Escape From Konoha

This mistake cannot happen again.

On the way back to Konoha Hospital, Sai warned herself this more than once.

After two consecutive mission failures, his evaluation in the hearts of his superiors has dropped a level.

If the mission of tracking Asami Masumi failed, it can be considered excusable. He is a very powerful medical ninja, at least an expert at the ANBU captain level, and has very keen anti-reconnaissance capabilities. Even if his ability is special, It’s also impossible to achieve perfect tracking.

But this time it was different, and Naruto was kidnapped by a group of criminals. Such a mistake was far more serious than the failure of the mission to track Asami Masumi.

The jinchuriki is an important military force in the village, regardless of Naruto's own will. From the moment he becomes the nine-tailed jinchuriki, he is the war weapon that the village must control.

His existence is indispensable to Konoha, just like Naruto is to Konoha.

Especially in this day and age, tailed beasts are precious military resources.

If something unexpected happened to Naruto and he was kidnapped by outsiders, even if he died ten times, he would not be able to make up for such a mistake.

I am just a shadow in the darkness.

Thinking of the infectious smile that appeared on Naruto's face from time to time, the warm spring-like chakra gave him the feeling like the shining sun in winter, dispelling the cold. Sai could not help but fell silent.

Such an existence is quite unfamiliar to me.

Maybe you should have less contact with Naruto in the future to avoid being infected by his chakra aura.

Giving up feelings, name, and life is the meaning of his existence.

If you cannot do this, the roots have no value in existence.

While thinking this, Sai put his palm into the ninja tool bag and rummaged through the contents, and suddenly his face froze.

——The picture book is gone!

◎

"Hey, isn't Sai here?"

In a single ward on the third floor of Konoha Hospital, Naruto, Sakura and Tenzo came here. After seeing that there was no one in the single ward, they couldn't help showing surprised expressions.

But compared to Naruto and Sakura's confusion, Tenzo became thoughtful.

Did you go to meet Danzo? Tianzang could only guess so.

Sai is not an ordinary genin, and there is no record in Konoha's ninja files. Just like those orphan ninjas who were secretly trained by the roots, except for the records in the roots, the village knows nothing about their past.

Even the name Sai is false.

This shows how much control Danzo has over his roots.

With such a major incident happening, Saoi must have gone to apologize to Danzo immediately instead of recovering from his injuries.

Tianzang sighed helplessly. Although he knew that the root organization was very harmful, with his strength, he was really unable to compete with such a behemoth.

Even though Tsunade, who seemed extremely tough at this moment, could only overtly overwhelm the roots, but if she wanted to attack the roots secretly, it would definitely cause a disaster.

The current root, not only the root itself, has also gathered the power of the martial arts faction. In terms of power, it is not much weaker than the Hokage faction.

It is simply impossible to change Sai's situation.

The root is not a charity, they are the dark side of Konoha, and what they do has nothing to do with kindness.

Bloody, cruel and unscrupulous are their synonyms.

Just like the original selection of more than twenty babies with excellent qualifications to become experimental subjects, and conduct experiments with Orochimaru on the Wood Release.

They really have no lower limit to rules and human ethics.

They want the end result, not the process.

As long as he can be strong, in their eyes, the Hokage may be sacrificed and betrayed at will.

"Could he have gone for a walk? Is his health okay?"

Here, Naruto guessed again and put the basket of fruits in his hand on the cabinet next to the hospital bed.

"However, his injury does not allow him to move freely for too long..."

As a medical ninja, Sakura naturally knew how serious Sai's injuries were. Although he could move, for health reasons, she still did not recommend him to get out of bed so quickly.

Therefore, Sakura frowned, with a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry, you two, something may have happened to Sakai. I believe he will be back soon."

Tianzang comforted him from the side.

In fact, he didn't have the confidence in his heart, because the crime of causing the Jinchuriki to disappear was very serious. Fortunately for him, although Tsunade's punishment for him was serious, it was also a punishment within the rules.

But what is implemented at the root is not the rules of the village, but a set of regulations run by itself.

Whether Sai can return safely, we can only hope for his own value.

If his own value is not high in the eyes of his superiors, and he commits such a major mistake, he will never be easily spared, or even let the rest of his peers in the root class replace him and rejoin Class 7.

