Chapter 15: Sai's Revelation

"Kabuto!" Yamato exclaimed while we all tensed.

"You're sure persistent!" said Kabuto. He looked over at Sai, who was tied up. "Sai, judging from your condition, it appears you've been captured."

"Don't interfere," said Naruto. "If you do, I won't go easy on you!"

"It's futile."

"We won't know that until we try!" Naruto ran at Kabuto with the Rasengan, which Kabuto deflected. The rest of us ran in to help fight him off. Somehow, Kabuto managed to evade all of us and even freed Sai.

"Man, it's truly pathetic watching you guys," said Kabuto. "You in particular, Naruto. Watching you... What I mean is, it's futile even if you were able to beat me, people change. Sasuke isn't the old Sasuke anymore." I watched in surprise as Sai walked up behind Kabuto and restrained him. Kabuto appeared just as shocked. "What's the idea? Your mission was supposed to be to become the liaison for Danzo and Lord Orochimaru."

"People change," said Sai. "Then the same goes for me."

"What?"

Sai looked at Naruto. "You. Bonds. I want to see for myself."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "Sai..."

"Way to go," I said with a grin.

"Sai, keep a hold on him," said Yamato. Sai held Kabuto while Yamato used his wood release to bind him

"Sai," said Kabuto, still appearing perplexed. "What the heck are you thinking?"

Sai kept his gaze fixed on Naruto. "Why are you so hung up on your bonds with Sasuke and what are those bonds? I want to know from your viewpoint. It seems I can't erase my bond with my older brother. Bonds... If it's something that important to me, then I might understand if I see your bonds with Sasuke. I just thought that way."

Kabuto suddenly started laughing. Naruto glared at him. "What's so funny?"

"You guys don't know the real Sasuke," said Kabuto.

This only enraged Naruto. I placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him from lunging at him. "Where's Sasuke? Answer me."

"He's probably done with his training right about now and is in a room deeper inside the hideout."

"It's true that Sasuke was training with Orochimaru," said Yamato. "I don't think what he said just now is a lie."

"All right!" Naruto said excitedly. "Then let's get right to it."

"However," said Yamato, "where exactly is this room deeper inside?"

"I don't know, either," said Kabuto. "There are several rooms scattered about in here."

"A room deeper inside doesn't mean just one or two rooms in that case!" said Sakura.

"We just have to search every single one of them!" said Naruto.

"You're right," said Kabuto. "You might find it if you search at random. However, you could stir up a serpent's nest. That's also where Lord Orochimaru's private room is, you see."

"That's a chance we'll have to take," I said.

"Thanks for speaking honestly," said Yamato.

"No need to thank me," Kabuto said with a smirk.

"Are you saying the tables will be turned on us?"

"Yeah."

Naruto scowled. "You jerk! That's something we won't know until we try."

"Let's go," Yamato said, leading us back to the tunnels after making a wooden clone to watch over Kabuto.

Once inside the tunnels, we split up to search for Sasuke. Naruto, Sai, and I went together. We had not gone far when Naruto suddenly collapsed onto the ground. I gasped and fell to his side. "Naruto!" I cried. I shook him to try to get him up, but he merely groaned.

"What is wrong with him?" Sai asked in a monotone voice.

I quickly looked over Naruto. I saw no visible injuries or anything else that could cause a problem. I let out a heavy sigh. "He's probably just exhausted from earlier. We should let him rest." I dragged Naruto over to the wall and then started to look after him the best way I knew how.

"Katsumi," Sai said after a few minutes of silence, "would it distract you if I asked you a question?"

I glanced at him warily. I was still suspicious of him and his intentions, but he did not seem to mean any harm at the moment. I shook my head. "There's not much more I can do for him until he wakes up, so ask away."

Sai stared at me with his normal, deadpan look. "Can you tell me more about emotions?"

My eyebrows rose in surprise. "You want me to tell you? I don't know if I'm the right person for that job. I spent years suppressing my emotions."

"But you're not suppressing them now, and you clearly feel a lot for your friends."

"Yeah, I do..." I thought about it for a moment and got an idea. I reached into my bag and pulled out my sketchbook. "Drawing helps me express my emotions. Come and see." Sai sat beside me on the floor and peered over my shoulder as I opened my sketchbook and began flipping through the pages.

"They're all animals."

I nodded. "I use animals to represent the people in my life."

Sai's eyes flickered to my neck. "Like the animals on your necklace."

"Yes, they are the same." I slowly started to feel more at ease with him. He almost seemed like a normal person. Perhaps he wasn't that bad. After all, it wasn't his fault he was brainwashed by Danzo. At least he was now trying to learn what he lacked.

"What is this bird?"

My heart twisted as I looked at my representation of Deidara. I responded in a quiet voice. "That's a phoenix. My favorite mythical creature."

"There are a lot of them. This person is important to you?"

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. "Yeah, he's important to me, but I can't be with him right now."

