Chapter 20: Naruto and Sasuke Face Off - TTBA - 8
As we walked around looking for any clues about where Sai might have gone, we found his backpack lying on the ground.
Sakura pulled out the book again; it was still the same.
"What's this doing here?" Yamato exclaimed as he checked Sai's backpack.
"What is it?" Sakura asked as I walked toward them.
"Look, this was in Sai's bag," Yamato said, handing me a diary or something similar. "It's an Anbu Black Ops list of targets that Sai was obviously assigned to assassinate. In other words, it's a bingo book."
"An Anbu Black Ops list? It's clear that Danzo gave him this list. There's no way an outsider could get information about Anbu Black Ops, let alone their profiles," I said.
"Why are those faces crossed out?" Sakura asked.
"It can only mean those targets have already been assassinated," Yamato replied. He took the book from me and started flipping through the pages.
Suddenly, his expression changed from calm to shocked, and sweat began to form on his face.
"What happened? Is something wrong?" Sakura asked.
"Look at this..." Yamato said, showing us the page.
"B-But, wait a minute, that's..." Sakura stammered, completely speechless.
"Sasuke is on this list?" I said. "Wait, if I'm not mistaken, that means he's also a target for Sai!"
Yamato looked worried and said, "I'm afraid that might be the reason."
"If that's true, then he's heading to Sasuke now," I replied.
"Yes. Sai's real secret mission wasn't just to be a messenger for Orochimaru and Danzo," Yamato continued but then paused.
"To kill Sasuke..." I finished his sentence, seeing Sakura's face turn pale with fear.
"So, everything he did was just to trick us?" Sakura asked.
Yamato nodded. "The owner of this Bingo Book could definitely do something like that. Look at this," he said, showing us the book with Sasuke's profile. "The man next to Sasuke is a jonin from the Hidden Mist, someone who was strongly against the Leaf."
"Sai... beat him?" Sakura wondered.
"Yes. He couldn't have been an easy opponent. The fact that Sai defeated him means he used every trick he had. His act to deceive us worked," Yamato explained.
"If that's the case, it means his targets are those who are threats to the Leaf Village. And..."
"...Sasuke is one of those dangerous people," Yamato finished.
"Danzo's goal was to eliminate Orochimaru's new weapon... to eliminate Sasuke. To do that, Sai tried to get close to Orochimaru. He didn't betray the Leaf; he did it for the village. That's exactly the kind of plan someone from a strict military faction would come up with," Yamato explained.
I nodded, already suspecting that Sai wasn't completely truthful. "I had to test him to find out. Anyway, let's move. We need to find him, and it's actually good that he went to Sasuke. Now I can track Sasuke through him," I said.
"It's indeed as Naruto says," Yamato confirmed.
"Then let's go," I said, and we all started running towards Sai's chakra signature.
I knew trusting him was risky, but I didn't think he had the strength to even touch Sasuke. Even if Sasuke had just a fraction of my power, he'd still destroy Sai. So, we're really going to save Sai, not the other way around.
Besides, I knew those ranks were just titles. They didn't mean much. A jonin getting taken out by someone like Sai, who couldn't even land a hit on me, was just absurd.
As we rushed towards Sai, the ground suddenly shook, and chaos erupted all around us.
"What was that?!" Sakura shouted.
"I think it has started!" I replied. "Let's hurry!" We pressed on.
Finally, we arrived at the scene just in time to see Sakura dash past us toward Sai, who was standing there.
"Sakura!" Yamato called out.
She ran straight to him and grabbed his collar. "You! What do you really want? How many times will you betray us before you're satisfied?" Sakura demanded.
"Sasuke, he's here," I said as we heard a voice call out.
"Sakura!" the voice echoed.
"That's Sasuke!" I exclaimed.
"It's... you... Sasuke-kun..." Sakura said, staring in shock.
Sasuke stood atop the rubble of the destroyed base, looking down at us. Sakura and Sai were below, surrounded by the wreckage.
"Naruto, huh?" Sasuke said, almost casually.
"You seem pretty calm after destroying your own base. I wonder why," I remarked, eyeing him curiously.
He shrugged. "So, you were here too?" he asked. "Is Kakashi with you?"
"Sorry, it's not Kakashi. I'm his substitute. Team Kakashi will take you back to the village," Yamato said as he walked in.
"Team Kakashi, huh?" He smirked, looking at Sai who had drawn his sword.
"Sai, I knew it!" Sakura exclaimed.
"So, he's my replacement?" Sasuke asked. "Another softie joining in. He said he wanted to protect the bond between us, but..."
"Sai, wasn't your mission to kill Sasuke?" Sakura asked.
"My mission was to assassinate Sasuke, but I've had enough of following orders. Now, I want to act on my own beliefs," Sai replied.
"You need to understand the bond," Sai said to Sasuke.
"I get it now. That's why I cut those bonds," Sasuke replied. "I have different bonds now!"
There was a brief silence. "Bonds of hatred... with my older brother," he continued. "Having too many bonds in this world will only lead you astray. It weakens your ambitions and distracts you from what really matters."
"I only spared your life that one time because I felt sorry for you. Don't think anything of it," he said. Then he jumped off the cliff in front of me, wrapping his arms around my neck. "You know, now that I think about it, wasn't it always your dream to become Hokage? All that time you spent chasing after me would have been better spent training, don't you think, Naruto?"
"But... this time my instinct is telling me to finish what I—"
"Are you done?" I interrupted.
"Huh...?"
"I asked if you're finished talking your nonsense," I said.
"You're such a foolish loser, Sasuke. You go on about your bonds of hatred with someone... Itachi Uchiha. You left the village just to get strong enough to kill him and get your revenge. But, sadly, even after all this time, you're still not strong enough to even touch him."
"Honestly, if I wanted, you wouldn't even be standing here with your hands around me like this."
"Huh, what are you trying to say, Naruto?" he demanded, pulling out his blade and pointing it at my neck.
"I'm talking about this," I said, teleporting behind him and placing one hand on the back of his neck. "You see, I wasn't just wandering around looking for you. It seems like you've been the one wandering all these years, so much so that you're not even at Sai's level," I added.
[A. N: Thanks for reading, drop Powerstones that will help a lot and drop reviews if you like the story and add to your library]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone