Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
In the eyes of the village, he was a monster, a beast.
„Just look at him! He's so filthy! "
"Don't go near him! "
"He has no parents! "
"No one wants him here! "
The boy thinks the adults are stupid because they think he can't hear them, oh, but he does.
Sometimes when he's feeling more miserably than usual, he thinks they let him hear their 'opinion' just to show him how worthless he is. That thought makes him sad, yet it returns every day and it's always stuck in the back of his mind, reminding him of his pointless existence.
He walks through the streets and feels their stares on him. Whispered insults echo in his head.
Why were they doing this to him?
What had he done wrong?
The boy wonders. They were acting as if he was a mistake from the past, a child that should've never been born, something that needed to be destroyed so that they can live in peace.
He remembers what his former teacher Mizuki had said and he glares at his stomach.
The nine-tails, Kyubi-no-Kitsune, was sealed inside the vessel's body and it's scaring the villagers, leaving them mean and cold-hearted towards him.
But only him.
He turns his head and sees a little child holding onto the skirt of his mother, tears streaming down his face. The mother bends down and cradles her son into her arms, soothing him.
Jealousy rises in the watcher, bubbling inside of him like his beloved ramen that was boiling for too much time. He wanted a family too.
But nobody comes near.
A family and people that accepted him, like Iruka, was that too much to ask for?
A sweet, loving family, something he never had, nice and understanding friends is what his heart carves for, but the boy is not as stupid as everybody thinks.
That was just a dream, a silly dream that would never come true.
He knows that.
Yet he can't help but think of the image of the child and his mother.
And where was his mother?
When his other dream had become true, he would search for her. And everybody in the village had to acknowledge him!
He wants to become Hokage, the strongest shinobi Konoha had ever seen, so that everybody respects him and that they realize that he just wants to help.
But that's a long and hard road and the boy has barely started it.
"Ew! Look at his clothes! They're covered in blood and dirt! I bet he killed somebody! "
He doesn't care.
"Probably. This child has no heart! "
He doesn't care.
"He's a demon! "
He doesn't care.
"He doesn't deserve to life!"
He doesn't care.
"We should get rid of him!"
He doesn't care anymore.
So what if the demon itself was inside of him? The vessel had never done anything wrong, never killed a villager, not even laid a finger on them! How could they do that?
How could they do that?
Before he can think further, he spots a dot of pink in the crowd, recognizing it in a matter of seconds as his new team mate, the one he had a crush on. The crush she didn't return.
Excitedly he wants to greet her, but stops when he sees her helping up a girl at about their age.
He's seen her before, from the corner of his eyes, but her name was a mystery to him.
The little girl looks like she just ran away from death, her clothes torn here and there, her short blue hair uncombed and the skin under her eyes was a light red, like she'd cried.
Sakura and the strange girl exchange a few sentences before they part ways.
That is the moment he wants to talk to his teammate, but he stops, surprised, as the stranger breaks into a run though she looked like she couldn't take another step anymore.
He sees her swaying from side to side as she runs and he is amazed by her willpower.
Then she bumps into him because neither of them really realized where she was heading, and after his recovery from the shock, he hears her shouting back an apology. Something inside of him starts to bubble, but not in a uncomfortable way.
No one had ever apologized to him.
And something inside of him told him that it was an apology that was short, but from the heart.
With a shrug he resumes his walk without a direction.
Later he sees Sasuke, another teammate and they immediately start bickering, since they just completed a mission and the dark-haired boy had done a better job.
"Well, the next time I'll beat you, Sasuke! Believe it!" the blond-haired ge-nin exclaims, self-confidence dripping from every syllable.
Sasuke snorts. "You say that every time, dobe, and then you get beaten by me again."
"I know! But this time I'm sure! And even if I don't, I'll try again! You know, I have this feeling in my gut..." the blonde retorts, not a hint of insecurity or disbelief in his voice.
"Maybe you're just hungry, you idiot?" his friend smirks and hits him on the head.
"Hey! ...But you're right! Let's go and eat ramen! ..."
And eating they did, because the 'dobe' managed to drag his rival along, but all through their little spat on the street he had felt two eyes on him.
