Strongest Ninja In A Hero Society

The battle progressed with a clear indication that the hulking man was slowly but surely losing as his body became riddled with wounds which seemed to grow faster as the fight progressed while Takezushi, though still injured — and not just once or twice — clearly had a less strained expression on his face.

"God damn it old man! When will you give up?!" Takezushi asked after punching the man for the umpteenth time to create some distance. Evidently, he was frustrated as the fight was taking too long to end. A quarter of an hour had already passed and there was no telling how long Aiko had been kidnapped while he was still meditating in the police station.

"I'll never give up, for I am the Symbol of Peace!" The alleged number one hero exclaimed just in time for the news helicopter, that had at some point shown up to the scene of the battle, to capture his charisma at full effect.

"Why are you fighting me, then?! All I want is to find my kidnapped mother!" Takezushi said, knowing fully well that his point would probably be dismissed again.

Against his expectation however, the man went along with his point and said, "Then why'd you attack the policemen when they could have helped your case!?"

"You're the one who assumed I attacked them! All I did was ask questions before knocking them out before they could get in my way. Aside from the one policeman who knew where my mom went, all the other policemen are just unconscious and unharmed. When the one policeman who knew where my mom had gone began answering my question his brain died without me doing anything!"

"..." Returning silence as he thought about what Takezushi said, the man ended up saying, "Ok then, if it is as you say, how about we stop this fight and let other heroes and police investigate? I can't exactly believe your words outright and the fact still remains that you used your quirk on policemen to knock them out, so you'll just have to stay with me while the investigation is in progress."

"But my mom… It'll be too late to rescue her if I keep wasting time!" Takezushi said as he started panicking again. He didn't even know where to start looking if he had to try locating her without the teleportation seals he had gifted her.

"And what exactly will you do to rescue her if I just let you run rampant right now?! As far as I can tell your Quirk is either a mind manipulating quirk, physical enhancing quirk, or a combination of the two. How will those quirks help you locate your mom? Wouldn't it be easier and faster if you had heroes and police who specialize in tracking, work together to find your mom?!" True to his claim of being the alleged number one hero, the man put up points that make him seem like an expert in the field of negotiations.

"..." Takezushi had nothing to say to the man, as his points were something he couldn't refute. Thus, after a couple seconds of engaging in a battle against himself and the impulsive thoughts plaguing his mind, Takezushi looked like he couldn't accept the words coming out of his mouth as he said, "Fine..."

He dropped his hands and returned to a neutral posture to indicate that he would stop fighting and after seeing his opponent do the same, he followed the man to an area away from the police station to let the investigation begin. The process took a while, but from his spot away from the police station, he could see that the police really were doing their best in investigating what had happened earlier.

As he was quarantined to the sidelines, the man who had fought with him and was now tasked with keeping a close eye on his actions eventually started talking to him. "So… uh, kid!"

"What?" Takezushi asked, more concerned about the state his mother might be in at the moment than anything.

"Who exactly are you? I mean, as the number one pro hero, I should at least know of you as I keep an eye out for all of the talented youngsters with powerful quirks. Yet, not only do I not know you, but your quirk as a teen appears to rival mine! It's insane just thinking about it!"

"Me? I'm Takezushi Sakuraboshi, a slave laborer stationed in North Korea. At least, that was who I was until a couple hours ago, since I escaped that life with my mother to return to our home country."

"S-sakuraboshi?!" The man didn't even flinch in response to the ridiculous backstory Takezushi gave. Instead, he seemed to be in utter disbelief by the appearance of his surname. "But that can't be… They were all killed over a dozen years ago..."

"Huh? What are you talking about, old man?" Takezushi's s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e hearing that had been trained throughout the years picked up on every word the man said even though it came out as a half a mumble.

With almost palpable pressure clouding the environment as the man grew dead-serious, he asked, "Tell me young Takezushi… Is Sakuraboshi really your surname?!"

"Yeah, it is. Now spill the beans… Who was killed and why is it so shocking for you to hear my surname?"

"Well… If it's how I think it is, then the investigation doesn't even have to end as I already know where your mother is..." The man grew somber as he spoke. He even had a trace of pity in his eyes as he looked at Takezushi.

