Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Naruto or His Dark Materials.
Everywhere he went the stares always followed. Their eyes frosty and expressions unforgiving. Bodies always turning away, words always biting deep into his heart. Even so, a smile always stayed stretched wide across his face. Eyes always squinted in the quintessential picture of happiness. But Uzumaki Naruto was anything but happy. Loneliness crept into his heart filling it with doubt and anxiety. He couldn't understand why they hated him. And Naruto felt anger that he used to fuel his training until he was worn to the bone. He would show them. He would train until he was the most powerful ninja in the village; the Hokage. Naruto would be respected, adored and strong.
But right now he was just an academy student. An academy student who had failed the final exam three years in a row. And the village hated him. They all looked down upon him and turned their backs on him. He didn't want to be this way, he was born this way. It was his parents fault, not his. Why couldn't they see that?
So he tried, he tried so hard. He trained as much as possible and tried to pull some pranks. Pranks were funny! They would see him and laugh when he pulled his pranks. They wouldn't look at him with those cold eyes and sneering souls. He would trade his pride for just one smile, one person to acknowledge that he existed. That he wasn't some sort of pariah freak.
Once he had asked the Old man why they hated him. The Sandaime had told him that they were afraid of him. Naruto couldn't understand why. Amaterasu, the Sandaime's daemon had chattered nervously and tugged at her whiskers. That's when Naruto realized that the Old man was in on it too. He was hiding something, something big. Naruto knew he had to figure it out but without alerting anyone. It wouldn't do for anyone to figure out that Naruto was smart. He had to be the class clown and keep their expectations low. Even if they were laughing at them it had to be so. He had to keep them from looking at him with those cold eyes.
So Naruto started studying daemons. He knew that they would be the key to finding out the Sandaime's secret. He studied different forms, animal species, fighting tactics for different daemon forms and soon he became an expert at predicting people's settled forms. For example he knew that dog people were incredibly loyal to their closest companions and made the most loyal of ninjas. But they sometimes had a bit of a problem with arrogance to those they considered lower on the hierarchy of the village. Cat people were inquisitive and passionate, but could be very self-absorbed with a holier-than-thou attitude.
Naruto found many interesting things when researching daemons. He found out that daemons were nearly always the opposite gender of their human counterpart. Daemons also settled between the ages of 13 and 17 into a permanent form for the rest of their lives. The most interesting piece of knowledge he found is that the average distance a daemon could travel from their human was six feet. If they traveled further they and their human would suffer agonizing pain. It was then Naruto's question was answered. He knew what the Sandaime was hiding.
Uzumaki Naruto was the most hated person in the village. He was a class clown, a prankster and the physicial reminder of the Kyuubi attack on the village 12 years ago due to it being his birth date. But most of all Uzumaki Naruto was the boy without a soul. For as long as he could remember he had existed alone with an aching heart and lonely mind.
But that was all going to change now. Naruto glanced speculatively at the Hokage tower. She was in there, he knew it. He was going to find her and when he did they would be great. They would be unstoppable.
Author's Note:
Just a plot bunny that's been bugging me recently. I'm debating making it into an actual story rather than just a drabble but that depends on how much schoolwork I get caught up on!
Thanks for reading :3