Chapter 6

When we made it to the ground level of the house, I saw that three others were keeping Tenten and Neji subdued with guns pointed at them. Naruto and I were forced to join them after having our weapons taken away.

One was a curvy blond woman with light brown eyes who appeared to be in her late thirties or early forties, one was a man around the same age with long white hair and brown eyes, and the last one was a man with messy silver hair and a face mask on that only left one of his brown eyes showing. It was hard to tell his age because of that, but I got the sense he was at least thirty.

Tenten grumbled under her breath as the five strangers stared at us and we stared back, "We never should've come here."

Naruto hissed back, "How were we supposed to know without checking?"

"You, with the bangs, can you see?"

My heartbeat quickened, "W-What?"

The blonde woman barked again, voice irritated, "I said can you see? Are you blind?"

I shook my head, taken back by her seemingly quick temper, "I can see."

The woman shared a look with the younger one with brown hair before taking a step towards me. Neji and Naruto both took a step forward to block her way and the other four of our captors' guns raised.

"Calm down. We don't want anyone to get hurt. I just wanna take a closer look," The woman motioned for the two men to move and they did, albeit begrudgingly.

My teeth grit and I glared directly into her eyes when she stood before me. All was silent for a moment before I gathered the courage to speak, "We came because we heard the radio broadcast. W-Was that you guys?"

The woman ignored my question entirely, "You weren't born with your eyes like this, were you?" My mouth clamped shut in surprise. The way she asked made it seem as though she already knew the answer, but I shook my head anyway.

She turned to meet the white-haired man's gaze with a determined expression, "Orochimaru."

Naruto barked out, obviously annoyed with this whole situation, "How do you know him?"

The blond woman faced us again, but rather than immediately answering his question she took a few moments to look over the four of us in silence. My hands were trembling, but I had them behind my back so these people wouldn't see the obvious sign of weakness.

"My name is Tsunade. We went to college and worked together before he went…down a different path." It was obvious she wanted to say "before he went crazy and got obsessed with inhumane body modifications".

"Am I correct in assuming you weren't a willing participant in having this done to your eyes?" I nodded, still unsure of these strangers.

Tsunade turned to look at the four others she'd arrived with before making a sound of confirmation in her chest and then they all lowered their weapons. Unconsciously, I took a step toward Naruto, who wrapped an arm around my waist as his glare remained heavy on the new arrivals.

"Forgive us for being so cautious. You can never be too sure these days," said the silver-haired man with the mask on.

Tenten grumbled, "It's not like we were scared or anything."

The white-haired man snickered, but didn't offer a verbal response. Instead, the younger woman with shoulder length brown hair spoke up, her voice hopeful in a way that made it seem as though she was trying to convince herself not to be, "By chance, are any of you familiar with something called The Program?"

At that moment, it was as though a hundred puzzle pieces fell into place and I suddenly knew who this woman was, "Y-You're Obito's wife!" I hadn't seen anything but her outline when I saw her imprisoned at the secondary location, but it couldn't be anyone but her.

The woman's eyes widened and shined with unshed tears, " Y-Yes, my name is Rin. Do you know him? Is he alive? Do you know where he is?"

Naruto spoke then, "The ANBU told us he was arrested along with Orochimaru and Kabuto."

She shook her head, "We found the other two already. They're dead, but my husband wasn't with them." My brow furrowed as my heart ached for the woman. She went from being a prisoner to fighting for her life while searching for her missing husband.

I suddenly recalled more information about their family, "Your daughter. Is she safe as well?"

The woman nodded, but her bright brown eyes narrowed in suspicion, "How do you know about Asuka?"

A wave of sadness swept over me and I fought to keep my expression from mirroring that, "O-Obito, he told me about your situation when he was apologizing for…well, when he apologized for being involved."

The woman bristled, "You can't blame him! It's my fault for answering the door for someone I didn't recognize!"

I put my hands up in a defensive manner, "No, I don't! I even tried to help him locate you guys!"

The gray-haired man spoke again, "With your eyes' new abilities? What are they?"

I glanced at Neji and then Naruto before meeting the man's one visible eye again, "With all due respect, w-we don't know you. I'm not comfortable sharing that information."

