Author's Note: Hey guys, here's your next chapter. I hope you enjoy it! I even drew a little sketch for you, of Naruto and Kakashi about when Kakashi enters the academy. Its not perfect, but what the hell x) http :/ fav .me / d4wbxgg

PS. I have found it troublesome to try and keep up with Kakashi's age and make it match perfectly with the real events (mainlybcauseI'vealreadymessedup) so from now on if (and I know it will be) Kakashi's 'real age' at the time of events such as when he gets team members and takes the chunin exam, just pretend that it's right, okay? okay. For instance, in the chapters soon to come, Kakashi will get his teammates and take the chunin exam and I know he's probably older in his 'real life' but we're all going to pretend that its all the sameee.

PPS. I've secured a job yay! I'm a server and hostess at a tapas bar. It's fun and everyone's really chill :) Get to tastes all the martinis and watch belly dancers and dance when the DJ is playing. It fits in nicely with my schedule too (i work mainly from 6p-2a). It's not to blame for the lateness of my chapters though, that's mainly due to school with final exams, presentations, and papers for 6 classes. But that will be over come May. I'm super excited! Thank you all for the reviews!

I expect you all to review on this chapter, I know how many of you there are! lol Tell me what you think of Kakashi's sensei and, what you think (or hope) will happen next in the story. Happy reading :D

When Time Stops

Chapter 7: Drawing Straws

Naruto staggered through the door, covered in sweat and dirt. His mind and body were both thoroughly exhausted from a day of intensive training. He shuffled through the house to his room with barely enough energy left to lift his feet off of the floor. He set his load of books and scrolls on the table next to his bed and collapsed onto his bed. A heavy sigh escaped his lips, tired but satisfied with his progress with his thunder god jutsu. He had been experimenting with the revised hand sign he had happened upon earlier that day when Kakashi had disappeared. He had run into some major failures, of course, such as clones accidentally leaving behind a heart or it's intestines, even the entire lower half of his body. None of the memories had been too pleasant once the clone had popped out of existence, but that one had been the worst of all. He shuddered just thinking about it. Each of them was an accomplishment in a way, though. It was a trial and error learning process. It's not to say that all his efforts had turned out badly, though. He had managed to complete the jutsu with only minor injuries that Kyuubi had been capable of healing. It had been his main accomplishment and breakthrough for the day and filled him with a wave of encouragement. It was with this thought that his body forced him to finally fall asleep from exhaustion, soft snores escaping him.

Kakashi quietly slipped out of his bed, having been woken up by the closing of the front door and someone walking through the house. He opened his door and peered down the hall into the living room. Finding nothing, he crossed the hall to Naruto's room, the sound of his feet padding against the floor loud to his own ears. He found his brother sprawled out on the bed, still wearing his filthy ninja gear and clothes.

Sakura had left him some time ago as she had been called to the hospital for an emergency and Kakashi had been left by himself, wondering just where his brother had gone off to. By his brother's dirty appearance and exhaustion, Kakashi inferred that Naruto had been training all day. He started to retread to his own room when the books on Naruto's bed side table caught his attention. The books had not been there before the blond had come home and he was curious what exactly his brother had been training so hard for and why he had left so suddenly earlier that day. His features shifted of their own accord into a curious frown and tip toed across the room to the side of Naruto's bed. He gingerly lifted the scroll on top and Naruto snored loudly, mumbling incoherently and shifting. Kakashi froze, eyes darting to carefully watch his brother to see if he would wake. After several moments he turned back to the scroll, examining the writing on the outside. A seal he had never seen locked its contents from his prying eyes. He set the scroll aside and examined the stack of books. The first one read 'Theories of Atomic Structure pertaining to Healing Techniques.' There was only one bookmark sticking out from its many pages.

Kakashi wondered what his brother would be doing with such a book. It seemed like something Sakura would be more likely to read, not Naruto. He flipped the cover open to the bookmarked page which had been filled completely in the margins with barely legible scribbles. Naruto had circled a small paragraph only a few short sentences long, from which all the notes came. "Transferring techniques..." Kakashi whispered under his breath. His eyes dropped from the sections title to a couple lines which had been underscored many times. "The only advancement in transferring organs came from the Yondaime Hokage who theorized that by connecting healing jutsu to long range summoning techniques, one could transport organs or entire bodies over large distances for medical help. His theories include the use of seals. No other data could be found." Kakashi's thoughts were spinning as he read. He shut the book quietly and moved on to the next. The second book was titled Yondaime Hokage. He passed over that book in favor of the third, a book of forbidden jutsu. The corner of one page was folded down and he quickly turned to it, becoming more and more curious as he wondered what exactly his brother was doing with all this information and how he had acquired a book of forbidden techniques. He scanned the tagged paged until he stopped with wide eyes on the jutsu he knew his brother was learning - the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"Kakashi," Naruto's stern voice startled him from his stupor, causing him to flinch. He berated his ninja skills for not paying attention to his surroundings. The silver -haired boy looked towards his brother who had woken up and was staring at him with a frown and intense blue eyes. The blond quickly took the books from Kakashi's grasp, standing and walking across the room. "You should be in bed." The blond placed the books inside a drawer in his dresser and placed a seal to lock them in place.

