Mina smiled and Sasuke positioned his hand where his broken blade would be. He almost attacked but hesitated. 'No... not like him...' Something he remembered being told flashed through his mind, "You've saved people, including me, with that quirk; that's all I need to know for it to be yours!
His mouth tensed, 'Just this once...' his left eye turned purple, and his eye was divided into multiple rings and tomoe, covering even the sclera. 'I'll use that power... Amenotejikara!'
Danzo's mouth dropped as he recognized the eye. He braced to slice her throat, but in an instant, Sasuke swapped places with Mina and locked eyes with Danzo; the only thing the old man could process was Sasuke's left eye bleeding as Sasuke manifested an Amaterasu-coated sword and cut his entire torso open diagonally.
His blood sprayed everywhere and his eyes glazed over as he fell to his knees. His eyes became blurry as he stared up at Sasuke who looked down at him with a smile.
Danzo weakly tried to turn around and stand up. 'Have to... get away...' He made a few sloppy steps before collapsing on his bleeding stomach and crawling. Danzo groaned painfully, croaking words out, "I can't... die here... I made it so far in my... plan."
The phases of his plan flashed through his mind. Building his black ops, getting rid of opposition like Hawks, Nagant, and Itachi, framing Madam President for her role, getting Sasuke's quirk, and slowly gaining absolute power with a loyal army of people with multiple quirks. All were torn away in 15 minutes.
He kept crawling, leaving behind a trail of blood until Hawks' boots blocked his path. Danzo couldn't find the strength to crawl any further and rolled on his back, glaring up at him. Hawks kneeled at his side, "Japan will be in better hands now, old man. I'd say to tell Itachi I said hi, but it's not like you're going to the same place."
Danzo used all the strength he had left to glare up at Hawks. Although, he could only see his silhouette as the sun shined behind him. 'This damned brat... everything would have gone perfectly if it weren't for him! You... bastard! Damn you, Hawks!' He tried to spit at him, but all that happened was more blood poured out his mouth as he choked on it and finally stopped breathing.
Sasuke turned away, 'I've avenged you... brother...' "One down. Many more to go."
Tokoyami sweat nervously and remained silent through the whole thing, he felt the urge to scrunch a nose he didn't have from the stench of blood that surrounded him.
Hawks stood up and took a deep long breath, looking up at the sky. 'I did it...' "Heh... heheheh." 'I outsmarted him... it's not completely over yet though. I still have to reverse the two remaining things Danzo attempted.' Madam President and Nagant flashed through his mind.
Tenten rubbed the back of her head, turning away from Sasuke, 'Jeez... if he was this strong during the internship he probably wouldn't have needed help.'
Mina felt a big mix of emotions; her hands tensed anxiously as she stared at all the blood on Sasuke. When thinking of her performance during this battle, she clenched her fist. Her hair covered the sight of her eyes, and her lips swapped between a frown and a smile, 'He finally used it again!... but... but I was just...'
Edgeshot side-eyed Sasuke, who looked as if a haze of darkness surrounded him with the blood. Sasuke stared at them all before walking away.
Edgeshot thought, 'The last thing he needs is to feel isolated right now... I can reprimand him later,' he cleared his throat and crossed his arms, "Sasuke... I really thought you would have been able to go a whole month without breaking a sword this time. That's the third one!"
Sasuke stopped walking and blinked, "Oh... sorry."
Edgeshot patted his shoulder, "It's fine. Besides, I still have the best sword waiting for you at the end of this work-study."
Tenten stroked her chin, 'I wonder what a sparring match would look like between them now...'
Mina bit her lip and approached Sasuke with a big smile, "You used your quirk to save me... again... thank you, Sasuke."
He stared at the ground as his eyes returned to normal. "... Don't mention it..." He clenched his fist as he remembered AFO giving him the quirk, 'I swore I'd never use it... but—'
—A hug from Mina cut his thoughts off as he stared back at her, "Mina, I'm covered in blood."
"I don't care, try to enjoy the moment, idiot."
Sasuke sighs and returns the hug with one hand.
