"Normal Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Bijuu/Summoning"

"Bijuu/Summon thoughts"

Letters/Reports/Other Documents

A/N: Hello everyone, SilentFang here. This is my first attempt at writing a fanfiction so please, bear with me. Reviews and criticism are welcome, and if I made any errors then don't hesitate to point them out, or if you have a general question contact me via PM or review.

Things in this story are a bit different. Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan all found Otogakure together, and Orochimaru is the one that defeats Hanzo and takes over Ame, turning it into his base of operations. Some members of Akatsuki are still allied with them, but others are evil and will still pose a threat. There will be a few OC's in this story to fill in a few spots(more than one, but less than five), but none of them will be super overpowered.

Thanks for reading, be sure to review, and enjoy!

Chapter revised

Prologue Chapter: New Family

Run. That's all he could do. Run as fast as could and find a place to hide so they wouldn't catch him.

A small child, no more than six years old was pushing his small body to its limit. His sun-kissed blonde hair matted with blood and dirt, his slightly tanned skin covered in cuts and bruises, his cut up beige shorts and the remains of his black shirt, torn and bloodied. The ruined garments were all that was left of his worldly possessions, not that he had much in the first place, but since the mob burned his apartment down, he can really say he had nothing. When they set the apartment on fire, he was held down and forced to watch, unable to do anything while his captors said it was only the start to their revenge. They planned on throwing him in the fire too, to 'send the demon back to hell' as they proclaimed, but he was able to escape while they were distracted by their excitement for his death.

Pushing through his pain, he kept running towards a large tower in the center of the village, the one place he could go to seek help, but he was still quite far away. In an effort to throw off his pursuers, he turned down a narrow side street, then another, and another, until finally coming to a stop in an alleyway when he was sure he had lost them. Panting, he looked for somewhere to hide from the mob until he was rested and sure it was safe enough to start making his way towards the tower again. He would be safe once he was there. The Old Man would protect him, just like he always did. He was about to hide behind some old trash cans and garbage bags when he heard something.

Looking up he saw a man crouched on a roof, looking dead at him with a malicious smile on his face.

"I FOUND HIM! THE DEMON IS OVER HERE!"

'Oh no. No, no, no, no, NO! THERE WERE NINJA IN THE MOB!'' He thought frantically. He was still too far from the tower! There was no way he could escape now! Not if there were ninja after him as well as the normal villagers! Just as he was about to run again, two more men appeared and cut off his escape route. They slowly started to advance, forcing the boy to back into a wall. As he fell to the ground on his butt, shivering in fear, the rest of the mob caught up. They were all shouting the same thing:

"TIME TO DIE, YOU DEMON!"

"YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID!"

"HOW DARE YOU CONTINUE TO SHOW YOUR FACE AROUND HERE?!"

"WE WILL FINISH WHAT THE YONDAIME STARTED!"

It was always like this. The entire village absolutely hated him, and he didn't know why. He had never done anything to them, yet they still hated at him. They still beat him. They still gave him rotten food to eat and abused him for no reason on an almost daily basis. It was maddening. Especially when nobody would tell him the reason. Whenever he asked, the beatings just seemed to get worse.

'Why? Why does this always happen to me?' The boy thought to himself 'Am I really a demon? Did I really do something so awful to these people that they feel the need to beat me?-' He was forcefully brought out of his thoughts by a bone shaking kick to his face. Cheers echoed throughout the crowd and more people started to join in, punching, kicking, even stabbing and slashing at him. All he could do was roll himself up into a ball and cry as he took their blows all over his body.

It went on for what seemed like forever until suddenly his tormentors stopped. The blonde boy looked up and saw the crowd begin to part, and a man with silver hair, navy blue pants, and a navy blue long sleeved shirt under a green flak jacket walked up to him. He was obviously a shinobi, at least Chunin rank if the flak jacket was any indication.

