The World Through Naruto's Eyes (1/2)

This was my... mom... Huh? What was she crying about? I couldn't understand any of it! But she looked so sad...

Raising her little head to look at the tearful, exhausted woman with dark circles beneath her eyes, Naruto reached out with her tiny hand and babbled, wanting to wipe away Kushina's tears.

Suddenly, blue light flared in Kushina's hand. Through a secret technique, she poured all her remaining life force into Naruto.

"Naruto, forgive me..."

Kushina collapsed into Minato Namikaze's arms and stopped breathing, the arm holding Naruto falling limp.

"Waaahhh!!!"

Naruto, who had never cried since her birth, burst into tears. Her crying was filled with unprecedented sorrow.

"Kushina..."

Minato Namikaze gently laid down Kushina's lifeless body, then carried the crying Naruto toward the battlefield.

Looking at the Nine-Tails growing larger and larger, then at the hand reaching for her abdomen, Naruto could not help but scream.

"Waaahhh!!!" Don't come near me!!!

The World Through Naruto's Eyes (1/2)

Time flew by. At the age of three, Naruto, who had gained some ability to live independently, was placed in a room in an apartment building.

After their protests proved futile, the apartment residents chose to move away one after another.

Sitting curled up in the corner, Naruto blankly stared out the window. She opened her mouth, but the words she wanted to say turned into a sigh.

She had endured the feeling of being watched for three years now, and it would continue.

According to Minato Namikaze's will, Naruto should have been cared for as the village's hero, growing up to become someone respected by all. Yet the village higher-ups allowed the villagers to treat her as the incarnation of the Nine-Tails and curse her freely. This was completely contrary to what Minato Namikaze had intended.

Naruto wanted to ask the Third Hokage why he had broken his promise to Minato Namikaze. Thinking of Naruto's fate in the original story, she could only reveal a mocking smile beneath her blankets.

More than once, she had heard the people who came to feed her milk muttering curses under their breath. If the Anbu had not been watching, perhaps she would have long since been choked to death by her wet nurse's thick milk.

From being unable to accept it at first to becoming numb now, Naruto slowly rose to her feet and walked outside.

As an early hot-blooded shonen anime, she had never imagined Naruto's childhood could be this miserable. It had not felt so profound when she watched the anime. Perhaps she had been affected by that silly, adorable, passionate Naruto and had never truly sensed Konoha's malice toward her.

The treatment Naruto endured was difficult even for an adult to bear, yet Naruto had still managed to remain so cheerful.

Was she an M? A masochist?

Naruto curled her lips in a snort. She paused in front of a shop for only a few seconds before the owner hurried over to drive her away. "Go, go, go! Leave now! If you stay here, customers won't come!"

Naruto lowered her head and quickly left. Her sharp hearing caught the shopkeeper's quiet muttering.

"Damn monster, why don't you just die? I really don't know why Lord Hokage lets this monster live in the village."

A monster...

If my body weren't here to imprison this monster, how could you possibly live peaceful lives? If I hadn't become a Jinchuriki...

Hahaha! How ridiculous!

Expressionless, Naruto walked to the park where children played. A trace of sorrow seemed to linger in her deep, hollow azure eyes. Seeing Naruto arrive, the parents called their children away, terrified that too much contact with her would bring them bad luck.

Watching the adults' disgusted, fearful eyes, Naruto sat on a swing and lightly kicked her fair little feet. She lowered her head, and for an instant, her azure eyes turned blood-red.

Nine-Tails Chakra flashed across her body. A masked figure appeared on a tree branch. The moment she saw that head of white hair, Naruto recognized him.

Kakashi Hatake. He sensed the Nine-Tails Chakra and came to confirm whether I would lose control? Konoha, the Will of Fire... what a joke.

Once they confirmed there were signs of me losing control, they would take me away and forcibly imprison me, right? As long as the Nine-Tails existed, couldn't they replace the Jinchuriki whenever they wanted?

"Naruto..."

Kakashi put down Make-Out Paradise and cautiously watched Naruto, who sat on the swing with her head lowered, kicking her feet. Her messy golden hair draped down her back. The hands tightly gripping the ropes revealed that Naruto was nowhere near as calm as she appeared, or she would not have unconsciously released Nine-Tails Chakra.

"Let me be alone for a while."

Naruto raised her head. Her eye sockets were red, and a tear still clung to the corner of her eye.

"You were crying."

"Shut up! What does it have to do with you whether I cry or not? Mind your own business!" Naruto lowered her head and wiped her tears, stubbornly unwilling to show Kakashi her weakness.

As Minato Namikaze's student, Kakashi knew what had happened. He felt great fondness and pity for Naruto. However, as an Anbu, from the moment he put on that mask, he had been destined to lock all his emotions behind it.

After watching Naruto for a while, Kakashi quietly left.

Smack!

A small stone struck Naruto's forehead. Hidden in the shadows, Kakashi watched three children approach Naruto and frowned.

"Hey! Monster! That's our swing, not for a monster like you to play on!"

"Monster, get lost!"

"Yeah! Get lost! Get lost!"

Each cry of "monster" was like a sharp blade stabbing into Naruto's heart.

"Who are you calling a monster?" Naruto raised her head. Blood trickled from the wound on her forehead, like a gash dividing her face in two. The whisker marks on her cheeks twitched slightly.

"We're talking about you, monster! Get lost already!"

"Ah!"

Naruto roared and charged forward, fighting the three children in a tangled brawl. She knew perfectly well that blindly enduring would only make them go further. She might as well use this chance to vent her resentment.

The four children fought in a heap. Even at a one-against-three disadvantage, Naruto feared none of them. Every punch and kick went for their faces and crotches, as if she wanted to beat them into little eunuchs.

This girl fought way too dirty!

Kakashi watched Naruto kick one of the boys in the crotch. Unable to bear the sight, he covered his face with dark lines across his forehead. Sensei, your daughter was as fierce as her mother!

As they fought, the three children's parents arrived and pulled the four apart. Seeing their own children battered and bruised, with footprints on their pants, looking utterly miserable, the parents' anger flared as they glared hatefully at Naruto.

"You monster, if Lord Hokage hadn't allowed you to stay in the village... who knows where you'd have died already!"

The children's father spoke furiously and drove a heavy kick into Naruto's abdomen.