A/N: Thank you everyone who sent more votes in for the polls and the few who sent suggestions that I added to an already, very long list. Jiraiya and Tsunade will be coming back in either the next chapter or the one after that I need to see. As for the polls they'll be open for awhile longer so keep on voting. Now here are the current standings of said polls:

Haku's Gender-

Female: 5 (I'm not surprised in the least by the lead)

Male: 3 (Wow…)

Character Survivor (Yea corny, sue me!)

Tayuya: 7(It's a tie… seems like people want both to live, not that I mind)

Nii Yugito: 7(Read above)

Tsuchi Kin: 5(So close)

I've disqualified all others because unless so wave of votes for Zaku or Dosu come in, they're dead. Now it's time for the next chapter, so let's get going! (I don't own Naruto or anything else that is the property of Masashi Kishimoto; though I do own the idea for this story.)

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Chapter 7: Let's Hear Your Story

"This apartment rules!," Temari squealed giddily as she, Anko, Gaara, Hinata, and Naruto stepped into the place that all of them would be calling home for quite some time late that afternoon. It was then that she realized that all the walls were white and the blonde girl added, "It needs paint though."

"Yea," the snake mistress began in a lazy tone, "We're gonna work on that when we get the chance; though I have no clue when that'll be," she finished with a light sigh. The purple haired teenager looked at Temari as she bounded from one spot to another in the apartment, observing everything that seemed to interest her. Anko then shouted, "You four, get in here; I want to talk to all of you for a little bit before I make some dinner."

Said teal eyed girl's head immediately popped out from around the corner which joined the hallway connecting the bedrooms and bathroom to the main living room. As she walked out of the hallway, the blonde girl was closely followed by her redheaded brother who was holding his teddy bear, the blonde fox-boy who had his stuffed red fox on his head, and the lavender eyed Hyuuga girl who seemed to want to walk behind Gaara more than Naruto.

"What is it Anko-nee-chan?" the blue eyed boy asked curiously.

"I wanted to talk about what you asked me last night, Naruto-kun, about Orochimaru," Anko started, seemingly nervous about the upcoming conversation. "I also want all of us to get to know each other better, since we'll be living and traveling together for a very long time." The snake mistress then walked over towards one of the reclining chairs and started moving it across the tiled floor. In a few minutes the purple haired kunoichi had moved the three chairs and two sofas into an uneven circle and sat down onto one of the chairs before motioning for her four roommates to sit down as well.

The teenager watched as Temari climbed into the chair next to her and the other three kids climb into the sofa opposite her. Anko quickly said, "Naruto-kun go sit there," pointing at the chair to the teal eyed girl's left, "And Gaara-kun, go sit on the other sofa." The teenage kunoichi was clearly annoyed that out of the four, only Temari seemed to figure out that she wanted one body to one piece of furniture.

After the two boys each got to their assigned seats, Anko said, "Make sure Kyuubi and that insane tanuki are listening, alright?" Both Naruto and Gaara nodded and before anyone could say anything else, a small stream of sand kicked up from somewhere and a miniaturized Shukaku head was resting on Gaara's shoulder, while Naruto used the Bunshin no Jutsu and created a miniature Kyuubi. This surprised everyone, mostly due to the fact that none of them even knew that this was possible.

Shukaku was the first of the two demons to speak, or rather in his case scream, "What the hell do you want with me you purple haired bitch, and why is that damn fox here?!"

That's when something even more unexpected happened, the redheaded sand boy punched the miniature tanuki head square in his right eye, followed by a rather demanding, "Shut up, teme."

Everyone just stared at the pale jade-eyed boy until Naruto shouted, "Nice one, Gaara!" Kyuubi lightly chuckled, while Anko bit down on her lower lip to contain her laughter, and Temari and Hinata just continued staring in amazement.

