Hey guys! :D I'm back from holiday, which is awesome, but I start work again in two days :/

But alas, I have already typed up a new chapter lol. Enjoy!

Pic of Ashley  --->

Third Person’s POV

Sunlight slowly begins to fade from the nearly cloudless sky above, changing from a deep orange to a soft, purple hue. Faint stars begin to twinkle, their shine growing brighter as the sky grows darker.

A cool breeze blows through the evening air, pushing Ashley’s hair back from her face as she watches the scene down below, her arms crossed and her back leaning against a tree trunk.

Her mask pushed back up on the side of her head, Ashley gazes at the battling Leaf Ninja through indifferent eyes, a completely blank look on her face. The bright fuschia orbs flick back and forth subtly in their sockets, keenly observing each and every movement made down on the lake below. Despite watching her former teammates receiving and exchanging blows with the opposing Ninja, the girl doesn’t flinch or react in even the slightest way.

Deidara, squatting down and resting his palms on his bent knees, had been stealing subtle glances at the silent girl since she’d arrived back on the cliff. If she’d noticed the blonde’s cobalt eye fixing on her at any time, she sure hadn’t let on.

Deidara had been trying to figure out what exactly Ashley was thinking, trying to see if any emotions would betray her and reveal themselves in her face, but so far…..nada. The girl may as well be studying a painting on a wall. If she was feeling any conflicting emotions at all, she was hiding them perfectly, and Deidara was a very observant fellow. If she’d so much as twitched, he’d have noticed.

“Uhhhh…..” Tobi begins uncertainly, rubbing the back of his head, “Those Leaf Ninja are trying to seal away the Three Tails again Deidara Senpai. Shouldn’t we go down there and stop them?”

Deidara blinks his eyes and turns his head to frown at Tobi, taking a breath to reply, when he is cut of by a sharp voice.

“They won’t succeed” Ashley says decisively, eyes not straying from the fighting on the lake. “I can sense the Three Tails down there, and it’s putting up one hell of a fight in the Sealing Barrier. It’ll fail, just like the last time.”

“Hm” Deidara smirks, narrowing his visible eye at Ashley slightly, before shrugging a shoulder and also looking back to the lake. “So sure of yourself…..I suppose we’ll take your word for it for now. And besides hm, what would be the point in going down there and alerting them to our presence? As far as they know, you’re the only other person here.”

“The element of surprise is a powerful weapon I suppose…..” Ace speaks up, sighing from his position behind Ashley. “And you are definitely good at surprising people Milady.”

“More like good at dropping bombs on people….” Kai mutters under his breath and rolls his eyes, only to look away as Ashley’s head snaps around. She sends Kai a warning glare, narrowing her eyes at him and scowling with disapproval. She was in no mood for sass from her Wolves, or anyone for that matter.

“No, that would be my specialty” Deidara grins teasingly, tilting his head towards Kai and sending Ashley a meaningful look. “Rebellion in the camp hm?”

“I would never rebel against Milady!” Ace is quick to snap, jumping to his feet and baring his teeth at Deidara. “I will go wherever she goes and do whatever she commands!”

“Calm down Ace” Ashley sighs lowly, briefly closing her eyes, before slowly turning her head and opening her eyes to look back down at the lake. “I decided not to tell them about leaving the Village to join you guys. I knew they wouldn’t approve.”

“I don’t really mind being a bad guy” Kai can’t help smirking, though he looks more like he’s baring his teeth. “It just means I can fight as dirty as I want and spill as much blood as I want.”

“You’re both dismissed” Ashley grunts, not wanting to hear any more wise cracks from her Wolves. Deidara was already wary of her, and she didn’t need Ace or Kai giving the teenager any more reason to doubt her.

Feeling somewhat miffed, Ace merely nods his head and disappears in a puff of smoke, though not before sending a nasty glare over at Deidara.

The blonde merely raises an eyebrow, as Kai begins chuckling to himself and also disappears, before shaking his head and also turning his attention back to the lake.

“Every job has its perks I guess hm….” Deidara murmurs, sitting up a little straighter as a sudden pillar of water explodes up out of the Leaf Ninja’s Sealing Barrier, causing two of them to gasp with fright.

Ashley narrows her eyes slightly, not at all surprised when the colossal Three Tails bursts right through the weakened barrier, launching itself high into the air and creating a powerful wave below. It lets rip with a ferocious, agitated roar, while Sakura, Ino, Shizune and Hinata are flung in all different directions.

“Looks like you were right hm” Deidara comments, sounding both a little impressed and surprised. Ashley merely breathes out a sharp tch, vaguely reminding herself of Sasuke, as she watches her former friends get tossed around in the water, with Sakura and Ino being sucked into the depths.

Further to the left of the lake, Kiba braces himself as one of the enemy Ninja raises his arms, a huge grin plastered on his face. Immediately, small cannons protrude out of his flesh, every barrel aimed toward the now wide eyed Inuzuka and his Ninken.

“Dive Akamaru!” the brunette orders, shoving his best friend to the side, before inhaling quickly and launching himself down under the water.

