A/N- Since I gave the disclaimer in the first chapter, I really don't feel the need to write another. Anyway, thanks to those of you who've read my story and enjoyed it, especially those who reviewed, favorited, or alerted! Ah lurve you guys!!

And yes, the chapter title is a direct salute to Broken Hearts, Shattered Dreams by pudgypudge, one of the best damned writers on this site, an elite typist who is able to put raw emotion into his works. Read his stuff, it's some of the best.

Chapter 1, Broken Hearts, Shattered Dreams

-Twenty-five years ago, the border of the Land of Rain-

The scene was horrible, but one that had been all too common within one of the most warlike countries of the great elemental nations. The field, which had once been a small meadow surrounded by rainforest with a small hut in it and a bubbling brook at it's side was now nothing more than a smoking ruin, barren of almst all vegetation, save for a few horribly charred trees which had somehow remained standing, despite the brutal battle that had just taken place. The hut was almost completely destroyed, only the bare bones of what it had once been remaining standing, the limp body of a dead Ame nin hanging from one of the support beams, skewered on a shard of rock that had been pierced through his midsetion, ensuring that while his death had been relativly quick, the pain of it must have been exruciatingly horrible.

His fellows had at least been spared the sufferng he had been dealt...

They had been a border patrol group, ten men strong, and almost all of them high-class chunin. It had been a routine patrol, nothing too big. This was actually one of the less-patrolled areas, but due to attacks by a group of insurgents recently, the Amekage had stepped up patrols along all of the borders to make sure that the insurgents hadn't been getting outide help from one of Amekagure's major enemies. It was qute a surprize to the patrol when they found a small, well concealed hut at the edge of a meadow with three teens with it. Three teens, who had been seen and marked as probable members of the rebellion due to the fact in a recent scuffle in a village a few miles off, they'd been seen fighting and in some instances killing Ame nin. They'd escaped in the ensuing chaos, but thed been noted quite clearly and they were wanted for questioning. Making his decision after their identeties had been confirmed, the leader of the chunin team gave a hand signal and they decended on the hut to take the three teens prisoner by any means nessicary. However, what they didn't know was that they'd tripped some unseen warning traps, and the three inside were ready for the attack.

The lead chunin, a fair expert in taijutsu burst through the front door, intending to take full advantage of the inital surprize and confusion that the teens would surely experience at being found. There was a surprize, but not the type that the chunin had been expecting as he kicked the door in... And was met with a fireball that he had no chance of avoiding, two of his comrades pushing in right behind him. The deaths of the three was almost instantanious as the searing heat literally melted the flesh from their bones and left a wide scorch mark as the wailing ball of flame burned itself out a short distance away. Their rage boiling at the sudden deaths of their comrades, the remaining ninja forwent any plans of capturing the three teens and decided to kill them instead for taking the lives of their friends. Battlecries echoing, all seven chunin went through several different handseals and began to bombard the shack with all manner of offensive jutsu, reducing the house and immediate surrounding area with their wanton destruction.

The three teens, sensing the sudden surge of chakra quickly dashed from the structure through preplanned escape hatches, only to be surrounded by the chunin. 'tch... this is bad. Even under the best of conditions taking on a larger force is risky, and from the looks of things, these men are easily chunin or above. what are we gonna do?' Thought one of the teens, an orange-haired boy named Yahiko, as the three teens got back to back, the ring of enemies tightening around them.

"Yah-Yahiko-kun?" Asked the only other boy of the three tenativly. He had been the one who had used the fire technique that had roasted the other three chunin initially. He had felt terrible for doing it, the boy hated violence, but he knew that these men had wanted to hurt his only family n the world, and that was something he couldn't allow, but their current situation was making him feel extremely nervous.

Yahiko hazarded a glance back at his friend and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it Nagato-kun, everything will be fine. Just remember everything that sensei taught us, and you'll be fine. I'll protect you and Ko-chan with my life!" He exlaimed, grinning.

Nagato gulped and nodded, pulling a kunai, an action mirrored by both Yahiko and Konan.

