Hi, you should have had the next chapter by now and I apologize. But I've been having the worst writer's block ever and I don't know why. I've been staring at the blank Word doc containing the next chapter for weeks, and then trying to ignore it in the hopes that my inspiration comes back- but it's just this ever-constant nagging reminder in the back of my head. I did not expect the Forest of Death stage to be this hard to write. Maybe I really will just move on to Shippuden...

Anyway. I'm not just writing to make excuses, I'm writing to address another thing that's been bothering me. But again, as AN-only chapters aren't allowed, please enjoy this mini-ficlet.

"Hello and welcome to another not-chapter of I Hate Uchiha," declared SasuTenLuvr, who for some reason was wearing glasses. "I really hope you guys aren't getting sick of these... Anyway, what I wanted to say- and please feel free to skip this if it doesn't apply to you..." She took a deep breath and removed her glasses, thus exposing the reason for having said glasses in the first place. "It's come to my attention that this story may not be progressing in the way some of you might like. And I can and do respect that. Please realize that I love communicating with all of my readers and hearing what you have to say. I'm open to opinions and constructive criticism. I welcome ideas and suggestions.

"What I do not welcome," she continued with a bit of steel in her tone, "is you telling me what to do, or telling me that the ideas I may have are stupid, pointless, or pathetic. Most writers think that's offensive, actually, and I'm not an exception. Again, I take opinions, but I don't take orders, and I especially don't take threats claiming that if I don't do as you say, then I'll lose the readers I have.

"Please choose your words more carefully in the future if you really don't mean any offense, and this goes for anyone you talk to. Speaking of which: opinionated- conceitedly assertive and dogmatic in one's opinions. This probably isn't how you wanted to come off, but ironically this is pretty much how you seemed to me."

SasuTenLuvr took another deep breath in order to calm herself down before she said something she regretted. Lacing her fingers together, she completed the message. "In closing: I really hope you continue to read, but if you're so against the way this fanfic may or may not be headed and you have all these ideas as to how to make it better, I encourage you to please write your own. This isn't meant to be mean," she added, "I genuinely encourage you (all of you, really) to go write your own story and make it what you'd consider to be perfect. I wish you the best."

She sighed, running a hand through her dark hair. She was a nice person, she really was, but... "I really don't like," she said in a tired voice, "calling someone out in front of all my other reviewers, and making said reviewers think that a)I'm a snobby, selfish writer who verbally abuses her critics, or b)they need to go lynch the person who doesn't think this is the greatest Naruto fic ever- it's really not," she added, though not-so-secretly pleased that people thought so. "So for future reference, if you are going to be 'opinionated', please either send me a PM or sign in when you review so I can respond to you privately. Thank you."

Wow, this chapter must have been a let-down for a ton of you... This wasn't entertaining at all, and I apologize.. I just needed to get that out before too much time passed. Thank you for sticking by me. I'm going to try writing now- hopefully now that my mind is clear..?

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Please review- but, er, not this chapter because it's not really a chapter and... meh, do what you want.