Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; you all know that.
Naruto didn't like being compared. He was always scorned by the villagers because he contained the kyuubi within him. They never looked at him for what he was but what he held within him. It was absolutely unreasonable. And from that he came to loathe being compared in any way.
Even so, he always forgave them. Why? Because he's Naruto.
Yea, it hurt a lot when they looked at him with those hate-filled eyes he should have gotten used to over the many years, yet never did. He hated those looks, but they didn't care; neither his personal views nor his feelings. All they could see--though he doubted they could see much--was the kyuubi within him, because he's Naruto, the "hero" of the village.
Regretfully, Naruto frequently caught himself drowning in self-pity because of that. Often times, he'd want to yell and scream at himself for being so disgustingly pathetic. But because he's Naruto, he'd never even try to yell and scream at himself, and instead would continue to drown in his own self-pity.
Sometimes when he wasn't self-pitying himself, he'd tell himself, 'I am me. I am Naruto.' It was supposed to make him feel better but because he's Naruto, it only made him feel worse, causing him to sink into self-pity, the thing he had been trying to prevent and avoid.
Then came along Sasuke and Sakura. He liked Sakura, but Sasuke he didn't like. As much as he hated being compared, he hated Sasuke just as much. At first, that is, because he's Naruto.
It was an accident. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop but Sakura was talking to Sasuke, and he was well aware of Sakura's strong obsession for Sasuke. She claimed to love him just like all of Sasuke's other fan girls. Naruto never understood what was so great about Sasuke that all the girls in the village fawned over. But then he too found himself infatuated…
"Sasuke-kun, why do you not like me?"
Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were on the same team. All three were technically friends, but Sakura was cruel to him and Sasuke hated him, or so he thought.
"Because I like Naruto."
All this time, Naruto had only wanted them to recognize him...
"W-why?"
As simple as one plus one, Sasuke gave Naruto the one thing he had always wanted.
"Because he's Naruto."
Yea, well, I hope you like this little fic. I was and still am a bit unsure of the grammar. Oh well.
Miso