When one repeats the same thought over and over in a short period, time seems eternal. That journey was a harsh reality check that made me realize I shouldn't let my guard down. It marked a before and after in my life
The night had finally arrived, and with it, the most anticipated moment for most of the students: the test of courage.
"Is this really safe?" Sakura asked for the third time in the last five minutes since they had arrived. She didn't have a problem with Class B trying to scare her; she could handle many things, but ghosts were one of those things she had never liked. To her, they represented the unknown, beyond what the mundane mind could comprehend. Unfortunately, some of her classmates, the most malicious ones, had learned about this fear and saw it as an opportunity to have fun before the event began.
"We can't promise anything," Mineta said with a mischievous smile. "The other day, I overheard the Pussycats say that the last time people got lost in this forest, they weren't found until days later, and when they were found, they weren't the same."
Despite their fear, both Sakura and Ochako were intrigued by the story, so they approached Mineta to hear more.
"And then what happened?" Sakura asked. Both of them felt a knot in their stomachs when he left them in suspense.
"The ghosts kidnapped them!" Sero yelled from behind the girls.
They both screamed at the same time. Ochako, due to her training with Gunhead, punched him in the nose, while Sakura jumped and clung to Kaminari's hand. Excited, he pulled her towards his chest and boasted of his bravery.
"Don't worry, Sakura, I'll protect you with my—ah!" he exclaimed when he felt the bones in his hand crack under Sakura's scared grip.
Jiro, who was next to them, covered her mouth to avoid laughing openly at Kaminari's failed attempt at being gallant and was now doing her best to free her hand from Sakura's grasp.
"That wasn't funny!" Sakura said resentfully once she realized it was Sero who had scared them. "You deserve that punch and more for making fun of other people's fears."
As soon as she released Kaminari's hand, he shed a tear of relief. He almost lost his hand.
"Come on, don't be scared, it's a test of courage!" Mina exclaimed excitedly. Beside her, Sero, Kirishima, Sato, and Kaminari joined her enthusiasm.
"Before that, I'm sorry to say this, but the extra class students will come with me," Aizawa announced as he appeared behind the five kids and used his scarf to catch them before they could attempt to escape. "Your training today was unsatisfactory, so we'll use this hour to work on it."
The last thing they heard from the five was a chorus of screams and lamentations as Aizawa dragged them into the forest.
"Don't be afraid, the ghosts aren't real," Tsuyu said, patting the backs of her two friends as she guided them with Pixie Bob to collect their assigned numbers for the game.
"How do you know? There's a lot of talk about ghosts," Ochako replied with a pout once she took her number. Next to her, Sakura nodded vigorously. It wasn't impossible to believe in the existence of ghosts, especially after everything she had witnessed in the Fourth Great Ninja War, including the battle against what were practically zombies, facing a goddess, a founder who had lived beyond human limits before his death, and she was evidence of the existence of dimensions.
"Coward," Bakugo taunted.
"Yeah, so what?" she responded, trying to feign indignation. She didn't feel like arguing with Bakugo; it wasn't because of her fear of ghosts but because she still had the memory of the burst of anger she had released at him and Todoroki a few hours ago fresh in her mind. Both had acted maturely by ignoring her outburst when they woke her up to head to the test of courage. Embarrassed by her behavior, she did the same as them. Now, she just waited for the right moment to apologize, even though she still felt angry at her own actions.
When Sakura received the number eight, she started looking for her classmates until she realized who her partner would be.
"Hey, tail guy, switch places with me," Bakugo grumbled at Ojiro, not caring that Todoroki, his test of courage partner, was right next to him.
"Aoyama, switch places with me," Mineta said, with a dark aura around him.
"Shoto, Sparky, switch places with me," Sakura said, forcing the best smile she could as she stood between the two boys who looked at her in confusion.
"Who were you paired with, Sakura-san?" Momo asked, curious to know who Sakura disliked so much as her partner.
The radiant aura around Sakura disappeared in the blink of an eye, revealing her complete defeat.
"Izuku."
Everyone was surprised, as they didn't expect her to reject Izuku as her partner. The green-haired boy stood still like a statue, not knowing what to say or do in the face of his friend's refusal.
