The Archangel of the Hidden Leaf

Chapter 4:

Faceless Face

Sakura quietly opened the door to her patient's room, peeking inside to check for signs of activity. The only thing to capture her attention was the same as it was every day: a motionless body resting in a bed. She sighed and entered in with a clipboard in hand. It was time for the daily checkup.

The medical ninja approached the bedside with her pink hair tied up out of her face and a white coat draped over her clothes. A heart monitor beeped consistently a couple of feet away, and a mostly empty bag of saline was hanging from an IV stand on the other side of the patient. She gazed down. The healing wrists were still restrained via cuffs on the bedframe, and the muzzle on her mouth remained untampered with. The once bloodthirsty, savage creature was now nothing less than a dormant, unconscious human. It had been this way for a week straight, and although the vital signs were improving with time, there was still no telling when she would come to from her comatose state.

Sakura involuntarily took a moment longer to look over her outward appearance. The mass of matted brown hair that covered the entire surface of the pillow had been picked clean of its debris, but still needed a thorough wash and brush. Her face was a mystery; what was once the epiphany of a demonic and evil monstrosity with completely black eyeballs and homicidal fangs that jutted out from the oral cavity was now a peaceful and innocent being. Her skin complexion was lighter than Sai's, causing her face to appear to lack features such as lips and a nose. It was difficult to decipher if she was actually looking at a face at all. The sharpness of her bones from malnutrition was prominent in her cheekbones but more apparent in other parts of her body, which were hidden away from the blanket covering most of her. The extreme disparity between the first impression and what was beheld right now was remarkable.

Remembering her task, she began recording the wellbeing of her patient. She measured the EKG, replaced the saline bag with a full one, and checked her temperature. Everything was turning out to be normal, and her vitals were better than they were yesterday. It was only a matter of time until she awakened, however long that would take. She just hoped it was soon so that Lady Tsunade no longer had to wait to conduct her research. And hopefully, the pressure on Lady Tsunade had not gotten worse for her throughout the week.

Casting one last glance at the now beautiful creature, Sakura secured her clipboard full of notes and headed for the door. It was time to take a break from hospital duties for a little while. Even with this big responsibility on her shoulders, she still made sure to take food pills over to Naruto as he did his special training with Captain Yamato and Kakashi Sensei. Sakura quietly closed the door behind her as she left.

With her hair down and medical coat off, Sakura strolled from the buildings of the Leaf Village and made her way through a forest with a basket in hand. The round edible pills in it were freshly prepped from earlier in the morning. A small gesture may have been overlooked by Naruto, but doing it made Sakura feel better. He had been working hard all week to harness a new Jutsu while she had been working in the hospital, so times like these also gave her an excuse to keep up with her friend.

The edge of the forest brought Sakura to the glade where Naruto was training at. Ahead of her, a great plateau with a wide waterfall cascading from it towered over Yamato as he sat in the center of wooden totems with an arm extended. A long line of cloned bodies stood horizontally parallel to the waterfall on a branch. The blonde hair indicated those clones were Naruto.

Sakura walked closer to the scene. She saw how next to Captain Yamato's totem circle was a tree, and underneath the shadow of that tree was a wooden couch with Kakashi Sensei lounging on it. He had Make-Out Tactics covering his masked face and his legs crossed over the arm of it. When Sakura got close enough, she halted to observe what was happening. She could hear Naruto grunting and yelling against the growl of the massive torrent, and Yamato was concentrating enough to either ignore her presence or not be aware of it at all. Clearly, those two were at work, but her sensei?

Just as the thought crossed her mind, Kakashi moved the novel from his face and glanced at his student with one visible eye. "Came by to drop off your snacks?" he inquired.

"Yeah," she replied, not looking at him. "How's he doing?"

"Progress is steady. He's trying to cut the waterfall in half."

The idea confused her. How was something possible? And Naruto was the one having to figure it out by himself, as nutty as that sounded. Since Yamato possessed the First Hokage's Wood Release, Sakura guessed that he was the one who created the plateau and waterfall with his two chakra natures. He gave Naruto the resources he needed to develop the Jutsu. She was not sure what Kakashi had provided.

She bent over to place the basket on the ground next to her sensei. "He'll need to take a break soon. These will help his strength and recovery."

"Leaving so soon?" Kakashi asked her.

"Huh?"

"You just got here. Unless there's something at the hospital that's keeping you more entertained."

"Oh, uh…Kind of," she admitted, thinking of her patient.

"Well, as long as Lady Tsunade is keeping you busy like we're keeping Naruto busy, surely that's a good thing for future endeavors. Keep up the good work, Sakura," he praised.

Sakura smiled and gave a single nod before turning away to return to work. Naruto may be working to create something new and exciting for his future, but she was also working on healing her mysterious patient. If she could successfully heal her, then it would help her heal an even sicker or more injured patient someday.

A familiar face hung around the copse as she walked back to where she came from. His placid complexion showed in his face and exposed midriff, and as she approached closer, his fake smile grew wider across his face. "Hello, Sakura," Sai greeted her. "It's been a few days."

