#the shino and sai friendship that canon was too cowardly to give us

[painttoolyamanaka]

consider: shino sai friendship. the autism bros.. their parallel play would be incredible

YOU ARE SOSO RIGHT ANON and even though I made a post about them already, I’m willing to say it SO MANY TIMES, they’d be incredible friends to each other.

And NOW, I have an excuse to expand on my Shino-Sai friendship ideas, thank you anon 🫶

shino 🤝 sai

younger brothers with tragically young deceased brothers who they miss a lot

I like to think their relationship really progressed after the war, when Shino learned about Torune and ROOT. He could vaguely remember the masked men taking Torune away in his place but Shibi refused to talk much about it because of the grief of losing a child. There was only one ROOT member that might have anything to tell him about his brother before he died and it was Sai.

Sai didn’t know much, but he attempted to tell Shino everything he did know. At first, it was just the basic shinobi report/rundown. Then, he talked about Torune and Fuu and their relationship from what he saw. Sai didn't know much because Danzō made sure to keep the ROOT soldiers apart but he went on a mission or two with Torune and he seemed to genuinely be a good guy, even if he was a bit withdrawn. Sai apologized for not knowing much but Shino cried and told him it was enough. Just knowing his brother wasn't completely broken-in and emotionless, that even if it was terrible, Torune still had the ability to love made him break down. Sai tried his best to comfort him through it.

And that's when they became friends. I think after that, they hung out a LOT. Sai would randomly show up in Shino's house (you know how people headcanon that Kakashi just shows up through the window. well, I think all ANBU do that and Kakashi is the only one polite enough to slam open your window as a warning. Sai and Yamato are just 🧍‍♂️ in your living room).

I think Shino never really got many guests, especially since the Aburames are like the reserved bug family, so he's absolutely delighted to have another friend over that's not his team. He can show Sai his clan's huge bug collection and Sai will not bat an eye at a giant spider in the living room. He'll probably say hello to it.

Shino, pointing at a giant spider in the corner: This is Fluffy she's very sweet but people are scared of her a lot so just don't scream and you'll be fine. Sai, internally: How does one befriend big spider? Hmm...

I also think that after the war, Sai moved from the apartment Danzō gave him and into a small house or something, as a fresh start now that ROOT was disbanded. I know in my heart that Shino is the friend you would call on to help you move.

They try their best to make everything match but then Sai’s house ends up monochrome and Ino has to step in 😭

I think a big part of their relationship is just them understanding each other. Autism parallel play is real!!

Shino can tell on some level that Sai is like him. They’re strangely similar actually, I think they resemble each other more than Sai ever resembled Sasuke, especially later in life.

Shino, standing nearby Sai, waiting for him to start a conversation:

Sai, knowing Shino is right there and waiting for him to start a conversation:

Shino: You’re just like me :)

Sometimes they’ll just talk about every niche topic under the sun, and sometimes they just accompany each other. Shino will be walking around and then see Sai following him, and then ask Sai if he wants to help him do whatever mundane thing he’s doing. And Sai will do the same for Shino.

Imagine like two baby ducks following each other around all day, that’s them.

I also think in Boruto, Shino asks Sai to teach art lessons often. Sometimes his students need a break, and other times he just wants Sai to teach for a bit, because he can see how much Sai enjoys sharing his craft.

Shino: And now a special guest for class…

Inojin and Sumire, internally: please don’t let it be dad please don’t let it be dad please

Shino: Sai!

Sai: Hello! :D

Inojin and Sumire:

(The class loves him but he is still a Dad. Very embarrassing at times, and his Dad jokes are either out of pocket or horribly cheesy)

so, YEAH, anon is very right, those two are best friends and I think they’re really close after the war! It took me sometime to make this so have a little doodle of these two trying to pick a carpet! 💖

[painttoolyamanaka]

Shino and Sai Friendship Headcanons

Sai brings Shino random bugs he finds in his house.

Sai: Hello. I found this spider in my bathroom and I figured bringing it to you would be a better decision than squishing it. Shino, a bit confused but mostly flattered: oh, thank you.

Autistic 🤝 Undiagnosed Autistic Solidary

They have long rambling conversations in which they go from talking about cool bugs to paintbrushes to the demonization of insects to bug-centric art galleries and nobody can keep up with the conversation, yet it has a perfect train of thought.

Bugs are cool, Sai wonders if he can paint one and they speculate on which paintbrush would capture the essence of a bug to wondering if there's any art museums with bug paintings that Sai can observe to realizing that people think bugs are yucky and don't belong in museums to Sai making a bunch of bug paintings for a bug-centric art gallery.

It makes sense to them but everybody who was trying to listen is like (•-•)"'

Shino teaches Sai about which bugs can help fertilize a garden to make it better so that he can take care of the flowers that Ino gave him (and maybe impress her a bit with his flower tending skills)

Shino invites Sai on bug-catching adventures along with Kiba and Hinata.

Shino gives them a bug briefing, Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata find the bugs, and Sai gets to sketch and take notes on them. It's a very efficient system.

Sai invites Shino on trips to art museums and such.

They wander the museum for hours without a tour guide, and play all the museum spotting/finding games that were probably for children but who's going to ruin their fun?

Shino and Sai accompany each other to do random mundane tasks. I just have a feeling they'd go with each other to hand in mission reports, and shopping trips, and just going to the grocery store for food.

Again, wandering duo. They will browse every section of the store and become mini experts on it. They watch the lobsters and Sai has an entire conversation with the employee on lobsters and how to take care of them while Shino contemplates purchasing one for his more bloodthirsty bugs to eat.

The toy aisle is their favorite part. Mindlessly pressing buttons and making toys do things? Amazing. Shino collects a small brand of Guess Which Bug Is In The Box toys and Sai gets a t-shirt with a lion on it.

Thrift shopping is their favorite.

If you can't start a proper conversation and I can't start a proper conversation, then who's driving the car?

Sometimes they will just sit in silence and do their own things. It's nice to have company, somebody who recognizes you and is comfortable enough to let down their guard and be at peace.

They will put on a cartoon and sit in front of the tv, occupied for a long time. They only remember to eat when one of their stomachs yell at them.

I base their friendship off them both being background characters in the grand scheme of things. Sai is a second thought for Team Seven, Naruto didn't even remember who Shino was. They don't get a lot of attention so they like to stick by each other when they meet because it's nice to have someone to walk around and talk with. Someone that recognizes you're there but doesn't shout your presence for the whole world to hear. A quiet but meaningful friendship.

[painttoolyamanaka]

Shino: Did you know that there’s a species of ant-eating assassin bugs that wears the dead corpses of insects they killed?

Sai: Gruesome.

Shino: It does work well as camouflage though.

Sai: If I saw someone wearing a bunch of dead corpses I’d run away.

Shino: It’s more like wearing multiple people’s skin and looking like a crowd of people hunched together

Sai: Huh. Well that’s horrifying.

Shino: But cool.

Sai: Nature works in godless ways.