Tenten and Edgeshot snickered and Hawks got closer to Sasuke, "Sasuke. There's one last thing I have to give you."
Mina stopped hugging him and Sasuke asked, "Yeah?"
Hawks reached into his pocket and handed Sasuke the letter silently. Sasuke froze with wide eyes as he read the words on it. He held it with both hands and looked up at Hawks, "Where did you find this?"
"Itachi gave it to me to give to you."
Sasuke looked back down at it as a million thoughts ran through his head. "... Thank you."
Hawks slipped a hand in his pocket and smiled as he walked toward Tokoyami, "Just fulfilling my mission," he patted Tokoyami's shoulder, "How do you feel?"
"Like I'm about to pass out..." Hawks noticed how many bags were under Tokoyami's eyes and chuckled.
"You ok with me flying you this time?"
Tokoyami nodded to Hawks' surprise, and Edgeshot cleared his throat, "Before you go, could you help me do something about Danzo's body and the rest of his agents?"
Hawks rubbed the back of his head, "Oh, yeah."
Sasuke was still looking down at the note, and Mina said, "You can read that later; you need some proper care right now!"
She pointed at his stitched mid-section and Tenten approached them, "Agreed, let's get some real stitches on there."
After dealing with the people they were fighting, the bird-themed heroes said their goodbyes, and Sasuke's injuries were tended to.
Edgeshot rubbed his temples, muttering, "I'm gonna have to come up with something to tell all those people who nearly got crushed... Does insurance even cover something like this? I gotta talk to Hawks about pushing some kind of hero destruction insurance."
Later at night, Sasuke sat on his futon in his room, thinking about the day. He recalled when he used Amaterasu and tried to replicate it. He glared hard at a candle on his drawer for a long time, straining his eye, but nothing happened. He sighed and took the letter out of his pocket. He motioned to open it, but hesitated as his mouth tensed. He put it back in his pocket and tried to go to sleep.
At the same time, inside the meeting room of the board of directors for the HPSC, twelve people sat around a large metal table. An old man asked, "Has anyone seen Danzo?" His name tag read Homura.
An elderly lady with the name tag Koharu replied, "He left this morning, it's unusual that he wouldn't have contacted anyone since then.
The double doors to the room opened as Hawks walked in with a big smile and Madam President behind him. Everyone in the room reacted with either surprise or a smile beside the two elderly members. Hawks stated, "Danzo won't be coming back, he retired with Madam President as his replacement."
Homura shot up and slammed his fist on the desk, "Excuse us, Hawks, but you cannot just barge in here and spout such nonsense! The previous president should be imprisoned and I will be calling the authorities immediately!"
Hawks shoved him back in his chair and threw a folder in his face. "Proof that she was framed and didn't do anything."
He blinked a few times and went red, throwing the folder, which Hawks caught with feathers.
Koharu glared, "I can see what you're trying to do here, and it won't happen!"
She tried to reach for her phone, but Hawks drew feathers at their throats with a serious expression. "I'm still gathering evidence, but I know both of you helped Danzo with his shady activities," their eyes widened, and he continued, "But since you two are so old, I'll give you a chance. Just retire and don't make this more... difficult than it has to be."
Homura opened his mouth, but stopped himself and clenched his fist in his lap. Hawks retracted the feathers and ignored them as he started speaking with the rest of the board. Madam watched on with amusement, 'Hawks... you're not the same man you were a few months ago.'
The next day, Hawks stood with her in the refurbished office of Danzo that now belongs to her. The main difference now is more plants. As she went through the paperwork, Hawks asked, "Are you able to do anything about Nagant's sentence?"
Madam President's brow furrowed as she searched up the files on the computer, "It would be difficult. It's not as if she was framed at the time, she did outright kill the previous president."
Hawks crossed his arms, "Well, at worst, we'll just say she was framed for that then."
She side-eyed him, "You don't think she's dangerous?"
Hawks frowned, then playfully smirked. "No. She wouldn't try to kill you unless you started acting like Danzo or the previous president if that's what you're worried about."
Her expression lightened, although she tried to hide it by clearing her throat, "Right... Well, let's see what I can do. I'll appeal for a retrial."
Hawks replied, "Nice; we should get one as soon as possible, though. Otherwise, she gets executed in just four weeks."
She turned to him, "I'll prioritize it, but keep in mind I'm not officially the president again yet, and no one has ever left Tartarus alive since its creation."
Hawks waved his hand, "There's a first time for everything. Besides, I already assured her I'd get her out."
Madam President analyzed his face, 'If nothing else, he has unwavering confidence...'
She went back to work, and Hawks started strolling towards the exit. "Where are you going?"
"Homura was kind enough to share the location of Danzo's secret lab with me, so I'm gonna check it out."
"Alright."
Within a couple of hours, Hawks reached the base as the sun came close to setting. He opened the inconspicuous plain metal door and took in the environment. The room was cramped and damp, with a couple of test tubes big enough to fit people in them. Hawks peered his eyes at the water-filled vates and turned his gaze to the long counter attached to the wall with a smaller flask and some papers scattered about. All the flasks were empty, save for a single vial with a blue liquid inside. He sauntered over to it and picked it up, reading the label, 'Chidori?'
On Sasuke's third last day of his work-study, he was hammering tiles back into the roof he had destroyed previously when Mina came running by, "Saaasukeeee!"
He looked down at her from the roof and wiped the sweat off his brow, "Yeah?"
"Have you heard about the raid on the news?" She waved her phone at him.
"I don't watch the news."
"Well watch this!" She tossed her phone up at him without warning, but he caught it and looked at the screen. The woman reported about a mob boss raid that was led by the Nighteye agency in conjunction with other agencies. Sasuke placed his hammer down and listened to the report. "Midoriya's agency."
Mina shouted, "Yeah! Looks like we weren't the only ones doing something exciting!"
Sasuke tossed her phone back at her, "Good for him to get quirk drugs off the streets."
She caught her phone and raised a brow, "How'd you know about the quirk drug stuff? Thought you didn't watch the news."
"4chan."
"Yo, Sasuke."
They both turned their heads to face Tenten. "Mr. Edgeshot has a present for you, can you come to the main dojo?"
"Yeah." Sasuke hopped down from the roof, and the three of them strolled to the main dojo past the previous battlefield. If the agency wasn't temporarily closed, the common person wouldn't notice much out of the ordinary if they didn't see the destroyed gift shop.
Tenten stated, "You know you didn't have to help with the cleaning, right Mina?"
"Eh, I wanted to." She shrugged.
"Well, either way, it's been going by super fast. Looks like it'll be finished by today."
They walked up the steps of the main dojo. Sasuke said, "The quicker this is done, the more time that I can train."
Tenten rolled her eyes but didn't respond as she opened the door. Sasuke met eyes with Edgeshot who sat with a long box in front of him. Sasuke silently sat across from him, recognizing the type of box it was.
Edgeshot stated, "I'm sure you know what this is, so no reason to hide it. It's the best sword that we can offer you. The Kusanagi blade." Edgeshot slid the case open, revealing the beautifully made straight sword.
Sasuke observed it with a smirk. His eyes fell on the handle as he noticed the familiar red and white fan symbol on it. Edgeshot noticed where his eyes went, "Tenten added that as a bit of personalization since it'll be yours from now on."
Sasuke slowly reached for the blade and felt it, turning to Tenten, "It's good."
She smiled, "I made that sword with my father. It's by far my greatest work."
Mina tilted her head, "You sure you can trust Sasuke with something like that considering his history with swords?"
Sasuke closed his eyes and resisted glaring as Tenten and Edgeshot chuckled. Edgeshot replied, "To be fair to Sasuke, it wasn't his fault that the last sword broke. Besides, this sword would be unphased by that kind of attack."
Tenten followed up, "This sword edge is sharper than obsidian; you could probably slice a single cell in half with this thing! Here." Tenten unfolded a piece of paper in her pocket, "Hold it up."
Sasuke raised the blade, and Tenten ever so slowly brought the paper to the edge of the blade; once it made contact, the paper didn't crumple in the slightest; the sword cut it with no resistance like it was air.
