Author's Note – this story begins immediately after Pain's attack on Konoha.

Also note that this story will include some intense violence, as well as disturbing and/or adult themes later on, as I intend to make the villain a truly vile and psychotic individual. If this offends you, feel free to read something else. You have been warned.

P.S. – despite my earlier warning of disturbing/adult content, the affection between Neji and Hinata is family support. There will be no incest in my fanfic!

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO (duh)

"speech"

"thought"

– " flashback" –

Chapter 1. – Troubled hearts and approaching menace.

A young shinobi sat on top of the Hokage Monument, watching the sun set over the forest. Emotions ran wildly through Naruto like fire in his brain. So many of his friends were hurt, and even though Pain had eventually restored his victims to life, most of them would be hospitalized indefinitely.

Tears leaked from his blue eyes as he looked out over the remains of the village after Pain's attack. "All this destruction is my fault!" he thought. "Pain was after the Kyuubi no kitsune inside me. I got here too late to protect my friends, and when I did arrive, Hinata tried to sacrifice herself to protect me." Naruto silently thanked the Kami she had escaped the permanent damage she could have so easily received.

Hinata… the thought brought yet more confusion to his heart.

– "I'm not afraid to die protecting you… because I… love you." – Her words had shaken his world almost as much as Pain's attack.

It explained so much, how had he not seen it? But how could she love him? He was a monster; who could love a jinchuuriki? And how did he feel about Hinata? He liked Sakura, didn't he? But then why did he feel so much more rage when Pain hurt Hinata than when he had seen Sakura hurt in the past? Come to think of it, the same thing had happened during the chuunin exams. When Hinata had been in danger, he had erupted in fury. Did that mean he loved her too? But wouldn't that be like betraying Sakura? And if it did mean he liked Hinata, then how did he really feel about Sakura? Was she just a childhood crush that he had been too foolish to let go of?

"Aaauuuugghhh!!!" Naruto yelled in frustration as he tried to sort through the conflicting feelings.

In her hospital bed, the Hyuuga heiress in question was tormenting herself with doubt. It had been two days since she confessed her love to Naruto, yet he hadn't come to see her.

Was he angry that she had interfered? Was he disgusted by the thought of being with her? They had said he wasn't hurt, but what if they were lying to reassure her? Was he alright? Did he hate her? Did he care about her at all? She had looked through the hospital with her byakugan earlier but hadn't seen him anywhere.

"Naruto-kun," she whispered into her pillow with tears in her pupilless eyes, "even if you hate me, please be alright."

"Now if he hated you, Hinata-sama, he might be alright by now."

Hinata jumped at the sound of her cousin's voice, "N-Neji-niisan? I d-didn't see you. How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to understand what's troubling you," Neji replied. "And you shouldn't admit that you didn't notice me. If Hiashi-sama had heard you, he would have harsh words about you not noticing me."

Hinata saddened at this thought. Even though he had mellowed over the past several years, her father was still strict and demanding, and many times she had had to listen to his cutting criticisms of her perceived inadequacies.

Then she frowned, "What did you mean, if he hated me he might be alright?"

Neji sighed; sometimes it was hard being so much more observant than the people around him.

"What I meant, Hinata-sama, is that Naruto obviously cares about you deeply, but in his head he has never connected those feelings with romance. So now he is struggling to analyze his feelings for you, and is having great difficulty doing so."

"Because he was persecuted as a child, he has had relatively little experience with positive social interactions. His whole life he has had to struggle to earn other people's respect and acceptance, so the idea of someone else taking initiative to have affection for him is an alien concept to Naruto. He can't imagine someone caring for him without first fighting tooth and nail to make them care. All told he is extremely confused, and will probably need some time to himself to figure out how he feels about you."

Tears began to form in Hinata's eyes. "So in the end I just caused Naruto-kun more confusion and pain,"

Neji sighed again. He leaned down, took her face in his hands, and looked her squarely in the eye. "Hinata-sama, you have loved Naruto since long before anyone else accepted him, much less liked him. This is not your fault," he said, then released her and stood back up.

"It is simply a process he has to go though. Think of it as a sort of psychological growing pain. I suspect," "– and hope," he added to himself, "that he has loved you as well and will soon realize it, thus bringing happiness to both of you."

Predictably, this last statement caused Hinata to do her best impression of a little red wagon.

"Wh-why do you think that, N-niisan?" she stammered.

Neji smiled, "I can't believe that I hated her once. Is this affection how cousins are supposed to feel?"

"Well, Hinata-sama, he nearly killed himself avenging you in the chuunin exams, and when Pain hurt you, he turned himself into a demon to protect you. Those do not seem like things that someone would be willing to do for a casual acquaintance."

