Greetings oh Grand Readers! I am so glad to be back, and I want to give an extra big thank you for coming for another chapter. Sometimes things get really bad and really hard when you're chasing your passions, and while I can't respond to everyone and your kind gestures, you are the reason I can keep pursuing writing. This year has been especially productive and I can't wait to share that with you all as well.
For now Enjoy this Chapter! But before you get into it, I just want to remind you JOIN ME ON TUMBLR: www.tumblr.com/blog/katsura369
So you can reach out to me and chat and I can continue to share with you any updates, art and more incoming projects!
CHAPTER 83
"This is an insane plan," Denki voiced, grabbing the ends of his hair.
He and his classmates had gathered into separate groups, each meant for different actions and phases for an attack. A strategy that felt worthy of a super villain rather than a lone classmate. But this was what their smartest peers had engineered.
First they examined all of Sakura's strong points, in hope of finding the dents in her armor, it was a long way to a rather depressing conclusion. She didn't have many that could be exploited in their current condition. If a fire's weakness is water, then they would need an entire lake to put out Sakura.
However, there were moments of vulnerability that she had exposed, proving she could be pushed to a limit.
Izuku didn't want her to get to that point because of the price that seemed to land her in the hospital. He wasn't sure if Sakura had sustained permanent damage from her fight with All for One but he didn't want to cause anything that would make her heart stop and start again and again. Despite Sakura's orders that they should feel free to do what they wanted. But every time he remembered the way All For One tore into her, in the same way, that had caused his personal hero and idol All Might to fall, Izuku had been conflicted.
Even when they trained together, and sparred, he would always draw into that fear. He saw the scar on her chest after the fight with Overhaul when she lost consciousness. Sakura always appeared unbothered but then again All Might had been the same and now he was retired.
Standing at the center of Izuku was his notebook, open to pages filled with hastily scribbled diagrams.
"This is it," Izuku said, "If we want to beat Sakura, we need to wear her down and create an opening."
He pointed to the diagram, his finger tracing the lines as he explained. "We'll divide into teams, to lure her in, distract her, wear her down, and get her to drop her guard. Shoji and Jiro will handle reconnaissance. Tsuyu and Hagakure will be stealth. Kaminari, Mineta, Tokoyami, and Aoyama, you'll attack from a distance. Ida and Yaoyorozu, will coordinate from a distance and help direct everyone. Kirishima, Ojiro, and Sato will do close combat. Kacchan, Todoroki, and I, will be the final strike team,"
Momo stepped forward, with slight sweat on her brow, the kind she got from overusing her quirk.
"I've created a contraption meant to ensnare Sakura. It's designed to trap her long enough for us to make our move. Hopefully."
"Hopefully?" Questioned Mineta, his fingers trembling. "Can't you be more specific, if we're going to strip search her-
"Cut it out!" Mina cut him off with a heavy hand to the back of his head.
..
..
..
Of course Sakura had taken out all of their teams and had now limited their fingers. Now they needed to find a way to force her into the cage or at least distract her until the others arrived, so they could at least salvage this. They had to make sure she didn't take off again because luring her had been considered the hard part of this plan, until they had to face her head on.
Izuku felt the sweat from his brow, his breath ragged as he watched Sakura move between his classmates and makeshift teammates as they attempted to cage her in. Sakura's fists shattered Shoto's ice and her agility wouldn't allow her to be caroled by his flames in the direction he wanted. Even Katsuki, who had top mobility and could lift himself higher from the grounds than the rest, couldn't look down on her.
He was arrogant but not undeserving of confidence for his ability, and had it not been for Sakura's appearance he probably would've been running on that trail without a single slip. Maybe that's why he was always so eager to lock horns with Sakura. She was a mountain he needed to climb over.
Katsuki's explosions dissipated harmlessly against her forearms as if she were swatting away fireflies. Tenya's engines roared, his speed a blur, but Sakura pivoted at the last second, sending him careening past her with a well-timed kick that left deep grooves in the earth.
It was hard for Izuku to admit, but he knew Sakura's full strength and was aware that she knew the weaknesses and strengths of the human body, beyond any regular student, rather more in a medical sense. Each layer, organ, bone and vein. And that intellect wasn't lost in the heat of battle. He watched as she continued to skillfully and playfully dance around Shoto, Tenya and Katsuki's attacks.
