When Time Stops - Chapter 16
In the Balance

"Will we get to go on a mission when you're done with your meetings today?" Kakashi asked evenly as he walked next to his brother from their house down the main stretch of markets in the village, past store owners who were just opening their shops and preparing for the day at the crack of dawn.

"Yea, of course, Kakashi. Being a sensei is my most important job right now, I just have to take care of some stuff with the elders today. I'll be done before you know it." Naruto replied with a terse smile, barely glancing at the boy.

Kakashi tightened his lips, holding back any comments and looked back to the cobblestone and dirt path, "Yea, ok."

They approached an intersection, where Naruto would continue onward and Kakashi would head towards the training fields to begin his daily morning exercises. "You know, you should go find Tana and Hideaki, team bonding would probably be a good idea!" Naruto suggested.

Kakashi huffed, "I think I'll just train on my own."

Naruto came to a stop in the intersection as people pulling carts and shoppers beginning to make their rounds, walked around them. He looked at Kakashi, noting the slightly annoyed expression showing through in his eyes. "Teammates are very special, Kakashi. More than anything else, they are what make you a stronger ninja. I wouldn't be half the ninja I am today without Sakura. You should really try to get to know them. They should be the people you rely on and trust the most."

Kakashi crossed his arms, staring down his Hokakge-to-be brother as if they were on equal ground. "What about your other teammate? You never talk about him." Kakashi remarked sharply.

Naruto paused, faltering momentarily. "Some ninja," the blond started, looking up and towards the gates that protected Konoha, "get lost trying to find their path in life and need help finding their way back." There was several moments of pause before Naruto looked back at his young sense, a smile cheering his expression,"Which is why your training today is to hang out with your teammates and get to know them. We'll meet up for lunch and I want each of you to report three different things about each other."

Kakashi pouted, looking away. It was the one thing Kakashi did (even if it was unintentional) that betrayed the cold mask that the young boy had begun to build around himself. He sighed, looking longingly towards the path to the training grounds but instead spun on his heel and started the other way.

Naruto smiled briefly before turning and continuing towards the Hokage tower with a thoughtful frown blanketing his expression. The elders had called a meeting after learning of the incident with Kakashi on the training grounds. Naruto had a very bad feeling about any of the solutions that would be proposed. He steeled himself as he approached the tower and swiftly walked past the guards outside the front door as he passed through them and ascended the steep stairs to the meeting room.

— — — — — — — —

It had been two days since the genin test Naruto had given them, since he had attacked his teammates and Neji-sensei had come to their doorstep. Kakashi pinched his lips, hating that he had been weak enough to succumb to whatever had poisoned his thoughts. He wondered if the Time nin and their experiment on him was to blame for his twisted thoughts. He turned down a rather large side street towards the Hyuuga estate, turning his thoughts to what lay within the complex walls. He had not seen his newly dubbed teammates since the test. He wondered if Neji-sensei would be there to lecture and threaten him again. He resolved his emotions, donning his emotionless mask as per the ninja code he so strictly followed. He passed through the gates, nodding to the guards that stood on either side of them, and continued into the gardened landscape of the outer courtyard. He glanced around, curious of the serene place that seemed a magical, foreign land. He stopped as his eyes met with Neji's, staring at him from the opposite side of a steadily flowing fountain in the garden's center.

Kakashi bowed his head. "I've come for Tana; we have training today." Kakashi said evenly, staring back into Neji's hard, calculating gaze.

Neji nodded sharply, turning to a house hand who was pruning the flowers. "Call for Tana. Tell her that her teammate is waiting." The woman quickly went into the complex as Neji fixed his gaze on young Kakashi.

Kakashi stood unfazed, even under the pressure of those white eyes.

After several moments, Tana appeared from a white walled marble corridor, her injuries from the other day nearly vanished. "Kakashi-kun!" She smiled and descended the steps towards him.

"I trust you remember what I told you, Kakashi." Neji spoke as Tana came to a stop next to Kakashi.

Kakashi squinted his eyes, the only reaction he gave to the man's threat.

