Everybody looks down into the deep valley below, surrounded by sheer cliffs on all sides and filled with lush plant life. It was impossible to see the ground from the cliffs, the tree canopy completely obscuring it from view. In the middle of the valley's forest, a large group of trees tower high above the others, in a circular formation.

"The Red Moon Scroll is hidden just ahead" Minato informs everyone, staring down into the circle of tall trees. "I'm sure Jiraiya Sensei would have laid some traps though, to keep it safe. Kakashi, can you take the lead and use your Sharingan to search for any traps?"

"Understood!" Kakashi answers brightly, before leaning his back against a tree and sliding to the ground. "...Or so I'd like to say, but uh.......I went a little overboard on my last mission. I've been using my Sharingan......well, a lot...."

".....You always wear down at the most important times Kakashi" Minato sighs, his shoulders drooping somewhat.

"Actually" Guy speaks up, also slumping to the ground, "I could do with a rest too. Age tires the body and soul...."

Minato stares down at the two weary Ninja for a moment, before pressing his fingertips against his forehead and releasing another sigh.

"Alright" the blonde man mutters. "We'll all take a breather then."

"Hey Ashley" Sakura addresses cautiously, "Can't you use your Sharingan to find the traps instead?"

Ashley, standing at the edge of the cliff with her arms crossed, doesn't reply, clearly still in a bad mood. She hadn't so much as said one word the whole way to the valley.

"Ashley?" Kakashi repeats, sounding amused. "Ashley doesn't even have a Sharingan Sakura."

The Minami scowls at this, her fingers balling up into fists, though she still remains silent and glares out into the distance.

"Only members of the Uchiha Clan and Kakashi have the Sharingan" Minato adds, looking to Sakura and tilting his head to the side, a faint smile on his face. "Ashley wouldn't even have the stamina or chakra to maintain the Sharingan anyway."

Ashley's head jerks to the side at that, as she glares at Minato from the corner of her eye, her teeth bared in a silent snarl.

The blonde man's eyes widen at the sight of Ashley's face, his mouth falling open slightly.

"Wh-What?" he asks in a hushed voice. "How is that.....How?"

"None of your business" Ashley growls, before turning her now now blazing red eyes back towards the valley. "I'm getting sick of all of you. If one more person makes fun of me, I'm going to kill them."

"Ashley....." Sakura says softly, looking concerned. "Hey....Hey, why is your Sharingan red? Wasn't it always black?"

"It's red now?" Ashley asks, genuinely surprised. "Hn.....Well, it's probably because Hakuba doesn't seem to be sealed inside me anymore."

"He....He isn't?" Sakura questions, feeling a little bad for her friend. "Well, what does that have to do with your Sharingan anyway?"

"I don't know...." Ashley mumbles, focusing on something moving down amongst the trees. "My Sharingan was red and then after Hakuba got sealed into me, it slowly turned black. His chakra must have affected it or something...."

"What are you two talking about?" Kakashi inquires, looking thoroughly perplexed. Since when had his most pathetic student had the Sharingan?

"Forget it" Ashley huffs, brows furrowed, "And before anyone else asks me any stupid questions, Naruto is down in the valley already. He's running towards the Scroll."

"What?!" Kushina exclaims, running forwards to look down into the valley, her eyes wide. "Why's Menma down there by himself?!"

"Because he's impatient" Ashley responds wryly, her eyes focused on Naruto's fast moving chakra. She raises her eyebrows however, when a large amount of chakra suddenly flares to life down by Naruto's feet. "Hoo boy......"

A loud boom echoes through the air, as a huge cloud of smoke appears in the middle of the valley, right where Naruto had been standing. Ashley closes her eyes and throws her arms up to protect her face, when a rush of wind blasts her and the other Leaf Ninja, causing some of them to gasp.

Without any hesitation, Kushina leaps over the edge of the cliff, wanting to protect her son from whatever trap he'd set off. Minato follows suit, with Kakashi and Guy slowly climbing to their feet as well.

"C'mon Ashley!" Sakura urges, bending her knees. "We'd better go help too!"

