Story Title: Legacy
Rated: PG-13/T
Pairing: Naruto/Sasuke
Disclaimer: Naruto © Kishimoto Masashi
Summary: He's Uzumaki Naruto, and he's going to be the best.
Steve's Notes: Based on the idea of Naruto and company being cops. I can't get the image of Detective Rock Lee in spandex short shorts out of my head. Can someone stone my imagination, please?
Warnings: Rambling?

His name's Uzumaki Naruto. He tells everyone he meets, "Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm gonna be the best there is." People often get annoyed with how he does that, yelling that he's going to be the best when there already was a best. But he still says it all the time, shouting it when someone tells him, "No, you can't do that," even though he knows that yes, yes he can do that if they would just give him the chance.

And yeah, everyone knows he's Uzumaki Naruto, so why—why?—does everyone look at him cross-eyed when they see him, saying with a little bit of hesitation, "Hey, aren't you Minato's kid?" He always gets a little mad because, yeah, so what if he is Namikaze Minato's only son? It's not like that's all that matters, but nobody seems to get that he's not just "Minato's Kid" even though he tells them all the goddamned time that no, he isn't just the carbon copy of his father, their hero. He's a whole new person that gonna be better than that old geezer ever was and he isn't gonna get shot for it either. But people just can't look past the uncanny resemblance and look at him, him, straight in the eye and see that he isn't Namikaze Minato.

So yeah, maybe that's why he and Sasuke get along so well, because when they first met Sasuke didn't ask him, "Hey, aren't you Minato's kid?" and Naruto didn't ask, "Hey, aren't you Uchiha Itachi's little brother?" They may get into fights all the time and they may swear at each other, "bastard" and "dobe", but at least they know enough not to say "Minato's kid" and "Itachi's brother". Because to them that's like rubbing salt into the wounds their dreams leave behind and it isn't going to work when you do that to the only fuckin' person who understands.

But it's like he tells everyone he meets, "Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm gonna be the best there is." Cause he will be the best, and then everyone, not just Sasuke, will understand that it isn't about who your father was, who your brother is; it'll matter how much you wanted it, how hard you were willing to try to get it, and how much blood, sweat, and tears you shed in order to be the best.

Then hopefully, one day, people will look at him in complete awe and go, "You're not the Uzumaki Naruto, are you?" and they'll totally forget that Namikaze Minato ever had anything to do with him becoming the best in the first place because, believe it, he got there on his own.

.end.