Chapter Two

-Sakura's POV-

Many members from Group A decided to join forces during the final trial, me included, at least until we were the only ones remaining. That way, we can prevent anyone from being fatally injured.

The ones we were worried would carelessly hurt others were Hidan, Kisame, Gaara, Temari, and maybe even Suigetsu. We weren't entirely sure about the latter because he'd proved decent over the past few months, but he was honest about being willing to do almost anything for the money. Gaara's monstrous when it comes to fighting, and his sister's always quick to follow his lead. Kisame and Hidan had likely paired up, and they're the types to enjoy hurting others, so they were our main priority.

Other than those mentioned, the only people not in our group were Neji and Hinata. Both took off into the jungle when Dr. Uchiha told us to begin.

No one dared speak as we snuck through the trees and brushed as quickly and quietly as possible with our numbers. In the beginning, Hidan and Kisame started a fight with Gaara and Temari, but it didn't last long before the foes separated and ran off in different directions. The rest of us naturally stuck together.

Not even ten minutes after the trial began did we come under attack. A surprised cry came from behind me, and I turned to see that Gaara had tackled Matsuri to the ground. The petite girl swiftly escaped his grasp, put some space between them with her hands up in a defensive position, and plastered a glare onto her face. Then Tenten, the closest to where Matsuri had been standing, dodged a hit from Temari before swiftly moving to retaliate.

A few of us moved to assist them but froze when Naruto suddenly gasped from the head of the pack, "It's Hinata!"

My heartbeat picked up when I turned to see a look of distress on his features as he searched the surrounding trees with focused eyes, "She's hurt!" He shot off in a sprint, and the rest of us were torn between helping defend against the Subaku siblings and following the Uzumaki boy.

Matsuri spoke as she and Gaara slowly circled one another, "Go. We can handle this."

My brow furrowed, "But-"

Tenten cut me off, swiftly dodging another hit, "We'll be fine; just go!"

Ino and I glanced at one another and hesitated a moment before ultimately following everyone else in pursuit of Naruto. My mind reeled as we caught up with the rest of the group. It didn't make sense to me how he could tell if Hinata was in trouble, but with everything else that's occurred over the last twelve weeks, I've learned not to question anything.

No words were exchanged as we traveled for multiple minutes before Kiba barked gruffly, "I smell blood!" Only this morning, he told us his sense of smell had finally shown signs of strengthening how Orochimaru had told him it would.

Then, there was a loud explosion, and the arena went black. I ran into someone's back and nearly toppled backward, but whoever they were reached back to grasp my wrist and keep me upright.

It became silent momentarily before I noticed a faint light in the distance. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was a fire burning below a large hole in the ceiling. Everyone seemed to notice it simultaneously because we ran toward it all together.

I stared in disbelief when we finally reached the edge of a clearing and saw Neji rushing toward a downed Hinata. My eyes darted to the side when movement caught my attention. Still, I wasn't quick enough to warn anyone before our group was descended upon by over twenty police officers or soldiers dressed in full riot gear. I couldn't tell which it was. Maybe they were some type of special forces.

My hand instinctively grasped onto Ino's, but when I turned to look at her, she was being pulled away. Tears rose in her eyes as she tried to both fight the two people off and keep a hold of me. I was suddenly shoved onto the ground when I readied myself to attack. A growl rumbled from my chest, and I tried to free my wrists, but they were quickly put into metal cuffs.

"Sakura!"

My eyes shot back up to Ino's as she cried my name out, tears rolling down her cheeks. Whoever had tackled me to the ground pulled me up to my feet, and I used the "gift" I'd been given by Orochimaru to snap the cuffs, kick the person behind me away, and dash toward my best friend in hopes of saving her.

My entire body felt hot with rage and adrenaline as I fought past multiple others, and I made it within a yard of her before a burning pain suddenly erupted in the back of one of my calves. With the speed I was moving, suddenly being stopped threw me roughly to the ground, and I looked back to see that I'd actually been shot. A deep bullet wound was bleeding heavily, and I winced when I tried to get back up. The pain was unbelievable.

