Chapter 2: To a New Home
The following weeks had afforded Izuku very little time to explore the possibilities of his quirk besides playing around with the activation conditions.
Inko had been serious about providing as much support as possible for her son and had quickly pulled him from school after Katsuki's latest attack on Izuku. She'd filed an incident report with the police since she had to take Izuku to the doctor to get some of his burns treated as well, however, it was put only as a minor infraction on Bakugo's file with the excuse that "it was all just a little bit of roughhousing between boys that went a little too hard."
This had further put a strain on Inko's relationship with her now former friend Mitsuki, who, while sympathetic with Inko's cause, wished she'd been made aware of Katsuki's attack on Izuku before having to get the police involved. For some reason, Mitsuki Bakugo was confident she could have straightened her boy out herself instead of needing things to get so official. Inko hoped that by involving the police, Katsuki would realize just how seriously he had hurt her son as well as cut down the arrogance he was starting to develop at school - where his teachers seemingly had suspiciously not kept track of Katsuki Bakugo's use of a quirk on students or his violent temperament.
Regardless of the whole situation, Inko had decided that there was obvious favoritism going on in the surrounding community towards Katsuki Bakugo and her son would suffer for it if he remained in school. Thankfully, she had already been in the process of moving. Their apartment in busy Mustafu was way out of her price, while it would be easy to maintain on the funds from her husband's life insurance for a year or two, it would soon be too expensive to maintain the upkeep. Instead, she immediately began to look for a new home in a cheaper area to live and had been fortunate to find a nice little home in Chiba Prefecture, in the small fishing town of Ichinomiya, which had access to a commuter line to a few nearby resorts, where she hoped she'd be able to get a job to help maintain them instead of rushing through their savings needlessly.
She'd given a public school a call that she and her son were still finalizing the moving process, but that she wanted to enroll her son for the new semester. Until then, Izuku would finish his studies at home. Thankfully, Izuku had a brilliant mind, and his good grades and clean record meant that the transition would be easy once the new school year started. She'd even found that there were a few dojos in the small town that, if she was tracking expenses correctly, she'd be able to afford Izuku for Izuku to attend.
She'd given him the choice of his pick of dojos and had been quite surprised by some of his selections. He'd insisted on a very traditional ninjutsu dojo.
"Mom, my quirk, so far as I can tell so far, it isn't very flashy. I need to pick a style that compliments it. With my white eye, I can see everything so I have a better advantage in a fight with limited visibility. Being sneaky will help with limiting my visibility and learning to use weapons will be super helpful as well. It's better to keep villains at a distance, and it'll mean less of a chance of villains seeing how my quirk operates and blinding me with sand or attacking my eyes."
With that statement, Inko had been convinced by Izuku's first choice. The second choice that Izuku made was just as surprising for her.
"This dojo is in Chiba City. I'll have to take the train line to get there, but I've read a few articles about them online. They train their students in Karate, but as if they were in actual fights instead of using traditional point-scoring techniques. I've seen some videos, and it's not dissimilar to some Muay Thai or Mixed Martial Arts fights I've seen online. I know All Might is an awesome hero, but his fighting style in particular just wouldn't work for me. He has the strength and durability to go for the full-frontal boxing assault he likes to use. I don't have a strength-enhancing quirk like he does, so my fighting style needs to be more adaptable. This Karate dojo has got to be the one."
With Izuku's choice solidified, they spent the next weeks finishing Izuku's schoolwork and packing up their apartment.
Their new home in Ichinomiya was small and quaint. The weather in the small town was very nice. It was situated on the sea, and while the summers felt like it could be very humid, the town had resisted the industrialization of some of the larger cities. It was quaint, homely, and surprisingly rustic. Melon farms were the big agricultural export, so there was always a sweet fragrance in the air. Local fishermen cast off from the docks by the bay, heading out to the ocean for their daily fishing.
Their new home was on the small side, and quite traditional. Their little Minka was situated within a small grove of trees situated on a hill just outside of town. It was a private abode, closer to the melon farms than the conveniences of town. A small wooden veranda stretched the perimeter of the home, and the scent of clean air from the tatami mats cemented the traditional atmosphere.
Unlike the steel and concrete of Mustafu, their driveway was fine gravel, and a natural overhand of trees acted as the closest estimation for a parking garage. Where Mustafu was stifling and busy, their new abode was peaceful and quiet, with the only unusual sounds to grace them in the evenings being the hum of cicadas and the chirping of the occasional tree frog.
Izuku's room was a little smaller than the one that he'd had at their old apartment, but it had the necessities. A small desk so he could do his homework, a futon was rolled up in the closet, and a cabinet for his books and All Might collection. It was perhaps the biggest change since they'd had to sell Izuku's old bed anyway. He was a growing boy after all, and it gave them more space for some of the All Might figurines he wanted to keep. After some discussion, he'd concluded that some of the All Might memorabilia he likely didn't need anymore - although his mother had kept some for herself, like Izuku's favorite shirt that he had thrown up over when he was two. They'd tried to get rid of the stain but in the process had turned it pink. While it had been a frustrating experience for Inko, Izuku had been inconsolable about it following the incident, she couldn't help but smile when she thought of the memory.
