Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

(Rated M beacuse of COLOURFUL language in some parts of the story.)

Location: Konohagakure no Sato.

Time: 23:46.

Building: Konoha Central

Hospital Ward no.: 34

He hated being here. Yet, he often ended up being here. One of the very few people who actually cared for him worked here. Mageshi Rin. The only other person except the Sandaime Hokage to ever acknowledge him, Uzumaki Naruto, the most notorious person in the leaf village. In fact, Naruto had no problem considering Rin as his elder sister and he was sure that the latter saw him as someone akin to a younger brother. Naruto had known Rin from since ever he could remember. His earliest memory of her went to when he was merely two years old. She would accompany him to the park whenever she had the time. She would tell him stories about heroes who always managed to save the day in the end and how they were all very much loved by everyone. Naruto wanted to experience the feeling of one day being heralded as a hero. Perhaps then the villagers will at least respect him. Atleast Rin loved him. He knew he was lucky to have someone such as Rin in his life. That is why, even though she would visit him at his apartment every single day, he still made sure to visit her atleast twice a week during her work to let her know that he loved her, that he cared and that, no matter what, he would always be there for her. Hell, Uzumaki Naruto knew the importance of being present for those he cared whenever they needed him and letting them know that he believes in them. He'd be damned if any of his precious persons ever left him and he'd make sure never to let anything happen to his relationship between himself and Rin. Therefore, he regularly visited his elder sister at the hospital.

Today, however the circumstances were a bit different. Of course, he was in the same, usual ward. His sister was in the same room as well, but, still, many things were different today.

He was actually lying in the 'oh so white bed' of the 'oh so white' hospital room.

The majority of his body was bandaged.

Unlike other days, today he had an IV drop connected to his wrist and several other medical machines interpreting his physical state of well-being.

He was most badly hurt and in no condition of making any major bodily movements for atleast the next 24 hours.

Today, he was not alone in the ward with his unofficial sister.

That being said, the chamber also comprised of an elderly man who looked like he was too old to be even alive judging by the slight frown on his face. Not to lead to any misconceptions or misunderstandings, it will be vital, here, to stress that the oldie was none other than the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha or for Naruto simply 'jichan'. There were also two medics who had just entered the room and were checking for any improvements in the patient's medical state. Judging by the way Rin was acting in front of them meant that they were surely people of high authority in the administration. There was an ANBU with a dog's mask and finally Rin herself.

The members of the room were eying the sole occupant of the bed suspiciously. The Hokage and Rin were quite visibly upset about something concerning the blond haired patient. Their anxiety was not doused by the fact that the child in the bed, though thoroughly awake, was seemingly not aware of his surroundings and had until now refused to acknowledge any other occupant in the room. He was just aimlessly eying the 'endlessly white' ceiling above him. The two other doctors, though not as disturbed as the Third and Rin, were still their patient with curious eyes, trying with all their might to discover any signs that the boy might be giving that he was in pain, or perhaps, that he needed something. They were in need of atleast some useful reaction to be able to reassure the others in the room that atleast the boy's mind was not too damaged. 'Sigh', it would seem that such was not the case. Well, you obviously cannot expect a mere 5 year old to not show any signs of mental breakdown after having received such a beating. It probably was a drunken villager( maybe, ninja even) to have been able to do such a vile act. The reaction of the ANBU was the most expected of all of them. Well, let's say that he was keeping up to the image of the village elites.

Finally, having waited enough, Rin spoke as softly as possible.

"Naruto-kun?"

"…"

"Naruto-kun, if you can hear me, please look at me."

Again, no response…

"Sigh"

While Rin was constantly trying to wake Naruto up, out of his catatonic state, Naruto really wasn't paying any attention to the outside world. Even though on the outside his face was perfectly calm, inside his mind was a whirlpool of clashing emotions of all kinds. Today's events had been an eye-opener for him. Finally, after all these years of trying to understand the villagers, finally all of their behavior towards him made sense. Today, he finally got the answer to why he was never acknowledged by so many, and even hated by several others. Nevertheless, the fact that he now knew why most of the villagers did not want to associate with him did not bring with it any kind of satisfaction at all. Well, just being to know the reason did not mean that it was not painful. Hell, it's not everyday that you learn that you are the container of the strongest demon in the world. The same one that attacked your village 5 years ago and caused so much pandemonium. The same one that was responsible for the death of so many of ninja and civilians alike. Hey, he had a right to feel shocked, huh, betrayed even. He just laid there in bed, reflecting upon the incident that happened today, unmindful of the few people present in the hospital room with him.