After finally getting all her excitement under control, the purple haired kunoichi said, "We're each going to talk about ourselves and both you and Kyuubi-san are here to listen to what I have to say on Orochimaru. Also," a small smirk then crossed the snake mistress's face as she continued, "I was hoping Kyuubi-san would be able to do something in order to seal you further so Gaara-kun will be able to finally get the sleep he deserves, and to shut you the hell up."

The sand tanuki's eyes shot open as his already tiny pupils became nothing more than yellow specks in the surrounding black before he cried out, "There's no way you can do something like that; and even if there was the fox wouldn't do it, right Kyuubi?" he finished with his demonic voice filling with fright and nervous tension.

The fire red fox put a claw up to his chin and said, "Who says I wouldn't, Shukaku? Getting you to be quiet for as long as Gaara lives would be a blessing I'd say," he finished coldly with a wicked smiling forming on his face. Shukaku's head was now shaking and quickly dissolved to nothing. "I think now would be the best time to seal him; matters involving Orochimaru aren't much of a concern to that dobe anyway," Kyuubi suggested.

The demon fox then turned to the blonde he was sitting next to and said, "Naruto, I'm going to focus some of my chakra into your right hand; when I say 'now' slam your palm flat into Gaara's stomach."

Anko and Temari merely watched intently; wanting to see exactly how Kyuubi was going to silence Shukaku so he wouldn't prove a problem later on for his redheaded container. Meanwhile, the dark blue haired girl just looked at Gaara nervously, not completely understanding everything that was going on. They all watched though, as the blonde boy's right hand started to glow a fiery red as it was soon enveloped by Kyuubi's chakra. That's when the demon fox cried out, "Now!" Immediately the fox-boy drove his palm toward Gaara, jumping off the sofa as he extended his arm. The sand that had formerly been Shukaku's head rose up to defend the redhead, but was blown away by the mass of chakra covering Naruto's hand.

When the blonde's palm landed square in the center of Gaara's stomach, his voice deepened as the fire red fox cried out, "Fūinjutsu: Biju no Sairensa!" All the chakra that had surrounded the blue eyed boy's hand quickly pumped its way into the sand boy's body. A high pitched scream, that wasn't Gaara's nor came from the redhead's mouth, could be heard as the last of the red chakra entered the pale jade-eyed boy's system.

Gaara was clutching his stomach for a few minutes when finally he stood back up much to everyone's relief. It was then Kyuubi explained, "That should keep him quiet for a good ten years, Gaara, so you'll be able to get all the sleep you need. Though he's sealed, your Suna no Tate should function normally." The fire red fox then looked from the redhead to Anko and said, "Sorry about that, Anko; I just couldn't stand him anymore."

"What the hell are you apologizing for?" the snake mistress asked rhetorically, "Do you know how much time you've probably saved us, considering all the damn outbursts that tanuki-teme would've had?"

Inside Gaara, said tanuki was writhing about in complete frustration, the new seal Kyuubi had placed on him prevent him from communicating with Gaara, or anyone else for that matter, but it still allowed him to hear every single word spoken that the sand boy heard. "Damn you, Kyuubi!" the one-tailed demon roared in his head, "If I ever get out of here, you're going to pay! You hear me, PAY!!" Anyone who actually heard these thoughts would probably think that Shukaku had finally gone off the deep end.

"That's a definite probability, one I'd rather not explore though," Kyuubi stated, "Now, I believe we should get back to what you had to say on Orochimaru, Anko."

The snake mistress nodded and began, "Well, as you probably already know, Orochimaru is the highest ranked nukenin from Konoha; he is one of the three Sannin, after all. The hebi-teme is obsessed with seeking immortality, and while he was still a shinobi of Konoha, he kidnapped people to use as experiments, and we're talking a hell of a lot of people here; from what little I remember, he must've kidnapped about three hundred villagers and shinobi altogether," Anko finished with a frown slowly replacing the smirk that had previously adorn her face.

That's when Naruto spoke up; asking, "How come you know so much about Orochimaru, Anko-nee-chan?"