"Hold the demon down." the silver haired man said while pulling a sharp object out of a pouch on his left leg. "I want to finish this once and for all." Four men walked over to the beaten child and kicked him over so he was lying flat on his stomach, then proceeded to rip off the remains of his shirt, as they held down his arms and legs. The man in the flak jacket then bent down and looked the child in his eyes, taking satisfaction in the fear they displayed.

"Well now, Demon-kun" the man said in a mocking tone. "It wasn't nice of you to run away from us in the middle of our fun! I thought you liked fire seeing as how you almost burnt down the entire village at one point!"

"What are you talking about?!" the child screamed "I never did that! Please let me go!" he pleaded as his tears started to mix with the blood and grime on his face.

"QUIT LYING YOU DEMON SCUM!" The man yelled as he kicked him in the side, eliciting a yell from the captive boy "Now stay still and let me continue marking you, so the world will know exactly what you are before we send you back to hell!" the silver haired man yelled out so the mob could hear him clearly, eliciting another round of cheers. With that said, he plunged his weapon into the child's back until he could hear the dull THOK of his kunai hitting the back of the boys rib cage, and started cutting.

The child screamed as loud as he could, desperately crying out for help from someone, anyone, to help him. As his eyes darted around searching for a way to escape, all he could see was the looks of glee and satisfaction on the crowds face before his vision started to go black. In the back of his mind, he almost hoped he would never wake up again...

Three figures stopped at the North gate of the village Konohagakure no Sato. Each were wearing a black cloak with a red cloud pattern adorned on it, the mark of their organization.

The first was a man that had lightly tanned skin, vibrant orange hair, and light blue eyes that exuded mischievousness and leadership. To his left, a man slightly taller than him with very pale skin and dark red hair, almost the color of blood, with very dark sunglasses covering his eyes just looked up at the enormous gate. He seemed to have an air of slight nervousness around him, which was quite unusual for him. their third member, a female with pale blue hair, adorned in a bun held up by an origami flower, and amber eyes with a piercing on her lower lip. She seemed to have a calmness and serenity around her.

"Well guys," the leader exclaimed with a big smile "it looks like we finally made it to Konoha! One step closer to our dream... I hope." He looked to the man next to him. "Yo, Nagato. You sure you're going to be okay?" he asked turning to the now identified Nagato "Even though this is sensei's home village, your parents murderers are from here too..."

"Yes Yahiko." Nagato replied. "I will be fine. Jiraiya-sensei has helped me let go of my hatred a long time ago. I will not hate this village for the actions of the few." Yahiko just nodded then turned to their female companion, as she hooked his arm around his. "Ready to go Konan-chan?"Yahiko asked the blue haired beauty. Konan nodded and gave him a small, reserved smile and the three walked into the village.

As they made their way down the main road, they stopped noticed there was some sort of celebration going on. There were food stalls and games all along the street. "Oh right! It's October 10th right?" Yahiko asked. "This must be the festival they throw every year to honor of the defeat of the Kyuubi six years ago by the hands of the Yondaime hokage." Konan said while observing everything. Civilians and ninja alike were walking around enjoying the festivities; children were running around laughing and having a good time. The trio slightly smiled as they took in the lighthearted atmosphere and continued on their way towards the Hokage tower where the leader of the village worked.

After walking a few blocks down the road, Nagato stopped suddenly and turned his head, staring intently down a darkened side street with a puzzled expression. Noticing their companion was no longer with them, Yahiko and Konan stopped and looked back at him.

"Hey man, is everything alright?" Nagato was quiet for a moment before answering. "I feel... an unusual amount of chakra over there. I'm going to go look. Follow me." He took off down the side street while his companions just looked at each other and followed behind him.

"What is so unusual about this chakra signature that you are making us go out of our way to see? We are in a ninja village. There are bound to be a few strange chakra signatures every now and then." Konan asked whilst looking at Nagato. He was quiet for a moment and then shook his head. "It's not just strange; it's just how much of it there is. Or more importantly, how much of it there isn't. At first I thought it was just an animal or pet or something but... it feels too human-like. The thing that's worrying me is how weak the signal is, and the fact that it's not moving. Whoever it is needs help, and fast."