"A-are you really trying to learn the Yondaime's technique?" Kakashi asked speculatively. He and his third year class had learned all about the Yondaime, the village's hero, and his techniques which had caused enemy ninja to flee with their tails between their legs upon sight of the fourth Hokage.

"Common," Naruto's feet dragged sleepily across the floor and his eyes were heavy lidded as he ushered Kakashi back to his room.

"No one but the Yondaime can preform that jutsu. The Third forbid is because it was so complex and dangerous to the user." Kakashi continued, unperturbed by his brother being so tired and trying to get him back to bed. Kakashi crawled into his bed, allowing the blond to pull the covers up over him and tuck in the sides. "No one else has ever done it before, besides-"

"This is top secret, Kashi." Naruto butted in. He looked over his former sensei's young, innocent and curious features, trying to picture the same emotions playing out on the face of the Kakashi he once knew but finding it strangely difficult and taxing.

Kakashi grew silent, nodding once slowly.

Naruto half smiled and stared at the boy for several moments longer. However young, he knew that Kakashi understood the importance of secrecy as a ninja. It didn't worry him too terribly. He knew the silver-haired boy wouldn't let out his trump card for fighting the time ninja. He ruffled Kakashi's silver hair once before shuffling towards the door.

"Nii-san," Kakashi called just before Naruto could close the door to his room.

The blond pause and looked back at his little charge.

"Can you really do it - the Thunder God Technique?"

Naruto couldn't help but smile a little. He raised a single finger to his lips and winked. "G'night Kashi."

Kakashi's mind was whirling as his brother shut the door and went back to bed. He could hardly believe that his brother - his own brother! - could preform the Yondaime's most feared and difficult technique. His previous idea of his brother's strength was washed down the drain. If his brother was truly that strong, he was sure that Naruto would be able to defeat the time ninja. Even so, he was determined not to be so dependent and fight for himself. Several hours had passed before his busy mind allowed him to fall back asleep.

"Hey Granny," Naruto greeted as he stepped into the Hokage's office.

"Ah, Naruto, how's your training going?" she asked as she continued to signing and reading the file she had before her, biting back a comment about her age and resisting the urge to throw the tall morning's stack of papers at the younger blond.

"Eh, not too bad..." he drawled, coming to a stop near the door.

Tsunade looked up to him, wondering why he didn't come fully into the room. In an instant the younger blond threw a kunai directly at her. She gasped, wide-eyed when the blond disappeared and reappeared only a few feet in front of her desk before she could even realize it.

Naruto's eyes met hers, a wide range of emotions playing out on his face. First was a grin, but it quickly turned to a shocked grimace as he gasped, stepping forward but, unable to hold his own weight, leaved heavily on the desk. Blood pooled in his mouth and dripped slowly down his chin from each corner of his mouth.

Tsunade stood up abruptly, knocking over her chair. "Naruto!" She yelled, nearly falling over the table to reach out to him.

Naruto coughed, splattering blood onto the desk and the papers covering it's surface. A cloud of smoke engulfed him and he popped out of existence.

"It still needs a bit of work..." Naruto frowned.

Tsunade spun on her heel to the blonds voice. She found Naruto easily lounging in the window sill, staring painfully without really seeing the spot where his clone had been as the memory of the injury washed over him.

Tsunade sighed heavily, clutching her beating chest. Pulling her chair upright she fell into it heavily. "God, Naruto, don't scare me like that!" She berated, trying to calm herself and her worry. She glanced up to the young man who had not moved and was still staring into space, although she was sure his brain was turning furiously. "Well, I'm glad you're at least making progress."

"Hn, yeah," Naruto agreed, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking in front of her desk. "Slowly, but surely. Sorry about your desk." He offered, noticing the splotches of blood.

She waved his apology away, noting his fading disposition due to the clones painful end. "Unfortunately," she started, digging through one of her mounds of paper and pulling out one particular folder. She held it out to him, "I'll have to distract you from your studies for a while."