One of the chunin, a man who had just been promoted, pulled a katana, levelling it at the three teens as a growl escaped from his throat. "Is that so you little shit?! We were just gonna take you in for questioning, but you killed our teammates! DIE!" He screamed, charging at Yahiko, intent on swinging the sword in a horizontal slash, meaning to take the boys head from his shoulders, only to have to block a thrown shuriken from the girl at the last second, and that second was all Yahiko needed to go through a quick series of handseals, firing a small bullet of water from his mouth that hit the chunin in the neck, causing a gyser of blood as it drilled straight through, severing his spine and killing him instantly.

Then all hell broke loose, as the remaining chunin charged in a brutal rush, meaning to crush the teens all at once. The haze of battle quickly set in as the intensity of the fighting increased and two more of the chunin fell to well aimed kunai. Yahiko was going head to head with a ranged weapon expert when he heard Nagato's cry of anguish. Firing another water bullet at his opponent, Yahiko whirled around, seeing Nagato kneeling, clutching his left shoulder, which was pouring copious amounts of blood as his two opponents stood over him, smirking in victory as they prepared to cut him down with their swords, which they held over the wounded boys head.

The two men swung, expecting to see a fountain of blood, only to be stopped as the accursed orange-haired boy appeared between them and their prey, blocking both katana with a pair of kunai, putting everything he had against their combined strength.

Nagato looked up with hope at the boy he saw as a brother...

Only for that look to change to one of horror as a resounding thunk was heard, and Yahiko dropped his weapons, staring down in surprize at the kunai that was lodged in his chest, piercing his heart, then back up at the man that he'd been fighting earlier, who was smirking cruelly even as he readied another attack.

Yahiko's body began to go numb and he toppled bonelessly backwards, caught by a screaming Nagato. It was odd, this feeling of detachment from his own body. He knew he should be able to hear his best friend, who had begun sobbing, but he couldn't for the life of him hear anything! He could just watch with that detached feeling as darkness began to take him.

"Duh... Dun wanna... die..." he murmured, weakly, trying to reach for Yahiko's face as twin trickles of blood spilled over from the corners of his mouth. Then he went limp, his hand falling back down as his eyes dulled in death.

"Yahiko? Yahiko, please wake up!" Nagato cried, shaking his lifeless friend in a futile attempt to rouse the boy, praying fervently that his friend would snap back up, laugh it off as a corny joke, then easily defeat their enemies as he'd had many times before.

"YAHIKO!!" Konan screamed, flinging her arms out, sending several paper shuriken flying at the five remaining chunin, forcing them to back off briefly as she ran to her friends. "Na-Nagato... IS huh-he de-dead?" She managed to choke out, tears welling in her eyes as she saw the kunai sticking from Yahiko's chest.

Nagato didn't answer, his head hung low as he bitterly wept and cursed his own weakness. Snapping his head up, Nagato glared at the chunin, who had regrouped, the fires of pure hatred burning in his tear-filled eyes even as they began to transform, multiple rings forming around the iris. The rinnegan, which he had not even been able to activate on his own yet unless he was feeling extreme emotion, blazed to life. His chakra began to increase multifold, growing so strong that it became visible, kicking up small bits of dust with the force of it.

"Dear god, the boy has a dojutsu..." One of the chunin breathed as they stood there transfixed, trying to fight off the sudden surge of killing intent that poured off the boy at them.

Nagato gently lay Yahiko on the ground, sliding his hand over the other boy's face, closing his eyes. He then stood, his shuddering back to the men as he whispered something illegable.

"Say what brat? We didn't catch that." The chunin who had delivered the fatal blow to the one boy growled, readying a brace of kunai and shuriken

Nagato straightened, his shaking stopping. "... I said you should say your prayers to whatever god you worship, because I am going to kill you now." He replied calmly, slowly pulling a kunai and gripping it tightly. Then, much to the amazement of the chunin, he disappeared.

What followed could not be called a fight, just a bloodbath. Nagato had quickly dispatched all of the chunin save for the one who had killed Yahiko. That one he actually used a jutsu on, causing a jagged shard of rock to shoot from the ground, impaling the man in a rather gruesome fashion and sending him flying back until he hit one of the support beams, the shard pinning him there.

And that's what lead to the current scene, the only two people left alive standing the, Nagato holding Yahiko's quickly cooling body in his arms, despite the wound that he'd recieved, Konan standing beside him, silently sobbing.

