 287
Main
MenuCHAPTER 288 - Unknown Thoughts 
Yamato reviews their plan of attack for the upcoming mission
at
Tenchi Bridge. He emphasizes that they must capture the
spy. Under no circumstances must he be killed or they will
lose
an irreplaceable source of information on Orochimaru and
Sasuke.
Yamato will go in disguised as Sasori, and the others will act as
backup. He will attempt to restrain the target, but if he
fails
and a battle breaks out, then Naruto, Sakura and Sai will be signaled
to take action.
Yamato decides that they will fight via the buddy system on
the
basis of mutual support between partners. He assigns Sakura
with
himself because she is the only medical ninja and so must not be
injured. Consequently, Naruto and Sai are together on the
second
team. Naturally, Naruto objects to the idea, but shuts up
when he
sees Yamato’s scary expression. Because he
doesn’t
know his students’ skills very well, Yamato decides to use
their
remaining day in a mock battle to smoothen up their teamwork.The simulation battle is already in full force when daylight breaks. Yamato takes on both Naruto and Sai at once in a hand-to-hand fight. Strangely, Naruto and Sai are very well coordinated in their assault. But when Yamato sees Naruto initiating the  Rasengan
in Sai’s palm, he realizes what’s going
on. Using his
wood jutsu, Yamato creates tendrils of wood that snake out from the
ground and immobilize Sai. Immediately, Sai reverts back to a
Naruto clone as the transformation jutsu is broken. The real
Naruto leaps up from behind and pounces on Yamato. The real
Sai,
who is hidden nearby, uses his Great Beast False Image jutsu to create
a snake from a scroll. It quickly slithers up to Naruto and
Yamato and binds both of them. A surprised Naruto sees that
the
Yamato he captured was only a wooden dummy, but Sai’s snake
is
still keeping him restrained. He yells at Sai to release his
jutsu, but Sai ignores him and leaps away.
A short time later, Sai has managed to capture the real
Yamato. A disgruntled Naruto arrives and grabs Sai.
Angrily, he asks Sai if he knows what the word companion
means.
Sai tells Naruto that of course he knows and demonstrates by writing
the word “companion” on a
scroll. Naruto is
about to lose his temper, but Sai tells him to not blame others for his
own lack of skill. He reminds Naruto that they
wouldn’t have
been exposed if he had not been so easily provoked by Yamato.
Naruto also attacked by himself using a clone transformed into Sai, but
made it obvious by using Rasengan. Sai tells Naruto he
can’t be bothered to look after someone who can’t
even keep
himself in check, so he simply did what was necessary to succeed in the
mission.Naruto lets go of Sai and walks away while saying he will never see Sai as a companion or a member of Team Kakashi. Sai  asks
him if Sasuke would have fought on in that situation while looking
after Naruto. His words stop Naruto in his tracks, Sakura
becomes
worried that Sai is pushing Naruto too far. But Sai
keeps
going and asks if Naruto can still consider Sasuke as a friend even
after he betrayed Konoha and nearly killed him. Naruto turns
around and declares that he’ll do anything to save that
friend,
even work with someone like Sai. Without another word, Naruto
turns and walks away.Sai asks Sakura why Naruto cares so much about a traitor like Sasuke. Sakura tells him that Naruto has always thought of Sasuke as a brother. She asks Sai if he can understand that feeling since he has a brother too. But Sai replies he does not because he has none of what are called “emotions.” 
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Naruto Hurricane - Naruto manga volume 32 chapter 288 |
