AUTHOR'S NOTE

Thanks for the support and encouragement for this story so far! Feels like old times again and I am having so much fun with the writing and plotting. I am particularly excited about this next one. Hope you like it!

Chapter 5

This was not the kind of day Sakura had envisioned for herself.

Not today. Or ever.

With her pack stuffed to the brim with weapons, snacks, camping supplies, and sealing scrolls containing even more camping supplies, Sakura bid her medical tour and all semblance of logic goodbye and prepared to embark not towards Konoha as she'd intended to up until mere minutes ago, but in the exact opposite direction.

After returning to her squad (and interrupting a rather unusual string of questions from Sai about human anatomy "in the name of his art"), she'd informed them of the change in plans, properly introduced their new ninja escorts, and reminded them of the protocol they were to follow upon arriving in Konoha that evening.

She took a few questions, while Ino doted over her rations of supplies and lent Sakura several more of her own, before bidding the group farewell and departing for the foresty path they had just come through yesterday.

The last thing she heard before disappearing through the brush was Emi's voice calling, "Go get him, Sakura-sama!" and Ino chuckling, "You're Emi, huh? I think I'm gonna like you."

Sakura rolled her eyes as she adjusted her red headband with a metal plate bearing Konoha's leaf insignia, and set out at a light jog.

She opted to wear her light brown travelling cloak over her red combat dress. While it wasn't particularly cold out, there was heavy overcast, and with how unpredictably her day was unfolding so far, she figured she'd best brace for anything.

Despite her laundry list of reservations about the present situation, there was a certain thrill of travelling alone and the freedom this journey promised. While Sakura had done a few solo missions earlier in her career, it was generally rare for ninjas to travel without a squad having your back or, at the very least, tracking your whereabouts.

But not this time. Today, Sakura wasn't bound by anyone's schedule or expectations.

Hell, even Sasuke was in for a shock, if she ever managed to find him.

The prospects of finally joining the adventure she had longed for and of seeing Sasuke again were enough to propel her onward and have her stomach flipping in spite of her doubts.

Hopefully his offer still stood or this would be rather awkward.

Sakura exhaled and reeled in her pace slightly, reminding herself that while she was capable of travelling faster, she'd better conserve her energy, in case this was a long search.

All Sakura knew of Sasuke's whereabouts was that he was heading West from the town they'd met in. So, she would start there, venture in the same direction he'd gone, and hope for the best.

It was a haphazard plan at best, but it was the only one she had.

This might be a little insane, but I'll regret it if I don't try.

Okay, maybe this is more than a little insane.

As Sakura's adrenaline wore off and her emotions settled, the logistical implications of her search became clearer.

Sakura's stamina was low after a sleepless night, and Sasuke was an exceptionally quick traveller with an entire day's lead time. The odds of her catching him were almost zero, unless she happened upon a place he stayed put.

Then there were the ominous clouds forming in the distance and the spike in humidity indicating that wearing her cloak had been a wise decision.

By the time Sakura was back in the town of their pit-stop, the rain had started. She pulled the cloak's hood over her head and slogged through the muddying path while she regained her bearings.

She ducked over her map to shelter it from the splatter of raindrops as she memorized the nearby landmarks.

Unfortunately, her path West wasn't clearcut, with there being both a town Northwest and one Southwest. Each one was more than a half a day's trek away, which made it hard to say if she could make it to either of them before nightfall.

Sakura peered at the waiting forest ahead from under her hood. It was a little nerve-wracking, the idea of camping out entirely alone in an unknown forest, and likely in less than favourable weather. She knew she was capable, just a bit out of practice, having typically stayed at inns during medical tours with her squads of civilians.

No, she wouldn't let this deter her though.

This was all just part of the change in pace she'd been craving, wasn't it?

Sakura folded away the map, opting to simply head due West and trust her instincts on where to go from there. She'd have asked around town for guidance, but feared doing so would only waste time with nightfall fast approaching.

No, this is definitely completely insane.

Much to Sakura's misfortune, things only went from bad to worse as the hours stretched on, rendering her tired, freezing cold, and questioning her life choices.

The rumbling, storm-filled clouds were tainted a sinister purple-grey. Together with the downpour, which had become nothing short of torrential, the thick clouds hampered Sakura's vision as she trudged through the dense forest of dark, looming trees.

Her cloak was soaked through, its hood failing to keep water from splattering into her eyes and streaming down her face.