"Really? It's really troublesome. Doesn't he know that we are coming to visit him?"

Naruto went to the window and opened it to ventilate the room.

"I also said that if it weren't for you, Sai would not have suffered such serious injuries. You have to thank them properly."

Sakura gave Naruto an accusing look.

"I, I understand, I feel a little sorry now."

Naruto stiffened.

"You can't tell at all. Moreover, your previous performance in the mission was too poor. According to Captain Yamato, the strength of those few people should not be much greater than your own. They can be entangled for a period of time, and the result will be all of a sudden Got hit with a sap."

"Damn it, who knew they could be so insidious. They didn't give me a chance to suit up and fight, and they didn't follow the rules! I almost wet my pants at that time!"

Naruto got angry when he thought about this. He was urinating at the time, but was suddenly attacked at that moment. If he hadn't reacted quickly enough, he would have almost peed on his pants.

"Hey, don't say such embarrassing things! Besides, this is not a chunin exam. It requires a one-on-one fair fight, and you need to say hello before the war starts. Are you thinking too much?"

Sakura was speechless.

Is Naruto very strong? It's so strong to a certain extent that even ordinary jounin can't easily hold him.

But the other side is very weak.

His nerves are too thick, and his alertness to encounters is too poor. He is almost the same as a normal genin, and his performance is even worse.

But there is no way, the actual battle is different from the exam.

The exam is a practical assessment of candidates, but there are still many differences from real combat.

In an encounter in the wild, it is normal for both sides to sneak attack on each other.

A real battle will not be a one-on-one duel, and there will be no rules prohibiting killing the opponent. There will be no referee to tell the truth and stop the test when the candidate is in danger to ensure that the candidate's life is safe.

Being lectured by Sakura, Naruto shrugged and did not refute.

At this time, Sakura took out something from her ninja tool bag, attracting the attention of Naruto and Tenzo.

"What is this? Why does it look so familiar? It seems to belong to Saoi..."

Naruto saw clearly what was in Sakura's hand. It was a palm-sized drawing book.

The cover and bottom of the illustrated book feature two cute Q-version characters.

One of them looks very much like Sai, and the other one is unknown, but his hair style is very similar to Sai's, except that his hair color is white.

"This is Sai's drawing book, I think. I remember that Sai accidentally dropped it when he was chasing the Four Elephants."

Tianzang thought about the origin of this picture book and said.

"Well, I think this picture book should be a very important thing to Sai. I asked him not to let us see it before, so I brought it with me."

Sakura nodded, she was still very curious about this picture book.

Sai's form of ninjutsu appears in the form of ink drawings and creates physical objects to attack or restrain the enemy, with remarkable effects.

In addition, it also has extremely strong detection and transmission intelligence capabilities.

In actual combat, its functions are very comprehensive, and it can almost be said to be a secret technique without any weaknesses.

"What's in it? That guy was mysterious before. He kept holding this picture book in a daze, and he didn't know what was interesting in it."

Naruto asked very curiously.

"I don't know, I haven't read this picture book yet."

"Then open it quickly and take a look. I want to see what that guy drew inside."

Naruto took the drawing book from Sakura's hand and flipped through it to himself.

"Isn't it a bit unethical to look through other people's things without their permission?"

Having said that, Tenzou's body came up very honestly, and like Naruto and Sakura, he focused his eyes on the drawing book.

He thought that it would be great if he could learn something about Sai through this picture book.

At least it can be beneficial to the team spirit of Class 7.

After all, it would be difficult for him to truly entrust his back to Sai if he didn't know her thoroughly.

"Strange, what kind of composition is this?"

Afterwards, Naruto briefly looked through the contents of the painting book, with a strange look on his face.

Although the painting style is very cute, and from an outsider's perspective, there is basically nothing wrong with it, but I don't know why, but it always gives people a very strong sense of violation.

Sakura pointed to the content in the picture book and pointed out the interesting places she found:

"This should record the growth history of the two teenagers. For example, the pictures on the right page starting from both sides are the teenagers on the cover and the bottom respectively, but only the picture on the left page keeps changing enemies, and every time it changes, the two teenagers They will take away the equipment and weapons of the opponent in the picture on the left page and start the next battle."

After Sakura's analysis, Tenzo nodded in approval.

