What is it that makes up the illusion of life?
There had once been a time when Naruto wasn't the dead last.
Iruka had remembered that somewhere within the first semesters, Naruto actually had the top ten percent in Shinobi grades. There was no teacher that dared sabotage him, and there was no teacher that dared sabotage him now. After all, this was the prestigious Konoha academy, and the ANBU prevented all instances of fraud and other related issues, doubly important in a school teaching clan heirs.
It was the Hokage's wish that Naruto enter a school where he would be protected, and thus Konoha Academy was the optimum choice. Armed with the best teachers and a supportive environment under the watch of ANBU eyes, Naruto thrived. And then unfortunately, something broke within Naruto that he never got back.
He started to skip class and play hooky. Pranks started to become his usual hobbies.
Over time, his grades plummeted to the lowest in the class, as he forwent studying altogether. There was the occasional fling to surpass Sasuke Uchicha, but Naruto never went all the way through with it. Even if he did, his training regime would never compare the Uchicha's training regime, which was all the young heir obsessively lived for.
When Iruka wasn't looking, there was sometimes a sorrowful look that the boy would give as he glanced outside the window. It got more obvious the greater the amount of laughter there was in the vicinity, especially when a happy family walked by.
Perhaps it was that look that ignited Iruka's journey to stop seeing Naruto as the demon fox and as a person similar to him.
And it was the Ichiraku family's death that finally marked the start of the path when he saw Naruto as Naruto.
It had been raining, but the entire shop had been blackened inside out. Shinobi formed a barrier around the demolished shop as civilians stared around as spectators. Iruka had been there by pure coincidence, since he had been out shopping. However, he knew enough to know that it was Naruto's favorite restaurant, having caught him there a few times when he skipped class, and that the Ichiraku family had been found dead that morning.
At the time, he didn't walk away indifferently when he saw the burnt down shop. For some reason, his first thought was that of Naruto, who would most likely come by and see the shop.
So he waited underneath a pagoda until the blonde boy came.
Naruto didn't freak out like he had expected. Even as he approached his student, Naruto walked towards the shop with calm, knowing eyes, almost like he expected this to happen. Iruka, now very worried, trailed behind him.
"Let me pass," he told the ANBU blocking the entrance.
"No way, kid. Not going to happen."
"No, it's okay. He has clearance," Iruka interjected. "Clearance granted by me."
The ANBU stared at Iruka for a long while, before finally side-stepping. Naruto ran inside, with Iruka running after him. Rubble within the house gave off the smell of burning, ash blew around and made Iruka's eyes water. A certain room was entered, and there Naruto was searching for something, desperately kicking all the rubble away.
Beneath all the ash was a wooden drawing, and when Naruto brushed the dust off it, Iruka saw three crude stick figures carved on it, with a ramen bowl drawn in the middle.
Naruto, Ayame, Teuchi; three words were written on the top of the three figures' heads. It was an old drawing, a childish drawing, but a drawing that spoke of happier times.
Naruto hugged it to his chest before he suddenly burst into sobs and Iruka watched him as he cried. Random unintelligent babbling was gasped out of his mouth as he rocked himself back and forth on the floor.
He ran out of the room, again searching for something else. He rushed from room to room in a savage panic.
When Naruto reached the kitchen and halted suddenly, Iruka knew that Naruto found what he was looking for.
Indeed, the words "DEMON" had been sprayed in red across the blackened wall.
And Naruto stood there, staring at the five letter word. Iruka understood what had happened.
They couldn't get at Naruto, who had been under the protection of the Hokage. However, they could get two civilians that were beneath the attention of the ANBU. That was about when Iruka stopped seeing the demon haters as fellow advocators, and started seeing them as disgusting bigots.
Naruto's silence was an answer all by itself. Pieces of the puzzle clicked together. Was that why Naruto's relationship with the Ichiraku family never went beyond customer and supplier? And then there was the civilian populace being resistant towards Naruto becoming a ninja…
"Should I have been born?"
Iruka sat next to him; Naruto was so small that he was the same height as him even sitting down.
"I can't answer that question. But life is something none of us chose anyway."
Naruto gripped the wooden carving even harder.
"Then what is the purpose of it?"
"There is no purpose, only what we make of it."
What happened next wasn't an explosion of rage, or a cry to the heavens for revenge. There was no explosion of youki or chakra, and there was no awakening of newfound power.
Naruto just cried because he was a helpless child who didn't know what to do, the same cry that Iruka had gave when he was lonely and desperately begging for help. It was the same cry that made Iruka reach out and hug the blonde boy.
"Life will go on no matter who dies," Iruka whispered. "The best revenge is living well."
If only Naruto didn't have to learn that lesson at such a young age.
A/N: Desperately trying to ease up writer's block, so I wrote this. Different premise and different focus than my other story, but some of the events are the same though done by different motivations. Also, there will be a focus on genjutsu on this one. Just wait and see how I'll pull it off…for better…or worse.