"A mission..." He uttered slowly, taking the offered folder.

"An S rank mission, but you'll be able to handle it. I'm sending Shikamaru with you. It's an infiltration and information gathering assignment, but a good chance of a fight. I'd guess it'll take a good week or two to complete."

Naruto looked up sharply, "Kakashi's graduation is next week."

Tsunade grimaced, leaning back in her chair, "I know. You've been on leave for a while though and I really needed to give you this mission. I've got my hands tied behind my back with the Elders. I trust you to protect Shikamaru; Konoha can't loose a strategist like him."

Naruto sighed heavily, "I guess I'll go break the news to Kakashi then."

Tsunade nodded, "You'll leave in the morning."

Kakashi stood in a line of his third year peers. He was next up. Glancing sideways, he noticed that he wasn't the only one nervous. Student's fidgeted from foot to foot, fiddling with buttons and practicing hand seals. They had all taken the written exam the previous day and passed. Those who hadn't - there were only two - were forced to retake the year. Now, they only had to pass the jutsu portion of the exam before they were all promoted from mere academy students to genin of Konoha.

He turned back to looking at the door, behind which one student was displaying his skills for a panel of three judges. He was ready, he knew that he was, although he wished that his brother hadn't had to leave on a mission and miss several days of training. He had trained with Naruto on far more difficult exercises than these academy level jutsu, but being tested worried him. He had never before been graded on his skills and that alone made him nervous.

The door to the testing room suddenly opened in the dead silent room. The girl that had been inside walked out slowly, looking just as nervous as when she had entered, shooting glances towards all of the kids looking at her before leaving to go home.

"Hatake Kakashi," one of the instructors called.

Kakashi steeled his nerves, unwilling to show his weakness to these teachers who were grading him, and entered the room with his head held high. He shut the door after himself and made his way to the center of the room, his cool grey eyes studied the panel of judged, two of whom he did not know but had seen around the academy.

"We will grade you no differently than any of the other students simply because of your age." One of the instructors who sat on the far left spoke suddenly in monotone without glancing up at the boy as he scribbled something down.

Iruka smiled at him, "Do your best, Kakashi-kun."

"First we would like to see the shadow-clone technique," the first ninja spoke again. He had yet to glance up.

Kakashi nodded once in acknowledgement. "Shadow-clone technique," he spoke, forming his hand into the required seals as he had practiced countless number of times in the past few months.

Iruka stood at the front of the class going on (and on) about how proud he was of them all for passing the jutsu exam the previous day and how he expected them all to serve Konoha well and live up to their new rank - genin.

A hint of a smile grew on Kakashi's lips as he looked around to his third year classmates, all wearing brand new Konoha hitiates. He had graduated. Kakashi wiggled in his seat, a futile attempt to keep his excitement and curiosity in check.

"Hatake Kakashi!"

The silver-haired boy snapped his eyes to his teacher, pulling himself away from his musings.

"Pay attention." The brunette chunin snapped, continuing on in his speech. "Unfortunately, our graduating class has an odd number of students to fit perfectly into three-man teams. Therefore, you will be on a team by yourself, Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi frowned, pondering the implications of his lack of teammates. "Sensei," Kakashi started, tuning out the class's loud whispering, "I thought genin were put into teams of three so that they will develop team work and use each member's skills to the fullest. Why am I the one who has to go without a team?"

"That's true, however, because of your age, the Hokage has decided that you will be given a team in a few years to lessen the age gap." Iruka explained evenly with a sigh. Somehow he knew this would happen.

Kakashi fumed inwardly, trying to hide his emotions behind his mask as any decent ninja should be able to; his attempts were futile. There was only one thing that really truly angered him, and that was when people judged his skills based off of his age. The entire year he had been coddled and treated like a five year old, not like a third year student in the academy. "But, Sensei! I'm just as capable-!" Kakashi yelled, standing up and bracing himself against his desk.

"It's out of my hands, Kakashi." Iruka interrupted, sternly staring down the boy. He didn't much like being yelled at and talked back to by one of his own students. "Now, sit. Down."

Kakashi growled inwardly.

The class was silent, probably silent enough to have hear him, and was intensely watching the staring battle between Kakashi and Iruka.

"Who's my sensei - do I even get a sensei? Maybe, I'm too young to be taught at a genin level, huh?" he spat, folding his arms over his chest as he continued to stare down his teacher.