"But I know you! Or, well, I know a lot of your friends, like these three!" The woman with black hair spoke for the first time.

Tenten spat out, sounding offended, "We don't know you. What the hell are you talking about?"

The woman nodded quickly, face a bit pink, "Yes you do! You may not have seen me, but we've met. My name's Shizuna Kato, from the asylum!"

Tenten's eyes widened and she pointed angrily as she took a step forward, Neji grabbing onto her other arm to keep her from doing anything else and potentially putting us in danger, "You! You're the reason Sakura was locked up like an animal!"

Shizune's brow furrowed and her lips pressed into a firm line, "About that…I'm sorry. I was so scared and surprised, I didn't know what to do, so I left to consult with Tsunade about it, but the invasion happened before I could make it back from Suna."

Tenten fought against Neji's hold and he ended up physically pulling her back and wrapping his arms around her waist, "You're sorry? Our friends were traumatized! Gaara couldn't talk for days after being released!" In the back of my mind, I was proud to hear her stand up for the redhead and happy that he'd finally made some friends, even if he wasn't aware of it yet.

Tsunade spoke then, interrupting her friend, "What's done is done. We can't go back and change things, but we can try to make up for our mistakes."

Shizune butt in despite having been cut off before, "Is Sakura alright? Why isn't she with you? Where are the rest of your friends?"

I couldn't help but feel suspicious, "W-Why should we tell you? How do we know you don't have bad intentions?"

She and Tsunade shared a look before the blond woman said, "We'll show you. Come with us."

All four of us refused to move, Naruto speaking in an unamused tone, "Why would we go with you guys? This could all be a trap."

The white haired man let out an annoyed sigh before handing all of us our weapons back, "Don't do anything stupid or we'll kill you." Neji met my eye and I nodded, feeling a bit better about the situation since we had a better chance of protecting ourselves now.

We followed them outside and down the street a bit before coming upon a cellar behind a convenience store. After going inside, I realized it wasn't just a normal cellar, but it led to a long cave that opened up into a large room after a couple minutes of walking. Smaller caves were around the room, likely leading to other areas, but just this one opening was enough to show us what they meant by proof of no ill-intent.

It was a haven, an oasis. The room was massive, bigger than two football fields combined, and there had to be at least a hundred people. There was a sleeping area, a food area, a clothing area, and even an area that looked like it was supposed to be a makeshift doctor's office.

The chatter in the air got substantially softer once we arrived and I had trouble keeping my mouth from hanging open in disbelief. This is where all the survivors were hiding: underground. If I had to guess, I bet the other cities' populations were doing the same thing.

"We have just under four hundred people accounted for in total, but a lot come and go as they please so we rarely have more than two hundred here at a time." Tsunade explained as she led us through the crowded room.

Naruto's hand grasped onto mine and I squeezed it, unable to look at him as my eyes took in the strange habitat humanity's been forced to withdraw to. The entire area was only dimly lit with what looked like mining lamps, likely connected to some sort of solar-powered source of electricity above ground.

"Mama!"

My head turned quickly at the sound of a young child's voice and saw a small girl, maybe three or four years old, run into Rin's arms, giggling when the woman picked her up. She was very cute with short brown hair and sparkling dark eyes. She looked a lot like her father. The resemblance was uncanny.

A brown-haired man erupted from the crowd, obviously chasing after the girl, only to sigh in relief when he realized she was with her mother, "Asuka, what did I tell you about running off like that! You could get lost!"

"Iruka..?" Naruto's voice was soft and disbelieving as he released my hand, making us all turn to look at him. Tears were in his eyes as he took a step toward the new arrival, who looked just as stunned to see him.

"Naruto, is that you?"

The two hugged tightly, both tearing up. Neji, Tenten, and I shared a look, but none of us knew who this man was. The name never came up in any of our M.A.T sessions and he never mentioned him before.

When they parted, Naruto turned to gesture at me, wiping at his tears with his other hand, "Iruka, this is Hinata, my girlfriend. Hinata, this is Iruka. We were in the same foster home a couple times throughout the years. He's like my big brother."