The blonde watches as Sakura jumps over the cliff, before heaving a sigh.

"If it'll help us get out of this stupid place" Ashley mutters to herself, following after her teammate, "Then fine."

As she falls towards the ground, Ashley focuses chakra into her feet and presses them down against the wall of rock, allowing her to sprint down the cliff side instead. Falling without getting injured was tricky business and Ashley wasn't about to risk breaking a limb here.

Who knew what the hospital would be like.

As Ashley reaches the ground, she runs after Kushina, Minato and Sakura, her eyes focused on the creatures now standing ahead of them all.

"Chief Toad!" Naruto cries happily, looking up at the familiar face of Gamabunta, a large cigarette hanging from his mouth. Two Toads stand on either side of older one, silent and stony.

'He looks way smaller than I remember' Ashley notices, coming to a stop beside Sakura. 'Is that an effect of this world as well?'

"Menma!" Kushina barks, brows furrowing at Naruto. "Why did you-"

"The trap has already been set off" Minato interrupts, cautiously stepping forwards to approach the summoned Toads. "There's no use crying about it now.......We are Shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village! We have come to retrieve the scroll concealed here by Jiraiya Sensei!"

"I don't care who you are!" Gamabunta thunders back, causing Minato to flinch slightly. "Our instructions were to protect this scroll from anyone and everyone who may come here to search for it!"

"Chief Toad" Naruto speaks up. "C'mon, just listen to me for a second-"

"Silence!" Gamabunta roars, throwing his head forwards and releasing the giant cigarette from his mouth.

Everyone darts in different directions as the burning cigarette crashes heavily into the ground, its weight causing the ground to crack significantly.

"Well, I guess there's no room for negotiations then" Minato murmurs, rising from his crouched position beside Kakashi and Guy. "Alright then, we'll just have to cut through!"

Everyone quickly rises to their feet and follows after Minato as he dashes forwards, aiming to get past the guardian Toads without having to fight them. Much to his dismay however, a wave of smaller Toads suddenly begins leaping towards the group, croaking loudly.

Ashley skids to a halt and looks up, her eyes growing into large white circles, before she and the others are flattened by hundreds of squirming Toads. Ashley's eyes spin as she is knocked to the ground and covered by the amphibians, her fingers twitching slightly.

"Th-There's so many of them" Kushina stutters, struggling to move beneath the weight of the Toads.

"I c-can barely move" Sakura agrees, gritting her teeth as she tries to pull herself out from underneath a smiling Toad.

"Get off of me!" Ashley shouts angrily, coming to her senses and glaring at the Toad directly above her. "If you don't move, I'm gonna kill y-"

"No!" Minato calls from somewhere amidst the Toad pile. "Please don't hurt them! These Toads signed a contract with Jiraiya Sensei, so I don't want them to get hurt!"

"Fine" Ashley growls, baring her teeth at one of the Toads near her. "I won't hurt them, I'll just move them...."

Fidgeting aggressively, Ashley manages to cross her arms over her chest and activate her Katsuryoku. The blonde closes her eyes and focuses her Natural Energy for a few moments, before flinging her arms forwards and releasing a powerful blast of air.

The Toads all cry out in unison as they are flung up towards the sky, with all of the Leaf Ninja, beside Ashley, getting thrown up amongst them.

They are all able to flip around and land back on the ground, quickly moving out of the way so the now falling Toads won't drop back on top of them.

Ashley narrows her eyes angrily at the animals, struggling to keep her temper in check and refrain from hurting them. She folds her arms tightly over her chest, brows furrowed.

"Wow" Minato compliments, looking genuinely surprised. "Since when could you do that Ashley? That was impressive!"

"Who knew such power was in you" Kakashi smiles, causing an anime vein to appear on the side of Ashley's head. "Maybe you were never weak. Maybe you were just to lazy to try?"

"Kakashi I swear" Ashley warns lowly, raising one fist. "If you say one more-"

"Menma!" Kushina suddenly cries out, seeing that Naruto is sitting on top of Gamabunta's head. His head bowed and his legs crossed, Naruto sits with his eyes closed, as the Chief Toad searches for him on the ground.