Both he and Akamaru disappear from Ashley’s sight as their watery shadows fade into the depths, before Kakashi and Yamato race across the water side by side. Signalling to Yamato with his hands, Kakashi continues sprinting towards the enemy as the current ANBU member skids to a halt and slaps his hands together, performing hand signs at a breakneck speed.

Immediately, pillars of thick, chakra imbued wood shoot up out of the water, swiftly and skilfully entangling the Leaf Ninjas’ three attackers and binding them all together.

Throwing his wrist down as he runs, Kakashi grips it with his free hand and focuses a large amount of chakra down into his palm, wanting to finish off the three men before him once and for all.

Before he can complete his Jutsu however, a savage roar from above causes the silver haired Jonin to pause and tilt his head back. His visible eye widens considerably, as he sees the enraged Three Tails falling from the sky above him, spiked jaws open wide.

Speedily turning on his heel, Kakashi places a hand down on the water for balance, before dashing back in the direction he’d just come from, with Yamato following suit.

From the rocky cliff towering over the lake, Tobi peeks out from between the fingers he’s placed over his face, just in time to see the Sanbi slam down on the three bound men, burying them beneath its weight as it dives back under the lake’s surface.

“Look!” Tobi suddenly shouts, running up to the edge of the cliff and jabbing his hand pointedly at the other side of the lack. He pulls his arm back and jabs it forwards again, repeating this action a few times in his excitement. “That blue light going up into the sky! That happened earlier too! Remember Ashley-chan, remember?”

Ashley’s lip lifts in distaste as Tobi turns to look at her, hands now bunched up under his chin and elbows flapping up and down, like an excited school girl. How Ashley detested this creepy, yet strangely ominous, moron….

“It must be that kid again” Ashley says in a soft, but still cold, tone. “I don’t know how, but that kid can control the Three Tails when he…..Well, does that. That must be why the Three Tails was struggling so much to get free. I think it’s drawn to that weird chakra.”

“He would make capturing our target so much easier…..” Tobi muses, tilting his head to the side. “Let’s catch him Deidara Senpai!”

“You wanted to be a member of the Akatsuki Tobi” the blonde teenager replies coolly, waving one hand in a lazy fashion, “And since it was your idea, why don’t you go and get him hm?”

“Me?” Tobi repeats with a squeak. “But what about all those Leaf Ninja down there?!”

“Hopefully one of them will be kind enough to kill you” Ashley can’t resist growling, “And put you out of my misery.”

“Ashley-chan you’re so mean to Tobi!” the tall, ebony haired man cries, dropping to his knees and throwing his arms in the air as tears stream from the hole in his mask. “Tobi is a good boy! He doesn’t want to go down there alone!”

“Everyone!” Kakashi’s voice calls out, catching Ashley’s attention before she can react to Tobi. “Spread out and find the Sealing Team! They could be injured!”

The now grim face Leaf Ninja all nod and immediately disperse, hurriedly darting off in different directions in search of their friends. Kakashi and Yamato remain in the same place, talking in low voices to each other, before the silver haired man raises his hand to point at the same cliff Tobi had earlier.

Ashley watches as Yamato follows Kakashi’s line of sight, only to see that the Three Tails is swimming in the same direction, its back the only part visible above the lake’s surface.

As the creature swims in the opposite direction to Ashley and the Akatsuki members, the blonde girl sees about a hundred small clouds of smoke suddenly poof into existence. As she squints her eyes to try and see what is happening across the lake, a small army of Naruto clones leap off the edge of the other cliff, all creating bright Rasengans and aiming for the Sanbi.

The turtle-like creature is swift to react, slashing its three monstrous tails through the air and destroying a good number of the Naruto clones. It then raises an arm and takes a vicious swipe at the thirty or so clones running across the water towards it, making them all disappear in one powerful sweep.

And just like that, the Three Tails starts to go berserk. It raises its head and lets out a thunderous roar, before a sparkling ball of light begins to form in from of its jaws. Not a second later, the Three Tails shoots a ball of highly concentrated chakra and water right at the opposite cliff, tearing a good mass of the rock away, as if it were nothing more than butter.

Raising its tails up and waving them around in agitation, the Sanbi turns around and begins rapidly firing its deadly water bullets in all directions, blasting trees and boulders right out of the ground. Huge clouds of dust blow up into the air as each water bullet aimed at land explodes, rocking the entire area and throwing all sorts of debris in every direction.

“Uh oh you guys” Tobi gulps, skipping up and down in place nervously, “I think it’s gone a bit crazy! Maybe we should get out of here?”

Deidara frowns at the Beast, while slowly pushing himself to his feet and trying to figure out what the best plan of action would be. He certainly wasn’t about to head onto the lake and try to capture the Three Tails while it was in such a dangerous state, but he was also growing tired of sitting here and waiting for the opportune moment to strike as well.

“We need to catch that Three Tails hm” the blonde teenager speaks up, stumbling back a step as one of the Beast’s water balls slams into the ground beside the cliff. It rocks violently, fragments of rock shaking loose and water splashing up the sides. “But for now, we need to stay here. We’ll make our move when the Leaf Ninja aren’t on their guard anymore hm.”