"It has. Why are you here?"

"I know Naruto has been training. I was wondering how it was going."

Being with Sai again suddenly gave Sakura an idea. Lately, even before their latest mission, he had been going to the library to read and learn things. Perhaps he could give her an answer about what she was looking at with her patient. "Kakashi Sensei said he's doing fine, but…Hey…Can I ask you a question?" she shifted topics.

"Yes?"

"I know you're reading books. I was wondering if you could think of a word for me."

"Like what?"

Where do I even start? she wondered, trying to picture the creature as a monstrosity and as the almost faceless being in the hospital. It still baffled her a week after the initial day the two chunins were killed. The one worry that haunted her was that the creature would strike again. As much as she dreaded it happening, she knew she had to be ready to act if it did. But still, such a face possessing unearthly beauty in the lack of features betrayed that worry altogether. It did not seem feasible at all, yet she witnessed it with her own eyes. How could pitch-black eyes and ghastly teeth come from a blank face like that?

"Well…what about not being sure if you actually see something or not?" she tried, recalling her scrutiny earlier in the hospital.

He thought for a moment, and then looked up toward the sky as if he were remembering something. Sakura gazed up as well to see the puffy clouds scattered around the blue sky, occasionally casting a shadow on the ground as they soundlessly moved with the wind. "Are you talking about patterns?" Sai questioned her.

Patterns? She internally repeated, not following his train of thought. "I'm not sure," she responded, taking her attention away from the clouds.

"Is it like seeing shapes in the clouds? Those patterns. Maybe you see figures that are familiar to you, like animals."

"You know a word for that?"

"Pareidolia," he answered, gazing back to her with the same smile. "I learned about the phenomenon in a book after experiencing it during our mission. It turns out we all experience it more often than we realize–" He swiveled his head at the trees behind him "–It's like looking at tree bark and thinking you see a face in it."

The short explanation hit the target for her. "That's it," she sighed with relief. "Thank you, Sai."

Up on the branch, a series of small explosions sounded off, making Yamato and Kakashi gaze up. The puffs of smoke dissipated with the disappearance of Naruto's shadow clones and revealed the lone genin. "What's wrong, Naruto?" Yamato called, lowering his hand.

"Ugh, nothing," he groaned, jumping down onto the small body of water that was collecting the contents of the waterfall. His feet landed on the surface but did not break through since he was concentrating his chakra into the soles of his feet. The captain and sensei stayed where they were as Naruto approached them, his exposed torso reflecting a sheen of water that had sprayed from the torrent and stuck to his flesh. The First Hokage's crystal dangled against his chest untouched, but since he decided to stop trying to cut the waterfall in half, Yamato no longer needed to focus his powers on it.

"Can we go to Ichiraku Ramen? I'm starving," Naruto claimed, stepping onto dry land.

"You should be training as much as possible," Kakashi insisted. "Besides, why go into town to eat when Sakura left you some lunch?"

The jinchuriki looked to see the basket full of food pills waiting to be dug into next to the wooden couch. The sight made his stomach twist. Those things were disgusting! Why the heck did Sakura keep bringing them if he was not going to eat them?

Naruto huffed and put his jacket back on before grabbing the basket. "I'll be back," he grumbled, walking away toward the forest. Yamato and Kakashi looked at each other but said nothing.

Sakura stood by her bedside one last time. It was the same prospect as before, but she had an altered viewpoint this time. This girl was unique; she possessed a pareidolia for a face. There was anticipation now to see how her black eyes would affect her beauty. Would they add to her mesmerizing characteristics, or divert away from beauty completely? Feeling more understanding now, Sakura gently took her hand into her own. "I promise you'll feel better when you wake up, whoever you are," she whispered, hoping she would not regret her words.

Suddenly, the floor shook, and an annoying voice barked at her back. She did not have to turn around to know it was Naruto. He had barged in without even knocking, just as anyone would expect from him. "I'm tired of you bringing me these stupid food pills! I'm not going to eat them!" he complained.

Sakura could feel a vein bulge in her temple from the outburst. How did this idiot know she was here? He's lucky to know where the bathroom in his own house is. In times like these, Sakura would happily whip around a hit Naruto with a sucker punch that would send him flying across the room, but she could not do so in a hospital. Instead, she turned around with an aura that was a warning in itself. Immediately, Naruto's demeanor changed to terror. He knew he made a mistake. "Naruto," she growled warningly.

His blue eyes focused on the medical shinobi for a quick moment before shifting to what was behind her. "Uh…Sakura," he began, seeing the body sit up silently.

"You think you can just barge into a hospital room and yell at me? Isn't it obvious I'm checking a patient right now?" The chakra coursing through her body was starting to accumulate into her fist out of sheer anger. She did not want to punch him more than she did right now.

But Naruto ignored her. The woman in the bed jerked her head toward him, making her matted hair sway ungracefully. The sight of the blank face made him yelp. He was staring right at someone who was missing her face!