"What's wrong with that?" Jiro asked.
"Midoriya-kun is a respectable person," Iida intervened, advocating for his best friend to Sakura. "I can guarantee he's a respectable person who knows what one can and can't do."
Embarrassed by Iida's praise, Midoriya tried to talk to Sakura, stuttering a little in the process.
"Fine? What do you mean fine?" Sakura responded before expressing her frustration. "If I had been paired with Iida, I would simply hop on his back and we could run away. With Shoto, if the ghost approached us, he'd probably freeze or burn it before we could escape. Bakugo would undoubtedly scare the ghost away."
"Hey!" Bakugo yelled.
"It's just a test of courage; we'll be fine..." Midoriya didn't know whether to feel hurt by the image she had of him or try to reassure her.
"Somehow, it makes sense," Tsuyu said.
It wasn't hard for them to imagine the three boys in those hypothetical scenarios, especially Bakugo facing the supposed ghost.
Once Class B was ready, the pairs began to enter the course one by one, waiting for three minutes before the next pair went in. As Midoriya and Sakura were the last team to enter, the screams coming from the forest only increased the tension. When she felt a hand on hers, she turned her face to find Midoriya.
"It's okay, you can hold my hand, it doesn't matter if you even break it," Midoriya said, giving her hand a slight squeeze to reassure her.
Sakura's cheeks turned red as she remembered she had almost broken Kaminari's hand due to fear.
"Don't get used to me being here to heal your hand every time you break it," she mumbled, although she maintained her firm grip.
Everything was going well until a shadow loomed behind them, and when they turned around, they found themselves facing Pixie Bob, who had a mischievous smile.
"Wow! The younger generations are more active than before," her eyes sparkled as she looked at both of their hands. "I guess the academy has relaxed so much that it allows you to have time for dating. How long have you been together?"
Midoriya turned red from head to toe, quickly withdrawing his hand from Sakura's and trying to correct Pixie Bob's suggestion, though he only stammered in his attempt. Sakura, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow with amusement, showing no signs of being affected. The heroine was enjoying the moment at Midoriya's expense. Not while Sakura is present.
"The younger generations?" she almost smiled as she saw Pixie Bob's smile decrease slightly. "How long ago did you graduate from the academy?"
With a smirk, she dodged Pixie Bob's claws that were heading for her face with spite, while the heroine yelled that she was still a lady. At that moment, both of them abruptly stopped.
"It smells like something's burning," Pixie Bob said.
Soon, everyone began to smell the smoke permeating the air, which puzzled them. However, the source of this smell became evident: over the treetops, a column of smoke rose into the sky, lighting up the area.
"The forest is on fire!" Iida exclaimed.
Pixie Bob's scream alerted them, and when they turned to look at her, they noticed that she had a red aura surrounding her, which lifted her off the ground before dragging her at high speed to the opposite side of where they were.
"Pixie Bob!" Mandalay yelled.
Pixie Bob's head violently collided with a large bandaged object, instantly knocking her unconscious and causing her to bleed.
Both heroes and students held their breath.
"Why?" Mineta said, taking a few steps back, unable to believe what he was seeing. "I thought they had made sure. Why are there villains?"
In front of them, there were two villains with Pixie Bob bleeding at their feet, both of them wearing sinister and satisfied smiles on their faces.
Sakura's blood ran cold; the fire and these villains attacking Pixie Bob didn't seem like a mere accident. They had planned their attack carefully, waiting for the right moment to strike, and she hadn't sensed them at any point.
"Pixie Bob!" Midoriya yelled and rushed towards the heroine, but Mandalay's arm stopped him.
Sakura clenched her fists in frustration. Both she and Midoriya wanted to rush the villains and rescue Pixie Bob, but they felt constrained for different reasons. For Sakura, the need to keep a low profile was paramount. Attacking without permission would only draw more attention to her, and the web of lies she had to maintain would be harder to conceal if people started asking questions.
"Kota-kun," said Midoriya, and his voice made Sakura realize the situation. Her mind began working at full speed. How was it possible that only two villains dared to attack such a crowded place with heroes and students? Could there be more hidden in the forest? Two, three, four?
