Empathy Gone Wrong

[Guest Guest]

Naruto, from childhood, possesses the same negative emotion sensing that Uzumaki Mito had. Only, since he was exposed to Kurama's chakra while Kushina was pregnant AND has Kurama in him, it's a bit more refined, allowing him a better sense of what people are feeling, rather than just being limited to sensing that people feel hatred or intent to kill. Refined enough to differentiate between different negative emotions and identify what they are, once he knows what they feel like to begin with, and once he's older, able to estimate what any unrecognized emotions he encounters are.

And since he's had these abilities from childhood, he recognizes exactly how most people around him feel about him. Actually FEELING the hate and fear and distrust that constantly surrounds him leaves Naruto disillusioned, with no love for humanity or his village. But he happens to see something once that sets him on his path: some people arguing, with some clearly getting angry. Then one of the others says something, and completely defuses their anger and gets them to agree with him. From that, Naruto learned the power that simple words and manipulation can have, if used properly. And he has a distinct advantage. So Naruto sets out to learn to manipulate people using his negative emotion sensing to guide him, with the intent of getting some measure of revenge on the world.

Nothing as dramatic as taking over the world, just if he can make people a little less happy with what he sees as delusional lies they tell themselves. Scale and pettiness doesn't really matter; he's just as fine whispering the right words in a lord's ear to send a country to war as talking a village into destroying itself or convincing a loving wife to cheat on her husband. It's all the same, just showing how ugly people really are on the inside.

Of course, it all also has the side-effect of making Naruto a charismatic person, capable of inspiring devotion in people given effort and proper circumstances. And that's something he enjoys, tearing people down while building himself up in their mind, until he's the only emotional pillar holding them up, and he can destroy that pillar at any time. Even better if he can set some of them against each other, just to see what happens.

Basically, a Naruto that still has his canonical ability to make people follow him as friends and allies, along with the negative emotion sensing from Kurama, but who hasn't got the good-natured and naive personality from canon. Like Mao from Code Geass or Johann Liebert, he takes his insight into people and uses it to manipulate for his own ends (usually hurting them somehow), but without a particular over-arching goal. His response to Hinata admiring him would be to make enough of a connection to build that and have her dependent on his existence while finding out her whole situation, then separately go and try to induce a similar dependence in Hanabi, just to see what would happen when they came into conflict.

Of course, since we're here and Naruto is a hormonal teenage male, one of his favorite uses is to manipulate his way into the bed of the fairer sex. Many of the women of the village have been charmed by his good nature and words, only to realize they've endangered their own relationship after the deed is done. He's practically a god to Hinata. Haku, regardless of gender, is already damaged enough that, with the right words and Zabuza's death, (s)he will cave and serve Naruto for life. But the only one I can see as an actual romantic partner, rather than a toy to play with or someone whose relationship he felt like damaging, is someone like Fuu: Jinchuuriki, damaged, hates humanity...