Ashley completely ignores Deidara’s words, her eyes widening slightly as she stares at the rampaging Three Tails, its lion-like roars echoing in her ears. She doesn’t blink as a second water ball hits the side of the cliff she’s on, the violent shaking almost causing Tobi to trip over the edge.

The girl in fact, takes a step forwards, her arms slowly uncrossing while tiny flecks of water rain down on her. The water is cold against her skin, but Ashley is too focused on the Three Tails before her, a strange feeling bubbling up inside her. The blonde girl wasn’t exactly sure why, but she was feeling restless all of the sudden, and it felt as though she was being pulled towards the Sanbi.

Ashley doesn’t hear as Deidara agitatedly shouts something at her, the girl pausing on the very edge of the cliff, eyes focused and hair billowing out behind her. A deep, rumbling voice had begun speaking in her head, and aside from the Three Tails’ roars, Ashley found that she could hear nothing else but the voice.

‘My power…’ Hakuba murmurs lowly. ‘It is calling to me….It is stirring and growing right before me….I want it…..I want it back!’

Subconsciously, Ashley winces and places a hand to the side of her head as the Three Tails seems to pause momentarily, before resuming its barrage of the lake.

‘Give me back my power!’ Hakuba roars, his voice now stronger and a lot more commanding than before. ‘I won’t allow anyone else to control it! It is mine, and I want it back NOW!”

Releasing a low groan at the demon’s thunderous words, Ashley briefly squeezes her eyes closed and places her head in her hands, giving herself a moment to get used to the ache in her temples.

“Run for it!” Tobi suddenly shrieks in a panic, before Ashley hears the sound of scurrying footsteps running away from her, stumbling and scraping over rocks as the cliff continues to shake.

Confused by Tobi’s warning, Ashley lifts her head and opens her eyes to retort, only to freeze in place with her eyes wide. Slowly lowering her arms down to her sides, Ashley finds herself staring into the face of the Three Tailed Beast.

In the few moments she’d had her eyes closed, the Three Tails had turned around and swam back towards her. With its open eye, the Sanbi stares hard at the girl on the cliff, its head raised high out of the water.

“Why is it staring at me?” Ashley asks under her breath, unsure of how to react to the Beast’s stone cold gaze. “It didn’t even know I was over here a second ago!”

‘…..It can sense me’ Hakuba replies lowly, sounding both ominous and amused at the same time. ‘When I got angry, it felt my chakra. This creature doesn’t like me, and neither do the other eight. They will refuse to once again become the one and only, originalTailed Beast….’

Ashley subtly nods her head at this, though she isn’t too impressed to now have an angry Tailed Beast focusing all of its attention on her. Who knew what it would do? A Beast without a host is not an intelligent creature. It only knew fight or flight, and in this case, it didn’t look like the Three Tails was about to run off any time soon.

“Look!” Lee’s familiar voice suddenly calls. “Up on that cliff!”

Though Ashley doesn’t break her stare with the Three Tails, she feels the Leaf Ninja scattered across the lake pause in whatever they’re doing and look to the cliff she’s standing on.

“Angel!” Kiba cries, his eyes widening as he spots the blonde. “Get out of there!”

Though she had tried to hurt him, both physically and emotionally, Kiba can’t help the way his chest tightens at the sight of the Three Tails glaring at Ashley. Considering the way it had been going crazy just moments ago, surely this couldn’t mean anything good!

It didn’t matter that Ashley was acting the way she was, Kiba’s heart was telling him not to believe her, and whether he was just being foolish or too hopeful, the Inuzuka still loved her anyway.

Sakura, being supported by Sai, looks up at Ashley with wavering eyes. Though she knew this was a bad situation, she didn’t know what to do. She could easily risk attacking the Three Tails, but then it was highly likely that the Beast would attack Ashley in return. And besides, Ashley had made her bed and needed to lie in it……Didn’t she?

Kiba’s hands ball into fists, seeing the way that none of his comrades are moving to do anything, despite the concerned looks on their faces.

“Well, I’m not about to sit around and do nothing” the brunette growls, placing his hands together. “Akamaru!”

“Ruff!” the Ninken barks obligingly, bounding up to his best friend and wagging his tail. He was ready and willing to help!

Smirking in a nasty manner, Kiba crouches down and allows Akamaru to leap onto his back. Despite the animal’s significant size increase in the last three years, Kiba has no problem supporting his Ninken’s weight.

“Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry” the Inuzuka growls, “All Fours Jutsu.”

As both his and Akamaru’s chakra increases, flowing in a wilder fashion than before, Kiba performs another hand sign.

“Man Beast Clone!”

In a puff of smoke, Akamaru transforms into an exact replica of Kiba, with both of them now sporting sharper fangs, razor claws and a more feral look in their eyes, courtesy of the All Fours Jutsu.

“Fang Over Fang!” Kiba shouts, as he and Akamaru both release a huge amount of chakra and shoot forwards, spinning around each other so fast that they look like two miniature tornadoes drilling through the air.

Ashley, hearing Kiba’s cry and sensing his erratic movements, is unable to stop herself from dragging her eyes away from the growling Three Tails’ face. She spots Kiba and Akamaru spinning towards the Sanbi at an incredible speed, which causes her to frown a little.