Iruka rubbed the bridge of his nose, warding off the beginnings of a headache. "You obviously are too young to handle some things, Kakashi. Now that you are a genin, I could report this immaturity of yours as subordination." He waited a few tense moments, letting his words sink into Kakashi's thick skull. "The Hokage hasn't yet decided who will be your sensei-"

"This is bullshit!" Kakashi yelled, descending the stars of the classroom towards the door with a simmering anger.

The class and Iruka were silent at the vulgar words that came out of such a young mouth and the, usually quite, boy's outburst.

"Anyways, I'll read off the genin teams now," Iruka resumed as Kakashi left the room to aimlessly walk the streets of Konoha until finally deciding to vent his anger through training.

It was well after dark when kakashi finally allowed himself to stop training, falling into an un-ninja like heap at the bottom of a large tree to catch his breath. He had worked away his anger, though part of him still felt slighted. He had come to realize that he would get a different sort of missions than other genin teams. His missions would most likely not be centered around open combat, but infiltration, information gathering and diplomatic missions. It would give him time to get stronger and give him experience in an area that the genin teams wouldn't for quite some time. He would just have to work on his team work later.

He rest his head back against the tree with a soft 'thump' and glazed lazily through the shifting leaves overhead. In the darkness, he hardly noticed the change in light when his eyes slid shut slowly and his worn out body fell asleep.

The ANBU dropped to the grassy field of the training ground, the sound of his landing sounding more like the slight breeze that had been blowing that night, his white porcelain mask glowing like a second moon in the darkness. His keen eyes shifted to a small boy - his charge - resting nearby with a messy tuft of silver. He approached the boy lightly. The kid, Kakashi, had fallen asleep an hour or two ago and he had decided that the boy wasn't going to wake up again that night.

Once standing over Kakashi, he looked over the boy. He had been told of Kakashi's condition; it had come as something of a shock to him. He had heard of the famed Copy Cat ninja Hatake Kakashi who had once been one of the most elite and capable ninja in ANBU. Now, Kakashi lay sleeping, his mouth hung open slightly, sucking in small breaths of air which caused his small chest to rise up and down; a messy head of hair (that, for one, looked nearly the same); the childish and innocent features of a child who had never taken a life; and two perfectly grey eyes. The ANBU slid his arms under Kakashi, careful not to wake him, and held him close against his chest. A soft chuckle escaped him; he really couldn't see the kid being one of the most elite and deadly of Konoha's elite squad. Shaking his head at the notion, he made his way, unseen, back into the village and to the Uzumaki's apartment.

Kakashi woke bleary-eyed and confused to his own room the next morning. His ninja clothes and gear were still on and smelled disgustingly like sweat and dirt. He rolled out of bed, forcing his sore muscles into submission and walked into the living room. "Naruto-nii?" he called, wondering if his brother had returned from his mission, found him, and brought him home. The bedroom, living room and kitchen were quiet and empty, the only sound being the pattering of his own feet and his own breath.

"Hatake-san," a voice spoke unexpectedly.

Kakashi spun around to the voice that sounded behind him and stopped short. In front of him, in his own living room, crouched one of Konoha's ANBU, the Hokage's elite ninja. His mouth gaped open in aw and his eyes shone as he stared at the ANBU's silent, fluid movements and ghost white mask as if he were a civilian child entering a candy shop. "Hai?" he managed to mutter.

"Hokage-sama wishes to see you. Please make your way to the Hokage tower."

Kakashi nodded, not trusting his voice and wondering if he had been assigned a team after his outburst in class the previous day.

The ANBU disappeared in an instant before he could even think to blink. He ran into the bathroom, already pulling off his gear. He had to be descent to meet the Hokage of the Village of Leaf and get on her good side, he was, of course, going to be one of her best ninja once he was a little older. He would prove himself to the Hokage and to everyone else who doubted him because of his age.

"How was your mission?" Tsunade asked lightly, sipping at the tea her assistant had brought her.

Naruto laughed, "I thought you said it was an S rank, seemed more like a C rank to me. I mean, really, Granny, when are you gonna give me something challenging?"

"Mah, you would say something like that, Naruto," Shikamaru grumbled, playing with the cigarette in his mouth and itching to light it. "So troublesome."

Tsunade smiled, "Ah, well, we'll see. I'll expect your report by tomorrow morning."

"Yea, yea," the blond waved her off, rolling his eyes. "I gotta go, Granny, gonna try and catch Kakashi before he leaves to meet his team - I'm assuming he passed easily, I mean, how could he not since I trained him?" the blond rambled animatedly.

Shikamaru nodded, following Naruto to the door.

"Actually," the Hokage interrupted, suddenly shifting through her papers. She pulled one out finally and scanned over it for several moments. "I would like both of you to take on a genin team this year."