Sai tilted his head to the side as he considered this. "Like Sasuke. Is he a brother to you too?"

I shook my head. "No, our relationship is a little different from that."

"Different?"

Fortunately, a groan from Naruto prevented me from having to answer. "It seems you're awake," said Sai while he looked at Naruto curiously.

Naruto slowly sat up. "Sai?"

"Boy, you really resemble him."

"Who does he resemble?" I asked.

"My older brother. He was talkative, and he would lose his head. He had no manners, and his equipment was- Well, never mind. But yeah, like you, Naruto, he went all-out with everything he did. When I look at you, I kind of remember him."

I smiled. "That's kind of sweet." Suddenly, he froze and stared off into the distance. "Sai?"

"Sai!" Naruto called, but he did not respond. So, he leaned over him and shook his shoulders. "Hey, Sai! What's the matter?"

"I remembered," Sai said. "I remembered!" He took his picture book out and started drawing.

Naruto's eyes widened in understanding. "You mean-"

"You remember how you wanted to finish your book for your brother?" I said.

"This is what I wanted to show him," said Sai. "The picture of our dreams." He turned the book to show us. It was a picture of him and his brother smiling. When I looked back at Sai, I saw him giving us his first genuine smile. Something in my heart settled, and I smiled back at him.

"Now, that's art," I said. I suddenly tensed up when I felt enemy chakra. "Orochimaru!" The three of us got to our feet and faced the ninja who happened to be walking down the hall. He seemed surprised to see us as well.

"Katsumi and I will stop him here," said Naruto. "Sai, you go find Sasuke."

"Okay," Sai said as he turned around. "I'll find Sasuke and save him!"

"So, you came to take back Sasuke, huh?" Orochimaru said in an amused tone. "Your persistence is impressive, but will it really be that easy?"

"It doesn't make any difference that you're one of the Legendary Sannin like the Pervy Sage and Grandma Tsunade!" Naruto said with a glare. "I'll defeat you and take Sasuke back!"

"Me too!" I said. The two of us began fighting Orochimaru, which proved to be much more difficult than battling Kabuto. He wasn't even breaking a sweat!

"What happened to all your energy from earlier?" Orochimaru taunted. "Your power - the power of the Nine-Tails - there must be more to it than this, right? Show me all you've got."

"Don't let him get to you," I said to Naruto. "You don't need the Nine Tails."

Naruto nodded. "Right."

Several moments later, Sakura and Yamato arrived to provide backup. Orochimaru seemed to think this was a good time to make an escape. He left with these parting words: "I'll still let you live. Please dispose of as many members of the Akatsuki as you can, okay?"

"Wh-What?" said Naruto.

"More importantly, I've got business with Sai, so I'll be leaving now." And then he was gone.

"Where's Sai?" Sakura asked.

"Sai's looking for Sasuke!" said Naruto.

"We have to do something before Orochimaru finds him!"

I nodded. "Right."

"I'll have to use up all of my chakra, but I'll try searching with my Multiple Shadow Clone Captain. Yamato and Sakura, you guys search that side."

Sakura wandered over to Sai's bag, which he had left behind. She picked up the picture book. "What's this?"

"Sai finished his picture book," I said, smiling faintly as I remembered the scene.

"He was able to remember," said Naruto. "He said that's the picture of dreams he wanted to show his older brother."

Sakura flipped open the book. She seemed surprised at what she saw. "They're both smiling."

"Yeah. He smiled for real for the first time when he drew that. Smiled from the bottom of his heart."

"It was really nice," I said.

Yamato reached into Sai's bag and pulled out a scroll. His eyes immediately went wide. "Wh-What's this?"

"What's the matter?" said Sakura. We all crowded around Yamato to view the scroll.

"It was in Sai's bag. This is an assassination list that has an Anbu Black Ops member's own targets recorded. It's called a Bingo Book."

"An assassination list?" I murmured. I did not like the sound of that.

"What are these 'X' marks?" Naruto asked.

"In all likelihood, they're marks indicating targets that have already been eliminated," said Yamato.

"Why does Sai have such a thing?"

"I guess he's on an assassination mission," I said, the thought making me feel uneasy.

Sakura suddenly gasped. "Look at this. Th-This is!" She pointed at a picture of Sasuke, and my stomach twisted.

"Why is Sasuke's face in Sai's assassination list?" said Naruto.

I swallowed hard. "There's only one reason..."

"Then Sai's real mission was to assassinate Sasuke?" Sakura said with wide eyes.

Yamato nodded. "Sai... His mission wasn't to be a go-between for Orochimaru and Danzo. Sai's true classified mission was to assassinate Sasuke."

"That could never be!" Naruto exclaimed. "After all, he said earlier that he was going to save Sasuke. And he really smiled from the bottom of his heart."

