My Answers to my Reviewers:

To Jasmine: Don't worry, Sasuke and Sakura will eventually be brought into Naruto's secret. In this story Team 7 will get closer but it will be slow going at first, I want the changes to the team to be logical and realistic.

To Prescripto13: Yep, don't mess with the Copy Ninja.

To Rosebunse: I hoped my story was interesting, thank you for assuring me that it was.

To Guest: Since you need this in your life, here's the next chapter - enjoy.

I also want to thank all the people that either reviewed, followed or favourited my story. When I saw all the people that liked my story, I felt so happy. So, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! If I did…*the author sighs dramatically* let's just say, it would be VERY different…Enjoy

"Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery." - J.K. Rowling

Last Time on Scarred:

"Pakkun, I need you to go the Hokage and tell him that Naruto's been attacked."

"This kid?"

"Yes! Now go!"

When he arrived at Konoha's hospital, Kakashi immediately flagged down a passing nurse and handed Naruto over to be examined. Kakashi followed the nurse that was carrying his precious student and he stood watch over the chaos that was occurring, making sure the nurses were working to heal Naruto's injuries.

The only good thing that had come out of this entire situation was that that mob had stroked his smouldering Will of Fire into a searing inferno.

Kakashi sat there, in the hospital, concern and affection in his gaze as he stared at his healing student. The Hokage had been and gone, asking who had done it, what had happened and the where but it was a sickening thing when the why didn't need to be asked anymore. After finishing his report, his leader had vanished in order to track down and punish the men who had dared to harm the Hokage's surrogate grandson. Although wanting to join the hunt for the men who had hurt his student, Kakashi instead sat at his student's bedside and gave comfort by stroking that blonde hair that was so similar to Minato-sensei's and yet wasn't - he could see the faint traces of that crimson red that Kushina-nee-san was so famous for. He didn't know how long he sat there, just giving comfort to this boy that he considered to be his little brother in all but blood, but it was soon after a nurse had come in to check Naruto's vitals and had left that he felt his student move.

"...Ohayō, Wolf-nii."

Kakashi was startled, although like the ninja he was he didn't show it, 'How did he-oh wait it's Naruto.'

It had been a long time since he'd heard that name; it'd been his ANBU code-name before he'd been discharged by the Third but, before he had been pulled, he'd been one of the few ANBU that had been given the privilege of being a young Naruto's bodyguards when the hate of the village had been at an all time high. Naruto had always had a peculiar talent of being able to pick out and zero in on hiding ninja, particularly his ANBU guards, with startling accuracy and consistency. Even the Hokage wasn't sure if Naruto was a sensor or not. But he could still remember his first assignment to the 6-year-old blond child, he'd been hiding in the shadows just taking in the sight of his Sensei and Kushina's child while on the lookout for threats when that small boy had come right up to him and said, "Don't be sad Doggy-san." and had hugged him right around the waist. He had frozen in shock, not at all used to regular human contact but it was when a minute had passed that that blonde head lifted up and off his abdomen and with those bright blue eyes (Minato-sensei's eyes), Naruto had looked right at him and smiled. And somehow, he had been smiling back, his soul a little lighter. Naruto had been radiant the rest of the day with his eyes continuously straying towards him.

He hadn't been the only ANBU to be subjected to Naruto's warmth, Snake, Tenzo and Crow were some just to name a few but Wolf seemed to be favourite (and he hadn't a clue why) but eventually he had been called 'Wolf-nii' by the small smiling boy.

"Ohayō, my cute otōuto."

Naruto grumbled when he heard that, but instead of replying, he squirmed trying to get the streaming sunlight out of his face. There were a few more moments of silence before Naruto decided to open his eyes, obviously deciding to give up on going back to sleep. Naruto shifted himself up into a sitting position before lifting his eyes up to his older brother figure, "Kakashi-sensei? You're Wolf-nii?"

"Hai."

There was silence in the sterile room before Naruto decided to break the sound barrier...again. "EEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?"

"Maa, maa otōuto you're too loud."

Naruto sat there, his mouth going up and down like a gaping fish, "Y-you mean, Wolf-nii and y-you, y-you and W-wolf-nii are the same person?!" Naruto stared at him before clutching his head in surprise, "Argh, why didn't I see that coming..."

Kakashi let his student calm down before he spoke, "Naruto, what's the last thing you remember?"