Mandalay's voice resonated in the minds of everyone present, heroes, and students, alerting them to the arrival of the villains and ordering them to head to the camp.
"U.A. students, we are the Vanguard Action Squad of the League of Villains," said Spinner, the lizard man.
Tension in the air increased with every passing second. Magne's threats against Pixie Bob and Spinner's remarks about Ilda and Stain added more anxiety to the situation.
"You kids, go to the camp, we'll take care of the villains," Mandalay said.
Sakura felt deep frustration but followed Ilda and the others to the camp. However, Midoriya stayed behind and communicated to Mandalay that he knew where Kota was.
"Please, go get him," Mandalay pleaded, with no other option. "And you guys head back to the camp!"
"Who do you think you're looking at?" Spinner yelled, appearing in front of her. His weapons swung directly toward the heroine, but at the last second, Sakura managed to dodge the blow.
Meanwhile, Midoriya hurried to the place where Kota used to retreat to be alone.
"Sakura-kun, we have to go," Ilda shouted, trying to snap Sakura out of her daze. She kept staring at the spot where Midoriya had disappeared.
Sakura was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't react when Ilda took her hand and led her away while they ran. Her mind was filled with surprise, frustration, and fear as she saw similarities with her life when she was only 12 years old. In her mind, the faces of the entire Team 7 paraded, and at the end, Midoriya's face.
"No," she whispered.
Ilda, who ran with the others, felt Sakura's hand loosen and finally let go. Surprised, he took a few steps back before stopping and looking back. The others also stopped.
"Sakura-kun, we need to go!" Ilda yelled, nervous. As the class representative, he had the responsibility of getting everyone back to the camp, and Sakura stopping complicated things even more. If there were other villains in the forest, seeing them without heroes around could get them into trouble.
"No. You go," Sakura said, turning her back on them and running, leaving Ilda and the others shouting her name.
As she sprinted through the forest at full speed, she sent a heartfelt and profound apology. The breeze hit her face as she desperately searched for Midoriya. She knew he would do everything in his power to save Kota, even if it meant severely injuring his arms. At that moment, that was the least of their concerns; the real problem lay in what would come afterward. With no idea how many villains were present, there was no guarantee that Midoriya could fight with his injured hands and continue to put them at risk.
She couldn't allow anyone to be left on the brink of death, as happened to Sasuke-kun in the past. She ran at full speed in the darkness of the forest, determined to find Midoriya or, failing that, any villain she could incapacitate.
In the distance, she spotted a shadow running towards her. Clenching her fist, she prepared to attack.
"Careful!" the person shouted.
Sakura, with a daring move and an almost impossible hip flexion, managed to dodge the person's face by inches.
"Ragdoll, are you okay?" Sakura said, regaining her posture when she saw it was Ragdoll. "What are you doing here?"
"You shouldn't be here! Mandalay sent everyone back to the camp," Ragdoll replied, out of breath and covered in mud. Her legs were shaking, and she held an empty syringe in her hand.
Sakura noticed Ragdoll's appearance and injuries. Her medical ninja instincts emerged, and she approached to remove the syringe despite Ragdoll's protests.
"I'm going for Midoriya; you know where he is, right? Did you fight a villain? Let me treat you," Sakura said. Her medical instincts took over as she worked on Ragdoll's wound. "How long ago...?"
Sakura felt an intense pain that spread through all her nerves from her neck. As she brought her hand to her neck, she noticed two syringes, similar to Ragdoll's. Confusion overcame her as she removed them and saw Ragdoll whimpering at her side. The woman had a second syringe stuck in her neck, and tears welled up in her eyes.
"Drug," Sakura murmured as she began to feel the effects of the drug coursing through her system.
Amid the confusion, a giant shadow loomed over both of them. While Sakura and Ragdoll tried to react, a massive dark hand lunged at them. Sakura's last sensation was an intense blow, like lightning piercing through her, before everything turned black.
Inside the dark bar, which now served as the League of Villains' headquarters, Kurogiri and Tomura were seated, waiting for news from their squad in action at the hero summer camp. Within hours, they would receive word about the outcome of their operation.
