Author's Note: This is my first go at a fanfic. I hope that you will like it. But please, if you don't like the story, please try to leave constructive criticism rather than just saying "THIS STORY SUCKS BALLS!" or something to that extent. Now, I'm trying to make this story as original as I can, but since I can't remember if everything I think of is original or I just read it somewhere years ago and forgot I read it I'd be more than happy to give credit to other fanfic authors on here, since this is the only fanfic site I've ever been to, all you need to do is comment and tell me what ideas I've accidentally copied and I will give them credit. Thank you for your cooperation. Now, this story will have some modern items, like music, television, etc., so please refrain from commenting about my use of them. Thanks again for reading this, if anyone actually did, and I hope you enjoy the story.

"Normal talking"

Thinking

"Bijuu/Summons talking"

Bijuu/Summons thinking

Jutsu

It was a normal day for Konohagakure. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, kids were playing in the parks and playgrounds, and a vicious mob was chasing a little boy around town. The mob, which consisted of both civilians and shinobi, were holding all sorts of weapons, such as baseball bats, pitchforks, broom handles, and pocket knives for the civilians and kunai, swords, axes, and shuriken for the shinobi. They were yelling things like, "We've got you now, you demon!" "The Hokage isn't here to save you now!" "Our relatives you killed will finally be avenged!" "Let's finish what the Fourth Hokage started!"

The boy they were chasing was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, the container of the Nine-Tailed Fox and village punching bag. Naruto had been beaten almost everyday since he could remember and he knew he was beaten before then as well. Naruto, being only 8 years old, didn't know why the villagers did this, why they always glared at him, chased him out of their stores, and hit and beat him whenever they had a chance. His only saving grace were three people, the Hokage and the people who owned the Ichiraku ramen stand, they were the only ones who treated him like a human being, the Ichiraku's even let him eat as much ramen as he wanted for free. But they were not here right now.

The Hokage was gone on an important political trip to Kumogakure to try and create an alliance between Konoha, Sunagakure, and Kumo. The Kazekage was to meet the Hokage and join him in a meeting with the Raikage. The Hokage wanted to take Naruto with him, but he didn't because he didn't want to bring Konoha's only jinchuriki to a foreign nation, since if the Kumo or Suna ninjas found out that it was the container of Kyuubi, they might try to kidnap Naruto, and he didn't want Naruto to be kidnapped since he loved the boy like a grandson, and Konoha couldn't afford to lose their only demon container, since then they would have no protection against other nations if they attacked with jinchuriki of their own.

Naruto ran as fast as his young feet would carry him, trying in vain to dodge all of the weapons that were being thrown at him, such as kunai and shuriken from the ninja, and alcohol bottles from the civilians. He had several kunai sticking out of his back and arms, as well as some shuriken in his legs, tearing his muscles as he kept on running, trying to ignore the pain and the blood loss. He had cuts on his neck and his face from near misses of some of the more well placed shuriken throws. He turned a corner into an alley, hoping to lose his pursuers, but he instantly knew he made a wrong turn that would probably end his life.

The mob followed him into the alley, only to find it was a dead end. They all grinned an evil smile and slowly walked towards Naruto. Suddenly two ANBU dropped onto the ground between Naruto and the mob, a wolf masked ANBU and a bear masked one.

"What do you think you are doing?" the bear masked ANBU shouted at the mob. As the wolf masked ANBU shouted Lightning Blade and stuck it through the bear masked ANBU's heart.

"Kakashi, why?" Bear asked, as he felt himself dying.

"Because, it's finally time for that demon to die, and for me to avenge my master."

Bear sank to the ground in a dead heap while Kakashi turned around toward Naruto. Naruto's eyes widened in fear as he knew he was going to die since he knew that the ANBU were some of the strongest ninja in the village. He closed his eyes, knowing that his world would be ending soon. He heard Kakashi yell Lightning Blade and heard his footsteps running toward him right before he felt Kakashi's hand go through his chest. He knew where his heart and every other major artery in his chest was located, since he had overheard the doctors saying over the years which attacks had just missed certain organs, and knew that the attack had just missed his heart, but even though it did, he knew he would die from the blood loss, even if the mob let him live, which he knew they weren't.

