Chapter 19

In the Face of Death

Izuku almost lost track of everything going on for a minute.

One moment, he's reuniting with his father. Huge mindfuck he's still processing there. Then, a shit load of villains show up at the USJ, claiming to be here to kill All Might. Great, now there's that to worry about. Thankfully, Hitoshi dealt with a big chunk of the rank and file of them. Downside is, Hitoshi's down now too, and last he saw the boy, he was unconscious as he fell through a purple portal.

Oh yeah, the portals. That smoky guy appeared out of one and mocked them politely for a moment, before dropping them all into separate holes.

Now, Izuku's hiding behind a wall in the Ruins Zone, listening to villains scrambling about in search of him and the others, and lamenting the fact that his quirk takes time to activate instead of being instant-use. If not for the time it takes to inject a bottle's solution, he would have used Jet to avoid the portals and get at least a couple other people before they fell through.

At the very least, he has a little backup. Izuku peeks to his left, spotting Mashirao and Mezo. Mashirao's sporting a few bruises already, and Mezo's got a bit of blood on one of his arms, which Izuku can't be sure of the origin of. All he knows is, he's got two of the best close combatants in class with him, and they're in the middle of an artificial disaster area with buildings crumbling in the distance as their hunters go hogwild.

It only takes a few moments for him to develop a nervous, but almost feral grin as the pieces of a plan start to fit together.

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In the mountain zone, surrounded by trees and steep cliff faces, Koji stumbles to his feet and frantically whispers for the assistance of any animal that may be waiting here. Mina groans as she sits up from a rough landing, rubbing her back. "Uuuugh if I catch that purple prick, I'm melting his face off… if he even has one."

Koji just stares at her for a moment, before his attention is drawn to a rampantly chittering squirrel. It seems the squirrel has a lot to say, bit it's quite panicked and peeking around at the slightest noise. Mina slowly approaches and kneels nearby to listen. "What's he sayin?"

Koji starts to sing, then cringes as he realizes she can't translate. After a moment to calm himself, he speaks in a raspy whisper. "S-She says there's dozens of villains on the mountain, b-but we're not far from the top. There's only a couple there, i-if we can take them by surprise, we can take the high ground."

Mina slowly grins as she thinks that over. "And from there, my acid runs downhill and makes short work of anyone left… ok, tell the squirrels and get every animal on land to evacuate. Try and get some birds to help distract the ones up top."

Koji nods and gives the order, then places his hands to the ground. "T-There's probably some moles in here, too, I-I can get them to break up their footing."

"Koji, you brilliant little cherub. Are you really to kick some ass?"

Koji's eyes narrow. "… They threatened my first real friends. They're not walking away from this."

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Shoto stands in the middle of a pillar of ice splitting the flow of a landslide as fallen trees are carried downhill around him. He knows Ochako's off to his left, in his eyes, as long as she stays out of his way, everything will go smoothly.

That plan is ruined as Ochako makes herself weightless and quickly fires a grappling hook from her right gauntlet, latching onto the ice and pulling her in to join him there. "Decent perch, and the villains seem too scared to come up here… But we do need to be ready to defend ourselves." She peeks around as she thinks it over. "…. Do you think you could make an ice formation at the back of this that can catch the trees as they come down?"

Shoto narrows his eyes as he debates doing it. "Why exactly should I do that?"

"If you give me some trees to work with and make weightless, we can use them and your ice to make a pretty solid fortress, maybe even a boat to ride down this on."

He hums and tilts his head as it sinks in. "A solid plan. Few quirks would be able to overwhelm a structure like that." He turns around and stomps on the ice, causing the formation to grow and expand outwards to create a bordered ramp that will catch some of the trees and bring them into Ochako's reach.

She grins and taps one as soon as it arrives. "They probably banked on the landslide killing us on it's own if they triggered it when we fell in here, so the villains are waiting at the top and bottom, and not much between."

"So once we ride down in this arboreal fortress, we'll shrug off most of their attacks and have a solid base to strike back from, if we don't just bypass them completely."

"Damn straight." Ochako keeps tossing him logs and positioning them to be frozen together, before the returns it's weight and focuses on another. "We'll be down this mountain and back to the plaza in no-time."

