A/N: Wow, sorry for taking so long to update! November was pretty hectic month for me what with all these personal issues that sprouted and the fact that I was doing NaNoWriMo. Now that it's over I'm glad to say that I should be updating a bit more frequently, though I don't have a set schedule. I'll be upfront about one thing however.

I've got lots of things to do, and as much as I wish it was, writing fics is not a priority for me. I have a life, guys. I write when I want/can, and post when I feel that the chapter is exactly how I want it to be. I'm not going to rush writing and give you guys a chapter that's crap (though of course what is and isn't is entirely subjective).

ANYWAY, now that I'm done with that bit. I want to thank everyone that who reviewed and added story alerts/favorited. It's a big motivation and I can't help but get giddy when I read that someone likes what I've written. Many thanks to those of you that have left such kind words. It means a lot. :)

xx LCF

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; but if I did, there would be A LOT more justice done to the females. Hopefully I can correct the situation with Storm. :D

Edit 6/20/17

Hey everyone! Don't mind me, I've just cleaned up and tweaked a few details around.

Storm

Chapter 1: Forces of Destiny

Night had fallen, and the sky was illuminated with the thunderstorms for which the Land of Lightning was renown. Winds howled as hot air rose from the many hot springs that littered the country. The rising heat met the cold gales that blew down from the mountains, and the clash of two extremes sent bouts of rolling thunder to chase after the brilliant flashes of lightning.

Being the big nature admirer that she was, Sakura, sat relaxed on the bough of a tree as her green eyes watched the sky with rapt attention.

The vast mountain ranges of Lightning Country were truly as grand as they had been described to be in the textbooks she'd read throughout her time in the Academy. They towered high into the sky; their peaks disappearing into a sea of clouds while rivers flowed and cut through their valleys. All of them led to an ocean that was unlike any other that Sakura had ever seen. Though technically it was the same as the one in the Land of Fire; it was the remote area of the peninsula and its jagged coastlines that gave it its impressive beauty. Where Fire Country's coast was full of lush vegetation and white sand, in Lightning Country the waters raged and brimmed with life as beaches of black sand and treacherous cliff sides stretched for miles.

If Sakura had attempted to jump from cliffs like these into a sea like the one before her…

Well, she wouldn't have survived the encounter.

At the thought, pale hands ran over the tops of her arms, soothing the phantom pain that took her back to a time where she'd woken up, vulnerable and alone, on some beach far from Konoha.

Three years had passed since she'd washed up on that beach. Three years since she'd left Konoha-or what remained of it, at least. She had no idea what was now happening behind those gates, or if they'd even rebuilt them, and knowing so left a constant ache in her heart.

She still thought of everyone on a daily basis. Of her friends, her family, and her comrades. How tall was Naruto now? Had he given a reply to Hinata's confession? Did Kakashi-sensei still read his porn in public and show up notoriously late? Or had Danzou's regime whipped him out of it? And what of Sai? Was he working more closely with Root now? Was Yamato-taichou still involved in the goings-on of Team Kakashi?

And what of Tsunade-sama? Had Danzou succeeded in taking her life?

Sakura shook her head fiercely.

No. Even if he had sent out battalions at a time to get rid of her, Sakura knew that the shinobi loyal to her would not stand for it. She was alive. Sakura was sure of it.

A sudden clap of thunder pulled Sakura from her thoughts, as the rain began to fall steadily. Cursing herself for losing track of time, Sakura pulled her grey traveling cloak more tightly around her shoulders before double-checking that the transformation jutsu she'd placed on herself several hours ago was still intact.

She'd taken to altering her appearance every single day since her features were a dead-giveaway to her identity. Her pink hair was the most vital part of her change as it was her most distinctive trait. She dyed it the beginning so she could continue saving up chakra for her Seal of One Hundred, but after several close calls with hunter-nin, she'd had to forgo gathering it considering having full access to her reserves was more vital to her survival. But it had been several weeks since she'd stopped into a proper village, and the copper dye was almost completely faded from her hair, so she had to make do with using a henge for the past few days. It was risky, because if her control slipped for a second, she'd be discovered, but it helped in a pinch and allowed her to make even more changes to her person.

Today she opted to keep her hair shorter than how she used to wear it, with the ends resting just below her ears in wavy disarray. Her eyes were now more almond-shaped with the same gray shade as Kakashi-sensei's, and her complexion was far paler than usual. She'd also made a few subtle changes to her facial features. Her face was now more narrow, her lips a tad bit thinner, and she'd refined the tip of her nose into something sharper and more angular. It wasn't much, but in the past she'd been able to keep from being detected with far less.

Satisfied, Sakura jumped down from her perch and began to make her way southwest. She was a two day's run from Kumo, and she wanted to get out of Lightning Country and into the neutral territories that were nestled between what was formerly Sound, Fire, and Waterfall by the end of the week.