From the darkness of the forest, a tall man stepped out, his body clad in a black cloak and an orange swirl mask hiding his face, save for his short, spikey black hair. Not showing any visible reaction as he stared into the eyes of the one boy who held the one tool that he needed above all others, Madara Uchiha approached the two, his posture showing no threat. "What happened?" He asked softly.

"I just lost my brother..." Yahiko whispered quietly, his voiced laced heavily with both emotional and physical pain as tears tracking their way down his cheeks.

"Do you want revenge? Do you want to make sure that no other innocents lose their loved ones?"

Nagato nodded plainly, Konan emulating him as she clutched at his sleeve.

Madara couldn't supress the grin that formed, luckily, he had his mask on. "Then come with me, and you shall recieve the power to do so. Come with me, and I shall make you the Messiah, the one who can bring peace to the world." He whispered quietly, seductivly.

Nagato and Konan nodded again, quietly following the mysterious man into the surrounding jungle.

-Three days ago, location unkown-

Pain' head snapped up, broken from his thoughts as he saw through his other eyes that Jiraiya had shown up. Letting out a grim sigh, Pain looked down at the eight brightly glowing spheres that floated below him in the darkness.

-Current day, Kohona-

Naruto lay back on his bed in hs apartment, his thoughts awhirl with what had happened earlier that day.

-Flashback-

Naruto and the others trudged back to Konohakagure, their hearts heavy with their inabiity to once again save Sasuke Uchiha, but after everything that happened, they'd sorely needed to recouperate. They'd been quickly debriefed by Tsunade and dismissed, being told that they each needed to submit a written report by the next day, then dismissed. As they walked out of the tower and everyone went their own way, Sakura quickly caught Naruto's sleeve, halting the boy as she asked the one thing that he had wanted to hear all of hs life.

"Naruto, will you go to lunch with me? We can go to Ichiraku's and I'll even pay if you want." She said demurely.

Not even the sun could outshine the grin the threatened to split Naruto's face as he mutely nodded, too stunned by his great fortune to speak, and offered his arm to the girl he loved, walking with her to the small ramen stand.

They sat there for nearly half an hour, silently slurping nooedles as they enjoyed the silence, warm company, and even warmer food. Soon though, Sakura turned to Nruto, setting her chopsticks down as she wated for him to finish with his current bowl so that she'd have his undivided attention, the old man and Ayame only pretending to busy themselves as they listened with baited breath, knowing of their best customer's attraction to his pink-haired teammate.

Naruto set down his now empty bowl and turned towards his crush, a large, satisfied smile plastered on hs face. So far, this had been the best date ever! MUCH better than anything he could have hoped for! "What's up Sakura-chan?" He asked happily.

Sakura returned Naruto's smile, though hers was a bit more subdued. "Naruto... I just wanted to thank you is all... These past years, with Sasuke gone, and everything else thats gone on, it's been almost unbearably hard, but you've always been there for me, haven't you? You've always been my pillar of strength, even in the most trying times, there to support me, no matter what. Even when you were on your journy you sent me regular letters. I don't know what I could ever have done without you, and I amgrateful beyond words for that..."

"OF course I'll always be there for you Sakura-chan!" Naruto chirped happily, his smile widening even further. He was definitly liking where this was going!

Sakura smiled at Naruto's words. "..Thank you Naruto. I... I guess what I'm trying to say is... Well... I'm an only child Naruto, but when I'm with you, I feel like there's a real bond between us, as if you were actually my brother, and I just wanted to show you how much I appreciate you and everything you've done for me, thanks." She said quetly, patting his knee and standing up, laying some money on the counter as she started to leave. "Anyway, I'm going to go see my parents. Later Naruto!" She said, quckly stepping through the flaps and walking down the road, stopping only briefly at the corner of a building before disappearing.

Naruto didn't even hear her departing words, too much in a daze as his heart shattered in his chest. She loved him, but only as a brother... A brother... She only loved him as a brother... These thoughts kept repeating themselves through his head, completely shutting out everything else...

"Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked tenativly, reaching out to tuch a stunned Naruto's arm softly.