"Ah, Naruto! I somehow knew you'd be here!"
Said child turns to the voice and almost glomps his old teacher, overly happy to see him.
They have a little chat, Naruto telling him about the latest missions, Iruka telling stories of his new (and old) students and how some of them reminded him of the Kyubi-vessel.
Sasuke is forgotten, just like the girl from earlier.
It is a few weeks later, when he sees the stranger again.
This time she looks like the daughter of a royal ninja-family. Her face, her eyes, her hair, even her hands look soft, and he thinks that she looks like a pretty doll.
But dolls don't look sad; dolls have smiles on their faces.
The blonde still does not know her name, and now, though her appearance was much more neatly, Naruto realizes how sad and...broken she looks, nothing like those dolls with everlasting smiles and dead eyes.
Naruto is not sure why he watches her at the training grounds, but he stays anyway.
He winces instinctively as the kunoichi gets punched really hard in the face by a boy he knew as Kiba Inuzuka.
Her body falls down.
Seconds without any movement from her pass.
Then she heaves up herself, her arms almost buckle away under her, not ready to support her weight.
"Oi! Are you alright?" Kiba asks, not really worrying and strangely his rudeness makes Naruto angry.
"Y-Yes, Kiba-k-kun, I am...a-al-alright..."
Compared to her apology from the last time he met her, her voice was just a mere whisper, barely audible and she stuttered heavily.
The two continue their spar and the kunoichi gets beaten down several times by her opponent, until her group leader says the girl should go home and rest. The young ninja does as she is told, though something about the way she nods seems...off? It is stiff, like she forces it.
Naruto watches her from his hiding spot behind the many tree trunks and even though it's already dark, he can still make out her face, since her skin glows in the moonlight.
A strange feeling gets a grip on the boy's heart when he sees the tears streaming down her cheeks, over the cuts and bruises.
Her shoulders tremble as well as her bottom lip. A few sobs and sniffs come from her despite her obvious attempts to force them down.
"But-I don't want—to go...I w-want-to become-strong...—Sorry, Ku-renai, Kiba-kun, Shino—kun... I don't want—to be a burden... I will be better-stronger-...I won't be—weak, won't-need help... I won't fail again...—I won't fail... I will try to...I promise..."
Her sobs are getting violent and he wants to comfort her, but he doesn't dare to.
"I will try...I will try..."
By now he only sees her back anymore; her form swaying like it did that day.
"I won't give up...I won't give up..."
Then she disappears between leaves and trees.
Naruto stays in his hiding places, deep in thought.
This girl, she was...
He couldn't describe it, but the longer he thought, the more one thought repeated itself in his mind until it was stuck there.
Maybe, just maybe...
Even though their attitudes were so, so different...
Maybe, just maybe...
They were much more alike than one would think.
After this night, he would always remember two things.
Her sad, so sad crying and her words.
This girl was probably crushed under the weight of -expectancies and from what he had seen, she most likely wasn't strong enough for her family's liking.
Yet she doesn't just give up, she still does her best, even though it may not be enough.
She doesn't give up.
And he, how many times had he thought about quitting?
He didn't know the girl's name, but he secretly wants to end her pain, to wipe away her tears.
In the eyes of the village, he was a monster, a beast.
„Just look at him! He's so filthy! "
"Don't go near him! "
"He has no parents! "
"No one wants him here! "
Sometimes when he's feeling more miserably than usual, he thinks they let him hear their 'opinion' just to show him how worthless he is. That thought makes him sad, yet it returns every day and it's always stuck in the back of his mind, reminding him of his pointless existence.
Maybe there really was a demon raging inside of Naruto.
But Naruto wasn't a demon himself, and desperatley wants to be Hokage after all.
So he will try again, again and again.
The girl without a name had given him the wish to end pain and misery once and for all, and every time he would be unsure, he would think of her and her beautiful face covered in tears and wounds.
As Naruto gets home, his parents probably would have been angry at him for coming back so late, but then cradle him into their arms, because they'd missed him.
But there was nobody there.
This time, he doesn't care about that.