"What's he trying to reach Sage Mode for?" Sakura asks rhetorically, though her voice is full of concern. "Is he gonna try to fight the Toads?"

Before Naruto is able to fully reach his Sage Mode, one of the smaller Toads suddenly appears on top of Gamabunta's head and lashes out at the Leaf Ninja. Naruto is able to evade the attack easily though, his reflexes having significantly improved over the years.

As the blonde falls however, Gamabunta finally spots him and makes eye contact. He sucks in a deep breath and exhales a stream of purple liquid, aimed directly for the helpless Naruto.

Just as the liquid is about to make contact, Kushina leaps up and tackles Naruto mid air, knocking him out of the way of the attack. The purple liquid hits her ankle, to which she cries out in pain and unintentionally releases Naruto, causing her to fall back towards the ground.

"Kushina!" Minato shouts, immediately rushing forwards to catch his wife. As Naruto lands in front of them, Minato gently sets the injured Kushina down, steam rising from the wound on her ankle.

Naruto stares down at the red haired woman through wide, horrified eyes, his body shaking slightly.

"But why did she...." he asks hesitantly. "Why would she......"

"Was that acid?" Sakura questions, her green eyes widening. Not waiting for any answers, Sakura runs over to Kushina, to see if she can help.

"Stand back Menma" Minato orders seriously, standing back up. "Just stay here with Kushina......I'll handle it from here...."

Despite her irritation, Ashley watches with great interest as Minato flings two kunai knives ahead of himself, before abruptly vanishing from sight. Gamabunta, having seen where the first kunai had landed in the ground, raises his large foot to attack.

When Minato reappears next to the kunai, Gamabunta slams his foot down on the ground with force, causing it to tremor violently.

"H-He's so fast..." Ashley whispers as she stares at Minato in awe, the man seeming to have simply teleported behind the large Toads. "How is that even possible?....."

Minato then throws his kunai again, disappearing completely, just as Gamabunta turns around, a sweat drop on the side of his head.

"Damn he's fast" the Toad complains, trying to see through the trees for any sign of Minato.

Within a matter of seconds, a blast of chakra erupts from the circular formation of trees that Minato had disappeared into, before all of the Toads disappear simultaneously.

Ashley looks around, wondering how Minato had managed to dispel the Jutsu so quickly, only for him to once again suddenly reappear. He stands over his wife, as Sakura tries to wake Kushina up, the woman having passed out.

"......No wonder he was the Fourth Hokage" Ashley comments to herself. "He's incredible......"

With her back leaning against a tree, Ashley watches on as Sakura heals Kushina's burnt ankle, her green chakra glowing in the dimly lit area. Kakashi and Guy also watch in silence, staring into the chakra almost as if transfixed by it.

"Kushina may have only suffered a light burn" Minato says quietly, reprimanding Naruto a few meters away from the group, "But I hope you know what I'm about to say to y-"

"Just leave me alone would ya?" Naruto interrupts rudely, looking away from his Father like a stubborn child. "Stop fussing over me all the time! Just knock it off already! I didn't ask her to jump in like that or get hurt! I coulda gotten past that attack all by myself, without her help-"

Ashley looks up at the sound of a loud slap, only to see a red mark on the side of Naruto's face, his blue eyes wide with surprise.

"Sorry, but that isn't how this works" Minato informs his son, his tone calm. "A parent will always protect their child. You can't control it, your body just moves. There's no logic behind it, there's no thinking beforehand.......That's just what it is to be a parent."

".....How can you say that?" Naruto questions softly, sounding conflicted.

"Am I wrong in thinking such things?" Minato asks, amused despite the situation.

"No, that's not what I meant" Naruto sighs, only to pause when his Father leans down and places a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't do something reckless like that again" he orders softly, smiling at Naruto. "I spoke to your Mother about something earlier too. When we get back from this mission, we're going to submit your Chunin application to Lady Tsunade."

