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CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Sai
Canon: Naruto
Point taken from canon: Current
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Preferred Village: - Any!
Appearance: Sai is black ink on white canvas. Pale complexion, black hair and eyes - he is like a living piece of his own art, drawn out of shade and clean lines not only in appearance but also in actions and thoughts, body language.
He's tall, taller than most of his age, 172 cm plus some, lean and lanky, build of wiry muscles and long limbs. His body language is carefully articulated, very conscious and smooth - he is always aware of what he is putting out there with his demeanour, behaviour and expressions. He is very adaptable and capable of changing his body talk in an instant. He walks and talks like a living weapon, which he essentially has been most of his life, always on guard, never distracted. First and foremost, he is a shinobi, and that is reflected on his appearance as well.
He wears his weapons as a part of his attire, much like his ink and scrolls, all smoothly coming together in practical combination of straps and portable cases, sewn into his clothes for easier usage. Primarily he isn't a close combat specialist, and his clothes reflect that, favouring mobility and light weight rather than cover and protection, leaving his middle and left arm completely bare. (Just watch it as I try to justify his cracked attire. :|) He also wears gloves that leave his forefinger and thumb bare for easier grasp with his artistic equipment.
Sai smiles often, and seems to think of it as a good way out of difficult situations. He still struggles with genuine emotions, and the proper reactions to them, which often leads to awkward misunderstandings. His usual demeanour is calm, sparse and somewhat expressionless, even if he has understood the value of human contact, sympathy and emotions in general, more often he still finds himself reverting back to necessities and tool-mentality.
Background: Narutopedia: Sai
Personality: Sai is a work in process. He was brought up to be a weapon, a shield that guards Konoha, the roots the village stands on. He doesn't have a name, he doesn't have a personality, he doesn't have a life of his own. However, he is learning again, everything from a scratch.
As one of the ANBU Root, he was taught consistently to suppress his own personality, his emotions, his desires and dislikes. And he did so very diligently, disposing himself of any weakness that might come to his way of acting as a tool for the Root's leader, Danzo. He is used to thinking himself as nothing, just a white canvas on which he paints what he finds necessary in each situation, emotions, thoughts, attitudes - he isn't exactly good in fabricating those, but sufficiently skilled. The tool-mentality went as far as Danzo placing a cursed seal on the tongue of every Root shinobi, so that if they'd ever speak of Root or Danzo, they'd become completely paralysed.
However, during his first mission with Team 7, he discovers that not all emotions are a hindrance and remembers his own late 'brother', with whom he shared much more than just a professional relationship. Naruto's bond with Sasuke becomes a corner stone of his revelation, allowing him to observe the sheer volume of passion that can be poured into friendship, and how that can become strength as well as it can be a weakness. Ever since he has been slowly deciphering human interaction and emotions, learning from books as well as the other younger shinobi.
It would be an overstatement to say he understands now how a social network functions, he has the theory, several subjective views borrowed from haphazard mentors, but he has no intuition. That, after all, has to be learned by experience, which he doesn't have. On one hand, he is a perfect soldier, impersonal, calm, obedient, sharp and tireless. And on the other hand he is a confused young man with no real experience of normal life. His interaction with others is mostly based on trial by error, testing, nudging, deciphering one detail at a time. However, as he might fault at experience, he is extremely observant, used to watching and waiting, and he will take a not of small nuances and changes. Given that, to learn more, he must experience, which makes him very prone to random interaction of all kind, whether it'd be that of pleasantries or bold questions.
It is hard to say what he finds personally pleasing or displeasing, as he is barely just knitting the first layer of his personality. He is capable of complex emotions such as embarrassment, guilt and even spite. However, he isn't quite certain why he is feeling what he does at the time. He is very easily subjected to influence by others, and his personality is bound to match his company. But despite his curiosity and willingness for change, some things will remain the same, such as his loyalty for Konoha and his suicide mentality towards the village and its people. He will serve and protect, whatever the cost. And he will not shy away from even the hard choices, one person's happiness means very little when regarding the health and survival of a whole village. It should also go without saying that his moral compass is, the least to say, fucked. He was raced to be an assassin, devout of all emotion and sympathy. He will not feel what is right or wrong. He might know how others prefer to think, but he just doesn't rock the same kind of equipment others do regarding morality, justice and social standards.
Abilities/Strengths: Like any shinobi, Sai is well versed in battle skills. His training with Root has made sure that he knows how to use most existing weapons and battle tactics. His profile doesn't include a ninja rank, quite possibly Root has none. But Danzo remarks him as the most talented Root of his generation, and Danzo is prone to speak of battle skills rather than needle work. What his profile does state is the age he completed the ninja academy, which was 9, and at the age of 10 he entered chuunin exams. I think it says naught about his fighting skills, but it speaks volumes of his tactical intelligence and mental stamina.
