Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 279 POPULAR

I made it through the School Festival without killing anyone. The class decided on throwing a concert. Somehow a few of them learned instruments well enough to play. Most, having never picked up the instrument before, they thought it was better to practice night and day rather than training their bodies…then again I spent most of my free time sleeping around, but at least I still trained a lot. 

They tried to talk me into being one of the many backup dancers. My clone politely but firmly declined and offered to work a spotlight. I couldn’t help but thank god that the shadow clone jutsu made them like me, but not me. If they were too much like me they would have revolted against my tyrannical reign long ago. 

Hell my clone even took Momo on a date through the other booths set up. The buxom girl simply happy to walk around with me and chat. We hadn’t had a repeat of our kiss, but I could tell she was working up to it. 

My main body dove into fighting Gigantomachia. An impossibly strong behemoth I was able to train my ultimate punch on him. I kept it simple to start. Juggling chakra, Haki, Nen, my quirk, and Tremor Devil Fruit was a taxing affair. My dual processing helped me do the same amount of work in both hands. But completing the job was still reliant on my own practice. So that’s what I did. 

As Machia tried to punch and hit us. I practiced all of my moves. Getting better with my Nen. Pushing out chakra continuously like Sakura did. Focusing my Tremor power into a punch. Even my Haki was getting better. My Armament never stronger, I wanted to start to learn the different forms of Haki. I knew there was a method to hurt internal organs with a punch. Also expelling Haki out like Chi. But I was getting better and better at what Angiea tried to teach me. Sensing emotions through spiritual energy. Rayleigh had once read the situation in a room by just listening to Haki. I wanted to be able to get there. That became my next goal. 

With a future Challenge looming over my head I needed to understand my powers more. Know when and how to combine them. The strongest of the people in each world had focused on 1 power for decades. My cheat was knowing a lot of different moves and trying to weave them together into one attack. But there were also times when it was best to use this or that method of attack. 

Nen was strong on its on. Simple hits could do major damage. But it’s when my hits became stronger that it lost its efficiency. So Nen became my go to when I needed to be quick and do a lot of damage. 

Armament Haki added defense and strength to a hit, but the strength was multiplied when I added chakra to it. So that’s how I found my ultimate punch with those 2 powers. 

My Tremor Devil Fruit was honestly scary. I could knock Machia down if I put some major power into it. Forcing the entire area to rumble and shake. But I could send large focused shockwaves as well. Breaking apart whatever was in front of me. 

During my time as a villain, the others attacked the impossibly strong giant. I took a section and simply used him like a punching bag for hour after hour. I had started to let him hit me too. Forcing my quirk into Armor mode I could absorb a lot of the blow then try to redirect it back at him. Day by day this was proving to be another strong skill to learn. Once I absorbed so much I broke a tree from 100 feet away. It simply toppled over when I missed where I directed the concussive force. If I could master it. The skill would be a great trump card. 

Toga wasn’t much for fighting the giant so she hung back. But daily we would sneak away and have as much sex as possible. She was desperate to swallow every load. She even tried more of my blood but was stuck on my cum for some reason. I guessed because of the concentrated chakra. 

My friendship with the others in the League became better as we worked together to try to bring Machia down. But in all honesty I wasn’t trying. I was building up my strength piece by piece. 

Where my abilities were strong separately. They were melding nicely together. I guessed I was at about 25% complete to my ultimate punch but was already stronger than when I had fought Chisaki. 

But all good things must come to an end. The School Festival was over. I had to go back to school. Toru had not been pleased we could only have sex on the weekends. Even Nejire complained. So I went back to my normal life and decided to settle on fighting Machia on the weekends. My Roronoa clone would fight him, not as hard, but I would get experience at least as the clone practiced with our skills.  

Classes got back to normal. Midnight still didn’t have an assignment for us and I considered jumping ship to intern under a different hero. That was until I heard the news during class. 

“Are you going to watch the ranking tonight?” Tsuyu asked from beside me. 

“The what?”

