Chapter 41: Chapter XLI: Incompetence
Sorry for taking over a year to upload another chapter but here it is. What Will end up happening this chapter is something I've been planning since at least 20 chapters ago. Enjoy.
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"You haven't done it yet?" Sasori asked. The two of them lounged on wooden boxes in a dark part of the yacht without their disguises.
"Patience, my man. I need to wait until the perfect moment."
Sasori side-eyed him, "You and patience? Are you sure your name is Deidara?"
Deidara rolled his eyes, "Very funny... I just want her to be there to see it. For art that's so brief, it needs a proper audience." He smiled devilishly.
His eyelids hung low, "Oh... it's like that then. You want it to be special. Remember what happened last time you wanted to make it special?"
"Well, this isn't like last time! I know what I'm doing," he snapped.
Sasori sighed and pulled out his phone, "Let me prepare properly, just in case, then."
"Prepare for what?"
"For when your dumbass probably gets caught and our hiding spot gets found."
Deidara scowled, "Have some faith, my man! I would never lead anyone back here. And Compass Kid has been dead for years! I'll be untraceable."
Sasori held the phone up to his ear, "Regardless, I'm not taking chances. Who knows when AFO will get out of Tartarus? In the meantime, we gotta make sure not to get ourselves caught, and have measures in place in case we do."
"You'll see."
On a Saturday afternoon, the students practiced with their groups for the festival. In the dance group, Mina and Sasuke sat next to each other, and the rest of the class eyed them as Mina sat a lot closer to Sasuke than usual. Along with having her legs on his lap in a hug. Sasuke had a faint blush, "You can't wait to do this until later?"
"Hehe, I gotta let everyone know." The rest of the dance group, save for Shoji and, debatably, Hagakure, stared with wide eyes.
Iida cleared his throat, "Now is not the time for such physical contact!"
"We're on break, you prude!" Mina stuck out her tongue.
Mineta seethed and pulled balls out of his hair, "Now my chances are ruined... at least none of the other babes are taken..."
Mina narrowed his eyes at him, "Trust me, you never had a chance."
Midoriya gave a thumbs-up, "You two look nice together!"
Uraraka played with her hands and occasionally side-eyed Midoriya, 'So they really did get together? What changed between them? Could things change between us maybe?'
Mina replied, "Thanks, Midoriya. I think you'd look pretty good with Uraraka."
The pair blushed and stammered. Before they could properly respond, a little white hair girl peeked into the room with Mirio. Midoriya said, "Eri??"
"Hi, Deku."
Mirio stated, "We got permission from the principal to show her around. Wanna help?"
"Of course!"
Mina stood up and kneeled in front of the girl, "She's adorable!" She tapped her horn, "Hey, I have those too!" She pointed at her own horns and Eri nervously smiled.
Iida straightened up, "The girl from the work-study incident. A pleasure to meet you!"
Mineta waved, "Hey, I'm Mineta. Look me up in ten years."
Sasuke grabbed him by the head with a Susanoo hand and chucked him out of the building. He pointed in the direction he threw him, "Name's Sasuke. Make sure to run and ask for help if that guy tries to talk to you alone."
Kirishima strolled into the room, "Dance crew! We gotta talk! Oh hey, is that Eri?" Eri hid behind Mirio's leg and he continued, "Oh, right. You don't know me yet."
Mirio grabbed Eri's hand, "I'm gonna show her around more and bring her back later. You coming, Deku?"
"Yeah!"
The two of them left, and Kirishima said, "Well, where was I? Oh right! We need more hands for the stage crew! Can we poach someone from your group?"
Mina put a hand on her chin, "Hmmm..."
Sasuke stepped forward, "No need to poach anyone. What role did you need filled? I can just take care of it while dancing."
"We just needed someone to hold up Aoyama while he's doing the light show. Are you sure you can do that?"
"That will be easy."
Kirishima scratched the back of his head, "Oh... well, that'll take care of that then. Either way, aren't you gonna help us with planning soon?"