Ashley's eyes narrow slightly as Naruto gasps, almost as if he is taking Minato's offer seriously. What did it matter if he became an official Chunin in this world? Why would he want to go up a rank here, rather than home?

"Menma!" Kushina shouts, immediately rising to her feet as soon as the chakra fades from Sakura's hands.

"K-Kushina!" Minato exclaims, sweat dropping as he whirls around in a panic. "Don't worry, I've already had a stern word with our son and-"

"Do you know what you put me through?" Kushina demands to know, shoving past her husband and marching towards a wincing Naruto.

"I'm so glad you weren't hurt....." Kushina finishes softly, wrapping her arms around Naruto in a tight embrace.

The blonde's eyes widen at this, before they begin to waver with emotion. Slowly returning his Mother's hug, Naruto closes his eyes and rests his cheek against her shoulder, never having experienced his Mother's embrace before.

Ashley stares at the happy family emotionlessly, feeling even more lonely and far away than she already had been. Kakashi however, sitting on a rock behind Ashley, breaks down in tears, his eyes sparkling as he watches Naruto and Kushina.

"They're just such a beautiful family" he cries, sincerely touched by the situation.

Her emotionless expression breaking into an angry scowl, Ashley immediately focuses chakra into her fist and, still glaring at Naruto, punches the rock Kakashi is sitting on.

It completely shatters, causing the unsuspecting Kakashi to fall to the ground on his back. Sakura watches uneasily, as Ashley rises to her feet and stalks away from the happy scene.

Sakura and Naruto walk down the street side by side, with the distracted blonde staring up into the night sky. Ashley, in a less than pleasant mood, walks slowly behind the two with her eyes downcast. Once again, she hadn't spoken since the group had found the scroll. Her silence this time however, felt cold rather than annoyed.

"I can't believe we actually got the Red Moon Scroll" Sakura speaks up, hoping to fill the strange silence, "But now Lady Tsunade wants us to wait."

"....Yeah....." Naruto mumbles, clearly not listening to his teammate.

"I mean, do we even know when the Moon is supposed to get stained vermillion like that prophesy says?" Sakura queries, sighing lightly. "I think we should go and see Lady Tsunade again tomorr-"

"Um, I'm sorry Sakura" Naruto interjects apologetically, edging around the pink haired girl. "I uh, I gotta go. See ya."

Sakura and Ashley both watch as Naruto walks away from them, picking up the pace as he rounds a corner and disappears from view.

"Where's he going?" Sakura wonders out loud, confused.

"Where do you think he's going?" Ashley asks bitterly, roughly pushing past Sakura.

"H-Hey" Sakura calls, catching herself before she can fall. "Where are you going Ashley?"

"What do you care?" the blonde snaps back nastily, not even bothering to look back over her shoulder.

"Huh?" Sakura asks quietly, clearly hurt by Ashley's tone. She stares after the blonde, her shoulders drooping a little. "...Ashley......."

Head down, Ashley stares at the ground as she slowly makes her way through the Village, not sure where to go. She couldn't go to her house, because it didn't exist here and she didn't want to go back to the Uchiha Compound and be with her extended family again. They would want to try and talk to her and Ashley didn't think she had it in her to be around people that were supposed to be dead right now.

Surrounded by people in the street, Ashley feels loneliness getting the best of her, downcast eyes tearing up.

Here, she had no Mother, Father or Sister. Here, she had none of the friends she'd made, nor did she have the Pack she'd grown up with. In this world, the one person who loved Ashley and made her feel special, absolutely hated her. Ashley didn't even have Hakuba here and they had only just begun to grow closer to one another.

But what made things even worse.......Sakura and Naruto, the two real friends she had in this world, were too preoccupied with the fake niceties of this place to even notice Ashley's unhappiness.

Why did it seem that everyone in this world was happy, except for Ashley?

Ashley pauses in her thoughts, raising her head at the sound of a familiar voice, followed by a chorus of giggles. The blonde feels her mouth turning down, seeing Sasuke up ahead, surrounded by a group of blushing girls.

