Chapter 20
I'm standing in front of the number one hero. All Might. He entered the world of heroes with bravery, and there he acquired a prestige as solid and unshakeable as himself. Following his arrival on the scene, the alarming frequency with which threats appeared began to decline year by year, and so his very existence became a talking point. Through his fame and his actions, the man he was became a "symbol of peace" in his own right. This man told it to me.
"You'll become a hero."
'Whaaaaat? Senji? Are you kidding, man?'
'You should just give up'.
'You're nothing but a monster, so what pretends to put yourself on the same level as me?!'
'Either way, this kid won't have a hope in hell.'
It's been such a long time since I've heard those words, and from hero number one to boot. Nothing could be more motivating.
"You are the one worthy of inheriting my strength!"
"Huh?" I raise an eyebrow, not understanding what he's saying.
"This expression is hilarious! It's just a suggestion for now! Listen up, kid, because your real test is just beginning. It's simply a matter of whether or not you'll do everything you can to absorb my power!" All Might exclaims, spitting blood.
(Your power? What are you talking about All Might...)
"I'm talking about my Alter, kid." He explains, wiping his mouth. "You know "Friday", the weekly magazine? They classified my alter as just a super strength boost. Whenever the subject comes up in interviews or elsewhere, I avoid it with a few well-placed jokes. You know, it wouldn't do if the almighty "symbol of peace" wasn't actually a "born hero". My Alter is a power no different from a legendary torch passing from one bearer to another."
"Power you can inherit huh..."
"That's right kid and I've designated you as next on the list."
"Hmmm, It's true that the nature of your Alter is so much debated that it's considered one of the Seven Great Mysteries of the world. There's so much power today that it's hard to say what's what..."
"Are you done?" He asks impatiently. "There's still a lot I'm hiding, but it's not like me to lie!" He raises his hand and in its hollow, a bright light appears. "This is the power to transfer power, and the name of the famous power I've been entrusted with is none other than 'All for One'."
"All for... One?" (sounds like a really bad power name...)
"One man cultivates power; that man yields it to another; and again it grows, and is passed on... and so doing, a brave heart with an unyielding desire to save lives can sublimate that power!"
"Okay, I understand, but you should give it to someone else, I already have others..."
"I know, I've seen it, but I've been looking for a successor for ages and now I've finally come across someone I'd be willing to give it to without any regrets! You, even if everyone calls you a "monster" who suffered the hatred of others, you were the one who shone brighter than any of these so-called "heroes"! Anyway, the decision is yours, of course! What do you say? Haha, I'm getting sentimental!" He laughs.
(When I think he told me all that, when I think he went so far as to tell me his most precious secret... Would there be the slightest... No, there can't be, I can't think of any, and as Ddraig said, any weapon can be useful).
"Yes, please." I proclaim it loud and clear, with all the ambition that drives me.
(No reason to refuse.)
"Here's a quick answer! I'd expect nothing less from you, you scoundrel!" He said with a smile.
Then he turns to see the sun give way to the night. He approaches and holds out his phone.
"Let's exchange numbers, and I'll let you know when we can meet to discuss this in more detail."
"Ah of course." I pull out my phone too.
"Thank you, young man. Well, it's getting late, so I won't keep you any longer. Stay tuned, because I'll be in touch soon! On that note, have a good evening!" He said as he left.
"Yes, thank you too." I said, giving him one last wave.
And so I set off again, even more motivated than ever.
Wednesday, November 23, 2022.
To the astonishment of all the first years, today's classes end early, with a reunion of all those who have passed the multi-cloning test.
I enter this large room, already welcoming many students. Closely followed by Inaho, Shiria, Usui and Uruchi, we sit down in a corner of the room. I glance over to see Kurigasa and Katsuki further on. Then, after a few minutes, Yuuto Kiba enters.
"Hello Senji, glad to see you here. May I?" He asks, pointing to an empty seat near us.
"Hi Kiba, yes of course have a seat."
"So, I hear there was almost a fight broken out between you and another student?" He asks me, concerned.
"Yes indeed, but everything's fine, things have calmed down. It's always like that with him." I reply.
"Even so, this bastard's really gone too far, I can't picture him in my head." Usui adds, spitting his venom.
"So it's true? Believe me, if I'd been there, I'd have settled his account!" Shiria says to me.
"This is a story between him and Katsuki, Shiria-san, we don't have to get involved." Uruchi said coldly. "Even if he is indeed a real knucklehead, I hate that kind of self-sufficient person."
Inaho can only smile with all these comments. She and I have known him since childhood, so everything we hear is terribly true.
"Hey you there, you can move over, I want to sit over there." I turn to see a girl.
She has bright pink hair, green eyes and fair skin. She wears a red qipao dress with white circular designs, sleeveless, with a zipper and tight dark-green shorts.
I turn to see where she wants to sit. Not far from us is a guy.
He has spiky black hair with a blue tint and onyx-colored eyes. His skin is fair. His hair is parted on both sides of his face, roughly framing his cheeks. He wears a blue short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and the Uchiha clan symbol on the back, white arm warmers and white Bermuda shorts. He has blue sandals and bandages covering his calves.
"Ah Sakura you want to go sit next to Sasuke? Senji can you move over to let her through please?" Kiba asks me politely in turn, as if this Sakura isn't capable.
"Oh hello Kiba!" She said affectionately. "You heard him, so move over!" She orders me.
Without saying a word, I move over, still looking at this Sasuke. He turns his eye and notices me.
"You got a problem?" he asks me provocatively.
Once she's gone, I put myself back in my place. I sigh at the guy's provocation.
(What's wrong with them? Is it our age that does this? I hope I'm not that insufferable...)
"Oh don't worry, you're much more mature than average I'd say."
(I don't want to flatter myself, but I do feel that way...)
"Sasuke? Can I sit next to you?!" Sakura asked, and without even waiting for an answer, she sat down, practically sticking him.
After a few minutes. The door opens to let in Iruka-sensei.
"Well, congratulations to you all, if you're here, it's because you've passed your first test towards your success. From now on, your real apprenticeship as heroes and shinobi begins. Remember, the real work is just beginning! Any questions?"
"Yes Sensei! What do you mean hero and shinobi? We weren't told we'd be doing both." A student asks.
"Yes, maybe I should have started there. Kuoh has... how to put it... made some drastic decisions. As you've probably noticed on TV, disasters, attacks, and so on are only going up. That's why the school has taken the decision to prepare you for the future a little more than expected. It's a decision that's been taken quite quickly, so we'll make sure you don't have any problems with it, of course. Any other questions?"
The room is filled with worried murmurs. It's hard to blame them, but at the same time, the decision is completely justified, given the number of atrocities taking place around the world.
"No? Then I'll continue. From now on, you'll have a job that consists of carrying out certain missions assigned to you by the state. Today, we're going to divide you into teams of three. Each team will be placed under the responsibility of a higher-level shinobi. He'll be your sensei, and you'll obviously have to obey his instructions."
"Ah yes sensei I have a question!" Another student raises his hand.
"Go ahead I'm listening." Iruka-sensei lowers his notes to listen to the student.
"Are we the only ones concerned, or do our senpai already know or are going to know?"
"Your second- and third-year senpai already know. For the case of the fourth and fifth years it's already more complicated, since they're way too advanced." Iruka-sensei replied.
"Okay, thanks!" The student sits back down, satisfied with the answer.
"So I'll take it from here. In order to balance the forces, the teachers' council has already formed the teams."
"Huh?" The students get agitated.
Iruka-sensei ignores them and starts giving out name lists in groups.
"Then it's team number 7. Sakura Haruno, Senji Emiya and Sasuke Uchiha." He announced.
Sakura jumped for joy, while Sasuke and I remained unmoved.
(Of course, it had to happen to me. It's scripted, otherwise it wouldn't be possible).
Continuing to mope about my fate, Iruka-sensei continues his list.
