Ignorance is Bliss
Prologue: A Hand in the Darkness
The child swayed aimlessly across the streets, his face full of wide-eyed wonder and joy. Lights of every color filled his vision, taunting him and beckoning him closer. Utilizing all the willpower that his four-year old self had at its disposal, he tore his gaze away from the magnificent lights to the smiling faces surrounding him. Stands of all shapes and sizes adorned the streets, selling, buying, giving away, fulfilling any purpose that the young boy could think of. Approaching the closest one, he was immediately gifted with a candied apple and a pat on the head, followed by a bow and a blessing from the tiny old woman who managed the stand. His tiny legs continued on their journey, weaving their way through the crowd full of friendly faces and waving hands.
No matter where he went, the child was greeted with smiles and blessings. Grinning from ear to ear, he slowly made his way to where a grinning old man stood. Giggling, the child reached up and grabbed the man's hand, who in turn bent over and picked him up, resulting in another bout of laughter from the child. Words he didn't fully understand made their way in and out of the child's mind, but the child didn't need to understand them to know the meaning they carried. Looking at all the smiling faces, all the lights around him, and the special feeling that was welling up inside of his chest, he knew that it could only mean one thing, one thing that was more precious to him than anything else in the world. He, Uzumaki Naruto, was noticed and loved by everyone around him. That was when his world of make-believe came crashing down, and the solace of his dream shattered.
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Every day was the same. After being granted the fleeting sense of comfort that had been constantly denied to him throughout his short life, he would wake up, and the realization that his experiences were not reality would add another layer to the feelings of sadness and resentment that had been burned into his mind during his life.
When he was first brought to the orphanage, he was full of the same bubbly and infectious joy that all toddlers share. Everything was new to him, and he was as eager to experience it as his infantile mind was curious about it. All that ended when the dark and dreary walls of the orphanages basement became his home. He was never physically harmed; the Hokage's law regarding treatment of the child saw to that. Not even the most foolhardy or drunken of villagers would attempt to break that law. Not after the failed attempts that had warranted fatal and publicly viewed punishments.
Regarding treatment of the child that contained a demon, denial became the most apt description. After his arrival, Naruto was granted the most minimal of human recognition. The first day, children became curious at the arrival of the new child, some even walking up to him to greet him and ask questions. Shortly thereafter, the children who had been unlucky enough to attempt conversation were pulled aside by tall men and dragged through a doorway that lead to the headmistress' office. The next day, when Naruto walked up to the familiar faces that had spoken to him the previous day, he saw that black spots and swelling adorned their faces, and he was summarily ignored by anyone he attempted to speak to. After that, the closest thing Naruto had to human companionship was when whoever was in charge of lunch slopped down a ladle-full of food onto his tray. When the other children were called upon by supervisors to attend daily lessons, no one came for Naruto. No one acknowledged his existence, cared about his whereabouts, or offered him any type of companionship.
At first he thought it was due to his behavior. Perhaps he had done something wrong, something bad to offend the people who were in charge of where he lived. For months he tried being the best boy that he could be, doing whatever the rest of the children did, hoping that whoever was in charge would realize what a nice boy he was and begin speaking to him. When this didn't work, he even tried being a not so nice boy, but all this resulted in was his door out of the basement being locked when he attempted to leave the morning after his misbehavior. From that day on, he wasn't even allowed to see the faces of those who refused to look at him. The only time the door was opened was to put in some form of food, and his only company became the sound of dripping water.
Occasionally, when the frustration of solitude became too much for the child, tears would fall from his eyes, mixing in with the water that dripped from the ceiling of his room. Other times, anger would fill him, and he would lash out at the only thing that he could. His small fists would crash against the cracked walls, sending electric jolts through his arms after he had used them enough. Today was a mix of the two.
After he had spent all of the energy his small form could muster, and blood began to smear against the walls as he finished slamming his bruised and bloodied fists against them, he collapsed to the ground and curled into himself. Tears fell freely from his eyes as he held onto himself as tightly as he could, trying to answer the questions his mind posed. Why was this happening to him? What had he done that other children had not to warrant such treatment? Why was he alone? Even as his mind began to fill with certainty that he would never find an answer to these questions, a gnawing feeling began to creep into the back of his head. Warmth began to flow over the hands that were clutching his knees close to his chest, and he slowly lifted one up, only to see a red and black mist caressing his skin. His anguish momentarily forgotten, he moved his hands slowly in a wide arc in front of him, the mist dancing and twirling around his arms in a mesmerizing dance that made him feel safe.
Unable to speak for fear that he would disturb the mist, Naruto could only think.
'What are you?' he thought to himself.
And slowly, a deep voice that spoke in a language Naruto had never heard began to whisper in his mind. Not fully understanding why, Naruto replied with his name. The voice rumbled back, filling Naruto with a sense of safety that he had never before experienced. The mist moved from his arms to fully encircle his body, warming him and comforting him. With a final rumble from the voice that Naruto could somehow understand, he began to drift to sleep. Even though the voice spoke in a way that seemed ancient and unheard of to the young Naruto, he could feel in his bones what it had said to him. It had said it was a friend.