A white robed woman, with short black hair and white eyes of the Hyuuga, appeared from the hallway Tana had come, looking over the garden at the three, staring a second longer at the silver-haired boy. Kakashi glanced to her, recognizing her from the Hokage tower as someone often in meetings with his brother and other prominent clan figureheads from Konoha.

"Goodbye, Papa!" Tana called, already started towards the city. Kakashi quickly turned and followed her from the white Hyuuga world.

"What kind of training are we doing today?" She asked excitedly, smiling ear to ear, "Are we meeting Naruto-sensei for sparring or maybe a mission?"

Kakashi shrugged as they walked into the busy sector of Konoha, towards Hideaki's house, "Naruto-sensei is in a meeting."

"Oh," Tana uttered dumbly, "well, what are we doing then?"

"Learning about each other." Kakashi said shortly.

Tana nodded slowly, glancing doubtfully from her younger teammate to the houses lined up on either side of the road in front if them. She pointed to one a few doors down on the left, "That's Hideaki's house."

Kakashi followed languidly, stopping a few feet behind her as she bounded up to the door and knocked politely.

Kakashi crossed his arms and looked on as Hideaki's mother politely greeted them and called Hideki to the door. Hideaki stepped outside, shutting the door behind him.

"What's all this about?"

"Training." Kakashi replied, staring evenly into Hideaki's eyes.

Tana smiled, "Naruto-sensei is in a meeting today so were supposed to get to know each other."

Hideaki scoffed, "That's dumb, I need to learn techniques and get stronger, not talk all day!"

Kakashi inwardly agreed.

"Well, I think it's a good idea. We're going to have to get to know each other if we're going to be teammates. Isn't that what Naruto-sensei's test was all about?" Tana spoke up between the two. "Maybe we can even do some training with you, Kakashi." She turned to him as she asked.

Kakashi and Hideaki snarled in unison and Kakashi crossed his arms looking away.

"Well, we've got to do something today." Tana rolled her eyes and huffed at the boys' uncooperative spirit.

— — — — — — — — — —

Naruto stood and slammed his hands on the table, ratting the tea glasses spread around the table. "You can't revoke Kakashi's ninja status! Not only will it crush him, but if will do nothing to stop him from hallucinating again, let alone the fact that the Time Nin are still out there and Kakashi needs to learn how to protect himself. As far as we know, what the Time did to him cannot be changed, so we'll just deal with whatever happens as it comes."

"That may be true," one of the elders remarked, but we cannot allow him to put the lives of his teammates, his missions, or Konoha in danger if he hallucinates again."

Tsunade spoke up then, gently easing away the tension between the pompous elders and a scowling Naruto. "Naruto, sit down and talk civilly." She turned to address the Elders with the calm assertiveness of the long-time Hokage. "Removing Kakashi from the field will not help our problem. Keeping him near other skilled ninja is the best way to contain the situation in the event of another episode."

"He will kill someone, it's only a matter of who and when. He should at least be made aware of the situation he is in." The elder retorted.

The Elders and Tsunade looked to Naruto who was frowning, eyes shifting in thought. After a moment, without moving, he replied "Kakashi has been, and will continue to be my responsibility. He is aware of the danger the Time nin present to him, as well as the fact that they are 'experimenting' on him. He is not ready to know the full truth yet, that his episodes are his past memories replaying themselves in his mind, and in the event that he has another episode, which is quite likely, I'm the one that will be responsible for making sure nothing bad happens. I can only do that if he is in the field with me."

Silenced drifted over the room.

"Very well, Naruto," Tsunade began, "Kakashi will continue to be your responsibility. Moving on, we must discuss the feud between Suna and Iwa." She motioned to Shizune to pass out the folders pertaining the issue. "Of course, with the Chunnin exams being held in Suna this year, there is reason for us to want to resolve this before that time..." She continued, glancing at her apprentice and happily seeing that he had managed to put away his own problems with Kakashi and focus on the task at hand.

— — — — — — — — — —

Kakashi's fist slammed into Hideaki's cheek, causing him to stumble back, momentarily stunned. "Okay, tell me something." Kakashi demanded, staring at his teammate with an air of superiority.

"I like red." Hideaki snarled back, rubbing his jaw, he was sure it would be bruised.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "Something significant, you idiot. That's not even something that would be helpful on a mission."

