Chapter 161: Obstacles (1)
—
It had been 8 hours since Japan had been under attack, now it was nighttime.
After having dinner, Neji decided to go out after waiting until Momo and Nejire were asleep.
"Where are you going~? Don't you need sleep?" asked Kimi, who was yet to fall asleep, but was curled in the bed like a sleepy cat. "It's been more than a day, counting the time inside the other dimension, since you slept."
Neji was changing his clothes as he answered, "I drank a stamina potion, it will help me stay up for a few more hours."
He wore a simple white shirt and black pants and tidied his hair a bit.
"Don't you need Kurai?" Kimi asked, seeing him open the door. "Going out alone might be dangerous…"
"Nope. Kurai is busy monitoring our sniper. Even if she wasn't, she would only be a drawback than anything since we can't fuse right now."
He was currently strong enough to raid Shie Hassaikai's base alone. After that is done, he will finally talk with Nagant.
"Okay, take care I guess." Kimi yawned for the last time before closing her eyes and falling asleep.
Neji laughed and left the penthouse.
–
Shie Hassaikai was by far the largest Yakuza group amongst the countless others that controlled Japan's underworld. That's why they had dozens of highly protected bases all over Japan, however, it wasn't exactly impossible to find their main base.
Located in Eusha City, Villain Overhaul was spotted lurking around a seemingly normal family house, and upon further investigations, Kimi managed to confirm that this indeed was the main base of the Shie Hassaikai.
That happened a few weeks ago when network blockage wasn't a problem.
Based on what Neji remembered from canon, Overhaul wasn't the type to stay far from Eri for a prolonged time, so noticing his stay in this city for a few weeks, Neji was sure Eri was also in this base.
Rewind, the name of Eri's Quirk. It allows her to reverse a living individual's body back to a previous state, allowing her to make her target physically younger, heal injuries, and undo bodily modifications. She has even shown the ability to rewind someone's body to a point before they even existed, therefore effortlessly killing them.
Such a quirk… Neji could only fathom its abilities when it would be used along with One for All, let alone when it's awakened or evolved. Exactly that was the reason why he was so impatient to get his hands on this Quirk, enough for him to prioritise this first instead of looking for Rumi and Ryukyu.
'Besides that, as a bonus, I also get Overhaul's quirk.' Neji thought while floating a few hundred metres above an ordinary-looking family house.
That was the base, and he was prepared to go in there right away.
Putting his clothes inside his inventory (because they will only be a hassle) Neji leapt down onto the ground, falling downwards as if he was jumping into a pool, and shockingly enough, he indeed sunk into the ground like a pool, with no sound whatsoever.
⟨Permeation - Level 9⟩ Mirio Togata's former quirk. [1]
Neji activated his ⟨Level 3 — Eyes of the Lord⟩, and the magical eyes allowed him to see underground, even in his permeated form. Though it wasn't an x-ray vision so he could only see ground upon ground until he peeked into an underground room.
'Nice.'
Seeing that there indeed were underground facilities, Neji got into work and started to pop his head from one room to another, effectively avoiding the security cameras since his now EL's 'Danger Sense' counted that as a form of danger.
Using that help, Neji kept looking around.
….
A minute became ten and that became an hour. Yet, Neji found nothing.
'There is a medical bed with all sorts of fancy equipment, and it looks as if it was being used until just a few hours or so long ago.'
That was the old boss' bed. Neji recalled that much from his memory.
'Meaning this really is the main base where both Overhaul and Eri should be.' Neji thought. '...This is annoying. There is a chance Overhaul was also bought by AFO, I knew, I expected it. But I also expected Overhaul to stay in his main base instead of moving out because that's not what a Yakuza does.'
From Toga's reports, Neji could guess that AFO was buying out every big criminal organisation. He certainly had the power and fame to do so, more of fame than power since in his weakened form some villains could actually overpower him. But the fame around his identity is too refined and strong for most to even think of that possibility.
Of course, some would probably resist, but Overhaul didn't since he admired AFO's power. After all, Overhaul believed AFO was the only one who could 'clean' this society (before he gained Eri).
'Tsk.' Neji was annoyed. So much power yet he couldn't put it to use. 'Maybe I should just destroy this place. It will probably attract Overhaul.'
There was a high chance of that, but there were also problems. AFO and Hisashi would sooner or later find out about Neji's fake death, and AFO would be able to connect the dots using Kimi's connection with Neji and realise that Nine's All for One was currently being used by Neji. Once he realises that and also understands that Neji is hunting strong quirks… In short, it would be a bad idea to notify him that Neji knows about Eri and her quirk. Because in that case, AFO will try his best to keep Eri away.
'Fuck this shit.'
Doing that won't work. He needed a better plan.
'I know… Lady Nagant can help.'