"The League of Villains' vanguard squad, whether they succeed or not," Tomura said in a rough voice, "this will finally give us the notoriety we seek, and in the future, we will shake the fragile foundations of society."
For Kurogiri, his life's mission, according to All For One, was to serve and support Tomura in whatever he needed. At first, Tomura seemed like a lost, resentful child with a destructive dream, but over time, he had matured and started using his power with more clarity. However, there was something that worried him.
"That girl, Sakura Haruno, why don't we destroy her now before she becomes a problem?" Kurogiri asked, setting aside the glass he had been drying with a cloth.
Shigaraki's eyes gleamed for a few seconds, like two red-hot coals.
"No, I want to watch more. She and Midoriya are very interesting," he said with a touch of interest and amusement. "Don't you think they're a lot like All Might? It'll be fun to destroy the hero's student, or her if she turns out to be the chosen one. It'll be the predestined battle."
"According to our research, there are very few records of her," Kurogiri said with skepticism.
He was about to continue objecting, but Tomura slammed the table in anger, silencing him.
"If she's not All Might's student, we'll simply watch her until we find her breaking point and put her on our side," Tomura said enthusiastically. "We'll watch her destroy those she once considered friends."
Shigaraki's eyes once again gleamed in the dimly lit bar as he imagined Sakura struggling desperately to break free from his firm grasp, feeling the fear in her emerald eyes while he savored the idea of disintegrating her.
When Sakura abruptly opened her eyes, the first thing she managed to glimpse was the ground covered in soil and some vegetation. She was lying on the ground, and the world swayed in gentle waves. A dull ache in her head made her shudder.
"What happened?" Sakura whispered, disoriented.
The last hour was a blank space in her memory. She looked around for clues but found none. She only felt the pressure in her head and a slight itch on her neck. As she reached for her head, she felt something warm. Upon checking what it was, she saw it was blood, and she involuntarily began to laugh.
"I'm bleeding," she laughed aloud, "Why am I laughing at my own blood? Ha, ha, ha, is it my blood? Am I dying?"
This is my blood. What has happened in the past hour? Damn it, I think I've been drugged.
As a ninja of Konoha, and especially as a medical ninja and an apprentice of Tsunade, she had learned a lot about drugs and poisons, particularly thanks to Shizune, who was an expert on the subject. This knowledge had deepened further after the battle against Sasori. That's why she had developed a certain tolerance to them, to the point that in mild cases, she only felt dizziness and saw bright colors. However, when in contact with strong drugs, her body and consciousness had detached from her mind.
She tried with all her might to remember what had happened in the last hour, but everything remained a mystery. Instead, her body began to struggle to stand up, and finally, she succeeded. Fortunately for Sakura, her years of experience as a medic allowed her to at least stop the bleeding from the wound, even under the influence of the drug.
"What happened to everyone?" she said, taking a few wobbly steps. "Is that fire? Uh, I'm cold. Maybe they're playing hide and seek. Just wait until I find them; I'll give them a Tsunade-style punch. Ha, ha, ha."
No! Don't go towards the fire! You should head in the opposite direction! Wait, why is there a fire? We're under attack... What has happened?
"Sensei!" exclaimed Sakura, taking a few clumsy steps forward until she finally collapsed onto the chest of a surprised Aizawa, who held her out of reflex. Feeling Aizawa's warm body, Sakura sighed in relief and raised her head to be inches away from his face. "Why do you have to be so distant from everyone? Has anyone told you how handsome you are? That serious and mysterious demeanor makes you even more attractive. If Ino-pig were here, she'd definitely be applauding my words."
Aizawa's mind went blank.
Kyaaaaaaaaa! What the hell are you saying? Aizawa-sensei, forget everything I just said, no, wait, what my body said... Damn it, that's not me! Haruno Sakura, shut up for once.
