~2~

Inside Ichiraku, the ramen shop, Uzumaki Naruto met up with teammate Haruno Sakura and friends from Team 10 Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji.

"Any word?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru shook his head. "My dad said he'll look into it. But it's not easy when even the Hokage has no control on what's going on inside Root. Danzo-san's been given complete authority almost at the same time Sandaime (the Third) became Hokage. The elders certainly aren't any help."

Everyone understood the difficulty of the situation. "Kakashi-sensei also promised he'll do what he can," Sakura said with little confidence.

Naruto furrowed his brow. "There's something very wrong. Sai wouldn't just leave without even saying a simple goodbye."

"There's no way to know," Shikamaru replied.

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

Sakura and Chouji turned their gaze toward Shikamaru who bowed his head and expressed his thoughts. "Sai never really revealed anything much about himself even as a member of your team, did he?"

"That's true," Sakura said slowly. Chouji nodded.

"For all we know, his time spent as a regular shinobi was just a mission assigned to him to keep track of you, Naruto, a jinchuuriki," Shikamaru said.

Everyone was silent. It's true; Sai spent about a year with them beginning at the time when *they first got intel on one of Orochimaru's hide-outs. Sakura and Naruto were hoping to track down Uchiha Sasuke, a rogue ninja whom Naruto and Sakura still considered a close friend and teammate.

Sai was assigned as a replacement member of Team 7 at the insistence of Shimura Danzo, the mysterious and influential founder of Root, which was a special branch of Konoha's Black Operative Ninja unit. It was found out during that mission that Sai was secretly instructed to assassinate Sasuke whom Danzo identified as an open threat. But at some point, Sai changed his mind and decided to help bring Sasuke back to the village instead. However, they returned empty-handed after Sasuke violently refused and disappeared again to continue his dangerous training under Orochimaru's influence. Sai surprisingly remained a member of Team 7 even after that initial mission was over.

Since then he worked with them in various other missions, often risking his own life just like everyone else did. In idle moments, he was often seen reading a book, usually about understanding a person's character or feelings. Apparently, he was trained to repress his emotions, so much so that he appeared to have forgotten how to have them.^ He seemed to genuinely want to regain that knowledge, even if it was somewhat laughable to those who had a little less stringent type of upbringing.

Was it all an act? He just disappeared one day without a word. Naruto, Sakura and a few other people who knew him were informed that he had been summoned back into Root. Was that it? Could Sai go back to underground operations just as easily as when he first came out?

"You don't believe that," Naruto said firmly as he looked Shikamaru in the eye. Shikamaru returned his gaze and said, "No, I don't." The four young ninjas sat there in silence with a firmer resolve. They're going to find another missing friend. "It'll be troublesome," Shikamaru thought. "But we have to do it."

~3~

Two weeks previously.

"It's confirmed. He's no longer loyal to Root's principles, Danzo-sama."

"I thought as much."

"What is your command, sir?"

Danzo thought for a moment. Sai had been very useful to him for a long time, at least until he was assigned to Hatake Kakashi's team. The fact that the young shinobi was able to deceive him for that long impressed him.

"I can choose to let him remain where he is," Danzo started. "But letting Godaime (5th Hokage) use him on regular missions is a waste of his true abilities. I take responsibility for letting him get heavily tainted with the third Hokage's principles just like the other children of the village have been. There's no choice but to bring him back."

To himself he thought, "He would have stayed obedient if he did not get associated with the jinchuuriki and his sensei. All the training I've invested in him will go to waste if I let him remain like this." Finally he said aloud "I had hoped that someone from his generation would continue onto the right path and protect the Fire country from all possible dangers."

After a moment's pondering, Danzo gave his command. "Bring him to me."

"Yes, Sir," came the quick reply.

"Wait, do it after five days. For now, I will need to arrange a meeting with Ikioku of the Owl country.

"Understood." A bow and the shinobi disappeared.

Four days later, a dark figure was led by another masked shinobi late in the night to a secret underground entrance into the village that only those at the higher echelon in Root were aware of.

"Danzo-sama, you have no idea how delighted I was to receive your invitation," the dark figure said as he entered Danzo's chamber. He lifted his ebony cloak to reveal a shriveled longish face, small deep set purple eyes, an almost non-existent stub of a nose and a wide grin. His long straight hair was gray like his arched bushy eyebrows.

"Ikioku-san, thank you for coming on such short notice; I have great need of your services," was Danzo's very formal reply.

"I will do my best not to disappoint you, Danzo-sama."

"Is the forbidden jutsu of the Ikioku clan of the Owl country still as effective as when I last witnessed it many years ago?"

"We have made some improvements since but I will have to examine the extent of the damage before I make extravagant claims, I'm sure you understand."

"Very well. I will have someone escort you to a guest chamber until that time. You can relay everything you need to him in preparation for your work."

Ikioku bowed. A shinobi appeared and led him away.

Continue to Part 4