Just as Nagato finished, the trio came upon a small street cluttered with trash and drops of a red liquid everywhere. Upon closer inspection, they found it to be blood. "Oh no" Nagato whispered before turning to a space between two buildings. There, lying in the middle was a small boy, bruised and bleeding profusely from his back and a broken arm that was bent horribly out of place.

"Oh my god!" Konan yelled. "Nagato, go find the Hokage and tell him about this, NOW!" Yahiko barked out at his friend "Roger!" Nagato took off at full speed, jumping to the rooftops and heading toward the hokage tower. Yahiko and Konan ran up to the boy, who was apparently conscious, but couldnt move too well. Upon hearing Yahiko's yell, the boy's eyes widened and he immediately tried crawling away, but could only make it a few inches before he collapsed again.

"P-Please," the boy said before trying to inch his way in the opposite direction from them again. "Pl-please, no more! I don't want to die! I'm sorry for whatever I did! Just please, don't hurt me anymore!" The boy was crying, tears falling out of his deep cerulean eyes and smudging the dirt and blood caked on to his face. Upon seeing this, Yahiko immediately stopped his advance.

"It is alright little one." He said in a low voice. "We are here to help-"

"LIAR!" the boy yelled back, his voice angry and hoarse and filled fear. "I WON'T FALL FOR THAT AGAIN! THE LAST TIME SOMEONE SAID THAT THEY TRIED TO BURY ME ALIVE!" He somehow managed to make it to the other side of the alley so back was against the wall, his good arm clutching his broken one. Konan waked forward a few steps and kneeled down in front of him, and held out her hand, mentally frowning at the fact that the boy seemed to flinch when she did so. "

It is okay young one." she said in the kindest way possible. "We won't hurt you. We just want to get you to a hospital and fix you up. Don't worry, you'll be fine in a little whil-" "STOP LYING!" the boy yelled again causing Konan to frown. 'Whoever did this to him had obviously done it multiple times before. He won't trust anyone...' she thought sadly.

"She isn't lying" said a voice from behind them. The three in the alleyway turned to see a man in his late fifties wearing white and red robes and a matching hat with the kanji for 'Fire' on it, with Nagato standing beside him. He was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the reinstated Sandaime hokage "It is okay Naruto. They are friends. Let's go to the hospital and get you fixed up." The boy, now identified as Naruto, processed what was said to him before finally nodding and hesitantly reached out for Konan's hand. As he took it, she lifted him up as best as she could without agitating his injuries, and handed him to the hokage who muttered a quick thanks.

The adults noted that his injuries were far worse than they thought. While the wounds on Naruto's arms and legs were mostly superficial and would heal relatively quickly, the wounds on his torso were deep. He has cuts and lacerations all over his stomach and chest, a large bruise directly over his navel and many small burn marks all over his sides. The hokage shot a solemn look to the boy as he passed out from the pain of his injuries, before turning towards the hospital with the other three trailing behind him.

A few hours later, Yahiko, Nagato, Konan, and Hiruzen were sitting in a hospital room with a bandaged and sleeping Naruto on the bed. "Hokage-sama..." Yahiko said while looking at the boy. "Why did this happen? Who would ever stoop so low as to beat a small child and leave him for dead?" Yahiko was furious but holding himself back. Konan was also trembling, clenching her fists repeatedly, and Nagato held a scowl on his face. The hokage sighed and looked at the three of them before doing a few quick hand seals and setting up a basic privacy barrier so no sound could get in or out.

Sighing again, Sarutobi replied "I suppose at least owe you three an explanation as gratitude for finding him before he was hurt more, or worse. You have heard of the Kyuubi attack on this village six years ago, correct?" After a slight pause all three of them nodded and the hokage continued "During that battle, Minato Namikaze, our Yondaime hokage defeated it at the cost of his own life..."

