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CHAPTER 103
"Alright, Eri," Sakura said gently, pulling the girl's attention to the table she'd set up. "Are you ready?"
Despite her obvious reluctance, Eri nodded. After the first lesson, Eri experienced what true desire was and the determination that made scary things worth doing.
Sakura had laid out several small pots on the table, each one containing withered plants. Not completely gone, but close. On the edge of dying, which made them perfect for this exercise.
"Alright, Eri, watch me first."
Sakura came forward and held her hands over one of the pots. She channeled her chakra from her palms into the soil, coaxing life back into dying cells. The withered petals began to uncurl slowly, color returning, the brown fading to reveal pink and white underneath. Within seconds, the flower was blooming again.
This was a typical training exercise Tsunade had used when she was practicing medical ninjutsu. And she realized that with Eri's quirk, the same principle could be applied to learn control.
"See?" Sakura said, stepping back. "Your quirk rewinds things. For these flowers, that means back to when they were healthy and blooming."
"Um..." Eri fidgeted with the hem of her dress. "I don't know if I can do that."
"Don't say that if you haven't even tried," Sakura gently gestured for Eri to come. She stood up from her chair and approached the table. She held her small hands over one of the withered plants, exactly like Sakura had demonstrated. Her face scrunched up with effort as she attempted to tap into the quirks' power of her own will.
They explained to Eri that her power had come out involuntarily because she allowed it to store up too much from not using it, and because she hadn't been able to practice before, she couldn't use it of her own free will.
Nothing happened. She tried harder, but it felt like she was just pushing out air. Nothing physical could be felt.
Sakura touched Eri's horn gently, assessing. It had grown noticeably, maybe two centimeters longer than last week. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before she had another episode. She thought that if her energy build-up was more, then she might be able to bring it out easier on her own. But it looked like this still needed time.
"I can't," Eri trembled, her hands dropping to her sides. "It's not working. I'm trying to think about how Sakura did it with me last time, but I-"
Her voice cracked, as tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. Sakura stepped in immediately, kneeling down to Eri's level and placing gentle hands on her small shoulders.
"It's alright. Listen to me, Eri. It just takes time, okay?"
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The internships have started up once again, but Izuku had told her that it was odd, since he heard from Mirio that UA didn't usually let first years join the internships, never mind work studies or the exams, but they were a special case. And it looked like that case was continuing even with the league of villains allegedly out of commission.
In Sakura's eyes, there seemed to be more going on behind the scenes there, and knowing about Izuku's power and his connection there would likely be more trouble coming his way than he bargained for.
Sakura found it almost cruel that the boy, who wanted nothing more than to have a quirk of his own to be a hero, had been strapped with a burden of responsibility that seemed to have come in fine print to receiving one for all.
Of course, she doubted Izuku would see it that way.
But then again, he didn't learn the consequences of power the same way she had.
Of what it could bring to you.
That's why she was looking at her classmates bustling about the common area, trying to get their breakfast finished so they could wait outside for the teachers to escort them all to their hero agencies, where they would be working for their new year's.
"Are you really not going to look at a different hero for your internship, Sakura?" Ochaco asked, setting down her empty plate.
"Yeah, seems like you'd do well at a hero agency," Eijirou added. "You know, one that actually fights villains."
"Recovery Girl is cool, but you're not going to get much action there," Hanta pointed out.
"I get enough of that already," Sakura said, taking a sip of her tea. "And Recovery Girl said we'd be doing a lot more fieldwork this time around."
She had been taken by surprise when she was told she could even participate in the work studies program when she was still technically on probation and had to go the extra mile just ot get permission to leave the school. Despite calling this leniency for trying to dismiss herself permanently from UA. Though she could argue it was no one's business how she chose to live her life. In this world, at this age, everyone seemed to think that the autonomy of teenagers was just a suggestion. She also thought that Shouta might have tried to pull her out after she called him out about these work studies and what they subtly entailed.
The League of Villains was still out there. And Class A students were all targets, whether the adults wanted to admit it or not.
But of course, they didn't want the students to be too aware of the situation. It's like they wanted to keep them naive to a certain extent to what suited them instead of what they truly needed. The fact is that while these teachers were treating them like kids, they had already passed that point, but they just weren't aware of it themselves.
When that happened. There wouldn't be any more need for guidance without consent.
