Chapter 31 - Kakuzu

"So you want us to make sure one of your underlings doesn't die? He doesn't sound very useful if he needs someone to babysit him." A deep and unamused voice asked.

"That is correct. I have big plans for him and I wish to see them through." All For One replied.

"How long do we have to protect him? We have our own business to attend to you know, I found an interesting individual that I've been meaning to turn into a puppet." A youthful and impatient voice chimed in.

"Protect him until he is able to protect himself, so join the league and help him grow. That is my request, do you accept?"

"If this kid is just some annoying brat that overestimates himself then I want you to to go fuċk yourself. I hate dealing with people like that, and I can practically smell the arrogance that surrounds you. If you keep on pissing me off then I'll break the damn screen your hiding behind." An annoyed voice said without any hesitation.

"Don't fuċk this up for me Deidara! But if this kid really is a annoying brat then I want you to triple my pay." The deep voice returned and yelled at his ally.

"Done, just keep the boy safe and you can do whatever you want. You will help him out later tonight, so go get some rest. I look forward to working with the three of you."

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"How annoying." Yahiko said to himself as he prepared the deva path.

The trip to the hospital was bothersome, when he and Aizawa arrived some people thought that he was a villain. It was incredibly hard to convince them otherwise since he was covered in blood. He was eventually let into the building and helped Aizawa walk towards the receptionist. They had to explain to the hospital staff that they were heros and had just gotten out of a fight with some villains.

The nurses took Aizawa away so they could treat him while Yahiko took this as a chance to leave. Thankfully he left before the dog headed police chief arrived, he didn't want to deal with him right now. The Hosu incident was coming up but he didn't know when, so he had Mummy and the deva path patrol the city. Chimera was close to the league of villains hideout and would call them if he senses that Tomura left without leaving the building. Tomura liked to hole himself in his hideout while he waits for his master to send him more Nomu.

Yahiko did all of this for one reason, to recruit Stain. Stain is quite skilled and has great swordsmanship, he could help out Himiko with ȧssassinations. His quirk isn't very strong but his kill count says otherwise, besides, Yahiko has a good offer for him. Not only would Stain be able to rid the city of fake heros, he will also get paid for it. Many lowlifes have it out for many heros and are willing to pay large amounts of money to have them removed, a win-win situation for Stain.

But if Stain doesn't want to join the Akatsuki, then he will be killed immediately. Yahiko will use his corpse to make another path, and while he's at it he will kill Tomura before he escapes and make use of his body as well. But Yahiko hopes that Stain will join him, having the hero killer willingly join him would bring him a weird sense of satisfaction. He liked his character and thought that it would be a shame to kill him, but he won't hesitate to do so.

Now Yahiko is in his room while Tendo and Shuradõ are downstairs with Mummy, both are ready to head out. He would like to go himself but it would be bad to let the enemy know that you're not who you say you are. He doesn't need the league to figure out that he's friends with a feared mercenary group.

Yahiko's phone suddenly rang, it was Chimera.

[They're on the move, I'll head over to Hosu immediately. But quick question, how did you know that this would happen? If it happens, that is.] Chimera asked expectantly.

"Would you believe me if I say that I am omniscient?"

[Are you?]

"Not exactly."

[What do you mean by that?]

"I'll see you at Hosu, watch out for the Nomu."

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"So you're going to wreak havoc here? As long as you stay out of my way then we wont have any problems." A cold and malicious voice reached Tomura's ears.

He wasn't even going to wait for him to respond before he prepared to jump off the building, but something incredibly fast caught his eye.

A minivan wrapped in red bandages hurled itself at them, it collided with the building and forced them to jump away to safety. They were on the street now, face to face with the one that attacked them. His face was covered by a white bird mask and his body was covered by a dark blue cloak but they knew that he was a male by his build. They somehow didn't realize that he was there until he attacked which unnerved them slightly, but at least they had him outnumbered.

The nearby civilians curiously checked what the commotion was about, only to quickly retreat as they saw a lone man face off with three bird like creatures and three other people that were obviously villains.

"Who the hell are you?" Stain asked as he prepared to throw some knives at him while his guard is down.

The masked man didn't answer and used his bandages to wrap around a stop sign and mummified it. It looked like it grew some limbs and a eye but Tomura ordered his Nomu to attack as he tried to escape with Kurogiri.

'Universal Pull'

The fox masked Tendo didn't let him and pulled him away from Kurogiri who desperately tried to make a portal and save Tomura. He made a receiver and was going to stab Tomura as he flew towards him but the flying Nomu dived at him and attempted to kick him away, but it was stabbed in the leg instead. The Nomu screeched loudly before backing off, it was a two vs five battle since Kurogiri was a noncombatant. Another black receiver came out of nowhere and struck the four eyed Nomu in the back, the receiver was long enough to impale it. The four eyed Nomu was pinned to the ground, it flailed all of its limbs in a pathetic attempt to free itself.

"I don't care who any of you are, but I know that you're somehow related to the brat with the piercings based on the black things you use to attack. They're the exact same weapons he used, but you're not him. But it's surprising, how many people can make these things?" Tomura muttered aloud.