Sasuke observed the blade and Edgeshot said, "What Tenten said is true, but you'd probably like a more direct type of test." Edgeshot walked to a familiar door and slid it open, revealing the tameshigiri spread throughout it.
They all walked up to it and Sasuke got into a stance. Tenten shuffled through her pockets, "Oo, let me time it! Last time you did 5 seconds during the internship."
Sasuke spread his feet and let purple energy surround him, as he replicated what he did during his internship with more refined movement. The blade slid through them with ease, and within a couple of seconds, they all fell at the same time. Had a normal tourist been walking by, it would have looked like they were all cut at once.
Tenten blinked a few times looking at the stopwatch, "Two seconds, almost couldn't time it this time!"
Sasuke picked up the sheathe and Mina said, "Be careful not to cut the sheathe with how sharp that thing is."
"... Right," Sasuke slowly sheathed it.
Edgeshot stared at Sasuke with his arms crossed, 'He's never been talkative... but is he speaking less than normal? Maybe I'm imagining things,' He cleared his throat, "Sasuke, what do you think about sparring?"
Sasuke was momentarily silent, then smiled, "Anytime."
Edgeshot uncrossed his arms, "How about now?"
Mina's eyes darted back and forth, "Do you guys mean like right right now?"
Sasuke answered, "Yeah. What are the rules?"
"No weapons, but quirks are allowed, excluding the really big stuff for obvious reasons."
Sasuke's smirk widened as he placed the sword by the wall, "Really? Last time you weren't gonna use your quirk."
Edgeshot cracked his neck, "Hn, you aren't the same kid from a few months ago, so I'll take you a little more seriously."
The two of them walked to the center of the room as the two girls stayed next to the wall. Without any warning, Edgeshot dashed at Sasuke with a haymaker. Sasuke blocked it and went for a gutshot, but Edgeshot blocked it with his knee. Sasuke winced in pain and Edgeshot kicked him away.
Sasuke recovered with a flip and wrapped himself in purple energy as he tried to blitz Edgeshot. Edgeshot jumped away from the incoming kick but was hit by Sasuke, extending the kick with a Susanoo-manifested foot.
Edgeshot smirked under his mask and folded his body into string. Sasuke's eyes widened, and he barely moved his head out of the way of Edgeshot's fist coming from the string. Edgeshot partially transformed to normal, trying to kick Sasuke, which was blocked by a Ribcage.
Sasuke went to grab Edgeshot, but he got out of his grasp in the form of string and punched Sasuke through the gap in the ribcage.
Sweat started to form on Sasuke's brow and he dropped the ribcage, opting for his Savitar mode as his eyes spun red in focus. Edgeshot maintained partial transformation trading blows with Sasuke as Sasuke barely reacted in turn. Dodging some and getting hit other times. Sasuke's own strikes would mostly hit the air as Edgeshot transformed around him, but eventually, Sasuke managed to grab Edgeshot's wrist and land a solid blow on his chest.
"Wooo!" Mina cheered, and Tenten's mouth hung open as Sasuke smirked and went for another blow, but Edgeshot recovered and went fully back to his normal form as he blocked Sasuke's punch, and they began another exchange of blows. They are more evenly matched, but Edgeshot has a clear advantage.
Sasuke caught Edgeshot's kick and landed his own kick on Edgeshot's head. However, Edgeshot spun around and returned the favor with a fake kick that Sasuke fell for.
Edgeshot transformed to get out of Sasuke's grip and sent him skidding across the floor. Sasuke got up quickly but Edgeshot held up a hand, "That's enough for now. You've improved exponentially, you really pack a punch now."
Sasuke relaxed and replied, "Thanks." He analyzed Edgeshot's face, noticing the beads of sweat. 'Good, but still a long way to go to put down AFO... Although, I'm sure I could kill Deidara and Sasori now, wherever they are.'
"We can spar more the next few days, but for now, why don't we eat dinner?"
The last remaining days of the work-study remained uneventful compared to everything that already happened. After their last sparring session, Sasuke walked with Edgeshot to his room one last time. Edgeshot asked, "What do you plan on doing once you go back to UA?"
"What I've already been doing."
