CHAPTER 94
"We figured you were going to be the hardest to handle, Haruno. So we didn't want to waste any time." Juzo told her. He crouched safely perched on the end of a steel pipe, where he could view most of their playing field and each of the players, from his teammates to Class A's. At the far corner, Tetsutetsu was charging at Shouto like a steel bull at a bright red target; however, the half-and-half boy was still recovering from the initial shock of the change in element to his quirk.
Meanwhile, Teny and Sakura were taking the game stuck in the mud to a whole new level, or rather, they were the pawns to it, as the real master was none other than Juzo Honenuki. Showing off his quirk, which allowed him to take anything he touched, break down its molecular structure until its molecules held itself together like putty.
"Points for creativity," Sakura said through clenched teeth. While he might have changed the composition of the ice, it was still ice, and she was in a blanket of it that wouldn't let go. For about a moment before it solidified against her form. She could feel the rigid ground wrapped around her, small chips, jagged, digging into her skin until she couldn't even flex a finger. At this time, she would've preferred to be wearing armour like Tenya, who was also solidified as part of ground Gamma now.
'He managed to take out our runner too.' Tenya was one of the best pieces on their team, not only for the role of capturer but also transporter. No one in class B could possibly match his speed, but they had immobilised that threat. Now it was just Shouto and Mashirao who were both on shaky footing, and they were taking that chance to strike.
Mashirao had to leap from his position when he saw something in the corner of his eye, curved little bull-like horns flying in his direction and despite dodging that and using his tail to counter them, before they could loge in and capture him, that's when Sen Kaibaira took the chance to strike.
The same way a bird would grab a fish when it leapt into the air, leaving its habitat and high ground, creating a vulnerability.
Sen's quirk allowed him to move his limbs like drills, rotating at a degree of 360 without dislodging his joints and bones painfully. It was also how he was able to dig himself free of the ice. Juzo softened. And he wasn't wasting any time.
Sakura could barely see from her awkward position, with her ears barely above the ice and her neck having little range. But she could at least catch enough of an idea that Sen's hits held tremendous force, enough to send Mashirao's tail back. And while his quirk may appear ordinary, his tail was a powerful limb, with trained in muscles that could lift his weight and thensome. So to be able to produce enough force to deflect it was not an easy feat or a matter to look at casually.
"Why are you doing this, you villain!?" Tenya called from his position in this ice. Always willing to play the role the teacher unwillingly put them in.
"You're taking this rather seriously," Juzo commented, turning his mask in his direction. "I just took out the two of you because you're the most troublesome. If we had to fight you head-on on that probably wouldn't end too well. But if none of you are on solid ground…"
From what Sakura could see, their teams were pretty much the same balance of abilities. All physical, and they likely had the same train of thought as her classmates. No scouts, no trackers, no way to find the enemy ahead of time and stage a surprise attack. So they pivoted to a direct one. Even though this was a surprise, as none of them knew much of Class B's quirks.
"Usually you'd go for the weak link in the chain,"
From a short distance, she could hear ice shattering and forming, both sounds similar but with distinctions. Shouto was clearly having a time on his own, and Mashirao had taken off into the briar patch of pipes, likely trying to weave his way out of Sen's attack range.
"We are,"
"What do you mean!?" Tenya demanded.
"Ah," Sakura exhaled an icy breath, "You aren't intending to let either of us out of here, are you?"
Juzo folded his arms, "You've got me."
"Excuse me, what are you implying?" asked Tenya.
"They're going to try and capture Shouto and Mashirao, and then leave us in here while the timer runs out, so we can't take countermeasures to win."
"How dishonourable!" Tenya exclaimed, "That is no way for a hero to win! The rules clearly state-
"That the winning team is decided one of two ways, either capture all four members of the opposing team, or if 20 minutes have passed and all four are not captured, the win goes to the team with the fewest members captured."
"How crude!"