A person who knew about the country's dark secrets. She should be aware of many things that Neji and Kimi aren't aware of. Neji will just have to make her find a trail to All for One's current base so that he can go there and fuck him up.
'Haah, why can't I ever have a smooth way out?'
Sighing, Neji floated out of the ground and headed back to his penthouse.
—★—
Shie Hassaikai's current young leader, Kai Chisaki, had his eyes locked on the translucent tablet on the table, showing the masked face of a man feared by many, but admired by Chisaki.
["I am proud to see you have done as I said. I thought the young leader would be arrogant, as that's the usual cliche in your circle."] Said All for One with a chuckle in all his glory. ["As I said, your god-father will be safe here, and so will your… daughter. Your job is simple, most of the other Yakuza group leaders are new so they think they're hot stuff and are refusing my offer to join forces. Take them down, or make them submit. Whatever you do, it's up to you."]
AFO has been an active force in the Underworld for a long time before he 'died' half a decade ago in a fight against All Might. That's why when he finally returned, a lot of new bosses refused to believe it was actually him, while another part didn't want to work under him again.
Chisaki was aware that these bosses were strong, or they wouldn't have been able to exist at all. That's why AFO chose him for this job because for reasons unknown, he refused to make a move by himself. That was suspicious, true, but Chisaki wasn't going to try his luck against his childhood nightmare.
"I understand." Chisaki said. "In a way, you gave me an opportunity to make Shie Hassaikai's position clear in others' eyes. I thank you for that, and you don't have to worry. I will take care of it in less than a month."
["A month is good."] came a reply from AFO. ["I will be kind of busy for a month, you see. That's why I am not moving by myself. I am glad I chose you, so don't make me regret it Chisaki. That's all for now, I hope you do a good job."]
The line was cut as Chisaki kept sitting on the couch, his face neutral as he thought if this really was okay or not.
Was it alright to follow All for One just to assume he will erase the corruption that is called Quirk from the face of the earth? Was it alright to do that after he has been torturing a little girl for years?
'...No. It doesn't matter.'
If All for One didn't live up to expectations… Chisaki will use Eri to erase that old Monster's quirk. After that, he will move along with his old plan.
Until then, let him see if the decision he made was actually worth it or not.
—★—
AFO was sitting on his chair, thinking while Kurogiri was taking off his black mask and started putting his medical cords back.
He talked with Chisaki in that mask, to hide his weakness. That's how he met with the villains of Tartarus too.
AFO liked how everything was unfolding. Everything was going according to his plans, everything was under the palm of his hand like always. He would have still preferred to not bring Hisashi into all this but that didn't matter much now. This was a good development.
Shigaraki's experiment was going to be completed in a month from now on, and when that happens, a part of his consciousness will already have taken over that body.
The true quirk All for One was actually inside Tomura Shigaraki for a while now. AFO passed down that quirk to Tomura ages ago when he first adopted the boy. That's how old of a plan this is.
Currently, AFO only had a copied version of his true quirk, while Tomura had the original.
All quirks have a portion of the user's consciousness, and by far, the quirk All for One had the strongest consciousness formed within it. That's how it will take over Tomura's body. After that happens, AFO will transfer all his current quirks onto the new Tomura's body, and therefore successfully insert his true consciousness into that body too.
That's when he will regain all the quirk he's been harvesting for 200 years that was stored within the true All for One quirk. When that happens, he will be unstoppable with Shigaraki's enhanced body which will have strength comparable to All Might.
Not only that, since that surgery will boost all his quirks' powers too, that'd mean he will finally be strong enough to steal One for All too.
'All my plans are leading me to that future. Nothing will be an obstacle after I take over Shigaraki's body.'
Not only that, he now had Overhaul and that girl, Eri. He never knew someone like that existed and he would never have either unless he called Overhaul to work under him.
'A quirk that can reverse time… Heh, that's why I am keeping that girl all safe and comfortable in my most protected base.'
He would have liked it if the girl could reverse his injured body back to its prime, unfortunately the girl wasn't so proficient at her quirk, so she might as well kill him instead.
At the same time, he can't steal that quirk now. It might only do more harm than anything to his weak body. More so, doing that now will make Overhaul turn on him, meaning a waste of free labourer.
'Then again, I plan to take his quirk too in a month from now. Overhaul is a pretty strong quirk in itself, even if I don't train it.'
All for One was slightly sad that Neji had to die, or he would have stolen that Surge quirk too. It was after all one of the most versatile quirks, too.
'Everything is moving according to plan. Just… a month, and everything will reach its perfect climax.'
AFO chuckled deeply, his body shaking in excitement as he watched his grand plan unfold before his eyes.
This way, he may even be able to pay back that bitch who went by the name 'Nawab'.
'Now that would be a sweet ending.'
He could already see her desperate expression as he ripped off her limbs one by one…
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