The blond boy squinted up at his older brother figure, a little confused at the sudden change in conversation but he complied, "Um, the last thing I remember is...walking down one of the main street alleyways on the way to my apartment when about 9 or 10 drunk civilians came up to me and then they started to yell at me, blaming me for the deaths that were caused by the Fox, saying I shouldn't have been able to become a ninja etc etc. It was then that they started to threaten me and then that was where they started to hit me." Naruto's voice was flat, this type of thing had happened to him many times before and as such, it was sad thing that a fresh genin could report like a veteran ninja.

Kakashi waited for Naruto to add anything to his account of the events but when his blond student said nothing, Kakashi spoke up, "Otōuto, those men will be getting punishment for attacking you."

"B-but Kakashi-sensei, that will just give the civilians even more reasons to attack me..."

"No, they won't Naruto because you're now a Konoha ninja and you're also a solider of Sandiame-sama, which means..?" Kakashi let Naruto finish his sentence.

"That because I'm now a ninja, that means that if anyone attacks me that will mean they're attacking one of the soldiers under Hokage-jiji." Naruto repeated as if word-for-word in a monotone.

Kakashi and Naruto's favourite ANBU guards had taken the initiative while guarding the young jinchuuriki after seeing his enormous chakra network and knowing the boy wanted to be a ninja that they had figuratively beaten into the boy how to act like a proper shinobi, the Rules that shinobi follow and the art of misdirection and deception along with meditation techniques in order to get his large reserves under control. They didn't want the kid to be so unknowledgeable about his chosen profession after all. Thus, the main reason Naruto acts the way he does in public, it was in private however in the presence of his most trusted people were they faced with almost a completely different Naruto.

The true Naruto.

The true Naruto was like a combination of Minato-sensei's looks, smarts, loyalty and kindness with Kushina-nee's sense of humour, determination, the Uzumaki temper and her large heart but with his own set of values and charisma added into the mix. Shaking away thoughts of the past that had suddenly appeared Kakashi stood from his uncomfortable hospital chair and after ruffling his student's blond hair, he told Naruto, "I'm just going to go and get the nurse and make sure you're healthy enough for me to sign you out."

"Hai Nii-san."

Eye-smiling at his student, Kakashi walked from the room and out the door in search of a nurse. Watching his teacher leave, the small smile that was on his face vanished as his thoughts turned sombre.

'So, Kakashi-sensei is Wolf-nii huh.'

But, Nii-san being the Wolf ANBU made the reasoning behind making Kakashi his teacher a lot more sense. Wolf was one of the few that seemed to genuinely like him, he'd always been in-tune with the wolf ANBU and he had somehow known whenever it was Wolf's turn to guard him. But, it was no wonder that Kakashi-sensei had felt familiar when they had met. His ANBU guards were probably his only companions as a child, especially his favourites - Wolf, Snake, Tenzo, Crow and Kasai. Those particular memories were his most treasured ones since they were the few that were actually comforting from his childhood. It was as he'd gotten older that he figured that his favourite ANBU were his first precious people…perhaps who he'd might consider to be family. But, it was when he had turned 7* and he convinced his Jiji to let him join in the Academy that the ANBU were to stop guarding him altogether and when he'd asked why, all he'd gotten out of his guardian that the ANBU were needed elsewhere. He had been disappointed and upset that he would no longer see his ANBU but he also knew that somehow they would still look out for him from the shadows and that thought had sustained him throughout the Academy. Though all the ridicule, the mental and emotional abuse, those memories and that his ANBU loved him was what he held onto like a lifeline. He knew his life was a hard one; he had to struggle and claw his way throughout his life so far, striving for recognition and respect.

Yes, he knew that ramen all the time wasn't a good thing but he wasn't allowed to buy from any other store than Ichiraku's. Whenever he had actually tried to buy normal groceries he was either kicked out of the store or yelled at while paying for extremely overpriced, expired or ruined food, sometimes it was usually a combination of all three. It was the same for any clothing he tried to get, the owners would only sell him clothes that either no else wanted or what they couldn't sell, maybe even something that was bound to get him killed in the field which was the reasoning behind his ghastly fluorescent orange suit. Don't get him wrong, orange was an awesome colour but even he knew that that much fluorescent orange would paint him as a target by enemy ninja. Then there was the fact that since he was the village pariah and he had no idea how to talk to kids his age, thus the reason why he had no idea how to make friends at the Academy.

