Read Between the Lines
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but the ideas are mostly my own.
Chapter 3: Naruto
Almost everyone knows Naruto wears a mask. Who, in his position, could ever be so sunny and upbeat without one? What they don't know, and never bother to find out is how deep that mask runs. How much of the act is real, and how much is fake?
Naruto would be the last to tell you anything about it, he would just deny knowing about any mask, or screw his face up in that dopey look of his and act like only a dobe can act. Any one of his 'friends' would tell you that it was just enough to encourage others and keep himself up when he was down, nothing more. But then, they didn't know the truth about Naruto's life, and never bothered to find out. Jiraiya would frown and mutter something about idiot gaki's, but wouldn't deem to tell any of his apprentice's secrets to anyone. If the third hokage had been alive, he would have smiled sadly and said that some things were kept hidden because they were supposed to be found, not given. Tsunade would scowl and get angry with you for not just asking Naruto, and bothering her from her nap. But when you turn away, she would get a sad look on her face, and become lost in her memories.
"A ninja must always look underneath the underneath." That was one of the first things Naruto had ever learned at the Academy. He took that to heart, if one must look underneath the underneath all the time, why not apply that right away? So he did. He began to hide parts of his feelings and intelligence away, waiting for someone to call him out on it. But no one ever did. For years he kept it up, mostly because it also helped him deal with what he liked to call 'my way of life', and partly because a bit of him would just never stop hoping that someone would come along and see him for who he really was and love him for it. Hokage-jiji didn't count because he knew Naruto long before the mask came up, and all of his fellow Leaf-nins didn't count because they never bothered to look further than his mask.
He yearned for them to read between the lines, to look underneath the underneath, to understand the pain in his eyes. He was so lonely, and it hurt every time they made fun of him or reacted to him the way they did with dobe's, because in their minds, that was exactly what he was. Once a dobe, always a dobe, right Sasuke? When he had jumped up and declared that he would be Hokage, his 'team' had laughed at him. Couldn't they understand that all he wanted, no, needed was a family? Someone to love him for who he was, not just the stupid mask he always lost himself in? Was it really that hard? Maybe he should just give up. But then, I can't, because I can't find the real me anymore. It's so hard to remember how I was before the mask. Someone save me!!
When he was just about to lose himself to the panic of not being able to distinguish himself from his mask, Iruka came to him. So did Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune. Together, they made up a family, if a bit dysfunctional. They loved each other, even if Tsunade and Jiraiya would never admit it. And, for the first time in his entire life, Naruto was truly happy. Sure, he had content at times, even excited, but never happy. At least, not for a very long time anyway. And maybe, just maybe, he would be able to extend his family to a couple of other people, if they wanted it of course.