The teenager sighed heavily before saying, "I suppose it was only a matter of time before you would end up finding out anyway, Naruto-kun. I only know so much about Orochimaru because," she stopped as a very pained look entered her eyes. The snake mistress looked slowly from Gaara, to Hinata, to the blonde fox-boy, to Temari, before finally saying, "Orochimaru was my sensei up until he left the village a little less than six years ago."

"So that would explain that cesspool's hatred for you, correct, Anko?" Kyuubi inquired, only earning a small nod from said Jounin.

"I remember very little from before I was abandoned in the Land of Sea by him. Shortly before that, he placed on me, along with nine other of his students this, Ten no Juin," she finished, letting her coat slip off her left shoulder slightly so she could so those present the triple tomoe seal on left side of the back of her neck. "Out of the ten he placed this damned mark on, I was the only one who lived, and even now, I still wake up in the middle of the night because of this piece of shit!" she roared, scratching her right hand over the seal roughly.

"So it would seem," the demon fox started, "That all of you hold something, if even the smallest thing against your villages. Naruto and Anko have been shunned because of things beyond their control, as has Gaara. Hinata was rejected by her own father because she simply lacked the will to try to injure her own family during training. But I know nothing of what Temari here, is plagued by, though I'm sure there is something," Kyuubi said, finishing his summarization of what led to each person joining this rag-tag group.

The sandy blonde girl looked slightly shocked that Kyuubi had realized that there was something even for her that was driving her to stay by her brother's side. After a moment or two, the teal eyed girl said, "I'm here because I don't want to leave Gaara alone; he's my otouto, demon container or not. Also," her voice became somewhat shaky as she continued, "I can't for give my damn father for doing something so horrible to Gaara, and I'll never forgive the village for making such as bastard Kazekage!"

The fire red fox chuckled lightly, saying, "Interesting choice of words, girl; it would seem, that no matter the village, fathers care for their children so little that they'll seal demons in their bodies just to protect it or give it strength," Kyuubi immediately slammed his mouth shut realizing what he just said earning curious looks from everyone apart from Anko who was glaring at him with a "what the hell were you thinking?!" look.

Much to both the fox and the snake mistress's dismay, Naruto was the first to ask a question, "Anko-nee-chan, Kyuubi said 'fathers' but the person who put Kyuubi in me was-"

"The Yondaime Hokage, Kazama Arashi," Anko interrupted, taking her eyes off the golden blonde momentarily before ending, "Your father, Naruto."

All of the kids' eyes became as wide as saucers as the sandy blonde girl, the redheaded boy, and the dark blue haired girl all looked at the ocean blue eyed boy. Naruto's eyes quickly narrowed as he shouted at the teenage kunoichi, "How long have you known?!" He jumped from the chair he was sitting on and landed on his feet on Anko's stomach and quickly grabbed either side of her trench coat's collar and shouted again, "How long have you known, Anko?!"

Said purple haired teenager let her eyes drift down to the left, towards the floor as she quietly responded, "Since the day after we ran into Tsunade-sama, Shizune-chan, and Hinata-chan."

The fox-boy then reeled his head toward the bunshin of Kyuubi and roared, "Did you know too?!"

The fox only nodded saying, "You were asleep when Tsunade said it and well within earshot, so I was able to hear it. I felt it wasn't my place to say anything, especially since I am the indirect cause of your father's death, Kit."

Naruto turned back to Anko and just before he shouted at her, with the little sand he had present, Gaara managed to grab the golden blonde's wrists and ankles and pull him off of the snake mistress saying, "That's enough Naruto!" Temari only watched as the fox-boy struggled against his sandy restraints, while Gaara leered at him, trying his hardest not to hurt his new friend while still keeping him from moving around. Hinata had shrunken into the sofa she was sitting on with her face buried against her knees and Kyuubi just sat on the arm of the chair where Naruto had been sitting. Little by little, the blue eyed boy managed to sit up at least, though he was still bound by the sand with his wrists held together behind his back and his ankles bonded together.