Finally, after all the moving in, Izuku could start properly experimenting with his quirk.
The first thing he did was stand in front of a mirror and take a look at his eyes. Without his quirk activated, his left eye was the usual green. Of note, the pupil and iris of his eye took up a slightly larger portion of the sclera, although it wasn't a very obvious change.
The right eye, however, had gone through a much more drastic change. While his left eye at least maintained its green coloration, his right eye at first glance looked like it had gone blind. The pupil and iris had expanded to take up a larger portion of the sclera, with the iris having a thin black border that was hard to make out. The differences between the iris and the pupil were even harder to spot. Both were in shades of a light lavender that was just barely distinguishable from the white sclera, with the pupil being only slightly darker than the iris.
When he activated his quirk, things got a bit more interesting. With his left eye, the activation was rather unsettling. All of the inside of the iris, except the black edge between the sclera, seemed to almost…swirl was the best descriptor that Izuku could come up with…into the pupil and a deep red color would come swirling out of the pupil to replace the green, with a single black tomoe seemingly hovering just below the pupil. When his left eye was activated, Izuku's perception of the world seemed to slow down or maybe heighten. Things were seen in exceptional clarity and ingrained definition, and when he strained to perceive, he could even enhance the clarity. Izuku was surprised by how easily he could make out the hair follicles on his skin. By observing a fly on the windowsill, Izuku knew the moment before it lifted off to fly, seeing the spring of tension in its limbs the microsecond before it flew into the air. When Izuku looked at himself, he could just faintly make out blue lines of energy running beneath the surface of his skin.
'Perhaps, it lets me see the electrical signals running through a human body. Easy way to test that would be…', Izuku looked up at the bathroom light, disheartened when it looked like a typical light, without the blue glow present within his body.
'So, if it's not the electrical pathways from the nervous system, what is it? Gunna need to do some research to figure that out.'
Despite how interesting his left eye was, there seemed to be one major downside for now. It seemed he couldn't combine its benefits with the ones his right eye provided, perhaps after he trained his quirk some more, he'd be able to?
On activation of Izuku's quirk, his right eye hadn't had much of a dramatic change. However, the veins along the right side of his face leading up to his eye had suddenly swollen large to the extent they protruded from the skin slightly.
'So larger veins likely mean increased blood flow and more nutrients to that area of the body. Even standing here, it kind of feels a little bit as if I'd just had my head upside down. There's a lot of blood rushing to my head now, but the perks are amazing.'
Izuku's field of vision with his right eye had expanded tremendously. It expanded through the walls, into people, out into the forest surrounding their home. Everything had a black-and-white coloration to it, but he could see all around himself.
'My range seems to have increased by a little bit, maybe more use will help train it -'
His thoughts were caught off as he noticed that his right eye had caught a glimpse of his mom in the kitchen. It was a strange experience, when he had mentally processed that he was staring at his mom, the eye almost pulsed a bit, and enhanced it on her more. For a split second, Izuku got a glimpse of what his mother looked like naked, which made the young boy blush in embarrassment before the view enhanced again and he was staring at muscles and bones. It was rather strange, it was like he could change the focus on how well he could 'see' through something. Another thing to note was that he could see the blue lines that he'd spotted earlier within himself. It was like a network of energy that flowed through the body, and while at some points it matched up with the nervous system, it seemed to flow differently to the nervous system. The blue lines wound around important organs and through muscles. As Izuku was observing, he watched the entire pathway along his mother's right arm flare out a bit as she floated a few plates over for the dinner she was making.
'So, these pathways are a representation of quirks inside the body. If they glow brighter when a quirk is used…well quirks are just muscles we have to train to develop even further. Mom isn't a hero, but her quirk pathway system is much more defined in comparison to mine. Heroes must have large quirk pathway systems from using and training their quirk in comparison to children just developing a quirk or even the quirkless. Do quirkless people even have quirk pathway systems? This is all under the assumption that what I'm seeing is the representation of how a quirk expresses itself within the body. Maybe there's more information about this online?'
As Izuku turned off the quirk, he yelled out through the house so his mom would know that he was getting on the computer before he hopped on and started trying to find what he'd seen.
"Hmm, 'quirk pathways'," Izuku said aloud as he typed, pressing one key at a time. It was slow work, but as he hit 'Enter' the articles that came up were rather disappointing in scope. 'Pathway to Heroism', 'Your Quirk: Finding the Right Path for Your Special Ability', and 'Scandal Between Italy's Pathway Hero and France's Painting Hero Lead to 3 Arrests by GHC - Suspected Quirk Trafficking' were only some of the Articles that came up.
"Let's try, 'quirk nervous system'," Izuku thought aloud, erasing his previous search result and typing another. The articles that came up this time were much more informative but were complicated reads. They almost gave Izuku a headache, which reminded him that the previous headache he'd gotten by activating his quirk had faded away. Seeing as he was mostly okay again, Izuku activated his quirk. He'd only done it to train his quirk a bit more, the more he'd have it activated the longer he'd be able to go without developing a strong migraine. It was in this instance of activation that Izuku noticed something new with his left eye.
