P.S. If you ask super nicely, I might even draw you picture from this chapter - might

Bamm