Flashback

It was one of those usual afternoons for one blonde bundle of energy. After having played one of his many pranks on a group of people resting under the shade of the large oak tree in the central park, Naruto was at the moment happily stuffing his face with the very food of the gods or god amongst the foods, i.e. ramen. Today, the blonde did not have to visit his sister at the hospital. Well then, not many things to do then. Of course, he could play more pranks on some of the more mean villagers but at the moment he was a little tired and, hence, did not have enough energy to be able to escape should some of the victims of his prank decide to give chase. 'Well, well, what is the best course of action then?' he thought. After about a dozen bowls of ramen emptied and some 5 minutes spent deciding what to do for the rest of the evening, he came to the conclusion that a stroll to the park would be healthy before going back home, especially after all the ramen he'd eaten. Having nothing better to do, he set on a slow pace to the park. It was already late in the evening. The sun had just set about 15 minutes ago and currently people were ending their business for the day and moving away to the warmth of their house. He was so lost in the beauty of nature that he didn't realize that he'd make it to the park until he hit a bench there. Well, that stroll had been uneventful. Usually, he would be on the way back to his apartment at this time of the day but today was just a little different than the others. Well, autumn was soon settling in. The park was simply breathtakingly beautiful and the scenery around was no less mind blowing. Well, he would just wait a little while more and admire the nature. It was not everyday that he was so much at peace with his surroundings.

After about half an hour, deciding that it was late enough, he set on his way to his apartment. The streets were seemingly empty at the time and Naruto started feeling a sense of dread slowly being born in the deepest recesses of his mind. He never liked darkness. He hated silence. Together, the two just freeked him out. He knew that he should have returned home earlier, he felt that he should have. Well, no use crying over spilt milk now, is there? The best thing to do would be to hurry up. Deciding to increase the pace, Naruto started slowly jogging until after a few moments it became a full race down the streets. Had he paid a little more attention, would he have noticed that he was being followed? Maybe. Or, perhaps, not.

5 minutes later:

'Another 5 minutes and I'll be home.' As soon as he thought these words, something totally unexpected happened. What exactly happened, you say? Well, something jumped in his way. Causing, in the process, Nauto to come to an abrupt halt, almost hitting the 'speed breaker' full on. Naruto instantly jumped backwards. Or rather, he tried to. Ya, keyword is tried because as rapidly as the interruption had surfaced, it caught Naruto into a death grip.

"Where, do you think you're going demon?"

"Unghhhh" 'What does this man want dammit?' thought Naruto as he struggles his hardest to get away. 'Wait, man? Hey, who is he? Di I know him? Does he know me? What if he is a bad man? Oh no, I am trapped.' All these thoughts invaded the five years' old child mind quickly. Reasoning was drowned by fear which slowly turned into panic and Naruto could do only one thing. Shout for help at the top of his lungs. Or rather, again, he tried to. Of course again failing miserably as the man had already predicted this and backhanded Naruto hardly.

"Ahhhh"

"Just shut up demon"

"Leave me pleauhmmm" any words were immediately stopped from coming out as the man forced a cloth in the boy's mouth, instantly muting him.

"I said shut up, KYUUBI" the man practically yelled but more like growled venomously.

Now, Naruto was starting to get seriously scared. This had never happened to him before. Why was it happening now? What had he done dammit? He didn't understand. However, now was definitely not the time to try to think about it? He had to try to escape. He again redoubled his effots: throwing his arms wildly at the man although he was tightly held, trying to kick the latter as hard as he could, trying to get the cloth out of his mouth but all to no avail. To top it all, the man was starting to grow angrier by the minute.

"Any resistance is useless kyuubi. Just let me beat you up some and then I'll let you to die or, even better, let you in a shape enough so that the hokage gets the message that we hate you. As it is, if I kill you the Hokage is sure to be pissed and then I will surely be executed. So, I'll let you continue with your pathetic existence but for the time being let me beat you up some really quickly and then I'll be gone. Now, stay shut up and cooperate or else unngghhh"

Finally, Naruto managed to land a kick just where it hurt the most causing the man to let go of him and stumble back up a bit.

"You little shit. So you wanna play hum? So be it then. Kage bunshin no jutsu"

Nauto did not understand what the man had just done by putting his hands in a cross like shape but hearing the last part made it all very clear. This was a shinobi just like jichan and had just used a jutsu. But what he had just done was beyond the comprehension of the five year old. A second after the name of the jutsu had been said, Naruto heard a popping sound from behind but before he could turn he felt something strike the back of his neck and then everything went black.

When Naruto opened his eyes, he was no more on the roadside alley where he lost consciousness but in a bed. Above him was a white ceiling and soon he could smell several detergents in the air. Oh, he was in the hospital then. He'd probably been badly beaten by that man and now had to be hospitalized. Looking around, he saw the figures of his jichan and neechan discussing some stuff with the doctors. Neechan sounded angry.