He pulls a rose out of his shirt and hands it to the nearest girl, causing her to flush as she takes the flower and smells it.

"Oh Sasuke" she swoons daintily, "Stop it."

"No way baby" he smiles dreamily, pulling the girl closer to him and winking. "Just remember, I'll always be here when you need me."

"Oh Sasuke!" all of the girls cry, some of them fanning themselves, as the girl in his arms places one hand against her pink cheek.

Sasuke, reveling in the attention he is receiving, throws one arm around another girl and continues to talk, the small crowd hanging onto his every word.

Ashley glowers at Sasuke and, before she is able to stop herself, she stomps towards the ravenette, eyes fixed on his stupid, laughing face. Maybe she was mad that people liked Sasuke so much, maybe her feelings of self pity and frustration were getting the better of her, but Ashley was angry. Sasuke was going to receive that anger, whether he deserved it or not.

The crowd of giggling girls grows quiet as Ashley approaches, with some of them looking rather annoyed by her sudden presence. Sasuke, realising that the crowd has fallen silent, opens his eyes, only to find himself staring into the furious face of his cousin.

"Oh, hey Ashley" Sasuke greets, his voice like velvet. "Hey no offense, but you're kind of killing the vibe here."

"I'm about to kill you" Ashley growls darkly, her tone causing Sasuke to look at her uncertainly. "Are you done being an idiot?"

"What are you talking about?" the Uchiha asks, straightening up and unwrapping his arms from around the two girls, much to their disappointment. Sasuke takes a step towards Ashley, shrugging his shoulders and holding up his hands questioningly.

Here Ashley narrows her eyes dangerously at Sasuke, before suddenly swinging up at him with her fist. The attack connects with Sasuke's jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground.

The crowd of girls all gasp in horror, with some of them quickly moving to fuss over a clearly shocked Sasuke. He sits up rather quickly and looks up at his livid cousin through hooded eyes, rubbing at his chin.

"How dare you attack Sasuke like that?!" one of the girls snaps, whirling around to frown at Ashley.

"He didn't do anything to you!" another adds, one hand on the Uchiha's shoulder.

Ignoring the girls, Ashley stalks over to Sasuke and tilts her head down, before cracking her knuckles.

"Hey!" a third girl shouts, grabbing onto Ashley's arm. "Stop it, or we're gonna have to intervene!"

The girl freezes with her eyes wide however, when Ashley's neck wrenches around. She stares at the girl through wide, scary eyes, her Sharingan blazing and her teeth bared.

"You want to be next?" Ashley asks in a cold, hushed voice.

The girl immediately lets out a scream and turns to run away, as Ashley looks at all of the other girls as well. Overwhelmed by the blonde's unusually aggressiveness and the scary energy she seemed to be emitting, the crowd of girls swiftly disperses, leaving Ashley and Sasuke alone.

"What's gotten into you Ashley?" Sasuke inquires, placing one hand on his knee and standing up. "You've been so mean lately and that's not like you at all. Here, maybe this will cheer you up."

Deactivating her Sharingan, Ashley opens her eyes and looks down, only to see that Sasuke is holding out a rose to her, a handsome smile on his face.

"Get that thing away from me you idiot!" Ashley snarls, angrily swatting the rose out of her cousin's hand. "Go home to your parents while they're still here and actually appreciate what you have for once! Stop messing around with all of these stupid girls!"

"Go home to my parents?" Sasuke repeats boredly, rolling his eyes and placing his hands in his pockets. "I see them all the time Ashley. Now that you've scared away all of the cute girls, I've gotta go and find more. Later."

".......I hope your jaw is broken" Ashley growls at the boy's back as he casually turns to leave.

For a few moments, Ashley stares after Sasuke with her teeth gritted and her fists clenched, stewing in her own anger. Usually something like that wouldn't have bothered her, but considering everything that had been happening to her, it seemed everything bothered Ashley now.

Closing her eyes and letting out a low breath to try and calm down, Ashley turns around, only to frown once again.