The perception rate was still enhanced, and while Izuku's body couldn't match it, his mind could. The articles he thought he'd have to spend the next couple of hours reading? All it took was a small glimpse and they were ingrained into his memory. He could read them faster than reading at normal perception. Shocked, Izuku deactivated his quirk, surprised at the sudden wealth of information within his head. The information he remembered. Wait, information that he remembered? Holy crap!
Leaping up in excitement from the new development he wondered just how far these applications could go while also thinking about the new information about the quirk nervous system he'd read about. He activated his quirk to find his mom and rushed off to let her know about the new development, keeping it activated all the while.
The quirk nervous system was entirely theoretical. It didn't exist in the traditional sense within the body as nerves and organs did. Human dissection wouldn't reveal the nervous system although there were plenty of theories that going deeper into the decoding of the Quirk Factor gene might reveal more secrets about how the quirk nervous system acted. There were several sketches with theories about how the network worked and they weren't that far off from what he'd seen when he'd looked at his mom. These pathways had been theorized to exist within specific points in the body that when struck by the correct type of quirk, temporarily blocked access to the next point. In short, if those points got clogged up like a big large highway pile-up, then it could theoretically slow down or even disable the quirk in the area of the body immediately surrounding that point.
There were theories that this was how Pro Hero Twilight Blaze had been killed by the villain Eleoquencher in America. Videos of their fight saw Twilight get hit in an area of the body that matched up with one of these supposed 'quirk points', causing his quirk to suddenly sputter to a stop. The Dark Flame quirk he had masterful control of had simply gone out at a crucial point in the fight. While Twilight Blaze had been stunned and continued to try and activate his quirk, Eleoquencher had merely gotten up and sliced off his arm followed by a flurry of vicious stabs into his chest with their Electric Sword quirk, before fleeing the scene. Due to the nature of the video, it was quite hard to find the video on the web, and it was by sheer luck and horror that Izuku stumbled upon it.
As Izuku turned into the kitchen, he spotted his mother dicing away with a knife at some herbs. He was fascinated as he watched her work with his left eye. The movements were slowed down and he could see every little minute detail, even the twitch of her muscles as she went to adjust her grip on the herbs. Wait he had seen that movement before she'd done the action, just like with Kaa-, no it was Bakugo now, had kicked him in the park. As he deactivated his quirk, those muscle movements suddenly felt very ingrained within him. Somehow, Izuku just knew, that if he picked up that knife he'd be able to cut away at the herbs just as easily.
He had to see if his hunch was correct.
"Mom, I think I just discovered something new about my quirk. Can I try using the knife to cut the herbs?" he asked.
Inko Midoriya was surprised by her son's question, but she assumed it had only been a matter of time. Izuku had been kept very busy the last few weeks, now that things had calmed down and they were all moved in - it made sense that he'd want to figure out what his quirk did.
She'd never let Izuku help out in the kitchen. He was a bit too small to reach into the sink easily, much less the countertop where she was dicing the herbs. She bit her lip but ultimately succumbed to the pleading look her son was giving her.
"Alright, Izuku. But I'll have to hold you so you can reach the cutting board. Come on," Inko relented as she picked up her boy. He was getting a bit too heavy to always be carrying around now. When she was younger she'd used to float him from the ground into her hands but that just wasn't possible anymore.
With a firm grip on her son's waist, she watched in fascination as Izuku picked up the knife she'd been using to cut some parsley and started dicing away at the herbs. At first, it was tentative, but she was surprised by the cutting technique. His hands were a little too small to do the fancy twirls she could do with the knife in her hand, but the dicing motion he used matched her easily and the grip technique on the parsley was good as well. If she didn't know any better, Inko would have thought her son had been practicing with blades in the kitchen for a while now. So distracted was Inko by her son's technique that she failed to realize when he'd cut all the parsley up. A shame, she hadn't wanted to dice the whole plant up for one meal. She'd have to find other uses for it now. Still, as soon as Izuku put down the knife on the countertop, she set her son back on the floor.
"So?" she asked, excited to hear more about Izuku's cool quirk.
"Alright, so I was watching you dice up the parsley and it was in slow motion. I could make out all the movements in your hands and muscles easily. Then, when I saw the muscles in your hand twitch. I just knew that you were going to change your grip. Then you changed it! Next thing I just instinctively knew how to chop it like you were!" Izuku mumbled," I think, whatever I observe directly with that eye, it kind of gives me a copy of that information. Like, I was reading an article about quirk theory earlier and I was able to read it super fast. I remember every word from it. I could probably give you a lecture about it. Perfect memory. I wonder how long it'll last. Is there a timeframe? If there isn't, then I think school might be a challenge for much longer. Not that it was to begin with but maybe I can take university classes earlier than anticipated because of this…"
Izuku's mumble-storm continued as he walked away and headed to his room, sitting at his desk, and opening Hero Analysis For the Future: Volume Me. There were a few lines already written in it, but Izuku spent the next few hours until dinner was ready filling in all the new information he'd learned.
