My Shinobi Academia: Naruto x ATLA x HxH x MHA

Chapter 18: The Spymaster's Ambitions

Haruki Noya arrived at her office in the Japanese Hero Association, the Ministry of Defense's law enforcement building in Musutafu. Despite housing the PSIA and the police force, many didn't even know of the building's existence as most of it was underground. To the average citizen, it appeared to be a teashop, one where heroes and other celebrity types tended to hang out when they were in town. Of course within this small teashop was the secret office to one of Japan's largest law enforcement buildings, complete with a transitory prison for prisoners who were about to be shipped off to Tartarus.

Noya had been happy to house the Hero Killer over the last few days and had taken great joy in extracting information from him. That is how she knew that he had no real connection to the league of villains, and viewed their leader as annoying and disorganized. From this, she deduced that the attacks on Musutafu couldn't be ascribed to the league, though she was happy to let the mainstream perspective remain prevalent until the PSIA got to the bottom of it. Maybe that way, the MoD would start seeing the PSIA and other law enforcement agencies as just an accessory to the heroes.

"Keiichi, what's the news on these child terrorists? Any chatter on the forums," she called out from her office, turning on about seven screens simultaneously to rewatch videos of the previous nights events. On the eight and largest screen, "Good Morning Japan" continued to play with its hosts inviting callers to comment and share their thoughts on the previous day's events.

A young, bespectacled man in his 30s with slick hair and a suit and tie walked into her office. "No one has claimed them yet Director, though they seemed to have made quite a splash on the fringe corners of the web. People are inspired by the league's tenacity and relentlessness, throwing at hero society one of the things it holds dear: children."

"I went through the Hero Killer's mind though. Disgusting as it may have been, I found nothing to hint at such an attack. He was adamant that the league was organized enough to get anything done," Noya pondered, looking at the fingers with which she had waded through Stain's memories.

Keiichi nodded. "Just in case you wanted to do so again, I already put him under and prepared him."

Noya smiled. Keiichi's enterprising nature was the reason why he had remained her longest serving personal assistant/partner. As eager as she was to painfully persuade the infamous hero killer to give up his suppressed memories, she expected a busy day ahead of her.

"Some of the top pro-heroes are coming to the agency today to discuss his transfer to Tartarus. They expect that the league or at least some of his many new fans to try and rescue him," Keiichi stated. "Also, the Doctor is in with one of the terrorist children, fixing his broken leg. I told him to wait for you to arrive..."

"But he never listens." The PSIA's lead scientist, Yogi Tatsuo, had always been the bane of her existence, working outside the chain of command due to his ability to command billions of research yen for his many eccentric projects. Noya only tolerated him because he was very effective at his job and a unique asset to the PSIA. "I'll deal with him later."

"He had me run background on all 16 kids in custody. We have no information about them on any system," Keiichi noted.

Noya's eyes furrowed. "You think they're foreign?"

"The Doctor confirmed that they are Japanese. At least genetically. They've just never been in any of our systems."

"So, whoever they're working for happens to have access to disposable children that have never been registered? If they're using orphans and other forgotten children, then finding the culprit could prove a challenge," Noya noted, a smirk stealing itself onto her face.

"Shall I have them prepared for interrogation?"

"Don't be a monster, Keiichi," Noya reprimanded. "They are children. We have to give them a chance first. Once we catch them in a lie, then we can take them to the chambers. Make sure they spend some time with the Doctor. He's sure to soften them up."

Keiichi nodded and Noya turned to dismiss him. As she did however, she caught sight of the panel discussion on "Good Morning Japan". Newscasters Kawai Shigeo and Shimizu Ryoko were now arguing about All-Might's effectiveness as some of the callers complained about staying up all night. Again Ryoko was adamant that it was in Hero Society's best interest that children were treated with tenderness. Shigeo on the other hand argued that they at least knew what they were getting themselves into and deserved to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

What had caught Noya's eye was the third person they had invited for their discussion. "Tsukamoto Chiyo!" she growled.

"Ah, not her!" Keiichi grumbled in agreement.

Tsukamoto Chiyo was a famous human rights lawyer who had sued several law enforcement agencies and heroes for excessive use of force amongst others. Her most pivotal case was suing the Ministry of Education for not providing protections from discrimination when it instituted the quirk assessment for kindergartners and won. She was also one of the legal minds who pioneered the separation of quirks and states, instituting laws to prevent the abuse of quirks within governmental institutions. Not that the PSIA cared.

"I think the justice system unduly penalizes child offenders. Our society's pipeline automatically condemns kids like that to a life of crime without the possibility of rehabilitation," she argued. "As much as I don't agree with the centralization of societal amenities in one man, in this case All-Might did what was right by withholding force against those children."

"So you would rather they endanger everyone else?" Shigeo asked.

"There are ways to neutralize and de-escalate situations. That's what training is for," Chiyo pointed out. "Anyway, my firm and I will be taking up those children's defense to ensure they are treated fairly."

This statement got another growl from Noya. She turned to Keiichi. "Contact Tsukauchi. Make sure that shark comes nowhere near my kids."