****Winner of the Most Popular Naruto Fanfic Watty Award 2013/14**** **Currently being rewritten as the original is old and awful in this author's opinion** A coming of age story about a young Ninja, confused and hurt by the instances in her past, struggling to find her place and figure out what it all means. Can the kindness of a new Village warm a heart that time has taught to be cold and cruel? Can new friendships replace broken bonds, lost to the past? Is it safer to stay, or is it safer to run? A story not about one's physical strength, or of obtaining great power, but a story of overcoming and learning to change as old wounds heal.

Two and a half years after she left the Leaf Village, we find Ashley hot on the trail of the Akatsuki. Ordered to gather as much information as she can, Ashley abandoned her training in her homeland, the Land of Ambience, to pursue the members of the criminal organization. When she finally returns home, her friends are over joyed to see her again, Kiba especially. Back together again, Ashley and Kiba are happy to continue where they left off. But what will happen when one terrible decision tears them apart again? Will they be able to make it through? Will Ashley's friends ever understand her reason for leaving them again? More importantly, is the darkness in her heart, courtesy of Hakuba the Ten Tailed Wolf, real? Does Ashley truly wish to join the other side and leave everyone she ever cared about behind? And how will she react, when the Ninja World is on the verge of the biggest War in history?

Takiyama Miho if a complete Naruto Fanatic, she loves everything to do with Naruto and hopes she will one day go into the world of Naruto like in many fanfictions. Today her dream came true, however there is always a twist. While watching Naruto with her four best friends a thunder storm sends the hurdling into the world of Naruto and Miho wakes up with....... Charcoal duck-butt hair and a scowling face....? She is now stuck in Sasuke's body and if her hunches are right her friends are stuck in the bodies of other characters too......

Orochimaru never became a missing-nin. The Fourth Hokage still stood tall. There was no Uchiha Massacre. The Akatsuki never existed. Madara never became a problem. What could go wrong in such a perfect world? Sakura Haruno had always been alone, and at thirteen, she abandoned Konoha. She had to run from her past, but what exactly would wait for her in her future? @NarutoWattyAwards 2014 Third Place Winner in the General Naruto Category! *Written from 2013-2015*