"Indeed, from this point of view, they are two different teenagers, but they have very similar growth histories. They both grew up by defeating their enemies... But if this continues, the two people in the story will meet sooner or later. Sakura, turn over Go to the middle and look.”

"good."

Sakura turned to the middle part, and the expressions of the three of them were suddenly shocked.

The picture on the right page shows a faceless black-haired boy, while the picture on the left page is blank without any characters.

Logically speaking, the two people who kept defeating the enemy would eventually meet on the middle drawing. However, only one person appeared, a faceless man, and the left side was a blank drawing.

There is no doubt that this black-haired boy without a painted face is Sai.

The white-haired boy does not appear in the picture on the left page.

"What's going on? Why does this boy who looks like Sai have no face? And where is the boy with white hair?"

Naruto blinked, confused by this.

Sakura and Tenzo fell silent for a while, perhaps thinking of something.

No face means no expression. Think of the fake smile that appears on Sayi's face from time to time. Strictly speaking, isn't it a face that does not need expression?

A faceless person.

An expressionless person.

Lose your name, lose your feelings.

There is no past and no future.

This is the root.

"Is it because I can't think of the final ending, so I haven't started painting yet?"

Sakura closed the picture book and let out a long breath.

The white-haired boy who appears above must be a very important person to Sai.

"It seems that the relationship inside is more complicated than we thought."

Tenzo scratched his head and sighed.

He has some guesses of his own, but some things are not yet absolutely certain.

But only one thing is very clear, Sai has not completely cut off his past like the people at the root.

In his heart, he retained a memory that he could not let go of no matter what.

"Captain Yamato, what kind of organization is this?"

This is the first time Sakura has asked this question.

She found that she actually didn't know as much as she thought about this organization hidden in Konoha's secrets.

We can only understand a general idea from some words of others - that is, the power of the root is very huge, so huge that even the Hokage has to restrain his hands when dealing with them.

And such a description is enough to prove how terrifying Gen is.

A huge force that can challenge the Hokage can be regarded as Konoha's second largest political body.

And their leader may not be less powerful than the Hokage. He belongs to the darkness, Konoha's second 'Hokage'!

Just as Tianzang was about to answer, this sentence came from the door of the ward:

"The root is Danzo-sama's private military organization. Joining this organization means sacrificing everything, dignity and even life for Danzo-sama. For members of the organization, Danzo-sama's orders come from the will of God. .”

Naruto and the other three turned to look at the door of the ward and found that Sai quietly appeared there at some point, with his usual smile on his pale face.

"Sai? When did you come?"

"Well... I just came back from a walk. Thank you very much for coming to visit me."

Sai came in with a smile.

Sakura took a step forward and handed the drawing book in her hand to Sai.

"Here, this is your precious thing."

"..."

Sai lowered his head and then noticed that the drawing book in Sakura's hand was the one he had lost.

For a moment, the smile on his face became much more real.

Although the joy of regaining something was not shown on his face, it did fill his chest and made him feel at ease.

"Thanks."

"Actually, no need... I'm sorry, I read the above without your permission."

Sakura smiled awkwardly.

In this regard, Sai did not express any opinion.

Compared with the joy of regaining something, there was no need for him to dwell on this small mistake.

Besides, even if the above things were known to others, it wouldn't matter. At most, they would find the story of his painting very boring.

"Speaking of which, the person on one side is you, right? Who is the person on the other side?"

Naruto asked.

Regarding Naruto's question, Sai was silent for a moment and replied: "It's my brother."

"elder brother?"

His answer surprised the three Narutos.

They didn't expect Sai to have a brother.

"However, he is not a blood-related brother, but the brother I grew up with in the roots. He and I are both orphans. In order to better survive in the roots, we chose to depend on each other for survival and warmth."

There was a trace of sadness in Zuo Jing's eyes.

If you have not been in the roots, you cannot know the suffocating darkness there.

The Danzo he is loyal to is a dark ninja who will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals.

The root is not a charity that adopts orphans. Only strong orphans can escape from being abandoned and used as experimental subjects.

The strong survive and the weak die, it is an extremely dark primitive jungle.

"Really? It can be seen that you and your brother have a good relationship."

Sakura didn't know how to answer the question, so she could only say this.

