Chapter 9

After the horrible training session, we had to fill out a mountain of questionnaires. They were full to the brim with "what if" scenario questions; each was expected to have a detailed and honest answer.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we were finished, or at least that's what it felt like, and we were sent back out to the main room for our second meal of the day. I couldn't bring myself to eat a thing as I sat with my head resting on my hand and picked at the food on my plate with a fork.

An odd young man named Kabuto was in charge of our meals and seemed to be actively adjusting each participant's meal plan according to their training. On my tray, for example, was mostly protein rich foods. They most likely wanted me to get physically fit as quickly as possible. It's not as though I'm overweight, underweight, or anything of that nature, but I've not been on a sports team in years so my body isn't as used to physically strenuous activities as it could be.

"Is there something wrong with your food, Hinata?"

I was snapped out of my stupor by Kabuto himself. My face warmed with discomfort and I grudgingly put a small bite into my mouth, averting my eyes back to my plate as he seemed satisfied and left me be.

The food normally would've been at least average in taste, but after the events earlier in the day, I only wanted to spit it out. I made myself chew and swallow it, glancing over to see that Kabuto was busy checking on others who seemed to have the same lack of appetite as me.

The same people as earlier were seated at the same table as me and Ino spoke in a quiet voice. Her enthusiasm from this morning was nowhere in sight. "So…I assume we all went through that odd mind-sharing thing, right?"

I kept my eyes trained on my plate, but sensed a few others nod in response. She let out a sigh, "This isn't at all what I thought it would be…"

Karin spoke more hopefully, "Well, we haven't had our physical training yet, so maybe that will be better!" The table was silenced once again, and the air remained clouded for the remainder of the meal with a tense aura.

Later that night, once we were relieved from our daily duties, everyone was hanging out in the bedroom. Some were sleeping, some were in small groups chatting, some were simply minding their own business.

I was laying on my back atop my bed, eyes dazed over at the ceiling as what happened during training ran through my head over and over again. I had no idea technology like that had even been invented yet, much less that Madara would somehow be able to get his hands on it.

I reached up to the back of my neck and felt a small scar there. The sharp pain must've been something stabbing into my skin and the helmet must've seared the injury shut once the session was over.

It was such an odd and taboo feeling, being able to experience everything someone else was involuntarily sharing with me. My chest heaved slightly as I remembered how raw the distress Naruto had been feeling was. My hand instinctively gripped the shirt over my chest, and my brows furrowed.

"Are you alright?"

I snapped out of my daze and looked over to see Naruto laying across his bed in a similar fashion as me. He wasn't even looking at me as he spoke, which told me that the short time he'd been looking into my mind had been enough for him to figure out what type of person I really am. No doubt he knew that my stoic façade was masking a nearly constant state of anxiety.

I pulled my eyes off of his attractive profile and back onto the ceiling, "Are you?"

A more rambunctious voice pulled my attention from whatever reaction he may have given, "So, how was the mental training? You two sure look shaken."

I looked over to see Hidan, the silver-haired young man who sleeps on my other side, sitting on the edge of his bed facing me. He must be in Group A, meaning he had the physical training today.

I sat up, uncomfortable with him looking down at me like he was, "It was…invasive."

His smile widened and he let out a small chuckle, "Well, the strength training was nothing for me. I'm sure I'll be able to handle anything they throw at me."

I was silent with disbelief. Almost every member of Group B was behaving drastically differently tonight than they had last night, but he was being so nonchalant about it. Is this just confidence or is he actually stupid? I debated asking him about what they did in their training today, but his personality kind of threw me off so I opted to get up and excuse myself to the bathroom rather than let things get awkward.

A few participants were roaming about outside of the bedroom, but not many. I stood before the large sink and mirror, splashing my face with cold water to try and calm my nerves, only to hear an unmistakably sexual sound from one of the stalls. I looked at the reflection of the doors in the mirror, noticing two pairs of feet, both facing the door, under the one closest to the wall.

My mouth dropped in shock and I felt a familiar blush rise to my face. The people inside obviously hadn't noticed they'd been found out because the soft sounds didn't stop. Completely in shock, I rushed out of the bathroom, only to come face to face with Sakura, Ino, and Karin.

Sakura noticed my unease quickly, "What's wrong?"

I glanced behind me, back in the direction of the stalls, before turning back to face them with my face only getting more warm. "I-I wouldn't go in there if I were you…"

The three girls looked past me for a moment before returning their gazes to my face. Karin and Ino seemed to understand, but Sakura didn't.

"Why? Did something happen?"

Karin elbowed her younger sister in the ribs, "Someone's hooking up in there, you dummy." Sakura's face was soon the same color as her hair and she clamped her mouth shut, the same uncomfortable expression on her face as this morning.

I politely excused myself once more, finding it hard to have a moment to myself. When I returned to bed, I was relieved to find Hidan had left to join his friends from Group A instead of waiting for my return. I crawled under my blanket, feeling overstimulated, and hugged my pillow into my stomach while burying my face. Tomorrow can't possibly be worse than today was.

When morning came, I went through the same routine as the previous day. Sakura and I were the first ones in the showers again, but it was more comfortable this time around because we weren't complete strangers like before.

After breakfast, we lined up behind the physical strength training door as instructed, at eight o'clock sharp. Orochimaru led us through the door in silence. His mood seemed much less positive today than yesterday, only making us all that more nervous.

This training area was completely unlike the other one. It was one enormous room filled with different types of strength training areas. There was a fighting ring, a weight lifting area, a treadmill area, and the biggest area was in the center of the room. It was empty except for a large plot of the floor being covered in the foam mats meant to break one's fall during gymnastics or grappling.