“What’s he hoping to achieve by doing that?” she scoffs under her breath. “Idiot….He’s just going to piss it off even more, and it’s not like his attack is even going to do anyth-”

With a resounding crunch noise, Kiba and Akamaru slam into the Three Tails’ side at speed, causing it to roar furiously. Ashley’s eyes widen further, as she sees the Beast slide across the water a few metres, pushed by the ferocity of Kiba’s attack.

“What?.....” she whispers, slightly impressed. After a few moments, Kiba and Akamaru both stop spinning and drop down to the lake, with the Inuzuka landing in a crouched position, scowl still plastered on his face as he glowers up at the Sanbi.

Ashley blinks a few times, unable to believe the large crack she’s seeing in the Three Tails’ hard shell. It hadn’t been there a moment ago, but surely Kiba’s attack hadn’t been strong enough to put a split in such an impressive defence?...

Flicking her eyes down to give Kiba an incredulous look, Ashley finds that the Inuzuka is already staring at her. Though his brows are knitted together in the middle and his mouth is pulled down at the sides, Ashley can see that Kiba’s eyes are sparkling hopefully, looking at her as though trying to convey something……

‘You belong to me Beast!’ Hakuba suddenly thunders in Ashley’s head, causing the girl to squeeze her eyes closed again. ‘You are not your own creature, but merely a small portion of my power! I will reclaim you as my own, right now!’

Kiba can’t help sighing with disappointment as Ashley closes her eyes and turns her head, only for the Three Tails to suddenly begin thrashing about in a rage, its tails splashing in and out of the water.

Before he has so much as a second to react, Kiba is suddenly slammed by one of the Beast’s tails, flicking him away as if he were nothing more than a mere fly. Akamaru yelps as he too is swept out of the way, while the other Leaf Ninja call out frantically.

Kiba spins wildly through the air from the hit, before crashing down heavily onto the embankment and exhaling sharply. He groans loudly as he struggles to roll onto his back, arm lying across his chest.

He’d never been hit by something so heavy and powerful before, and the Inuzuka just knew that he had a broken rib or two. Not to mention his clearly broken left shoulder. He was definitely going to be feeling that tomorrow.

Having heard Kiba’s cry and Akamaru’s yelp as they’d been hit, Ashley opens her eyes, only to see that the Three Tails is in the midst of forming another Water Ball, which is aimed directly for her.

‘Hakuba you idiot!’ Ashley screams in her mind, turning to her right and crouching down. ‘You made it angry on purpose!’

‘I did no such thing’ Hakuba growls defensively. ‘It can’t hear what I’m saying. It just doesn’t like the chakra it sensed coming from you.’

‘Well if I die’ Ashley retorts, leaping up just as the Three Tails shoots its vicious attack towards her, ‘So do you!’

The chakra fuelled water bullet crashes into the cliff with a violent force, completely obliterating the rocks and creating a powerful sonic wave as it explodes. Unable to avoid the blast, Ashley is hit with the sonic wave and blown high into the air, multiple rocks slicing at her as they rocket past.

Ashley is flung through the air like a rag doll, and she is unable to control her fall due to the sheer speed she’d gained from the blast. She’d be lucky if she didn’t die when she hit the ground.

The Leaf Ninja on the lake are quick to scatter as the Three Tails goes off on another furious rampage, not wanting to end up like Kiba or Ashley.

Naruto, still standing on the cliff at the opposite side of the lake, watches with a strained look on his face as the wildly spinning Ashley soars overhead, falling towards the forest.

“C’mon kid” Gamakichi urges, “We’ve finally got a plan, and now’s the time to execute it!”

“Right!” Naruto agrees, shaking his head to regain his focus. He couldn’t worry about Ashley right now. He’d summoned his two Toads, Gamatatsu and Gamakichi, to defeat the Three Tails, and now they were ready to attack.

“You ready Gamatatsu?” Naruto asks, jumping onto the yellow Toad’s back. The young amphibian nods his head, unable to speak due to the large amount of oil he’d been ordered to swallow. It hadn’t tasted all that good, but if Naruto and Gamakichi’s plan was going to work, the oil was a necessity.

“Alright!” Naruto cries with a determined grin. “It’s facing us now, so aim for its eye! That’s its one weak spot! Wind Style: Toad Flame Bomb!”

As Naruto slaps his hand down on Gamatatsu’s back, to pour his Wind Nature chakra into the Toad, Gamatastu releases the oil in his stomach, sending a powerful jet stream of the black liquid towards the Three Tails.

“Go Gamakichi!” Naruto orders, to which the orange Toad obliging leans forwards and breathes out a chakra fuelled flamethrower. The oil from Gamatatsu’s attack immediately catches alight, with the burning hot flames dowsing the Three Tails and causing it to rear up and screech in pain.

The Sanbi’s whole shell burns furiously, as the creature writhes backwards and forwards, tails slashing at the air in uncontrollable fury and pain. After a few more moments of bucking around in the water, the Three Tails leaps up and dives under the water, disappearing down into the depths to get away from the Leaf Ninja.

“We did it!” Naruto cheers, jumping down from Gamatatsu’s back. “At least that’s over, for now anyway. Good job guys.”

