Naruto POV~

'SHIT.'

"Dammit, Naruto! Hurry up and knock them out!"

'I'm fucking TRYING.'

Somehow, a couple of Orochimaru's goons found me and thought it would be funny to try and sneak up on me. Kurama and I didn't find it very funny.

I let a small amount, a small amount, of Kurama's chakra fuel me as I kicked one in the head, immediately knocking him unconscious. I instantly withdrew it, instead relying on my already giant chakra reserves and beating up the others with shadow clones. Once they were unable to follow me, I got the hell out of there.

'How the fuck did they find me?'

Kurama growled, "It must've been the fog. One of them must be able to sense others in the fog they create."

'Shit. I didn't even think of that. I'll have to avoid the weird fog now.'

"Hm. You do that. Hopefully none of the Konoha shinobi noticed."

I paused and slipped into a shadowy corner within the leaves. 'I'll check if any are coming my way.'

I reached out my senses, and instantly noticed that someone was coming my way.

"..."

'...'

"Fuck."

Sasuke POV~

Sai was up to something. He must of seen something that caught his interest, because my first impression of him was that he never disobeyed direct orders.

Never.

Whatever caused him to leave like this, completely abandoning the post he was assigned to, must've been big. The only reasons I could think of as to why he would stop his scouting were 1. he found a threat to us and decided to dispatch it himself, or 2. The direct orders Kakashi gave him conflicted with the orders someone else gave him and he was apparently carrying out those orders now.

It was one of the two. Someone else might call be brash or jumping to conclusions, but despite acting self-absorbed I made a point to observe everyone I met carefully. I would be a fool to not be at least a little wary of him.

A distant scuffle, one that I could see disturbed the trees, proved my point. I focused as far as my sharingan allowed, and I noticed the disturbance in the area that implied a fight. But to be able to fight this discreetly? Whatever was going on, they were skilled.

I flash of orange chakra, and I skid to a stop right where I was.

It...no. That can't...

Yamato froze too. I was sure he didn't notice. Hoping he didn't notice.

"Sasuke? What's wrong?"

I blinked and composed myself, forcing my racing heart to calm down and act rational. "There's a fight. Up ahead."

Yamato's face was blank as he assessed the news. "Alright then. We approach with caution. Let's go see what's up, shall we?"

I just nodded as we continued to run, my head running a mile a minute.

It's him it's him it's him.

The pieces were all falling into place. Sai's true intentions. The possibility that Naruto could be near here. The fact that Sai worked under Danzo. 

Fucking Danzo, who wanted so desperately to make Naruto a weapon under his command. Who failed.

This was bad. A situation that, under normal circumstances, I would be able to clear my head enough to deal with. But this? I could barely stop my hands from trembling.

Naruto. Sai was here for Naruto.

And I had no idea how to stop it.

Naruto POV~

Turned out it was that Sai person. My 'replacement.'

I checked further, not quite panicked enough to let go of common sense. From the looks of it, he was the only one who noticed me, which immediately filled me relief. Then I panicked again.

I can handle one person, but this Sai person wouldn't be a part of Team 7 if he didn't have some skill. Orochimaru's henchmen that I fought were kind of amateurs and dirty fighters, all strength with no polish. But that's what made them easy to defeat without me revealing myself.

If I fought Sai, someone else might notice and oh god they would catch me -

"No they won't, kit. You said it yourself."

I paused. 'Yeah. I guess I did.' I located Sai again and kept tracking him. He was nearing the site where I knocked out all those people. I wasn't stupid. Those I knocked unconscious I hid, hastily but hidden nonetheless. Those who weren't wouldn't stay long enough to be interrogated by Sai. Oh, no, they were running like a bat out of hell.

'Should I run or fight?'

"Run if you can."

'Can I?'

"Only one way to find out."

I shrugged, ignoring the fact that my heart was drumming so loud I could hear it, and fucking ran.

I actually didn't make it far. Sai somehow tracked me and that's when I realized he could fly.

I didn't even give him a chance to see me before batting him away with a chakra arm. He fell off his bird (was that ink?) and rolled to his feet smoothly. 

I saw a small black figure on the ground, like a drawing that came to life, in the shape of a snake. It dispersed after I saw it, but goddammit now I have to look out for those things.

I drew back Kurama's chakra, only to lash it out again and slap him in the head. He stumbled, and I knew I succeeded in disorienting him.

Sai stood, swaying slightly and holding a hand to his (slightly bloody) head. I slid back in the shadows, the hood of my cloak over my head, and stayed in the shadows. He couldn't see my face this way. In fact, I don't think he saw me at all, except for sensing my chakra and maybe a dark figure in the trees.

Sai squinted in my direction, proving my point considering the fact that he couldn't even identify my exact location. He regarded me with surprise. 

"Danzo-sama was right. You are strong."

I didn't grace him with an answer. All I did was bring out a kunai. To my surprise, all he did was close his eyes, as if accepting the fact that I might kill him.