"What?! Where is she?" Takezushi became excited as the man's words gave him hope. But as he looked at the man's eyes and registered the sadness in them, he grew nervous; another ominous looming was starting to hover over him.

"It's not a place… She's probably with a certain man; a dangerous and evil man who is just as powerful as I am, if not more so..."

"What is that suppose to mean?!" Takezushi's frustration was building as the man kept dodging the question, as if to avoid telling him directly where she was from fear or some sort of apprehension.

"Young Takezushi," the man started as he sighed, continuing, "The Sakuraboshi family used to be a world-famous Hero family, they're age lasted for fifty years and ended fifty years ago. Famed for their extremely powerful and multifarious Bloodline Quirks, they were praised and looked as idols across the globe."

"Alas, with as much attention as they received, even though their abilities were nothing to scoff at, they became a target; hated and hunted by villainous groups. Their undoing came from denying the same man I am talking to you about… He killed them all. At least that is what I originally thought, but apparently one of them survived, else you wouldn't be alive to have this conversation with me."

"How does that explain how she was kidnapped by this boogeyman you keep referring to? We've literally been on Japanese soil for less than half a day!"

"I don't know, but it is certainly possible..." The man said as he looked at Takezushi as if puzzled by something.

"How?!"

"You… You don't know the weight of your own surname. Your mother never told you? Then it's possible she too didn't know, or maybe she knew but then forgot… Anyway if for whatever reason your surname was mentioned or recorded, it is possible that "he" caught wind of it and moved to capture her as soon as possible."

"Mentioned or recorded? But we went straight to the police station after arriving here! I know for a fact that the only place… Wait! Is this man you're talking about connected to the police? I am 100% sure the only place our surname could be recorded is in the police report she filed!"

Hearing this, the man grew even more downcast, thinking, 'Damn. Could All For One really have his reach spread into the police database or god forbid, could he have fully-fledged moles in our police system?!'

However, for as much as he wanted the thought to be false, he knew that with All For One's powers and connections anything was possible; even the grim reality he was coming to form. Thus, it was with a heavy heart that he told Takezushi, "He might…"

"Well, what are we going to do?! How can I find my mom?" Takezushi asked, his nervous so tense that he seemed ready to pounce at the slightest disturbance.

"There's nothing we can do… I'm sorry to say, young Takezushi, but the man I've been talking about is someone the police and hero society of not just Japan, but the whole world, wish to capture. He is a master of concealment and has evaded the authorities for decades..."

Takezushi heard him, but his mind only registered a paraphrased transcript of what he said. It read, "We're useless to you and you can't count on us to find your mother." As a result, he regressed into a cold shell disguised as a human as he got up and began walking away as he thought of what techniques he might be able to employ to search for his mother.

Startled into action as he saw Takezushi start moving as well, the man said, "Young Takezushi! Where are you going?! This isn't what we agreed to do!" At the moment he only resorted to talking as Takezushi was walking away from the site of the incident at a regular person's speed.

"I'm going to look for my mom by myself. You said it yourself, didn't you? You've been looking for the man who kidnapped my mother for years and have yet to succeed." Takezushi said as he kept his walking pace.

"Don't do this Takezushi… You'll be classified as a villain and it won't just be me that will stop at no cost to stop you, but the entirety of the hero society!"

Returning a chuckle as a threatening pressure emanated from his body, Takezushi said, "Heh, you really think YOU can stop me? Even if by some miracle I'm outnumbered and outmatched I can just escape… What I used to fight you today barely scratches the surface of the limits of my Quirk. So I ask you, Mr. Number One Hero. Do you really want it to come to an all-out fight against ME?"

"Of course not, young Takezushi. But you must understand, it doesn't have to come to that… There's a different path you can take to search for your mom; a legal way, that will also fit with your personality..."

Stopping, as he was intrigued by what the man had to say, Takezushi turned around as if to say, "Hurry up and tell me before I change my mind."

Registering Takezushi's actions, the man smiled, throwing away the somber and negative cloud that had covered him as he discussed the man he referred to as All For One. He said, "Come, Young Takezushi… You can be a hero like me and better society as you fight villains while you search for your mom."