Sorry for the long hiatus. Summer was fun… but it's time to get back to writing. Sadly I can't make any promises for faster updates: I have a lot of school related activities that are about to come crashing down upon me, but I'll do my best to be a bit quicker. No hiatus is intended.

Thank you for the continued support!

If you have any feedback or criticisms, I'd love to hear them. Feel free to leave a review or to PM me. Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Meetings

A man in a plain suit stood still, watching the monitor in front of him. His once meticulously ironed black-and-white suit and tie were crumpled, and his hair was slick with grease. He and the others had been waiting for several days for any movement. For a single sighting of the most elusive prey.

For a sighting of the Hero Killer.

He had been recruited to the team for his knowledge. As an expert on Villain psychology, it was his job to analyse Stain's motives and help devise a plan to neutralise him.

Loosening his tie, he inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm himself. It was a difficult thing to wait on constant edge for several days. The first hours had been a rush of nerves; fear and excitement equally mingled together in a cocktail of feelings that was hard to describe.

That had worn off several days ago. The only thing that remained was a vague, uneasy dread and exhaustion. A fear of that which was expected and yet unknown; and a fear that perhaps all had been for nothing.

It was like waiting for a jump scare that you knew was coming, but didn't know when it would come. You could expect it, brace yourself for it, and steel your heart and mind against its coming; but when it arrived you would leap in fright. He tore his eyes away from the screen, and allowed himself a moment to rest.

They're strong. This will work. It has to work.

"We've got contact!" someone shouted.

In spite of himself, he jumped in place.

Professor Yasuda whipped his gaze back to the screen as the HPSC representative began to bark out orders. Team Alpha had sprung their ambush.

"Holy shit, he's fast. He's gotta be as fast as All Might!" one of the analysts exclaimed under his breath, his eyes widening in excitement.

The representative pressed a finger to his ear as he spoke.

"We've got contact! I repeat! Team Alpha has made contact with the Hero Killer! I want team Beta and Gamma to begin an immediate evacuation of the entire area!"

Yasuda watched with bated breath as the three Heroes struggled to combat one devil.

"Yasuda!"

Their movements were so violently quick that he could not make head nor tail of what was happening.

"Yasuda!"

Have I doomed them all?

A hand grabbed his shoulder and vigorously shook him, pulling the man away from the on-screen battle.

"Yasuda! Get a hold of yourself! I need you to try and determine his quirk!"

Nodding absentmindedly, Yasuda stumbled to the back of the unmarked van to help as best he could.

The battle ended almost as abruptly as it had begun, the Hero Killer abandoning the skirmish as a third party interfered. As it ended, the Professor felt relief and despair in equal measure.

Tobi blinked as a worn katana introduced itself to his face. Surprised, he stumbled past his attacker.

"Hey!" Tobi protested as the blade skimmed over his head.

Stain pivoted and chased after the clumsy man. His katana followed with a diagonal slash, which Tobi barely sidestepped.

"Wait!" he protested again, pulling something out from his cloak.

Snarling, the Hero Killer leapt back and hurled his last knife at the man.

Tobi's knees gave out as he fell to the ground, the knife sailing over his head and embedding into the wall behind him.

"Wait!" he cried in terror, holding his hands out. "Look! I was the one that saved you! See?"

In his hand was the same pellet from earlier. Stain halted his assault and took a good look at the stranger that had startled him.

Blind spot on his left side. Surprisingly quick. I don't recognise his attire. Quirk is unknown. Unpredictable. Dangerous.

He kept his sword between himself and the idiot.

"Who are you?" he demanded, raising it and pointing the tip at the man. The man rubbed a hand behind his head sheepishly.

"I am Tobi! The number one Shinobi! Tobi didn't mean to startle you. Sorry," he answered with a laugh.

"Why did you help me?" Stain snarled with a glare.

"Eh? Tobi wanted to talk! Can't talk if the Heroes get you," Tobi said with a small shrug as though that had explained anything.

Stain's eyes narrowed further. "What did you want to talk about?"

Tobi inclined his head as though his reasons were obvious. "To ask why you're a Villain! You kill all those Heroes. Tobi wants to know why," he leered.

When he spoke, his voice inflected as though enraptured by the Villain before him. Stain felt himself shuffle backwards slightly, not willing to be near the fool another second longer.

"I am no Villain," Stain answered with a sneer after a moment's consideration, "and those I kill are not Heroes! They are frauds. All of them! Corrupt, greedy, foolish frauds! They are not deserving of the title of Hero!"

"Eh? But the magic machine said you were a Villain…"

Stain blinked.

Magic… what?

"I don't have time for your nonsense!" he spat.

