YAY THE MIDTERMS ARE OVER!!!! For me, anyway.
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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Naruto knows what love is.
All throughout his life, he has been hated by many, liked by few and loved by even less. Naruto is rarely given a chance to be proven a person, but he knows better than anyone the determining factors that make up the most important part of the human psyche.
Love is the willingness to train with someone even when one is not at their best; Lee, Tenten and Neji all display the willingness to train with each other then pick each other up off the ground when they break and fall. They are the closest cell in Konoha, and it shows.
Love is going into a bar, determining that your companion has had more than enough to drink, and dragging her away despite her protests. Shizune obviously loves Tsunade very much.
Love is not letting someone look down upon themselves. Love is teaching someone to rise above taunts and dismissals, raising them to rely on one's self and their own confidence. Above all else, Kurenai doesn't want to see Hinata crash and burn.
Love is not allowing someone to taunt a person, even if you taunt that person yourself. Despite everything that has happened, despite every unkind and malicious word that has ever passed between them, Ino amazingly still considers herself Sakura's best friend, and she isn't about to let anyone forget it.
Love is worrying about someone when you know you need to, and worrying about them even when there's really no reason to be worried. Temari and Kankuro both love their brother very much, and will not let their family grow apart again.
Love is defending someone from all possible threats, even if that threat is the person's own family. Tenten views Neji and Hinata both as what should have been the Hyuuga clan, and what will be the Hyuuga clan if she has anything to say about it.
Love is making someone own up to their mistakes, always, even if it hurts. Nara Shikaku, Nara Yoshino and Sabaku no Temari all perform this version of tough love, much to Shikamaru's chagrin. Inuzuka Tsume does the same, to her son's dismay.
Love is being at someone's side even at their worst time, when they are so utterly grief-stricken and numbed that they can barely comprehend that there is someone walking at their side. Naruto, Gaara and Tsunade have all been very fortunate in their loved ones, even if they can't always see it.
Love is giving someone a reason to live, even when you have taken away all the other reasons that person had, and the one reason left in its place is everything that love should never be. In his own way, Itachi loved his little brother, maybe loved him too much.
Love is always being with someone, comforting them, laughing and crying with them, bleeding with them, arguing with them and forgiving them, all the while being lost in each other's eyes. This is how Naruto knows Neji and Tenten will end up together, because he doubts that he has ever seen them apart.
Love is knowing when to let someone go. Naruto hasn't quite gotten this aspect of love mastered yet, because he just can't bring himself to let go of Sasuke, no matter how hard he tries. Neither can Sakura.
Love is knowing when someone's in pain, and having the will to end it. Chiyo knew that more than anything else, Sasori just wanted one thing and since he couldn't ever have it life had become dust to him, utterly meaningless. She acted accordingly, and made him bleed poisoned blood from the heart.
Love is being willing to bleed for someone, to die for them. All Naruto has to do is look at Lee to know that he loves Sakura, and strangely, that doesn't bother him, because there will soon come a day when Sakura will need all the love she can get.
Love is catching someone before they fall. Iruka-sensei always caught Naruto. Sometimes they have to be dragged out of the abyss. Naruto performed the same favor for Gaara's sake.
Love is looking into someone's eyes and seeing yourself reflected there in perfect detail with every good quality magnified by almost a thousand fold and every bad quality diminished greatly. This is what Naruto sees every time he looks into Hinata's eyes, and her eyes are like mirrors.
Love is chasing someone into the depths of Hell, even if they don't want to be chased, because you know they're going down the wrong path. Naruto loves Sasuke far more than he should, far more than Sasuke will ever love him.
Love is not having to ask someone how much pain they're in, but just knowing. Love is being able to commiserate silently, to be able to give comfort just by existing. Naruto has always been the only who understands who much pain Gaara's in, and Gaara never has to ask to understand.
Love is knowing when to be hard and when to be kind, to always be wiling to extend a sympathetic shoulder at all times and to be fair no matter what. Iruka-sensei knows what love is too.
Sometimes love is being able to wipe the slate clean, to be able to just blink and start over again without fear or prejudices. Gaara and Naruto haven't quite got this form of love down, but they're trying.
Most of all, love is looking out over a city and feeling utter contentment, knowing that those people are your life and you would give your life for them willingly, that there is no better life than that of the protector, even if the protector is rarely appreciated for his services. Naruto knows this love.