.: Hey Thomas, I just wanted to say thank you so much for your kind reviews. It's been so long since I got one for a story I worked on consistently, so I can actually respond this time. I was writing this chapter when you started reviewing, and I reread chapters while waiting for your next one lol. I'm glad you like things so far. I try to update once a week, but I'm a college student so exam weeks are a no go for me. I hope you stick around long enough to see where Dolia goes with her new friends by her side :) :.

The Archangel of the Hidden Leaf

Chapter 13:

Inner Strength

Sai watched from a distance. The sun was past setting, so he would have to leave soon. The only reason the ANBU shinobi stayed for as long as he had was that he was waiting for Sakura to appear. For a week straight, she came with a basket of food pills for Naruto while he trained. They exchanged words yesterday, but today was not the same. Although he struggled to grasp his suppressed emotions and relate to others, he felt a little disheartened.

One thing that did remain consistent, though, was Naruto's training. He was still up on Captain Yamato's branch, trying to do something with a waterfall. The only peculiar events to happen during it was Kakashi leaving with a woman and returning with a different one. He did not get a good look at either but witnessed him put the second one in a tree. While he was hoping to see Sakura again, he also wondered what the purpose for practically hiding her was. She did arrive with wrists bound, but Kakashi took off the restraints. That was another reason he stuck around this long.

When the time came for Naruto to stop for the day, it was also time for the girl to come out of the tree. Kakashi brought her down. Sai watched as she spoke to Naruto once more and then turned her attention to Captain Yamato. The four of them were a little way away from where he was staying out of sight in the thick of trees, so details were lacking from his perspective, but the moment she turned, he found it impossible to make out anything on her face. His eyes narrowed to try focusing. Kakashi's mask was obvious to him. So were Naruto's markings on his cheeks. But for her, there was not a single feature he could distinguish.

"Hm," he hummed with a hand pressed against the trunk of a tree. Perhaps it was because he was too far away, but the curiosity still brimmed within him. Sai decided that his curiosity would have to be quenched tomorrow. He turned around to trek back to the village.

Naruto tipped his head back to gulp down the last morsel of food for dinner. It was like he skipped lunch because the amount of hunger he had was just as bad as when he woke up that morning. Even though he was unable to cut the waterfall in half, the training was still using a lot of his chakra. But he had to admit, he definitely was not tired like Captain Yamato was.

Kakashi sat near Naruto and Yamato. He did not eat but instead relished in the warmth of the campfire Yamato made. But it would be the last task he did for the night. Already exhausted from the day of nonstop concentration, Yamato now wheezed and coughed with a weak expression that looked into the flames. The sound made Naruto uncomfortable.

Dolia sat next to Naruto on his bedding. She had finished eating a few minutes ago, only stopping when her shriveled stomach could not stretch more. She, too, listened to Yamato wheeze and cough with a pang of guilt. There were times when she resided in the hole without a wild animal to eat for days, and she felt weak as a result. His current condition may not be exactly what she experienced, but she hoped she could relate in some way.

Her eyes wandered to the white flower he made for her. She held it in her hand, not wanting to put it down. The last person to gift her with something was her mother with the baskets of food delivered. Each time brought her happiness. Now, Yamato made her happy with his precious flower.

Naruto looked over at her. He was used to her not having much to say, but he noticed how fixated she was on her gift. "You like it?" he asked her in a hushed tone.

She nodded with her smile growing wider.

He observed her now clean hair and remembered how it used to be a matted, tangled mess. Sakura must have fixed it up for her if she was the one who named her. It had volume now that made it stick out in odd directions in some places. Seeing how much she treasured Captain Yamato's flower, he formed an idea. He offered to take it from her. "Can I?"

She looked at him with an untrusting gaze. He may have been her friend, but she only knew him for a couple of days.

"I'll give it back," he added with teeth showing in a friendly smile. "Believe it."

Hesitating, she placed the flower in his hand and watched him take it. He held the wooden stem and snapped it in a particular place. She winced at the sound as if it also counted as her heart breaking. Why was he breaking it?