“I guess we’ll be seeing ya then” Gamakichi states, raising his arm in a lazy wave, before he and a grinning Gamatatsu disappear in a puff of smoke.

Turning around, Naruto’s face falls a little, seeing that Yukimaru is lying unconscious on the ground, only a few metres away from him. It seemed that the young kid had exhausted his chakra, and Naruto could only imagine the damage that had been done to his body.

“Come on Yukimaru” Naruto says softly, kneeling beside the child. “Let’s get Shizune to have a look at you……”

Hair whipping at her face, Ashley finds it hard to suck in a breath, as she freefalls from the sky, tumbling around at an uncontrollable speed. The blonde has to keep her eyes closed, to keep the stinging wind out of her eyes, but she knows that the ground can’t be far away now.

‘Got to…..Slow down’ Ashley thinks to herself, struggling to move her arms. After all the spinning she’d done, she didn’t even know which way was up or down any more, and her stomach sure wasn’t appreciating the movement either.

Ashley could only hope she didn’t throw up while she was hurtling through the air.

“Ahh!” the Minami can’t help crying out, as she crashes through the top of a tree, her leg snapping a thin branch in half.

Ashley hisses in pain as her forehead connects with a tree trunk, before her knee snaps right through a thick branch, causing it to throb.

Unsure of where the ground is, Ashley flings out her arm in a last ditch effort to slow down, using her Katsuryoku to send out a powerful blast of wind. Luckily for her, the ground is directly below, and the wind blown at the earth is able to slow her down a little. When Ashley’s body slams into the ground though, she feels it in every bone on her body.

The girl hits the earth with an unpleasant thud, the back of her head bouncing once or twice, before she becomes motionless. She lets out a low moan of pain, struggling to open her eyes and lift herself up. Though her eyes are still closed, Ashley sees tiny red spots behind her eyelids, and before she can so much as get up, the girl passes out.

“Gahh!” Kiba barks out in pain, jerking his arm away from Sakura and sending her an accusatory glare. “Would you be careful?! That hurts ya know!”

“If you’d sit still and stop pulling away from me” Sakura replies with a low sigh, trying to keep her temper in check, “It wouldn’t hurt as much. It’s a broken shoulder Kiba, I can’t help that it hurts while I’m healing it. It’s going to be hurting for awhile longer too, because you’re going to need to get it fixed properly at the hospital when we get home. I can’t mend broken bones properly. You need surgery for that.”

“Okay okay” the unhappy Inuzuka mutters, allowing Sakura to continue healing him. “You don’t needa chew my ear off….”

“Be nice Kiba” Ino instructs, rubbing at her bandaged arm. “Sakura’s doing her best. You don’t need to be such a jerk about it.”

“Well sorry for not being all rainbows and sunshine right now Ino!” Kiba snaps, raising the fist on his uninjured arm. “But I’m not exactly happy at the moment! Hopefully you can understand why!”

“Kiba, we’re all upset about Ashley” Sakura says softly, her eyes taking on a saddened look, “But you don’t need to take it out on your friends. We have to support each other.”

“Right now the only support I want is from her….” Kiba mutters bitterly, pulling a face down at the bandages around his bare chest.

Sakura suppress a sigh and closes her eyes, mentally counting to ten in her mind as she continues healing Kiba’s shoulder. She didn’t want to lose her temper, and she knew that Kiba had always been one to wear his heart and feelings on his sleeve, but right now his miserable, childish attitude was getting to her.

Ashley was one of her very best friends, and she was absolutely horrified at what the blonde had done, yet she wasn’t taking it out on Kiba. In her own opinion, Kiba was just bringing everyone down and being somewhat selfish. Why couldn’t he just keep his mouth closed for once?

Though his head is down, Naruto watches Kiba and Sakura through hooded, blue eyes, his mouth pulled down slightly. He still couldn’t quite comprehend the situation he’d stumbled into earlier, as someone like Ashley joining forces with the Akatsuki just seemed ludicrous to him.

Right now though, he was worried for Yukimaru’s sake, and he could see that some of his friends were quite injured, so this predicament with Ashley was just not something he wanted to focus on yet.

Upon hearing footsteps entering the room, Naruto’s head snaps up, only to see Shizune, Yamato and Kakashi walk back into the room, with Lady Tsunade’s summon, Katsuyu, riding on the charcoal haired woman’s shoulder.

“How’s Yukimaru doing?” Naruto is quick to ask, pushing away from the wall he’d been sitting against and rising to his feet. “Is he gonna be okay?”

“All I can tell you is that he’ll live” Shizune answers calmly, though there’s an unsure look in her dark eyes. “His chakra network has been severely damaged, and I doubt he’d ever be able to use that power of his again.”

“And we needed him to be able to capture the Three Tails too….” Tenten sighs, momentarily closing her brown eyes. “We’ll have to think of something else now.”

“It is probably better for his sake if he cannot control the Three Tails anymore” Lee speaks up, sitting beside his brown haired teammate. “No one will use him again.”

“That’s right Lee” Kakashi agrees, nodding his head as he kneels down at the front of the room. “Gather round guys, we’ve got some new orders from Lady Tsunade.”