"Wha-?" Naruto's smile faded as he stared questioningly at the Hokage.

Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his temples

"You're one day late to meet your teams, but in this case I really don't think that will matter too much."

"This is too troublesome..."

"Me? A genin sensei? Are you going senile, old lady?" He dodged a book that was thrown at his head as he spoke. "I don't know if I can handle molding a team. I mean, Kakashi-sensei beat us over the head with teamwork all the time and look at us now..."

"That was a peculiar situation, Naruto. I'm sure you won't have any difficulties like that. Shikamaru, your team will be waiting for you to test them tomorrow morning at ten on training ground three."

"Hai, hai," he voiced, nodding his head once and waving over his shoulder as he left.

"What about me?" Naruto urged, crossing the room to stand in front of Tsunade once again.

A knock sounded at the door, cutting her short. "Ah, that would be your team now." She smiled, folding her hands on the desk in front of her. "Come in!"

Naruto turned around as the door opened and a small boy stepped in slowly. "Kakashi?" Naruto questioned, looking to Tsunade with an unbelieving and questioning glance. Tsunade merely nodded in response, looking back to the boy.

"Naruto-nii," Kakashi exclaimed as evenly as he could upon seeing his blond-haired brother standing in the center of the Hokage's office. His brother's clothes were dirty and traveled in, he could even smell the forest on him from a few feet away. He imagined that his brother had just returned from his mission. "Welcome back!" He smiled behind his mask, something Naruto could pick out only after several months of living with the boy.

Naruto smiled, glad to see his kid-sensei once again and noticing the shiny new hitiate on the boy's forehead. "You passed! Good job, Kashi, I'm proud of you!" He smiled and congratulated.

Kakashi beamed and he walked to the center of the room with his brother, glad to have done something to make Naruto proud of him and Naruto ruffled the mop of hair on his head. After a moment he remembered where he was and bowed low to Tsunade, "You called for me, Hokage-sama?"

The blond woman smiled, softening her features as she spoke, "Well I'm glad Naruto hasn't corrupted you with his disrespectful manners yet." It was still strange for her to see the jounin Kakashi that she was used to ordering around, always late and reading adult novels, in the body of a child with a young ninja's attitude. "I must apologize for not having a team or sensei for you yesterday. It's my understanding that you got quite upset in front of the class."

Kakashi blushed furiously and was glad for his mask's protection. His feet shifted nervously but he kept his eyes fixed on the old lady even as he felt Naruto's gaze on him.

"Anyways, I've chosen a sensei for you," she said, motioning to Naruto.

"Huh?" he questioned, wide-eyed and looking up to his brother.

Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head, "How about that, Kashi?"

Kakashi was silent for several moments, looking from his brother to the Hokage and back. Finally he spoke, closing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. "Okay, you can be my sensei because you're pretty much the strongest ninja I know, after you, of course, Hokage-sama," he began.

Naruto smiled at Kakashi's statement and the boy 'accepting' him as a sensei. It was just like Kakashi, the blond thought to himself.

"However," the boy continued, looking at his brother seriously now. Young grey eyes met older blue ones. "I have two conditions. One, during training and mission you can't call me Kashi, or chan, only Kakashi. This is to reinforce my second condition, that during training and missions you can't base your decisions off of me being your brother, but a qualified genin of Konoha who has earned his right to join Konoha's ranks."

Naruto stammered, pretending to look hurt. "But, Kashi-chan!" The blond whined, "You are my little brother and I have to take care you!" Naruto grabbed the serious looking young boy and squeezed him in a too-tight affectionate hug. Naruto smiled as Kakashi protested and tried to wiggle free.

"Really, Nii!" Kakashi shouted over Naruto's cooing and continued to push against his brother's chest and extricate himself from the blond's grasp.

"You two..." Tsunade muttered with a warm smile at the boy's antics.

Naruto finally let go of Kakashi, who made a show of straightening his clothes and gear. "I accept your offer, Kakashi," Naruto started seriously, "I would be honored to teach a Hatake." He held his hand out in offering.

Kakashi smiled up at his brother and grabbed the blond's hand, shaking it resolutely.

"Ok! We'll go get our first mission tomorrow! Today, we will start with a bowl of ramen to celebrate my return home and get right to training!" Naruto cheered, pumping a fist into the air and marching animatedly out of the office.

Kakashi's smile grew and he bowed quickly to Tsunade, muttering a hurried "Hokage-sama" and followed his brother, half jogging to catch up.

"I'm interested to see what will happen with you two...Team Uzumaki," she muttered to herself, standing and walking to one of the windows lining her office to look out over her village.