It was only after dinner that he realized there was one thing missing. His quirk needed a name. He immediately began to brainstorm. It was strange, the way his quirk worked, it was almost like he had two very different ocular quirks, so maybe he should start by naming each one and then determine the overall qurik name based on what he came up with.
Izuku thought about his right eye first. Giving it some thought, he decided to go with Byakugan - All Seeing White Eye seemed like the perfect descriptor for that half of his quirk.
Izuku thought about the left eye next. It was a lot more complex than his Byakugan. Copy Eye didn't seem like enough. Red Eye sounded very plain. Devil Eye was too villainous. In the Izuku decided on Sharingan - Copy Wheel Eye.
That left his quirk name. Although, very unimaginative, he decided to go with "Dojutsu: Sharingan and Byakkugan". It was simple and explained to everyone what his quirk was about. Satisfied, Izuku gave the journal to his mom so she could update his findings and then headed to bed, satisfied with a good day's work.
Chapter 3: New School and New Sensei
Izuku made very good use of his Sharingan in the weeks before the summer break ended, and fall began. He wanted to learn as much as possible about Quirk Pathway Theory, using his Byakugan to help him in his studies as well.
With his Mom's permission, he'd managed to draw an accurate quirk pathway system, or at least, how the quirk pathway system traveled around in her body. Through experimentation, the quirk pathway system would glow when a quirk was being activated, glowing brighter and brighter until a strain eventually developed.
Overuse of a quirk was quite common in children first learning to use their quirks, but Inko, being a grown woman, had to use a different method of straining herself. She'd rapidly pulled books to herself out of a box and onto a shelf, starting with the smallest and building up to the largest. Not only did it help with unpacking, but it was also a test of stamina as she hadn't needed to pull something so frequently to herself in such a long time.
In fact, after their testing, Izuku had discovered something else. The quirk pathway would flicker when it showed evidence of being strained and then go dark for a few minutes, during which a sweating Inko Midoriya was unable to use her quirk out of sheer exhaustion. After multiple experiments, going through multiple days, both Midoriyas had been surprised to find that Inko could float larger things to her. A couple of bricks had been her limit before, now she could pull ten to her at once. Her quirk pathway system had also expanded slightly, the lines were a deeper blue - easier to distinguish with better definition than they had been before the training exercise. Straining the quirk pathway system had led to the system having to adapt to more vigorous usage, and it now took twice the time as before Inko grew tired of using her quirk.
As fascinating as these discoveries about the quirk pathway were, they had to come to a halt once school resumed. Izuku had turned seven over the summer and thankfully was the same age as the other 2nd-graders he was with.
The school was a welcome change of pace for both mother and son. For Inko, it meant she had more time to relax. While Inko wanted to help her son as much as she could, she hadn't expected it would mean being the lab rat in his quirk pathways experiments. Hopefully, the onset of school will give her some much-needed time to herself.
For Izuku, it was both exciting and nerve-wracking. Naboo Elementary School had Bakugo, but Daishi Elementary School didn't. Izuku was hoping for the best, he wanted to make new friends.
It was this nervous excitement that led him to walk into his 2nd-grade class. He'd been introduced to his 2nd-grade homeroom teacher, Hirano Kaori. She was a squat woman with obvious laugh lines on her face. Her hair was starting to grow gray, and the only distinguishable features that made her stand out were her ears, which were long, thin, and pointed. They reminded Izuku of elf ears that he'd seen in an old pre-quirk fantasy movie involving a quest to destroy a ring. The movie had been captivating but the plot had been a little slow for the young child and he'd passed out before he could finish watching the movie. He was having regrets about not finishing it as he stared at Hirano-sensei's ears.
"Hello class, I hope you've enjoyed your summer break! Please settle down into your seats while we do the morning announcements. I know it's already halfway through the year but we've got ourselves a well-recommended transfer from Shizuoka Prefecture," Hirano-sensei began, quieting down the whole class as she spoke, before turning to Izuku," why don't you go ahead and tell the class a little bit about yourself?"
Izuku nodded, before stepping forward and giving a bow in greeting.
"Hello everyone! My name is Midoriya Izuku. I am seven years old and one day I want to become a hero just like All Might. Please take care of me!" he said. There was a spattering of light clapping from a few students and Hirano-sensei.
"My, that's a great goal to have Midoriya-kun! Why don't you take a seat next to Kirishima-kun while I prepare our activities for today?" Hirano-sensei said, pointing to an empty seat next to a boy with a set of black hair that was rather spiky on his head, who had jumped out of his chair and waved excitedly at Izuku at the mention of his name," Kirishima-kun, could you be a dear and show Midoriya around the school for the day?"
"Yeah, of course, sensei!" Kirishima replied, sitting back down in his seat and turning to look at Izuku, who had by now taken his seat next to the energetic kid.
