Well here we are chapter 2 I wasn't even expecting this to be honest. First and Foremost I'd like to thank the people who gave me such kind reviews I don't have your usernames because you weren't logged in when you made them but nonetheless if you're reading this and you know who you are thank you so much for the kind reviews. Also I am still finding my way around this site so if you did post a kind review from your account I'd like to mention you once I find the list. As soon as I read them I jumped straight into writing this chapter I'll try my best to make this one longer and if I can't I'LL JUST WRITE 2 CHAPTERS TO FUEL THE FIRE OF YOUTH!

Revision:

"Quoted italics now refer to any character's thoughts not just Naruto's"

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters and any resemblance to real life people in name, appearance or otherwise is purely coincidence – This applies to my previous chapter also.

Chapter 2

The glaring rays of an afternoon sun pierced the window of an almost uninhabited hospital room in the hidden leaf village.

A heavily bandaged young blonde boy began to stir from a deep, drug-induced slumber.

He groggily opened his eyes to take in the all too familiar blank hospital ceiling.

"Oh man again?"

Naruto sighed as he remembered the events leading to his hospitalisation.

"I really hate that damn Iwasaki kid."

He thought spitefully to himself.

He tried to lift the covers to inspect his injuries to no avail as his arms were restricted in full casts as was his head with a bulky neck brace.

His hand had been laid to rest on a button which he pushed knowing it would summon a nurse.

A short time later a young, female nurse entered the nearly empty room and approached the sole patient located inside.

Naruto glanced toward the door hearing it open.

"Hello Megumi-san."

He greeted the nurse.

"You get into another fight again Naruto-kun?"

Naruto averted his gaze from the young woman and furrowed his brow in his best attempt at a curt nod with his head still restrained.

"Well this would have to be your worst yet, your report says here that most of your bones were fractured in multiple places, especially your arms, you had a fractured skull and most of your ribs snapped which caused some pretty major internal bleeding. The surgeons were able to fix you up good as new with their medic jutsu but put the casts and brace on you just to make sure you didn't move around too much while you slept, it's just a precaution think nothing of it, you will have to stay here for a couple of days however just to be safe."

Said Megumi as she began to remove the brace around Naruto's head and the casts restraining his arms.

"The miracle workers they are I'm still amazed they managed to fix you up so quickly, you were only in the operating theatre for a an hour or so, it normally would have taken them much longer to realign so many fractures."

She continued.

Naruto looked away with a somewhat sheepish expression.

"Well I've always been a quick healer."

He replied, his flat tone betraying his expression.

The nurse failing to notice this gave a snort at his comment and continued to remove his bindings.

After 20 minutes or so the kind nurse had finished removing Naruto's cast and brace along with the rest of his bandages.

"Um, I'm really sorry for being such a bother."

Said Naruto.

"Oh don't worry about it, It's what were here for after all. But please try and avoid fights from now on okay?"

She said with a hint of worry.

"Okay." He said "And thank you very much Megumi-san."

He bowed his head to the nurse.

"You're welcome Naruto."

Replied Megumi as she left the room.

"And be safe."

She said as she closed the door leaving Naruto alone.

The young boy stared out at the sun setting over the horizon as the haunting laugh of his tormentors invaded his thoughts. He tried his best to ignore these thoughts as he lay down to sleep.

(The Next Day)

Naruto awoke to see the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sitting patiently at his bedside waiting for the young boy to wake up.

Naruto sat up and looked out the large window to see it was around midday.

"Good Morning Hokage-ji-san."

Naruto said, not wanting to look the man in the eyes.

"Who has done this terrible thing to you Naruto?"

Asked the head of the leaf village, with obvious worry in his voice for his surrogate grandson.

Naruto gave a pained sigh before replying.

"It was that stupid, fat Iwasaki kid."

The blonde spouted angrily.

"Yuu Iwasaki? Son of Rin Iwasaki, that glorified trader that leaves his son behind to prance around to other villages?"

Asked the Hokage, his rising anger seeping into his tone.

"Yeah, him and these two other mindless idiots who I don't know did this to me."

Replied Naruto with resignation clear in his voice.

"And are you okay Naruto, aside from your wounds, you seem very down lately and you haven't visited me at the tower in quite a while, is something wrong?"