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Tsuyu splashes down into the flood zone and quickly looks around. Aquatic villains on all sides, but distant for the most part. Above, she spots Momo having made a flotation device and already risen to the top. Below and off to her right, it appears the darker water towards the bottom has given Dark Shadow the conditions they need to go wild against anyone approaching, but it's only a matter of time before Tokoyami runs out of air.

She dodges one villain with a hammerhead shark face with ease, then swims in a quick loop to turn back with enough momentum to land a stunning kick to their neck. With her nearest target disabled for a moment, she takes off towards Tokoyami.

A few villains are thrown back through the water by the sentient quirk's overpowered strikes, and Tsuyu had to duck and weave around a few bodies as they hurtle past her. For a moment, Dark Shadow rears back a claw to swing at her, but she raises her hands and halts her approach.

Dark Shadow stares for a moment, but eventually, their eyes slowly revert to their normal yellow. "Tsu…. SHIT, brother!" They quickly grab Tsu and drag her down deeper to Tokoyami, who's laying on the bottom, bleeding slightly from his head. "S-Save him, please!"

Tsu nods and grabs him with her tongue, dragging him along to the surface. Along the way, several villains start to rush them, but Dark Shadow retaliates with swift and vicious strikes, tanking some of their blows with ease. A villain with the appearance of a white-headed swamp monster causes some of the water to glow and take the shape of a sharp, vicious claw. It lashes out to strike them, but Dark Shadow rushes in to take the hit. Sadly, that proves to be the last of what Dark Shadow can handle for now, and they're thrust back into Tokoyami's body my the impact.

Just then, Tsu finally manages to breach the surface, arcing towards the deck of the ship above, but another titanic blade of water approaches from her left.

That blade is pierced by a sudden harpoon fired from the deck of the ship, and Tsu's eyes follow the steel cord trailing from it back to a harpoon gun in Momo's hands. Momo narrows her eyes as she pulls a trigger to run a powerful shock through the cord, into he harpoon, and therefore into the water blade. It's disrupted by the shock, dispersing aa the villains in the water surrounding it are tased by the discharge.

Tsu finally lands on the deck and quickly sets Tokoyami down. "Momo, hold them off, I need to give CPR!"

"I-I'll do my best." She quickly rewinds the harpoon for a reload, and throws a flash grenade down to keep them occupied.

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Eijiro growls as flames lick against his hardened skin. He can't burn in this state, not easily anyway, but the heat still gets rather intense at times. Though he's certainly handling it better than his only comrade here.

Hanta huffs and reels back as another jet of fire bursts from a building as it's roof caves in. "We gotta get the hell out of here, man!'

"I know, I know! We should head for the plaza, there's that stream from the flood zone circling it, we can cool off there and circle around towards the entrance!"

"Good plan, but what about those guys?" Hanta backs up closer to Eijiro as a few villains step out of the alley. One appears to be more of an obsidian golem than a man, one has spiky reptilian features, and another seems to have numerous holes in his arms and hands. The last one starts sucking air and flames in through several of them, preparing to fire.

But, Hanta has just enough time to notice the crumbling bricks of the wall above them. With a quick whip of two long lines of tape, he grabs the wall and tears it down on top of their heads. The obsidian villain shrugs it off after a moment, but the dust and smoke distract him just long enough for Kirishima to rush him down and deck him in the jaw with a hardened punch. Three down, who knows how many to go?

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Denki panics as he kneels beside Hitoshi's unconscious body, picking him up off the soaked ground as rain continues to pour, and hurricane force gusts nearly bowl him over. "D-Dude, what the hell do we do?! I-I'm useless here!"

Katsuki grumbles a bit as his eyes dart about for signs of any approaching villains. The unconscious forms of six of them are already scattered around the street. There's a few scorch marks scattered near them, and a few of the grenades on his belt are missing- now used. "Not useless, but definitely a liability. And I'm limited to my backup gear instead of direct explosions in this weather."

"Y-You have a lot stored up in those?"

"Yeah, I filled it up a lot this week and didn't use any of it, I should be good 'n full. But then there's the question of how many there are around here."

"W-We should get out while we can then, huh?"