"There, now master, you may rest in peace since I have finally killed this monster." Kakashi said, then disappear in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto, who was only barely alive heard the mob come ever closer, he accepted that he was going to die and stopped trying to live, and just thought about the old man and the Ichirakus and hoped they forgive him for not being there for them and for whatever he had done to make the villagers hate him this much. Then he passed out from the blood loss. He didn't see or hear the two figures that jumped down in front of him, facing the villagers.

"What the fuck are you doing to this child!" the male shouted, "Konan, hurry and heal him as much as you can."

"Already ahead of you Nagato." Konan said as she rushed to Naruto and her hands started glowing green as she started healing him.

"Hey, what are you doing? Don't heal that monster!" a villager yelled and the others shouting their agreement.

"YOU are the monsters! Attacking and trying to kill an innocent child!" Nagato yelled with as much killing intent as he could muster in his voice, which made the civilians tremble in fear and the shinobi to start sweating, getting ready for a fight if the man attacked.

"That demon is anything but innocent! It is the Nine-Tailed Fox reincarnated! It killed hundreds in this village 8 years ago, so we are just avenging all of our loved ones it murdered!" one of the braver civilians shouted, only to have a kunai from Nagato embedded in his forehead, instantly killing him.

Nagato just looked down and said Rinnegan and looked up at the mob. Instantly he pulled out two kunai from his hip pouch and charged the mob. He was so fast, not even the Jonin level ninja in the mob saw him move. In an instant, he was behind the entire mob with two bloody kunai, one in each hand. A second later, the throats of each of the members of the mob exploded open as blood gushed out of the new slits in each of them, the bodies of the civilians and shinobi all fell in a heap on the ground. Nagato turned around to see the bear ANBU's body still laying on the ground. He did a few hand seals and said calmly Earth Style: Earthly Grave Jutsu. Suddenly a hole formed beside the grave, as well as a tombstone that read 'Here lies a great man, who's life was ended before his time. He gave his live to protect an innocent child from harm. May he rest in peace and be honored as a hero. The Bear ANBU'. Nagato then walked over to the body, knelt down and said a quick prayer for him and lifted his body into the grave and then the grave covered itself with more dirt, suddenly the bear mask dug its way up through the dirt and sealed itself on the tombstone so that no one would be able to desecrate his grave. Nagato said another prayer and pulled some nearby flowers from the ground and laid them in front of the tombstone. He then turned to Konan to see her sweating profusely and being out of breath, but smiling and holding a still unconscious, but mostly healed, Naruto in her arms like a mother would a baby. She looked down at the grave, said a small prayer herself and made a one-handed seal. Suddenly a paper rose created itself from her shoulder and floated down to lay next to Nagato's flowers.

"Is he alright?" Nagato asked, looking him over.

"He isn't in critical condition right now, but we need to get him to a healer and we are not leaving him here with these animals!" Konan said with some KI in her voice.

"My thoughts exactly Konan, we are taking him with us, I'll explain it to Yahiko while you get him to the hospital."

"Right, let's just go now, I don't want to deal with any more of these monsters today, if I do I might kill them all." Konan said, anger in her voice and eyes.

Nagato nodded and stepped beside Konan and Naruto and put one hand on her shoulder while he said Hidden Lakes Jutsu: Instant Transportation Jutsu. Suddenly, they were surrounded by a swirl of wind that kicked up the dust, dirt, and leaves on the ground around them. Then they were gone.

-Two days later-

Naruto woke up in a daze. Where am I? How did I get here? Is this heaven? How can it be? I'm nothing but a demon and demons can only go to hell. He thought to himself. He moved his eyes around and saw nothing but the white ceiling, a couple fans, and some hanging lights. He tried to sit up, but his chest started hurting, causing him to lay back down. He tried a few more times, but to no avail. Defeated in the simple act of sitting up, Naruto just turned his head to the side and saw that he was in what looked like a hospital room, he knew all too well what a hospital room looked like from the many run-ins with an angry, and mostly drunken, mob. Suddenly Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the doorknob start turning. Oh no! It must be one of those villagers from the mob, they must have heard that I lived and came to finish the job.