Everyone shuffles closer to Kakashi, with Shizune and Yamato kneeling behind him. Kiba pulls a face as Sakura ties some bandages around his shoulder and diagonally across his chest. He hated bandages. Not only were they uncomfortable, but they were always wrapped too tightly and restricted his movement. Though Sakura had said not to move his arm too much, Kiba was never one to listen to her anyway.

“We’re going to be moving out as soon as a relief team arrives” Kakashi announces once everyone is settled, “Which should arrive by early tomorrow morning. We’re scrapping this mission.”

“Huh?” Ino asks, blinking her large, teal eyes in confusion.

“That’s quite sudden isn’t it?” Sai questions, an even look on his face, as Sakura nods her agreement.

“So we just pick up and leave?” Kiba asks flatly. “Even though the Three Tails is still on the loose?”

“That won’t be an issue” Yamato pipes up. “The team that is replacing us will keep an eye on the Three Tails. Kakashi and I will make sure to inform them of the situation.”

“Yeah but what about-”

“The fact is” Shizune interrupts Kiba, raising her head, “Even if anything were to happen, we’re not really in any shape to fight. We’ve all been injured, and some of us have received serious wounds. Lady Tsunade has wisely decided to take us out of here, so we can bring back the intelligence we already have and a new team can pick up where we leave off. She’ll decide what needs to be done from there.”

“Like I said” Kakashi finishes off, “The relief team will be here early in the morning, so everyone needs to get a good rest before we move out.”

As everyone rises to their feet and gets ready to sleep, some of them muttering under their breath, Naruto walks over to Shizune.

“I’ll keep an eye of Yukimaru for now” the blonde male informs her, to which she gives him a smile and nods.

“I’m sure he’ll be okay Naruto” Shizune replies kindly, “But if you want to watch over him, I’m not going to say no.”

Several Hours Later

The stars sparkle brightly in the dark sky above, a brisk breeze blowing through the air and carrying the sound of crickets chirping loudly along with it. The leaves of the trees rustle in the wind, as Ashley lets out a low moan.

She slowly cracks her eyes open, the night sky being the first thing she sees. She stares at it for a few moments, feeling dazed and quite chilly, before leaning on her elbows and raising her head.

“Ahh!” the girl exhales sharply, dropping onto her back again, as a severe pain throbs in the back of her head. “My head hurts……Scratch that, everything hurts…..”

Not wanting to try sitting up again, Ashley slowly turns her head to the side, only for her eyes to widen. Though it’s dark outside, the Minami can see that she is lying in a small pool of blood, coming from her side.

“Ughh…..Probably from the rocks or something” Ashley sighs heavily, closing one eye in pain. “Gross……The blood’s cold….How long have I been lying her for?..”

Groaning once again as she raises her arms, Ashley rips off one of her gloves and drops it in the ground, before performing a hand sign. Her pale hand begins to glow brightly with a soft, green aura, before the Minami places her palm to her forehead.

She lets out another sigh, though this one is filled with relief, as a cool sensation floods her head, the chakra soothing her pain and healing her injury.

After a few more moments, Ashley pulls her glove back on and slowly sits up, this time with more success. She leans her weight back on her hands and drops her face forwards, to look down at her torso and legs, wanting to see if she has any serious injures. Apart from some cuts down her legs and arms, and the ugly way her knee is swelling, Ashley finds that she’s fared rather well for a fall from the sky. Sure, her bones were aching badly, and some of her cuts were stinging, and her knee hurt like hell, but……

“Screw that” Ashley huffs, pulling a face. “I’m in a hell of a lot of pain! This is all Hakuba’s fault. If he hadn’t made that damn thing angry…..”

‘I cannot control how others react’ Hakuba says smartly, to which Ashley rolls her eyes and pulls her cloak further around her.

“You knew it would get mad” the Minami states flatly. “If I had’ve known it hated you and could sense you, I would’ve stayed well away from it.”

‘The Tailed Beasts cannot just sense me’ Hakuba snorts, shaking his head. ‘They are a part of my being, and I suppose when I get angry and my chakra flares up, they can sense that power.’

“….Look” Ashley grunts, holding the bridge of her nose. “I’m not in the mood for a lesson right now. I just fell from the sky, I’ve been unconscious for who knows how long, and I’ve got a headache.”

‘Serves you right brat’ is all Hakuba replies, leaving Ashley to ponder exactly what he meant by that. After all the things she’d said and done in the last few days, who knew what he meant?

Shaking her thoughts aside, Ashley uses her arms to push herself to her feet, wincing and sucking in a breath as she puts weight on her right leg. She is quick to lift her foot up however, the pain in her knee making it difficult to stand on both feet.

“Fantastic” Ashley murmurs, only for her eyes to widen as she glances down. “That’s one hell of a crater! I must’ve hit the ground harder than I thought…..”

Sure enough, Ashley’s collision with the earth had pushed a good deal of it downwards, creating an almost circular indent in the hard dirt. It was a wonder she hadn’t broken any bones.
“I guess I’d better go and find the others” the Minami decides, sticking her lower jaw out. “Nice of them to completely ditch me. Assholes….”

