Characters: Naruto, Tsunade (mentioned in flashback)
Summary: What's in a name?
Pairings: None
Author's Note: Yes, this is most definitely a mock fic, mocking all those stories that have Naruto change his name after finding out that Minato's his father; I'm sorry, but the idea just bothers me. Read, enjoy, or rant if you want to.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

With some difficulty, the small, grimy window in Naruto's dank and tiny kitchen is pushed up, letting in the cool night air. The window in the almost as tiny living room where his bed resides is a bit larger, but this window has a better view, and Naruto wants to stare up at something he can clearly see tonight.

Tonight is a night for contemplative stargazing, something to meditate on.

Tsunade's voice still rings clear in Naruto's ears.

"I assume you'll be wanting to change your name."

Tsunade, back to work at last after her long comatose sleep, is noticeable gray and tired—age is showing on her in a way she can't deny, even with the genjutsu up and running strong. Several weeks in a coma, even weeks after it's passed, has sapped her of energy, made her own up to the fact that she's, frankly, not nearly as young as she used to be.

Naruto stares uncomprehendingly at her. "What?"

In a gesture that's more irritated than exasperated, Tsunade shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "Now that you know who your father is, I had assumed that you would want to take the route of having your name legally changed."

When Naruto mutters something nearly inaudible about not having given the matter much thought, Tsunade's chiseled face softens somewhat, and she replies, in a gentler tone,

"Why don't you think it over tonight, Naruto? You can tell me your decision in the morning."

Several hours later, Naruto is no closer to a resolution than he was that afternoon in Tsunade's brightly lit office.

Moodily, he stares out and up at the stars that shine brightly enough to be seen past the rampant air pollution that, sadly, is part and parcel with a large village like Konohagakure. Suddenly, he wishes he knew what their names were, so he could trace out constellations like he's seen Shikamaru and Neji and Tenten doing.

But that's beside the point, and Naruto soon is turning off the lights (though leaving the window open) and flopping down on his bed to stare up at another surface: the ceiling.

It was a thought, the proposition that Tsunade had passed on to him that afternoon. It was worth serious consideration, it was true.

Naruto has always had issues with his identity, with abandonment. Until recently, he couldn't be sure whether his parents had died when he was too young to remember them or if they had just left, unable to bear the shame of rearing a jinchuuriki. Now, knowing that both of his parents loved him and that neither wanted to leave him, the matter of Naruto's name has become far more complicated.

Those who have known have never quite been able to get past the reality of Naruto as the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Those who are kind try to discount it. Those who are not so kind, only ever saw him as the vessel for the demon, something with no identity of its own, as good as being the bijuu itself. And none of them, no one ever saw Naruto as the Yondaime's best hope for Konohagakure. There was probably only a handful that ever knew that Naruto was the Yondaime's son, and no one ever bothered to tell him that.

Well, Naruto is the Yondaime Hokage's, Namikaze Minato's own biological son. And he's proud of that. Why not let everyone know that he's Minato's son in a way they can't ignore?

For a few moments, the idea of being Namikaze Naruto is more appealing than any idea Naruto's ever had, even the defacement, via spray paint, of the Hokage monument. Though there are some who might try to deny that there's any connection, the majority of Konoha would have to face with the fact that Naruto, the boy they've always shunned, is the son of the man that they have blamed him for the death of. That he was always meant to be Konoha's guardian, it's last defense.

That's he's there to protect them, and they should know that.

For a few moments, it's a glorious thought.

Then, Naruto starts to think, and remember. Remembers his mother, and everything he's ever strove for.

I always wanted to be a great shinobi on my own. Sure, I was willing to take short cuts, but jutsu could only ever help me get there on my own. I wanted to do all of it by myself, my own effort, my own victory. Do I really want to ride the rest of the way on the weight of someone else's name?

Do I want to borrow someone else's prestige to add to my own?

Naruto remembers his mother, her lively eyes, her kindly smile. The way her body curved gracefully, sinuously. She too was a jinchuuriki, never meant to be a weapon but rather a hostage (what Naruto has learned was that Kushina, the daughter of Uzushiogakure's kage, was brought to Konoha to guarantee Uzushio's good behavior, and had the Kyuubi sealed within her later purely because Uzushio was no more and she was expendable), and she forged her own way to greatness anyway, by herself. No one helped her; she did it all on her own.

And she was happy that way.

What's wrong with being an Uzumaki? What's wrong with it?

I've been an Uzumaki all my life. Uzumaki Naruto, I told people, the village's next Hokage. I was gonna get there all by myself, on my own; no one was going to help me. I wasn't gonna be like Sasuke-teme; I wasn't going to use other people as stepping stones.

Why should I ever be anyone but Uzumaki. I'll always be 'Uzumaki' Naruto even if I answer to 'Namikaze' Naruto. It's who I am.

Namikaze is the name he'll take on to ride on someone else's greatness, to give up on his dreams of doing it all himself. Namikaze is the name Naruto will take if he gives up and decides to take the easy road.

But Uzumaki is the name symbolic of his toil and efforts, the name he's worn through hardship, through being ostracized all his life. Uzumaki will be the name Naruto wears when he gets to wear he wants to go under his own power, through his own efforts and achievements.

There's nothing wrong with being Uzumaki.

And, Naruto decides, he always will be Uzumaki.