After making sure that her pack sat securely on her back, she streaked through the forest, intent on traveling through the rain in the hopes of reaching her destination a little sooner.

It was the large flux of chakra that made her slow her run. She'd been tree-hopping for hours now, just on the border between Land of Lightning and Land of Frost. The rain had let up long ago, allowing the setting sun to peek through the desolate clouds and paint the sky blood-red. It was eerie, and Sakura ignored the unease that inexplicably settled into the pit of her stomach.

She continued forward, with her steps slow and senses on high alert as she leapt from branch to branch with caution. She hadn't travelled a kilometer when she heard it: the sounds of battle and the familiar shriek of metal clashing against metal. Making sure her chakra was masked, Sakura pressed closer. Her guard never dropping as she crept towards several branches that were clustered together thickly, providing a perfect hiding spot for her to survey the scene.

Below her, between all the debris and the clouds of smoke and dirt that hung thickly in the air, Sakura could barely make out vague silhouettes of the shinobi in combat. Metal rang against metal as obscenities flew from one side to the other. The sudden charges of chakra exuded in the jutsu they executed forced the tiny hairs on the back of her arms to stand on end. There was a sudden cry of pain, and subconsciously, Sakura edged closer to get a better look.

The sight that greeted her sent her heart pounding.

It was obvious that the two figures were male; one stood tall, his chest broad and heaving with a head of copper hair sent in spikes. Beside him stood a shorter male, whose choppy white strands brushed the tops of his shoulders, there was a hefty blade that was strapped to his back.

Usually, coming upon other missing-nin wouldn't have triggered such a response in her, but the red clouds stitched onto their black cloaks certainly did.

Reflexively, Sakura drew a kunai and slowly crept away from the scene. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she silently pushed off the branch and began to put as much distance between them and her as quickly as possible. But as she ran, a bloody figure suddenly toppled onto the branch she was going to land on.

The ANBU's mask (Kumo, by the look of it) was cracked and his uniform was damaged beyond repair. He laid immobile on the branch save for the harsh, wet breaths he drew. Gloved hands put pressure on the gaping hole in his chest. From the state of his breathing, Sakura knew immediately that blood must have flooded his lungs. That coupled with the injury, made her doubt if he'd survive the next five minutes.

She wanted to so badly turn on her heel and continue her escape, but the man's wheezing breaths kept her rooted to the tree branch.

Don't do it, Sak. She chided herself. If you try to help him you run the risk of those Akatsuki discovering your presence and where will that leave you?

But even as the thought crossed her mind, she knew what she would do. She'd never be able to forgive herself if she walked away knowing that there was something she could do to help. The oath she took when she became a medic was the only part of her old life she'd allowed herself to keep.

I will maintain the utmost respect for human life…

She could practically hear Tsunade-sama's voice.

Cursing herself, Sakura double-checked her henge before she leapt onto the branch where the ANBU laid. A hand hovered over her kunai holster as she peered down at the masked-nin, all-too aware that not far from her were two of the Akatsuki. The ANBU let out several wet, hacking coughs that sent his body into convulsions. Immediately Sakura's medical instincts kicked in.

She quickly wrenched off his mask to aid his breathing and summoned healing chakra to her free hand. Pulling away the hands that kept pressure on his wound, Sakura pressed the glowing appendage to his chest to assess the damage. The man beneath her flinched at the sudden intrusion of foreign chakra, but seemed to rouse him slightly. His eyes cracked open for a brief second before another coughing fit overcame him. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as his heart beat erratically in his chest.

It was over in the next second as his heart stuttered to a stop, and there was nothing Sakura could do. If she tried restarting the organ, he'd bleed out; and healing his wound before restarting his heart would take up too much time. She wouldn't have been able to heal it and administer CPR before brain damage occurred from lack of oxygen.

Regret washed over her, and after a moment, Sakura swept a hand over his eyes to shut them for the last time. She stood to leave, when the sudden whistle of metal flying through air caught her ears. Instinctively she dove, her head whipping around a beat later to see several kunai embedded in the tree where she'd been standing just seconds ago.

She leapt back as she pulled out the kunai, transformed gray eyes looking to her assailant and her entire body froze when she saw the complete squadron of Kumo ANBU standing several yards away from her.

"It seems that you've been the one causing problems for us in the area, kunoichi. And here we thought Akatsuki was at fault." The captain spoke.

At his words, Sakura shook off her surprise and stood her ground with her chin raised defiantly. "I've done nothing, I was merely passing through the area when your comrade fell before me."

"It's difficult to believe such a statement when you've got blood of our own all over you."

