Restoration Book 3/3: Hinata's Fate

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.