A/N: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter 1-Realization
The current two males of Team Seven were trudging down one street of their village, having recently returned from the Land of Iron owing to the recent events of the Kage Summit. After all that had been said and done, and the promise had been met between Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto under the bridge where the Uchiha had killed Danzo, all that had been left was to wait patiently till the appointed time, where Naruto and Sasuke were to fight each other one last time. Of course, all was not water under the bridge yet. Naruto turned to face his teammate, Sai, intending to ask him something that had been bothering him for quite a while, ever since the pale skinned man had revealed the decision that had been made by the Konoha 11 regarding Sasuke.
"Sai, there's something I want to ask you," Naruto started, his voice displaying the curiosity he was feeling at the moment.
The dark haired man, who resembled his Uchiha teammate vaguely, shifted his gaze to the blonde man walking next to him. He had been endorsed in his thoughts regarding Danzo's death, and what that potentially held for the future of Root, that he had not been paying attention to the man beside him. "Yes, Naruto, what is it?"
Naruto cleared his throat, and then continued with his earlier statement, his curiosity welling up more and more. "Back then, in the Land of Iron, when you said that you were the one who unintentionally pushed Sakura to confess to me and hide the truth from me, what did you mean by that?" The blonde man asked. Truthfully, it was not that he had forgotten entirely what had happened, but rather, with all that had transpired since then, Sasuke attacking the Kage Summit and all, he had not gotten a chance to think clearly on what Sai had meant back then. Now was as opportune a time as any to finally clear his vagueness regarding the matter, so he decided to go ahead and inquire the truth from his teammate.
The dark haired man looked at Naruto in surprise, his eyebrows rising slightly to display the confusion he was feeling. He had not exactly quite chosen to remember what had happened in the snowy land, but could not forget the facts he had come to learn regarding the relationship between the blonde man next to him, and the pink haired girl who was somewhere separate in the village by then. He still remembered vividly the anger he had been feeling regarding how the two continuously allowed themselves to suffer because of Sasuke's actions, and the sadness he felt when he realized just how much the feelings of Naruto towards Sakura had caused him pain. Determined, he had decided to take a stand regarding the matter, but now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure whether that had been the best decision at the time.
Still, it would not do any good to hide the truth from Naruto at the moment, so he decided to be honest with his friend. "Oh, that. When you left for the Land of Iron with Kakashi-sensei and Captain Yamato, I went to talk to Sakura, and I told her the truth about everything."
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, and he could feel his heart clenching in his chest, as he proceeded to ask the inevitable question, "What….truth?" The words came out disjointedly from Naruto's mouth, expressing the slight fear that was rising in him at that moment, his mind telling him that there could have been only one possible truth that Sai revealed to Sakura. It was something that he had chosen to confide in only to the Root member, so there could have been no mistake about what he was thinking at the moment. In his gut, he felt a slightly unnerved feeling, his heart sinking a tad bit deeper with each passing minute.
"I told her that you loved her, how clear it was to me, and that how your promise to her about Sasuke was making you suffer all the time. The promise itself was like a cursed seal," the dark haired man continued unhesitatingly, as the look on Naruto's face just then had been enough to tell him that the blonde had realized what Sai would say a moment before he responded to Naruto's question. There was no use hiding it now, and everything was now in the open.
Naruto's face contorted into an unreadable expression, as his brows creased forward and his mouth narrowed in astonishment. Immediately, he moved to grab the dark haired man's jacket, placing all of his strength into his arm, to display just how furious he was feeling about Sai at the moment.
On the other hand, however, the dark haired man still retained the same impassive expression that often adorned his face, showing that he felt no regret regarding what he had just done. He had half-expected Naruto to act this way ever since he had discovered what Sai had done without informing him, so being handled like that wasn't exactly something he found surprising. In fact, he was more relieved that Naruto had not punched him in anger.
"Why did you do that?!" Naruto nearly shouted out as he questioned the dark haired man, his anger seeping out with each word he uttered. His hand, that currently had its unrelenting grip on Sai's attire, was shaking slightly, as he tried his best to restrain the feeling he had to punch Sai square in the face right there and then. He drew the man slightly closer, where he could now see the dark orbs in his eyes clearly, and they still had the maddening air of stillness that they always carried.
Calmly, the dark haired man placed his hand atop Naruto's, before replying," Why shouldn't I have done that?"
"Because, you know damn well what I had decided on doing!" Naruto pressured on, his anger and irritation rising with each moment. Inwardly, he felt a mixture of feelings, among them anger, frustration, shock, but a small part of him betrayed. The things he had told Sai regarding his feelings for Sakura were meant to be a pact between them, an unsaid promise between two men, but Sai had gone on and babbled about his feelings to the girl of his dreams. Naruto could not help but feel that the man had ruined a moment Naruto had looked forward to since his childhood days, the excitement to the moment increasing with each passing day.
Sai, however, was not going to relent so easily. "Then, are you suggesting that I should have just stood back and watched you to continue suffer?!" He started, the tone of his voice a notch higher than it had been mere moments ago. "I was supposed to continue watching you agonize over someone who you could see every day, but couldn't do anything about because of some twisted promise? How can I call myself your friend if I watch you suffer without doing anything?" He continued, and Naruto thought he could sense a tinge of sadness in Sai's voice just then.