"Yo! I'm Eijiro Kirishima, but Eijiro is fine by me. Dude, you were so manly up there, saying you want to be a hero! What's your quirk, mine is hardening!" Kirishima said excitedly, showing off his quirk by hardening his hand.
Izuku was quite surprised by this sudden introduction by Eijiro.
"Oh, please call me Izuku then," he quickly replied, before looking starstruck as he looked at Kirishima's activation of his quirk," woah that's such a cool quirk. You can be a hero with that. I call my quirk Dojutsu. As you can probably guess, I'm not blind, but when I activate my quirk my eyes get enhanced. My right eye can see through walls and gives me three hundred and sixty degrees of vision and my left eye does well, so far it lets me copy stuff, enhance my perception, and lets me memorize whatever I read. I'm still figuring it all out, I only awakened my quirk a couple of weeks ago."
"A couple of weeks ago? Wow, that's pretty late, but it seems pretty worth it. It's an awesome quirk! You'll be a great hero with it!" Kirishima replied, bouncing in his seat.
"Yeah. Everyone thought I was quirkless before. It's kinda why we moved, the bullying there was pretty bad," Izuku admitted shyly, wondering how Kirishima would react. He saw the boy frown and thought the worst for a moment before Eijiro spoke.
"Dude, that is not manly. Quirks are cool and all, but that doesn't mean you can go around being mean to those that don't have one," he muttered, almost causing Izuku to break into tears at the words.
The rest of his school day was quite uneventful, Kirishima led Izuku around the school to all the places of importance. Where to go to the bathroom. The lunchroom. The playground. The library. The school office.
They eventually settled on having lunch on the roof, which had a few picnic tables and was surrounded by safety fencing. It gave them a great view of Ichinimiya and they talked about all their favorite heroes while up there.
"Nah, man. All Might is cool, but for me, Crimson Riot is the manliest hero, for sure!" Kirishima said, a grin on his face as he talked about his favorite hero.
"Crimson Riot? Oh yeah, is it 'cause he's got a hardening quirk like you do?" Izuku asked, agreeing with Kirishima that Crimson Riot was indeed a good hero, just nowhere on All Might's level.
"Nah, it's cause he's a fearless hero. He always jumps into danger, even when his quirk isn't suited for the job. It's what makes him a real man," Kirishima praised, pumping his fist.
Izuku couldn't help but give Kirishima a grin. Despite his eccentricities, somehow he could tell that they were going to be great friends.
The two children spent the rest of their lunch break talking about heroes, before returning to class. At the end of the day, Izuku was quite happy to have made so many new friends - with Kirishima being the nicest of the lot he'd met.
When Inko picked him up from school, she was relieved to see that Izuku had a smile on his face and was talking to another boy of similar age.
"Hey Izuku, who is this?" she asked, curious to learn about her son's newest friend.
"Oh, hey mom, this is my friend Kirishima Eijiro!" Izuku said, with Kirishima giving a quick bow in greeting.
"Hey, Midoriya-san. It's nice to meet you," Kirishima said, keeping a respectful tilt to his voice.
"Nice to meet you as well Kirishima-kun. Are you friends with my son?" Inko asked, curious to see if she should expect company soon. Bakugo might have ruined Izuku's chances of normalcy at Naboo Elementary School but that wouldn't be the case here. She wanted her son to have as many friends as he could.
"Yes, ma'am. We're in the same 2nd grade class," Kirishima replied excitedly,
"That's great to hear. Have you lived in Ichinomiya long? We've only recently moved here from Mustafu. Perhaps you'd like to stop by on the weekend and show Izuku around the town?" Inko asked.
"Oh, yeah! That sounds like some fun! Can I have your phone number so my mom can talk to you about it?" Kirishima asked. After the exchange of information, the two new friends said their goodbyes, Kirishima heading to the playground to wait. According to him, his mother was always about an hour late leaving work so he usually just hung around on the playground or in the library until she arrived.
As the two Midoriya got into the car, Izuku couldn't help but feel more than a bit excited. The first day of his schooling had coincided with his first day at the ninjutsu dojo. As they pulled away from the school, they drove for several minutes into the more remote section of town. This dojo wasn't too far from their home, secluded away in some trees. Exiting the car, both Midoriyas were surprised at the size of the compound.
A large stone fence blocked off much of the size of the minka, it was only after they walked past the fence, did the true enormity of the compound made itself clear. A small forest led the way up to the Minka, obscuring much of the garden, if there even was one to begin with. As far as Izuku could tell, the trees went right up to the house. Walking along the path incurred a sense of foreboding to Izuku, it felt like he was being watched. He now walked alone, his mom saying that the instructor had been firm that only the trainee could enter the compound properly, so she'd decided to wait in the car. The shadows of the trees, the way they loomed over him, the way they sending whistled - it was all spine-tingling.