"Wait! Don't leave Tobi behind!" Tobi cried, making to grab the man by his ankle. A swipe of the katana stopped him in his tracks.

"No! Don't leave me!" he wailed, hands recoiling to avoid losing his fingertips.

"Idiot. They've probably surrounded us completely," Stain answered. Tobi wrung his hands.

"What are we going to do, senpai?!" Tobi wailed.

"Don't call me that!" Stain snapped, his hand gripping the handle of his sword so tight that it began to shake.

"Tobi's sorry!"

"Shut up! I need to think!"

"Play that back," the Professor murmured, ignoring the sweat that trailed down his forehead. He did his best to maintain a modicum of professionalism as his heart leapt from his chest.

Nobody died. That's all that matters.

"It has to be some sort of physical enhancement quirk," the man rewinding the recording said, his hands shaking as he went frame by frame through the video.

Still. I can't believe it didn't work. The plan was foolproof.

"No. Look at this."

The video was now paused on a single frame from the opening of the battle. He was suspended in the air, his katana glinting ominously in the low light of the alley. His long, grotesque appendage—one could hardly call it a tongue—had whipped out of his mouth and was caressing the edge of the blade. Two frames later, and he had drawn it back and safely tucked it back behind his jaws. The battle proceeded almost immediately afterwards; Stain narrowly and deftly sidestepped attacks as he probed his enemies for weaknesses.

Had their formation been any weaker; their trust in each other any lesser, the Hero Killer may very well have upped his count from thirteen to sixteen.

And it would have been my fault.

"Shit, you're right. Look, he licked it right after the cut," the man said, leaning back in his chair as Yasuda stroked his chin, deep in thought.

"So, what're we thinking? He's got some sort of paralysis quirk, right? Maybe it's…" he shook his hands at the screen and cringed, "tongue-related."

Physical mutations often accompanied quirks, no matter their type.

"I think it's to do with blood," Yasuda answered out loud.

The man sped skipped through the footage, humming in agreement. "I think you're right," he said with a grin. "Look at how he's attacking."

Yasuda nodded, the gears in his mind whirling as he began to put the pieces together.

"Where'd that come from?" the man operating the video asked himself. The video was paused again, and on the ground was a single pellet; so small it was scarcely visible to the camera. Several frames later it erupted into a thick plume of smoke.

"I thought Stain dropped it," Yasuda answered.

"No, no… that's not it. Look."

Going back frame-by-frame showed that the pellet came from off-screen.

Yasuda gasped, his eyes widening as he stumbled backwards slightly.

"Stain has an accomplice!"

"Live at the scene is our own Tsuda Junko. Tsuda, what can you tell us about the ongoing developments in Esuha City?"

"I can't say anything right now. So far the police have refused to mention anything, but as you can see behind me they've sectioned off this entire area of the city. As you can see the police and many Heroes are—"

"Oi. Kurogiri," a young, scratchy voice beckoned impatiently. The sound was accompanied with the incessant noise of nails tugging on dry skin.

"Yes, Tomura?"

"Turn it up."

"This is mission control. We've successfully locked down the area. Proceed with caution."

Team Alpha had picked their way carefully through the twisting alleys and dark corridors that made up Stain's cage. Akira held up a barrier around them all, and Mako layered them in an illusion aided by the darkness. They slowly swept through the entire perimeter, their guards raised as they hunted their prey. Whenever they encountered a civilian, they pointed them in the direction away from the potential danger.

On Akira's request, Teams Beta and Gamma and several anti-Villain police squads and regular policemen had locked the entire area down. The roads were now blocked, and as many civilians as possible were being evacuated.

"What do you guys think his quirk is?" Mako hissed to her teammates. Akira glared at her to be quiet, and Itoh shook her head.

"Leave that to Yasuda and the others. Our job right now is to catch the bastard, and hopefully not die in the process. Keep your guard up."

Mako nodded and turned her attention outwards. They continued their slow, dangerous crawl, their eyes scanning every dark corner. They leapt at shadows and their focus strayed to things that seemed to move but did not.

Mako felt unease build up in her stomach as she tried to keep a cool head. She jumped when a voice blared in her ear.

"This is Yasuda of the HPSC. I believe I've determined the ruleset for The Hero Killer: Stain's quirk."

Mako was thankful nobody noticed her start.

Itoh raised a brow, impressed at his fastidiousness. Her chains reacted similarly as they swayed and trembled with curiosity. "Whatcha got for us?"

"Before I begin, did any of you receive any lacerations?"

"No, none of us were cut. Came pretty close though."

"Excellent. I and the others believe his quirk to be related to blood: specifically, we think he can induce instantaneous paralysis by ingesting it. So do try not to get cut."

The man paused for a moment, allowing them to absorb the information.