Someone suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me upright, and for a moment, I fought because I thought it was one of the soldiers. When I looked over, though, I was shocked to see that it was Sasuke. His dark eyes met mine, and for the very first time, it didn't make me want to flee. Instead, it was like he was wordlessly pleading for me not to freak out this time.

I gingerly let him wrap an arm around my back, too stunned by his swift change in aura, and we struggled away from the massive brawl. My eyes watered as I watched Ino being dragged out.

When a small cry passed my grit teeth, his hold tightened, "Hold onto me."

I looked at him in surprise, but something about the focus in his expression gave me the strength to overcome my discomfort, and I obeyed his order, wrapping an arm around his waist so he could help bare more of my weight.

"Hinata! Hinata, get up!"

Sasuke and I froze when we heard the gut-wrenching tone of Naruto's voice and looked over to see the blonde man fighting against three different people to try and reach our still-downed friend. Either he'd been substantially holding back during physical training, or the adrenaline had him displaying amped-up abilities, but he was fairing quite well, considering he was outnumbered. Still, it was apparent he wasn't going to overpower the soldiers.

Neji'd been tackled off of Hinata. She lay on her back, unmoving, as the flames grew ever closer to her body.

I desperately tore myself away from Sasuke, brow furrowing when he glared down at me, "Go! Hinata needs help!" The Uchiha man offered a frown before heading back into the fray.

A medic hurried over to Hinata and blocked my view, so I looked up to verify if my hypothesis had been correct. The loud sound rumbling throughout the area was indeed a helicopter in the process of landing atop the giant arena's roof.

"I don't wanna hurt you any further, so please come quietly."

My head jerked to the side to see a soldier approaching with his gun raised. His face was covered by a mask, bulletproof, I assume, but I could see that he had an unhappy frown on his lips.

My leg screamed in pain when I tried to get up, only to fall back onto my bottom. I raised a hand, silently requesting that he wait a moment, "Where are you taking us?"

The man lowered his gun slightly, "To be looked over by a psychiatrist. We need to verify if it's safe for you to be among the public."

My eyes widened in disbelief, but I didn't fight as he helped me to my feet and clasped some cuffs over my wrists. He whispered loudly enough for me to hear as he waved over a few medics, "Pretend you can't break them."

I stared at him with a million different questions running through my head. Why were we being treated like we were the bad guys? Aren't we the victims here? I was helped out of the arena in the same direction Ino was taken. Then I was placed in the back of an armored truck and strapped to my seat. A medical-grade tourniquet was applied to my leg above the bullet wound. Other than that, I wasn't offered any aid.

Ino and I wordlessly sat in fear as our friends were forced into the truck with us one after another. There were only eight seats, but I saw multiple other trucks just like this one when they brought me outside, so they likely intended to capture every participant in The Program.

"Saku, what's going on?" My best friend's voice cracked as she continued crying.

I wished I could reach over and hold her hand, but I couldn't, so I shook my head, "They said we might be too dangerous to be around the public."

Her pretty blue eyes widened, "W-What? It's not our fault they did this to us!"

All I could do was nod. There was nothing I could say to make things better. None of this was fair, and complaining about it wouldn't change anything.

The Uchiha brothers, Naruto, Kisame, Hidan, and Neji, were placed in the remaining seats of the truck before a soldier joined us in the back, and then it was in motion.

It was silent for a while, but it became impossible for me to hold in my concerns, so I whispered hopefully, "Hinata?"

We all looked at Neji. He shook his head with his jaw clenched before intensely glaring at Hidan.

Hidan glared back, "Don't look at me like that. If you were in my place, you'd have done the same for the money."

Naruto barked in a menacing voice, one I never thought I'd hear from someone so bubbly, "There is no prize money, you prick! There never was."

Everyone was stunned by his outburst, me included, but some of me already assumed that was the case, especially after realizing Hinata was somehow involved with Madara and Masumi.