I surprised even myself by tearing up and hugging the man without hesitation once his words registered. Iruka seemed a bit taken back, but hesitantly patted my shoulder, "I-It's nice to meet you, Hinata. I'm happy Naruto's found someone he cares about."

I pulled back, face redding quickly as I realized what I'd done, but Naruto simply pulled me into a hug with an understanding grin, responding to his brother happily, "Where'd you end up after Kizu?"

My eyes shot open and I stared at Naruto's shirt with my blood cold as ice. Kizutsuku was the man who I saw when I was placed in Naruto's memory during M.A.T. He's the man who sexually assaulted him. The Uzumaki man undoubtedly felt me tense up and let me pull back, but tightened his hold around my waist when I stood at his side rather than in front of him, a silent reassurance that everything was okay.

"I got emancipated and eventually moved here to Konoha. You?" I noticed the others all standing around listening to them talk, seeming as curious as me about the two and how they knew one another.

"I was sent to Kumo, then Kiri, then eventually moved to Konoha about a year ago."

"Yeah, I saw you on the news, man! Good for you! I was trying to find out how to get in touch, but when I called the station they said you'd taken an extended leave." Our little group began moving again, following Tsunade's lead as she headed toward one of the halls.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I told them not to give my info out just in case someone from the past saw me and wanted to try and get money or something." He didn't let go of my hand the entire time and I found a small smile coming to my lips as I looked over and saw how happy he looked as he talked to this Iruka man.

He seemed at least a few years older than Naruto, maybe more. The way they'd spoken about it, Kizu was the last place Iruka had been a foster at before getting emancipated and Naruto was fourteen at the time, so he was likely two or three years older at the least, making him at least twenty two or twenty three. As I looked at him, though, he seemed older than that. It didn't really matter, I guess, and I let the question drop in my head.

We eventually made it to an open room down one of the side tunnels and it only had a large table in the center of it. There were a few other people in the room, but they didn't react much when we arrived. A large map of the entire country was on it with a few markers.

The silver-haired man finally introduced himself, "My name is Kakashi. I'm a member of Konoha's ANBU. I believe you've been traveling with one of my subordinates, Shikamaru, correct?" We all nodded, a bit surprised.

None of us had to ask because the man explained immediately, "He came to me after The Program was raided with concerns about how you and your friends were being unfairly imprisoned and I reassigned him to work security at the asylum while we tried to come up with a plan to get you out."

He walked around the table, but continued, "Unfortunately, that was easier said than done and even by the time the invasion started, we didn't have a clue what we were going to do to help."

A man with dark brown hair styled the exact same way as the young man in question stepped forward, "My name is Shikaku. I'm Shikamaru's father. Is he still alive and well?"

I nodded, but Naruto snickered, "He's more than well, if you ask me." Tenten joined in his amusement by letting out a small laugh, but didn't add on.

The man and Kakashi shared a confused look, "Can you elaborate?"

The Uzumaki man obliged, "He and one of our friends have…really hit it off, to put it lightly. He went with her and a few others to Suna." I thought they'd be amused, but instead they completely ignored the first half of what Naruto said.

Shikaku's hands hit the table and his face was pale as a sheet of paper, "He's in Suna?!"

The four of us shared an odd look before Tenten hesitantly responded, "Well, he's probably not there yet, but he's on his way there, yeah."

The man turned to Kakashi and immediately started barking orders out, "Gather all who are able bodied and explain the situation. We'll leave by mid-day." The silver-haired man immediately left the room with a serious look in his eye.

I raised my hands slightly, "W-Wait, what's going on?"

Shikaku frowned at us, "Suna is flooded with the inhabited. We're talking thousands. We need to leave right now and hope we reach them before it's too late."

My blood ran cold. I knew it was likely there'd be a bit more than usual there to protect their leader, The Meishu, but thousands? That was completely unexpected. We just sent all of our friends into a big death trap.

Neji spoke for the first time since leaving the empty house, "They're on their way there to put an end to the invasion. We have a plan." All the others in the room looked at him expectantly and he thoroughly explained what we'd found and what our intentions were.

Once he was done, Shikaku nodded firmly, "We'll assist you, then. If what you're saying is true, we can't afford not to. Are you prepared for travel?"

We all nodded.

"Good, then let's not waste anymore time."