Deciding to head back towards the lake, Ashley takes a step forwards, only for her right knee to buckle beneath her. Crying out a loud curse, Ashley topples to the ground in a most un-Ninja-like way and lands on her stomach.

The irritated blonde lets out a growl and blows some hair from her eyes, before slowly pushing herself back to her feet, casting her swollen, already bruising knee.

Glancing around with an unimpressed look, Ashley rolls her eyes and dumps herself back down on the ground, her leg with the swollen knee stretched out in front of her.

“I guess I won’t be going anywhere with my leg like this” the Minami mutters, annoyed that such an insignificant injury could give her so much pain. “Seriously, why is my knee swelling now? Surely I’ve smacked my knee into worse things than a tree before…..”

Ripping off her gloves and throwing them on the ground, Ashley begins healing her knee, in a bit of a mood. Not only did the Minami’s body hurt, but now her pride was hurting as well. It had been embarrassing to get caught by the Three Tails like that, and despite the fact that no one was around right now, Ashley couldn’t believe she’d been downed by such a stupid injury.

“I almost wish my knee was broken or shattered or something” the blonde grumbles to herself, eyes sparkling due to the green glow of her hands, “At least it’s less humiliating than oh, I hit my knee and now I can’t freaking walk!”

Hearing the sound of a twig snapping underfoot, Ashley freezes, eyes flicking up and her breath catching in her throat. The glow fades from Ashley’s hands and she pulls her legs up so she’s crouching, though she can’t help pulling a face at the pain in her knee.

“Dammit, where did you go Yukimaru?” a familiar voice asks frustratedly, to which Ashley narrows her eyes and lets out a low sigh. This was just what she needed right now….

Not a second later, Naruto drops down from the trees and rises to his feet, one hand running back and forth through his spiky, blonde hair. He glances around with a worried look on his face, before his bright, blue eyes land on the figure squatting a few metres away from him.

Though it’s dark outside, there was no possible way to mistake Ashley’s bright, oddly coloured eyes, and as Naruto’s own eyes widen with surprise, he sees a white strip flash across Ashley’s face, as she bares her teeth at him.

“Ashley!” Naruto cries, before he tilts his head to the side, face twisting into a look of confusion. “What are you doing out here?”

“Maybe you didn’t see me fall from the sky” Ashley growls, sounding somewhat amused by Naruto’s question. “This is where I landed……That blood you’re standing in is mine.”

“Huh?” Naruto asks, glancing down, only to jump backwards, a sickened look in his eyes. “But you mean…..You’ve been here this whole time?.....That happened hours ago!”

“You know” Ashley states coldly, slowly rising to her feet and trying to keep the pain from her face, “I don’t really have time for small talk right now. I’ve got things to be doing.”

“Ashley-chan….” the blonde male says sadly, eyes twinkling, “Don’t tell me you’re still going after the Three Tails?”

“Naturally” is the smart reply, to which Naruto sighs heavily.

“Why are you doing this?” the Uzumaki questions softly. “Don’t you realise how wrong this is? The Akatsuki are evil.”

Ashley blinks her widened eyes at this and shakes her head, to which a glimmer of hope sparks inside Naruto. Maybe he’d changed her mind already!

“What are you saying?” Ashley sneers, immediately dashing Naruto’s hope to pieces. “Of course I know it’s wrong! Why do you think I never told you guys I was going to join them?”

“But if you know that it’s wrong Ashley-chan” Naruto presses, his tone beginning to take on a firmer tone, “Then why are you doing it? They’re making you hurt your friends and innocent people!”

“They’re not making me do anything” Ashley corrects sharply, placing a hand on her hip. “Nobody makes me do anything. It’s all being done willingly and without any orders.”

“But it’s so wrong Ashley-chan!” Naruto shouts again, to which the Minami merely shrugs.

“That’s just a matter of opinion” she states flatly. “What’s wrong and right depends on which side you choose to be on. Maybe to you what I’m doing is wrong, but if you were standing in my shoes, you’d see that it’s so right.”

“…..You don’t even sound like you right now” Naruto informs Ashley in a whisper, shaking his head as he stares at his friend with wide eyes. He sees Ashley’s mouth pull up into a tooth filled smirk, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

“On the contrary” she chuckles. “I sound just like me.”

“No you don’t” Naruto argues, pointing at Ashley. “The real Ashley wouldn’t speak like that while wearing the symbol of the Leaf Village.”

Glancing down, Ashley eyes the metal symbol attached to the black cloth around her neck, before smirking up at Naruto.

“This means nothing to me” the girl announces coldly. “It’ll soon have a big line through it anyway……The only symbol that matters to me is the one tattooed on my right hip. The Land of Ambience’s symbol.”

Naruto’s blue eyes widen at this proclamation, a wounded look shining in them. Surely Ashley hadn’t meant that? He, who wore his symbol so proudly, couldn’t understand how someone could take its meaning so lightly.

“So you don’t even care that you’re hurting your friends?” Naruto asks, changing the subject as he begins to feel a little annoyed.

“What friends?” Ashley sniffs uncaringly, causing Naruto’s hands to ball up into tight fists.