"Nothing new at all?"
Sasuke paused, "Bakugo wanted to spar."
Edgeshot chuckled and Sasuke turned his head, "What?"
"It can't just be sparring and training all the time, you gotta do some other things."
Sasuke slipped his hands in his pockets, "I can worry about that stuff after my ambitions are achieved."
Edgeshot replied, "Well as one of the people helping you get stronger, it doesn't hurt to balance things out. I'm sure you saw it in a weird training way, but wasn't it fun doing Beat Saber with the rest of us?"
Sasuke took awhile to answer and Edgeshot sighed, then continued, "You don't have to answer that. Just... think about opening up some."
They reached his room and faced each other. Edgeshot stated, "Either way, it was a pleasure training you, hopefully next work-study my agency doesn't get used as a battlefield."
"You'll have to ask Hawks about that," he turned and opened his door, waving. "See ya, sensei."
Edgeshot waved back, "Until next time, Sasuke."
They parted ways and Sasuke gathered his things as Edgeshot's footsteps disappeared into the distance.
While gathering his things, Sasuke remembered the letter again and pulled it out. His hands shook and he took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He remembered back to the last time he saw his parents alive, "Sasuke! Get back here! Where are you going?!"
Sasuke ran down the street, "I'm not training again! I hate it, I'm done!"
His mother called out, "Wait! Sasuke! You don't have to train, just come back here!"
Sasuke didn't listen and continued running until he went to a playground. He had stayed there for a while until it was cold, and by the time he had come back... it was already too late.
All the lights were out and the door was already open. Sasuke ambled in, dreading the sight of his father angry with crossed arms, only to be met with something much much worse.
His eyes became as wide as saucers and his body shook. "M-mom? Dad?"
Sasuke noticed the blood trail at his feet that told a story as it led to his father who laid on top of his mother in a large pile of blood. Both motionless. There were pieces of bones scattered about and Sasuke's breathing became more intense than it ever had in any training session.
He wobbled over and fell on his knees in front of them and started shaking them, "Hey, wake up!" His eyes darted between both of their glazed-over eyes, and he saw a phone in his mother's hands. He grabbed his father's shoulders and tried to lift him, "Dad, DAD!" His father's body remained limp and fell to the side of his mother. Sasuke gasped and water poured from his eyes as he saw the gaping hole in both of their chests.
Sasuke's mouth fell open and he slowly backed up. He slowly hunched over and grabbed his head as he sobbed.
"They can't hear you anymore, little one," Sasuke turned his head to see a smiling All For One.
His brow scrunched together, "All.... For... One? Wh-what did you do?!" It was hard for Sasuke to speak as he choked back tears.
All For One stood in front of him, maintaining an unphased pleased expression, "You see, they could no longer uphold their promise, so they had to go. It's sad, but it was their own choice, so don't blame me," he raised a hand with a chuckle, "Unfortunately I couldn't get your mother's quirk, but I got your father's," he started stretching his hand towards Sasuke's face, "And now I'm going to take mine back."
Sasuke's tears stopped flowing and he could no longer hear anything. His hands slowly lowered, "You... killed them?" His mouth was quivering and his clenched brow quickly turned into a hateful glare, "YOU KILLED THEM!"
His eyes turned red and purple ribs blocked All For One's hand. Two arms manifested and started swinging toward All For One randomly.
All For One lost his smile and reeled his hand back, although he quickly recovered and dodged backward. His smile returned bigger than ever, "Well, this is quite the surprise! To think, you actually had a quirk the whole time! Hahaha!"
Sasuke's hands grew in size and they started destroying the walls around him, "I-I'll kill you!" He shouted in a mix of grief and anger.
All For One charged at him faster than he could see and easily broke his rib cage before reaching out towards his face, but before he could grab it he was interrupted by a large solid punch to the dome, "SMAASSHH!"
Sasuke glared, remembering the night that his ambition originated from, and his hands stopped shaking as he prepared to open the letter. 'I know for a fact now that the things AFO said about Itachi were bullshit... the rest of what he said had to be false too. All he does is lie.'
He finally opened the letter, and read it.
