Her walk to the school was not a peaceful one, as Sakura was stopped several times by onlookers who wanted to talk to her about the Sports Festival. It seemed that this exposure had opened a flood gate like the one with the villain incident. When she made it to the classroom, she assumed that all the fussing would have ceased, but she was bombarded by her classmates the moment she stepped in.
"Is something the matter?" Sakura asked, trying to step through her classmates to her desk.
Mina came running up with her phone in hand, waving it in front of her face. "Sakura, Sakura, this is you right!"
There on the screen was the replay of her fight with the villain outside the supermarket, right where she punched him unconscious.
"Yeah….How did you manage to find that?" She asked reluctantly, wondering how she could erase that video permanently. Although Hitoshi told her once that whatever was shared on the internet would always linger and sometimes even haunt. She was beginning to grasp the concept of digital existence. It was not pleasant to lose yourself to it. Because no punching could fix it.
"Someone made a fan page for you. There are already a few hundred followers, lucky." Answered Denki, turning her attention to his phone screen, showing a webpage with a banner of cropped-out images taking from the Sports Festival and villain video of her. Sakura's face turned blue as if her disdain had wrapped its hands around her neck and started strangling.
"You've got to be kidding me cha!"
"You were so awesome!" exclaimed Eijiro, joining in. "You actually took down a villain!"
"But you aren't allowed to use your quirk in public." Pointed out Tsuyu. "You could get in a lot of trouble."
"I know that already." Sakura went to her desk to sit down and covered her face with her hands. This world really didn't suit her. Admiration wasn't the issue; it was the entirety of her situation that affected her. Keeping her up at night, as she toiled away trying to find an answer to her situation of being stranded in another world. While the world that regarded her as its property was attempting to force its doctrine on her through the social constructs designed for its quirk-filled population. She lacked subtlety for a shinobi.
"Why didn't you wait for a hero then?" asked Kyoka.
"It didn't cross my mind."
The conversation ended thereafter the bell rang and everyone scurried to their seats as Shouta entered his class greeting them, his hands now free from the restraints of the casts. While he didn't mention this to her, Sakura managed to save his eyes from permanent damage by healing him right there at the USJ without leaving any scars. Given the severity in which he had sustained that injury, it was remarkable.
'She is talented.' Shouta thought, glancing over the girl. 'If not for that disposition of hers, she'd be the perfect prospective hero.'
It didn't matter though, as long as she was here in this class Shouta knew he had time. She wasn't the only one he needed to guide. Every single one of his students he needed to tend to keep them on the right track towards becoming heroes.
"We're having a special hero informatics class today."
Class A couldn't help but wonder what this would entail, perhaps a quiz on hero law? Or maybe something else about it? But their homeroom teacher didn't leave them without answers.
"You'll be coming up with your hero names."
Worry dispersed and the classroom filled with over-excitement, just as when they had their first training class but it fell silent quickly after Shouta's sharp glare meant to erase quirks erased the noise of his students.
"This is related to the pro hero draft picks I mentioned before. The drafts begin in earnest in the second and third year, after students have gained experience and become assets to pros. That means for first-years to receive offers like you shows they are interested in your future potential. Those offers are often canceled if that interest dies down by graduation."
Similar to how genin was taken under by jounin for training. Except a jounin would give the prospective shinobi a final exam to see if they were ready for the job. For aspiring heroes, they would be closely watched to show off their potential to maintain a position as a hero's side-kick.
Aizawa then alerted them to the board, clicking a button to project the offer results to the class. For Class-A number of offers; Sakura's name appeared first with over three thousand offers, Shouto coming in second with a little over two thousand along with Katsuki; followed by Tenya, Fumikage, Denki, Momo, Eijirou, Ochaco, and Hanta. Basically, everyone who had managed to make it to the last stage of the sports festival had received offers aside from Mina, Yuga, and Izuku.
Izuku had shown a remarkable fight to everyone, but he had repeatedly damaged his body in the process and that would pose a problem for heroes who had to still look after their interns while on the job. Shouto and Katsuki had the opposite placements from the Sports Festival, but Katsuki probably put some people off with his temper.