While Shouta had his heart in the right place when it came to teaching, Sakura had to call him out for his inefficiencies that she noticed.
"Recovery Girl is a nurse at the school, though," Toru pointed out. "Doesn't that mean you'll mostly be here?"
"She also goes to hospitals healing people," Sakura corrected. "She told me she had been cleared to help out more in the field, so I'm looking forward to it."
Recover Girl was a unique type of hero. While she didn't do the usual dangerous work of procuring villains, she was still a certified hero with the same privileges as one. Even if all she could do was heal. That was rare to have. And had permitted for certain leniencies in the medical field as well. Like allowing a teenage girl to assist her.
Shouto came up to Sakura.
With a cup in his hand, Shouto approached Sakura with his usual direct manner. "Why didn't you think about going to a hero agency where you could fight?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Why would I?"
"Because it seems like you would enjoy doing that."
Sakura pulled her face, really? Does it seem that way? Was she becoming that obvious?
Perhaps she has been getting comfortable here.
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"Do you have everything you need?" Chiyo asked Sakura as they set out towards the gates of the school.
"Yes," Sakura said, tapping the back of her waist bag stuffed with her supplies and equipment. She had already changed into her hero costume as instructed.
Since Chiyo was a member of the UA staff, she counted as a guardian and wouldn't need an escort, even if she wasn't a combative type. Though because of this, there had been a bit of a debate during the faculty meeting about whether or not they should let someone else accompany them.
She had shut that down quickly.
"We're already spread thin," she'd reminded them in that sharp, no-nonsense tone that had cowed students and teachers alike for decades. "These students are going to have to be out on their own for these work studies anyway. I'm not going to be Haruno's teacher in the regular sense anymore; I'm her mentor now. And she has to be allowed to have the same experience as the others with their work studies."
Aizawa had looked like he wanted to argue, but even he knew better than to push when Recovery Girl used that tone.
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Chiyou wasn't entirely sure what she thought about Sakura Haruno. The girl was smart, but she was also a troublemaker, unlike anything this school had ever seen before, and she had seen a lot in her days. But the way SHouta talked about her was as if she were the best and worst thing that ever happened to him. SHe didn't fall in line like the rest of the first year,s she had her own tune she moved to, and unlike the resto f the students who were unsure of which path to set themselves n their hero journey, rikceting through their lives, Sakura had bee oslid in everything she did, unomving and that's what made her so complicated to teach.
"Sakura," Chiyo called. "What are you going to do after you graduate?"
Sakura looked up from her book, her expression genuinely puzzled and surprised. It was a rare sight. "What do you mean?"
"What are you going to do after you graduate?" Chiyo repeated. It was a straightforward question, but Sakura was looking at her as if she'd asked her to explain a fundamental secret of life.
Under normal circumstances, a person might crumble in their answer. But in this society, everyone who had the chance would say the same thing without hesitation:
I want to be a hero.
That's what she was studying for, and yet somehow it looked as if Sakura was staring at the title like it was a suggestion box to be ticked.
"You're studying to be a hero like everyone else in your class, I know," Chiyo said carefully. "But are you truly interested in becoming a hero?"
"Why does that matter?" Sakura's voice was guarded now. "There are still two years left."
"Yes," Chiyo agreed, "but it's still important to think about such things when you have the chance."
Sakura hadn't thought about it because she didn't want to believe she would ever need to, but the more days that passed by, the more obscure her goals were becoming. What she wanted to clear to her, but of course it had been hidden from everyone else, and she hadn't confirmed whether or not it was something that she could achieve.
While Sakura believed it could be made possible, she didn't know if she could do it.
Even with this strange new power that had taken root in her, this obscene chakra that coated her heart, she didn't know if she could use it, if she was strong enough, capable.
Her drive had been her teammates and friends, Naruto and Sasuke, who were also getting way ahead of her; no matter how much she thought she had grown, they still cast a shadow over her form. So now that they were out of the equation, she wondered if she could achieve this single goal she wanted more than anything. It was ironic, too. In this world, Sakura found that she was stronger than most. She was able to stand with some of the best, and that wasn't just her own ego. She had seen it herself. She had taken on a villain who was considered a central figure in this world.
For the first time, she was trying to fight against that sense of accomplishment.
Sakura had gotten to a point where she didn't think she had the right to believe she was the best at anything; she wasn't the strongest, the fastest, the most skilled, but she had tried, and she would always push herself so that she could at least stand on her own instead of forcing her comrades to carry her.