"How clever," Sakura complimented. "Personally, I think it's a terrific idea. You save yourself the energy, your teammates from injury and unnecessary battle and avoid the risk of losing a captured enemy while transporting them to containment."
The terms were more clinical but they got through to her audience.
"Exactly, glad you understand," Juzo said. Things went quiet for a minute between the three, and all they could hear was the continued echo of fights that were had started taking place at a distance.
Somehow they travelled, perhaps in an attempt to avoid direct combat. Shouto would've moved away from his teammates he believed were still trapped, so he didn't hit them with any wide range moves. He hadn't gotten used to playing the role of a shield yet, and admitted this struggle when he asked his teammates to stay in his line of sight so he didn't end up hitting them with his quirk.
'Shoto is going to have a hard time with that Tetsu guy.' Iron was the perfect defence against ice and fire. Especially if he could control its thickness like Eijiro, but she wasn't entirely sure on that one. Either way, if Shouto wasn't coming here to assist them, it meant he was still handling his own fight.
The other teammate of class B Pony was also standing quite close, but she wasn't standing over Tenya and Sakura, planted in their place; rather, she was looking out where the crashes of metal could be heard, and steam could be seen. Perhaps waiting for the moment to swoop in and capture. Her horns seemed like a fitting ability for that. Since they seemed to be controlled like with her mind Hawk's feathers. That was bothersome in its own right, depending on how much they could lift.
While it was only brief, Sakura could see their game play in effect and knew how they intended for this to go and end. In terms of teamwork work they were ranked S-Tier. And as far as handling each of their members, this was one of the best outcomes for Class B. Each seemed to have a natural match up to counter every ones quirk's.
"Hey Tenya, remember what I said before this started?"
Tenya couldn't so much as turn his head in her direction, but her voice did reach, "Yes, I did!"
"Then you'd better get started."
Juzo looked between the two, "What are you up to?"
The ice blelow Tenya's head started to creak and crack, beneath the solid ground and ice, his engines had been turned to full gear, the heat emitting through with enough force to break loose his potted position. At full throttle, be broke through, literally pushed halfway up from the ground like a sprout and without even bothering to get upright, Tenya started hurdling forward.
"Crap!" Juzo returned to the ground he had solidified, intending to turn the tables and the foundation that Tenya ran, but it was in that air-born moment, whether deliberate or a happy coincidence, that Tenya kicked up from the ground and was gliding on the ice. Rounding his way to Juzo. He was already there before he could even lean down fully. He glided right passed Juzo, still unable to control his speed fully, but also leaving no room for reaction as Juzo was quick to realise this was going to take a turn for the worst if he attempted a head on collision with Tenya, who was essentially a mach speed tank at this time.
"Hang on!" Pony's voice was heard before she was seen. Before her horns were seen, that is, it managed to set on a path right in front of Tenya. This caused him to hit one of the horns, but it shattered from the impact, and with his armour, there was no damage. However, this had opened a window wide enough for Juzo to creep through and make his escape.
He sank into the ground when Tenya attempted a second round to capture him, and solidified the top so there was no way to follow.
He touched the ground. "He escaped!"
Sakura, who was still cemented in her position, saw Pony heading his way again. She was in the air, a place she likely believed too high for Tenya to reach, standing on horns that were keeping her there. She held her fingers at the side of her head and seemed to be aiming directly at him.
"Get moving, the fight's not over yet!" Sakura told him.
Tenya looked up and saw several horns coming at him like projectiles. He avoided them, the horns hitting the ice and ground burying a part of itself, but they lifted just as easily and started chasing after him.
"I will come back for you!" Tenya said in a rather dramatic tone to match his fear as he sped away.
Her eye's started following the clouds, "Well, what should I do now?"
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Beating his fingers furiously on his arm, as he continued to glare up at the screen, Katsuki hissed,
"Why isn't Fivehead doing anything?"
"Maybe she's really stuck?" Izuku wondered out loud, darting his eyes between his notebook and screen. "Could this really be the way to trap her?"