'I don't actually have to do these right?'
"Whether or not anyone asked for you, you will all be participating in the internships. At USJ you already got to experience combat with real villains, but it will still be meaningful training for you to see pros at work firsthand." Shouta elaborated.
Sakura chided, "So we will also be participating in-hero activities, like combat and rescue?"
"No," Shouta stated firmly. "The main purpose of the internships is to give you a better insight on hero work but without a license, you aren't permitted to partake in any of the activities unless pros say otherwise. And these will usually only involve minor services that don't often garner a license."
"So this is just a job shadow." Sakura sighed. She didn't want to spend her week running after heroes and watching them from the sidelines. They were off-putting enough to her without getting to lookup close and personal. She was already toiling away her time in classes.
Sato first pumped, "That explains the hero names."
"Things are suddenly getting more fun." Exclaimed Ochaco.
"Well those names are only temporary but if you don't take them seriously…..
"You'll have hell to pay later!" The door slid open, and Nemuri entered with a sultry strut in her step. "Because a lot of hero names used by students become recognized by society, and they end up becoming professional hero names."
The reason for the r-rated hero's appearance was to assist in the process of choosing hero names as Shouta just admitted he was not well versed in that sort of thing and took the chance to take out his sleeping bag and nap away the rest of homeroom. But not before he left his students one more tip.
"When you give yourself a name, you get a more concrete image of what you want to be like in the future, and you can get closer to it. That is what they mean when they say, "Names and natures do often agree." Like "All Might" for example."
'Maybe I should've stayed home today.' When Sakura looked down at the blank piece of the board on her desk, she couldn't bring herself to think of any name that she would want to become her hero title. When Shouta brought up the future, she thought 'but I won't be here.'
Sakura's determination to leave this world had not dwindled no matter how dry the search had been thus far. That was why she didn't consider the possibility, even a sliver of the future here or that would mean she was giving up.
Her classmates started going up to present their chosen hero names. There were some odd ones in the mix, but Nemuri approved of most of them. Names were taken paying tribute to previous heroes or ones that had been kept in the back of their minds since childhood. Sakura didn't have anything like that. At least everyone here must've thought about what they would call themselves.
1Ninja didn't care about code names, they would make their names known only, and if a moniker was given, it would come from others who associated their natures and abilities with certain titles that were earned rather than chosen. Like the copy ninja Kakashi, Yellow Flash, Toad Sage, White Fang. Some time ago, Sakura imagined that she would earn herself a title as well by her peers and even her enemies, but that was barely an ember in her mind now.
All of this, the excitement and naming; it belonged to this world and she wasn't a part of it. So when it was her turn to step up in front of the class, her first name was all that she reflected to the class.
"Sakura."
Nemuri looked at the card. "You're going with your first name?"
"The image of what I want to be in the future will be who I am right now." Because Sakura; was a kunoichi of the village Konohagakure, the student of Kakashi Hatake, the apprentice of the fifth Hokage Tsunade and a member of team seven. She would not let this world take that from her.
Sakura was not alone in choosing to keep her name for her hero title, Shouto and Teyna went with their first names too. She didn't know if they had reasoning for it, but had a quip that it was likely. After everyone had been approved their names, Shouta returned to the front of the class to give more information on the internships. They were encouraged to choose heroes that focused on specific fields they would want to partake in the future. Such as rescues and accidents, or combat against villains and such categories. And they would only have two days to make that decision.
During break, everyone stayed in class to go through their offers. Sakura could only click her tongue, as the stack of paper in front of her filled with her agencies sat on her desk. She still lacked plenty of knowledge when it came to heroes, so she wouldn't be aware of many of these. And she didn't want to endure a week interning with any of them.
Tohru came up to her, "Sakura, do you know what agency you're planning to join?"
"Not really."
Tohru leaned over her desk, "You've got so many top heroes here, there's even one from the number three hero, Hawks!"
"What?" Sakura snapped up the page and scanned through, finding Hawks agency. After the Sports Festival, there were a few phone calls and text messages, but Sakura didn't bother to receive them when the messages were mostly nonsense of random questions or small talk. Such as how was her day, or if she drank coffee and if so how did she like it prepared, and what was her favorite meal and so on.
'What is he up to?'
Mina groaned, "Makes sense that Sakura would get so many offers. Do you know where you want to go?"
"Not at all."
This internship would serve no purpose to her unless she found a way to make it meaningful. Her search for information regarding teleportation quirks was coming up dry and she had looked at files at the hospital she was at, but nothing was discovered. She had asked some of the staff in casual conversation about any patients with that sort of quirk, but none had met a person with that power.
'That smoke guy….I wonder how far his quirk can stretch?' Only one person with the ability she was seeking, and he had to be a villain. Attacking his allies and almost ensuring their capture didn't give the best impression, and he had tried to kill her and their classmates, so her chances of a peaceful encounter were nonexistent. She would have to learn the exact nature of a person's quirk before she could ask them to attempt to send her back home. If she could even find someone like that.
Although she didn't want to think about it, this was something that came to mind. The quirk's power limit and whether or not it could extend to being comparable to the highest abilities used with chakra. Such as being able to manipulate space-time to the extent Kaguya was capable of. Or if there was perhaps some sort of technology that could break these laws. There was a lot of speculation about other dimensions, but no concrete evidence which already told Sakura the chances it was even possible was scarce at best.
'This intern thing is just irrelevant to me.'
Sakura left her desk with the papers sitting on top and went out for lunch.
"Did you receive any offers for these internships?" Hitoshi paused his chewing and set his chopsticks down on the tray. She nearly apologized when the smallest of smiles graced his lips.
"I've gotten a few."
"Then does that mean you'll be transferred to the hero course?"
"I've received an email from the school telling me that they're going to reevaluate my position and study course."
"That's great."
"How about you? Did you decide who you're going to intern with?"
She shook her head. "There's…a little more to go through than I expected."
"Who wouldn't want to get a hold of the top contender of the Sports Festival. You're probably going with a heavy battle-type hero right?"
If she did that, all she'd be allowed to do was watch the hero in action and if they came across a serious case she'd probably jump in and that would get her in deeper with the HPSC.
'It just doesn't seem beneficial.' Initially, she isn't even a big combat-type. Her skills were subpar before training under Tsunade and her real ability was with healing.
"I'm not sure I'm going to do the internship. I don't have any heroes in mind to work with."
Hitoshi raised his eyebrow, but he didn't give a wide reaction. "Did you hear about what happened to Ingenium in Hosu?"
"I haven't."
"Thought you might since his younger brother's in your class. Ingenium was attacked by the Hero Killer Stain and has been hospitalized."
That day at the Sports Festival Tenya had to leave early and missed the awards ceremony, but Sakura didn't hear the reason.
"I've lightly read about him. I didn't know Tenya's brother was attacked though."
That morning she wasn't looking at her classmate, so she couldn't remember him displaying any unusual behavior and she wasn't close to Tenya that she would take notice of him and see if anything was wrong.
'I probably shouldn't confront him about it.'
When she remembered how Shouto responded to her prodding this situation would have been even more intrusive because she had less relation to the matter and Tenya wasn't alone as he had close friends. So she shouldn't bother him….
'Right?'
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Once again after her return home from the hospital, Sakura received an unexpected visitor, standing gleefully at her door. Keeping her eyes firmly in front of her, she unlocked the door to her house.
"Hey! Good job at the Sports-
SLAM!
There was a pitiful tapping on the door, as Keigo called out. "That's a rude habit you know. And after I went to all the trouble to bring you dinner."
"You're not due to visit until at least next week, so leave."
"I wanted to surprise you with dinner, open up, will you? Or would you like me to serenade you until the entire neighborhood comes out? There's a scene like that in the book isn't there? Do you like cheesy pop tunes with lyrics bordering on narcissistic?"
Giving a heavy heave, Sakura unlocked the door to let the hero inside. He came carrying a bag with the scent of warm spices and sauce of something marinated.
"Did you just decide to come here on your own, don't you need the commission's permission?"
Keigo ignored her question and started unpacking the food containers on the kitchen counter. "I brought chicken and I went to the bakery to get you something sweet as congrats for winning the Sports Festival. Didn't know you could bring it that hard. I was impressed."
The hint of condescension did not go unnoticed, but Sakura knew it wasn't enough to start an argument over it with the winged hero. "Is that the only reason you're here?"
Keigo pointed to the empty seat at the counter, waiting for her to sit. When he didn't respond to the question, she took the seat, folding her arms with impatience.
"There's this restaurant I like, it makes the best kabob but this is a close second."
The filled with the noise of shuffling packets and containers for a while, until everything had been set out on the table and Hawks patted at the seat next to him to which Sakura reluctantly joined. She ate at a brisk pace, the tenderizing flavors almost soured by the hero's presence.
"I didn't know you were that fast." Keigo chided, skimming his lips across the kabob stick. "That final match was impressive. I thought Bakugou had done you in for sure until the smoke cleared."
"Yeah." Sakura knew he was waiting for her to explain eagerly how she managed that but she didn't.
"Have you decided what agency you're interning with yet? I bet you got a lot of offers."
There was a teasing in his voice that made Sakura quickly swallow the last of her food. "What do you want?"
A sly grin spread across his lips, but his eyes were hidden behind his lids. "What do you mean?"
"If you've got something to say to me, just say it."
Keigo feigned a pained sigh, "I was sure you'd mention the internships yourself since my offers gotta be the best once. I mean I am the number three hero. Unless of course, you got something from Endeavor or All Might?"
"You're just referring to ranking."
"Isn't that a definite factor of deciding? Who better to learn from than the best right?"
Without much thought, Sakura flicked a stick at Keigo, watching it fly past his head and get stuck in the wall by the counter behind him, cracking into the paint and brick.
"I haven't decided yet, but I definitely won't be joining your agency."
"Oh, a flat our rejection? Harsh."
Getting up from her seat and clearing the table, Sakura explained that her reasoning for not joining his agency was because it didn't meet her criteria. Of course, it was an excuse, he had just fallen into the category of every hero agency. After very little thought Sakura decided that she was going to just skip this part of hero studies. She didn't want to follow after heroes and use this time off from school to do more research. This was a wall she needed to climb, but time was adding bricks making it harder to reach her goal.
"Well; I hope you're actually going because if you don't the commission will get on your case."
"Did they also say they wanted me to join your agency for this internship?"
"They might have suggested." Keigo winked sheepishly. "I'm not all that interested in training the next generation of heroes but I think you might be someone who can keep up with me."
"Well you don't meet the criteria I'm after, sorry. For one I don't fly." She also found him infuriating, and made her irritable for some reason she couldn't place yet. Her gut just told her to be mindful of what she reveals to him especially. Watching him closely, his expression didn't always meet his eyes and that made her wary.
"I'd fly low so you can reach. Besides, I do rescues ranging from natural to manmade disasters and handle a variety of cases. That's the best thing about being able to fly, you've got a lot more opportunities in your reach. I think I check every box on the list. What could I be missing?"
Sakura realized that if she didn't give a convincing answer to Hawks, their conversation probably wasn't going to end until she somehow ended up interning with him. He also had the commission behind him, so if she wanted to keep her place she was going to have to convince him here. Turning away is always an option, but right now she wasn't at that point.
Yet.
"Healing."
Keigo paused, tapping his chin as if in real thought. "You got me there. I think I see where you're going, but it's not like any agencies will offer what you're looking for."
It went quiet because Sakura was already aware of this. The fact is, she wasn't a melee-type shinobi and a medic. Her fighting ability had improved and right now it looked quite professional next to her classmates who were still learning the basics, but she was primarily a healer.
'Of course, why didn't I think of this before?' There was something in this that could help her look for ways to get home. If she played the right cards but she wouldn't be sharing anymore with Keigo.
"What did you get me?" She grabbed the white bakery box on the table and opened it roughly. There was an assortment of some pastries and cakes. She grabbed one with the most cream and fruit to scarf down. "This is sweet."
"That's how I like it." Keigo shrugged, reaching for one himself even though Sakura tried to swat his hand away.
"One thing we have in common," Sakura spoke with her mouth full, uncaring of her manner or lack of. It was discrete when Keigo looked over at her this time, watching her munch away on her second pastry quickly. He saw her face light up with glee, just like a child. So she was capable of making those kinds of faces.
"What kind of information do you want me to dig up on here exactly?" Keigo asked waving the sad excuse for a profile around.
"Whatever you think is of interest Hawks. That's the reason we chose you to watch her, and because we believe she may be a good apprentice for you if she isn't deemed a threat."
"Oh? She gonna become the next me?"
"Her psyche may be suitable."
"So there's no one looking for this kid?"
"As far as we can tell, she's completely alone."
He was confident that he would be able to decipher Sakura Haruno, all for the sake of following the commission's orders. Because he knew what they were after when it came to her. They already decided her fate. Now it was just up to her to follow the breadcrumbs they were laying down for her to follow. On the path, they were deciding. There would always need to be someone. He wasn't the first, and she wouldn't be the last. This was just a matter of gaining time and trust.
"What?" Sakura asked, her cheeks full of cheesecake.
Keigo threw his head back, laughing. "You're like a squirrel."
"Cha!?"
"You want to intern under me?"
"Yes please Chiyo-san." Sakura clapped her hands together and bowed. She didn't know why she hadn't thought about this before but she heard that as Recovery Girl, Chiyo would visit different hospitals and heal patients. Sakura was hoping to use the opportunity to sift through hospital records while there. She had gone through so many from where she volunteered but there was no one of interest. Expanding her search may give her a lead.
'However slim, I can't waste this chance.' If she went with ordinary heroes, they would keep a close eye on her. She needed to do something to expand her search. What was also noted about Recovery Girl, was she already knew about All Might's conditions, telling Sakura that Chiyo may also be able to offer her information that other heroes couldn't if she approached carefully.
"Haruno, I'm sure you've received more than a fair pick of excellent heroes to intern with. Why go through the trouble of asking someone to take you on?"
"Because," Sakura looked up with a desperate feign. "Chiyo-san, I want to focus more on the healing aspect of my quirk and I know there aren't a lot of heroes that can do what you can."
"I would've thought you were more of a brawling type." Chiyo clasped her hand together, observing the pink-haired girl. This time Sakura's eyes shifted like hardened emeralds brimming with determination, the same she had shown when she requested Tsunade make her an apprentice.
"I'm want to be a medic first, that's where my true passion is. There are a lot of heroes who can handle combat and rescue people from disasters but how many can heal the injured? Please!"
Chiyo sighed, turning back to her desk. "Well, I suppose…."
"Cha!"
"She asked you to mentor her Recovery Girl?" Shouta frowned. Chiyo had just stepped into the teacher's office giving in Sakura's form since the girl decided to fill out her application right there in the nurse's office and hand it in.
"I was surprised. She wants to focus more on the medical side of heroism." That was a very unique category and right now Recovery Girl was one of the few that fell into it. Although Chiyo's quirk wouldn't allow her to participate in traditional heroic activities, Sakura would be able to become a frontline healer.
Shouta looked at the paper with an intense focus that Chiyo had to break him from it. "What's on your mind?"
"What do you think of Sakura Haruno?" Chiyo asked. "To me, she appears quite passionate about this and I know that you've been having trouble with this student."
That was an understatement. Out of all his students, she was the one standing out as the biggest problem child. Throughout his years as a teacher, he has mastered handling reckless, emotional timebombs that were teenagers. But Sakura Haruno did not behave in the same manner as her peers and that was causing him to reevaluate his initial impression of her.
"This might be better for the internships," There was no way to know how she would behave around other heroes, and Shouta was certain she didn't have the mindset to conduct herself respectfully. She wasn't his only concern, however.
There in Shouta's hands was Tenya Iida's internship form, with only one hero agency listed.
In Hosu.
'These kids are really cutting into my sleep.'