Inquired Hiruzen, attempting to change the subject however making a mental note to scold the brat that would gang up on Naruto and treat him in such a way.

"I'm fine, I guess."

Naruto said, looking down and grasping the sheets on his hospital bed tightly.

Hiruzen observed this and frowned slightly.

"Something is obviously wrong. I won't pry but I can't help him if he doesn't open up a little."

Thought the Hokage before nodding and standing up.

"Well Naruto, I hate to leave you like this but I'm afraid I can only afford a short visit, come see me in the tower once you get released, I have a special proposal for you, and I will also be expecting an answer as to whats been keeping you so down as of late okay?"

The young boy only nodded his reply.

As the Hokage left Naruto began to ponder what he meant by special proposal before drifting off to sleep.

(A few hours later)

The young blonde was awoken by a familiar voice belonging to the kind nurse from the previous day.

"Naruto-kun, are you awake? You have a visitor."

She said as she attempted to rouse him from his slumber.

The still bleary eyed Naruto looked up in confusion.

"Hokage-ji-san already visited me today. Is he back?"

Asked the young boy, unable to think of anyone else in the village who would bother to visit him in the hospital.

"No Naruto this man is not the Hokage. His name is Inoichi Yamanaka. He is the man who rescued you and brought you here."

"Yamanaka-sama this is Naruto Uzumaki he is 7 years old."

Naruto heard Megumi introduce him to the unfamiliar man as he rubbed his eyes to restore some clarity.

He looked up to see a man with a kind smile looking down at him.

Naruto's eyes widened as he instantly recognised the long blonde pony-tail atop the man's head that ended midway down his back.

"It's good to see you awake and well Uzumaki-san, as this kind young lady mentioned, my name is Inoichi Yamanaka."

At this Megumi smiled.

"I'll leave you both to it then."

She said as she left the room.

Naruto stood and bowed deeply to Inoichi.

"Thank you very much Yamanaka-sama, I fear if you had not saved me then those boys may have killed me and for that I am truly grateful."

"Don't worry about it son, I'm just glad to see you've made full and speedy recovery."

Naruto flinched at being referred to as son which didn't go unnoticed by Inoichi.

"Geez, what a strange reaction. Is it really that big a deal that I called him son? Surely it can't be that unfamiliar to him, maybe his carers in the orphanage never said it."

The man pondered.

"Naruto, I would like you to call me by my first name, okay?"

"Um, okay, Inoichi-sama."

Replied the boy hesitantly, he'd never had a conversation last this long with any adult before, other than the Hokage and maybe Megumi, and if he did it was usually for getting into trouble so this was strange new experience for him.

"Inoichi-san is fine no need to be to formal."

"Okay Inoichi-san please call me by my first name, I am not concerned with formalities so use them as you see fit."

Replied Naruto, somewhat awkwardly as he was still unsure how to act in this situation.

Inoichi smiled.

"I would be happy to Naruto-san."

Naruto had been looking down at his feet for most of the conversation nervously avoiding eye contact with the kind man.

"Well again, I'm glad to see you've healed up quite well. I'll let you get back to your rest now and if you ever need anything don't hesitate to ask me, I'll try to help in any way I can."

said the man with a smile.

The two bowed to each other before Inoichi left the hospital.

Naruto lay back down in his bed. He could not stop thinking about this nice man who had rescued from a terrible fate and come to check if he was okay.

"He called me son."

Naruto repeated that word in his head multiple times before falling asleep with a small smile on his face.

Chapter 2 End

Well that's the end of Chapter 2 really hope you enjoy. I'd like to say that I'm not 100% certain I used the appropriate suffix when Naruto was addressing the third Hokage I'm going for an affectionate granfather suffix so if I did it wrong don't hesitate to tell me and if you could give me the correct one that would be very helpful. Also if you have any other suggestions reviews are always appreciated. However I feel I need to explain Naruto's hospitalisation a little since I got a review saying it was a bit over the top, well its common knowledge that Naruto has quite strong healing powers thanks to the kyuubi inside him hence why I had to give him a beating that he couldn't 'walk off', I hope that's an acceptable reason and thanks for the question. If you wanna see more send in a positive review, nothing like a good confidence boost to get the creativity flowing, and I'll happily write more ASAP. Thank you for reading.