"You really are an idiot. All Might tried the same thing at the USJ with that Nomu, and remember what that creepy hands guy said?"
Izuku recalled that Tomura warned them that the Nomu was designed to be as strong as All Might, so trying to bury him in the ground wouldn't work.
"But Sakura's strength is different," Izuku remembered that Sakura had opened more about her abilities. There was a power source behind her strength. Which explained why, despite not having much muscle mass, she was able to pull of that monstrous strength. It was an accumulation of energy.
"This stupid tactic of theirs won't work on Fivehead." Katsuki's declaration was strong. "Otherwise I would've done it already!"
Izuku's sweat dropped, 'So that's why he's so adamant,'
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"Looks like your teammates are on the ropes." There was the sound of 'slooshing' that caught her attention, and she could already place the voice.
"Is that why you came back here after running away?"
Coming out of what looked like a mud pit of slush, Juzo lifted himself till his torso, popping out like a mole from the ground. He did a quick sweep of the area, still able to hear some slight noises in the distance from the battles taking place.
"I would like to go and help my teammates, but it would be a problem if you managed to escape."
Sakura, unable to move more than her neck, didn't bother attempting to meet his eyes. "Wouldn't it be worse if all your teammates ended up getting captured?"
Juzo leaned on his hand, "They won't. But I'm surprised you haven't bothered to try and escape. I thought you were stronger than this after what Vlad Sensei told us about you."
"This is why you'll lose. You don't notice the mistake you made."
"Mistake?" Juzo's hands twitched towards the surface.
"You all believed I was the only one to be looking out for. And when I was captured, it lulled not just you but everyone into a sense of security."
The noises reaching Juzo's ears now were sharper, more refined, and then in the distance, through the tint of his mask, he could see steam rising out in the further corner of the grounds.
"They won't shake under these conditions. What determines the outcome of this match isn't power or force."
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Open roads and wide areas that were what Tenya considered his ideal grounds; there were no strict turns to take, which was more of an inconvenience than he let his peers realise and no space for a villain to hide. However, he didn't account for what to do if they were able to take to the air. And that's why UA was the best breeding ground for heroes. Always teaching him what he couldn't envision. Admittedly, when he started here, he believed that no one could match him in a contest of speed. Then he met Izuku, and Sakura, and Katsuki, and so many other's who exceeded his expectations and brought him to new realizations.
He was grateful for that. Even now, while he fumbled over his path that was being paved by horns sticking out and making it difficult to kick up his gears, Tenya felt a quiver of that excitement in learning something new.
'I cannot get her from down here, and she likely won't come down…' He glanced behind him. The girl Pony, hand her horns pointed, but she made no movements to indicate how she was directing her horns. All purely done by her mind.
'That is a great quirk,'
Tenya kept running until he found what he was looking for. The mesh of pipes lined out with the narrowest paths, but still wide enough for them to travel through. He rushed towards them, with horns falling on his heels.
Then he tripped, sliding across the field as he was less than halfway through.
"I've got you now!" Pony declared, watching as Tenya moved to his feet. She came closer to the ground, as her horns reached to hook into his armour that's when it happened.
She felt a gush of heat and wind hit her face, which was enough to push down her horns. "W-What?"
Pony opened her eyes and what she saw next sent her stumbling back. Tenya was back on his feet and in the air. He jumped high and then activated his Recipro at full speed to launch himself like a rocket further into the air, until he finally reached his target.
He grabbed both of Pony's horns as they plummeted to the ground.
She started kicking against him, but it was hard to hit any weak points in someone who was wearing what was a full set of armor as a costume.
"W-what was that? I thought you were going to run into the pipes!"
"I was," Tenya confirmed, still standing by his honesty. "But when I fell over your horn, I thought of another way to end this."
"How did you do that so quickly?"
Tenya looked up, "Someone taught me the importance of being flexible in the heat of battle."