"Well, I hope I haven't forgotten anyone. In a few days, I'll introduce you to your teachers. In the meantime, classes are over for you today, so have a good day, youngsters." Iruka-sensei concluded.
All the students stand up, and like a river, we all head for home. But on the way, I get a message from All Might.
"Hello to you young man! It seems to me that classes are over no? Then come and see me at this address! And don't forget to bring a snack!"
(Huh... why here? And how does he know when classes are over?)
"A problem Senji-sama?" Inaho-chan asks me.
"Um... yes, you could say. Someone wishes to see me, return without me." I start to walk away. "Oh, and I'll probably be home by tonight."
"Okay, see you tonight then, take care."
I give Inaho-chan one last wave and run to the address given to me by All Might.
A few minutes later, here I am. Fuyuki's deserted beach, completely abandoned because of the mountain of garbage left by the hangar near the harbour.
I make my way through all this clutter, until I come to one where the sand is finally showing, with All Might sitting next to it on a huge fridge.
"Ah there you are young man! Put your things in a corner and get ready!" He greets me from the top of his fridge.
"Okay, first of all, just one question. How do you know about my school schedule." Then I see he has my school file. "And how do you have what you have in your hands? Don't tell me..."
"Of course! By the end of this year or next year I don't really know, I'm going to be a teacher at Kuoh! Blows your mind doesn't it?!"
"Hmmm, I understand better." I reassure myself, setting my bag on its side.
"You're pretty hard to impress, young man." Said All Might disappointed in my reaction.
"Oh you surprised me earlier, I really thought you were a stalker or something, it was pretty creepy."
"But no, that's not my style!"
"Anyway, what are we doing at the beach? Dragging trash there?" I ask, kicking a can.
"Straight to the point, I like that. So listen up. Consider "One For All" as the convergence of the ultimate strength of countless men! A body too weak would not be able to withstand so much raw power! Your limbs would break off and you'd explode into a thousand pieces!"
"Ok... But how muscular do I need to be then? Like you?"
"Not necessarily! But the story doesn't end there! I found this beach yesterday on the net. It's been derelict for God knows how many years."
"Yes, all this stuff floated and tossed by ocean currents piled up here. Plus the harbor next door. And we're going to turn a blind eye to this marine dumping of garbage, albeit illegal, in order to profit from it? Given that the locals hardly ever come to walk around here..." I mumble.
"The new generation of heroes isn't just obsessed with glitter. But a hero's work should be passionate! That may be "trivial", yes! But I'm not going to let the fundamentals become corny!" With his left hand, he crushes the huge fridge, making way for the sunrise, giving magnificent colors to the sky and ocean. "And now it's your turn to start with those fundamentals."
"Cleaning all this up? It will take me months..."
"Young Senji, I know it's a bit chilly, but could you take off your top for a minute?"
"Excuse me?" I ask, ready to defend myself.
"I need to know your musculature of course! According to your medical report at school, you've got a pretty muscular body for your age, but I need to know for sure. Come on, be proud of your athletic body!"
I sigh and undress, removing only the top of course, but the cold really hits hard, especially this early in the morning.
"Hmm...Hmmm... Yes indeed it's really not bad!" He said, checking me. "Are you going to the gym? Or do you have a workout that you practice every day?"
"I have a program that I keep every day, yes."
"I really like what I hear, tell me more!"
For several minutes, we talk about training, stretching and different techniques for warming up before a workout. I imagined he was like that, but not so much. I explain to him the workout I do every morning, push-ups, chair, abdo, sheathing, and bokken training.
"Ah if everyone did the same as you, we'd live in a much healthier world. In any case, starting today, you'll be doing twice as much as you planned."
"Um..."
"No buts! If you want to receive the "One for All", you have no choice! You already have powers, so we're not really in a hurry. Although it seems to me there's a test coming up in Kuoh, isn't there?"
"Oh, really? I don't know anything about it."
"Oh shit! I didn't say anything then! Anyway, I want you to clean this beach from top to bottom! I don't want a single piece of trash left! And of course without multi-cloning, or whatever other power you have! Just your brute force! And only when you've finished will I allow you to inherit my power!"
"Oh shit, this is going to take a long time and, more importantly, it's going to cost me hours of sleep..." I take in my face the mountain of difficulty that awaits me.
"I might as well say it, it's not going to be a piece of cake. Are you a man or what?!"
"Yes, well, I already know that. That if I don't work a hundred times harder than everyone else, I won't get anywhere."
I roll up my sleeves and start cleaning the beach, starting with the biggest one, which I can move without too much difficulty.
"Drag this to the front of the beach! Load it on the truck!" And with that, All Might accompanies me, "motivating" me.
And as the day goes on and I get tired, I start to take smaller and smaller.
"Run, dammit, run! You want to be a hero or what? Move me! these! Muscles!"
At the end of the day, I return home with difficulty, not feeling a muscle in my body.
(It's going to be really hard to do this every day...)
I open the door sluggishly, and Sakura welcomes me.
"Good evening Senpai, um we have a visitor, the Hokage and a Shinobi are here."
"What the...?"
I drag my feet limply to the dining room. I slide open the door to see Grandfather Hokage and a man accompanying him.
He has spiky silver hair on his left side, dark gray eyes and a relaxed, lazy attitude. His lower and left side is covered by a mask.
"Ah hello Senji, sorry for coming unannounced, but this shinobi here wanted to meet you." Explained the Hokage.
I turn my gaze to this guy, he's observing the kitchen, where Inaho and Haruko are standing, intimidated. In truth, not everyone in the room is at ease in his presence, even Himegami, who often remains impassive.
"And as I said earlier, even if you are the leader of our state, you have no right to enter people's homes like this, even your so-called protégé's!" Fuji-nee is well wound up.
"Sorry for the inconvenience ma'am, but I'll be Senji's mentor in a short while, so I wanted to meet him first. I know it's rude to invite myrself, but as a sensei, it's necessary, you must understand since you're a sensei yourself." The shinobi finally decides to speak, approaching me.
"Not at all! This is my house, I'm allowed in whenever I want!" Fuji-nee, he wasn't necessarily talking about that...
"Pleased to meet you Senji. The Hokage master speaks very highly of you, so I'm expecting a lot. Master, I've seen what I wanted to see, we can go. See you soon, Senji." said the shinobi as he left.
"Excuse him, he's not really into politeness, and sorry for the inconvenience." He turns to the girls apologetically. "Anyway, we'll leave you to it, have a nice evening. Until next time Senji."
"Yes, goodbye."
I accompany them to the entrance as a courtesy. Once they've gone, I sit down on my cushion and slump onto the table, fed up.
"Everything all right, Senji? Ahh... sorry about that, I couldn't really convince them not to come in while you weren't here but they were the type who wouldn't listen." Fuji-nee explains what happened and I'm not at all surprised, coming from the Hokage.
"It doesn't matter, they won't have done anything. At least the Hokage, but I don't know about the shinobi."
"You look exhausted. What have you been doing all day?" Haruko asks me.
"Is this about this morning's message?" Inaho asks.
"Yes, with someone, 'we' gave ourselves the task of cleaning up the beach full of garbage."
"Seriously?" Himegami half listens.
"But it's a great initiative!" Fuji-nee seems delighted with the idea.
Seeing that dinner is still being prepared, I decide to take a well-deserved cold shower.
"Okay, I'm going to shower, I'll be right back."
"Don't take too long, it's almost ready." Warn Haruko.
'If it's to have its quiet, pleasant moments, then this training is worth all the gold in the world.'
With the cold water running through my body, feeling my muscles relax, I think about what I've done today, and what I'll have to do over the next few months. Ready to do whatever it takes to achieve my goal.
Hello everyone, thank you for reading this chapter. That's it, we're finally out of the introduction, after 20 chapters, and into the first act. For those who know, I'm going to spread out Senji's training over several chapters, but don't worry, it won't last too long. Senji's a good worker.
In any case, I'm really looking forward to writing some of the scenes I've already got in mind, it's going to be epic.
See you next week.