Naruto knew, however, as much as Sai tried to simplify things, they had never been that simple. The thought of confessing to the girl of his dreams had occurred to him several times in his youth, but each time he had resolved to do it, he found his heart wavering and he pushed the thought to the annals of his mind. Most of the reason had been due to Sakura's affections towards Sasuke, but in the back of his head, he realized just what confessing to Sakura would entail. If the girl came to know of his undying love for her, it would be a burden to her. Things between the two shinobi had changed drastically ever since they had first been placed in Team Seven, and now the two had grown the closest that friends could. However, if Naruto had decided to take that one step further, he knew that things could never quite remain the same between him and Sakura. Occasionally, he would display his affections to her, but that was to make her happy, and see her smile, more than anything. And he was happy with just that. If things went any further, he had a feeling that Sakura would probably feel grief-stricken over the fact that she had not noticed his feelings for her, despite the two being so close to each other. She was that kind of a girl, he surmised. The thought made him sad, and he had resolved never to put the pink haired girl through such a sad thing. Even if, yes, even if it meant that he had to sacrifice his feelings, and consequentially, his happiness.
"Yes, you should have done just that!" Naruto responded to the dark haired man defiantly. A small part of him disagreed with his reply just then. "You should have just minded your own damn business!" He finished his retort, slightly shaking the man who was still under his grip. Naruto, however, was unsure of what he had said just then. He had been driven by anger and irritation towards his friend, but could not help but feeling a little sad inside him. After Sai had revealed to him the truth regarding Sakura's intentions when she had confessed to him, and said how much she loved Sasuke that she was unable to watch him sink any further into darkness, Naruto felt himself dying inside at that. At that moment, he had not been aware of it himself, but he was on the verge of giving up his feelings towards the pink haired girl. Finally realizing that she would probably always love Sasuke, and that he would never have a shot at the girl who he had loved since he could remember, he swallowed the crushing defeat he had felt, plus the tears that had threatened to escape his eyes otherwise. Now that Sai had revealed to him what had been the cause of all this, the feelings all came crashing back at him, and he had to turn his head slightly to the side to ease the pain. It worked, but to an extent.
Sai, who had been watching his teammate fighting with his conflicted feelings in silence for the past few seconds, chose to say nothing. Once Naruto had looked to the side, however, he took it as his chance to finally say something, "I don't think you have to hold yourself back from what you've always wanted on account of a promise," he stated bluntly, and did not miss the flash of anger that crossed Naruto's eyes just then as he shifted his gaze back to him.
"I didn't make the promise for Sakura! I also did it for myself, since I also want to save Sasuke!" He reiterated, his voice rising in frustration, echoing the same words he had when he had responded to Sakura's confession just then. He was baffled at how no one seemed to understand that part of him, but then again, he didn't realize when he had started believing that.
"Do you seriously believe that? Are you telling me that you believe everything you said just now?!" Sai replied back to his teammate, feeling a small tinge of anger in him. He suppressed it, deciding to focus on what really mattered in the present. Naruto wasn't being honest with himself just then, something which Sai noted with a shocking realization. One of the reasons that he had come to admire Naruto was how he always wore his heart on his chest, and how he was always honest with himself, especially in regards with his feelings. No. This wasn't right. That hadn't been Naruto just then, he noted. Perhaps he was trying his best to brush the sadness he had been feeling ever since he had realized the magnitude of Sakura's feelings for Sasuke, and it had all been on account of Sai. The dark haired man bit his lower lip in frustration, resolving to make things right.
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked his teammate, a bit uncertain as to what had caused him to say that just then. He was sure of what he had said, right? But then, why did a small part of him hurt, nevertheless?
"Don't take me for a fool, Naruto. I may not be adept with knowing about relationships and feelings, but don't believe for a second that I won't notice when you lie to me so blatantly!" Sai retorted, his voice rising with panic. Naruto was taken aback, slightly loosening the grip he had on Sai's jacket just then, but Sai was not quite done yet. He still had a lot to say. "You think I didn't notice the way you were holding something back when you were talking to Sakura after her confession. Anyone could have noticed it back then, but the two of you were clearly inwardly fighting with something, so you chose not to reveal it to each other," Sai concluded his explanation, and he had to inhale a tad deeper, feeling his lungs deflate due to the manner in which he had lashed out to Naruto then. Still, he could not deny the slight feeling of satisfaction he had felt since he had managed to say everything that he had been planning to say for a while now.
Naruto stared at the man, shocked. His mouth was slightly parted in astonishment, and for a few seconds, he just stood there, rooted to the ground. He had never quite seen Sai angry, much less over something regarding his personal life, but he had realized just how serious the man was about all this. Releasing his grip on the man, he let his hand fall limply beside him.
"That's-"the blonde man started, but he found himself lacking of words, so he stayed silent for a while. A slight sense of shame riddled his body just then. For a moment, he wondered just what had brought on this strife between him and his teammate, but then again, he wasn't just about ready to forgive Sai for telling Sakura something as important as that. Something that he had chosen to willingly withhold from her, opting to reveal it once he had brought her happiness back to her. This wasn't going to be resolved as easily as it had seemed. He gritted his teeth in anger, realizing what he had to do without wasting any time.
Placing one foot forward, the blonde man immediately stormed off in the opposite direction from where he had been walking toward with his teammate earlier. As he distanced himself from the dark haired man, he heard him faintly calling out to him, "Where are you going, Naruto?" Sai asked, concerned over what action the man was planning to take.
"I'm going to set things straight."
A/N: A little something I had opted to prepare in regards to NaruSaku week, originally I had intended for it to be a one shot, but I realized that would be doing things half-heartedly, and the feelings that Naruto and Sakura hold for each other do not deserve such a disgrace. This story might go on for a maximum of five chapters, but I hope you will enjoy each and every one of the chapters. Happy NaruSaku week everyone!