A creak of a far-off branch caused Izuku to freeze, he wasn't alone. He snapped his head in that direction but only saw a slight shadow running deeper into the forest. Instantly, he activated his quirk, spotting a person dressed in a shinobi shozuku watching his movements - but not from the direction of the sound. While the sound had come from Izuku's right, the person watching him was on the left side of the trees, camouflaging expertly with the foilage and shadows that only his quirk pathway network was the reason Izuku could see him.
Calming down, Izuku continued on the path to the dojo. Eyes watching the right side of the path for any sound while using his Byakugan to keep tabs on the ninja watching him. He was almost to the door when he saw the ninja reach into a pocket and pull out what looked to be a few throwing stars. It was an action that took only half a second, but Izuku knew what they were for. As the throwing stars flew out of the man's hand, he hit the floor. With a thud, Izuku heard the sound of the stars hitting the door and then thunking to the ground. None of them pierced the door. They were all rubber.
In the split second it took him hesitating to get up and flee from his attacker, Izuku had failed to account for the ninja attacking him. Instantly, he was bound in metal wire, making it impossible to move very much at all.
"Interesting quirk, I knew I had been spotted after I caused that noise in the forest, but your reaction time to me throwing these rubber stars was adequate. Good instinct kid," a gruff, older male voice spoke.
Izuku looked up at his assailant, surprised that the man who had taken him down looked to be in his 90s. The metal wire slackened around him, as the old man pulled down his face mask and looked him over.
"The name is Kamihara Shin. I'm the master of this dojo. You'll be my newest and last student for a while. That's the one criterion I have for students, if they can make it to the door without taking a hit, I'll teach them what I know.
Dumbfounded, Izuku just watched the old man stroll into his home. He stopped when Izuku didn't immediately follow him.
"C'mon, kid. It's impolite to keep your elders waiting," he called out lazily.
"Right, sensei!" Izuku replied, getting his bearings and hurrying after his new teacher.
Kamihara Shin was an interesting old man. Ninjutsu had been passed down through his family for generations. Kamihara-sensei's family were trained ninjas since the time that the Satomi Clan ruled the Boso Peninsula. They carried out assassination, infiltration, and espionage on orders of their shogun, and maintained their traditions in the event they were ever needed once again. With the fall of society, much of old Japanese culture was lost, but the Kamihara clan had managed to remain isolated and now used their ninjutsu to train heroes.
"Now, you're seven at the moment. Your mother has been adamant that you wish to pursue a life in heroics. I would like an explanation of all the facets of your quirk," Kamihara said, voice stern as Izuku nodded and got onto the training mats.
"I call my quirk Dojutsu - Sharingan and Byakugan. My right eye is a Byakugan, it provides me with an increased field of vision in 360 degrees, that goes through walls and can even go as far as to allow me to see the internals of a person's body," Izuku said, receiving a nod from Kamihara as he took in the information," the Sharingan, it enhances my perception of whatever it can directly see. Everything moves slower, I can predict actions based on muscle movements, and provides whatever I see to me as both photographic and muscle memory."
"Interesting…," Kamihara said as he rubbed his chin in thought, before looking at his student, "Midoriya, I've gotten an Edgeshot figurine somewhere in this house, use your Byakugan to find it."
Izuku was startled by the command and gave a firm nod. Taking a breath, he activated his quirk. The moment his quirk activated, Izuku began to take in all his surroundings. However, he noticed something. Kamihara-sensei's body was being watched by his Sharingan, and his sensei was tensing. He saw the action before it happened, he reached across to a wooden training katana and leaped to his feet with an ease that shouldn't have been possible on such an old body, before sprinting at Izuku. The Sharingan saw him coming from a while away, but in real-time the movements were almost too quick. It took all of Izuku's will to move his body away just in time before taking a hit.
"Good, now move quicker. You're quirk allows me to see me coming, but it seems your body can't quite keep up can, it? I'll continue attacking until you've found that figurine, you'll need to split your focus now Midoriya," Kamihara cackled, and Izuku couldn't help but sweatdrop at his sensei's energy. However, he kept light on his feet, while he continued to scan all around with his Byakugan. A sharp pain almost caused him to lose concentration, as his arms were whacked by the sword that Kamihara had swung at him.
"Move faster, Midoriya!"
"Yes, sensei!" Midoriya replied, steeling his gaze and moving even more quickly. Izuku stayed light on his feet, dodging, rolling, and diving, before finally finding that figurine.
"Master bedroom, on top of your wardrobe," he gasped, trying to catch his breath. Kamihara gave Izuku a grin as he lowed his Katana.
"Good, I wasn't even moving as fast as these old bones allow but you managed to avoid quite a few hits."
Izuku was horrified by the fact this man could move even faster.
"Listen up Midoriya, the first step with your training will be using that technique of yours to copy how I move. You won't be able to go as fast as me but you had to have noticed that I hardly made a sound. Ninjas were stealthy assailants in the night, you'll need to step in a certain manner to emulate that stealthiness. Then I'll talk to you about the four forms of jutsu you'll learn under me. Each time we meet, we'll focus on one part of the four, until you reach a level of mastery and skill where all three will be used in our lessons," Kamihara said to the panting Izuku.