“The hero ranking. I’ve talked about it like 3 times,” Toru said. 

“That like a Got Talent game show?” I asked, confused. 

“A what? No,” Toru said. “It’s where the country comes together and votes on the heroes.”

“They choose the best heroes by people voting?” I asked confused. “That’s dumb. The hot ones would get way more votes.”

“Speaking of, I hear Endeavor is a shoe in for number 1,” Eijiro laughed. Todoroki grumbled. 

“No, the voting isn’t how they’re decided. The Hero Safety Commission decides based on people saved, villains, and the general strength of the hero,” Momo said. “They just do a voting part for fun to see if the people agree.”

“Really?” I asked, a little intrigued. “How do we get tickets?”

“You don’t,” Toru said. “They’re all invite only. They’ve been giving them away on the radio for weeks. How have you not heard?”

“I tend to train when I’m not here,” I said. “I can’t tell you the last time I watched TV.” Well I could. I was pretty sure it was on while Nejire and I fooled around the night before. “So what? Do we get a bunch of food and watch it in the dorm?”

“Hell yeah,” Mineta said. “We could wear our costumes and-“

“Not happening,” Momo said, cutting him off. “But it sounds fun to watch it together.”

We all agreed and the school day went on. I of course knew about the hero ranking thing. I’d only been playing dumb. I had lot of plans for that night already. At least my clone would have fun hanging out with everyone else. I was sure I’d end up paying for takeout anyway. 

—-

“Number 10!” The announcer yelled as Ryuko walked out on stage. “She was number 9 last year. And one of only 2 women on the top 10 list!” People roared and clapped as she stopped on the stage. My first hero boss had a small microphone attached to the side of her face.  

“I’m just happy you all still have faith in me,” Ryuko said as she waved. 

“Number 9: Armored Hero Yoroimusha,” the announcer said. An old man with ancient Japanese armor covering his body he had a big bushy white beard and that was most all that could be seen do him. 

As the Uncle of Landslide he had been on my list to kill, but I was reconsidering it lately. Far too much death around me I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with him. Maybe not death, but public humiliation would do him some good. I just didn’t want it to point back to Landslide and thus me. It would be bad if someone put together the dots of all the bad guys connected to my mothers death. 

“Number 8: Washing Hero Wash!” A bipedal…man I guessed, walked out. He was inside of a washing machine. I’d heard some less than ideal stories about the guy from Ryuko so I wasn’t too impressed by him. 

“Number 7: Kamui Woods.” Out walked a man in a black suit with a wooden mask. Honestly he looked pretty badass. Able to make branches and greenery I knew he was partnered with Mount Lady. Someone I wanted to get to know. 

“Number 6: The Shield Hero Crust!” An older man came from behind the stage. With slicked back hair I didn’t remember him at all. He must have been a side character. 

“Number 5: Bunny Hero Mirko!” Confidently my dream girl walked out on stage. Dark tan skin, tall white bunny ears, long white hair, a white fluffy tail, and muscles that bulged with every movement, I’d honestly forgotten about her. Perfect body and thighs that could crush a watermelon I decided she was worth some attention. I’d have to try to make a good impression on her. 

“Number 4: Ninja Hero Edgeshot!” A man in far too much flare for a ninja walked out. The suit was black at least but he looked like a some shinobi edgelord. Black mouth mask. Hair all over the place. I was annoyed by anyone that called themselves a ninja who couldn’t do a simple transformation jutsu. 

“Unfortunately Number 3 could not join us today. But please give a round of applause for Best Jeanist!” The announcer said. The crowd roared. I hoped Hawks hadn’t stupidly pretended Jeanist was dead to join the Villains. I hadn’t seen Hawks since but I was worried. 

“That leads us to Number 2: the winged hero Hawks!” Out walked Hawks. His red feather wings flaring out he did look pretty cool. One of many heroes I respected Hawks was the highest ranked I hadn’t heard any bad rumors about. He simply wanted to be a hero like All Might. 

