-Sakura's POV-

We were separated by gender once taken inside and placed in some sort of holding cell. Ino and I were the only two girls on the truck so we sat close to one another in the furthest corner of the room and silently waited for something to happen.

We were taken inside first, so we didn't see the boys again, but we could hear both Hidan and Naruto yelling at the soldiers somewhere down the hall before things got quiet once more.

My hands trembled anxiously as I wrapped my arms around my knees and rested my forehead against them. That officer guy warned me that we were headed for psychological evaluations, but I didn't expect to be treated like a mental patient in the process.

I'm no stranger to psychologists. Ever since those guys jumped me in high school, I've visited a therapist at least once a month. Well, up until the start of The Program at least. My mind drifted to Tsunade, the woman who's helped me manage my ptsd from the event. She'd warned me against signing up for something like this and I completely ignored her. If I ever manage to see her again, I'll have to offer a thorough apology for not listening to her reasoning.

I was too enticed by the cash prize to be swayed. My family's not well off, but we're not destitute either. A large amount of money like that would definitely change things for the better and it was a chance both Karin and I couldn't pass up. We both applied, assuming they'd accept only one of us since we're from the same household, but everyone knows how that turned out.

The door to the padded room we were in opened and I looked up to see multiple other girls had been sent in to join us. Matsuri, Tenten, and Temari quickly came over to Ino and I, but the rest of the girls from The Program grouped up on the other side of the room.

Tenten eagerly interlocked her fingers with Ino's with a look of relief, "Oh, God, I was so worried about you guys!"

Matsuri nodded in agreement, her face looking paler than usual. Temari sat silently nearby rather than offer a vocal greeting. The young woman seemed kind of lost without her siblings. In fact, this was the first time any of us were seeing her alone.

My voice shook as I hesitantly asked, "Did you guys see anyone else?"

Matsuri squeezed her eyes shut and frantically wiped at the thick tears that ran down her face, "Suigetsu's dead and Hinata's missing, but I think everyone else made it."

"So he really is dead, then?" A small part of me was holding onto a sliver of hope that he'd somehow pull through.

The room got silent for a few moments before Tenten surprised us by drastically changing the subject, "I should probably share something with you guys in case we get separated, but you have to swear not to tell anyone else, okay?"

We wordlessly agreed, curious as to what she could possibly be talking about.

Her voice was barely a whisper as she leaned in so the others in the room wouldn't be able to hear, "Neji and Hinata are half-siblings, but she doesn't know." I was stunned and the other three girls seemed to be in a similar state.

Ino's brow furrowed as she hissed back, "I mean, I'm surprised, but why would we need to know that?" That was a valid question.

Tenten's expression became even more uncomfortable. It was obvious she didn't like laying out other people's dirty laundry. "Neji's parents are Hinata's mother and Madara."

My best friend lost control of herself for a moment, "What!"

The older girl made a frantic shushing motion with her hands as she glanced over to make sure none of the other girls were paying attention, "Shh! Listen to me, okay? This is important." She paused to make sure we were all focused before closing her eyes, "Hinata's family is under the impression that her mother died in a car accident like fifteen years ago or something, but it's not true. She's alive."

"Oh my God…poor Hinata…" Matsuri mumbled out.

"Neji only found out about Hinata a few months before The Program. Yua tried to convince him not to apply, but once he makes up his mind, there's no stopping him." Her face warmed slightly, "They've lived next door to my family for years and our mothers are best friends. I couldn't let him do something so dangerous on his own, so I applied in secret and, well, here we are."

I spoke then, "So, you want us to relay this information to Hinata if we get the chance and you don't?"

She nodded, "Madara doesn't know that he's his son and it needs to stay that way, okay? He can't ever find out or Neji will be in just as much danger as Hinata is." We all shared a sad look.

"You're in love with Neji, aren't you?" Normally Ino'd be excited to learn about that type of thing, but the situation called for a more serious approach.

Tenten's face warmed and she nodded, "He's been mad at me for applying behind his back, but I only want to help him. He deserves to be happy."

There was a loud beep in the room and I jumped slightly in surprise when a speaker on the wall turned on so someone could speak to us, "Hello ladies. My name is Dr. Shizune Kato. Momentarily, some officers will retrieve you one at a time to be registered and evaluated. Please be patient and civil. We're only here to help you."

My mind reeled. The woman's name sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on where I'd heard it before.

As if on cue, the door opened and a nurse stood with an armed officer. The older woman looked down at her clipboard, "Sakura Haruno, please come with me." I looked at each of the other girls once more before rising to my feet and crossing the room with a limp, my leg still bleeding slowly from the bullet wound. They likely called me first so it could be treated. My heartbeat picked up slightly when cuffs were placed on my wrists like before, but I remained calm and did as instructed. Now's not the time to fight.

