Disclaimer: Naruto ain't mine. If he was, trust me, you would know.
MASK.
Naruto.
Why do people wear a mask?
What is its purpose? How does it work?
Does everyone wear a mask, or is it only those who have something to hide?
I know why I wear one.
Honestly, I don't know if I have a true self. I've lived with this mask so long it has consumed me. Replaced me. Become a part of me.
Become me.
Everything about me has all been carefully orchestrated to hide who I am.
How I feel.
What I have inside me.
People don't notice. They don't want to. They don't care.
They just see the demon, they don't see me. They don't see Naruto.
No one understands that the person who suffers the most because of the demon is me.
People have lost loved ones, friends, family—all because of the demon.
What about me?
Denied a real life. Living a hated existence. Denied friends. Denied someone to love me. Denied the right to love someone back.
All because of the demon.
The demon is my purpose for the mask. He is the reason I cannot be who I want to be.
I wear the horrid orange jumpsuit not because I want to stand out, but because I wish to hide. If the people believe I want to stand out, they will ignore me. If people truly knew how badly I wish to hide, they would spend their days seeking me out. Giving me attention. Because they would know it is not what I want.
The deceitful smile of happiness I wear. The smile no one has been able to read.
It's well and easy to look at a smiling face and be tricked into thinking a person is happy. One must look at the eyes to truly understand the depths of someone's pain. The eyes will tell you what they're truly feeling.
When people look at me, they focus on my smile. 'Naruto is smiling. People who smile are happy. Therefore, Naruto is happy'.
It's easy to follow this equation. It's easier not to care.
One would know my true feelings if they wanted to. All they had to do was focus on my eyes.
Simple, right?
Based on how many people have done it, probably not.
Or maybe they have, but they find it easier to ignore my eyes and focus on my deceitful smiles.
Eyes show too much.
My pain.
My loneliness.
My hate for this world.
My hate for myself.
My hate for the demon.
No one cares enough to pull this mask off.
No one cares enough to chip away, even just a little, the layer of falseness that envelops me.
The mask that hides who I really am.
The mask that hides us all.
Who is Uzumaki Naruto?
Who is he really?
Isn't it funny...
that even...
even I...
don't really know.