Meeting the new Teammate

It was another cloudy morning in Konoha, but that didn't stop Naruto and Sakura from going about their usual business, training, and patrolling the village. Today, however, the atmosphere felt a little different. Something was off, like a subtle disturbance in the air, and Naruto couldn't quite put his finger on it. His instincts were on edge as they walked down a narrow alley between two buildings.

Without warning, the air seemed to shift. A dark, sticky ink began to materialize out of nowhere, forming a writhing mass of inky black shapes that seemed to dart in every direction. Sakura barely had time to react, her hand flashing to her kunai pouch, but before she could make a move, the ink began to encircle them, quickly growing thicker.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted, trying to avoid the tendrils.

"I got this!" Naruto snapped, his eyes flashing red as he activated his Sharingan. The moment his eyes spun, everything seemed to slow down. He could feel every movement of the ink, every shift in the shadows. With the immense power of his eyes, he did a quick 360-degree sweep of the surroundings—every corner, every hidden crevice, every darkened spot revealed itself to him.

He saw him.

A boy, standing off to the side, barely noticeable in the chaos of ink, his pale complexion stark against the inky blackness that surrounded them. His dark hair was unkempt, but it was his attire that caught Naruto's attention: a loose-fitting black outfit that resembled the ANBU uniforms, but with no mask—only a plain, vacant expression on his face. The boy's hands were positioned as if he were controlling the ink from afar.

Naruto, now locked on target, summoned chakra strings from his fingertips. They shot out like lightning and wrapped themselves tightly around the boy, pinning him to the ground effortlessly.

"Nice try," Naruto said, his voice low but firm. "But you're not getting away from me that easily."

The boy struggled, his body twitching as if trying to break free from the chakra strings that now held him down. But no matter how much he tried, the chakra was too much. Naruto took a few steps closer, observing the boy's form with critical eyes.

"So, who are you?" Naruto asked, his tone neither aggressive nor friendly.

The boy said nothing. His lips barely moved as he stared up at Naruto with dull eyes.

"Guess we're gonna have to do this the hard way," Naruto muttered. He formed a shadow clone, and with a single hand signal, it disappeared into the shadows, reappearing in front of the boy.

Before the clone could even speak, it was already drilling into the boy's psyche, forcing the boy to relive memories, to spill secrets.

Meanwhile, Naruto was scanning the boy's bag with his chakra strings, retrieving a pile of documents, a few of them marked with Konoha's official ANBU insignia. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he examined them, clearly seeing they were highly classified materials. With a swift motion, he sealed them away into the left wrist-storage-seal-tattoo hidden under his sleeve, just in case.

The boy's resistance faded as Naruto's clone returned with the intel. "He's got to be an operative, or work with a guy high up in the chain of command, no doubt about it. His name's Sai, and he's supposed to be filling in for Sasuke."

"Doesn't surprise me," Naruto muttered, eyes briefly narrowing at the mention of Sasuke's name. "But I don't really care about Sasuke. He's not the one who'll stop me. I'll handle this Sai kid… but he's not much better. Weak."

Sakura, still standing nearby, glanced at him warily. "Naruto, be careful. We don't know what he's capable of."

The clone's voice interrupted. "He's hiding something, Naruto. He's got orders, and he's working for someone."

Naruto straightened, his eyes flicking to Sai. "You're lucky I'm letting you live, Sai. But since you'll be on our team now. Better keep up."

Later that day, the entire team gathered in the Hokage's office. Tsunade's expression was one of quiet concern as she eyed the reports Naruto had brought in from his encounter with Sai. She glanced over at Jiraiya, who had been looking over a map of the coming operations. Harry, leaning back casually, was only half-listening, his eyes narrowed as he watched Sai stand in the corner, not saying a word.

Jiraiya chuckled darkly. "Sai, huh? Well, he's no Sasuke. I can already tell that." He glanced at Naruto. "But you've got a bit of a headache on your hands now, eh?"

Naruto simply grunted, his thoughts still lingering on the fact that the boy would be joining his team. "He'll only be a nuisance. You know, Sai looks like he'd be better off in a dark corner somewhere. I don't have time for weaklings." He muttered as his eyes shifted to Sai again, who remained completely still.

Harry made a comically exaggerated face when he saw Sai for the first time. His eyes widened, and he made a sound like he was about to retch—but he quickly tried to stifle it.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh as he saw the expression. "Nice face, Harry. Looks like you're about to explode."

Jiraiya caught wind of it and immediately started snickering. "Hey, Harry, maybe you should lay off the snacks next time, huh?"

Tsunade cleared her throat loudly. "Enough! We have more pressing matters. I'm giving you all this mission." She threw a scroll onto the table. "Jiraiya has gathered some intel—Orochimaru is making a move, and we're about to go head-to-head with his forces at the Tenshi Bridge."

Naruto straightened. "Orochimaru again? I've had enough of that snake."

Jiraiya leaned forward. "There's more. We've also intercepted information about Orochimaru meeting up with Akatsuki's Sasori. Something big is happening. This mission might very well be our only chance to catch Orochimaru off guard."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, thoughts already racing. "We're heading to the Tenshi Bridge, right?"

Tsunade nodded. "Exactly. We need to move out. But you'll have a bit of extra backup. I'm assigning you a Jonin. Yamato, his abilities will help you infiltrate better."

Sakura tilted her head, then smiled at Naruto. "Looks like we've got ourselves a big team now, huh?"

Naruto glanced at her, giving a shrug. "I guess."

Later that night, as the moon rose high above the village, Naruto and his new team—along with Yamato—gathered at the village gates, ready for the mission. Sai, though still quiet, was part of the team now, much to Naruto's displeasure. But he'd deal with it.

Temari had been watching from the shadows, her eyes locked on Naruto, a small smile curving her lips. She didn't say anything, just gave him a thumbs-up.

"You better come back safely," she said softly, but Naruto could hear the emotion in her voice.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine," Naruto replied with his usual cocky grin. He glanced over at Harry, who was already making eye contact with him. There was an unspoken understanding between them. "I'll come back strong, like always."

With that, the team set off into the night. They'd reach the Tenshi Bridge soon, and Naruto could feel the tension building in the air. There was a storm coming, and he was ready for it.

To Be Continued…