Sasuke turned his gaze to Mina, and she said, "Sasuke's dancing is great! He doesn't need any more practice; you guys can have him."
Kirishima replied, "Great! Now let's figure out how we're gonna implement that badass Susanoo in the show!" He put an arm around Sasuke's shoulder as they ambled out of the room. "Can you give that thing different clothes too?"
"It's possible."
They went through the halls and Kirishima mentioned, "I heard that you finally got with Mina. Way to go, man!"
"Who said that?"
"Hagakure told everyone In the group chat. You didn't see the message?"
His eyelids hung low, "I don't check it everyday… Of course she did."
He patted his back, "Ah don't be like that. Knowing Mina, everyone would have known by today anyway."
Sasuke recalled what Mina did earlier and smirked, "You're right about that."
"In any case, let's get back to talking about the show." They arrived at the discussion room, and Kirishima closed the door behind them.
The day of the festival was one day away, and Principal Nezu called Aizawa to his office, "What did you need?"
"I don't need anything. I'm just letting you know in advance that in a couple of weeks before the next work-study, UA will be welcoming some foreign students from different countries for a trip."
Aizawa blinked, "Really? UA hasn't ever had foreign students before. Why the sudden change?"
"The HPSC President has been pushing for our school to have our hero course students interact with kids from other countries. She thinks that perhaps the different perspectives may help our own students improve in their own ways."
"Alright, do you know which students will be coming?"
Nezu reached into a drawer and handed Aizawa a piece of paper, "I have the full list already. I sent out petitions for the School trip a few weeks ago, so there was plenty of time to select which students could come."
Aizawa read over the list, '3 kids from America, one from Germany, another from China, then Australia, then Pakistan, and one more from Brazil.' He analyzed their names, "Most of these students are from Japanese immigrant families," He looked up at Nezu who maintained his smile.
"Yes, for our first time dealing with foreign students, it doesn't hurt to keep things familiar. If this first trip is a success, we'll start doing one each year."
"So what can I expect to deal with when these kids come?"
"They'll get a general tour, then meet Class 1-A, and then move on to Class 1-B. During the trip, some of them will have their own teachers or parents with them."
"What if trouble happens between the kids?"
"All of these students coming have Hero licenses already, they can perform something similar to the upcoming Joint training if both parties agree. This is an experiment for future potential trips, so nothing is completely set in stone yet."
Aizawa sighed, "I get it. Is there anything else I should know?"
Nezu paused, "The number 2 American hero will be coming with his son for the trip. I doubt that interests you much, but it's good to know."
Aizawa scratched the back of his head and turned to the door, "As long as this stays private there should be no issue. I don't wanna deal with the Paparazzi coming by 'cause they heard the Yellow Flash will be here."
"Heh, no. This event will be a secret until after it's over."
"Good. I'll let my students know after the festival then."
"Thank you for your time."
The same day later at night, the white-skinned doctor read over AFO's medical records, "How I'd love to experiment on you and have that quirk...' He sighed, 'If only you weren't the most guarded man in the prison.
"Doctor Orochimaru. A new prisoner is coming in," Iruka stated.
Orochimaru grabbed a clipboard and pen, "I'm ready for him."
A white-haired man in handcuffs with glasses was guided into the doctor's office, and he looked around with a slightly glazed-over look. Iruka said, "His name is Kabuto, but he has memory loss. Just do the normal check-up and recording for now."
"Of course, Iruka. You may go." He left the room, and Orochimaru smiled, staring at Kabuto. "Did they tell you why you came here?"
"They said something about me trying to kill a hero, but I have no idea what they're talking about."
"Oh that's no good... perhaps I can help you regain your memory."
"You can do that?"
"Of course. It's part of my quirks power."
A snake peeked at Kabuto under his white sleeve. Kabuto asked, "What does your quirk do?"
"It's called Metamorphosis. Why don't I show you?" A snake left Orochimaru's sleeve and was unreasonably large for something that was supposed to be in his sleeve. Kabuto's eyes widened, and his hands shook as the anaconda-sized Snake slithered toward him.