At this point a nurse came and told Neji that visiting hours were over.

As he turned to go, Hinata said, "N-Neji-niisan, um, thank you. For, you know, for caring about me."

Neji smiled sadly, "Your father loves you too, Hinata-sama. Hiashi-sama just wants what he thinks is best for you – he will be here tomorrow morning to check you out of the hospital, by the way."

"I wish that the two of them understood one another better," Neji thought as he walked out of the hospital. "They both think that no one loves them."

In another part of the hospital – the on call room to be exact – a pink haired kunoichi sat on a bunk, slumped over with her face in her hands.

"Naruto hasn't talked to me since Hinata confessed to him. Does he love her? He has never gotten that angry before, yet he didn't hurt her with the demon chakra like he hurt me with it when he fought Orochimaru."

Sakura began to silently weep. It took the thought of loosing Naruto to another to force her to admit to herself that she loved him.

"After rejecting him for so long, what right do I have to his love," she thought miserably. "I should just let them be happy together. After all, Hinata can offer him so much more than I can; she's beautiful and I'm a flat-chested 'forehead girl', she's the heiress of a rich and powerful clan and I'm a nobody."

Sakura's sobs were no longer silent. "But the worst part is that she has always been so kind to him while I was so cruel when we were young."

As the memories of all the times she had insulted him, all the times she had not believed in him, and all the times she had just ignored him washed through her head, Sakura lay back on the bunk. Smothered in regret and despair, she cried herself to sleep.

Sakura never saw the well manicured hands that gently wiped her tearstained face, laid a blanket over her, and tucked her in.

"So this is where you've been hiding. You don't have to go through this alone, we're best friends again, remember?" Ino whispered. "You have as much right as anyone else to be happy. Let me help you, Sakura, and we'll make up for all of our mistakes. I'll help you. I want you to find happiness."

A young man with blood red eyes and hair as black as his heart sat in the darkness of his lair.

"Konohagakure has taken everything from me," Sasuke thought. "Their fear took away my clan, and then their lies took away my brother. But I'll have my vengeance, because for everything they've taken away from me, I've become stronger. My brother was right about one thing, hatred does grant strength, and I have only hatred in my heart."

Three figures appeared before him in a burst of smoke.

"We've confirmed that Konohagakure's council of elders meets tomorrow at 3:30, Sasuke-kun. All the heads of the clans will be there," said Karin, the only female member of the team, "the best time for an attack will be when they break to eat, which will probably happen between 5:30 and 6:00. We can sneak in as the food is brought in."

"If we're going to hit them, it needs to be hard and fast. If we screw up we'll be up against a room full of pissed off 'A' and 'S' class ninjas," said Suigetsu with his usual shark toothed grin, "not that that wouldn't be fun, but I prefer cutting to being cut."

The last member of the team, Juugo, remained silent.

Sasuke stood up slowly. "Then tomorrow, the elders of Konoha, who took away everything away from me, will die," he said calmly.

No one noticed a small beetle crawl away from the window.

Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, frowned as she listened to Shino's report.

"As you know, my insects have been following Sasuke since his fight with Itachi. I've got their latest news," Shino said emotionlessly. "I've marked the coordinates of his current hideout in my written report. But of more immediate concern is what my friends heard them saying; Sasuke plans to attack the council of elders tomorrow, and assassinate all the clan heads."

"Good work Shino," Tsunade said, "assemble your team and have them standby for action. Shizune!"

"Hai," answered Tsunade's assistant.

"Send for the ANBU, Yamato, and Guy. When Sasuke arrives I want teams Kakashi, Guy, and Kurenai waiting for him!"

Tsunade's frown deepened. Sasuke had caused too much pain to too many of her shinobi. The ANBU would set up a barrier around the perimeter, trapping him in with the three teams. This time she would not allow him to escape!

Deep in the shadows of the Nara clan's forest, a swordsman smiled. His teeth had been filed into fangs, and were a dirty white color normally reserved for things that fed on rotting flesh.

"Doton: domimi no jutsu (earth style: stone ears jutsu) – release!"

His smile was totally devoid of warmth or joy, and expressed an evil glee that could chill the soul of the most hardened shinobi.

"The last Uchiha, the progenitor of the curse seals, two Hyuugas, and a jinchuuriki, all in one place. This could hardly be more perfect if I had planed it myself."

He lifted his long, thin, wickedly sharp katana to his lips and whispered, "Soon, my beloved, soon we will feast. Until then, enjoy this snack."

He tossed the severed head of Hidan, the immortal member of Akatsuki, into the air, and impaled it, almost too swiftly for the eye to follow.

"Soon, soon."