"Wait a minute; I thought Bijuu couldn't be killed?" Yahiko said while scratching his chin.

"They can't." A new voice appeared from the window, and when everyone looked over they saw a very big man with long spiky white hair in a ponytail, wearing a pale green outfit with a red vest over it and a horned headband with the kanji for "Oil" on it.

"Jiraiya!" the Sandaime exclaimed, a bit surprised to see his old student "Hello sensei." Jiraiya said back absentmindedly while walking over to the hospital bed, inspecting the still sleeping Naruto, then turning to the other occupants of the room.

"How did you get in here sensei? I thought there was a privacy barrier up." Nagato asked.

"Oh Please. Just who the hell do you think I am? I am the mighty Toad Sage of Mt. Myouboku! Do you honestly think a tiny privacy seal will keep me out of any place I really wanted to go?" he replied. Nagato just nodded and Konan spoke up.

"Getting back on track, if Bijuu cannot be killed then how did the Yondaime stop the Kyuubi?"

"Well," the Sandaime started, grateful to get back to his explanation before Jiraiya brought them too off task. "Bijuu are large masses of malevolent chakra given a form, so in a sense they aren't really alive. The only way to stop a Bijuu is to seal. Whether it be in a very old, very powerful artifact. Or…" "Inside a newborn child." Jiraiya finished as the hokage nodded slowly.

"Then he is…" Konan started as her and her two companions eyes widened "Yes." Hiruzen replied "He is the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, strongest of the nine Bijuu." The hokage sighed before continuing "Somehow this information had leaked to the general public despite my best efforts. The Yondaime wanted this child to be seen as a hero. As the person who constantly holds back the Kyuubi from destroying everything and killing everyone in this village. But the people didn't listen. All they see him as is the raging monster who attacked the village and slaughtered their loved ones."

"So…" Nagato spoke up "They see him has the proverbial kunai, and not the pouch that said kunai is stored in?" Jiraiya and Hiruzen both nodded solemnly "Idiots! They permanently scarred a small child's mind and body and forever engraved his back with a derogatory term because they choose not to understand something that was explained to them?!" Hiruzen and Jiraiya nodded again, knowing that the scar he was referring to was the word 'DEMON' that was cut into Naruto's back. Even with the Kyuubi's healing abilities, some of the scars and burns he received today wouldn't fully heal.

"What of the boy's parents?" Konan asked. "I would hate to think they abandoned him just because of what he holds…"

"They both died in the attack" Jiraiya answered her. Everyone went quiet, the only sound in the room coming being the rhythmic beeping of Naruto's heart monitor.

"Well.." Yahiko started "Who not put the kid up for adoption? I'm sure there has to be at least one person out there who would take him in." Sarutobi shook his head slowly. "I tried that. No civilian families would take him in, and we cannot give him to one of our ninja clans seeing as they would only take advantage of his- or rather, his 'tenants' power for political gain." The room quieted down once again until Nagato looked at Jiraiya and spoke up

"Sensei. Isn't Naruto the name of the character in your first book? Does that mean you are related to him somehow? I doubt you came to see him just because of his 'tenant'." Jiraiya was silent for a moment before answering. "Yeah… I'm the kid's godfather. His parents did indeed name him after the character in my book."

"So why not adopt him and take him with you?" Jiraiya looked at his three students before saying "I couldn't. I'm constantly on the road maintaining my spy network. It would be too dangerous for me to take a kid with me. Besides, I didn't even know he was being treated like this. This is my first time being back in Konoha for four years… I thought he was still in the orphanage or already adopted or something… I knew he wouldn't be treated fair, but I didn't think it would ever get this bad."

The hokage nodded "Seeing as how I am almost constantly busy, I cannot take him in either. I don't know what else to do-"

"I'll adopt him" Konan blurted out, much to the surprise of Hiruzen and Jiraiya. "But Konan, aren't you three travelling as well? That just putting him in the same situation as he would be in if I took him." Jiraiya stated.

