The nursery of 'Root'.
There was no frolicking, no children's songs, only uniform panting and muffled thuds.
Dozens of children, no older than ten, stood shirtless, repeating brutal physical training like precisely operating parts.
Their movements were chillingly precise; each punch, each kick, was forcibly corrected by the instructor with a whip, accurately striking the training dummy in front of them.
When Naruto walked in, he caused no commotion.
His footsteps were swallowed by the noise of the training.
He just stood silently, his gaze, like the most precise scanning instrument, slowly sweeping over each "part."
Unit A-07, muscle endurance assessed as excellent, but coordination needs improvement.
Unit C-12, reaction speed is extremely fast, but strength is his weakness.
His gaze finally stopped on a young boy in a middle-back position.
Among all the children, that boy's training results were the most outstanding, every movement was perfect.
But his eyes were also the most hollow among everyone.
Like a dry well, with no ripples, only endless emptiness.
"Stop."
Naruto's voice was not loud, but it was like an invisible sharp blade, instantly cutting off the noisy sounds of the entire training ground.
All the children's movements ceased abruptly, freezing in place, like machines with their pause buttons pressed.
Their gazes indifferently turned towards this unfamiliar young boy.
Naruto's gaze locked.
"Sai."
He directly read out the name from the file.
"Today's training ends."
"Your mission is to go out, and wander around freely."
Sai's body didn't move, but the corners of his mouth reflexively curved upwards, forming a standard, perfect smile.
There was no emotion in that smile, just a programmed response.
He looked at the blond young boy in front of him, who was about his age, and couldn't understand this command.
Was this a new way for this newcomer to joke in order to fit in here?
Or was it some new type of psychological test arranged by the instructor?
He just smiled, shaking his head slightly, indicating that he couldn't process this abnormal command.
The instructor standing nearby, however, instantly turned pale.
Cold sweat seeped from his temples, rolling down his cheeks.
"Sai!"
The instructor's voice became sharp due to extreme fear; he darted to Sai's side, lowered his voice, and spoke rapidly in an almost pleading tone.
"This is Lord Uzumaki Naruto, the new leader of 'Root'! This is an order! It's the Political Commissar's order!"
"You must obey!"
Political Commissar?
New leader? Isn't Danzo the leader?
A series of unfamiliar words flooded Sai's mind, clashing violently with the young face in front of him.
After the instructor explained for a long time in his ear, Sai's face, which had been wearing a fake smile, finally showed a subtle change.
Confusion and fear appeared in his hollow eyes.
His face also turned as pale as the instructor's.
After prolonged fear and confusion, he stiffly nodded.
Naruto was not surprised by this.
He showed a cheerful smile, a smile template from his former self.
This made even Zero, standing by, stare in a daze.
What was wrong with the Political Commissar today?
Then Naruto untied the green frog wallet that had accompanied him for many years from his waist.
He turned the wallet upside down, and with a clatter, all the coins and banknotes fell into his palm.
He held this handful of money out to Sai.
"Mission startup funds."
Sai's body instinctively recoiled, his hands pressed tightly against the seams of his pants, not daring to take it.
These round metals and soft papers were, to him, more unfamiliar and dangerous than the sharpest kunai.
Naruto's tone became cold, devoid of any warmth.
"This is an order, not a request."
He forcibly pushed the money into Sai's hand.
"Your mission details: Pick up your sketchbook and go sketch."
"Observe this Village, and draw everything you see and are interested in."
"Submit it to me as a mission report."
The cold touch of the coins came from Sai's palm; he was forced to accept this heavy wallet and this unbelievable "mission."
He picked up the half-used sketchbook and art supplies from the corner, and under the bewildered gazes of all his comrades and the instructor, like a ghost whose soul had been extracted, he walked out of the underground step by step.
Naruto watched Sai's retreating figure, recalling the contents of the last page of Sai's file.
It recorded an internal test defined as "successful." The boy codenamed "Shin" had "voluntarily" died in a death match with Sai, thereby completing the final "purification" of Sai's emotions.
A ridiculous conclusion.
This wasn't purification; this was creating an irreparable system vulnerability. A virus named "Brother" was deeply embedded in the core code of Sai's machine. Normally, it would be dormant, but once triggered by external stimuli, it could lead to a total system crash at any time.
