Second chapter and already I'm breaking my own rules. Yesterday morning before school I took my jar and, without looking, pulled out two names. Then I looked at the first one. Sarutobi. Geh. Either way it was going to be weird. And then I looked at the second name: Sai. Geh again. Right away I knew I wasn't going to make a pairing out of this… there's an age difference of, like, fifty years, one of them's DEAD and I have no idea why they would even know each other anyway. So I contented myself (and hopefully you people) by just making it a story ABOUT both of them. Hope that's fine, hehe.

So, yeah. I don't know (or couldn't remember) if Sai knows about the Kyuubi or how much, but I figured Yamato just wouldn't bring it up anyway. And the same thing as last time, not sure about timelines and other little details, but it's a oneshot. Those things don't matter. Just read it, and hope along with me that my next two people will be ones I can actually write a PAIRING about.

- kina-chan

Sai AND the Sandaime (very marked difference!)

"Sensei?" Sai asked Yamato falteringly from where he sat a few feet away. "Who was the Sandaime?"

Yamato looked up from the kunai he was cleaning off and frowned. "The Sandaime, Sai? He was Sarutobi, surely you know that."

"I do know that," Sai responded with a nod. "But…who was he, exactly? What was he…like?"

"Oh, what he was like," Yamato said, finally catching on. He had been around Sai for some time now, it being two weeks after their long mission to the Grass Country. The new Team 7 had continued to work and train together, but on this particular day both Naruto and Sakura were occupied with other matters and Yamato was forced to train with Sai alone. The glass-eyed smile didn't bother him anymore, or his forced "casual conversation", but at various times he would suddenly remember Sai was still learning how to properly interact with his peers. And then there were times like these when the boy really threw him for a loop.

"There's not much I can say that you don't already know," Yamato said after a moment.

"But I don't know anything."

At this statement Yamato looked up from his kunai. "You don't know anything? What do you mean?" he inquired, a bit perplexed. How could anyone live in Konoha and not know anything about the Hokage, the leader of the village?

Sai's eyes dropped. "Well, you see, in Root all Danzo did was say bad things about him. And the way you and Naruto and Sakura speak when you mention him…I know not all of that can be true."

"I see," Yamato answered. He slowly twirled the kunai around in his hands for another moment before he spoke again. "Well, you know that he was chosen twice as Hokage, before and after the Yondaime?"

"Yes, I knew that from Danzo," Sai confirmed. "Was he a great ninja, then?"

"Yes. Yes, he was," Yamato replied. His face took on a sheen of recollection. "He was a great ninja. He definitely wasn't like the Yondaime—people still say that's the greatest ninja that ever came from Konoha. But he had patience, and wisdom, and trust, and the people's respect—that's what truly makes a great Hokage." As he finished he realized he was talking more to himself than answering Sai's question. Yet when he looked over at him, the boy seemed to be hanging onto his every word.

"But, sensei," Sai persisted. "Wasn't he strong? Shouldn't leaders be strong?"

"Oh, he was strong, I can tell you that," Yamato agreed. "In his time there was no one in all of the Fire Country who could match his skill." Yamato's eyes reverted back to his kunai. He spoke softly now. "Maybe it was his strength, and all that trust of his that eventually led one of his students to surpass him—at least, in that particular battle."

Sai's face darkened. "He was killed by the man Sasuke is with." It was not a question but a statement.

Yamato nodded slightly. "Yes." For a few minutes the only sounds in the clearing were of the birds in the trees and the nearby brook as teacher and student collected their thoughts. Eventually Yamato broke the silence.

"Didn't Danzo tell you any of this?"

Sai shrugged. "He may have," he said in a detached tone, tracing his finger in the dust of the dirt floor. "I just didn't know what was important."

Yamato stared off in the direction of the village. If he strained his eyes he could just make out the likenesses carved into the stone face of the mountain. "The Sandaime was truly a great man, Sai. That's what you should know."

"Did you love him?"

The sudden, blunt question nearly made Yamato drop his kunai. "Did I—what do you mean?" he asked, not at all sure. This was Sai, after all, and a question from Sai could have multiple meanings.

Sai looked uncertain. "I read a book about an emperor. It said that all the people loved the emperor. Did you love the Sandaime?"

"Oh." As always, Yamato had eventually figured out what Sai meant in his rather roundabout way of speaking. "Yes, I did love him. Almost everyone did. He was our rock, our protection. He was the one who kept things going, and knew when it was time for things to stop. And after—" he checked himself. "After an incident some years back, he was a big factor in bringing our village back to peace and prosperity. You don't find men like him often."

Sai's gaze was fixated on nothing in particular. "I wish Danzo had told me about him," he mused to himself.

Satisfied his kunai were clean, Yamato gathered them up off the ground and stood up to stuff them back into his pouch. "Continue with our training now?"

"Okay." The pair walked to the center of the clearing and began to take their stances for a quick sparring match. Before Yamato could say the words to begin, however, Sai interrupted. "Sensei?"

Yamato lowered his hands from his stance. "Yes, Sai?"

Sai granted him one of his familiar mask-like smiles. "Thank you for telling me."

So, yeah. Nothing too spectacular, and I don't like it as much as the last one, but there really wasn't much I could do. Sai's a tricky character to write, but I tried to keep as much in character as possible. Review, please!