We stood in a group near this matted area and waited for the doctor, as he requested to be called, to give us instruction. He did so without hesitation, "Welcome to your first day of physical training. During your time here, you will learn to defend yourself against a wide variety of attackers and attacks. You'll also be taught how to attack many different types of targets in many different ways. We will work with hand to hand fighting, hand to weapon fighting, weapon to weapon fighting."

Our group was silent with apprehension. None of us expected yesterday's training to be as inhumane and intense as it was and we didn't want to make the same mistake twice. The doctor's lips turned up slightly as he continued, surveying his group of students.

"We'll start today with one versus one fights so I can get a read on where everyone currently stands with their knowledge and ability."

The blood drained from my face as I glanced around at my peers. I have to try and fight one of these people? I can't picture attacking any of them, much less winning!

"We'll start with two boys, shall we? How about…Gaara Subaku and Sasuke Uchiha. You two come forward and prepare yourselves. You'll have one minute to try and immobilize your opponent and there are no rules to what you can do to gain the upperhand."

A few startled murmurs started rising as the two boys stepped onto the mats a few yards in front of us all. There are no rules? Orochimaru pulled out a small whistle, the two lunged at each other when he blew into it.

Gaara has a terrifyingly unapproachable aura about him and I've only ever seen him interact with his two siblings, Temari and Kankuro, who're also in Group B. Sasuke was quiet, too, but he wasn't quite as intimidating.

Despite me thinking this, the Uchiha twin quickly had Gaara in a lock on the ground and we all thought the match was finished, only for the redhead boy to sink his teeth into Sasuke's arm hard enough to draw blood. Gasps and sounds of surprise dusted the room, my mouth dropping open in disbelief as the two separated. Sasuke held a hand over his bleeding upper arm with an angry look on his face.

Just as they were about to have another go at it, Orochimaru blew his whistle once more and ended their fight, "Great job, you two! Sasuke, you appear to have some wrestling experience, but Gaara has a better sense of self-preservation. You both may rejoin the group." They did so, Sai reaching forward to inspect his brother's injury as the doctor faced us all once more.

He looked down at the clipboard in his hands before smiling, "Now we'll see Hinata versus Suigetsu."

I looked up at him with fear and his smile widened ever so slightly. He wants me to fight a boy?

The two of us walked over to the area where the previous fight had been held and I looked down to see a few drops of Sasuke's blood on the bright blue mats. I heard Sakura yell out angrily, surprising me, "That's not fair! He's a guy!"

Orochimaru quickly quipped back, "Do you think a murderer out on the streets will hesitate just because he's male and she's female? Absolutely not."

He turned to look at my opponent, who I was too terrified to look at, and me with an encouraging smile, "Let's begin." He blew into his whistle and I immediately felt a hit to my face hard enough to knock me back onto my back. I didn't even have time to try and defend myself.

Noises of shock filled the room and tears filled my eyes as pain started to throb through my cheek. I pulled a hand up to cup the injury as I tried to get back on my feet, only for hands to throw me back onto the mat and grip my shoulders roughly. I met my attacker's eyes and felt like I was going to throw up.

Suigetsu's eyes were filled with guilt as he straddled my hips and raised a fist to give me another hit. A fight-or-flight response shot through my body, and I kicked my knees against his back, shoving him forward. I let the momentum roll us both until I was on top of him, quickly climbing off of him and putting a yard or so of space between us. I could feel the corner of my lip bleeding, and I wiped at it with the back of my hand.

He got back up to his feet, a look of surprise on his face. The boy quickly approached me again and I put my hands up to defend myself, only for him to punch my stomach and knock the air out of me with a gasp. I tried to stay upright as I pushed him away, wincing as my body naturally hunched over the aching area.

I heard Sakura yell once more, "Stop it! She's hurt!"

I glanced over to see her sister and Ino holding her back, only for another hit to land against my stomach, throwing me to the ground a few feet away.

Orochimaru finally blew his whistle again, ending our match. I forced myself up onto my hands and knees, one arm wrapped around my aching middle as I struggled to breathe. Tears were falling down my sweaty face and onto the mats.

A hand appeared near me and I glanced over to see Suigetsu looking distraught as he knelt beside me, "I'm so sorry, Hinata. I didn't want to do it, but I really need to win the prize money." I gingerly accepted his hand and let him help me back to the group.

"Hinata, you showed some nice ingenuity for a moment, but you let yourself get too distracted. Suigetsu, I can tell you were hesitating. You'll be bested quickly if you do that in a real fight."

I shot the doctor a disgusted glare, which he ignored as he looked back down to his board, "Let's try Sakura and Matsuri, since Miss Haruno seems so against fighting a male."

His eyes followed the young woman as she approached, "The day will come during this program where you'll have to face a male in combat, so prepare yourself properly."

Ino and Karin tried to tend to me as I held myself around the waist, but I shook them off, "N-no, don't…" I'm too humiliated to be comforted right now.

It surprised me that Orochimaru didn't immediately pair Sakura with a man because he definitely seemed the type to do something like that. The two girls grappled a bit once the whistle was blown and eventually Sakura pinned the smaller brunette girl to the mat, which led to the whistle being blown to signal her victory.

He spoke calmly as the two rejoined us, "Sakura, I know you're capable of so much more than that and Matsuri, you didn't even try to defend yourself. Both of you have disappointed me today."

Sakura turned back to shoot him another glare once she was back by her sister's side. The doctor ignored her just as he had me and continued with the next pair. I looked over at the pink-haired girl and she pointedly ignored me. Her hands were shaking nervously at her sides.