"Yeah, I'd say that's pretty damn obvious." Katsuki huffs and approaches an abandoned car parked nearby. "I know this shit's a simulation, but knowing Nezu…" He pries the door open and peeks around. "No keys… Hey, you know how to hotwire this thing?"

Denki slowly develops a wide grin. "Get Shinso buckled in the back and keep watch, I'll have it running in a couple minutes!"

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Back at the entrance, Kyoka is kneeling by Thirteen as they lay sprawled across the ground with their suit atomized in the back. Some of their spine is showing the missing parts of their outfit beneath, and patches of skin are simply gone. All this damage, caused by their own quirk and the misdirection of the villain before them. All that remains now is her, Tenya, and Rikido.

Her jacks slip down and into her boots, the speakers within clicking to life. "You two heard sensei. Get that door open and get help. I'll hold them off here."

Tenya growls and grits his teeth, struggling between his orders and camaraderie. "… Very well. If it's your best chance at survival, I'll do it. Sato, are you prepared to rip the door open?"

"Easily." He pulls a sugar pack from his belt and downs it in an instant. "Jiro, hold him off for just thirty seconds."

Kurogiri huffs as his form starts to spread again. "You'll be scattered to the winds in five."

"Sit the FUCK down!" Jiro pulses her heartbeat through her speakers, and the shockwave rattles Kurogiri to his core. His misty form destabilizes, and any attempts to make a portal are shaken out of shape too quickly to form.

"W-What?...It…" He grunts. "appears I may have… an auditory weakness I was not... f-familiar with." He fights against the constant trembling of every part of his being, slowly gaining more and more control as Rikido reaches the door and starts fighting to pry it open. "B-But no matter… you're only delaying your deaths by mere moments!"

Kyoka grits her teeth and clenches her fist, as the fear of losing her classmates, and her own life, causes her pulse to spike and wash over Kurogiri in increasingly rapid waves. "I said…" her heartbeat is accompanied by an amplified projection of her desperate whisper, which them becomes a rebellious scream. "BACK THE FUCK OFF!"

Kurogiri's glowing eyes widen as the metal frame around his few organic parts is rattled too thoroughly to even maintain his thoughts, all semblances of malformed portals collapsing just as before Rikido rips the doors open and Tenya dashes through at top gear. ".. I-it… would appear we have a-a-already failed… This generation of heroes… seems m-most promising…"

Kyoka and Kurogiri nearly collapse at the same time, just as her speakers shut off. She barely props herself up on hand and knee, and Kurogiri starts to rise to his feet right away.

Sato rushes to attack him, but Kurogiri manages to warp away just a moment before impact, leaving him sprawling on the granite floor. "D-Damnit… you better bring help soon, Ida."

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Down in the middle of the plaza, Eraserhead is tearing through two-bit minions like wet tissue paper. Battling on uneven and rough terrain has never been a problem for him, but most of these villains are stumbling over the bodies of their comrades, and that's leaving them wide open. Not even a glancing blow has landed yet, and by now, watching the other side of the plaza, he can clearly see that's because Hisashi's keeping the actual threats occupied.

Hisashi ducks away from another of the Nomu's punches as he raises a massive spiked turtle shell gauntlet, blocking a glancing blow and shredding it's arm slightly. With a quick push, he forces them off, then grows a raptor-like leg with a massive claw and kicks it square in the chest. "Ya know, I gotta give it to 'em, the doc's work has gotten a lot better!" His left arm grows a large organic blade of sharpened, metallic bone. A quick thrust stabs into the Nomu's shoulder and almost takes it's arm off. The arm starts regrowing right away, and he barely ducks way from another punch, propping himself up with an enormous scaled tail. "And it's still holding back while it waits for All Might! Pretty impressive." He rolls away and extends his neck again, which bulges as he produces a dense slime, blasting it onto the Nomu and keeping it pinned for a moment. "So, how's the old man been? Last I heard, his head looked like Deadpool's ballsack!"

Tomura grows as his fingers twitch. "If sensei didn't want your quirk so badly, I'd disintegrate you here and now!"

"Hey, feel free to give it a shot!" He bears a fanged grin. "but I doubt you're as fast as this guy."