His trademark jutsu, Choujuu Giga, is a technique, which allows him to extract his ink drawings out of a scroll he uses, give them life and make them obey his will. He uses the jutsu in various ways, for transportation, intelligence purposes and attacking. He doesn't use his artistic skills only for battle, however, but seems to enjoy drawing and calligraphy as a hobby as well.
His greatest, single asset probably would be his tireless focus and sharp observational skills. He is very good at prioritizing and doesn't waver when he makes up his mind, striving almost single mindedly for whatever goal he has set as his first priority. Being trained first and foremost as a soldier, he is very effective when he sets his mind to take on a mission.
Like any child who has got to manage on their own, he is very persistent, and doesn't give up before it's plainly clear that he can't succeed in something he has set out to do. He's independent, having used to work on his own before Team 7. He isn't shy or easily embarrassed to a point where that would become an obstacle. In fact, he is more prone to calmly state something outrageously bold and then watch with a slight smile as others sputter and groan and laugh at him. He might have been clueless in the beginning, but as time goes by and he proves to be more and more thoughtful and surprisingly insightful, it makes you wonder if it's just his way of putting people at ease around him.
He might lack that 'gut feeling' about people, might learn interaction from a book, not know how to name a feeling even when he is experiencing it, but he isn't afraid to speak his mind when he thinks something needs to be said. He can be considerate but also bluntly honest when the situation calls for it. Adaptable and rational, he knows what people are capable of and doesn't have any illusions about justice or altruism, but he also knows that he has friends and colleagues he can trust in.
Weaknesses: In introspection, his biggest weakness goes hand-in-hand with his greatest strength. He might have had excessive training, might have been very goal oriented and sharply capable of dissecting facts out of bigger concepts, his artistic skills might be very good, but he lacks the passion to reach over his own limitations. He doesn't push himself hard to learn new techniques, much like other characters do. If he had been doing that, he'd probably be on a completely different power level.
However, he shows a reawakening interest towards social skills, which, granted, are one of his biggest weaknesses. He has no 'gut feeling' for interaction, he doesn't intuitively understand other people, and finds it hard to sympathise with complicated emotions. His lack of understanding often leads to awkward situations and may cause a great deal of tension, especially when it comes to questions of morality and duty.
His tool-mentality can be a strength as well, but mostly it proves to be a drawback for him personally. He still considers himself to be a weapon for Konoha to use, and it's a mentality that is hard to lose, even if he sees merit in looking beyond it. It's in his spine and in difficult situations he will return to it as a default.
Defining Quote(s): "You say people change... And here I am. But there are also things that don't change - bonds, I want to see what they're really made of."
"Sai is the name I was given for this mission... I'm nobody. I am a tool for Lord Danzō. I don't exist."
Writing sample:
Like all his dreams, it starts with a smear of ink. Soundless, aimless, spreading across the canvas with a hasty flavour of impatience. It shifts, forming into a character, then a few, building a word, and he reads 'ROOT' just before it slithers into another disguise, forming a bunch of roots where it rabidly grows into a tree, adeptly ignoring all sensibilities about quantity and proportion. A leaf shudders in the inked tree, withers and falls, right beside his foot.
He takes a step back, bending down to pick up the tattered leaf, which dissolves onto his fingers like black blood. His fingers rub idly against each other as he looks up, now overseeing Konoha, torn apart, ruins sticking out of the ground like broken bones, a skeleton of a city, broken and tired.
He puts a finger on it, black with ink blood and tracing an outline of a house that once sheltered several families. Two dimensional, unmoving, he gives the building eyes in windows, a mouth in a door, screaming open, and there, a touch of a shade, tiled texture, flower patterns in curtains that peek out of the windows.
Then he moves to the next building.
He has drawn out five buildings and some trees when he sees a figure standing in his two dimensional landscape, shaped out of black ink and wearing a crescent smile. It is himself, walking towards him. He marvels the shift of proportion as he strolls closer, just so correct.
"You can't fix it like that," he says.
Sai nods, letting his hand drop to his side as he adopts a smile just as fabricated as the ink him is wearing. "I know."
His hand twitches against his side as the inked figure stops before him. And he thinks that the shading on his throat is a bit off, darker than it should be.
"Are you a root or will you be a leaf?"
He shivers at the question, so soft on the inked lips and spilling out like liquid. He doesn't have the answer, he doesn't know if there is a difference. To be a shinobi is to sacrifice oneself. He frowns, looking down at his ink smeared hands and realizes that there's an inked tanto sticking out from his stomach, quivering in time with his breathing.
His blood is red, redder than any shade of black, grey and white in his dream. Spilling onto his fingers as he reaches for the hilt, pulsing faintly in time with his heart.
"You could bleed, Sai," he says, still smiling. "Maybe that would fix it."