"Also. We believe he has an accomplice. Analysing the feed frame-by-frame revealed that the smoke came from a pellet that the Hero Killer did not drop. It came from above."

Itoh cursed.

"You got anything on them?"

"No. Be careful. If the Hero Killer considers them a partner, they must be a very intelligent and dangerous individual indeed."

"Hmmmmmm…" Tobi hummed to himself softly, deep in thought as he flicked a booger from his gloved fingertip.

He had been pacing for quite some time, clearing a path in the thick dust that the old building was filled with. He stopped for a moment as though in consideration, then continued his pacing, muttering to himself in disappointment.

Stain left the man to his foolishness, and turned to polish his blade and the two knives he still had with him.

"Tobi's got it!" Tobi exclaimed suddenly, startling Stain, who dropped his knife. It clattered loudly on the floor. His shoulders tensed in annoyance, yet he couldn't help the small amount of cautious optimism that grew in his chest at the man's proclamation. Assuming there was a perimeter around them, the only thing he had been able to come up with was a suicide charge straight towards it.

If he's got any ideas; I'm all ears. Idiot or not.

Stain looked over to the parasite that he was now stuck with, and his hopes were shattered. In his hands, Tobi held a folded page with the kanji for 'it' written boldly on its front.

"Eh? Get it, get it?" he taunted with an audacity that Stain did not appreciate. His teeth ground down against each other as his jaw wired itself shut in his rage.

"You… you idiot!" he spat. "Unless you have a plan to get us out of this mess, you had better sit down and shut your mouth!"

"Weeeeeell…" Tobi deliberated a finger on his chin, as he tucked the sign away beneath his long robes, "I do have one idea."

"You didn't think to tell me until now?!"

"Uh, no?"

"Just… just… tell me," the Hero Killer said, his rage spent. He slumped further his spot in the corner, exhaustion seeping into his bones as he tried to ignore his growing migraine.

"Tobi knows a guy! He's very smart. He can help us!"

Stain rubbed his forehead.

This idiot has friends?

"And what can this friend of yours do? How will he help us?" he demanded.

"Easy peasy!" Tobi bragged, hands on his hips. "He can make pretend people! He can make a pretend Tobi and a pretend Stain, and the Heroes can chase them!"

"Ok," Stain said as he stood up. "We'll get your… friend to help us, and then what?"

"Then you and Tobi sneakily sneak away! But…" Tobi said, rubbing a hand behind his head awkwardly as he refused to meet Stain's eyes.

"But what?"

"Hehe… Tobi doesn't have a phone so he can't call him."

Stain sighed. "Use mine," he said as he handed Tobi a small burner phone.

"Thank you! Tobi will be right back!" Tobi said as he skipped into the room adjacent, giggling like a schoolgirl.

The Hero Killer didn't bother following the man. What he did with the phone hardly mattered now. Tobi's voice was shrill, and it echoed throughout the building.

"—kay, listen up! I'm gonna need you to—"

Besides, it would be wise to save his strength in case things went south, or so he rationalised to himself. In truth he was simply happy to be rid of Tobi for a few moments.

"—at? No! Don't be stupid! I'm in Esuha City, not… actually let me check."

Tobi's head popped around the corner. "Seeenpaai!" he whined, "are we in Esuha City or Esuna City?"

"Esuha," he replied.

"—listen! Just send two pretend people! One of Tobi, and one of the scary guy with no nose! No, not—yes, that's the one. Perfe—"

A loud crack emanated from the room opposite. Tobi came back sheepishly, his steps small and his posture slumped. In his hands he held a broken phone. It was warped and crushed like an empty can of soda.

"Sorry senpai… Tobi's friend said yes, so Tobi got excited and he broke it by accident."

Stain tried not to get too upset, and took a deep breath.

If his friend can help, it doesn't matter. It's just a phone.

"Well… it's only a matter of time before they find us," Stain reluctantly began. "But you'd better hope your friend comes through," he finished with a glare, pointing the tip of his knife at Tobi.

What's his game? No way this guy is this much of an idiot. He's up to something.

Obito grinned from behind Tobi's mask as Tobi recoiled in fright, dropping the destroyed cell phone.

Then again he might really just be stupid.

Keeping an eye on the odd man, Stain resolved to not show him his back. It was better to be safe than to be sorry.

"We'll find the Heroes and make a fuss, then what? Your… friend will make copies of us? What, are you going to drop another smoke bomb?"

"Yep!" Tobi said, his smile coming clear through his voice. He reached into his robes and pulled one out. He pinched it gingerly between his fingers. "Tobi's got lots of them!" he exclaimed, and in his excitement he fumbled the pellet. It plopped onto the floor, and it exploded, filling the room with a thick, black smoke.

