A/N: I've read a lot of authors who made fanfics that tried to be "original" by changing everything about Naruto: they made him hate Sakura, dress in all black or all earth tones, and they've made him stronger than a Jounin before he even took the Genin exams. I've read a story where he breezed through the Academy exam and finished every sentence Kakashi said at his introduction scene ("You hate us, right?" "You want us to show up early tomorrow, don't you?" "Yeah, yeah, don't eat breakfast, right?") before promptly leaving his team behind in order to train. I even read a story where he loathed ramen merely to impress upon the reader that their version of Naruto was nothing like Canon!Naruto.

While those are all well and good, I decided to make this story to fight against all of those anti-cliché clichés. There aren't a whole lot of them that I could think of, though, so I chose a 10-truths format instead of 20 as is customary. This is my first story in 10-truths format, as well as the first story I'm posting here, so please be honest in your criticism.

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Honestly.

Not Everything Needs a Reason
By: Nanio-713

1) Naruto wasn't just attracted to Sakura when he was younger because of her long and unusually colored hair or her lithe form (though they certainly helped). He also didn't want to be with Sakura because he was a masochist or because she was unattainable. He honestly wasn't even all that impressed with her ninja skills before going on his training trip with Jiraiya, either. When asked, Naruto himself admitted his own confusion as to exactly why he once liked the pink-haired Kunoichi. All he knew was when he watched her talk to Ino and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, when she bit her bottom lip in concentration for throwing her Kunai, or when he watched her smile grow whenever she received a compliment from a superior authority figure or Sasuke, Naruto would think to himself that she was definitely the girl he wanted.

2) Naruto didn't eat tons of ramen because it was all that he could afford, or because grocery stores wouldn't let him in. Because of the 4th Hokage's allowance to Naruto, and Naruto's unwillingness to spend much on furniture when he was barely home anyway, he could easily afford vegetables and other tasty food even if the grocery store decided to overcharge him – which was only done on whenever business was slow or completely dead, like on Wednesday afternoons – or steal from his change. No, he ate ramen because he loved the taste of the broth, the texture of the noodles, and the general flavor of everything else in his meal of the gods.

3) Naruto loved the color orange. He thought that being able to hide in a big city or a forest while wearing such outlandish colors was the most impressive thing he has ever done. He kept buying his clothes with orange on it long after merchants stopped trying to overprice his ninja gear, and even when they offered him clothing with better armor protection at severely reduced rates in an attempt to get the Shinobi out of that horrible outfit. There was nothing anyone – not even his future wife – could do to stop Naruto from dressing in orange. Everyone had to face it: until Naruto got fed up with orange that was all they were going to see him in.

Hey, at least it wasn't green spandex.

4) Naruto didn't hate Sasuke because the raven-haired boy was better than him in the academy. He didn't hate the fact that Sasuke could have taken the Genin exams early like him and actually pass, leaving Naruto behind. Naruto wasn't pissed off because Sasuke was always popular while he was constantly shunned in their younger years. Naruto didn't even hate the fact that Sasuke was only happy when he felt that he was stronger than the Jinchuuriki, or that he could suppress the Nine-tails' power. He hated Sasuke because he thought the guy was a smug bastard who needed to be shown that he wasn't as high and mighty as the Uchiha genius thought he was.

5) When Naruto fell in love with Temari, there was no life-changing event where one of them saved the other's life, they looked into each others eyes, and professed their love. There was no awkward denial which lasted over a long and arduous courtship process. There was merely one day in Suna when Naruto was delivering some scrolls where he bumped into the wind mistress and invited her for a bowl of his favorite food. After that, he asked her if she wanted to go out dancing. The next day, as he was leaving Suna, Naruto asked Temari if she wanted to go out the next time she was in Konoha. After three months of odd dates and one romp in the sack, the happy couple openly admitted that they were lovers and were planning on getting married… once Gaara finished being angry at Naruto for "taking away" his sister.

6) Naruto created anti-pervert techniques because he thought they were useful. While he disapproved of their actions, Naruto didn't particularly hate perverts or thought of them as horrible scum. Hell, many people considered Naruto to be incredibly perverted after all of the crazy things he'd done as a kid like sneak into the girls' baths. He didn't have any deeply-rooted trauma in his past of some old fart or a drunk who made him touch them "down there" or anything. He just naturally assumed that most men (and even some women) that he meets everyday are perverts, so techniques like Oroike no Jutsu and Harem No Jutsu were really goddamn useful in taking them out quickly.

Naruto predictions on who was a pervert were scarily accurate. It even got to the point where Tsunade banned him from pointing out perverts unless they were n the process of doing something improper. Of course, this was after Naruto guessed that Tsunade enjoyed the Icha Icha Paradise series more than Kakashi, but before he could tell anyone else.

7) Naruto didn't fight Akatsuki because of what they did to Gaara, or because he wanted to protect his fellow Jinchuuriki brethren. He didn't want to connect to other demon containers and make them a part of his "precious people." He didn't even want to kill them because he thought Global domination was the ultimate evil. No, Naruto fought Akatsuki because he didn't want to be killed by them first, and because it was the job given to him by Tsunade.

Really, he'd rather spend his time chasing after Sasuke and dragging his dumb ass back to Konoha.

8) Naruto didn't make a mental list of precious people to offset his lonely childhood. He didn't make the list to remind himself of how many people have accepted him for who he is. Naruto didn't even make the list because it helped him remember when everyone's birthday was or where they lived. Hell, he sometimes forgot his own precious people's names at times! Naruto had a list of precious people because it seemed like a perfect normal thing to remember who his best friends were.

9) Tsunade wasn't Naruto's alternative mother, even if she considered him the son she never had. She wasn't his secret crush (for too long, anyway) or what he considered a big sister type. Tsunade was, and always will be, Naruto's most precious person. From the moment he challenged her to a bet outside of a shithole bar, to the moment she will dies, Naruto will always consider her to be the most important person who ever stepped into his life.

10) Naruto didn't long to know who his parents were, or why they abandoned him. He didn't constantly pester Sarutobi about how he wound up on his own, or if he knew his parents before the Kyuubi attack. He had always grown up alone, after all, and wishing things were different wouldn't have helped him in any way. He was very happy when he eventually learned about them shortly before Jiraiya's death, of course, but he didn't need to know them in order to justify or gauge his past or future actions. Naruto always knew that he was Naruto, and the knowledge of two names and titles weren't going to change who Naruto was, or his Ninja way… Although gaining possession of a clan chair on the village council was useful, especially considering it pissed most of the older members off.