Finally, after recovering from the initial shock of the golden blonde's actions, Anko stood up and taking the one or two steps needed to reach him, raised her right hand and slapped the fox-boy across the left side of his face as hard as she could, sending him reeling. Glaring at him coldly, the snake mistress boomed, "Don't you think the reason you weren't told about Yondaime-sama being your father was because Tsunade-sama knew you'd react this way?! Think be for you act Naruto-baka; because once we start traveling, hasty and reckless actions. Will. Get. You. Killed!!"

The golden blonde was quaking in fear as he looked into his nee-chan's cold, pale eyes; it was the same fear that Anko remembered seeing when she saw him being chased by shinobi or the villagers. Anko kneeled down in front of the fox-boy who was backed up against the sofa where Hinata was curled up crying with Gaara now by her side who, along with Kyuubi and Temari, wordlessly continued watching the confrontation between the snake mistress and the golden blonde.

With the purple haired kunoichi right in front of him, Naruto closed his eyes and waited for her to beat him senseless, but instead, he was pulled into a loving hug, which quickly dispersed the blue eyed boy's fears and insecurities. As Anko held him, a few tears escaped her pale eyes as she said, "I'm sorry, Naruto; I'd didn't want to scare you, only calm you down; please forgive me 'cause I'd hate having you mad or angry at me." Before long, Hinata, Gaara, and even Temari joined in, and held one another tight. Despite their differences, they were now, more or less, a family, a rather unorthodox family, but a family none the less.

Kyuubi just kept sitting on the arm of the chair and mused to himself. "If I were a kage bunshin I'd join in and take a picture, but Naruto hasn't learned that yet, though I doubt it'll be long before he does."

That night after dinner, watching some television, and for Anko, enjoying some before bed sake, the five ended up sleeping on the two sofas rather than the beds that were still untouched. Anko was asleep on her back, with only a very oversized white shirt and black boy shorts for clothing. Naruto had only managed to get on some black shorts of his own, before he fell asleep; Anko allowed him to lie on top of her and ended up letting him use her ample breasts for a pillow.

Gaara had borrowed a plain red t-shirt and black pajama bottoms from Naruto since they were roughly the same height. Hinata and Temari hadn't changed before the Hyuuga girl fell asleep and Temari realized that she had nothing else to wear. The three were on the other sofa with the redhead between the sandy blonde and the dark blue haired girl, each with their arms wrapped protectively around one of the sand boy's arms. Though it was slightly awkward, all three managed to sleep and for the first time in his life, Sabaku no Gaara, has he would come to be called, got two consecutive nights of good sleep.

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That same day in Konohagakure, Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, got an unexpected visit from a very busty blonde, concerning the possible whereabouts of a certain perverted, white haired author, who wrote the very series that Hatake Kakashi was so addicted to. It ended with the blonde leaving extremely annoyed that she'd have to travel all the way to the shores of the Land of Water to a port where the toad Sannin would be doing autograph signings for the next week for his newest book, Icha Icha (Insert desired word here). Let's just say that after the slug Sannin left, Sarutobi was lucky to still have a roof over his office.

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A/N: Yes, yes I know this chapter was by no means as long as the last one which I apologize for, though I'm hoping you all did enjoy the few moments the chapter had. This is where the time skip occurs so next chapter will have Jiraiya, Tsunade and the whole group being reunited, along with another new face, though I ain't saying who. Please R&R as per usually and stay tuned for the next chapter which I hope to have out by Saturday morning. If there is no new chapter then, you, my readers and reviewers will be waiting two whole weeks for it while I enjoy a nice relaxing and well earned vacation from work. So pray to Kami that I get the thing done! Continue voting because I plan for chapter 9 or 10 to have that character(s) you guys wanna see live make her introduction. So see ya soon!

Translations:

Fūinjutsu: Biju no Sairensa – Sealing Technique: Silencer of the Tailed Beast(s)