"I don't think I AH—" The snake swallowed Kabuto whole and Orochimaru chuckled, "Don't worry, Kabuto. You'll come out better than ever."
That same night in Sasuke's bedroom, he watched clips of Itachi's heroics and felt below his left eye. He got out of his bed and walked to the window, opening it and staring at a dead tree branch. He strained his left eye, trying to imitate the feeling, but nothing happened. He let out a heavy sigh, 'Why haven't I been able to use it? If I used it against Danzo, then doesn't that mean my body should be acclimated already? What's stopping me?'
He ran through his memories and gave up, 'There aren't any immediate threats, maybe I just need more time.'
He went to sleep. And the next day, it was time for the School Festival. All of Class 1-A was dressed and ready to perform, save for one student. Sasuke pointed out, "Looks like Midoriya is running late."
Sero waved him off, Midoriya will get here. No way anyone will miss out on someone as shy as you dancing for a crowd."
Sasuke side-eyed him, "Not blabbering off all the time doesn't make me shy."
Sero whispered to Kaminari, "Was that an indirect insult?"
"I think so."
Momo asked, "Are you sure you can handle dancing and the stage crew work at the same time? It's a lot to do at once."
"I've got it covered. I've trained for this kind of thing."
Eventually, Midoriya arrived, and the show began.
Jiro sang and everyone performed their roles perfectly. Sasuke let loose, but stayed focused as he meticulously maintained his constructs while dancing. He held the string in place for Aoyama's lights how, and implemented his own Susanoo in tandem with Todoroki's ice for a flashy spectacle that the crowd went crazy over.
Once things were finally finished. Sasuke made multiple Susanoo hands to pick up all the ice with the rest of the class. General studies students' games by complimenting them on their performance. Mina giggled, "You looked cool out there, Sasuke! How'd it feel finally having so much fun?"
"It was... nice."
She put her hands on her hips, "Man, I have so many plans for stuff we're gonna do together now!"
He looked away from the ice, "Plans?"
"Of course? What kind of booooyfriend doesn't go on dates with their girlfriend?"
"Why are you saying it like that?" He lightly blushed.
She cheesed, "Cause it gets to you! I can't wait to tell my parents later! I gotta see them in person for this! Will you come too?"
"Another time."
"Awww, alright that's cool!"
Mineta yelled, "Let's hurry cleaning up this dumb ice! We'll be late for the beauty pageant!"
At night, once the School Festival finished, Mina left UA to go to her parent's house to tell them the news. Her jolly smile never left the entire time as her house was in view. The cold winter breeze brushed past her skin and sent a chill down her spine. Her smile slightly faltered as she looked around. She couldn't help but feel like eyes were watching her every move. She finally reached her parents' property and strolled up to the door, already hearing and seeing their silhouettes through a window. 'It's probably nothing... I can't wait! They'll be so excit—'
—BOOM! Mina was sent flying back, skidding against the sidewalk as the chilling wind was replaced by the scorching heat of her burning home. Her eyes widened more than she thought possible as she slowly stood up. Before she could process anything, she heard a man laughing his head off, and her neck jolted, spotting a familiar blonde man. "NOW THAT! WAS ART!!! Everything you've known is ripped away in the instance of an explosion! Payback is a bitch! Hm!" He did a spread-eagle with his arms and kept laughing.
"You..." She snapped out of her stupor and tried to run at him, "YOU BASTAAAARD!!!"
Deidara just kept laughing as he ran behind a tree where he parked a motorcycle and drove off. She tried to throw acid at him, but it missed as he turned the corner. As he got further and further away, she remained tortured by his laughing and fell to her knees. Her scowl softened as she turned back to her house. Her face contorted into anguish and she couldn't do anything about the tears falling down her face. She couldn't do anything about her parents dying. And she couldn't do anything about Deidara. On top of his laugh, it was like she could hear that old man Danzo calling out her incompetence all over again after she thought she got over it. 'He was right…' The only thing she could do was bawl her eyes out. As the fire raged on with pieces of wood still falling around her.
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