' Huh? Rin neechan is very angry. Oh, wait, no. Am I too seriously hurt or something? Damn, the majority of my body is bandaged. Fuck that bastard, dammit. What did I do to deserve this? Hell, I don't even remember what he did to me after I lost consciousness.'

Trying to speak, he was not surprised at all when his did not crack at all. 'Rin neechan must have kept my throat wet'.

" Rin neechan, jichan?"

This caused all the occupants of the room to jerk their heads in the direction of the voice.

"Oh, Naruto kun, you're finally awake. How are you feeling right now?" There was not so much trace of worry in the voice as there was happiness and a feeling of comfort. Well, at least he was not too majorly hurt.

"What happened to me and why are you so angry?" Well, it's not like he had too much of an idea.

"Well, you see Naruto kun, uhmm, you were attacked by someone when you were returning home. That, probably you know. He managed to beat you up some but nothing critical or life threatening. Some of your bones are broken and a few cuts and bruises. However, this ANBU here, saw what was happening and immediately intercepted the man. He brought you to the hospital soon afterwards and the man was captured." This time the answer came from the Hokage in just above a whisper.

"Oh… do you know why he was beating me? And, once again, why was neechan so angry just now?"

"Naruto kun, there are foolish people everywhere. He was one as well. Upon interrogation, it was found out that he was divorced by his wife today. Apparently, he was too grief stricken or something and, as a result, drank too much alcohol. In his state of frustration and drunkenness, he just saw you and started beating you. Don't worry about him, however, he is being appropriately dealt with. And, well, Rin here is angry on that man and demands that she be allowed to see him so that she could teach him a lesson or two on how to behave with a five year old and I refused because even though the man deserves it, he will be dealt with torture and interrogation specialists, not medic nins. You understand?"

" Yeah, I think so."

Soon, an uncomfortable silence descended upon everyone in the room. However, the next question was the one which caused everyone in the room to pale.

" Hey jichan, who or what is kyuubi?" Naruto innocently asked.

This caused various reactions. The Hokage instantly became angry. The two doctors became quite scared and looked amongst each other as if searching for something in the other's eyes and Rin looked at the old man in slight worry. Hell, even the ANBU flinched a bit and turned in the direction of the Hokage.

"Naruto kun, who said anything about the kyuubi?", the Hokage asked with a slight edge in his voice which instantly put Naruto on guard. Well, jichan, was rarely so upset. That means that this kyuubi thing must be quite a worrisome thing to discuss.

"Well, the man who beat me said that I was kyuubi and that he hates me and something along these lines. Why are you so upset though? Is it some bad thing or something? Please tell me jichan. Why did he call me kyuubi? Why does he hate me? Why do the villagers never acknowledge me? Do they hate me as well? Please?" By this time, tears could be seen in Naruto's eyes ready to start their journey down his cheeks. The Hokage's expression instantly softened and he smiled sadly. Rin enveloped the child in a hug and said soothing words in his ears to calm his mind. No matter how hard she tried, she was never able to protect her brother from the society. At least, they never dared to hurt him but today even that boundary was crossed. No more, she decided. No more will she let her otouto suffer for the crimes that he never committed.

"Hokage sama" she started, "I believe that it is best that Naruto is told the truth. We can explain it to him best. It is better than to know that someone already put false notions of what he is in his head. And, he has a right to know of this."

Naruto expectantly looked at the Hokage. He really wanted answers. No, he needed answers. Seeing this the Hokage could not resist sighing. He no more knew what to do. Should he let Naruto know of his burden or should he hide it? What will happen when he knows it or rather what will happen if he learns a distorted version of the story from some outsider? All these had to be considered. Finally, he decided it will better to tell him now than later. As it is, he would have learned what the kyuubi is when he would have went to the academy. Better to tell him the truth now than to let him get any ideas by himself.

"You see Naruto kun, five years ago…", and so he started to narrate whatever happened from the the kyuubi attack, to when the Yondaime sealed the latter in Naruto. He stated how the child was not the demon but the container. He also said how the previous Hokage wanted everybody to see him as a hero and all the truth that he should have known concerning the kyuubi. (A/N he did not tell anything about the relationship between the Yondaime and Naruto yet. That is for much later in the story.)

After 20 minutes of explaining everything, silence reigned in the room. Everybody awaited a response from Naruto. None came. One minute, two, three, five minutes. Still no response from the boy. The others started to doubt whether it was a wise decision to tell him all that in the state of mind he was after the incident in the evening. Well, what was done was done. Now, they could only await for the blue eyed boy's reaction.

