Cipher,
part two
The mind is a Shinobi's weak point.
Brains are left unguarded, and even the simplest of genjutsu can often find a way into one's thoughts.
Every now and then, Sai feels as if he is losing his mind. He doesn't guard against the genjutsu that Kakashi trains him with, or the ones that Sakura puts him under out of spite.
He doesn't care anymore, really.
He hopes that someday, when an illusion is dispelled from the depths of his mind, it will take all of his thoughts with it.
He thinks about Sakura a lot. In fact, he thinks about the whole of Team Seven.
He thinks when he should be painting. He thinks when he should be sleeping. He thinks when he shouldn't, in times when he is meant to take orders. He thinks and he ponders and he considers, and he is always left with the same conclusion: he isn't good enough.
No matter how hard he tries, or how much he looks like the young Uchiha, he could never replace Sasuke. He knows that every time Sakura looks at him, she doesn't really see him. She sees someone else.
Sai's favorite place to think is on the pier. The waterway leads to Kirigakure, where Team Seven had its first B-rank mission with Sasuke. He likes it there because he can see his reflection in the water, and notice time after time that he does look a little bit different than the Uchiha.
By all means, he shouldn't know what Sasuke looks like. But he'd seen the picture in Sakura's room, seen the grin plastered on her face in the picture.
He asked her about the picture one day. It was a foolish thing to do, but he couldn't help himself. He had to know Sasuke's old habits, so he could behave in a different manner than Sasuke did.
She turned the picture down when he'd questioned her. Naruto, days later, took note of the face-down frame and whispered, "That's what Sasuke did before he left the village…"
No matter what Sai does, it all comes down to Sasuke.
And he thinks he will never amount to anything else.
Author's Notes: A few of you asked for the story from Sai's view. This isn't much, but I felt compelled to post it anyway.