Sakura still has no votes, so she's being removed from the pairing. The current stats are:

Tayuya: 4

Karin: 6

Hinata: 4

Yakumo: 1

OC: 1

Ino: 4

So, Karin in the lead, with Tayuya, Hinata, and Ino in a tie for second. There are only two more chapters to vote, so If you don't vote soon, you'll miss your chance!

At this point, still no one has voted for the OC. She will still appear as a character, even if she is not the pairing. I'm just going to give you three options for each category.

Blue/Green/Amber eyes,

Brown/Black/Red hair,

Calm and gentle, cold but caring, or kind and shy. If no one votes, I'll just choose myself.

Updates will be more regular now, but they will be set at every friday. That gives me a set time, and time to proofread and improve them. I'm sorry if they're not as frequent as you wanted, but this will be more manageable for me, and keep me from stressing over a schedule. If I finish one early, I'll still post it on friday to keep to the schedule. That will also give me time to work on oneshots and the next chapter, along with a plot outline. I'm a beta, so this is self beta-ed as well.

Enjoy!

I do not own Naruto.


"There!"

Standing up, Naruto examined his work. He had just bought more plants for his garden, along with several fruits and vegetables. He had also invested in a small apple tree, so he would have something to eat if he ran out of food eventually.

The plants were lined up in neat rows, one after another. The flowers were mostly elephant ears and some small daffodils, which were not very needy. The vegetables consisted of a bizarre kind of cucumber called a snake cucumber, which would be paler than other kinds, not to mention around 2 feet long and curly. Some tomatoes that he had gotten because they were the same kind as the ones jiji had bought him, partially because Sasuke liked him, and he was his only friend, unaware or not, and partially because they were large when ripe, and good for adding to other food. He had been experimenting with homemade ramen, and he was getting pretty good. At least, he thought so. The other vegetable was beans, which was something else for his ramen. There were some wild onions growing in the corner, and the stems would be a good substitute for scallions or leeks. The fruit, besides the apples, was a bizarre orange spiky melon that had been brought by a trader, which he claimed was called a Kiwano melon. He had no idea what it was, but the trader had shown him a ripe melon, and they were weird. He had bought it mostly out of curiosity, and the fact that he once again wanted something orange. No matter what others said, it was an awesome color.

Taking off his gloves and dusting off his clothes, which were a simple pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, he headed back inside to make some lunch. After that, maybe he'd visit Sasuke, or see if he could find Neji somehow. He may have only met him once, but he seemed okay once you got past the "I want to kill my cousin" thing.

Grabbing some noodles from a cupboard, he threw them on the stove in a pot. He'd just put some soy sauce on them when he ate them. He didn't really feel like doing anything fancy. He still needed to fully clean up the window room, so maybe he'd do that while the noodles cooked. Taking a broom propped against the bottom of the stairs, he went upstairs.

The room really was awesome. Once it was clean, or at least the walls and floor were dusted and washed, the white and blue really did look like a sky. Dropping the broom, he collapsed on the wicker couch. Hearing the noodles starting to bubble, he reluctantly got up to go thate them out of the water.

Once he had finished his meal and shoved the dishes into the sink to deal with another time, he started walking down to Haru's.

On the way there, he noticed that people finally seemed to have realized that he (or at least the Naruto they knew) hadn't been seen for a while. Some seemed to think that he was dead, while others thought he was waiting for something.

Waving idly to the desk person (who's name he didn't know), he opened the door.

"Hey Haru-oji!"

Over the time that he had spent with the man, he had become an uncle figure to the boy. He treated him well, as he knew he could handle himself, and genuinely enjoyed talking to him.

He looked up. "Ah, Saisei, I'm sorry, but I have other business to attend to soon, so you don't have to work today. You can make it up tomorrow."

"Whatcha gotta do, oji-san?"

"I have a meeting with an important client, so I need to leave a little early if I want to be on time. It takes a while to get where I'm going, so I need to leave now. I was just about to pack up, actually."

Naruto nodded. "Ok, well see ya!"

After leaving, he headed towards the art store, which was next to the hospital. Just as he was about to go in, he saw someone running towards the hospital, an injured person, who he could not clearly see, being carried piggyback. Someone else was behind them, and it was them he recognized.

It was Sakura.

Looking closer, he saw the person carrying their teammate was Kiba, and… stifling a gasp, he realized the person he was carrying was Sasuke. He was in bad shape, with a nasty wound on his head and cuts across his torso. He was limp, most likely unconscious. Running up to them, he asked what was happening.