Flashback ends

Naruto no more knew what to feel. He knew that he was worrying the others in the room but he seriously did not know what to say. He was feeling too many emotions at the moment and could also feel a headache growing by the moment. He was tired, was feeling sleepy. He decided to think about it some other time. Now he would just sleep. He looked at his sister figure who was sitting just beside his beside his bed on a chair, by his head and gently holding onto his arm. By seeing that he was looking at her, Rin paid all her attention to the little five year old. She did not have to wait long.

"Neechan. I am tired. I want to sleep. Can I?" He made his intentions rather clear by letting out a small, cute to the others, yawn.

The senior doctor of them all let his opinion be known: "I think we should let him rest for the time being and come back later to check on him." After doing a few further checkups on the boy, the two medics left the room.

" Okay then, Naruto kun. Sleep well. As soon as you wake up, I'll come to see you. And, do not worry about anything now, okay? Everything will be fine." Having said this and after receiving a nod from the bed ridden boy, the Hokage stood from his chair and made his way to the door followed by the ANBU.

" Thank you for telling me the truth and everything jichan. Thank you as well Inu san for saving my life."

The two gave him a brief nod of recognition each and a small smile from the Hokage( the ANBU was still wearing his dog mask) and left the room.

Turning to his sister, Naruto asked:

"Will you not be going neechan?"

Rin could not help but let a small smile grace her features at that, "No Naruto kun. I will be here only. I do not have any shift at the hospital for the time being and the next shift will start in 2 hours so it will be useless to go home. Now, go to sleep. I will be watching upon you. Sleep well."

An okay and a nod later, Naruto closed his eyes and welcomed the sleep that was threatening to overcome at any moment now.

2 days later

"Naruto kun, how will you like to stay with me, at my apartment, as of today. We will each get company from each other and you will no more have to do everything by yourself." Asked one very hopeful Rin Mageshi.

Silence.

Naruto could not believe what he had just heard. Had he even heard correct? Did Rin neechan just ask him if he would want to stay with her. He had to have heard wrong, right?

"I don't think I heard you correctly neechan. Could you repeat please?"

Sigh.

"I think you heard absolutely correctly, Naruto kun. I asked if you would like to stay with me at my apartment from today?"

Again silence.

Naruto was dumbstruck. He had heard right. Neechan really asked something like that. But, how…?

"Look Naruto kun, I have always considered yourself as my younger brother. I really love you and care for you deeply as well. After that incident 2 days ago, I thought a lot on the matter, and I came to a conclusion. You are too precious to me and I want to be the one to guide you ahead in your life just like a parent should do. So, I want to become your legal guardian Naruto kun. Naruto kun, do you accept me, Rin Mageshi, as your legal guardian? You decide by yourself. I am not forcing you and even if you refuse, nothing will change between us. I can assure of that. And, you can take your time to decide. I am not asking for an answer right now. Okay?"

Shock.

Naruto was at a loss for words. Somebody wanted to adopt him. What should he say? Should he say yes or would he be a burden? Did he not always yearn for a family?

"Nee…neec…neechan?" The words came just above a whisper. He could still not completely grasp the concept of someone really wanting to adopt him.

Rin was patient. Naruto had not been able to believe what he heard the first time. He still did not know what to say. She would give him his time.

"Do…."

"Yes Naruto kun?"

"Do… do y..you really mean that? What you said, do you really mean it?"

By now the tears were falling freely. No, he could not stop them. He would not stop them. He was precious to someone after all. He was. Today could be the greatest day of his life.

Seeing this, a sad smile came onto Rin's face. Yes, she meant it. She meant every word she said. So, without wasting any time, she walked upto her brother and enveloped him in a tight hug.

"Yes. Yes, Naruto kun. I meant every word I said and I meant it from the bottom of my heart." She then hesitantly added; "Sooo?"

"Hai… HAI. I accept neechan, I accept. Thank you, thank you, thank you…"

He returned the hug with much vigour. Finally, something good would happen in his life.

A/N: In my story, Naruto is going to be a genius since childhood. He will also be very strong. This chapter did not have any of these two components present yet because I needed to write this as some sort of prologue. The next chapter will be more in depth about Naruto's charater in this story.

Also, in this story Naruto is going to be 3 years younger than the rest of the rookie 9. Ya, he's a genius. So, obviously, he'll be skipping some years at the academy. Since I want the rookie 9 to be a major part of the plot, they are going to be three years older than him.

Now, pairing will not come until a bit later in the story cause first I need to develop Naruto's character. And, yes, it's gonna be an OC. But rest assured it's gonna be a super cool and lovable character. I have it all planned. Btw, she'll also be three years older than Naruto. I guess that's all information I needed to add in the first chapter( or prologue).

Please, PleASE, PLEASE review. I'm a new writer here in fanfiction, so yeah, reviews ARE REALLY HELPFUL( and desired, of course, hehe).