"Why do my senseis have to be so damn handsome?" As Aizawa continued to be surprised, Sakura took the opportunity and brought one of her hands to Aizawa's face to caress his beard. "I'm sorry, sensei, but our relationship would be forbidden. Here, I'm underage, and we come from different worlds; that would be taboo. For that, I have Kakashi-sensei. I wonder where he is? He let me see beneath his mask because of the guilt he felt on a mission. So when he's in the hospital and unconscious, I would remove his mask to admire his face. Without Sasuke-Kun with me, I'd sit in the evenings to admire his angel-sculpted face. Don't feel jealous; you're handsome in your own way."
Alright, I won't go back to school. Aizawa-sensei is dead to me, and I'll be dead to him. Or maybe I can bend the rules a bit to alter his memories. If this is a nightmare or an accidental blow that puts him in the hospital and erases his memory.
Aizawa finally regained consciousness. He grabbed Sakura by the arms and pushed her away forcefully. In the midst of the chaotic ambush by the villains, Sakura's senseless attack took him by surprise. He was about to scold her, but then he heard her laughing hysterically and writhing in his grip like a noodle. That's when he noticed her dilated pupils.
"Sakura, you're drugged. Who attacked you?"
Thank you! Don't you think I already figured that out? Although I don't blame you; I would have knocked myself out if I had pounced on you and said all those embarrassing things. Now, please, tell me what's going on.
"Attacked?" Aizawa refrained from running a hand down his face. With villains attacking, he didn't have time to deal with a drugged person. At least he saw that the wound on her head was healed, so she wasn't in danger.
"Listen carefully, Sakura. We are under attack. I have to go fight the villains," he told her, looking at her intently. "You need to find the others."
"But we're playing hide and seek," she pouted.
Damn it! This is the worst time to be drugged. No, wait, I'm sure the villains drugged me and left me lying here. When I come back, they'll pay for this. This is one of the worst days of my life!
"Sakura, there's no time!" he grumbled in frustration when she just laughed and commented on his eyes, comparing them to someone named Sasuke. "Yes, you need to find the others. Since you found me, I'll tell you where they are; go in that direction and you'll find them."
"Yay!" she wriggled free from Aizawa's grip and walked in that direction. "You're better at this than Kakashi-sensei; he would've left us wandering for days before we found everyone. See you!"
Watching her disappear into the forest, Aizawa frowned with a mixture of annoyance and concern. Despite her being a skilled ninja, she had been drugged and he feared that if she encountered villains, she might be in serious danger, or worse, the villains might harm her due to her recklessness. He turned around and dashed off again.
"There they are, I found them!" Sakura pointed at her classmates and the Class B students once she reached the camp. "We have to do it again!"
In front of her, Vlad was locked in battle with a short man with a head and back covered in spikes. The two were engaged in a fierce fight, and the spiky man was launching a multitude of spikes at Vlad, who was taking cover behind a concrete wall. Given that his quirk was blood manipulation and had limited range, he couldn't approach without risking being pierced.
"Sakura-kun? What are you doing? Come here!" Ilda yelled.
Ilda stood with the other Class A and B students, taking cover behind another wall to avoid being hit by the spikes.
"What's wrong with Vlad-sensei?" Sakura asked curiously, taking a few steps toward Vlad without realizing the imminent danger.
No! Don't go there, damn it.
Ilda, Vlad, and the others started yelling at Sakura to stop and not get closer to the battle, but she seemed unable to hear them.
"Your student seems to want to die," the villain laughed. "Who am I to deny her that?"
The man pointed one of his hands directly at Sakura's head, and a large, sharp spike sprouted from his palm.
"Wait, Yamara, that's not good behavior," a woman's voice emerged from the woods.
Sakura came to an abrupt stop when a sweet aroma reached her nostrils. The nearby bushes began to rustle.
"Sakura-kun! Get out of there!" Ilda shouted, about to run toward her to keep her safe.
The figure that emerged from the bushes left Sakura completely paralyzed. Despite regaining consciousness, she couldn't move or even breathe when she saw what was in front of her. Her heart started racing uncontrollably.
"Sakura-chan..."
"Naruto."
The photo from when they went out to play after the hospital incident.
If you're interested in Sakura fanfics, feel free to check out "The Butterfly Efect" and "Mother know best" on my profile.
You can also find my fanfics on Ao3.