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Mashirao and Ken's conflict had taken them deep into the marsh of the industrial forest, where they clashed under the canopy of metal. Both were close combat types; however, Mashirao found he was at the low ground in the match, as his opponent's attacks were not only powerful and crippling offense, they were also an instant defense, which saved him from needing to switch between them. Even when Mashirao tried to him him with the full force of his tail, Sen's quirk to turn his limbs into a drill would deflect the attack and deliver damage to Mashirao.
By face value, all he could do to avoid his downfall was to move meticulously to avoid his opponent's entire body, not even able to block without facing dents. But that wasn't enough to win, and he knew it.
Mashirao could acknowledge he wasn't the flashiest fighter, but that didn't prevent him from being thrown into the hero course. And he was one of the first who learned that the tides of a battle didn't sway in the direction of whoever shone the brightest. When he witnessed Sakura take on all those villains at the USJ with nothing but a single handed chop to the back of the neck, he discovered just how much skills could ratio against super powers.
'Because we're all just human,'
"What's the matter!?" Sen continued to move, backing Mashirao further along the pipe they balanced underneath them, his arms and legs making a whirring noise as they rotated and caused vibrations along their platform as he kept a wide grin that reached his eyes. He'd already landed two solid hits on Mashirao, one glancing off his ribs, the other nearly catching his temple. Still, he didn't let his mind bake in frustration. Not when he had to cook up a countermeasure.
'I can't keep dodging forever'
Head-on wouldn't work. Sen's quirk made him untouchable; any direct strike would get deflected or, worse, leave Mashirao's limbs shredded. Running wasn't an option. Not when the rest of his team was counting on him to hold his ground. Which left one choice: find a weakness.
The next time they locked on, Mashirao sharpened his eyes, watching every crevice of Sen's movement. All the while trying to keep his damage to a minimum. He kept being pushed back as Sen's attacks grew more aggressive, more confident as they bore the desired results.
That's when Mashirao moved; he feinted a left, then rolled right as Sen's spinning fist cratered the ground where he'd just been. That's when he spun around, attempting to give Sen the full force of his tail, but that was blocked.
"That's all you've got?"
Mashirao didn't speak; he just darted in close, before twisting away from the drill-arm, grazing his jacket, it caught, but it didn't tear. That's what he noticed when he stepped back.
For all the attacks that were breaking through his skin, Mashirao saw it.
'This is it!'
Using his tail to push his weight and catapult, Mashirao fell back into the shadows of pipes, vanishing in them, but Sen didn't relent and followed suit.
"Trying to run away?"
Mashirao didn't voice anything, didn't give away his position, but scaled loudly, with the echoes of the pipes bouncing off the sound that made it hard to follow the starting point of it. He scaled the pipes, moving above and behind his opponent.
Sen's head snapped left, right, above behind. "Where….
That's when he struck, a fluttering above catching his attention. Sen threw his hands up, jumping between the narrow space, until his fists hit Mashirao. Or so he thought. As what fell had no weight, only a flimsy pull and he realized that his arms were now tangled in Mashirao's jacket.
And that's when Mashirao struck. Leaping from below and behind Sen, who barely turned his head before he was fed a hard slap of tail, his eyes glazed over, and his vision darkened before Mashirao even landed.
Holding Sen by the back of his collar before he could slip through the pipes, Mashirao pulled him over his shoulder.
"Guess where I learned that trick"
That's all for now Folks. I hope this read gives you a breather from any tough times, and that 2026 will be your new best year!
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EARLY CHAPTERS FOR MEMBERS NOW: BUYMEACOFFEE
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes chapter (95, 96, 97, 98)
-Kunoichi amongst Pirates chapter (42,43, 44)
-Crossroads of Fate chapter (34, 34, 35, 36, 37)
-Through the Looking Glass chapter ( 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
- (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 WHAT IF SPIN OFF: Dorms and Exams
-(SEQUEL) Through the Spyglass chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,6
-SPECIAL HALLOWEEN CHAPTER: Shinigami amongst Shinobi