Naruto wasn't expecting, however, to see a nurse come through the now opened door. The fact that a nurse was in the hospital wasn't what surprised him, what surprised him was that he had never seen this nurse before, and since he was in the hospital more times than most grown men, he knew every single nurse, doctor, and heck, even every janitor the hospital in Konoha employed. The nurse looked up from her notepad and saw that Naruto was awake and staring at her. She was surprised to see him awake so soon, since even though the medic ninjas healed him completely, with a little help from Kyuubi, they had said that he might not be awake for anywhere from a couple weeks to a few months since he had such enormous injuries, both mentally and physically. The doctors knew about his mental scars because they had a ninja trained to go into others minds and try to find the root of various problems, such as ninjas were had become "shellshocked" in combat, or treating any phobias that could hinder a ninja in battle. They had said that what they witnessed was horrendous. They saw, through Naruto's own eyes, every single unspeakable act the villagers had ever done to him, every memory he could recall, and even those he had either repressed or had forgotten entirely through time. The scenes that they witnessed chilled them to the bone, how anyone could do anything like that to another living person, let alone a child, was beyond them. Especially this last episode where the ninja could feel when Naruto had just given up on living, and was just waiting to enter death's soft caress.

The nurse quickly put aside her shock and just smiled at Naruto. "Well, I'm glad to see you are awake, you gave us quite a scare when you were brought in."

Naruto just stared at her, "Where am I and who are you? I know every single nurse in Konoha's hospital, and you aren't one of them." he said with suspension in her voice.

The nurse just looked back into his eyes and try to put as much compassion into her own eyes and voice as she said, "No, I'm not a Konoha nurse, nor am I a member of that awful village, you aren't in Konoha any more. You were saved by some of our ninja after those monsters who call themselves human attacked you. You were in a pretty bad condition when you were brought here, but since one of the ninja who saved you was a medic, we were able to heal you fully very quickly. You will still be a little sore from it for a few weeks, but you will get better. My name is Kaede by the way, what's yours cutie?" She then smiled and winked at Naruto.

Naruto was completely shocked to say the least. He wasn't in Konoha any more, he didn't have to worry about being beaten, or stabbed, or set on fire anymore. But on the other hand, he had no idea where he was, who had saved him, or if they will let him stay. "My name is Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki. May I ask you some questions?"

The nurse smiled at him, "It's very nice to meet you Naruto-kun, and of course you may."

"It is nice to meet you too Kaede-chan. Where am I? Who saved me? How did I get here? How long have I been asleep?"

Kaede smiled and blushed slightly at being called Kaede-chan by the cute little boy in front of her, "Wow, that's a lot of questions Naruto-kun, and I don't know all of the answers, but I'll tell you what I know, then I can get someone who knows the rest, how's that sound?"

"That sounds great Kaede-chan. Thank you."

"No problem sweetie. Now, as for your first question, you are in a hospital in the Village Hidden in the Lakes. It is a somewhat small village, as of right now, located under some lakes in what used to be the Lake Country. For the second question, you were saved by two of the Ten Village Guardians, Nagato-sama and Konan-sama. Why they were in Konoha, I don't know, they might be able to tell you if it isn't a secret if you ask them, since I know that Konan wanted to see you when you woke up, she was very worried about you ever since she brought you here. How you got here is another question you will have to ask them, since all I know is that Konan carried you in here and said you need emergency medical attention. As for how long you've been asleep, it has only been two days."

"Wow, only two days? I thought it might have been longer. Thank you Kaede-chan, may I ask you for two more things, please?"

"Of course you may, what is it?"

"First of all, will you see if I can talk to either this Nagato or Konan, or both if I can?"

"Sure Naruto-kun, I'll tell them immediately. What was the other thing?"

"Well, um, will you scratch my nose for me, it really itches and it hurts to move much..." Naruto said, kind of embarrassed.

Kaede laughed softly at this and smiled as she walked over to Naruto, "Of course Naruto-kun, is that better?" she said after she scratched his nose for him.

Naruto smiled and laughed, "Yeah, tons! Thanks!"