"First, there is Genjutsu. This aspect of ninjutsu focuses on how to mess with our opponent's mind. Why do you think warriors of old went into battle dressed as demons? It was to inspire fear. Messing with emotions and our enemies' senses are all part of being a good ninja, we remain balanced while unbalanced our opponents."
"Then there is Kuji Kuri, the mental aspect of ninjutsu. This part is more focused on balancing ourselves. Using the philosophy of hand seals to aid in our meditation and preparing for missions and battle."
"Next, is Bukijutsu. Ninjas of old used various tools for infiltration, espionage, and assassination. I will show you how to wield ninja weapons, use a disguise kit to make you look like an entirely different person, and what each other tool we ninjas tend to have at our disposal is for."
"Finally, there is Taijutsu. This focuses more on training the body and the different forms we use in fights as well as conditioning the body for stealth, flexibility, and agility. You might find this surprising but some of the first things I'll be showing you is parkour, to teach you how to move around the natural environment easily while keeping your momentum."
Izuku was surprised by all there was regarding ninjutsu but nodded eagerly. He was prepared to learn it all if it meant that he could be a great hero someday.
"Alright, sensei. I'm ready to begin!" Izuku said, pumping his fist in excitement.
"Hmmm, nope. Not today," Kamihara spoke, almost causing Izuku to face fault to the floor, "Today was just to check to see if you were even worthy of being a student and to introduce ourselves. Our time is almost to an end on that as well. Instead, take a practice gi home with you. Next time come with a gi in a gym bag, I have a changing room you can use so you don't have to get your regular clothes all dirty."
"Alright, then sensei! I'll see you again in two days," Izuku said happily, excited that he'd been allowed to train under the guidance of the man.
"Very well then Midoriya," Kamihara said, a grin on his face as he watched the youth run off, gi in hand, and out the door, he went. With a sigh, he turned towards the depths of his home and walked until he reached his bedroom, and opened the door to the inside. His phone was resting on his desk, with a new notification blaring on the home screen as he opened it.
Kamihara Shin'ya: So? How'd it go.
Kamihara Shin: He'll do. Only managed to hit him once when I was testing how good his quirk worked. And boy, does he have an awesome quirk.
Kamihara Shin'ya: Oh?
Kamihara Shin: Yeah, the kid's got magic eyes. Can scout out a whole house while splitting his attention and seeing, and probably copying, all my attacks as they come before I hit him. The only reason I hit him at all is cause his body can't keep up with what he sees at all.
Kamihara Shin'ya: Interesting…
Kamihara Shin: Hey, the brat is just seven you can't possibly be considering.
Kamihara Shin'ya: Of course not, maybe in a few years he'll be ready then. We always could do with another junior intern at my agency.
Kamihara Shin: The kid hasn't even survived a year of my training and you're already talking about recruitment.
Kamihara Shin'ya: Do you think he will?
Kamihara Shin:...
Kamihara Shin'ya: ???
Kamihara Shin: ugh, yes brat.
Kamihara Shin'ya: Point to me then. Now what do you want for dinner?
Kamihara Shin: Whatever's good.
With an exasperated sigh, Kamihara Shin couldn't help but look up to his wardrobe and give a fond smile at the Edgeshot figurine displayed there proudly, the simple autograph on the base plate of the figure sparking quite a bit of joy within the older man as he looked it over.
Chapter 4: Learning the Ninja Way of Life
Life continued for Izuku Midoriya at a normal pace for the next several years.
Under the advisement of Kamihara-sensei, he decided to postpone joining the karate dojo he'd been interested in. Students were expected to have a bit of martial arts training already before attending. The dojo served as a way to help people who already had some knowledge of martial arts to apply it in a day-to-day brawl or situation. After looking up some videos of the dojo, he could see that the publicized events, where students fought students, did indeed include more than what was typically offered through Karate instruction.
"Kid, you made a good choice of dojos. My Taijutsu will show you the forms of a few well-known martial arts: Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Wrestling, and Karate. However, I don't have any other students for you to learn how to use these styles practically in the field. A couple of years training with me and you'll be able to go toe-to-toe with the new entrants at that dojo."
"Sensei, I understand why I might need Karate, Judo, and Muay Thai, but why Wrestling and Jiu Jitsu," Izuku had asked.
"With Karate and Muay Thai, you can keep your enemies at a distance and counteract with your whole body when there is an opening. With Judo, you'll be using their strength against them. However, what happens if a villain gets the drop on you, hmm? Next thing you know you're on the ground. Your best attacks with Muay Thai and Karate? Gone! With your enemy on top of you, there is no momentum or strength to redirect! Judo becomes useless too! Therefore you must know how to survive on the ground, how to escape a grapple or tousle on the floor, and how to incapacitate a villain with a hold. You may think hero work is glorious, but sometimes it'll be either you or the villain. When that happens Midoriya, don't be afraid to break an arm. Chokeholds are discouraged by the Hero Association, but in a life-or-dead battle, you do what you need to survive. No hero is infallible, not even All Might."
