Everyone knows that Sai lies.

The first time he had lied to his new teammates they had missed it, but had picked up almost everyone after that. After a while he realized it was pointless to try to lie to them and just kept up the habit as a quirk. Sai never thought that someone else in Team 7 lied more than he did.

The first thing Sai had picked up about Naruto was that he only stopped smiling to either complain or to protect his precious people. His smile was so natural and bright that he never thought that there was anything behind that happy-go-lucky attitude.

Then Sai began to watch Naruto’s eyes. It was a hard task as his eyes were forever scrunched closed, but it didn’t take long for Sai to realize that Naruto kept his eyes like that to prevent his true emotions from being seen by others. Naruto’s famous fox grin was a lie.

After failing to bring Sasuke back from Orochimaru once again, Naruto had been even more determined and eager to try to bring him back. That smile was on his face the whole time he talked about it and tried to reassure Sakura that everything would work out.

Later that night as Sai stood on his rooftop, too restless to sleep, he detected a flash of orange clothing. In spite of himself Sai followed Naruto into the depths of the forest surrounding the village to a clearing. Waiting in the shadows he watched as Naruto made twenty bunshins, then letting his smile drop, systematically destroyed each one of them.

It was silent for a long moment and then Naruto punched a crater into the ground the size of the entire clearing. Grimly he straightened and strode back towards the village, but not before Sai glimpsed the defeated look on his face. Naruto’s determination was a lie.

Thinking back, Sai realized how quickly Naruto had given into the Kyuubi’s chakra after he had called on it. He had reached four tails in record time and would have continued if Sakura hadn’t distracted him so Yamato could subdue the Kyuubi.

Since then Sai noticed how quickly the whisker marks on Naruto’s cheeks would darken and his eyes would become slitted whenever he was in a fight any more. Then there were the times when Naruto would go missing for days at a time, then come back with a laugh saying he was working on his chakra control once again. One time Sai had attempted to follow him, but hadn’t been able to keep and secretly he was glad he didn’t. The path Naruto took each time was a path of destruction with torn down and burned trees and huge imprints of paws from massive amounts of chakra. Naruto lied about being in control of the demon.

Then came the day when Naruto was sent on a suicide mission to get Sasuke back. The counsel had assigned it with the reasoning that it was the only way they would ever get Sasuke back and Tsunade was powerless to stop it. Both her and Sakura though had plead with Naruto to reconsider and not take the mission. Naruto had just smiled and promised that he would come back with Sasuke no matter what.

Before Naruto left the village, he had turned back one last time and kissed Sakura tenderly on the cheek without a word. He quickly turned around and left without another backward glance.

A week later Sasuke came back to the village with only minor injuries. He held Naruto’s body in his arms.

Tsunade locked herself in her room for three days, not letting anyone in. Sakura held onto Sasuke and wept, but whether it was for Naruto or Sasuke no one ever asked. Sasuke delivered Naruto’s last message of hope for everyone to keep moving forward and to everyday smile for him.

Sai did not cry for him, only bowed his head and disappeared.

A week later at Naruto’s funeral, after everyone else had paid their respects, Sai stepped up to lay down a single white flower to match the rest. Quietly he murmured, “I didn’t understand at first why you lied in just about everything you did, but now I do. You lied to save your precious people even if it meant your own unhappiness.” With a bowed head Sai retreated from the casket as the pyre was lit, his lies burning with him.