Hideaki snarled and started towards Kakashi with renewed vigor. "That IS significant, Shrimp!"

Kakashi blocked an attack aimed at his chest and swept is foot out underneath Hideaki's feet, knocking him to the ground. "You'll never find out anything about me If you don't land a hit." Kakashi taunted arrogantly. "Well?" Kakashi demanded.

Hideaki glanced at Tana, scowling and wondering how he would manage to learn anything about Kakashi, not that he gave a damn about the know-it-all brat. "I'm allergic to cats."

Kakashi tilted his head in thought. "Interesting story, but you had a pet cat when you were five."

Hideaki's eyes widened, shocked that Kakashi knew that. He stood, wiping the dirt from his palms. "We got rid of it after a few days because IM ALLERGIC TO CATS!" Hideaki moved forward, lunging towards his younger teammate and sidestepping attacks.

Tana watched the two, seeing clearly that Kakashi was more advanced in hand-to-hand combat than Hideaki. Tana ran forward suddenly.

The sudden movement from Tana captured Kakashi's attention and he glanced over, seeing her running towards him. A hard kick to the gut caught him off guard and knocked him off of his feet, skidding against the dirt.

"Ha!" Hideaki cheered loudly, pointing an offending finger towards Kakashi. "Tell me something, Shrimp!"

Kakashi scowled, propping himself on his elbow in the dirt. He huffed irritatedly, standing to his feet and brushing off the dirt on his pants, "I have nin dog summons."

"Wow," Tana exclaimed, "You can already summon?"

Kakashi ignored her and jumped towards HIdeaki, sending a barrage of punches his way before the older boy could retort something obnoxious and ignorant like usual. Tana joined in, attacking Kakashi from the other side, forcing Kakashi to switch to defense. He could barely keep up, defending for shot after shot coming from both Tana and Kakashi. Kakashi frowned in concentration blocking a punch from his right and a drop-kick from his left. Tana sent a kick towards his ribs but he grabbed her ankle and pulled, allowing himself to fall to the ground as Hideaki was mid-motion sending a punch towards the spot Kakashi had been, where Tana now was uncoordinatedly falling. His fist landed right in her stomach and she gasped, landing in a heap right next to Kakashi.

"Oh god, Tana, are you alright?" Hideaki stiffened, "I didn't mean to hit you, I wouldn't hit you that hard if I had been trying to hit you." He stammered and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet and leaving Kakashi to pick himself up.

Tana smiled embarrassedly, "No, its okay, you don't have to pull punches with me. I'm used to sparring with my father."

Kakashi snorted at the two, "You need information about her too, Idiot."

— — — — — — — — — —

Naruto turned his face to the sun and breathed in deeply after he exited the Hokage tower. It had been a long four hours of droning on and on about village matters and constant bickering between Tsunade and the Elders. That room was stifling and the chairs made his back ache. He glanced around, reorienting himself and started towards Ichiraku until he caught the sight of Yamato entering the mission room. He spun on his heel and jogged after him, calling his name.

Yamato stopped just after entering the room and looked back, "Oh, Naruto, how are you doing? Meeting today?"

Naruto nodded smiling, "It was torture. Just old people arguing the whole time."

Yamato chuckled.

Naruto smiled back at him, studying him. He looked worn, tired. Yamato-sensei just hadn't been the same since the incident in which Kakashi had been changed into a child again. Naruto knew Yamato and Kakashi had been very close. He would probably be considered Kakashi's best friend, Naruto thought. Since then, the man had buried himself in missions almost constantly. Yamato did his best to smile and joke and act like a normal person, but he knew Yamato and he could tell that that certain spark was missing from his soul.

"You've been pretty busy with missions lately," Naruto started, seeing the very worn and dirtied attire Yamato was wearing, "You ought take a break every now and then."

"Meh," Yamato looked away, rubbing the back of his head, "I like keeping busy, you know. Plus, with this Iwa-Suna thing…" He shrugged it off.

"You should come have dinner with us tonight, Yamato-sensei." Naruto enthusiastically urged with a warming smile.