More importantly, Sai's fighting style—Super Beast Imitation Drawing—its upper limit is directly linked to the user's imagination and emotions. How can a "tool" stripped of emotions and imagination unleash the true power of this Ninjutsu?
This is a waste of talent, an inefficient use of resources.
Danzo wanted tools without thought, parts that would obey absolutely.
But Naruto wanted warriors.
Tools wear out, parts break down, but true warriors, their loyalty and strength, come from will.
Naruto admitted that the process of fixing this vulnerability might deviate from his envisioned highly institutionalized and standardized warrior training process.
But his ultimate goal was only one—to forge the strongest and absolutely loyal warriors.
This goal pointed to the survival of this planet.
Loyalty first, strength second.
As for the process… it could be flexible.
The bustling Konoha streets were teeming with people.
Sai walked among them, like a drop of water falling into hot oil, appearing out of place.
He saw a group of children about his age chasing and playing on the street.
Their faces wore brilliant smiles he couldn't understand, emitting piercing noises called "happiness."
A strange emotion, like a tiny electric current, flashed deep within him.
Something seemed to be stuck in his chest.
This feeling couldn't be categorized, couldn't be defined in any social manual.
The training instincts of "Root" immediately categorized this feeling as "useless emotion" and suppressed it.
An invisible wall separated him from the liveliness.
Sai walked unconsciously, his steps finally stopping in front of a flower shop.
Yamanaka Flower Shop.
The vibrant flowers at the entrance, with their most brilliant colors, assaulted his retina, which had long been accustomed to gray.
He inexplicably lingered for a long time.
Then, he remembered the sketching mission.
He put down his sketchbook, took out his brush, and began to mechanically and precisely copy a blooming iris in front of him.
The lines were perfect, the proportions accurate, but what he drew was just a lifeless flower specimen.
"Sigh, that jerk Sasuke, when will he finally notice this young lady's charm…"
Ino Yamanaka was bored, leaning on the counter, propping her chin with one hand, muttering incessantly.
Her gaze aimlessly scanned the street, and soon, she was attracted by the strange boy at the door.
That boy had skin as fair as Sasuke's, and his looks were also her type.
But his smile was so fake it made one uncomfortable.
His lips curved upwards, the arc standard, yet it was like a shoddy mask pasted on his face.
And in his eyes, there was nothing.
Ino's curiosity was instantly piqued.
She bounced over, peering at the perfect yet lifeless flower on Sai's sketchbook.
Then she looked at his unchanging fake smile mask.
She finally couldn't help but speak, hands on her hips, like a little teacher.
"Hey, you."
"Why do you draw with such a fake smile?"
"The flowers will be unhappy."
This nonsensical question, like a red-hot steel needle, precisely pierced the fragile calm Sai maintained with his fake smile.
His mind instantly went blank.
The brush stopped in mid-air.
Response?
How to respond?
He rapidly searched his mind for the stored "Guidelines for Social Behavior."
None.
The manual had no record of how to deal with this situation.
He could only use an even stiffer, more artificial smile to mask the collapse of his thought process.
Seeing him like this, Ino pouted in dissatisfaction.
She extended her finger, pointing at different flowers in the shop.
"This is a sunflower; its flower language is silent love."
"That's a bellflower, representing eternal love and hopeless love, quite contradictory, isn't it?"
"And this one, a dandelion, its flower language is, love that cannot stay."
"Smiles are like flowers; only those that come from the heart have meaning. Your kind of smile can't even fool a foxtail weed!"
Sai listened blankly.
He looked at the blond young girl in front of him; when she spoke, her eyes seemed to sparkle with stars, and her whole being exuded a vibrant, vigorous vitality.
He suddenly felt that this was the best mission report.
Sai picked up his brush again, trying to draw her.
He tried to capture the real, vibrant smile on her face.
But he failed.
No matter how hard he tried, the portrait on the paper remained hollow, still lifeless.
He couldn't draw those eyes.
He couldn't capture that smile.
Sai's mission was in a predicament.
He looked at the lifeless portrait of the young girl on his sketchbook, and for the first time, he doubted his proud ability.
A familiar feeling, named "frustration," slowly submerged him like cold seawater.
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