“Understood, Danzao-sama.”

In the guest room of the Root Anbu base, Santa frowned as Danzo told him his Root member left for the mission. Sure, the kid’s abilities fit perfectly for the task, but still… Danzo was looking a bit too eager to help. The fact that him, of all people in Konoha, offered to let his subordinate help with presents distribution is… a bit su*ious. Would this important task go wrong? But before he could put more thoughts into the matter, his aching back protested. Sighing in resignation, he thanked Danzo and went to rest.

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Mission objective:

- Gather intel

- Deliver package

- Done in a stealthy manner

Ah, and when he was done, submit a detailed report on certain households’ daily routine, security measures, etc.

Sai spent the past month in shadow, working with his ink clones. At nights, they observed the children of Konoha. For civilian families, they sent out ink mice to watch; for the shinobi families whose attentions were harder to evade, they went by themselves. During daytimes, in an abandoned building, he evaluated the large pile of intel scrolls and determined which child deserved a present.

Going to sleep early? Check. Helping out with housework? Sure. Arguing with parents every day? Nope. Bullying a blond kid at academy? Big cross. Plotting to overthrow Konoha? … actually he didn’t find anyone this naughty, despite Danzo-sama stressing multiple times to watch out for this trait. As he scrolled through the final list of names on Christmas Eve, he pondered whether he would be punished when he returned from the mission, but he supposed it’s a good thing that the village was peaceful. So he packed his stuff, popped a dozen soldier pills into his mouth, and headed out.

Sai made several ink clones, and divided the presents between them. Together, they drew ink birds and headed towards different directions. To relieve his clones’ – and by extension his own – charka consumption, Sai chose the most populated Northern district. He landed on top of a tall building, and laid out his presents. He started with the less suspecting civilian houses, and drew some ink animals to help. Little mice scurried around with smaller presents such as bags of candy and kid shuriken while lions padded away silently holding stuffed animals and books in their mouths. When they are finished, they went to the sink, and *-ed into a splatter of ink down the drain.

For shinobi children, Sai preferred to deliver the presents by himself. With the help of ink snakes to open the window and doors, he slipped past the senses of even the most cautious shinobi, and gently put his presents into their stockings. Even though they are ninjas, Sai was the professional in hiding, being a Root Anbu, the best of his generation, no less.

When Sai’s area was almost done, he received a message from his clone in East Konoha. A young girl was giving his clone a bit of trouble. He told his clone to move on to the next target, and that he would handle the matter by himself when he was done.

When he arrived, he noticed what the problem was: the Hyuga girl was clearly expecting someone, and she kept activating her byakugan to look around. Sai hopped around her house, carefully staying inside her blind spot. When he finally put the present into the stocking besides her bed, he noticed the girl turning her gaze toward him. With nowhere else to hide, Sai used the Ink Mist Technique and teleported out of her house.

All done. Finally, mission complete. Panting, Sai returned to his hideout and packed his stuff. He should be going back to Root base to give his report, but something had been nagging the back of his mind for the past month, and he really wanted to know before going back to his world. Because the mission description looked strikingly familiar…

When dawn broke, he flew back to the Hyuga girl’s house. He heard her voice before he even got a good look at her room. “Father, I got a present too! Santa knows I have been good this year! Too bad I didn’t manage to see him, I’ll train harder...” Wordlessly, Sai hopped back onto his bird, and took off.

Like every Root Anbu, Sai studied about the various cultures and festivals of the world. But he always knew that there was no such thing as Santa Claus giving presents to good children. On this day, he confirmed with his own eyes that it was just a nice cover story for Root’s covert operations. Well, it’s not like it’s something important anyway. Being good or bad never mattered to him, as long as he completed his missions. Still, for some reason, he felt as if his heart dropped a bit.

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Back at Root base, Sai dragged himself back to his quarters. The mission was simple, but the sheer quantity of presents was taxing. There’s nothing he wanted more than a nice, long sleep. But as soon as he opened his door, he could feel that something was not right. Drawing his tanto, he carefully scanned his room. Nothing was amiss, apart from a small box besides his pillow, with a handwritten note on top.

It was nicely done, dear Sai. Thanks to you, I got some well-needed rest. Hopefully I can come again next year!

Inside the box was a high-quality paint brush that Sai had thought of buying, but gave up because he couldn’t afford it. An unusual sensation swelled in his heart, and he felt the corner of his mouth involuntarily tucked upwards.

Ah, so he did good too.