She'd ventured deep enough into the forest that back-tracking for shelter would take just as long as finding the next town, but the brutal weather had slowed her travel time so significantly that her already-unlikely chance of making it to another town before nightfall was looking impossible.

In fact, at this rate, the prospect of finding any dry place to shelter for any amount of time was growing slimmer by the second.

Sakura spluttered as she swivelled around, noting the darkening surroundings and her position in an open, muddy clearing, surrounded by clusters of densely packed trees, branches bending in the storm, and how she was utterly secluded with no witnesses in range.

The first wave of fear gripped her.

Because she knew that even for a ninja of her stature, these were the types of conditions that promised problems.

And that was before she detected the chakra.

Sakura froze in place, her heart plummeting as her senses fought for sharper focus through the storm.

Unfortunately, albeit murky, her senses proved reliable when four shadowy figures emerged from the trees ahead, their chakra presences unmistakeable.

"You've got to be kidding me," Sakura groaned. This had to be among the worst possible positions one could be in for a ninja ambush.

Well, there was no way they hadn't spotted her, which meant hiding was off the table. So, Sakura approached the group, trying an optimistic assumption that they weren't here for trouble.

"Hello! I'm just passing through to the next town," she called out, hoping her voice carried through the downpour, while taking in their unidentifiable dark clothing, menacing masks, and hands hovering over weapon pouches. "Can I help you?"

As expected, she received no answer.

At least, not a verbal one.

The familiar whirr of shuriken slicing through wind and raindrops told her as much as she needed to know about their intentions.

Sakura's nerves gave way to sheer survival instincts as she leaped aside to dodge the assault, the mud caked to her legs inhibiting her movements slightly.

They probably don't recognize me, Sakura thought, because not only was it extremely unusual and unlawful to attack a ninja of the Five Great Nations unprovoked in peace time, but Sakura herself was a reputable medical ninja known for her international humanitarian work. You had to be a special kind of cruel to knowingly attack a person like her.

Perhaps they had mistaken her for someone else? Or maybe they were protecting something she had accidentally stumbled upon?

Or they were rogue ninjas looking to stir up conflict?

Nonetheless, Sakura knew she was in for a harder time than her latest altercation. These were no neighbourhood thugs.

And enemies with hard-to-read motives tended to be particularly dangerous in battle.

Sakura sprang from the next barrage of weapons while making a mental map of the terrain. The conditions were dreadful, with only a few sparse trees as obstacles in the clearing, and the visibility and sound greatly obscured by the heavy rain.

Sakura needed to tread carefully. She didn't want to kill them or anything, but she certainly couldn't let herself be defeated either.

When the next weapon, a kunai, flew her way, she caught it by the handle.

Then she closed her fist and shattered it.

"If you stand down now, I'll let you go unharmed," she taunted.

The enemies, who were either quite strong or quite stupid, ignored her and closed in.

Sakura's heart pounded as chakra and adrenaline swirled in her belly and chased down her limbs.

Despite it all, her lips curved into the ghost of a smirk.

Let's go, then.

She dropped to a crouch while slamming her palms to the ground, channeling Earth release chakra to her hands.

Then, like she'd pressed a lever, a solid wall of rock and dirt sprang up from the Earth, forming a barrier, and buying her a moment to strategize.

As anticipated, the wall caused a mud slide that caught the enemies in their advance. One of the enemies was entirely buried beneath the slick, heavy mud, but Sakura didn't catch the outcome of their struggle because one of the others managed to clear her barrier.

No matter, she thought, and squaring them up. At least she'd separated the group, however briefly, because close range combat was much easier when you weren't outnumbered four-to-one.

Sakura released the clasp of her cloak and let the storm rip it away, deciding she'd rather be cold and wet than lose because of a soaked, muddy cloak weighing her down, before bringing her arm up to block a kick the enemy aimed at her head.

She gripped onto their ankle. "Hrugh!" she cried as she flung them into the earth wall, where they disappeared in a shower of mud and rocks, just as two other enemies scaled it and leaped towards her with weapons poised.

Sakura wiped her eyes on the back of her wrist and spat out water before charging up her fists with chakra and meeting them head-on, trusting her own two hands more than aiming weapons in these weather conditions.

A gritty, muddy taijutsu battle ensued.

The pair of enemies worked in an impressive team and were quite fast, managing to evade most of Sakura's chakra-laden swipes, and even getting a few hits in themselves.