The end result of all this was why Naruto was considered the weird one or the 'Dobe' of the Academy. Hokage-Jiji, his ANBU and Kaka-nii as he would call him now, the Ichiraku's and Iruka-sensei were the only ones that seemed to genuinely care about him while the rest of the village wouldn't give a damn. It was at that thought he considered his team-mates: Sasuke and Sakura. After considering them for a few moments he knew that he had to reserve judgement until they knew each other better.

"You're right to go Naruto."

Snapping out of his depressing thoughts, he turned his gaze towards his teacher and grinned his foxy smile and exclaimed, "Thanks Kaka-nii."

Kakashi just gave his little brother another one of his eye-smiles and one of his rare chuckles in response as he walked his little brother out of the Hospital.

It was a silent walk from the hospital to Naruto's apartment for two reasons. One, Naruto had a headache and he didn't particularly want to start a conversation and two...Kakashi was currently projecting a particularly lethal glare towards the majority of the villagers. Wanting to stop his older brother but knowing that saying anything about it would just result in another eye-smile, he just sighed in fond exasperation and stayed silent until they reached his apartment.

As he toed off his sandals, he looked towards Kakashi who was leaning against his couch, "So Kaka-nii, you wanted to tell me something that you couldn't say at the Hospital."

"Very observant Naruto," Said a proud Kakashi as he got to the point, "Yes, I want you to be yourself with the team and not that idiot persona you project to the rest of the village."

Naruto opened his mouth to deny it but he wasn't able to when Kakashi put a hand up to stop him, "I know it's a mask Naruto, surely you remember who taught you how to do misdirection in the first place."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he laughed in embarrassment, "Sorry Kaka-nii, habit."

"That's alright Naruto, but are you going to get serious?"

Naruto gazed at his brother and teacher as he thought over the request and only after he went over all the pros and cons did he answer, "I will Kakashi-sensei, I promise."

"Good."

Naruto grinned at his teacher and brother, pleased at the pride resonating within the response.

"You know what that means otōuto." Sensing the serious topic to come up, Naruto's grin faded into a blank face. "The orange needs to go."

Naruto's mouth opened up in total and utter horror, "B-but, but...no, not the orange, please Kaka-nii, anything but the orange."

Kakashi shook his head, in either amusement or disbelief Naruto couldn't tell and said, "It needs to go Naruto if you want to be taken seriously as a ninja." But as he was hit full force with his otōuto's puppy-eyes, Kakashi groaned after trying to resist the blasted thing for 5 minutes and amended his statement, "Okay fine, a little orange but it will be a tiny amount, won't it Naruto." He gave the boy a stern look, promising that if he didn't like the outfit he would pick something out.

Seeing the look and knowing that if he went overboard with the orange his Nii-san would and will pick out his outfit so he promised to only have a little orange. Nodding at the promise and smiling under his mask at Naruto's adorable pouting face, Kakashi reached out and mussed up that bright blonde hair.

"Oh, by the way Naruto..."

Startled, Naruto looked towards his older brother- no, the man in front of him wasn't his brother at the moment, he was the experienced and elite ANBU ninja that had guarded and protected him as a child.

Kakashi looked at the boy in front of him and saw all of that potential that was just waiting to be shaped. "Remember, tomorrow morning at 7AM is when training starts," the eye-smile that Kakashi gave his student sent chills down the spine, "And you better hope and prepare that you don't get beaten into the ground because of it."

Kakashi vanished like the ninja he was after finishing that speech and saying his goodbyes, Naruto blinked in stunned surprise and some fear. "Well...I'm fucked."

Belatedly saying his own farewells, Naruto looked at the spot his older brother and now teacher had just vacated a little longer. So, still smiling slightly at what had just happened, Naruto entered the kitchen and put the kettle on in order to cook some Ramen for dinner. As waited for the noodles to be ready, the ninja started to list in his head of what he needed to do tomorrow before he had to meet with his team for training and their first mission.