"Yes we are travelling." Yahiko spoke up "But it's nowhere near as dangerous as what you're doing sensei." The hokage raised an eyebrow. "Now that you mention it Yahiko-san, what exactly are you travelling for my boy? If I recall you had requested a meeting with me until Nagato-san came and brought me to the alley"

Yahiko nodded before answering "Nagato, Konan, and I are trying to build our own hidden village. Otogakure, The Village Hidden in the Sound." This piqued Sarutobi's interest. 'They are obviously good people with a good dream… but I am a bit uneasy about letting almost total strangers take Naruto away. And I'm sure the Council won't like that I'm giving them our Jinchuuriki but…' Hiruzen gave Naruto a quick glance 'I at least owe him this much. I have failed not only him, but both Minato and Kushina for allowing this to happen without my knowledge.'

Stroking his beard, Sarutobi addressed Yahiko "So I'm assuming you came to me to sign a document saying that I, along with the rest of Konoha and it's council acknowledge you as an independent nation?"

Yahiko nodded. "As you know, a country cannot have its own hidden village until a majority of the five Kage from the largest villages agree. We are travelling to each of the five major villages to try and get recognized."

Hiruzen nodded. "Can you tell me a bit about your Village Yahiko-san?" "Of course, Hokage-sama. We are located in the Land of Rice, and have already received the Daimyo's support and permission to build our village there. We also have our own military force and both a shinobi and civilian academy built and we are working on a system to stabilize our economy. Along with your signature of approval, we were also hoping for some sort of treaty or trade agreement with you."

"I see. Impressive" Hiruzen said as he was contemplating everything Yahiko told him. "But before I can sign this I must know that your country is trustworthy. I know you three personally are very noble, if you weren't, you wouldn't have saved Naruto here." He said motioning to the blonde boy "And the fact that you are Jiraiya's old students is nothing to sneeze at either… But I need to see some sort of proof that your village won't hinder or betray mine."

"Konan." Yahiko said looking to his female companion. Konan nodded and withdrew a blue scroll with a wave pattern on it from her cloak and handed it to Yahiko. "This is our letter of acknowledgement from the Godaime Mizukage, Mei Terumi." He said "It also includes our trade agreements and a possible alliance if we are successful and help stabilize their economy as well, since they are still recovering from their civil war."

Sarutobi just took the scroll, reading it over quickly and handing it back to Yahiko while nodding. "Very well, while we cannot have an alliance yet, I will allow trade and acknowledge you as a full-fledged hidden village. May I ask what other Kage you have spoken to thus far?"

Yahiko nodded before answering "Including you, there is the Mizukage, who accepted us, and the Tsuchikage who denied us." 'No surprise there.' Hiruzen thought. 'Oonoki was always an isolationist and hated the idea of minor villages'.

Thinking for a bit longer Hiruzen nodded and came to a decision. "Very well... I will allow you to adopt Naruto." Upon hearing this, the three Oto nin and Jiraiya all lit up "I will start drawing up the adoption papers as soon as he is awake. Oh, speak of the devil…"

Everyone turned to see Naruto waking up. He looked around at everyone in the room before his eyes rested on the hokage. "Jiji… where am I? What happened?" The hokage gave Naruto a small smile an answered "These three nice people found you half dead in the streets and helped bring you to the hospital." Naruto looked at the Oto group and muttered a barely audible 'thank you'. "That's not all Naruto." Hiruzen said as the boy turned back to him "They also wish to adopt you. You can have a real family if you wish." At this, Naruto's eyes widened to the size of saucers. 'A… A family? I thought I wasn't allowed to have a family? I thought nobody wanted me?"

Konan, seeing the look on Naruto's face, smiled a bit before walking over and sitting in an empty chair next to his bed. "Hello Naruto." She said in a soft voice. "My name is Konan." She offered him a small smile. 'Wow' Naruto thought. 'She's so pretty. And she has a nice voice too...' "I'm going to be your new mother."