The truck got silent again before Hidan replied in a surprisingly regretful voice, "So, I might've just killed her, and it was for nothing?" His pinkish eyes were wide and watery like they should've been the entire time after learning of her condition.

"I can't believe you only regret it because you aren't getting paid. She's a person, Hidan." Sai spat, disgusted.

Neji finally spoke, "There's a chance she could make it, but Suigetsu…. There's no way he survived that." Both he and Hidan turned to look at Kisame, but the man couldn't respond because the soldiers had put a muzzle on him, likely due to his terrifying appearance. The look in his eye wasn't nearly as somber as it should've been.

Tears rose heavily in my eyes, and I averted my gaze down to my bleeding leg, trying to keep it from bouncing anxiously because it stung like hell.

"Why aren't you doing anything? She was shot, for fuck's sake." Sasuke surprised me by speaking threateningly to our guard in a low voice.

If I could free my hands to raise them in a calming matter, I would've, but I couldn't, so I just had to vocally reassure him, "I-I'm fine! It doesn't hurt that much." That was a lie, but with all that just happened, no one needed another thing to worry about.

Besides, how could I possibly complain about a bullet wound when Suigetsu was murdered? He may have been too driven by the prize money, but my sister liked him. They'd been M.A.T. partners when she was still alive, and she said he was incredibly misunderstood. She'd gone as far as vowing to reach out to him once The Program was over because their bond had grown so strong in such a short amount of time. Now they're both dead.

The guard spoke in a slightly hushed voice, and I realized it was the same one that'd cuffed me the second time, "Your friend is alive. We're flying her to the hospital for surgery."

We looked at him in shock, but he continued in a loud and firm voice, "Your wound will be treated once we arrive. Be silent until then." I got the feeling he was only speaking like that so his peers up front would believe he was back here treating us worse than he was.

All was quiet momentarily, but Naruto ignored his request, "What about Madara? What will happen to him?"

The soldier remained silent for a very long time before letting out a sigh of defeat and speaking in a whisper like before, likely so those driving wouldn't hear, "Dr. Uchiha and Masumi Hyuuga escaped, but the others were arrested."

Hidan barked out in an angry voice, "Hyuuga! Masumi's Hinata's mom?"

Naruto cut in before anyone else could respond, "That woman is not her mother." He was so offended that it felt like he'd personally been insulted.

"Well, what the fuck then?"

The blonde struggled against the cuffs holding his arms down, "Why don't you mind your own damn business before I come over there and kick your ass!"

My mouth moved before I could stop, "No, I want to know, too."

This time, everyone turned to stare at me.

"The Program's over, so I wanna know what she was so afraid of."

The eyes in the truck turned back to Naruto, who frowned with a glare, "I'm not gonna spill Hinata's secrets just because she's not here or in danger anymore."

Ino spoke sadly, "So she really was in danger, then? I was hoping she'd been overreacting."

I frowned, a pang of sadness aching my chest. Even if I didn't know the details, I still felt guilty for doubting Hinata for a second. Even Group A members who never spoke to her could tell she'd been struggling with something from day one.

"I'll say this once, and then I don't want to talk about it anymore: Hinata has been risking her life this entire time. Not just for herself, either. If she dies because of this, I'll kill you, Hidan! I swear it."

The air got tense as the two young men stared at one another. The murderous intent in the air was almost palpable.

Finally, the truck became silent.

Obviously, I wasn't the only one surprised by how serious Naruto seemed about his threat. I wasn't aware he and Hinata were that close. Of course, everyone knows that he's her closest friend out of everyone in The Program, but vowing to commit murder is on a whole different level of loyalty.

I don't know if I'd be capable of murdering Orochimaru, and he killed my sister! Since I was given such substantial body modifications, I have the physical ability to do it. Still, I probably couldn't convince myself to go through with it.

Hours later, we arrived at our destination, and my heart dropped when I saw the sign outside the intimidating building: Konoha Asylum.