I was led down a few halls and did my best to memorize the layout of the place, only to be distracted when another officer and nurse passed us heading in the opposite direction with a cuffed Sasuke between them. Our eyes met and he seemed just as shocked as me, but our reunion was cut short as we were led forward.

Eventually, we entered a doctor's office where my wrists were cuffed to the corner of the table where I was instructed to sit. The nurse removed the tourniquet from my thigh before cleaning the outside of the wound and then leaving me alone with the soldier to wait for a doctor to arrive and extract the bullet.

Once alone, the soldier spoke and I realized it was, again, the same guy that'd initially hand-cuffed me in the arena. "It's probably best not to mention your strength. They'll never let you out of here if they find out about it."

I nodded with wide eyes. It was a huge mistake to bust out of the first handcuffs with so many people around to witness it. Hopefully this guy was the only one who'd seen. "What's your name?" He was obviously different from the others and I wanted to know who he was just in case I'd need that information in the future.

"Shikamaru Nara, from Konoha. Don't call me by my name or we'll both be in trouble."

I nodded again, growing weary, "Thank you for being so kind."

Shikamaru didn't respond because the door opened and the doctor came in. It was a kind looking woman with short black hair and warm brown eyes. She was about the same height as me with curves I was jealous of.

"Hello there, Sakura! You can call me Shizune." She didn't hesitate to wash her hands, pull on some gloves, and kneel down by my feet with a tray of surgical tools and medical disinfectant.

The woman sucked some air in between her teeth as she gingerly moved my leg to get a better view of the wound, "You're lucky. I think you'll heal fairly quickly without lasting nerve damage, " her warm brown eyes looked up to meet mine and she gave me an empathetic look, "I'd offer you some anesthetic, but we don't have time to wait for you to recover from it. Do you think you'll be alright?"

I nodded, teeth already grit tightly in preparation for the pain that was about to come. With precise hands, Shizune grabbed a long, thin, set of tweezers and made quick work of tearing the bullet from where it was embedded in my leg. I couldn't hold back the loud cry of pain that tore from my chest at the sensation it caused, but once the bullet was gone, an odd warm feeling throbbed through my calf and then the ache faded.

"You did well, Sakura! I'm impressed. Let's get you patched up and then I'll get you a snack. We don't need you passing out due to anemia, do we?"

She waited for my wordless acknowledgement before kneeling back down to stitch up the wound. Her cold fingers froze against my skin and I stared down at her in confusion. All the blood in her face had drained and she looked as though she was about to be sick.

My heart sank, "What's wrong? Is it worse than you thought?"

The doctor flinched as though I'd shaken her out a stupor and she swiftly released my leg and rose to take several steps away. My brow furrowed at her terrified expression, "What's going on?"

The woman completely ignored me and turned to rush out of the room without another word. I frantically contorted my body so I could see the back of my calf and a swift gasp left both me and Shikamaru. The deep bullethole was completely healed, not even a scar left to commemorate the wound.

I wanted to bang my head against the wall behind me. Orochimaru said that I'd eventually be able to heal wounds, but it never happened so I assumed his experiment had been a failure. The odd warm feeling I'd felt must've been me accidentally activating my new skill to heal myself.

"What are you?"

My gaze shot up to see that Shikamaru had taken his helmet off and was staring down at me with a look of severe disbelief. He was pretty average looking, but had long dark hair that ended just above his shoulders and pretty brown eyes. He looked a lot younger than I expected a soldier to be. There's no way he's older than twenty-two.

Tears rose in my eyes and I desperately wanted to cover my face, but couldn't. "They…experimented on some of us."

He met my eye before cautiously approaching and kneeling down for a closer look at my healed leg. I was truly stunned he was willing to both show me his face and get close enough for me to attack him. It's not like I was going to, but he saw me break metal handcuffs with my raw strength. Surely he realized I could put my foot through his chest with ease, but he still decided to trust me.

"This is unreal…" His voice was low and mumbled as he talked to himself.

"Did you choose what they did?"

I shook my head and continued to try and hold myself back from crying, "They didn't give us a choice at all. I was…" my voice cracked and I had to bite down on my words and take a deep breath before continuing, "I was strapped down to a chair when they did it."

The soldier slowly got back to his feet and put the helmet back on his head so I couldn't see his face anymore, "There's no way you're gonna get out of here now." His voice was kind of sad as though he pitied me.

My tears finally overflowed and I nodded in silence. For the rest of my life, I'll likely be treated like some kind of lab rat or circus animal.