"ARGH!" Katsuki exclaimed, gripping his forearm now throbbed in pain where Sakura managed to hit a little pressure point that made it feel like his explosions would blow his arm off every time he used his quirk.
"Just testing,"
"HELL NO!" He pushed through the pain and forced out the explosions that came with them. He had barely condoned the notion of teaming up with everyone else but when the alternative was letting Sakura walk away with another win on her belt, his skin crawled.
Sakura pivoted as Tenya came barreling at her with intense speed that left a small wind force behind with his tracks.
"Tch…DAMN IT!" Katsuki snarled, skidding backward as another of his blasts went wide. His palms smoked, his teeth bared in frustration. "Quit dancing around and FIGHT!"
Sakura smirked, rolling her shoulders. "I am fighting. You're just not keeping up."
Shoto exhaled sharply, frost curling around his fingers. "We need to force her into position."
Izuku nodded, tapping his earpiece. "Everyone we need to move now!"
With the trap Momo had created, there was a chance they could incapacitate Sakura long enough to take the bell from her. This game of attrition needed to come to an end because their hopes of getting Sakura to lower her guard was as good as it was going to get with the way they were going but he didn't know how much longer they would be able to hold her attention.
A body that could react on instinct and eyes that didn't need to see everything to know what was lurking was dangerous.
He hoped that this attempt would cause a single slip, a small crack in her defenses, that they could drive the nail in and break her shell before she thought to cover it.
They had already gotten this far with her, whether she intended it or not. This test felt like something greater than anything they had done for grades. And everyone was determined to give it their all.
Her chest bubbled with a hearty chuckle as they continued to attack with everything they had. Four individuals of the class had the highest combat skills and the best coordination. She understood why they were standing as the final confrontation and yes, Sakura was calling it. They were the most familiar with Sakura's fighting style. Yet familiarity was a poor shield against the gap between them.
Izuku flinched as he watched Katsuki being thrown across the field straight into Shoto, who had been prompted to cease his attacks when he saw the human projectile being launched at him. Izuku felt the phantom of that impact and watched as the two were knocked down like pins that kept rolling on the ground.
Sakura was starting to get serious now.
"Have to say I'm a bit disappointed," She chided, watching the two pick themselves up rather quickly.
A blur of movement. Katsuki lunged first, his usual battle cry ripped from his throat as he unleashed a point-blank explosion. Sakura pivoted again, the blast grazing her shoulder as she hooked a foot behind his knee and yanked. He went airborne, skidding through upturned earth like a discarded game-piece.
That's when Izuku decided to attack. Without a moment's hesitation, he surged forward, One For All crackling along his limbs, his fist aimed squarely at her ribs. Sakura didn't even flinch. She deflected his punch with a forearm, twisted under his follow-up kick, and countered with a sweeping strike that sent shock waves up his leg. He barely registered the pain before she was on him again, knocking aside his guard, dismantling his stance, each blow precise and heavy.
How would she fare against All Might? The thought flickered, unbidden. But she already defeated All For One.
"Pathetic."
The word cut deeper than any physical blow. Sakura's voice was calm, almost bored, as she sidestepped a jagged pillar of Shoto's ice without so much as a glance. "All this planning. All this teamwork." She scoffed, kicking a fractured piece of glacier aside. "And for what? A performance? Are we at the cultural festival?"
Izuku's breath hitched.
"The weakest will always be devoured," she continued, her gaze flicking to Katsuki as he hauled himself up, his palms smoking, his teeth bared in a snarl. "This? This is just pretend. Playing hero."
Katsuki spat blood. "The hell's your damage?!"
"I told you to come at me like you wanted to kill me," Sakura interrupted, her voice sharpening like a blade. "Instead, you come at me with half-hearted attacks and half-baked plans that can't stand. You're holding back against an opponent that trumps you in every single aspect. Do you think in the real world you'll receive that same courtesy? Have you learned nothing so far?"
The accusation hung in the air, suffocating. Izuku's fists trembled at his sides, his nails biting into his palms.
"This isn't real," Izuku attempted to defend, feeling an overwhelming sense to do so. As he watched Sakura, feeling like she was slipping into some place dark in front of him. And when those kinds of things happened, Izuku couldn't help but stick out his hand and his neck, regardless of the unknown.