Sasuke, By the time you read this letter we ///////\\\\\\\\\|\|||||\|||||||\|///{|||||\||\\||\\\||| might not be able to talk to you again. All For One… what he does to people he gives quirks to is ////\\\\\\\\\|\|||||\|||||||\|///{|||||\||\\||\\\||| unspeakable. The fact that it took this long for us to finally realize how badly we've been treating you makes us so sorry. We've failed you as your parents. There are so… so so many things we have to say sorry for.
////\\\\\\\\\|\|||||\|||||||\|///{|||||\||\\||\\\||| When we discovered you were quirkless, this man came to us and offered to give you one. We were selfish… all we thought about was how it was the only way to save ourselves from our debts, and we forced our burden onto you. When your quirk awakened, we weren't even happy that you'd be able to fit in… we were happy that you could become a hero for our sakes. ////\\\\\\\\\|\|||||\|||||||\|///{|||||\||\\||\\\||| we've done nothing but overwork you for the last four years. ////\\\\\\\\\|\|||||\|||||||\|///{|||||\||\\||\\\||| When you came home that day with a friend for the first time, I was overjoyed that you were getting along with other kids, after all, you're a normal kid that wants to enjoy themselves like everyone else. But all we did was treat you like a tool, not as a child but like something that could save us from our own issues. ////\\\\\\\\\|\|||||\|||||||\|///{|||||\||\\||\\\||| If you never forgive us, then that's ok. It's our fault for never taking your feelings into account. We're so sorry for everything we've done. All me and your father have ever done is hurt you. I really really hope we can move past this and see you again. We won't force training on you anymore, we'll get you anything you want, from now on your father and I want you to enjoy your life. You don't have to make plenty of friends, but at least try to have a couple of really good ones. Live out your dreams. We're sorry for ruining your childhood.
Sasuke's stone-cold demeanor broke, and teardrops fell on the letter. 'Mom... Dad...' He sniffled, covering his face with one hand. 'I'm...sorry for ever doubting you two... you were great...'
He stayed in his room for a long time, letting it all out. Eventually, he took a deep breath and wiped his cheeks. So many things people have said flowed through his mind as he looked up at the ceiling. His parents, Edgeshot, Mina, and more. Everything they've said about saving lives, getting stronger, friendship, just hanging out eating and playing together, he took it all in. His head fell and he thought, "Thank you for... everything... I'll try to enjoy it..."
—------‐—------‐—-----------
There it is. The official end of the original arc. I'll take name suggestions for what the arc should be called if anyone has one. It went longer than I thought it would, thought I would finish it by chapter 35 originally, but I'm glad I could get so much content out of this idea I came up with this year. Sorry for taking so long too. My dog had been in terrible health and died early this week, which made it hard to write.
Danzo's presence is officially Over in the story, although his influence will remain for awhile. I gotta say, adding more Naruto characters than just Sasuke has gotta be the best thing I've done for this story. I've been thinking about Sasori And Deidara lately(omg foreshadowing?🤔) and yeah I gotta retcon that ninja storm Minato reference since he's an actual character in the story now lol.
And another thing, man I knew some of you guys found Mina annoying, but jeeez a lot of you really wanted her to die and for Sasuke to do an avenger thing.😭 I would like some Mina haters to let me know their perspectives. In regards to Sasuke though, while I do parallel some of his scenes from original Naruto, they aren't meant to be copies, I said in chapter 1 that Sasuke is like a 7 on the darkness scale compared to a normal 10. I don't feel like it would make sense for him to run away from UA. There isn't any Orochimaru figure offering more power so it would be counterproductive for him since UA training has treated him well. Don't be mistaken though, Sasuke isn't gonna become a softie, he will always be determined to kill AFO and nothing's gonna change that.
Also feedback on the Chidori tease would be nice to see if I should go through with it. I'm pondering on if it would be a good addition for Sasuke or if people think it would be too much. Either way it would be the final quirk Sasuke would get, I feel like a genjutsu quirk would be too OP.
And one last for the Mina haters, hopefully you guys will like her more after the Cultural Festival arc. She'll bloom, that's all I'll say.