Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other character.

This is my tribute to a special fellow named Uzumaki Naruto, a great inspiration to me. Here's to your dreams, big guy.


...

My name is Uzumaki Naruto.

I am what most people call a hopeless idiot. That may not be a covetous title, but I gladly accept it. For it assures me that I do indeed exist.

In the beginning, solitude was my only companion, my source of confirmation that I was tied to this godforsaken planet only to be left dangling beneath it, alone.

I was always alone.

I couldn't remember my mother, my father. My oldest memories consisted of wondering who I was and where I came from.

Where was I supposed to go?

Where was everyone else going without me?

I was ignorant because no one spoke to me. I was hated because of the thing inside me; I was the container for a monster; one wrong move could trigger me. That was the general consensus. Other children didn't play with me. Adults told me with their cold eyes to disappear.

I had no choice but to be hated, and I asked why this honor was bestowed upon me. To carry the Kyuubi was to be alone, and I wondered if I was strong enough.

Not to be a container, but to be alone.

Solitude was more terrifying than any monster. It sucked you into a place where nothing was everything and everything was nothing. It was a dark hell where your body and mind were torn in two, each forced to live without the other…a permanent feeling of disconnection, of not being whole.

In the beginning, I was alone because no one saw me. Because no one saw me, I was becoming invisible. After invisibility, the only stage left was nonexistence. In other words, nothingness. But by that point, I was ready to let it all go for one moment of peace.

For if I were nothing, I wouldn't feel this pain.

That was how I felt in the beginning. In my earlier days.

Things are different now. Now, I do not waste time thinking about nothingness.

Not anymore.

Because there are a handful of people who see me, and just those handful are enough to form a living person out of me. They take my hand and show me where everyone else is going. They see a monster within me, but they don't see a monster in me. And they give me a chance to outshine it.

I now understand what it means to live. To have a purpose.

Mine is just one: to protect those who are important to me, for without them, I am nothing.

That is why I will put my life on the line to save Sakura and Iruka sensei when they face life-threatening danger. That is why I will come up with unforeseen strategies to free Kakashi sensei from an enemy's trap. That is why I will definitely bring Sasuke back from the solitary path he chose, for I can see exactly where it leads. That is why I will become Hokage one day, to have the strength and power to protect everyone in the village, for I have also been given a chance to acquire Konoha's will of fire.

I will take all my past demons with me as I run forward. Not because I am forever tainted, but because I want to show others that they, too, can overcome theirs as I have, and be the stronger for it.

Solitude still lurks in my world, waiting for another chance to pull me in, but as long as I have my friends with me, I am untouchable.

I am Uzumaki Naruto, the recognized village idiot. Being laughed at doesn't hinder me; it is merely a starting point, and everyone has to start somewhere. Besides, I exist now.

Nothing will hold me back.