"What will you do when it is? If you can't beat me the way you are then there's bound to be other's out there you can't beat either. At least not the way you are now and I don't just mean your strength." Sakura had a firmness in her tone, turning to the other three who had ceased their attacks for the moment.
"A hero does not fight to kill," Tenya argued.
"You're truly delusional if you think that's going to keep you alive or did you already forget what happened with Stain?" Tenya gave a sharp exhale at the mention of the villain they were all sworn to secrecy about.
Izuku couldn't wrap his head around why Sakura was bringing this up all of a sudden.
"When it comes to battle, mindset is just as important as ability and skill. And you need to learn to fight with everything you have, without holding back and still maintaining control."
"SHUT UP," Katsuki yelled, blasting his way across the field at Sakura again, "You want the intent to kill huh!?"
He hit her with a full-on blast, or at least he thought he did, her body blew away, seemingly unconscious, but quickly learned it was nothing more than a trick as a puff of smoke revealed a piece of ice. And once again, Katsuki was meeting the ground, Sakura dug her knee into his back, his wrists caught by her hands that barely seemed to wrap around them. And yet he couldn't force himself free.
"This world teaches you strictly to follow a certain path of rules so that you don't end up committing acts that are considered villainous by their standards. But what will you do when one day it's you or them?"
Tenya again disclaimed, "I won't compromise on my morals! Especially after what happened last time! If it hadn't been for you, I could've lost my life and put Midoriya and Todoroki at risk!"
After a few seconds of rather intense eye contact, she drew back to Katsuki who was struggling in her grasp. "I'm going to snap his arms out if you can't hit me in the next five seconds."
Shoto, Izuku and Tenya were drawn immediately to attention at that, despite the calmness of Sakura's threat, it had hit them far harder than it would from a villain screaming demands arrogantly.
"What are you insane!?" Katsuki hissed, trying to kick up from the ground but he was anchored down, "Come on, break my arms I'll still beat the crap out of you!"
Shoto decided to attempt to defuse the situation, "We're coming at you with everything we've got Sakura. Do you doubt that?"
"Of course!" Sakura exclaimed, her face twisting into a frown, her lips turned downward as her forehead crinkled, "You're always holding back against each other because you've been told to control your power but it's not just that! You can't imagine ever killing anyone can you?!"
Katsuki spat out, "So what? You're different?"
Sakura leaned closer so Katsuki could feel her breath on his ear but she was still loud enough for the other's to hear, "It's different for me," Sakura said, "You all have reasons to stay alive, that's why you need to be able to fight with everything to survive. I don't have anything left to lose. So I don't care if I die here and now."
The admission landed like a physical blow. Shoto stiffened. Tenya's engines sputtered. Even Katsuki, for all his fury, faltered.
"But you?" Sakura's gaze pinned Izuku where he stood, her eyes twin embers in the fading light. "All that planning, all those notebooks filled with strategies and you know you can't win. I thought you'd improved more than this. I thought you'd understand the rules of this challenge,"
The forest seemed to hold its breath.
"At this rate," she continued, her voice dropping to a whisper that carried the weight of a funeral bell, "if we face another villain like before? I'll have to throw my life away just to keep you all alive."
Silence followed for only a minute and then…
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Katsuki exploded forward, his palms detonating with enough force to crater the earth beneath him causing him to break free from her grip, if not slightly dislodging his collarbone. "We don't need your goddamn pity!"
Sakura moved, she caught his wrist mid-strike, twisted and slammed him into the ground hard enough to shake the trees.
"Prove it," she said softly. This wasn't a test. They had trained for victory. She had prepared them for war.
"You all have to be stronger and you won't always have the luxury of holding onto your preferences in this line of work. I'm the one who fought that villain in Kamino but you still have people out there who want you dead!" She pointed and they knew who she was directing that finger to.
"The Symbol of Peace that kept your entire society on his shoulders had been reduced to dust! It's time to wake up! Because unless you do, I'm going to have to keep being the shield between you all and them, and one day I might be the one who gets reduced to ash because you were too weak!"