I lowered the kunai but didn't put it away. Who was this guy? He mentioned Danzo, and from the way he said it he must've been one of Danzo's soldiers. Knowing Danzo, Sai's mission must've been to capture or kill me, but he didn't look like he actually wanted to. 

Despite knowing who he was, I felt the need to help him. There was something wrong, I could sense it.

I didn't come out where he could see me, but I did give him one thing.

"Be who you want." I said, "It's your life, after all. Not his."

Leaving him with that, I ran off into the forest, just as two other figures appeared from the forest. Long, reaching fingers of wood shot out after me, but I was gone. By the time anyone realized what happened, I was gone.

Sasuke POV~

He was there.

He was right there.

I had never been more impressed with and angry at Naruto in my life. First off, he was somehow careless enough that Sai saw him. But, he managed to dodge Yamato's wood style at point-blank  range, which was skilled of him. And the whole time, we didn't even see him besides the flutter of a cloak, which frustrated me for some reason. 

"That was close." Yamato hissed. "Damn. I should go after him, but..."

"We should deal with Sai." I was surprised with how even and flat my voice was. Yamato side-eyed me, but didn't question it and started to walk towards Sai. Speaking of Sai, the guy was currently kneeling on the ground, eyes wide, head bloody, and seemingly either pondering something or in shock. Possibly both.

"Sai." Yamato's voice was soft, with an underlying, hard, no-nonsense tone.

Sai didn't respond at first, but after a moment he turned his head slightly, an indication he was listening. 

"Can you walk?"

Sai blinked, "Yes. I suppose so."

He stood and immediately staggered. Yamato caught him and glanced back at me, as if saying, You're the one who got me into this mess so you'll be the one to deal with him. 

I sighed and grabbed Sai's arm, slinging it over my shoulder and letting him lean his weight on me. He wasn't the heaviest, but he irritated me and I didn't like him. Yamato nodded and began to head back towards the lake, and I followed, silently cursing his name.

I was caught off guard when Sai started talking to me.

"He said something to me." the other boy mumbled. Yamato respectfully stayed out of earshot, but Sai kept his voice low nonetheless. "Now I see why you all talk of him with such awe."

Did I really? I don't remember even talking about Naruto that much at all, not out loud. I stayed silent, subtley prompting him to go on.

"Naruto Uzumaki. He said 'Be who you want. It's your life after all. Not his.' What does that mean? Why does it feel so..."

I watched him for a moment. I understood the feeling. 

"My real mission..." Sai continued, "Danzo-sama ordered me to bring back Naruto Uzumaki, dead or alive. But...I didn't want to. I've never-" he cut himself off, looking down.

I decided that I've heard enough and spoke, "Naruto has that effect on people."

Sai glanced at me, eyes wide. I never thought about this before, but he was kind of...childish, only in the sense that he had that innocent, curious gleam in his eyes that screamed of broken innocence. 

Maybe that's why I didn't like him. Why I avoided him like the plague. I saw myself in those eyes. Eyes that lost their innocence much too early.

That was only proven with his next words, "I suppose, after I was forced to kill my brother..." after that, he launched into the story of his life, how he was raised by Danzo with another boy who was like a brother to him, how that all lead to the death of said brother. How Danzo had managed to do that to all his soldiers, spinning them into perfect weapons to use and dispose after completely screwing over their emotions.

I found my hatred for Danzo growing with every word. Against my will, Itachi's face flashed in my brain at the mention of Sai's brother.

Dammit.

When he was done spewing out his story, Sai grew silent all of a sudden. I figured it was about time I spoke up.

"Whatever Naruto told you...he's right."

Sai looked at me curiously and I went on, "The big idiot always felt like it was his responsibility to help everyone. Most people would have given up on me, back when all I knew was bitter hatred and revenge, but not him. He went out of his way, risking his life to show me that there's more to life than vengeance. He never sees people as their demons, he sees them as..who they can be, I suppose. And just the fact that he saw me as a friend and someone who needed hope, rather than the 'poor boy who's family was killed' or the brat driven by the need for revenge...he gave me the one thing I needed and what no one else did. A chance."

I paused, just realizing that I'd just spilled out my heart to this guy. But Sai didn't seem to mind. He pondered on my words, head tilted slightly. A small smile came to his face, an expression I'd never seen on him before. A real smile.

"You speak of him so fondly. Was he your...friend?"

I thought on this. Sai stared at me, waiting for my answer.

Eventually, I nodded.

"He was...my best friend. The best anyone could ask for."

Sai nodded. We spent the rest of the small journey back in silence, both of us already having said our part.

I felt lighter than I have in a long time.

AN~

I know I've been taking a pretty odd angle, with the Three-Tails arc and everything, but considering the fact that I needed everyone in the same place for this to work this arc worked out best for me 😅.

Sorry if seems a bit unconventional, but I don't see any fics take this approach and it was the best I could think of.

Love y'all.