Whispers In The Dark

Sai And Sausages

Kakashi stared at the dark haired boy with a familiar 'innocent' smile, "A new teammate?"

The boy bowed his head to Team 7, "Hello, my name is Sai,"

Naruto stared at him before nodding and turned to Hinata, "Don't trust him. He's the kind to steal your eyes if he ever gets an order, dattebayo,"

Sai black eyes blinked in surprised at the blond while Hinata wondered why Naruto meant by that. Sure she was often told that she has eyes for people but Kurenai also told her that her greatest flaw was that she often only see the best in a person rather than taking them in as a whole; their good side and their bad side. In their world, that's a dangerous thing and even fatal to her and her team. But Naruto saw them more than just the surface level. She noticed that if he's wary of a person then he was right to be wary.

She bowed back to Sai, "Hello. My name is Hyuuga Hinata. Welcome to Team 7. I hope that we can work well together,"

Kakashi sighed, having heard Jiraiya's warning about Danzo finally catching interest towards their village's weapon. Sai must have been sent by the war hawk. He just hoped that things will go well or they will have a 'friend killer' in Team 7. He clapped his hand and put on his 'happy' face, "Alright! We are going on a mission to send these scrolls to our border outposts so let's pack up!"

Naruto watched as Hinata and the new guy left to get ready. He had made it a habit to always carry his things on his person and so didn't need to go back and prepare for the trip. It was something he pick up from Jiraiya. He looked at Kakashi, his lively expression gone and Kakashi mentally sighed at the familiar sight. He can't even feel nostalgic because he sincerely didn't want to see such a sight ever again. It's creepy!

Naruto asked, "Was he sent by a certain rat?"

Kakashi knew that because Naruto practically made the ANBU archive his personal library, he must have come across a file on Shimura Danzo and the Foundation. 'Rat' and 'Root' both started with the word 'Ne' so rather than say root, Naruto called Danzo rat instead. Danzo fell under Naruto's suspicion only because he was wary of anyone that could sell village information because anyone with that kind of record could also be involved in Hinata's case of kidnapping attempt.

He also suspect that perhaps it wasn't Kumo that tried to kidnap Hinata but Danzo only Danzo had made a deal with the Kumo Ambassador that was killed by Hyuuga Hiashi which would explain why Kumo would demand compensation for the death of someone they sent in trust and Hiruzen couldn't really deny them that compensation even if it was unfair to the Hyuuga Clan who lost a member. Naruto had also taken notice of a trend that some clan children were taken in by Danzo but those that rejected his offer for training soon disappeared.

It was very suspicious but Danzo has a talent in hiding his trail.

Kakashi studied Naruto's expression. It was similar to the look Minato had when he was contemplating on how best to approach a difficult situation. That look on Minato usually ended up with mission complete but on Naruto it will usually ended up with a body bag...or several body bags...or no body at all but the sewer will be extra busy and might even smell strongly of bleach.

The journey to the border outpost was nothing special. Naruto surprisingly behaved well...although he made Hinata sleep on the inside of the tent while he sleeps in the middle, basically becoming a barrier between her and Sai. He also made sure that he will take middle watch, Hinata take first and Sai take last watch. Kakashi will cover for him when he takes up middle watch as the Jounin knew that Naruto will keep an eye on Sai more than his surroundings. If it was any other people, Kakashi will be miffed but Naruto set up traps that only the Byakugan or Sharingan can notice and it was only to make sure that Hinata will not get caught.