"Sasuke! What happened?"

Kiba turned towards him. "Who're you?"

Naruto smacked his head internally. "I'm his neighbor. I've talked to him a few times, so I recognized him when I saw his face."

Kiba sighed a a medic came up to them and took Sasuke. "We were on a mission, but the man who hired us lied about the rank. We were ambushed, and Sasuke got hurt. Our sensei called for reinforcements, and he told us to head back here as fast as possible. He stayed with the client."

Naruto watched as Sasuke was carried inside the building, worried and shocked. The teme may not be his favorite person, but he was warming up to him slowly. He definitely didn't want him to die. Sighing, he turned around and went back to the art store.

Naruto collapsed in a chair. The day had been long, and he didn't particularly feel like painting or cooking at the moment. Considering his options, he concentrated for a moment, digging into his consciousness, and pulled himself into his mindscape. Looking up, he found himself outside of Kurama's cage.

"Hello?"

A red eye opened. "What is it brat?"

He shrugged. "I was bored, and I didn't really have anything to do, so I thought I'd talk to you."

He rolled his eyes. "Idiot."

There were traces of affection in the word, so Naruto wasn't really that annoyed. "I was also kinda wondering if you could tell me your story. You know what happened to me, but I don't really know what happened to you. You don't have to tell me, I'm just interested."

Kurama sighed. "My past is very long, and to make sense of it, you would have to know the story of my kin. I will tell you, but If I feel you are not paying attention, I shall stop, and never speak of it again."

Naruto leaned forward, chin resting on his hands.

"It started so very, very, long ago, in the time of the one you ningen called the Sage of Six Paths, or the Rikudo Sennin. It started when a woman appeared, seemingly from the moon itself. Her name was..."

Kaguya. From far away, across the stars, she came to this planet. I do not know where she hailed from, or why she left. Confronted by the people, she wiped their minds of her, letting them believe she was the concubine of their king, and had grown up in their country. Breaking a law, she and her handmaiden were driven away. Soon after she left, she found and ate of the fruit of the god tree, which only bears one fruit in a millenium. Gaining immense power, she ended the wars of the land, being worshipped as a goddess. Eventually, she bore two children, twin boys named Hamura and Hagoromo. As the children grew, their mother went mad. Controlling the tree, she leeched off the energy of the people, killing them. The boys noticed nothing, not until a childhood friend and love had disappeared. Chasing after her, they found her dying underneath the tree. Confronting their mother, the boys fought her, sealing her in the moon. The eldest, Hamura, would guard her prison. I do not know what became of him. The younger, Hagoromo, split the chakra of the monster ten-tails into the nine bijuu, with me being the eldest. He was our father, along with his two sons. The younger, Ashura, and the elder, Indra. Indra was talented, but felt nothing for teamwork and camaraderie. Ashura was clumsy, but knew the value of friends. On his deathbed, Hagoromo declared Ashura his successor, enraging Indra. The brothers clashed, and Indra disappeared into history. His descendants would be known as the Uchiha. Ashura led his village with a steady and caring hand, and his descendants would be known as the Senju, along with their sister clan the Uzumaki, your ancestors. I, along with my siblings, would roam the lands for many years, avoided for fear of death. Then, Madara Uchiha ensnared me in his Illusions, leading to me being sealed in the first Hokage's wife, Mito. From her, I was sealed into your mother, Kushina, and upon her death, you. I have been treated like an object, a beast with no will of its own, only power to be used as others saw fit. And here I remain till this day, waiting to be freed.

Kurama turned away, unaware of the tears streaming down Naruto's face. He could no imagine being alone for so long, only to be treated like an object. No wonder he hated, or at least had hated, him. He was the cause of his misery and imprisonment. "I-I'm sorry." He whispered, the words barely audible.

The fox did not turn towards him."It isn't you fault brat, it isn't your fault."

The rest of their time before Naruto left to sleep was spent in silence.


Hi! So… some people asked why Kurama was being so nice. My answer is, immortal chakra beast or not, he is still a sentient being. Also, foxes are social animals, so if you go off that, he would no doubt be lonely. He's spent… what? 2,000 years pretty much alone? Everyone needs some outside contact. No wonder he was a ball of angry fluff.

And yes, the fruits and vegetables mentioned are real. We grew snake cucumbers once, and they were massive. Those proportions were not exaggerating, at least for the ones we grew.

All the other information is at the top, so that's about it.

As always, feel free to ask questions, and please review!

Setsuna Eien