As the title suggests, I am curious about why Naruto was never resentful toward those who shunned him as a kid, like Sasuke was toward Itachi.
The reason I ask this is because of Naruto's painful past with the other villagers treated him with nothing but contempt until he began doing things that benefitted them. Basically, they only really cared about him when they had gotten something out of it (except for a few like the Third Hokage and Shikaku).
If you ask me, Naruto had every reason to want to obliterate the village, so why didn't he? Or, at least, why didn't he just give the villagers a cold shoulder when they were in trouble as payback for their cruelty?
Because resent wouldn't have improved his condition. Naruto might as well be the only sensible character in a series full of mentally incapable characters.
True, but you'd think with his pained past that after he beat Gaara and people began to respect him Naruto could have at least called them out for their cruelty toward him changing only because they got something from him. I know it wouldn't have fit with the story, but it would have been really satisfying to see it happen.
Also, I have to wonder what happened to those punks who told Naruto to go into the back hills when they knew enemy ninja were likely there.
He did resent them, he just responded by acting out, and latching on to those who treated him better, and deciding that rather than making them pay, he wanted to make them admit he was awesome.
He did resent them to some degree early on as he was disrespectful and rebellious towards others. This was due to a combo of him needing attention and also the inference that he could sense their disdain for him.
He just chose to make them accept him through hard work and actions which is the better route imo. Alienating people afetr they start to come around would have been counter productive and likely led him down the douchey Sasuke path.