But Naruto was being intentional. He dropped the fragment he broke off on the ground and turned to slide the shortened flower into her hair above her ear. Since he altered it, the end of it would not stick out. Now she just had a series of white petals revealing themselves in a strand of hair without the indication it was attached to a stem. "There. Now you won't lose it," he said, pressing his hands into the blanket behind him and leaning back.

Dolia reached up to feel it. She could not see it, but knowing it was there comforted her. She understood now that he was not breaking it. "Thank you," she whispered.

Kakashi watched the two of them as it happened. Naruto was very gentle with her. His friendly persona showed itself heavily with plenty of people he met, but Dolia was a little bit different. Together, they witnessed how monstrous she could be. He acted as if she never lunged for his throat with jaws open. He wondered why that was so.

He looked to Yamato, who was hunched over and ready to sleep so he could get some energy back. "I'm sorry to ask, Yamato, but can you do one more thing for me?"

The expression of weakness increased just by the question. "Sure…"

"I just need Dolia to be caged during the night so she can't escape."

"Sure…" he repeated.

Naruto overheard them. He was a little saddened to say goodnight soon, but he was also a little hopeful. He did not plan on sleeping just yet. Reaching to his left, he picked up his folded blanket and put it in front of Dolia for her to take. "You need this more than I do," he told her.

She must have heard Kakashi as well because she picked up the blanket and got up to move away from his spot. She sat on a bare patch of grass that was still around the fire. Yamato did a small series of hand signs to make a bunch of branches uproot from the ground around her. They combined and twisted to form openings big enough to look through but small enough to keep her inside. Naruto thought about when she was caged while out of control, realizing he did not think to see her stuck like that again, even if it was only temporary.

His feet touched cooling sand. Upon impact, he tossed his brown cloak back over his shoulders. The sky was darkening, so it would be the perfect cover for him once this errand was over. The wanderer was now far away from the Hidden Leaf Village. Since he knew where the faceless girl was now, he just needed permission to retrieve her with the help of some old comrades. So, he took time to travel to Orochimaru's lairs, hoping to find him as soon as possible.

He entered the desert hideout as if he was stationed there. If anybody unfamiliar with him tried to fight him or get him to leave, he planned to ask to speak with Lord Orochimaru. This would be similar to his infiltration into the Hidden Leaf.

He crept through the empty but lit hallways, passing doors as passages that made it into an underground labyrinthine. Personally, being unfamiliar with this hideout, he hoped to run into somebody who may show him the way. He may not be one of the important subjects in his inner circle, but he knew Lord Orochimaru held him to a high standard.

Soon, a voice sounded from one of the passageways he began to pass. "Why are you here?"

The wandered halted and recognized the smooth masculine tone. It was about time he came to the right place. "Kabuto," he identified. "I need to speak with Lord Orochimaru, and then I'll be out of your hair."

"What is this about?" the white-haired ninja questioned, stepping forward with the light blocking out the reflection in his glasses.

"A previous breeding subject of mine has escaped from her captivity. I was moved to a new site, but I would still like her to be used by Lord Orochimaru however he pleases. There's just one problem to counter."

"Like?"

"I would prefer for Lord Orochimaru to know that before you do."

A scowl crossed Kabuto's mouth, but he motioned for the wanderer to follow him. "Very well."

The two walked for a few minutes. Orochimaru's closest subordinate had every hideout memorized for its passageways. It was convenient to have run into him. Clearly, he was still recognized.

A door came into their view at the dead-end of the empty corridor. Kabuto opened it and stepped inside with the wanderer close behind. "Lord Orochimaru, Akuma has come to speak with you," he announced.

"Oh?" the Sannin sounded from the dimness. He sat in a chair that was perceived as a throne from its patterns and markings. Once the wanderer saw him, he knelt in respect and kept his gaze low. "What brings you here, Akuma? I thought I assigned you to the new insect experiment site."

"You did, Lord Orochimaru. I apologize for abandoning my post without your permission, but it was for good reason."

"Go on."