From a combination of the horrendous battle conditions and sheer exhaustion, much to her frustration, Sakura's reaction time was a fraction too slow.

While ducking to evade Sakura's hook, one enemy grazed her arm with the tip of a blade, leaving a long slash down her bicep.

Sakura hissed and snatched the front of the enemy's cloak, yanking them towards her, before driving her knee into their abdomen. Her opponent's gasp, the faint crack, and the way they collapsed to the ground suggested they wouldn't be giving her more trouble for awhile.

But there wasn't time to celebrate her small victory.

Something wiry and sharp wrapped around her neck. The other enemy had used Sakura's focus on their comrade to sneak up behind and catch her in a chokehold.

Sakura wheezed and clawed at her throat, where a thick, metal chain with sharp ridges pulled against her neck, compressing her windpipe and nicking her skin.

"Get off," she snapped, as a shockwave of chakra blasted from her body, disintegrating the chain and both of her opponent's hands in the process.

Sakura coughed and massaged her throat while her fallen opponent buckled down into the mud beside the other, both shrieking through their masks and holding their injuries.

Okay, maybe that was overkill. But that freaked me out, dammit!

She'd given the enemies an out at the start of the battle, right? She'd tried to warn them they were outclassed. Yet still, for some reason, they kept coming at her with killing intent, and she wasn't about to let them have their way.

Then, Sakura's earth wall was blasted apart.

She leaped backwards to dodge the shower of sludge and rock, careful not to lose her footing in the thick mud upon landing.

A brief assessment of the wall's utter demolition as her two remaining opponents advanced indicated they'd either set off some kind of explosive or at least one of them had an affinity for Earth release themselves.

Sakura frowned as the opponents caught sight of her and began to charge. As much as she usually revelled in the thrill and grit of close-range combat, she was getting tired of these nuisances, who'd already gotten too close for comfort.

It was time to shake things up.

Through the sheet of heavy rain, it didn't take much effort for Sakura to produce a mud clone of herself and slip away from the scene undetected, casting a genjutsu to obscure their view of her real body.

While the opponents faced off with her clone, Sakura prowled behind them, waited patiently for an opportune moment, then slipped senbon needles laced with a strong sedative into the back their necks. She did the same with the other two, who were too distracted by their wounded abdomen and mangled hands to notice her.

She counted down from five while the sedative made quick work of bringing them to their knees and then slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Just like that, the battlefield was eerily silent, save rainfall pummeling everything in reach.

Sakura took a moment to catch her breath as she gazed upon the scene, her thoughts catching up to what had just transpired.

When Naruto had suggested Sakura take time for herself, he'd probably envisioned something of a peaceful and rejuvenating nature, like a spa day.

While Sakura would take an adventure over a spa day any day, maybe this particular adventure was getting out of hand.

With her cloak long gone, Sakura was sopping wet in her sleeveless dress and black shorts, with mud and blood splattered on her limbs, frigid rainwater trailing down her face, and strong winds whipping around her drenched hair.

A sharp crack of thunder rumbled through the sky.

As she came down from the adrenaline high and the emotions registered, Sakura was left feeling genuinely confused and afraid.

She was disoriented and hadn't a clue where she was. Her surroundings had darkened significantly as nightfall settled in, and the storm was growing increasingly ferocious.

And, most importantly… Who the hell were those guys?

Well, whoever they were, as a representative of the Hidden Leaf Village who had just faced an assault from unknown ninjas, Sakura was officially on ninja business.

In better conditions, she might have waited around for the enemies to wake up and interrogate them. But she didn't know if they had allies around and she wasn't keen to find out in her current state. And she got the sense her window for finding shelter from the storm was getting narrower with each passing second.

But she couldn't leave without a quick search for clues.

With teeth chattering and water dripping off her nose and chin, Sakura performed a scan of each fallen enemy, emptying pockets and weapon holsters, discarding masks, and patching up fatal injuries so none of them bled out in their sleep.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything identifying about them – no familiar faces, no head protectors, and no other indications of their village allegiances, which led Sakura to believe they might be rogue ninjas after all. Or hired mercenaries. But hired to do what?

Their motives for attacking her did not become any clearer as the search went on. Sakura did come across a couple of scrawled notes and sealing scrolls among their things, but decided to stow them away for examination when she was in a safer, dryer place, lest she risk them being ruined by the rain.

Then, as she was placing the final enemy's mask back on and considering double-checking the wound in his abdomen, she was struck by something sharp, cold, and rock hard, straight into her injured bicep.

