My Shinobi Academia: Naruto x ATLA x HxH x MHA

Chapter 20: Tsukauchi's Advise

It was almost noon and the WHA was at its busiest. Between the five attacks and Hero Society still reeling from Stain's appearance, the police and the PSIA were under a lot of pressure from the HPSC to resolve yesterday's incidents quickly and put the public's minds at ease. Yagi Toshinori, the number 1 hero, stood across the street watching plain clothes law enforcement and other heroes walk in and out of the plain looking building in the middle of Musutafu's busiest district.

Despite feeling mostly fine, he was beginning to feel the impacts of yesterday's poison coursing through him given his reduced body mass. Recovery Girl's IV drip had definitely been helpful as the remnants of the poison were coming back with a vengeance. He needed to get to Tsukauchi's antidote as quickly as possible. He smiled to himself, thinking back to the cunning of those kids. "A few more years and they would have given me a run for my money," he said as he stepped into the street, spindly and frail, much different from the tall hulking man many people knew him to be.

Tsukauchi always insisted that their meetings be held out of the WHA, given the many eyes that lingered and roamed, most precocious of which belonged to the PSIA, the HPSC's shadowy arm. However, for the cases where he needed to be in the building, Yagi Toshinori was Tsukauchi's confidential informant, the secrecy cloaking the position deflecting many curious questions. With that also came a backdoor entrance which required only an ID tap and less scrutiny, a paradoxical position, given the kind of people who went through the door.

Toshinori walked through the hollow hallways of the back entrance to a tiny four person elevator that brought him to the third floor of the WHA, where the Musutafu Police Headquarters was situated. Being one of the most prolific detectives in Musutafu, Tsukauchi had a small corner office to allow for private conversations with the many pro-heroes he was working with. The chaos on the floor allowed Toshinori to get lost in the crowd, his insecurities of his current form minimized because no one noticed him. Lost in his thought, he barely noticed when he arrived in front of Tsukauchi's closed door. Digging into his pocket for his phone, he found he was just on time, as he always was for their meetings. He had a text though, one he didn't notice because Recovery Girl enforced a silent mode on phones and he had forgotten to switch back modes.

It was from Tsukauchi. "Will come get you. With #2," it read. Number 2? All-Might's biggest rival, Endeavor! He was here? He couldn't see Toshinori in this state? He could learn All-Might's biggest secret! Which was exactly why Tsukauchi deemed it appropriate to warn him away. Toshinori turned from the door, hoping to slink back onto the busy floor, but the door behind him opened.

Blocking the frame, Endeavor, Hero Society's Number 2 Hero, stood tall at 195cm, wearing his flaming hero outfit. In his hero form, All-Might stood head-to-head with him, but now, Endeavor looked down his nose at Toshinori, his always crossed face glaring down at the scrawny man who blocked his path. Would he recognize him?

"Number 2 Hero..." Toshinori greeted. Endeavor exhaled, his hot breath washing over Toshinori. "Ah yes..." Toshinori apologized, stepping out of the way. He heard a low grunt from his rival as he walked away, not bothering to spare a single word. He didn't recognize Toshinori after all. A small smile broke on Toshinori's face as he entered the office. Maybe this was why he remained number two despite his best efforts.

Closing the door behind him, Toshinori turned to face a slightly panicked Tsukauchi.

"Didn't you get my message?"

"A bit too late, I'm afraid," he responded, waving his phone. "What did Enji want?" Toshinori asked, taking a seat across from Tsukauchi's desk as the latter walked to a small wall cabinet on the northern wall.

"He just came to give his statement concerning the deadly attack near the Shopping District. Two pro-heroes died, three are in critical condition, including two of his sidekicks who responded earlier, and there are some civilian casualties too," Tsukauchi told Toshinori whilst rummaging through his cabinet. "Endeavor is rightly angry that they got away because there were too many people who needed help. He's hellbent on bringing them to justice," Tsukauchi said, moving over some files in his cabinet. "Though I wonder in what state we'll be getting them..."

"I should have wrapped up much faster...." a dejected Toshinori posited. "The kids at the beach weren't much of a threat."

"The guys you saved certainly didn't think so. They couldn't stop singing your praises. Besides, Kamui Woods, Wash and Mountain Lady appreciated the help...." Tsukauchi grunted in frustration. "I was sure I put it in here for safekeeping!"

"What's Enji going to do?"

"Well I sent him down to the PSIA to talk to the Doctor," Tsukauchi mumbled, his head now deep in the cabinet. "At the very least, he'll have some idea what he'll be dealing with," he said. "Aha!!" Tsukauchi pulled his head out of the cabinet, a small black case in hand.

"The Doctor?" Toshinori asked.

"Yeah! Yogi Tatsuo, he's the PSIA's head of Quirk Research. Very insightful and smart," Tsukauchi replied, walking to Toshinori as he unzipped the case. "He's a heteromorph with the quirk soul stealer. No need to tell you what that does."

"Sounds dangerous," Toshinori noted.

"Yeah, but he's mostly harmless. He's really more of a lab type person. Rumors in the basement is that he can learn anything about quirks by touching you. So you probably want to stay away from him... for obvious reasons."

Toshinori swallowed. The idea that the secrets of One-For-All could be divulged to another with just a touch was not something he was keen on.