"I agree," I said. "The emotion I saw from him was real. Even if his mission was to assassinate Sasuke, that doesn't mean he's still dedicated to fulfill it. He said he'd help us." More than Sai, I was concerned about why Danzo seemingly wanted to eliminate Sasuke. Sure, Sasuke was a rogue ninja now, but he hadn't done anything to the Leaf. Why bother infiltrating our team just to get to him?

"Yeah!" said Naruto.

"What if that was all an act in order to forestall you two?" said Yamato. "The owner of this Bingo Book could indeed be capable of something like that. Look at this. This man in the book next to Sasuke. He's a jonin from the Hidden Mist, and the man who expressed a hard-line stance against the Leaf."

"Sai defeated him, huh?" said Naruto.

"He couldn't have been an easy opponent to defeat. The fact that he eliminated him means that in all likelihood, he must have resorted to every possible means. An act in order to forestall someone was probably all in a day's work for him."

I shook my head. "No, it wasn't an act. I could tell because of his drawings. They had no emotion in them before, but now... His most recent one is art. And isn't Danzo the one we should be worrying about anyway?"

"It's quite clear by looking at each of the people listed in this Bingo Book, Sai was assigned to the disposal of people dangerous to the Leaf, and Sasuke is also one such dangerous person. Danzo's goal was to bury Orochimaru's new flesh to bury Sasuke. In order to do that, Sai attempted to approach Orochimaru. He didn't betray the Leaf. It was for the sake of the Leaf. That's exactly what one from a hard-line military faction would think up."

"Yeah, but that kind of thinking is wrong. He lied to us about his intentions, and he didn't even have permission from the Hokage. The end doesn't justify the means. Even if your goal is moral, your methods must also be moral."

"There's no point in going on about that here," said Naruto. "It doesn't matter what Sai was ordered to do or what that Danzo guy's thinking about. Meeting up with Sai as quickly as possible and saving Sasuke is what's important!"

"It's indeed as Naruto says," said Yamato. "I felt Sai's chakra earlier. We need to go quickly."

"Yeah, alright,"I said.

"Right!" said Sakura.

"Got it!" said Naruto. "If Sai is after Sasuke then I'll stop him, no matter what!" So, we all set off in search of Sai. After some time, we heard a loud explosion.

"What was that?" said Sakura.

"It's Sai's chakra," I said, and we all ran down the hallway as fast as possible. I could see light at the end, revealing a makeshift hole. Sakura managed to get ahead of us. I could see Sai up ahead, so I picked up speed as well, wanting to stop her from doing something drastic.

"I found him!" Sakura exclaimed as she ran through the hole. "You! What're you really after? How many times do you have to betray us until you're satisfied?"

I used my speed to catch up to her just as she was aiming to punch Sai. I leapt in front of him and formed a shield, blocking her attack. Both Sai and Sakura appeared stunned. I gave Sakura a hard look. "Back off."

"Katsumi? But Sasuke-"

"I told you, he's not going to hurt him."

"Sakura," said a deep voice. "And Katsumi, I see."

Sakura gasped. "That voice... Sasuke."

Sasuke stepped into the light just as Naruto reached my side. "Sasuke," said Naruto. I stared at Sasuke, feeling a rush of conflicting emotions.

"Naruto, huh?" said Sasuke. "So, even you were here, huh? Then is Kakashi also with you?"

"Sorry, it's not Kakashi," said Yamato, coming up from behind. "I'm his substitute. Team Kakashi will now be taking you back to the Leaf."

"Team Kakashi, huh?" Sasuke's eyes landed on Sai, who immediately pulled his sword.

"Sai!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I knew it!" said Sakura.

"So, he's my replacement, huh?" said Sasuke. "Some soft one has once again joined up. He said he wanted to protect the bond between Naruto and me."

Sakura appeared surprised. "But, Sai, I thought your mission was to kill Sasuke."

"I told you, he's had a chance of heart," I said.

"Katsumi is correct," said Sai. "My classified mission was indeed the assassination of Sasuke, but I've had enough of orders. I now want to act on my own beliefs."

I smiled brightly at him. It was always good to see someone thinking for himself. "Good for you!"

Sai nodded. "I think you and Naruto will get me to remember my past emotions. I kind of get the feeling it's something very important to me." He turned to Sasuke. "I don't know you very well, but there must be some kind of reason why Naruto, Katsumi, and Sakura have pursued you so desperately. They don't want to sever their bonds with you. They're giving it their all to secure those bonds. I still don't understand it all that clearly, but, Sasuke, you should understand."

"Yeah I did understand," said Sasuke. "That's why I severed the bonds. I have different bonds. Bonds of hatred with my older brother."

I took a deep breath. This was my chance to tell him the truth. "Sasuke, you have to listen to me. You're wrong about Itachi. I know him. I've spent a lot of time with him."

Sasuke turned his cold gaze on me, sending a chill down my spine. "What did you say? How could you know him?"

I lifted my wrist that contained the bracelet which bonded me to Itachi. "Take a look."