Naruto: Why is Sai so mean when he's first introduced? Explained

Sai was introduced to the Naruto series as a replacement for Sasuke after he went rogue and left the village. Before his appearance, Team 7 was unaware of who they would meet as their new teammate.

Coincidently, Yamato was introduced to Team 7 as their new captain, alongside Sai, as Kakashi was hospitalized for this mission. Sai had already met one of his future teammates before, when the latter was with some of his friends, as they had a little battle.

Sai's first meeting with Team 7 was a pretty interesting one, as some rude dialogues were exchanged. Although he should have been polite when meeting his teammates for the first time, Sai didn't hold back and was mean to both of them, but most fans don't know the reason behind this behavior.

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Naruto: Why was Sai mean during his first meeting with Team 7

The new team 7 with Sai replacing Sasuke (Image via Toei Animation)

Sai was mean to both members of Team 7 when they first met because he had no idea how to interact with people. He was forced to suppress his emotions from the very start of his life when he began working for Anbu Black Ops.

Sai, a member of Anbu Black Ops, was introduced in a fight against Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto before he was introduced to Team 7. As these three were hanging around the Hidden Leaf Village, they were attacked by a painting out of nowhere. As Choji dealt with this painting, Shikamaru spotted a person sitting far away from them.

He and Naruto partnered up to attack this person, who was Sai. As he reached him, he again summoned his painting to attack the approaching opponent but Shikamaru took care of them. Sai countered his opponent's attack and fled while claiming that they would meet again.

Later, when he was introduced to the remaining members of Team 7, he passed rude comments regarding Naruto's manhood and Sakura's face. This infuriated both of them as Yamato tried his best to stop a confrontation on the first day of the meeting. However, Sai took things too far by insulting Sasuke in front of them and Sakura punched him without holding back.

Sai was introduced as the third member of Team 7 as Kakashi was hospitalized, to go on a mission to investigate Orochimaru's whereabouts and find out where Sasuke was.

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How Naruto changed Sai

As the series progressed, Team 7 began to know Sai more. But this was not the case from the opposite side because Sai never tried to befriend any of them. After all, his emotions were locked due to the seal Danzo placed on him so he couldn't reveal anything to them.

After a time, apart from Team 7, Sai had an interesting meeting with Sasuke. The former then met Naruto and told him that his feelings for Sasuke are one-sided so he should give up. Naruto replied by saying he would give up his life to bring back Sasuke as the bond they share is that strong.

This was the moment Sai started to change. He still couldn't reveal anything about himself or his past, but he observed how Naruto spent his life. This brought out his emotions as he started to see the world from a different perspective and decided to help Naruto in his mission to bring back Sasuke.