Akuma looked up to the mysterious rogue shinobi that was upheld by many individuals. His skin looked gray and his long raven hair always hung down past his shoulders. The violet markings around his yellow, beady eyes were what distinguished him as the beast people feared. But next to him stood someone he was unfamiliar with. On his left side, a teenager with spiked black hair and dark eyes gazed at him. His garment opened to his chest and was tied around his waist by a thick purple rope just like Orochimaru's. A new subordinate?

"The Tenshi Clan girl has escaped from her captivity. Apparently, she was abandoned and left to die. But now she is being held in the Hidden Leaf," he explained. The new subordinate blinked when the Hidden Leaf was mentioned. "I know the experiment she was involved in was important to you. I would hate to have a potential body for you to use be lost for good and may be used against you instead."

"Ah, yes. The poor baron girl. Such a shame that she couldn't provide more specimens. Do you want to bring her back to me? She isn't much use to me anymore. I decided to use someone else."

Akuma suddenly understood the purpose of having a new subordinate at his side. "I will if you allow it," he said, "but I can't do it alone. I'll need assistance from some old friends."

Orochimaru thought for a moment. He knew who Akuma was referring to. Successful test subjects who now were assigned to different posts for more experiments.

"Or, if you want to try attacking the Leaf yourself once more, I would be more than happy to comply," Akuma suggested.

"That won't be necessary," Orochimaru stated with a leg crossing over the other. "I'll grant your request, Akuma. She may not give vital offspring, but she can have other uses."

A satisfied smirk curved his lips. He looked forward to being reunited with the people he thought he would never see again.

The fire smoldered with dying embers in the middle of their circle of bodies. Aside from the distant roar of the waterfall, the sounds of insects in the trees competed to eliminate any and all silence. Everything was rhythmic to the ears and was perfect for lulling anyone to sleep, but not Naruto. Kakashi and Yamato laid under their blankets asleep. Dolia rested on her side inside her wooden cage with Naruto's blanket keeping her warm. Naruto laid on his back with his head on a small brown pillow. He was waiting long enough so that he could go back to training without anyone fussing.

Yamato was supposed to keep the Nine-Tails inside him the whole time, but he honestly did not feel like he was anywhere close to losing control when trying to cut the waterfall. It would be fine to do some extra training. Anything to reach the goal faster would be good.

His blue eyes darted to the three other bodies. All three were still. He gazed back up to the night sky and saw how the moon was heading for the center. He had no clue what time it was, but surely it was enough to get a move on.

Silently, Naruto sat up and began taking his jacket back off. Dolia opened her eyes momentarily and immediately noticed the movement, but she did not react. Instead, she watched as he put his sandals back on his feet and got up to return to the waterfall.

He perched himself right back where he left off and formed a multitude of shadow clones. Knowing his back would be turned the whole time, she shifted her weight to sit up and watch through the spaces Yamato's branches made. She pulled the blanket over her shoulders and around her body so that only her head was visible. How could he not be tired? He trained all day long, before and after her arrival. Wanting to keep watch in case he pushed himself too hard, she kept her eye on the original Naruto.

The stars above them all reminded her of her old routine in the hole. She would look up through it when the night was at its fullest and see the white speckles but look for the two new ones that appeared after the deaths of her children. She took a few moments to gaze up at the stars. Back in the hospital, she could not see those stars, so she was unsure if it would be the same thing out here in the open.

There had to be a specific pattern in order to find them. Because she had moved far off from the hole, the pattern was altered. There was no use. The twinkling stars of her children were misplaced for her. With a sigh, Dolia looked back to Naruto.

If you're watching over me, watch over him, too, she prayed.

He stayed up there for hours, not moving from the stance he put himself in. Soon her neck began to ache from looking up for so long, but the moon's approach to the western horizon brought a lightening sky with the stars saying goodbye with their gradual fade. Naruto's clones dispersed in puffs of smoke so that he was the only one remaining. He felt fatigued from no sleep, but his tenacity did not waver. He could rest later.

