Restoration: Book 1/3

Chapter 23

Days passed. I was relieved to find that my vision returned, just like Obito said it would, and I went back to doing recon with my byakugan, albeit more carefully than before, so as not to overdo it again.

Deidara was taken away one morning and returned in the evening with his bandages gone. After that, he refused to speak to anyone, even Sasori. I felt guilty invading his privacy, but my curiosity got the best of me, and I looked one night to see that my hypothesis had been correct. Somehow and for some odd reason, the young man had mouths on his palms and chest. Disbelief nearly had me fainting when the mouth on one of his palms opened to reveal teeth and a tongue inside.

Why on Earth would they ever do something like that to someone? What benefits can this type of modification possibly offer? Despite my shock, I didn't tell anyone about what I'd seen. Deidara was suffering enough having to live with it; he didn't need me telling everyone about it, too.

Our mental and physical training got much more intense after the relocation. Not only that but Groups A and B became combined.

In M.A.T., we were forced to use our knowledge of our partners to mentally torture one another in hopes of helping them overcome their shortcomings. At least, that's how Madara explained it. Instead of aiding our growth, I personally felt like all we were doing was putting strain on our relationships.

Even those who've gotten along incredibly well since day one, like Ino and Sai, had become tenser around one another. Between Naruto and I, it was a different story each day. Sometimes we'd be brought closer and bond over our mutual suffering, while other times, we couldn't bear to look each other in the eye.

In physical training, Orochimaru took things up a notch. At first, it was two versus one hand-to-hand fights. Then, we progressed to armed versus unarmed battles. Every few days, the challenges we faced would increase in difficulty, and no one, not even those who've shined since the beginning, would leave training without minor injuries.

However, we unintentionally discovered a few of the others' modifications during these fights. It turns out that Sasuke's eyes helped him recognize people's movements a million times quicker than before, which took his combat abilities through the roof. Gaara could no longer feel pain. It took a long time for any of us to realize this because he doesn't really show many reactions anyway, but when he got shot in the neck with a rubber bullet and didn't flinch, it was impossible not to notice.

That left Sakura and Hidan, both of whom were found out simultaneously. They were fighting during training one day, Hidan with a knife and Sakura barehanded. The pink-haired girl's ability to overcome her fear of physically facing men steadily improved, so she at least didn't seem about to faint when Orochimaru blew the whistle to signal the start of their battle.

She swiftly dodged swipe after swipe of Hidan's attempts to land a cut and seemed to be doing incredibly well until she lost her footing and he landed a shallow slice across her stomach. The rest of us watched in awe as her face contorted with rage, and she threw a punch expertly at his chest.

The air filled with gasps as her fist went straight through his chest, blood splattering down onto the mat. It went silent as her eyes widened in terror, and she pulled her arm out of his body. A choked sound of disbelief got stuck in her throat, and she lunged forward like she expected Hidan to fall and intended to catch him, but to our surprise, he stood steady as though she hadn't just landed a fatal blow.

He coughed up some blood before raising a hand to touch the hole in his chest she'd created, "Damn, that fucking hurts!"

Orochimaru started laughing, making us all turn to look at him with wide eyes. Sakura didn't bother waiting for the doctor to gain his composure and started fussing over Hidan's injury, trying to apply pressure to the wound, "I-I-I'm so sorry! I swear I didn't mean to! Oh God-"