Gray eyes flicked down and caught sight of the red stains that were smeared on her torso and stained the edge of her cloak. She mentally damned her compassionate nature before she braced herself. There was only one way out of this, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

The squadron disappeared in an instant, and in the next, Sakura was deflecting a rain of senbon and kunai. She rushed the closest ANBU to her, fist raised and with chakra surging through her arm. The moment her fist connected with his mask, it exploded in a thousand ivory shards and he was sent careening off the tree and plummeted to the ground below.

Sakura was fluid in her movements as she dodged airborne weapons and twisted through the air in order to strike down her next attacker. But as good as she was, these were hunter-nin—the most ruthless of ANBU, and the fact that they thought she'd attacked one of their own made their attacks ruthless. Sakura deftly avoided a punch before she wrapped her hand around her attacker's outstretched arm and flung him over her shoulder and into another that tried coming at her from her unprotected flank.

Three down, one to go.

She kept her gaze trained on captain as she took in his movements. From the corner of her eye, she saw the two she'd sent flying recover from her throw and return to their squad leader's side. She recognized their formation as one that aimed to corral their opponent.

Unwilling to let herself fall into a far more precarious situation, Sakura released the chakra on the soles of her feet that allowed her to stand upright on the tree and slipped between the branches and onto the ground. The moment her feet touched down, she leapt back to narrowly avoid the kunai of the previous nin whose mask she destroyed. That was all the time needed for the remainder of the squad to reach her. They were upon her in an instant.

As Sakura blocked an incoming kick with her forearm, she managed to land a back kick to an approaching ANBU's chest before ducking down into a crouch, barely missing the airborne kunai aimed for the back of her head. Another ANBU was immediately upon her, his heel clipping her with a hidden blade and leaving a searing trail of fire in its wake. She stumbled back a few steps, making sure to keep them all in her line of sight before she pulled away the hand that had immediately pressed against her side. It came away bloody. Taking a ragged breath, the world began to tilt on its axis as Sakura immediately recognized the symptoms of poisoning.

Not again, she griped. You'd think Black Ops would learn new parlor tricks.

It'd been so long since she'd dealt with this particular poison, and while she didn't have the remedy for it, Sakura did have her medical prowess, and she knew this was similar to the one Root had jabbed her with three years ago. It was non-lethal, but a hindrance, and would inevitably lead to her capture if she didn't do something. Fortunately for her, Sakura hadn't spent those three years on the run twiddling her thumbs. She'd pushed herself and her medical knowledge to the limit, creating several new medical ninjutsu that tested out various theories she had. What she was about to do being one of them.

Summoning more chakra, Sakura regulated it to her kidneys with the hopes that it would help process the toxins out of her body faster. It wasn't as fast-acting as she would like and the chakra drain put her at a disadvantage. She had no choice but to finish this quickly if there was any hope of her escaping.

The only solution was for her to take them out in one hit but the prospect of blowing her cover weighed heavily on her mind. She had taken so many precautions to ensure that her name never surfaced in the shinobi world. Made sure that any rumors of Haruno Sakura remained just that, rumors. And when any of Danzou's men or foreign ANBU chanced upon her, they were oftentimes found dead. But as the Fourth Great Shinobi War was waged and continued to rage on several years after the fact, the searches for her had grown fewer and farther in between.

Before Sakura could come to terms with her decision, the lead ANBU rushed forward in a flurry of kicks and punches, forcing her to back up at his approach. She was caught unawares by the remainder of the squad, and before she could counter their attacks, two ANBU had her pinned face down onto the ground. Their squad leader stood before her, armored arms crossed over his chest as his blank mask looked upon her.

"Now, kunoichi, you won't be a nuisance any longer." he said as he drew his katana from the sheath on his back.

Sakura's transformed eyes narrowed in determination. She channeled chakra to her arms, and in one swift motion, effectively threw off her assailants, making sure to send one crashing into his squad leader. The three flew back and gave her an opening to escape, but just as she was about to make a run for it, she caught the flux of chakra from the forgotten fourth member a moment too late.

Damn it! She cursed as a hand shot out form the ground at her feet. Headhunter jutsu.

As she was being pulled down, Sakura cocked back her fist and let a chakra-laced punch fly towards the ground. The earth shattered upon impact, revealing the previous ANBU whose mask she shattered. Wrenching her ankle from his grasp, Sakura swung her heel down on his head in a fierce axe kick that the unknown nin managed to dodge. Before she could follow up, the shinobi reentered striking range.

Sakura registered his uppercut just a half-second too late.

Stars exploded in her vision as his fist connected with the underside of her chin. The follow-through forcing her head to snap back and her teeth to click together painfully. His other hand came up in a flash, the metal of his kunai glinting in the sun before she felt the sharp sting of its edge pressed against her neck.

