Chapter 115: CH 115
Sai's face returned to its dull, normal, emotionally devoid look, "You never worked on a team. Danzo-sama always had you work solo, and besides, no one in Root knew each other that weren't regular partners. I had my own. Other than that I did not appear until I was nine, right before your ill-fated mission to Otogakure." Naruto nodded, it sounded about right, "Okay, now why are you here? Did you just want to drop in and see your old buddy Naruto?" Naruto finished with a grin. Sai simply stared at him, blinking. Naruto dropped the grin from his face, "Okay, whatever. Seriously Sai, what do you want?"
Sai's fake smile surfaced once again, "You should know the answer to that Naruto. After all, I'm the main reason you're even here in the first place."
(Flashback – The night after Naruto's return from Tsuki no Kuni)
Naruto sat meditating in the Forest of Death. Slowly dragging the Kyuubi's chakra out of the seal, 'Goddamn it... This seal isn't meant for me to use Kyuubi's chakra the way I want to, at least not as it is. It's like I'm missing something... Ero-sennin's holding something out on me... again. Well after our first little smattering about seals he shouldn't try any mischief with them, especially now that I'm learning about them.' Naruto heard rustling in the trees moving towards him rapidly. Naruto sighed and drew his sword from his back as he stood up and cracked his neck, "Come on down..."
On cue a blur burst into his vicinity, followed by two other, significantly larger, blurs. Naruto moved into the path of the first blur as it jumped over him and channeled wind chakra to his blade to slash twice at the attacking blurs moving right for him. A splattering of guts let Naruto know that he had just killed two more spiders.
"You have the same elemental affinity as Danzo-sama I see." Naruto recognized the voice as Sai, the boy he had met while he had been training with Jiraiya. Sai had his tanto drawn but upon seeing Naruto deal with his assailants he placed it back into its sheath.
Turning around he swung his sword to clear the guts from the blade before setting the dull side on his shouder, "Hi there Sai. Did you have fun tracking me down?"
Sai let out a sigh to let him know just how tired he was, "It wasn't the tracking you part that was difficult. However fighting through all of those spiders was a tiring endeavor."
Naruto grinned and nodded, "Never been in the Forest of Death before? Welcome to my world. Now I hope you didn't brave the treacherous nightlife of our little slice of hell on Earth just because you missed me Sai."