Naruto looked at her for a second and said "Okaa-san?" Konan nodded and hugged him close. He tensed a bit, causing her to frown slightly, but he soon melted into the embrace. It was the nicest and gentlest thing he had ever experienced. Behind her, Yahiko and Nagato and introduced themselves as well. "

Hey kid, My Name is Yahiko! Well, I guess if Konan is your mother, then that makes me your father!" Yahiko blurted out with a huge grin on his face. Naruto looked over at Yahiko and smiled. "Tou-san" he said in a small voice. "That's right!" the orang-haired man responded before walking over and ruffling Naruto's hair while laughing

"Ahem." Nagato cleared his throat in order to bring Naruto's attention to him. "Hello little one, my name is Nagato. Seeing as how Yahiko took the father slot, I guess all that leaves me with is Uncle." Naruto nodded at him then took another look at his new family before he started crying.

Konan chuckled softly as she hugged him again and asked "Come now, why are you crying?" Naruto just looked at her and said "I-I was always told that I w-wasn't allowed to have a family… that I didn't deserve one because I was a demon…"

"NARUTO!" Hiruzen shouted causing the blonde to jump a bit. "You are not and never will be a demon. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, okay?" The small boy just nodded and cried more. "Isn't this great sensei!" Yahiko turned around to see Jiraiya no longer there. He wondered when he left before shrugging and turned back to the newest addition to his family who was still crying tears of joy into Konan's cloak.

One month later

Naruto was fully healed, was bought new clothes, and after a LOT of covering up so Konoha's Civilian and Shinobi council would think he died from his last beating (something the civilians and most shinobi were ecstatic about and most with the exception of two or three Clan heads, an ANBU officer, and some Jounin and Chunin who were told later), Yahiko, Nagato, Konan, and Naruto were ready to leave Konoha.

A small group of spectators were just outside the main gate, watching as the family made their way down the main road with Yahiko holding an excited Naruto on his shoulders, towards their next destination, Sunagakure. Hiruzen was standing at the gate, along with Teuchi Ichiraku and his daighter Ayame, the only people that let Naruto eat food at their small ramen stand (and would have adopted him themselves if they weren't so poor), smiling sadly. Although Hiruzen never had much time to spend with Naruto, the small energetic was like a grandson to him. It was hard watching him go, but after seeing him hurt so badly and how he was so happy to finally have a real family, Hiruzen knew it a good decision.

Right before they were out of eyesight, the hokage noticed the group stop, Naruto flailing his arms and climbing off of Yahiko's shoulders before running back up to the old Hokage and the Ichiraku family. "Jiji! Teuchi-Ojisan! Ayame-Neesan!" Naruto deeply bowed before saying "Thanks for everything! I promise I'll be back to visit really soon!" before gathering them in a group hug and without waiting for a reply, ran back to his new family that was waiting for him with smiles on their faces. Hiruzen smiled proudly as Teuchi yelled that he would always have a seat at their restaurant and Ayame yelled to be safe.

"Hey Naru-chan" Konan asked as Naruto was getting back on Yahiko's shoulders. "Hmm?" Naruto replied while looking at his mother. "What was so important that you had to run all the way back to the gate to tell them?" Naruto just grinned widely and said "I made a promise! A really important one too"

"Oh really?" Nagato said looking at his adoptive nephew. "Promises are a big responsibility! Be sure not to break it." Naruto just laughed and said "Of course not! I never go back on my word Oji-san!" Nagato chuckled slightly as they continued to make their way down the road.

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter. I hope you all like the revision is better than the first draft, haha.

Seeing as how this is the prologue, the next chapter makes a huge time skip, about a week and a half before the beginning of the Chunin exams. It's there where we'll meet Naruto's team and see how he grew up in Oto and the whole thing about with his family and friends. Important things that happen between him leaving with his new family and the start of the next chapter will be covered in flashbacks. Thanks for reading, see you next chapter! And don't forget to review!