When Naruto was a kid, he had no friends. He had no one in fact. No mom to run home to. No dad to give an unexpected, but comforting, hug when you needed it the most. No one to tell him "it's going to be ok."
He felt like an outsider in his own village.
One day, his sensei at the Academy had asked them to write down one person they'd want to have with them if stranded on a deserted island.
Naruto stared at the blank piece of paper in front of him, unsurprised when no names came to mind.
Instead of dwelling on this... emptiness - he acted out, like he always did. He crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it, hitting his undeserving sensei weakly in the face.
Iruka's scowl wasn't anything to joke about, and the slap upside Naruto's head pulsed in pain. Iruka placed a new piece of paper on his desk, and scowled over Naruto's shoulder.
Naruto's pencil twitched in his fingers, and yet, a name just wouldn't come. Iruka huffed in impatience, and squared around the boy to meet his eyes.
"Come on, Naruto. There's got to be someone you'd want. Someone you love?" He probed.
Naruto stared into Iruka's pleading eyes with confusion, tilting the corners of his mouth down.
"Love?" The innocent child asked.
"Yes, you know, love. That warm fuzzy feeling you get in your chest or tummy being near someone?" Iruka stumbled for words, unsure how to explain such an abstract concept to a child.
Naruto hesistated, trying to think about all his past experiences in his short life span. The only warm and fuzzy feeling he ever got was when he ate ramen. The hot broth warmed his insides as it slid down his chest and landed into his stomach. The spicy edge to the broth made his cheeks flush pink and he would feel a little warmer than he had started.
"Like ramen?"
The class laughed, disrupting Iruka's carefully managed peace. Iruka was about to snap at the boy when he saw the confusion on his face from everyone's laughter, and a glisten of tears at the edges of his eyes, signifying his genuineness.
"Yes," Iruka consented, "it's kinda like ramen."
While the rest of the class laughed at Naruto, Sasuke easily wrote down "Uchiha Itachi."
He was never good enough for Father. Mother gave caring smiles, but never corrected Father's verbal abuse. And although there had been a change in Itachi, his distance only served to make Sasuke want to be that much closer to his older brother. His older brother who had once carried him on his back now only poked him on the forehead.
Sasuke's hand brushed against the spot Itachi's two fingers always hit. When Itachi would leave him and refuse his offer to spend time together, he always felt so empty despite that one spot on his forehead.
He glanced over at Naruto, who was too preoccupied to even notice the Uchiha's glance in his direction.