Yamato half-heartedly smiled, "Well, I was just headed to pick up another mission…"

"Oh, common," Its been months since you've been around to hang out with, Yamato-sensei. Plus Kakashi has grown a lot since then. We just got the rest of our team too. They haven't really taken to Kakashi yet, you know how he is." Naruto laughed, thinking of his young sensei.

Yamato couldn't help but smile thinking of Kakashi and his attitude. "Well.." he began then paused in thought, shifting uneasily, "well, I guess I could do dinner."

"Great! My place at eight! I'll see you then." Yamato smiled and nodded as Naruto waved and continued on to Ichiraku to meet his genin.

— — — — — — — — — —

The tea kettle began to whistle as Naruto frantically whirled around his small kitchen, muttering a curse every other minute. Kakashi watched his older brother dubiously from the edge of the kitchen, wondering why Naruto had wanted to cook and have guests. It was very A-typical of him. He could count on one hand the number of times Naruto had cooked for guests in his home.

"Kakashi, get the tea, would you?" Naruto frantically called as he stirred a near boiling-over pot of soup and noodles and furiously chopped vegetables.

Kakashi silently approached the stove next to his brother and picked up the full, whistling pot. It was quite heavy and he carried it carefully with two hands to the middle of the table. He had to stand on his tippy toes to set it on the tray next to the tea bags and cups.

A knock echoed from the door and Naruto muttered a string of curses, looking panicked.

"I'll get it.." Kakashi muttered, though he wasn't sure his brother had heard him. He opened the door to see the man, Yamato, with brown hair and tired looking eyes, wearing his ninja attire without his jounin vest. He had met the man before, he was Naruto's sensei or something like that. "Yamato-taichou." Kakashi greeted evenly as he stood in the doorway holding the door. His face was an emotionless mask as he looked up to the man with bored looking steel eyes.

Yamato froze, his chest tightening slightly as he studied his old friend. Like Naruto said, he really had grown; he was at least a foot taller, and his eyes had grown more distant and emotionless. He forced a smile, "Kakashi-kun, you're so big now."

Naruto peeked from the kitchen at the two, "Yamato-sensei!" He wiped his hands on his apron (Naruto wearing an apron was a humorous sight), and walked towards the man, embracing him like old friends do. "Come in, come in," He pulled Yamato by the arm through the doorway and into the dining area.

Several hours later, after all of the food had been demolished, the three sat at the table, Yamato and Naruto both flushed and slurring their words.

"Another!" Naruto cheered, holding up his sake cup.

Yamato smiled and grabbed the bottle, filling both cups up.

Kakashi sighed, eying the cups. The two grown men had broken out one of Naruto's treasured bottles of sake for the special occasion. "Can I have some?" he asked suddenly, after Yamato had carefully poured the two glasses.

Yamato paused, staring at Kakashi's young, curious face.

"I don't see why not," Naruto slurred, "If you're old enough to kill, you're old enough to drink. Go get a cup, Kashi."

Kakashi nodded, jumping from his chair and quickly bringing a cup back to the table. Yamato filled it and set the bottle down with a clank.

Naruto raised his cup, "To our teammates! We're the best family we've got!"

Yamato smiled, nodding, "To family."

Kakashi raised his cup as well, and pulled his mask and downed the cup along with his brother and Yamato. He grimaced as the liquid sent a warm sensation through his throat and down his chest.

Yamato chuckled, "One day it'll grow on you Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi pulled his mask over his face again, pushing the cup away.

"Say, Yamato-sensei," Naruto started, leaning forward over the table and motioning exaggeratedly, "What do you say you join us on our next mission. The Old Lady said she'll have one for us tomorrow."

"Eh," Yamato shook his head, "I should get back to my own missions."

"Awwww! Common, we'll be passing through the bath houses west of Konoha." Naruto pleaded with large eyes, "Me and Kashi miss you."

Kakashi gave his brother a skeptical look, as he had only met the older man a few times.

Yamato looked saddened, if only slightly. Karachi wondered why the man avoided Konoha so much. Naruto seemed close to the man, yet Yamato held himself at some distance for whatever reason.

"Mah," Yamato waved, "I suppose if you're going to be stopping at the bath houses…"

Naruto cheered, and Kakashi wondered as his cheeks grew warm and head fuzzy what their mission would be for, their first mission as Team 10.