The Way Into Mist Village (Naruto)

13: Sakura's Invite

[OP: "The Lament of Eustace Scrubb"--The Oh Hellos]

Most of the team dispersed to get ready for the day after that.

Sai hung back.

"I'm very interested in what you believe," he said to Shine. "I have heard some of it a little from the others, but you explain more clearly."

"I'm not surprised you're interested, Sai--I know you have a keen hunger for truth," Shine said, smiling. "I'm sure you'll find it, too. 'Everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.'"

"Is that all in your book?" Sai asked.

"It's not really my book, but yes," Shine said. "Didn't you get a copy?"

"Yes, but it has not made much sense to me," Sai said.

"Try the part we covered earlier first: Matthew and maybe Luke and John," Shine suggested. "And Proverbs...that would be a great book for you.It's very literal--so not much fear you would misinterpret that."

"That would be helpful." Sai made a note of that.

"And any questions you have, just ask," Shine added. "I love answering questions, and so does Momo, and the others may chip in, in a good moment."

With a wry smile, since she knew Bakugo and Dabi weren't that patient.

"I ask many questions," Sai said. "But people usually get angry when I do."

"I will endeavor not to get angry," Shine said. "Usually, I don't, so I think it should be fairly easy. I'm not too easily offended these days, not by innocent questions. I think people take it a little too personally."

Sai looked as if he wished more people would take that view of it.

Ino glanced back through the doorway at them and then sighed and turned to Shikamaru. "We were terrible in there. How did we make such fools of ourselves? They all had it together, and we didn't have a clue how to answer them."

Shikamaru frowned at her like she was rubbing it in.

"I guess they showed you up yet again." Temari was no help; she was grinning. "Your problem, Shikamaru, is that you think you're so smart, you never need to learn anything more before you answer something like that. But it's not any different than strategy: Till you know all the parts of it, you can't really figure it out."

"Did I ask you to comment on it?" Shikamaru said crossly. "I don't know how I always end up speechless. I'm sure I don't feel lost about what I do in my life."

"That may be the problem." Gaara heard that and came close to them. He spoke very humbly for all he was so grave--it made him kind of scary to Ino, anyway.

Without any sort of self satisfaction, Gaara went on. "It's because you feel like you know that you don't understand them. You're an intelligent person, Shikamaru, but intelligence is not everything in the world... It's not much use if only the smart people can find the meaning in life, not to the rest of us."

Temari chuckled. "Well said... Really, it is not that hard to understand, is it? Either this is about us, the villages, or it's about more than that. We're just trying to find out what that more is."

"But," Shikamaru said uneasily, "no one has any life outside the villages, especially not their own goals, like revenge."

None of them knew Sasuke was still listening to this. He'd hidden himself when they came out of the room.

"That can't be it," Temari insisted. "You know it all made sense, don't you? The leaders are just men or women--they can't really know what's right or wrong just on that alone. We need to have something outside of ourselves to figure this out, or we're all just as lost, and then it's just whoever is powerful enough to force everyone else to do what they want, and that, Crybaby, is just exactly what we've had for the last 50 to 80 years."