"… No… I'm not. Nomu. Stop holding back. Break this fool so we can drag him back to sensei."

The Nomu roars out and rips free of the slime instantly, blitzing Hisashi with a screech. He raises another shelled arm to defend, but the spikes are crumbles the shell cracked, and his arm beneath broken in one swift blow. He tumbles backwards and cradles his broken arm, gritting his teeth. "Fffffucking great… ok then. Agh, can't use Kaiju form with a broken limb to start. Shoulda broken it out sooner… fine then." He huffs as steam starts to rise from his mouth. "Time to turn up the heat."

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In the midst of the Downpour Zone, an old but functional Miata races down the street and drifts around corners as Denki drives like a madman. Katsuki sits in the passenger's seat with a wild grin on his face as they approach another cluster of villains. "Alright, dip into that side street, I got these guys." He plucks another section off his grenade gauntlet and primes it, tossing the grenade just as they make the turn. It goes off in the middle of the cluster of villains, scattering them with a few serious injuries, but thankfully no shrapnel. Their car disappears down another road before cutting back down another main road towards the plaza.

On that road, they find a much larger cluster of foes, and have to skid to a stop to avoid running them over and possibly getting charged with manslaughter. Bakugou huffs as he weighs his options. "It'd take a full gauntlet or no rain for me to handle a crowd like that."

Denki sighs and unbuckles himself. "Sit tight, stay in the car until the light show's over. You might need to come get me after if I short out, and do the driving from here."

Katsuki's eyes narrow for a moment, but he huffs and shrugs it off. "Fine. Good excuse to drive anyway."

Denki steps out of the car and slowly approaches the villains with his hands up. "O-Ok guys, take it easy. I'll come quietly, and you hold me hostage if you leave me and my friends unharmed, ok? One of them's unconscious in the car, a-and the other needs a minute to disarm himself."

The villains take a moment to look to each other and discuss this option.

"Nezu would probably pay out the ass to save one of his students."

"All Might too, too much of a bleeding heart to risk hurting them. Set for life, bail to a country that won't sent us back and live like kings."

"Better than that scabby kid and his boss were offering us, I say we take it."

"Alright, yeah, get the hell over here, kid."

Shinso groans as he slowly sits up. "What the fuck is he doing?..."

Katsuki grins viciously as Denki gets in range and a couple villains walk past to approach the car. "Bein' a damn hero."

"Well, how about an electronic downpayment?! INDISCRIMINATE SHOCK!"

An overwhelming electrical surge bursts from him in all directions, blinding anyone to look directly at it, and arcing into every nearby villain, the street lights which come to life then burst instantly, and random buildings nearby are lit from within as the power lines receive a surge.

When the light dims, two dozen villains are collapsed in the street, and Denki stands among them, steaming and stumbling. Katsuki prepares to get out and collect his short-circuited comrade, but stops in his tracks as Denki turns around and stares, wide-eyed but lucid. "W-Wha… what? I… I'm ok?"

Katsuki's jaw drops, but he takes a moment to look around and try to devise a reason- only to facepalm so hard he almost blasts himself in the face. "You fucking idiot- the water grounded you! You keep shorting out because you're wearing sneakers with rubber soles, you dense electric imbecile!"

Denki rapidly peeks between Katsuki and his shoes as it sinks in, and then stands on one leg to pick up his shoes and yell at them. "My Jordans fucking betrayed me!"

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"Hey Sago, ya think the kids here bit it already?"

"Eh, probably got buried in the landslide. We got the easiest gig here."

"Pay's a steal then. What are you gonna do with it?"

"Buncha hookers and cocai- What the FUCK is that?!"

"Wha-"

A troop of villains is swiftly bowled over by a plow formed at the front of a raft of ice and wood, having jumped out of the divot the landslide pours into and onto the final slopes. Villains are sent flying and few barely manage to dodge in time.

Sadly, the speed this projectile vehicle built on the way down was a tad too much, and it careers into the stream surrounding the plaza with a splash, a crash, and the groan of a young woman now laying in a heap on it's floor. "Ok… not the best idea, but… it worked, mostly."

Shoto hums as he sits upside-down against the front wall. "Maybe you should have made us weightless so we could jump out before we hit the bottom."

"Oh… right. Yeah, that probably would have been a smart move."

"… Pay me back by teaching me how to play Smash Bros. properly later."

"Deal!"

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The top of the mountain zone is a war zone with the most dangerous biological elements of nature in tandem. Dozens of birds, hawks in particular, circle overhead, some descending to pick up snakes and drop them on approaching foes, all at Koji's command. Random spots of the ground give out, dropping villains into mole pits and leaving them half buried. Some of those pits have accumulated some of Mina's acid, as she dances circles around Koji and splashes in all directions, making all attempts by villains to approach a slippery slope that's sure to burn when they fall.

The only downside is when a villain with a strong ranged quirk approaches. They raise their hands to reveal quills growing from their knuckles, which start to fire rapidly.

Koji sees it coming, and the kind soul he is, leaps in the way and raises his beefy arms to catch them. He gasps in pain as they sink into his thick skin, leaving Mina to peek back in horror. "K-Koda!"

Koji doesn't respond. Instead, he raises his head with tears in his eyes, but a defiant glare behind them over clenched teeth. "…. Dive."

Suddenly, the skylights over the quilled criminal are blacked out by the storm of hawks that descends on him from all angles. He can't get a shot off fast enough to avoid his face getting clawed up until he's blinded by his own blood. He fires randomly, but every shot misses by a wide margin, ending up hitting a few of his allies instead.

The last thing he sees once he manages to wipe away enough blood to see is Koji's fist mere inches from his face.

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Tsu's rhythm is starting to fail. She looks as cool and calm as usual, but she's losing her nerve, and her CPR is becoming less effective, quickly, as the chances of Tokoyami's survival drop by the moment. She's gotten a lot of water out of his lungs, but he's still not voluntarily breathing, and his pulse is getting weaker. "C-Come one, kero…" She gives him a few more breaths, which proves difficult with his beak.

Momo prepares a defibrillator, one of the first machines she taught herself to create for her hero career. It proves difficult to get Tokoyami's shirt up to use it, as Dark Shadow is desperately trying to shake their brother awake, compounded by repeated strikes to the side of the ship, as it slowly sinks. As Tokoyami's life continues to fade, Dark Shadow's strength wanes with it. "W-Wake up, brother… wake up!"

"Dark Shadow, y-you need to move so I can resuscitate him!" Momo does her best to push Dark Shadow away, but instead, Dark Shadow takes the paddles themselves and sets it all up in a hurry.

"WAKE UP, DAMNIT!" As they scream, their voice cracks and stutters, and becomes more feminine. With a quick thrust of the paddles and a shock of their shared heart-

Light bursts across the deck and blinds the girls for a few moments. Seconds later, a light, airy sigh is heard as someone stands in their midst. When Tsu and Momo can finally see clearly, what they find is not Tokoyami, but a stark white bird with more rounded and soft plumage, appearing more like a dove. They cough into their hand for a moment, then spit water onto the deck. "… Not the most pleasant first time in control of our body, but…." Her voice is clearly the same feminine tone Dark Shadow had taken mere seconds ago. She develops a gentle, but commanding smirk as she peers down at the villains in the water. "This should be fun…. Don't you think, brother?"

A new energy construct, white with blue edges, emerges from her. "… I do believe so… dear sister." It's none other than Tokoyami. "I do believe you'll need a new name now."

"Give me time, it'll come to me. First…" She grins as she peeks back to Tsu. "Tsu, can you prop me up for a minute? And Momo, I think… I need the strongest lights you can make."

Momo's eyes widen, but she nods and quickly forms some flashlights of incredibly high yield with the full spectrum, tossing one to the yet unnamed dove. "This should do the trick."

"Good… Tsu, keep me steady." She hops onto the railing, and Tsu's tongue lashes out to wrap around her waist and keep her in place. She then turns on the flashlight and turns it on her brother. "Not really your thing, but…"

Tokoyami starts to chuckle, as his form grows in pulses. "On… the contrary…. dear sister." He chuckles softly. "I find revelry in the dark… For it is where our foes oft lurk. But if they should come to besiege the light…" As Momo turns on the second light, his for suddenly triples in size. "Then I shall shine judgement upon them!"