"Of course, he taught me how to survive in my roots, and I have a lot of respect for him."

Sai nodded, not denying this.

"So, where is he now?"

"Dead. The cause of death was illness."

Sai narrowed his eyes and smiled.

This smile made Naruto and Sakura feel a little uncomfortable.

"Well, having said that, I really want to thank you this time. If it weren't for you..."

In order to ease the tense atmosphere, Naruto began to thank Saai.

"You're welcome, I just received the task of protecting you."

Sai looked at Naruto with a smile and said this calmly.

"Saui, you..."

Naruto frowned.

He felt that Sai in front of him was like a cold machine that was constantly working, without any trace of a stranger.

"Sai is just a made-up name for the purpose of integrating into Team 7. It can also be said to be a code name. I have no name. I am the hands and feet of Lord Danzo and a minion of Gen. I... do not exist in this world. Naruto , whether you admit it or not, there are things in this village that you cannot eliminate. So, don’t try to change me, as a root ninja, I don’t need such things as feelings and bonds."

Sai faced Naruto and interrupted what Naruto was about to say.

Even Sakura and Tenzo, who were bystanders, could feel the tension between the two parties.

"Hey, how can you say such a thing? Ninjas are also human beings, how can they give up their feelings?"

"That's why...your former teacher Hatake Kakashi betrayed Konoha."

When Sai finished these words, Naruto and Sakura's pupils shrank and their fists clenched suddenly.

As if he didn't notice the ugly expressions on the two people's faces at the moment, Sai continued to smile and said: "Hatake Kakashi's father Konoha White Fang, it was precisely because of the drag of this bond that he committed suicide amidst the accusations of the villagers. If That Konoha White Fang chose to prioritize the mission instead of saving his companions, then this would not have happened. Even your teacher Hatake Kakashi would not betray Konoha and eventually become the murderer of the Sandaime Hokage. .These are all tragedies that happened because we were too focused on feelings and forgot what the mission was."

"...Shut up! Kakashi-sensei, he is not who you say he is..."

Naruto's tone sounded like he was gritting his teeth, trying his best to suppress the anger inside.

"But Konoha White Fang committed suicide, and Hatake Kakashi killed the Hokage and defected. This is irrefutable evidence. So, please give me more advice in the future, Uzumaki Naruto. Don't worry, this incident will not happen again, because I will protect you even if I die. Keep you safe! This is my life and my mission!"

Sai smiled and extended his hand in a friendly manner, as if he wanted to get acquainted with Naruto again.

"Don't you think about yourself? Such a task..."

The anger on Naruto's face was obvious, and he stepped forward and grabbed Sai's collar, as if he wanted to teach him a lesson.

However, Sai was not panicked at all.

"There is no need to retort so heart-wrenchingly. In this world, there is no equality between people. In the eyes of the upper class of the village, your life is much more valuable than mine. No matter in the past, present or future , this fact cannot be changed. Life has a price, and the initial cost is very low. The ultimate purpose of everyone's efforts is to raise the price of their own lives, so that they will not be easily abandoned in the end."

Then, Sai looked at Tenzo and said with a smile: "I think the captain also received orders similar to mine. For example, the Hokage ordered that Naruto must be protected at all costs."

Upon hearing this, Naruto looked at Tenzo in disbelief.

Tenzou was a little silent about this. Although Tsunade had not issued such an order, as a senior cadre of the Anbu, he must be proactive in doing this.

"Naruto, don't blame Sai too much. Although his words are unpleasant, for this era, his words are not a problem. For the village, your existence is unique. If that time comes, I will make the same decision. Same choice as Sai."

Tenzo couldn't bear to deceive Naruto, that was the case in this era.

After leaving Konoha, it was a completely disordered world.

If people want to survive better, they can only rely on the most primitive violence to protect themselves and plunder the wealth of others.

Because where order cannot be constrained, violence is the most powerful solution, bar none.

"how come……"

Naruto took a step back in despair.

Sakura stood aside and wanted to say something, but considering something, she held back.

"However, Saai, it's better not to say such things in the future. Naruto and Sakura are in different environments than you. Don't use your standards to judge others."

Tenzo turned to look at Saoi's fake smile and warned him seriously.

"Don't worry, I will pay more attention to it in the future, Captain."

Sai smiled and nodded.