A/N: This was a challenge entry for a Naruto100 community entitled, "My Not So Happy Ending." My thought was, everyone likes to believe the theory that Yondaime is Naruto's father. But what if we find out that he isn't?
This was a lot more abstract before I tweaked it a little to make it more obvious, but I also didn't open with an AN in my entry post. Anyway, here you go.
The hope took root when he glimpsed a photograph of the Yondaime and thought, "Hey, he looks a bit like me…"
Hope flourished when he discovered the Rasengan had taken him a record-breaking time to master it. Naruto searched heavenward for a piece of him, his Rasengan-lit palm facing upward – trying to please him.
He kept his hope a secret, locked away like the Kyuubi in his belly. There it grew, until in his mind, hope became belief, and belief – truth.
But there, when the time was right and Tsunade was adamant that he needed to know about his lineage (whereas Jiraiya maintained that Naruto had all the knowledge he needed), a new photograph to replace the old was thrust in front of his eyes. It depicted not who he thought.
The truth in his heart could not compensate for this, and Naruto believed in nothing.