But when she was here, she was the one doing the carrying. She was the one who could stand at the front while the others were in the background.
There was a tugging within her. A thread that was starting to be taught, what had once been lax on one side had suddenly been picked up and was now being pulled back. Its problem was which side was going to cross the line and pull the end of the rope over to its side?
She didn't know.
And frankly, it just made her chest hurt to think about.
"I'm only a hero for healing," Chiyo then said, which felt like it had come out of the foliage without warning.
"I understand that," Sakura said carefully, "But I'm not sure why you're mentioning this when I'm the one who came to you for that exact reason."
Chiyou observed her with far more intensity than Sakura was comfortable with. "At first," the old woman said slowly, "I thought you just wanted to slack off, which was why you turned away from the more 'exciting' part of hero work. But watching your performance this year, I can say that in all my years, you are the first to exceed all expectations of a student in pursuing this career path. You may come off as arrogant, but you don't behave the same way other younglings have when they're overconfident. Your skills are far ahead of your classmates and even upperclassmen. You operate at a level that shouldn't be possible for a first-year."
Sakura didn't affirm or deny anything. She offered nothing to the table Chiyo had set. She just observed quietly, her eyes focused and disciplined, another trait that wasn't very common in youngsters.
Chiyo's expression grew serious. "After I had accepted to take you on for this work study, I got a request from the Hero Public Safety Commission."
"A request?"
"They wanted me to cancel my work studies plan with you. Even requested that Principal Nezu assign you to a hero who took on more offensive work. They wanted you placed somewhere more... combat-oriented. But he refused."
What was going on that the commission wanted to interfere? That was a question that no one in that car could answer, so she kept it bottled up in her throat.
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Work studies for hero students were supposed to consist of a more hands-on approach, especially now that they had their provisional hero license, but it would be different circumstances operating in a hospital. Even so, Sakura felt her mood lighten when she walked into them.
Chiyo took Sakura to several hospitals around Tokyo, following a similar routine to what they'd established during her first internship. But this time, there was a notable difference.
"More hospitals are willing to let you participate now," Sakura didn't understand how, given that she should have 'gone missing' on her record.
Visiting hospitals, Chiyo took Sakura to assist with healing patients who could take the power of her quirk and had the stamina. They were in emergency rooms, with a constant flow of patients that the reception and nurses would screen before referring them to a designated room where Recovery Girl and Sakura set themselves up. It was mostly physical injuries, broken bones, sprains, cuts, open wounds, burns, and so on. As long as a patient was conscious to consent, Sakura could heal them.
A construction worker with a compound fracture in his forearm. A cyclist with road rash covering half her back, a chef with second-degree burns, took minutes to heal and came out ready to return to what caused their injury.
"This is incredible," the construction worker said, flexing his previously broken arm. "I was supposed to be out of work for two months."
"Rest for three days anyway," Chiyo instructed firmly,
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you."
That's how Sakura's first day at work passed, and she didn't complain, even though this wasn't anything challenging to her intellectually; she didn't lose her focus or bedside manner when caring. That was something Chiyo noticed as well. It was one thing to have the ability to heal; it was another to know how to coax away any reluctance within an injured party.
As they packed up their supplies in the final hospital, Chiyo turned to Sakura with an approving expression.
"You did very well today, Haruno." She didn't need to add that she was impressed; Sakura could already tell in her tone.
"Thank you," Sakura said, washing her hands for what Chiyo could only count as the 50th time. Noting that the teenager already had her own protocols for working in this space. She disinfected and wiped down areas, knew how to dispose of items after visits, and how to question patients.
She frowned as a thought appeared. 'Why is she so familiar with this?'
Hey, love
So, you just read that chapter.
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-Kunoichi amongst Heroes chapter (104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109)
-Kunoichi amongst Pirates chapter (48, 49, 50)
-Crossroads of Fate chapter (39, 40, 41, 42)
-Through the Looking Glass chapter (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
- (Bleach crossover) Kunoichi amongst Reapers: (5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-Commission: Demon slayer x My hero academia (PART 1 & 2)
- Kunoichi amongst Benders (Avatar x Naruto crossover) (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes WHAT IF SPIN OFF: Dorms and Exams
-SPECIAL HALLOWEEN CHAPTER: Shinigami amongst Shinobi
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