Trans Naruto Centric / Eventual SasuNaru / Coming-of-age / Gender Exploration
first of all shout out to my lovely friends alex, cameron and jamie for helping me to write this; your input of your own experiences as trans men helped me so much and i feel more comfortable exploring this headcanon knowing it has been approved by men who have experienced similar struggles as the ones i am writing.
second, this is going to have short chapters. it's not so much a story as an exploration of my thoughts on a hc i've grown to adore. i really wish there was more diversity of gender expression, sexuality etc in anime but alas. anyway, here's my take.
third: if anything i write is offensive, please educate me on how. i myself am nb and have consulted my trans friends in writing this fic to try to avoid any insensitivity but obviously everyone has different experiences and is affected in different ways.
lastly: any transphobic/homophobic comments will not be tolerated. no, this isn't canon, however we are all open to interpret characters however we like and as someone who is not cis, it is comforting to think of a character you love as similar to yourself. if mangakas provided more representation in the first place we wouldnt have to divert from canon but anyways. this is just for fun and to explore the growth a lot of us trans/nb folks experienced in our teens, and write how naruto would've dealt with it. so yeah - no negativity.
anyway, sorry for the long intro. would love to hear your thoughts as usual. thanks for reading ! (p.s. i promise ill update spiral tapes soon) - E
Growing up without parents, without guidance, and without the direction of social norms, Naruto hasn't thought of himself as particularly different. Well, not for that reason. He knows there must be something wrong with him, for the villagers shun him, and he lives alone without guardians or friends to take care of him.
However he never attributes any of the negativity to his chosen identity. To him, it is just who he is. For as long as he can remember, he has been a boy, and he has been Naruto.
It isn't until the very early days of the academy when he walks in on an older boy at the urinals that he realises the other boys have something he doesn't. At first, he is confused. Maybe some boys have that thing between their legs and others don't? As time goes on, and he listens to the boys and girls joke, and sees more boys in the bathrooms, he realises he is the only boy at the academy who doesn't have that thing between his legs. But to him, that's okay. He doesn't look like a girl, and he never feels weird about it. He has always been himself, with nobody to tell him otherwise.
When Iruka and Mizuki finally tell him about the demon sealed in his stomach, the menacing glares of the villagers make sense and though he is horrified, a small sense of relief washes over him that it isn't because he is different to the other boys. Infact, as he graduates the academy and joins Team 7, it appears nobody is actually aware he is different in that way.
He is different because he is a Jinchuuriki, he is different because he is an orphan, he is different because he is a prankster and dead last in the class. He is not different because he is a boy who doesn't have a penis.