Author's Note: Well the problem is I come up with stuff at the most inopportune moments where I can't really right them down and they seem so much better in my head than when I finally am able to get the idea on paper. And the wording isn't the same as the way I had it and not everything is there but I can't for the life of me remember all of it so I do what I can.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

~.~

Naruto was a genius. A genius and a fool. But a fool who stuck by his principles was so much more dependable than a man who let the complications of life effect his ideals.

Naruto really was quite childish. He didn't grow the way other people did. Most people started to realize the way the world worked as they got older. They realized people die. The good guys don't always win. And that you don't always get what you want or need even if you deserve it. Naruto just seemed to refuse to acknowledge it.

Naruto had plenty of opportunity to recognize and notice the way the world worked. Life was never fair to him, even though he deserved it. People treated him unfairly and you would think he would recognize from that that the ideals you have as a kid aren't true. That life is much more complicated because there's something expected of you and of others. But maybe that's why he was able to understand people so well because children understood better. They made things simple and easy to understand.

There was something awful about children growing up fast and while Naruto had been forced to live like an adult he refused to act like one, even as he became one. Naruto wasn't afraid to cry or admit when he was scared or tired. He didn't try to pretend he wasn't angered by someone or even that he didn't like vegetables. So all those stubborn childish ideas kids held onto Naruto held onto even as he got older.

A person can make their own fate. Dreams can come true if you work hard enough. Giving up is not an option.

He hadn't had anyone to tell him that the world didn't work out so simply, no one to force on him the cold truth of existence. That life wasn't easy and wasn't simple and didn't always work in the favor of the hero. He already knew but no one was there to force him to accept it. No one was there to call him stupid and childish and unrealistic. So he'd gone on stubbornly believing in his ideals for such a long time that even if someone were to point out that life wasn't that simple he'd just smile.

Because Naruto knew life wasn't simple. He knew life wasn't easy. But he also knew that you can make your own fate. That dreams do come true. And that giving up is never an option.

And a child with hope would always be better than a man with realistic views. Because there was something precious and beautiful about a young boy who had the world against him but still didn't admit defeat. There was something amazingly rare of a person who held his childish ideals as a life philosophy and still succeeded. Because most people thought that such ideas became stupid when you realized how complicated life can get. People don't realize that the same ideas can apply no matter how messy life got.

So Naruto went on succeeding in ways people told him he would never be able to. And all he told them was that he would do whatever he wanted and one day they would know his name. And maybe it was because he refused to acknowledge his principles were simple-minded did he succeed so thoroughly. Because he refused to give up and no battle was over for him until he had won. He wouldn't quit and he wouldn't thank you for trying to make him.

And that was where Naruto was a genius. It was just a shame no one else could really recognize it.