Still reeling from the blow, Sakura barely registered the blurs of red and black that suddenly fell from the treetops and into the clearing before she fell into unconsciousness.

The last of the ANBU fell to the ground with a quiet thud just as Suigetsu and Juugo relaxed their stances. Breathing deeply, Suigetsu frowned severely at the sight before him before he turned to address Juugo, only to find the other man's attention enraptured by the girl that laid crumpled on the forest floor. The former Mist-nin was a bit miffed. His violet eyes burned holes into the back of Juugo's head as the giant man quietly made his way over to the unconscious kunoichi.

Nevermind the fact that they wouldn't be in the clearing standing amidst a slaughtered squadron of ANBU if it wasn't for the fact that Suigetsu couldn't leave things well enough alone.

It had been he, not Juugo, that had taken notice of the chakra that suddenly raged a few kilometers from where their own fight had just ended. And it had been at his own insistence that they'd gone to see who it was and decide whether or not it was a fight worth getting into or not. Juugo had merely responded with a nod, used to entertaining his whims by now, and so they'd masked their chakra and made their way over to the latest brawl.

The parts of Lightning Country that they'd been traveling through over the past few days were rough. Bandits, nuke-nin, and mobs lurked everywhere; though it was hard to be intimidated when more often than not, you're one of the monsters from the stories that the country folk used to scare their children into behaving.

The group that he and Juugo had disposed of earlier were a pathetic bunch of bandits that had most likely failed out of their shinobi training but were talented enough to wreak havoc on the small villages that dusted the countryside. Not that their meager bit of training did them any good; they'd been cut down just the same. Which was a pity, considering he'd wanted more of a challenge.

Regardless, he was sure that it had been their fight that had lured out one of Kumo's ANBU, and given Taka's fearless leader's propensity for wiping out anything that endangered his endgame, Suigetsu took it upon himself to dispose of their uninvited guest. The ANBU had managed to get away before he could deliver the final blow, but the former Mist-nin had been confident in his abilities wielding the throat cleaver. Suigetsu had taken a good chunk out of the hunter-nin before he'd taken off. He would have bled out within minutes, if not seconds.

Pulled from his musing, he walked over to Juugo, who knelt over the girl. The quiet man unfastened his cloak and set it over her in a bad pantomime of a blanket. A tent would have been a more appropriate way to describe how it dwarfed her tiny form. A frown pulled at his lips as he studied the girl. She was nothing special, probably fourteen or fifteen; her hair was cropped ridiculously short, but her face was unmistakable in its femininity. She was a petite thing, and lacked any indication of having hit puberty.

Practically a kid, his mind supplied.

Suigetsu released a sigh as he plopped down next to Juugo, his violet eyes watching the man's large hands as they gently turned the girl over to examine the injuries she'd managed to get from her run-in with Kumo's ANBU.

The gash along her side was ragged and deep, blood seeped steadily from it and coated Juugo's hands. The former Mist-nin felt a tiny pang of sympathy for the kid. He'd slipped up enough times, wasn't fast enough enough times, to know that taking a kunai was no easy feat. Seriously, she'd had to have a surreal tolerance for pain because they hadn't even heard her scream when she'd been hit-and they'd certainly been close enough to hear that.

After a few more seconds of examination, Juugo rewrapped her in his cloak before turning to face him with a determined set to his jaw that Suigetsu didn't like.

"We need to take her somewhere safe and watch over her for a few days."

Oh hell no.

Suigetsu blanched. "Are you kidding me? Why can't we just dump her at a nearby village. I'm sure there'll be someone willing to patch up an injured kid."

"The nearest village is a two-day run from here, and she wouldn't have been caught by ANBU if it hadn't been for your need to sate your bloodlust by taking on a band of petty thieves. The ANBU scout you let get away most likely called for reinforcements and she must have been caught in the crossfire."

"This is war, Juugo. There's always going to be innocents suffering for it." Suigetsu bit back."Nevertheless, I will not allow her to perish because of something that could have been prevented. The fact of the matter is that ANBU wouldn't have come upon her if it hadn't been for us making a disturbance by taking out the bandits." Juugo replied with finality. "It would be best if we regrouped with the others before she awakens."

With that, he carefully picked upon the unconscious kunoichi and started his way back to their designated rendezvous point.

Suigetsu for his part, rolled his violet eyes at the large shinobi before following after him. He was going to be in for it once they met up with the others; there was no way around it. It didn't matter that it was all Juugo's idea, because even if he thoroughly voiced that he had no part in Juugo's decision to bring back a stray, there was no saving him from the harpy that was Karin and the screeching that was sure to follow. And as for their leader? There was no telling what he'd do given his extremely low tolerance for their shit. But one thing was for sure...

Sasuke was going to be pissed.