When Team Seven had their picture taken, way back when they were still just the "new genin team," Naruto had gotten a picture frame for it. The only picture that he had that he deemed important enough to have a frame, he had to search for one that wasn't broken, wasn't ruined. He looked through the windows of all the stores in the village, he searched the insides of the stores for the perfect frame.

He finally found one. There was only one frame that would work, he knew, and this was it. It was not broken, not cracked, there were no flaws. It was a bit expensive, sure, but he'd been saving. The few missions that he had completed with his team while searching, the money that he had been paid for them, it would be just enough to pay for the frame.

Thirty minutes later, he walked out of the shop with the picture frame in his arms, wrapped carefully. He expected to walk out of there with a large grin on his face, victorious. That was not the case. After nearly tweny minutes spent arguing with the store owner, he managed to get his picture frame. It had taken all of his wages and his dinner money, but he had managed to get it.

It wasn't perfect anymore, though. The edge was cracked from where the owner had slammed it down on the counter, shaking it and causing a vase to fall and making him pay for that too. But that was okay. It was almost perfect.

When he got home, he carefully placed his team picture into the frame and set it next to his bed. It was, by far, the nicest thing in his 'home,' perfect or not, he decided.

---

Before Sasuke had left, Naruto had thought life was as close to perfect as it could be for him. Well, at the time, anyway. It was, in a way. He had two best friends, people who cared about him, and he even had some admirers. There was a bridge named after him, and he was getting stronger.

And then came Orochimaru. who just had to mess everything up.

Orochimaru took one of his two precious people away, but he might as well have taken the three of them. With Sasuke gone, Naruto felt like nothing. He was... broken.

He was just like that old picture frame, worn with age by now, but still the most perfect thing in his room. The edges were chipped and the picture was covered in dust, there were spider-like lines in the glass, and it had been thrown into walls more than once.

In the years that Sasuke was gone, Naruto carried that picture with him whenever he was out of the village. It was always with him, always nearby. Reminding him.

Before Sasuke left and took their hearts with him, smashed them when they finally saw him again.