“Do you realise that Kiba broke his ribs and a shoulder when he was trying to help you earlier?” Naruto asks angrily. “He’s still in a lot of pain because of that! He didn’t have to do anything you know.”

“Well, maybe he shouldn’t have bothered!” Ashley retorts nastily, not liking the avenue Naruto is heading down. “It’s not my fault he’s so naïve!”

“He loves you Ashley!” Naruto shouts back, struggling to hold his annoyance and frustration back. “And well all do as well! How can you just throw all of that away so easily? And for what?! Some evil, low life murderers that would kill you in a second if they knew what you were!”

Ashley stares at Naruto evenly through hooded lids, as his shoulders heave up and down, an accusatory look on his face.

“Maybe I should just bring you to the Akatsuki” she eventually speaks up, her words catching Naruto by surprise. “I mean, you’re right here, so I don’t have to look for you. All I’d have to do is knock you unconscious.”

Naruto takes a step back, somehow feeling incredibly hurt by the things Ashley keeps saying to him. He wondered if maybe Kiba was just being naïve by believing that Ashley was acting, but at the same time, Naruto held his friends incredibly close, and even if she wasn’t acting, Naruto just couldn’t accept these words from Ashley. They didn’t make any sense coming from her lips.

“Ashley-chan….” Naruto begins, internally calming himself down and giving his former teammate a forlorn look. “Despite what you say, you’re a Leaf Village Ninja, and I know that you have the Will of Fire inside of you.”

Ashley’s eyes widen slightly at this, though she keeps her face stony, as Naruto continues, eyes imploring.

“You wear that symbol around your neck to show everyone where your loyalties lie” the blonde male explains quietly, smiling to himself. “We wear these symbols proudly, and I know that I was super excited when I first got my headband. It was one of the greatest moments of my life! Now everyone knows what Village I love and that I’ll die to protect it and its people.”

Here, Naruto sends Ashley a serious look, with the girl’s mouth slowly pulling down into a frown. If Naruto thought he was going to guilt Ashley into giving up on her plans, he had another thing coming to him…

“Old Man Third always taught us that the key to peace is love” Naruto states, bringing to mind a time when Hakuba had said the same thing to Ashley, years ago. “He said that every true Leaf Shinobi must love, believe, cherish and fight for the Village's sake, like the generations before us have done. That’s what it means to wear that symbol around your neck.”

Ashley stares at Naruto strangely, wondering where those words of wisdom had come from. Normally he sounded like an idiot, but here he was speaking as if he truly believed in what he was saying…

Smirking to herself, Ashley closes her eyes and reaches up, causing Naruto to take up a defensive position, should the girl decide to attack him.

“I won’t take you to the Akatsuki this time Naruto” Ashley informs the blonde frostily, fiddling with something at the back of her neck. “But I want you to remember this. We are no longer comrades. We are no longer friends. We have no bond, nothing binding us together, and I will not fight by your side any more.”

With a soft clink sound, Ashley drops her Leaf hitai-ate at Naruto’s feet, to which the male’s eyes widen in shock. He raises his eyes to give Ashley a disbelieving look, only to find that she is glaring at him darkly, eyes shining brightly through the night.

“You love that symbol so much” Ashley finishes off coldly, “You can keep it.”

That said, Ashley bends her knees and disappears up into the trees, leaving Naruto alone in his own stunned silence. After a few moments of staring after his ex comrade, Naruto crouches down and gently picks up the hitai-ate Ashley had always worn around her neck, clenching it tightly in his now shaking hand.

“Why Ashley-chan?” the saddened Uzumaki whispers. “I’ll bet your Dad was proud to wear this symbol…..”

Shaking his head, Naruto places the black cloth in his pocket and turns around to continue his search for Yukimaru, who had disappeared from the shelter Captain Yamato had created. He wanted to make sure the young boy was alright.

Standing on a high branch in a nearby tree, with her hands behind her back and her back leaning against a tree trunk, Ashley tilts her head backwards and looks up at the stars, eyes still shining.

Her knee was still bothering her, and she was grateful that Naruto hadn’t noticed that she’d barely even moved three metres from where she’d previously been standing.

‘Are you crying?’ Hakuba asks, a mocking tone to his voice. ‘How cute. Feeling guilty perhaps?’

“No” Ashley is quick to snap, brows furrowing, “I’m not crying. Can you see any tears falling?”

‘Not yet’ comes the smart reply. ‘I don’t understand you……And you didn’t answer me. Did your Kyuubi friend make you feel guilty with his words?’

Ashley bares her teeth and growls at the sky, before sitting down on the edge of the branch she’s on, swinging her legs back and forth slowly.

“I need to find Deidara and Tobi” she eventually mutters, gracefully sliding over the edge of the branch.

Just as an fyi, I don't know if anyone has noticed this yet, but it's been quite awhile since I wrote anything in Ashley's POV. It's all been in Third Person, and the reason for that is, I don't want you to know what's going on in Ashley's head. I give you tidbits of what she's thinking, but if I write in Third Person, I usually don't tell you exactly how someone is feeling.

So yeah, don't worry, I love writing in First Person and I will get back to doing that eventually ;P