Dolia stayed put. If he waited until Kakashi and Yamato were asleep to go up there in the first place, then he must be coming down now to get back to "sleeping" before they woke up. Jumping back down, he quickly snatched his clothes to put them back on his damp torso. But he caught a glimpse of Dolia sitting up in her makeshift cage and felt his heart skip a beat. Suppressing a yelp, he hopped over to her with a finger over his lips, indicating for her to keep quiet. "I was never up there, got it?" he frantically whispered.

She did not respond since she was confused. Of course, he was up there training. She watched him. But he did not wait. He quickly moved back to his cold sleeping spot and laid down as if he was fast asleep.

When the sky turned blue with the appearance of the sun, Kakashi awoke. He reached into his ears to pull out plugs he used whenever Naruto slept in the same vicinity as him. The snoring was obnoxious, and he also could not stay in one place. When his hearing was clear, he expected to be met by the snoring, but instead, there was silence. Birds chirped nearby, but that was all. Yamato was still dead asleep, but he did not need to be up yet. Naruto appeared to be unconscious, but he doubted it was true. Dolia was the only one obviously up and ready to face the new day.

She looked over when he got up. "Good morning," he greeted, going over to Naruto and squatting next to his head. "Ready to start training again, Naruto?"

The blonde opened his eyes and rolled onto his back to stretch. "Sure am," he replied.

"Well, let's wait for Yamato to be ready first," he suggested, standing up straight.

Naruto saw how Dolia was still sitting like before. Worry entered his gut like soup pouring down his esophagus. He really hoped that she had not tattled. She watched as he got up and came back over to her. Using a kunai knife, he sliced open her cage until there was enough room for her to slip through. "Let me show you something," he offered with a forced smile.

Curious, she dropped the blanket draped over her and got to her feet to exit the cage. He took her arm and laid it across his shoulders, and then wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her against him. Kakashi watched as he ran for the waterfall and made a giant leap so that they could go up to the waterfall. Dolia gasped when she felt the ground leave her feet. The waterfall got very close very fast, and then she felt her feet touch solid wood. Naruto let her go and turned around to gaze back at the view. There were a lot of trees, but there was an area where the village touched close by. "How's that?" he asked. "You don't get to see something that pretty often."

Dolia looked briefly but then turned her attention down to where they camped for the night. It was far down. She felt the world sway underneath her, so she adjusted her feet to keep her steady.

"Whoa," Naruto voiced, holding her shoulder. "You okay?"

"I'm dizzy," she confessed, moving away from the edge. Droplets from the waterfall sprayed her slightly, but it was better than feeling woozy.

Naruto kind of chuckled as he sat down on the branch. "You're scared of heights."

She sat down, too. "Why did you bring me up here?"

"Because…I need you to promise me you won't tell Kakashi Sensei or Captain Yamato that I trained without them."

"But why?"

"Because I need to cut the waterfall if I want to move on in my training. Training only during the day just isn't working fast enough."

She saw how his eyes diverted from his. Something was on his mind. "You want to be like Sasuke as fast as possible?"

He made eye contact with her again in surprise. "Well, yeah. I want to be strong like him."

"Why?"

"I have to bring him back to the village. I promised Sakura I would when we were kids, but…now I'm running out of time. That's why I have to hurry and get this jutsu made, no matter what it takes."

She stayed quiet, looking to the fast-moving water that fell past them.

Cut the waterfall in half…she thought, reaching to touch. The liquid was cold, but she pushed her hand through it until her wrist was swallowed and the rock on the other side contacted her skin. "Maybe when you try to cut through, aim for what's on the other side rather than what you're touching," she advised, pulling her hand out.

Naruto heard what she said and shook his head in surprise. His chakra had been slicing into the water with barely any results. Any force he thrust into the water was instantly drained away faster than he could stop. There was no possible way she could know he was struggling with that, but yet…what she said made sense. Asuma Sensei had told him Wind Chakra grinds, but he did not say how far it could reach. Maybe he really was aiming too shallow…

Dolia stood up. "If I can get out of that hole, you can cut the waterfall in half," she encouraged with a smile.

Naruto returned the smile. "You know, I may be trying to catch up to Sasuke, but maybe I should try to be as smart as you, Dolia."

The compliment brought a light blush to her cheeks. I want to be as strong as you, Naruto.