Sakura choked down her yelp and sprang to her feet. Whatever it was stung like hell and would surely leave a nasty mark.

But before she could pinpoint the source of the new attack, a similar object hurled right into her head, sending her stumbling backwards.

And then another struck her shoulder.

And then… it clicked.

It was hail.

I need to get out of here, Sakura thought with a surge of panic, just as a menacing flash of lightning clawed across the purple-black sky.

Even a ninja, with all of their tools and ninjutsu tricks, was vulnerable to the wrath of Mother Nature.

Sakura scrambled for the forest, using her arms to shield her face from the plummeting ice chunks as large as apples, and pumping chakra to her legs to enhance the power of her stride.

Crossing the treeline didn't offer much refuge though, as most of the trees were tall and flimsy, bowing and snapping to the vicious winds, with sparse branches to offer cover.

Sakura stumbled around through the woods, with her arms locked tight over her head, biting down whimpers as her arms and body were struck over and over again by pellets of hail.

She found a tree with slightly denser branches and crouched against it, shielding her legs and body as best she could. But overall this proved fruitless, as the hail pelted through the fragile branches, wreaking havoc on her trembling arms and exposed back.

Desperation consumed her as her mind reeled through her options. Did she risk moving her arms away from her head and being knocked unconscious to search through her sealing scrolls for something to cover herself with?

Was she able to withstand the pain, or did she resort to ninjutsu? While she could whip up another Earth style wall for some temporary coverage, doing so would hold her in place, and if her enemies had reinforcements on the way, she didn't want to be anywhere near here. She needed to be mobile.

So, Sakura wondered as tears prickled in her eyes, did she use her trump card?

The Creation Rebirth technique would heal her wounds instantly and guarantee her survival though the storm. The catch was, of course, that this technique dealt critical damage to the body and would shorten her lifespan. It was only to be used in truly dire circumstances.

Was she really going to resort to such a technique mere hours into her first ninja adventure in years?

A pang of shame, more acute and painful than any of her injuries, rooted in her chest.

I'm not cut out for this.

I shouldn't have listened to any of them.

I'm not a real ninja.

I shouldn't have –

That was when she picked up a new chakra presence closing in at an alarming pace.

Her breath caught and muscles tensed. Reinforcements, then?

She'd have to stay perfectly still and pray they somehow didn't spot her. Otherwise, she'd have no choice but to activate her seal for the next battle. Sakura balled her hands into fists and peered through her arms, just as someone in dark clothing leapt into view.

Even in a shapeless black cloak with their hood up, their identity was unmistakable.

Shell-shocked, Sakura lowered her arms, braving the hail because surely she'd already been knocked unconscious and this wasn't happening.

Her arms' movement caught his attention, and in a flash, Sasuke was crouched in front of her, gasping for breath and spluttering through the rainwater streaming down his face.

But Sakura didn't have the chance to take in any more of the situation.

A vicious gust of wind stole her breath and blasted a barrage of hail shards towards them head-on.

Sasuke cursed and grabbed Sakura's shoulder, as she ducked her head towards him and scrunched her eyes closed, bracing for more pain.

But it didn't come.

Instead, her surroundings silenced, save the distant echoes of hail shattering against a solid surface, like she was indoors hearing the storm thudding against a rooftop.

She opened her eyes a crack to find everything engulfed in a purple glow.

The giant, skeletal hand of Sasuke's Susanoo was protruding from his shoulder, its fingers curling around the two of them in a protective shield against the storm.

Sakura's eyes darted around as she processed the predicament, still not entirely convinced she was actually conscious.

Sasuke releasing her shoulder pulled her attention back to him, still crouched in front of her with his black hood on and breathing heavily. Only now did she notice that his Sharingan was activated, his crimson iris accentuated by the backdrop of haunting purple. His eyes were filled with disbelief as they roved her body, lingering on her battered arms.

Then they locked eyes and Sakura was flooded with nearly every emotion in her arsenal all at once; shock, elation, shame, confusion, but especially, relief.

In the heat of her fear and desperation, any familiar face would do, but the fact she'd actually, somehow, managed to find Sasuke in the end, was a rather poetic bookend to her utterly insane, rollercoaster of a day.

She wanted to cry. She wanted to sleep. She wanted to hug him.

Sasuke exhaled sharply and broke the silence. "You again," he said, frowning. "And with another trail of bodies."

In spite of everything, Sakura laughed.