Something inside Izuku broke. It wasn't a snap, nor a crack, it was a dam bursting, a floodgate torn open by Sakura's words. He was reminded of the role he had been given by accepting the power of the greatest hero and how he had been failing thus far to fill those shoes and broaden his shoulders. He realized all of the burdens had been placed on someone else. And that was suffocating.
The air around him warped, his gloves straining as dark, writhing tendrils erupted from his skin like living shadows. They lashed out in jagged arcs, spider-webbing through the air with a mind of their own, their edges crackling with unstable energy.
"W-What the?!" Izuku gasped, as the black whips yanked him forward, his body slamming into the ground before being dragged violently through the underbrush. Dirt and leaves sprayed in his wake, trees shuddering as the tendrils carved deep gouges into the trees and ground.
"MIDORIYA" Shoto, who seldom raised his voice was screaming out as his friend was lashed across the sky. "WHAT IS THAT?"
"I don't know!" Izuku choked out.
He hit the ground and was being dragged across, his fingers clawing at the soil, trying in vain to anchor himself. The whips coiled around his arms like serpents, their grip unrelenting, their movements erratic.
Katsuki heavily brought himself to stand once again, his face twisting in confusion and fury, "This isn't funny, damn nerd! Pull yourself together!"
But Izuku couldn't. The power thrashed inside him, a beast he couldn't tame, dragging him deeper into the forest like a puppet on broken strings.
..
..
..
The black tendrils were filling the screens now, as the cameras followed Izuku being dragged through the forest forcefully by this phenomenon.
The observation room was silent, until it wasn't.
Aizawa's fingers twitched toward his capture scarf, his eyes locked on the monitor where Izuku thrashed. Caught in the jaws of his own quirk. The black tendrils lashed wildly, carving trenches into the earth, uprooting trees as though they were weeds showcasing it was far more powerful than it appeared.
"What is that?" asked Hazashi.
"His quirk seems to be going out of control, but this isn't the usual," Nezu observed. When he started, Izuku was already listed for not being able to control the output of his quirk and he could already deduce that this was a similar outcome but it was also different. And alarming.
"I'm going to stop him," Vlad King growled, already halfway out of his seat.
"Wait." Toshinori's voice was quiet but still heard by everyone. His skeletal frame leaned forward, blue eyes burning with something between awe and dread. On the screen, Izuku's body jerked violently as the whips yanked him into another uncontrolled arc.
"Wait?" Aizawa's glare could have melted steel. "That kid is being torn apart by his power!"
Toshinori didn't say that because he intended for them to leave things as they were. In fact there was no particular reason other than to stop all movement in the room again. He wanted that silence to remember, remember what his predecessor had told him about this power he shared with the young man. The power that had been shared through so many before. In the silence, a repressed memory emerged.
'The time has not yet come'
That's right. One for All was more than just an ability passed down from one user to the next. It was an ever-growing tree that had its roots placed in new soil.
THAT'S ALL MY LOVELIES! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and remember to stay strong and keep reading!
And Remember:
PRIVATE MESSAGING: Available on Tumblr ONLY! I love when you guys reach out to me but it's hard to respond to everyone especially when I need to hop onto different platforms. If you want to reach out personally with questions or messages please do so via Tumblr. THANKS Loves!
Check out the SCHEDULE POSTS On Tumblr, and if you like my stories, want to give me some extra support to help the creations of new stories and can't wait for the latest chapters consider joining me as a special member of my seedling troupe:
EARLY CHAPTERS FOR MEMBERS NOW: BUYMEACOFFEE
- (Bleach crossover) Kunoichi amongst Reapers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
-Commission: Demon slayer x My hero academia (PART 1 & 2)
- Kunoichi amongst Benders (Avatar x Naruto crossover) (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes chapter (84, 85, 86, 87)
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes WHAT IF SPIN OFF: Dorms and Exams
-Kunoichi amongst Pirates chapter (36, 37. 38)
-Crossroads of Fate chapter 27, 28, 29, 30
-Through the Looking Glass chapter 32. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37
-(SEQUEL) Through the Spyglass chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6
-SPECIAL HALLOWEEN CHAPTER: Shinigami amongst Shinobi
Want more INFO on my STORIES and ARTWORK lookup Katsura369
Thanks for tuning in but now I've gotta tune out. Till next time!