“And you all know him. The number 1 hero in the country: Endeavor!” The announcer yelled and the crowd freaked out. In his hero suit the man was aflame as he walked out to the crowd. I thought it was a little much but the civilians liked a strong looking hero. 

“There you have it folks. Now the fun part,” the announcer said. “Make sure you text your votes to the right number at the bottom left of your screens. We will announce the popularity contest as soon as we are back from this commercial break.”

Some lights turned on and people quieted down as the applause light turned off. I had done my setup work over the last few days so I simply waited for the fun to happen. 

The top 10 heroes talked to one another as they waited for the commercial break to end. Seconds ticked away until the applause light turned on then people were back to yelling. A screen turned on behind the heroes. 

“Moment of truth. Let’s see if the people agree with the rankings!” The screen showed the 10 images of the heroes and rallied votes. But ever so slowly people counted and noticed there were actually 11 images on the screen. The top one wasn’t Endeavor either. It was the ever so handsome face of Kakashi. 

People began to whisper as they noticed. It had been a pain in the ass to get this to work. But after some simple bribing, showing up to some people as the villain slayer, and some veiled threats I was able to find the people in charge of programming the automated system. I wanted them to add my name in the running. 

Cheap, of course. And I was sure many of the votes were from kids that thought it would be funny. But as the votes tallied I got a full 40% of the votes. 

“I’m sorry, it looks like we have some technical difficulties-“ the announcer said but I released my transformation and stepped up. My heart pounding as I walked up to the stage dressed in my Kakashi Anti-Hero Costume. 

“I had wondered if something like this would happen,” I said, giving my best smile to Endeavor. My voice booming over the crowd there was a quiet hush from the audience. 

Then one person yelled “Woo.” People laughed and another guy yelled, “we love you Villain Slayer!” 

“And I love you,” I said, doing my best Keanu impression. “Now sorry to crash your party-“ I ducked as I dodged one of Hawks many feathers. Then a whole bunch shot at me. The small feathers like missiles they were easy enough to move out of their path with Observation Haki. 

Wizzing around the air they became a little much as I twisted in the air this way and that trying to dodge them. I was actually enjoying the training until Endeavor put his hand on Hawk’s shoulder and ordered, “Enough.”

Hawk’s feathers stopped just away from me and I moved around them. “Thank you Endeavor. I promise this will be brief.”

“Hello Japan!” I said turning to a camera. “Thank you for voting for me. I did a little hacking back in the day and it was easy to add my name to the list of candidates. But you all voted for me. I appreciate it.”

I looked around to the stunned crowd. “My message is simple. You kill and hurt people. I will kill and hurt you. I will continue to do so until the work is done or the Hero Safety Commission sends a squad to kill me.” I was surprised they hadn’t already. But my main goal for crashing the event was to hint at this for the average people. The real proof would come later. 

“I know how they like to do that to silence the less than ideal vigilantes. That or some hero might get lucky and capture me.” I took a calming breath as I thought on what else I wanted to say. 

“A war is coming,” I said. Murmuring broke out in the crowd. “Not some far off war. But a domestic one. A war that will take place in the streets. In your homes. I’ve seen it. And I’ve come to tell you that every hero will be needed to fight it. Unfortunately I am not a hero. I am not a good person. I kill those that hurt and rape and make… people like me. People that have been the scared kid unsure if his parents will come home.”

“So I’ve come here today. Crashing these amazing heroes' celebration, to let you know, you aren’t alone. I will continue to do what I feel I must to make a better tomorrow.” I let the silence hang for a long time. “Thank you, and goodnight.” 

With that I stomped on the ground. My tremor fruit made the whole building shake and as people yelled in fear I walked away.  

Getting lost in the crowd was easy. Putting on a transformation jutsu once I was sure no one was looking I headed outside. 

I hated to ruin the big day for the heroes. But most all had been on the top 10 a long time. I had warned All Might and a few others what was to come. What I needed were the average people on my side. When I was proven right I hoped that they would come to my way of thinking. I just hoped by that time I ironed out what I actually wanted.