Kaede smiled at him one last time before walking out the door and closing it. After it was closed, she rushed over to a nearby medic ninja.

"I need you to go get Nagato and Konan, please, tell them that the boy they brought in has finally awakened!"

"Yes, ma'am!" he said as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

-With Nagato and Konan-

"Konan, is there any word about the boy yet?" said a tall, orange haired man sitting in a big chair in front of a big mahogany desk.

"None as of this morning Yahiko, unfortunately." Konan said, with a sad look on her face.

"I've never seen you act like this before Konan, why is it that you care so much about this boy?" he asked.

"I don't know, I just feel the uncontrollable urge to protect him from everything ever since we saved him. I've saved countless children and adults, but I've never felt like this before about them, ever, well, besides you two."

"I also feel some sort of pull towards this kid, I don't know what it is, I've only ever felt this kind of thing when we saved Karin from that bastard Orochimaru a few years ago." added Nagato.

"Really? Do you think that he might also be an Uzumaki?"

"I couldn't say yet, he doesn't have any of the distinctive physical features of an Uzumaki, well, not yet anyways if he is."

"You mean the red hair?"

"Yeah, he has blonde hair, blue eyes, and what looks like whisker marks on his cheeks. That's also something I'm a little worried about, if this kid really is an Uzumaki, then he must be Kushina's son, and that can only mean that those marks on his cheek are some sort of marking made by him containing the Kyuubi, since Konoha only has the Kyuubi jinchuriki. That would explain why he was so hated in that pathetic excuse for a Hidden Village. But on the other hand, the markings could just be a birthmark, or maybe scars from an attack years ago. Have you contacted sensei yet Yahiko?"

"Yeah, I sent a letter to him via Summons yesterday after they stabilized him. He said he had a few things to take care of, but he'll be here this morning, in about half an hour from now, as a matter of fact."

Nagato nodded, then added, "Someone is coming, he'll be here in a second."

Just as Nagato finished speaking, there came a knock on the door.

"Enter." Yahiko ordered.

"Yahiko-sama, Nagato-sama, Konan-sama, the boy is awake!"

Suddenly Nagato and Konan disappeared in a swirl of leaves, which blew all over Yahiko's office. "Those little... I'll get them for this." he said as he began cleaning up the floor of all the leaves.

-At the Hospital-

Kaede was sitting, almost impatiently waiting for Nagato and Konan to get there so that she could talk to them before they went in to see Naruto. She didn't have to wait too long, because after only a few minutes, Nagato and Konan appeared in the middle of the hallway right in front of her.

"Finally," Kaede said, with mock exasperation in her voice, "Naruto woke up this morning. He was shocked to hear that we aren't in Konoha right now, but after I told him where we were and who saved him, he seemed to calm down, he can't move too much, or, at least, he couldn't this morning, after waking up after only 2 days, I wouldn't be surprised if he was running all over the ceiling by now." She giggled after that.

Nagato and Konan nodding to her, said a small thanks for watching over him, and then walked into Naruto's room after knocking. They saw that Naruto was sitting up in bed, trying to move and twist his body, pain clearly visible on his face, but then the pain was forced to the background as determination etched its way onto his face while he was moving. Naruto heard the knock and the door open, so he looked over, still stretching out his muscles.

"Hello, who, may I ask, are you two?" Naruto asked the two new strangers. There was a tall, black haired man with shoulder length hair that covered his eyes. He wore a shinobi vest similar to the ones that Naruto had seen on many of the ninjas in Konoha, only his was a dark blue color, where theirs were green. He also wore black pants and black boots and a black long sleeve shirt under his vest. The other person was a average height woman with the bluest hair Naruto had ever seen. Her hair was done up in a bun held together by what looked like two sticks made of paper, but Naruto could just be imagining that it looked like paper. She also had a paper rose stuck in her hair, with the stem probably rest behind her ear. She wore a vest like the man, but she had a black short sleeve shirt under it and had a pouch that had what looked like sheets of paper on her hip. She had a black skirt with black pants on under it. Her boots were black as well, but it looked like she had some more paper put into them, if that's really what he saw.