'So I'll need a new outfit - using a transformation jutsu in order not to get some crappy quality outfit, also I need to stock up on my groceries - I'll need the sustenance from what I've heard about Kaka-nii's Training Regime from Hell from other ninja. I shouldn't need any ninja supplies, I stocked up after the bell test...hmmm is there anything else?' Naruto thought as finished his dinner and then started to clean up. After cleaning up what he had used in the kitchen, the orange ninja started to clean up the rest of his apartment starting with his dining and living room. It took about 10-15 minutes to clean up all the trash, wipe down the table, sweep the floors and straighten his furniture but finish he did and then he progressed onto his bathroom and after cleaning up in there (which took another 10 minutes) he moved onto his bedroom and with that being the smallest room in his apartment it only took him about 5 minutes to tidy up. It was just after he had put the last of his trash in the bin and was looking over his now tidy apartment in order to see if he missed anything that someone knocked on his door. Blinking at the noise and looking over to a wall clock in order to see the time, Naruto grew a little puzzled about who would be visiting him in his apartment at 9:30 at night.

Moving towards the front entrance of his apartment slowly, Naruto was cautious as he looked through the peephole and tried to see who had come calling this late at night. Seeing that it was Iruka-sensei at his door but wanting to check to make sure it was actually his Academy teacher, Naruto stepped backwards a few steps and called out, "Who's there?"

There was a muffled reply, "Naruto? It's Iruka-sensei, could I come in please?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, not entirely convinced that it wasn't his ex-teacher, "Why should I believe that you're Iruka-sensei?"

There was a brief silence before he was answered, "I have a faint scar on my left shoulder blade that I got from protecting you from three Taki kunoichi."

Nodding at the right answer, Naruto walked back towards his door and finally opened it to find Iruka-sensei standing there. The teacher smiled at his favourite student before repeating his question of coming inside and getting a positive answer, moved inside the apartment and closed the door. Before Naruto could move any further inside his apartment or even offer something to drink he was suddenly wrapped up in Iruka's arms.

"Sensei?"

"Are you okay Naruto? You weren't hurt too badly?"

The fresh genin blinked at the out of the blue question before quickly connecting the dots as he thought about it, "Ah, you heard about my run-in last night with some of the villagers."

Iruka let his student out of his concerned hug in order to properly glare at the boy, "Wha- Of course I heard about your run-in with the villagers! I also heard you had to go to the Hospital, but by the time I got there today you were already signed out."

Naruto chuckled in embarrassment, "Yeah I only had to stay overnight, the doctors only wanted to make sure I didn't get any permanent damage from my injuries and besides Kakashi-sensei was there with me the whole time, so really I was in safe hands."

As Naruto talked, Iruka moved the two of them so that they were now sitting on Naruto's couch. The Academy teacher blinked at the mention of the Copy ninja in the story, "Why was Kakashi-san even there in the first place?"

"Oh...you don't know the whole story then." Said Naruto, but he ended up telling Iruka the entire story of how he ended up in the Hospital and how his Kaka-nii had ended up in the entire mess. After the telling of the story (which took about 20 minutes to tell after Naruto got up from his seat on the couch in order to get Iruka something to drink and all the interruptions from the teacher) the two ninja now sat in silence, each nursing a warm cup of tea.

Iruka stared into his tea as he processed the story but after the silence had passed the 5 minute mark, the man drank the rest of tea before he got up off the couch. Rubbing his student's hair in fondness, the teacher took his leave, saying his goodbyes as he thought, 'I'll have to drop by Kakashi-san's apartment and say thank you for helping Naruto out.'

As Iruka exited his apartment and walked down the buildings stairs, the Uzumaki started to grumble to himself as he cleaned up the tea cups and he got ready for bed, "Why do people feel the need to rub at my hair as they leave I'd love to know."

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N: Here is Chapter 2! I hope you enjoyed yourself.

Okay then, so first order of business - If any of my readers have any questions or things that you believe I missed regarding this chapter, you can either review or PM me, I won't mind answering concerns that my lovely readers might have for me. Secondly, I hope everyone enjoyed the latest chapter to one of my newest fictions.

And Thirdly *author wiggles deeper into a paper pile with a happy sigh* please keep up with your review, favorites and follows, I'm feeling so LOVED!

Anyhow, ENJOY and REVIEW PLEASE!

'95 out.

Note: *I'm assuming that the kids in the Naruto World could start at the Academy at this age (7) or close to it.

Terms: Ohayō - Good Morning; Otōuto - Little brother; Hai - Yes/Okay etc; Sensei - Teacher; Nii/Nee - Older brother/sister