"Oh what's your problem?" the blonde asks meanly, eyeing the tearful girl in front of her with a stony expression. "You finally realized that your perfect world isn't actually so perfect? Or is it that you just miss your parents now because it's so lonely being by yourself all the time?"

Her eyes filled with unshed tears, Sakura stares at Ashley guiltily. What the blonde said was true. She was always alone in her home now and while that had been fun at first, now it was awful. It was so quiet, so lonely living alone.

And now Sasuke didn't care about her either. He'd been so kind and had given Sakura a rose earlier in the week, but it was apparent that he was like that to all of the girls.

Sakura should have known it was all too good to be true, but she had indulged herself instead.

"Ashley" the pink haired girl begins, trying her best not to cry, "I'm so sorry for being so selfish this whole time. I've only been thinking of myself since we got here, and I didn't even notice how upset you were. Nothing here is even real, but it felt like everything I ever wanted. I've finally realized that I was wrong though......Can you forgive me for being so selfish?"

Ashley watches Sakura evenly, able to tell that her sentiment is real. It didn't make her feel any better, but it was a start at least.

".....You know, everything seems to be opposite here" the blonde says morosely, "But my Father is still dead, even in this world."

"Y-Your Father?" Sakura repeats, blinking in surprise.

"Maybe now you have some clue as to why Naruto and I got so upset with you for complaining about your parents the way you did" Ashley adds, eyes half lidded. "You have something that we would both kill for in the real world....."

Sakura lowers her gaze to the ground and nods, finally able to understand how lonely it must be for Naruto and Ashley to always go home to an empty house. Sakura had thought it would be fun, and for awhile it was, but now.......Sakura even missed her Mothers constant nagging....

"We have to get Naruto" Sakura speaks up, wiping at her eyes. "We need to focus on getting back home."

Sakura jumps when Ashley begins to laugh, though it is hardly a friendly one. The bitterness of her teammate's laugh causes Sakura to feel uneasy.

"You're thinking selfishly again" Ashley comments, bemused.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Sakura asks, puzzled by Ashley's words. "I don't understand."

"Oh" Ashley replies, beckoning for Sakura to follow her, "You will...."

Spinning around on her heel, Ashley bends her knees and jumps up onto a nearby rooftop, with a confused Sakura right behind.

The two girls run across the tops of buildings in silence, with Sakura a little too afraid to ask where they're both going. She was just going to have to trust that Ashley had a reason for this and that she wasn't trying to take Sakura somewhere secluded so she could kill her.

After a few minutes of running through the night, Ashley perches on the edge of some railing and points down into an apartment window with light pouring out of it.

"Naruto's house?" Sakura asks, brows furrowing as she looks down through the window. "Do you want me to go and apologise to him? Because I don't mind-"

"Shut up and look" Ashley sighs, her face once again emotionless as she stares into the apartment.

A question mark appearing above her head, Sakura does the same, only to see Minato sitting at a table, newspaper in hand. Kushina walks into the room with a steaming pot in her hands, laughing at something.

She sets the pot down on the table and turns to someone else, placing her hand on their shoulder and smiling affectionately at them.

"....Naruto......" Sakura murmurs sadly, seeing the happiness on his face as he sits at the table and turns to his Mother.

Ashley watches the happy scene quietly, feeling rather saddened by it. While it may not have been the real thing, she wished she could have at least enjoyed a small amount of time with her family as well.....

"You're selfish Sakura" Ashley says quietly, not looking at the pinkette. "Naruto is finally happy, but because you aren't anymore, you want to take him away from this happiness. Because you want your parents back, you want to drag Naruto away from his?"

Sakura feels a pang in her heart at this, hurt by Ashley's words, but knowing them to be true at the same time.

".......What do we do Ashley?" the pink haired girl asks, distressed by the situation. "I don't know what the right thing is anymore.........."

Sakura looks to Ashley for an answer, but the blonde remains silent, watching as Naruto and his family all begin to laugh about something.

"......You know what?" Ashley asks rhetorically, eyes closing. "........I'm selfish too."

Really, it was only a matter of time before Ashley punched someone.