Nagato smiled at him, as did Konan, "Good morning, I am Nagato, one of the Ten Village Guardians. How are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm fine, just a little sore, but I just need to get stretched out and I should feel all better." Naruto said with a smile, "What is your name?" he said to the woman.

"Hello, I am Konan, we are the ones who took you away from that awful village and brought you to the safety of this village. I am also one of the Ten Village Guardians."

"My name is Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you two."

"Nice to meet you too Naruto." both of them said.

Nagato then realized what he said, "Wait, did you say that you are an Uzumaki?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Naruto, do you have any family, like brothers or sisters?"

Naruto looked down sadly, "No, I'm an orphan, if I did have any siblings, they abandoned me after they found out I was demon..."

"What? Naruto, you are in no way, shape, or form a demon. Whoever thinks that will deal with me." Konan said with a fire in her eyes, a look of determination on her face.

Naruto was shocked to see such a fierce look on such a nice woman, but knew that she meant every word she had said, which brought a smile to his face and a tear to his eye.

"Naruto, so you think you have no family left?" Nagato asked him.

"Yeah, the old man told me that I had no family, but I consider him to be like a grandfather to me."

"Well Naruto, what would you say if I told you that you did have a family?"

Naruto's eyes widened as wide as they could go, tears filling them as he said, "Please, don't joke about something like that. I've been through it already, multiple times."

Nagato's face saddened, but he said, "Naruto, I'm not lying, because I'm your family, and we have one other cousin in the village."

Naruto couldn't believe his ears, he had a family! He was no longer alone in the world. He could tell that Nagato wasn't lying. With the life he had lived, he had gotten good at reading people for deception. Naruto smiled bigger than he had ever smiled before.

"Can I go see my cousin?"

"You sure can, once you can walk again." Konan said with a smile on her face.

Naruto then swung himself onto the edge of the bed. He pushed himself up, bearing the pain and gritting his teeth as he did. He stood still for a few seconds and then pushed himself to walk forward. Nagato and Konan both widened their eyes because of the sheer determination Naruto was showing just to have a family. They both smiled and went to help him if he stumbled. Naruto then felt a breeze and looked down. He was still wearing the hospital robe. He blushed and rushed into the bathroom and shut and locked the door. Nagato and Konan both laughed at this.

"Konan, will you please go get Naruto some clothes? I'll stay here with him."

"Right, sure, no problem." Konan said and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

-Ten Minutes Later-

Konan returned with a new set of clothes for Naruto. A black t-shirt, black pair of jeans, some black tennis shoes, and socks and a pair of boxers for him. Konan handed it to Nagato, who went in and gave them to Naruto and came back out.

After a few minutes, Naruto came out dressed in his new clothes. He had never really liked orange or his old outfit, but no one would ever sell him clothes, so he had to steal his old outfit out of the dumpster behind a clothes shop, after he washed them and got almost all of the stains out that people could see. But these new clothes fit him perfectly and he loved the black color of them, plus if he was to be a real ninja someday, black is a way better color than bright orange, and way easier to hide in.

"Do you like those Naruto? I wasn't sure what your favorite color was, so I just got black."

"These are great, thank you. I'll give them back to you when I get some new clothes for myself." Naruto said, a little depressed that these new clothes weren't his to keep.

"What are you talking about Naruto? Those are your new clothes, you don't need to give them back, I bought them just for you." Konan said with a smile.

Naruto smiled, he was really happy that he got to keep his new clothes. Naruto then looked at Nagato and Konan. "So, where can I see my cousin?"

"I'll take you to her, just follow me, okay?" Nagato said as he went to open the door for Naruto.

"Are you coming too Konan-kaasan?" Naruto asked her.

Konan was shocked to hear her call her this. Still she smiled and she felt tears starting to form in her eyes. "Of course Naruto-kun, if you want me to come."

"Of course I do kaasan." Naruto smiled and held his hand out to her.

Konan smiled, trying not to cry while she took Naruto's hand and let him lead her out of the door.

Well, I hope that you all like this story. I'll read any suggestions that any of you have. I might not use some of them, but I will consider all of them.

Until next time...

This is LordDimir. Saying Good Night and Good Luck.