"Oopsies!"

Omake—Online

The henged shadow clone that called itself Madara mindlessly browsed the internet, as he leaned back in his chair.

What a bastard. Why does he get to have all the fun?

He sighed.

At least the library is still open.

Things changed after he discovered a website that contained endless amounts of videos. All sorts of things that he had never conceived of were available. He clicked on the first video he saw.

He found himself trapped in an endless spiral of cat videos, random people doing random things, and top ten ranking videos. They played and played and played of their own accord, and he could not find it in him to stop.

The cat on his screen writhed and stretched, preparing to leap across a gap. He laughed aloud when it misjudged the distance and face planted onto the ledge before falling out of frame.

He spent several hours without even realising he could search for videos he wanted. The cat videos had just begun to grow tiresome, and his eyes meandered upwards. At the top of the screen was a small rectangle he quickly identified as a search bar. Clicking it, his fingers wavered over the keys, and after a moment's hesitation he typed his way to videos unseen.

They teach children to fight? Interesting.

He had found a tournament-style sequence of quirk based fights that had been posted just a few months ago. It had already amassed more than fifty million views. The fighters themselves were amateurish: their movements were inefficient at best, clumsy at worst; and there was a distinct lack of intent to kill. Even so, it was fascinating to see the sheer variety of quirks. On public display, no less! A boy transformed from a cowering fool into a being with talons and claws and tentacles. A girl flew high and blasted her foes with spiralling yellow blasts of energy. One boy could even phase through objects, although he finished his fight naked as he was unable to control his power. At that moment he was thankful he had kept his sharingan deactivated. He had memorised enough naked bodies by accident.

They remind me of the chūnin exams, in a way.

Curious to see what others thought, he scrolled down to the comments.

"Forget that naked guy, I'd let the blue girl blast me any day," the top comment read. He paused, his scrolling, and narrowed his eye at it. Once again he was reminded that the people here were weird.

Why would anyone want to get hit with that?

He scrolled past it and tried to forget about it.

"LOL. Man's flashed his junk on live TV," a comment written by 'ChikaetheChicken' read. It had thirty thousand thumbs-up, and it irked him.

He didn't know what 'LOL' meant, but it was likely some form of insult. Worse still, the number of thumbs-up indicated that many agreed with the insult. Clicking on replies, he scrolled down further and saw similar mocking comments.

"Lmao, what should his hero name be? The Flash?" one of the more recent replies read.

Now that was just unfair. The naked boy had tried his hardest, even if he looked like a fool at the time. Intangibility was a powerful ability, he of all people would know. Growing more and more miffed at the dismissive, mocking comments, he typed a scathing reply.

"Such jokes and commentary are unnecessary, unwarranted, and useless. Intangibility is an incredible power. Do yourself a favour and silence yourself, fool," he typed. He nodded to himself, and hit the enter key. He leaned back, and all was right in the world. No man, woman, or child could come back from such a response.

His computer bleeped a few moments later. Someone had replied.

"what are you, his alt? who even talks like that? intangibility is kind of lame anyway, tbh. id much rather have the one that lets me turn into animal parts, or literally anything else."

It seemed his words did not have the desired effect. His irritation rose, and he swore revenge on the man calling himself 'HeroHiyabarashiTheHot'. He spent the rest of the night trading petty insults with any and all that dared to disagree with his perfectly formed, rational, and—most importantly—correct opinion.

Chapter End

AsrielDreemr: Thank you!

Xedornox: No kidding, eh? Tracking everyone without using chakra… yep. That's scary.

rntobi: More lore incoming! I've gotten some mixed responses about Obito interacting with canon, although they all have the same request in common: no canon retreading. Which makes sense… Canon retreads tend to get boring, especially with MHA. So, at the very least I'll be making changes to the canon. I don't want to say anything definite one way or the other, but I'll do my best to keep it unique and interesting.

candrariski155: Sorry this one isn't as long, but I figured it would be better to get right back into things.

Polyamory: Thank you for your kind words! Truth be told I have considered updating the summary, but I think I'll leave it for now. Maybe when I finish I will give it an update…?

LegendaryMob: To answer your question… he's being a bit too cautious. If you're reading this you'll know what I mean.

Zekken182: Thanks!

Genocide54: That story received a lot of feedback really quickly, which was really awesome! It's a proper story now, so go check it out if you like.

The Shinobi Joshwa: After an admittedly long break, I'm back. Hope you enjoy it!

TheWaterKid: Continued!

holandia1103: Aww, you're making me blush. Thanks!

Khuphela Sancturil: ¡Gracias por sus amables palabras!

Update for "When Shinobi Lose Their Way" will be next, hopefully before the month's end.