The touch seemed to jolt Naruto from his reverie as he shot upright, causing Ayame to flinch back. "DAMMIT! I'M NOTHING MORE THAN A BROTHER TO HER!!" He cried out disparidly, rushing out of the resteurant, towards the Hokage monument, small droplets of water splashing on the counter. Had she been seeing things, or had Ayame really seen tears in Naruto's eyes?

Outside, Sakura had stopped at the corner of a building, turning her head to look at a very surprized Hinata. "I just told him something that probably has got him hurting and confused right now, and he could really use someone to help comfort him. Don't screw this up Hinata." She said, winking at the horribly blushing girl before continuing on towards her parents.

"H-hai..." Hinata stuttered, turning back a she saw Naruto dash from the resturant. Gatering her nerves, Hinata quickly rushed after her crush, not noticing that she'd grabbed some attention and was currently being followed.

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The sun had begun to set as Naruto sat on top of the Hokage monument, sighing morosely as he watched the sun set on the second worst day of his life. Well, at least Sakura loved him, even if it was a sibling bond, not a romantic one. But still...

He was snapped from his thoughts as he heard someone huffing from havng run hard, and turned around to see Hinata standing there, nearly bent over double as she tried to catch her breath. "Hinata? What are you doing here?" The whiskered blond asked, confused.

Hinata, finally managing to regain her composure somewhat, started blushing furiously as she began to twiddle her fingers. "W-Well... Ah... I heard what Sa-Sakura said to y-you in the ramen stand and... and ah-I was won-wondering if yuh-you wanted to talk about it Naru-kun..." She said quietly, certain that the object of her affections would chastise her and send her packing. So it was to her great surprize then, when Naruto scooted over and patted the rock, motioning her to sit, so she did, nearly overwhelmed to the point of fainting that she was actually this close to her chldhood crush.

They sat there for several moments in companionable silence, watching the sun lower over the village. After several moments, Naruto finally spoke. "Why do you think it is?" He asked quietly.

Hinata looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "Wh-what?" She asked.

Naruto sighed. "Why do you think that everyone has hated me all these years, when I've been protecting them from the very thing they hate me for? Why is it that I can't ever find happiness?" He looked at Hinata, his eyes moistening. "Why can't I be loved? Is it something that I've done? Do I not deserve love or something? Am I destined to always be hated?" He asked quietly.

"NARUTO UZUMAKI, HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK SOMETHING SO HORRIBLE ABOUT YOURSELF?!" Hinata demanded loudly, shooting to her feet. "There are plenty of people who love you, and you'll see it, but only if you'll open your eyes and look! So what if Sakura doesn't love you in the way you'd like? That just means that she's probably not the one for you!" She practically shouted, clenching her fists, not een stuttering once. "You deserve to be loved as much as anyone else, moreso than most because of what you've been put through! At least you've still got Sakura, so don't wallow in pity just because your the brother she never had, and try looking at the people who might actually love you romantically!" With that, she stormed off in a huff. Later on, what she'd said to her crush would really sink in, and would make Hinata sick to her stomach. She even skipped supper, and cried herself to sleep that night, sure that Naruto hated her for how she'd talked to him.

Naruto looked on confused as Hinata disappeared. "Ok... What the heck was that all about?" He asked out loud, confused.

Rustling bushes alerted him to another presence, and Narut whirled around as Kiba stepped from some underbrush, an unreadable look on his face. "You really don't get it, do you?" He asked. "This entire time you've been chasing Sakura, and you never noticed that Hinata was chasing you! She loves you, you damned fool! Everyone else knows, so why don't you?!" The canine user growled before stalking off, leaving a surprized Naruto there to pick his jaw up off the ground.

Shaking his head, Naruto leapt up, running after his friend. "Kiba! Hey Kiba dammit, wait up!"" He called out.

-End flashback-

"Surely dog-breath was wrong?! Why would Hinata ever want to love a loser like me?!" He wondered to himself. Sensing a commotion outside, Naruto got up and looked out of the window to his apartement, seeing a group of people gathered around some weird person laying on the ground, and...

"Oh god no..." Naruto whispered in shock, for there, with the body were a beat-up looking Ma and Pa toad, and there could only be one reason why they were not with Jiraiya...

-End-