DISCLAIMER: Okay seriously, if I owned this, why would I be writing FANFICTION? I instead would be living in Japan, creating Manga volumes, doing magazine interviews, taking photo ops...etc...

Lets begin...

Naruto. It is not a name that strikes fear into the hearts of those who hear it. On the contrary┘it probably makes them snicker. They don▓t see him as much. Not much at all. They don▓t see him like I see him.

"SAKURAAAAA!" Naruto hollered at the top of his lungs as he dashed over to his pink-haired teammate. Sakura looked to him. He was followed by Shikamaru, Kiba, Ino, and Hinata.

"Naruto!" She gave a smile. "Just get back from the mission?"

"Oh yeah! You should have been there Sakura. First we went here and kicked some ninja butt and then we went over here and kicked some more ninja butt and then-"

Sakura listened to Naruto as he excitedly explained the adventure without really telling her anything. The others approached. They proceeded to fill her in on the details that he had left out┘which was pretty much everything.

"So I'm guessing that you completed your mission then?"

"No sweat!" Kiba stated proudly. But his pride did not hide the fact that he sported a lovely black eye and swollen lip. Yep. No sweat.

"I can see that."

Shikamaru just rolled his eyes. "This group. So troublesome." He mumbled it slightly loud enough for only Sakura to hear.
They were interrupted by a deep, hollowed growling noise. Everyone▓s eyes shot to Naruto. He sheepishly rubbed his stomach as it continued to growl at him, demanding sustenance. "Oooh..." He gave a pathetic whine, his eyes widening and his lips forming into a frown. "I'm hungry!"

Kiba looked to everyone questioningly. "Where does everyone want to eat?" As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he felt the back of his head start to sting where Ino had just knocked him. "Kiba!"

But it too late. Naruto was already up and answering.

"RAMEN!" Everyone face faulted. But when they looked back up and saw his wide eyes welling with hope and glittering with anticipation┘well┘ no one could say no to that.
So off they went, to the Ramen shop.

When they got there, Naruto took the initiative to try and order for everyone but was abruptly stopped by all of them screaming 'NO!' He simply shrugged and ordered for himself. An extra large cheesy shrimp ramen with pineapple chunks and a double portion of peanut butter thrown in...just to give it that extra kick.

The others lost their appetite after that.

They continued talking about how the mission went. Hinata just sat back and stayed quiet. Kiba asked her what she thought about this or that every now and then, but never waited for a response before answering it himself. Kiba liked to hear himself talk. She just smiled kindly.

The conversation turned at one point. They all started discussing things that they would possibly want to do in the future. After all┘it wasn▒t as far away as they thought.

"I am going to be a Jounin Sensei. Yeah, teach those punks a thing or two about being a ninja." Kiba exclaimed. Lord knew why anyone would ever give him a team of his own.

"Oh don▓t be stupid Kiba. You are never going to get past the Chunnin level anyways!" It was Ino. She always had a way of letting people down easy. They group laughed at the angry look on his face. But it was all in good fun really. Maybe. The chuckling stopped when they all received a deathly glare from Kiba. But Ino continued, oblivious to it.

"Besides. What a waste of a life. Me? I am going to be the greatest spy the Anbu has ever seen!" No one doubted her either, although, Shikamaru snorted a little. Ino refused to acknowledge his existence. But no matter what they said, they knew she would probably accomplish her dream. She was determined if nothing else.

"What about you Hinata?" Sakura asked. Hinata played with her fingers and looked down a bit, blushing at the sudden attention.

"Well...I um...well..."

"Oh don▓t be ridiculous guys. You all know that Hinata is going to be my number one assistant when I am Hokage!" Naruto bellowed. The look on his face was pure confidence but it was washed away into pure confusion as Kiba began to laugh. Loudly.
"What?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Seriously? Yeah right Naruto. Man do you know how hard it is to become Hokage? Not in a million years..."

"Yeah Naruto!" Ino agreed with him. "I mean, you? No way." They weren▓t saying it to be mean. Not really anyway. They were just being honest. The past Hokages were people of extraordinary talent. They had gifts that Naruto just didn▓t have.

Shikamaru just sighed and looked down at his empty drink. He didn▓t care much either way. But Sakura noticed Hinata. She just stared at Naruto, her eyes alight with happiness. She didn▓t even care what they others had said. As soon as Naruto had promised her a spot next to him, she became overwhelmed. Sakura had seen very few people look at Naruto the way she did. It was the way that Sakura caught herself looking at him sometimes.

Now that I look back on it, I realize that they were wrong. We were wrong. Naruto was great.. And despite how he was treated his entire life, he knew his self-worth.

I think that is what makes him better than all of us. He isn't like everyone else. He never will be. And people can say whatever they want about him. But I know the truth.

Naruto is going to make something of himself. And no one can stop him┘

┘no one.