The ink was cold.
Sai's breath hitched. He flipped back two pages.
He turned to the entry labeled
Underneath, another addendum: She became the stabilizer. For all of them. Underestimated.
Assessment: Medical-nin, adequate. Chakra control: exceptional. Emotional fortitude: brittle. Prognosis: Will break under pressure without a stabilizer. naruto databook 4
Sai closed the scroll. He did not burn it. Instead, he walked to the surface, into the sunlight of the rebuilt Konoha, and handed it to the Hokage's office with a note:
It is the simple, idiotic, unstoppable refusal to let go. The ink was cold
Most of the book was data: mission logs, jutsu classifications, clan bloodlines. But it was the final section, written in a cramped, clinical hand, that Sai had been ordered to destroy. And yet, he could not.