The villains barely see him coming. His form stretches down to the water's level and starts darting across the battlefield low and fast, making swift and decisive strikes before they can react. With this much light feeding him, he reaches a good fifty meters before he's suddenly at his limit and stopped in his tracks, claws mere inches from another villain's face. He huffs and retreats as fast as he came, reversing along the same angular path he took. "It seems my movement are limited to the mechanics of light. The paths can be predictable, but no matter. I simply have to be too fast and indirect for them to stop me."

"Hmmm, not quite my style either, but glad to see you having fun, brother. I'm just gonna try and enjoy the experience of finally having legs."

"You do that, then. Yaoyorozu, I suggest you find a way to get us off this boat and off to dry land safely."

"There's life rafts, but they're not particularly fast. If you can defeat enough of them for us to ride one safely, we'll have a chance."

Tokoyami's glowing eyes narrow. "With pleasure."

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In the ruins zone, a large troop of villains is patrolling in search of the kids that dropped there. They all practically disappeared. Two of those kids had massive extra limbs how the hell did they just lose them?!

But from the villains' perspective, fortune shines upon them as one of the kids- the one in the lab coat- pops up to mock them. Finally, one that seems as dumb as they expect from young hero students.

It doesn't take long for most of the villains here to give chase, but this kid is shockingly fast, despite not seeming to be using any quirk for it. They chase him down for a good three blocks as he calls out and makes himself incredibly obvious.

Yeah, it seems like a trap, but what could these three students do to trap them that couldn't possibly be stopped by this many villains at once?

Well, the answer is a trap that happened to already be laid by people far more resourceful than them.

Izuku knew all too well that UA's budget and a combination of Thirteen, Nezu, and Power Loader's minds had to make this place a lot more advanced than it looked. Asking Mezo confirmed that almost instantly- he spotted countless hidden mechanisms and heard the whirring of engines and generators below all too easily. The entire Ruins Zone was mechanized to simulate various collapsing buildings without harming anyone who would be trapped under them.

The best way to do that is have containment areas that open up beneath them.

And so, Izuku races under a slanted building with a wild grin, while Mezo and Mashirao strike the building from behind and send it tumbling forward, forcing it's mechanisms into action. It starts crashing down rapidly, and Izuku leaps out from beneath it just before the floor open up to swallow the villains on his tail.

The vast majority of them are swiftly detained beneath the collapsed structure and the waiting area below, stuck in a padded room that only UA staff could retrieve them from.

The downside is the few that remain to challenge the three students who were skilled and smart enough to avoid the fall.

Now, Izuku is cut off from his classmates on one side of the building, facing down a villain with what appears to be a short-term stockpiled speedster quirk, if the building glow in his legs is anything to go by. The guy also, for some reason, doesn't have a neck.

On the other side, Mezo and Mashirao face off against a man with huge bladed tusks, wielding a pair of swords that appear to have been grown from them.

Izuku sighs shakily as he pulls a sample from his belt. "Glad sensei let me keep this one… Alright. You ready to go, pard'ner?"

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Nezu peeks up from some light reading of a quirk genetic thesis from a university in Spain as he hears a security alarm on his PC. Taking a moment to check, he finds a code yellow warning regarding a high-speed object approaching the main campus from the direction of the USJ. It only takes a clock to bring up a camera feed and see Ida Tenya approaching with tears in his eyes and his mufflers starting to glow with heat.

The shrewdest rodent in all the world opens a drawer and presses a button within. "All classes are suspended for the day. Combatant hero staff and Recovery Girl, report to the west wing exit immediately."

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A.N.: Been a while since I've done a purely action-focused chapter of this, but I think I managed it pretty well. Sorry for the delays, my life has been, uh… hectic. Babysitting a 3 year old nephew at least twice a week can be incredibly draining. But, I know exactly what I'm doing with the next chapter, so it should come along a lot faster. I'm very eager to work on it, I just need to get the next Konoha's Fatal Joke chapter done first, which is also one I've been excited for. Here's to hoping I can actually get these up faster now that I'm finding motivation to live again.