Shuradõ charged towards Kurogiri in a attempt to dispatch of him first but the muscular Nomu got in his way. They attacked each other relentlessly until Shuradõ caught the Nomu's fists and kicked the Nomu in the stomach, forcing it to bend forward slightly. Shuradõ let go of one of its hands and grabbed it by the skull. The Nomu grabbed Shuradõ's arm and squeezed it tightly as it tried to crush his arm. Its squeezing got weaker and weaker since it was already dead the second Shuradõ grabbed its head.

Stain went after Mummy and expertly dodged all of the mummified objects that Mummy threw at him. He wasn't getting anywhere since Mummy kept Stain at bay, which frustrated Stain greatly. While that was happening, Tendo was beating the shit out of Tomura. He knocked Tomura down with a swift kick to the face and mounted him, he sent punch after punch towards Tomura's face. Tomura brought his arms up to his face in a desperate attempt to protect himself.

'If I capture Tomura then I will be able to interrogate him with the naraka path and find out where All For One is. I'll be able to attack him when he least expects it and take his corpse for myself.'

Tendo repeatedly slammed his fists down into Tomura's face, he brought more force down with each strike. Tomura spit out some teeth and blood as he tried to grab Tendo's face, but Tendo grabbed Tomura's wrist and yanked it with surprising ferocity, successfully ripping it off.

Kurogiri heard Tomura's cries of pain and made a portal underneath the both of them. He sent them high into the air and let them freefall, the flying Nomu went after them.

The four eyed Nomu finally freed itself and lunged towards Shuradõ, but something crashed down on top of it. Another masked figure appeared and stopped on the Nomu's exposed brain, killing it instantly. Chimera charged towards Kurogiri and thrusted his clawed hand forward, but Kurogiri made a small portal and redirected his fist back at him.

Stain realized that things weren't looking good for him so he he tried to escape after throwing a few knives. Mummy blocked his path with some mummified objects and Shuradõ went after him.

"What do you want from me? Are you trying to avenge all of the heroes I killed?" Stain asked them with a mocking tone.

"No, we want you to join us." Shuradõ stopped suddenly and answered his question, which surprised Stain slightly.

"Join you? No way in hell, especially after you attacked me. It's bad enough that I have to deal with the creepy blue haired kid, but you guys will only be a hindrance to me. I will kill all fake heroes, and the only one that is allowed to kill me is All Might." Stain replied angrily.

"If you join our group, bot only will you be able to kill fake heroes, you will be paid for it. We will also help protect you from heroes if the need arises." Shuradõ tried to convince him.

"Do you think I'm some sort of kid? I don't need your protection, and fuċk the money. Fake heroes don't care about the people, all they care about is fame and fortune. It makes me sick to my stomach."

"This is your last chance, join us or else."

"I'm not scared of you, I'll- Stain couldn't finish speaking, Shuradõ suddenly grabbed his throat faster then he could react. Shuradõ then slammed Stain's body to the ground and stabbed his head with a receiver.

"What a shame." Shuradõ said to himself as he looked up, he stared at the three objects falling from the sky.

One of them was the flying Nomu, it had multiple black receivers lodged onto its exposed brain. The other one was a bloodied Tomura, it was hard to tell if he was still alive or not, and right above him was Tendo, who looked completely fine. Tendo grabbed Tomura's shirt and slowed his descent with 'Almighty Push' while Kurogiri was restrained by Chimera.

The four of them had gathered in a single place and tied up Tomura so he couldn't grab anyone. They were going to bring Kurogiri over to Nine but something interrupted them.

"Where do you think you're going?" A deep voice asked.

"So you two can use chakra just like me, how many people can use it anyway? Whatever, it doesn't concern me. You'll be dead soon anyway." He spoke nonchalantly but they couldn't tell if he was relaxed or not due to the black face mask he wore.

He was quite tall, standing at about six feet in height. He had a tan skin tone and dark brown hair. He wore dark green pants and his shirtless upper body looked like it was stitched together. He had four masks stitched into his back, each one was different from the other.

'Kakuzu?' This is the only thought that ran through Yahiko's head as he stared at Kakuzu through the eyes of his paths.

Tendo snapped out of it and threw a receiver at Kakuzu, who merely dodged it and charged at them. His left arm started to lengthen as several steel-like threads tried to entangle the four of them. Chimera and Mummy jumped back to make some distance while Shuradõ jumped into the air and slammed his foot down on Kakuzu but his attack was blocked by several more threads that came out of Kakuzu's body.

Tendo tried to grab onto Tomura but he was gone, all that was left was a black foul smelling puddle of sludge. Kurogiri was also gone, he had teleported himself away when they distanced themselves frim Kakuzu. Now Kakuzu was had the same black sludge coming out of his mask, it quickly enveloped him and he was gone.

Chimera and Mummy were shocked, and so was Yahiko. He wasn't expecting Kakuzu of all people to come over and rescue Tomura. Not to mention the fact that All For One could have been watching them fight the entire time. They couldn't recruit Stain, capture Tomura, or steal Kurogiri's quirk. It was a humiliating defeat in Yahiko's eyes.

'If only I had gone instead...' Yahiko thought in frustration before he focused on Stain's corpse.

Tendo grabbed Stain's lifeless body, that was all he could do. Yahiko used the animal path to summon them back to the apartment.

'Time to make the naraka path.'