Background
Age:: 15-16
Current Rank:: ANBU
Sai (サイ) is the replacement of Sasuke Uchiha in Kakashi Hatake's Team 7, consisting of himself, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno. The name "Sai" is given to him for the purposes of joining Team 7, his actual name being unknown. At a young age, Sai was one of many orphans recruited by Root, an organization that trained him to have no emotions whatsoever to make it easier for him to accomplish missions. He at some point in time met an older member of Root who took a liking to his drawing ability, and Sai came to think of him as a brother within the organization. During their time together Sai enjoyed a life of happiness and looked forward to the time he could spend with his brother in between missions. Eventually, his brother died of illness, and so too did Sai's source of happiness. Alone again, Sai reverted back to the emotionless member of Root he had been trained to be.
Because he has no emotions and little knowledge about social relationships, Sai meets with hardship when he first joins Team 7. He initially tries to seem more caring by smiling, though his teammates come to dislike it due to his obvious insincerity. After spending time with his team and seeing the bonds Naruto has formed with others, Sai begins to break out of his emotionless shell. Interested in the concept of bonds, and remembering that he once had a bond with his brother, Sai begins trying to create his own bonds. In doing so, Sai is able to start giving genuine, albeit awkward, smiles, and his team finds it easier to get along with him. In his quest to acquire bonds with others, Sai develops the habit of giving people pet names. His initial attempts at forming bonds are marred by his naming people as he sees them, such as calling Sakura a "hag". Upon concluding that people dislike hearing how they really look, Sai begins saying the opposite of how he sees them, such as calling Ino Yamanaka "beautiful". With his pet names now finding success in forming bonds, Sai has begun to try and be helpful to others. When Naruto's arm is left in a sling and he is unable to eat by himself, Sai forces large amounts of ramen into his mouth to feed him. Because Naruto wanted Sakura to be the one to feed him, Sai's actions do little to be helpful to Naruto.
Sai is a talented artist, and claims to have drawn thousands of pictures. Despite the magnitude of pictures he has drawn, his lack of emotion makes it impossible for him be inspired to give something a title, and thus all of his works are nameless. Sai's drawing ability is also the source of his jutsu; by drawing things with a brush on his scroll he is able to bring his creations to life, giving them an increased size and the ability to move. His Super Beasts Imitation Picture (超獣偽画, Chōjū Giga) allows him to create birds that he can use for flight and lion-like creatures that he can use for attack. Likewise, by creating an Ink Clone (墨分身, Sumi Bunshin) of himself, he can perform a reconnaissance of an area without actually endangering himself. Sai can also transform words he writes on his scroll into small animals that seek out their target and revert back to words upon arriving, giving Sai an easy way to communicate.