They ended that session early, Izuku was distraught by the idea that his favorite hero, All Might, had been forced to kill. Arriving home he looked up villain deaths caused by heroes and was surprised by the statistics. In events where heroes were met with deadly force by villains, 40% of villains were killed, and of the remaining 60%, only 10% were captured without injury to themselves.
Heroes with flashier quirks or quirks more destructive in nature often had higher kill counts. All Might had 1 on his record, although records of the villain he had killed were almost impossible to find. Online forums speculated widely about what it might be, from accidentally killing someone when he was young and his quirk acted out, to a government conspiracy about an underworld boogieman. Each theory was as outrageous as the next, unfortunately, so Izuku wasn't sure what to believe.
Heroes like Endeavor had higher kill counts, in the double digits actually, but most of those were easy to track down, although only three of those deaths occurred at the scene of the crime the villains were committing. Burns became easily infected, and the severity of the burns Endeavor inflicted often meant those who were killed didn't die right away or in a very painless manner, often dying from the infection that set in while in recovery.
Still, it had been an eye-opening experience for Izuku, who had taken Kamihara-sensei's words a lot more seriously from that point on.
Kamihara-sensei was a rigorous sensei. When meditating, he would ask Midoriya introspective philosophical questions or present him with moral dilemmas. The moral dilemmas were more complicated ones to answer. They would usually be presented when Izuku was in the deepest throes of his meditation. According to Kamihara-sensei, Izuku needed to be able to quickly think about what to do in a high-stress situation while remaining in balance with himself. Some of these moral dilemmas got Izuku to think about what he could do to be a better hero.
As he got better at navigating the moral dilemmas, they eventually evolved into high-stress scenarios. Villain attacks where large amounts of civilians were in danger and how to navigate them with the least amount of casualties, scenarios where he was taking on multiple villains at once, scenarios where he was caught in an infiltration mission, and many more. Izuku had to navigate them while trying to keep an internal balance between his rational thoughts and his emotional responses. It was tough for the seven-year-old to admit that he wouldn't be able to save everyone if they were in danger from a villain, and, unfortunately for Izuku, he had tried to at first in many of his scenarios.
"Midoriya, you do not have the strength and speed of All Might. You do not have the firepower of a strong hero like Ryuuku or Endeavor. Nor do you have the same versatility as heroes like Hawks or Edgeshot. Play to your strengths. You're Byakugan can scout out battle zones for civilians a lot more easily than any of the heroes I just mentioned, while your Sharingan will be good for dealing with villains who are on the slower side, at least until you get your speed up."
Other than that, Izuku found that he quite enjoyed Kuji Kuri. He practiced the meditation at home before bed, and it'd helped with keeping any bad dreams away and helped him sleep a lot easier. The hand motions, while Izuku initially failed to see their benefits, he noticed began to help build the dexterity of his hands and fingers, allowing them to stretch in ways he wouldn't have been able to imagine before. These daily practices of hand signs proved invaluable when they started Taijutsu training.
Taijutsu training was much more rigorous. It didn't involve a lot of sparring, at least not at first. First, it was just learning how to fall correctly, using the momentum of your fall to carry you to your feet or to reduce the impact. Then balance and flexibility were focused on. At one point they even went to a trampoline park and got Izuku to practice maintaining coordination while flipping through the air. From there it escalated to learning how to navigate an environment, and parkour was added into the mix. Rolling to reduce the impact of a jump, efficient navigation of the environment during a chase, wall-running to go up walls or travel along them to clear obstacles or gaps, and even jumping onto precise locations at a distance. Even quick thinking and reaction speed were improved upon.
It was only when Kamihara-sensei deemed him adequate that he started to be shown forms. With his Sharingan, the forms came very easily. Izuku was shown once and he could replicate them perfectly. Thus, when they began to spar, there was a focus on application instead of technique. The Sharingan gave Izuku great technique but the application was foreign to the young boy. He'd never been in an even fight before, he didn't consider Bakugo beatdowns to be even fights at least. Therefore the spars helped Izuku learn how to use the forms. Frequently, Kamihara-sensei would get his busy grandson to come and spar with him.
Kamihara Shin'ya was a nice young man in his mid-twenties. His hair was silver, but Izuku suspected it was that color by design and not due to his quirk or age. Shin'ya-sensei had an easy-going sense about him, often arriving late to a session with grocery bags in hand. He worked in Tokyo proper and only occasionally visited his grandfather, which explained why he was often absent. Izuku suspected he was a pro hero but couldn't tell just who it was. The quirk pathway system was fairly developed, more so than even Kamihara-sensei's, suggesting constant use and extensive quirk training. Shin'ya-sensei, as he had insisted he be called to differentiate himself from his grandfather, was a skilled master of ninjutsu who always managed to get the drop on Izuku when his Byakugan wasn't active. He was quick, nimble, and exceedingly fast in such a way that Izuku wasn't quite sure if he had some sort of enhancement quirk. He suspected it wasn't the case, as Kamihara-sensei's quirk was something called "2-D image", which let him flatten his body onto a 2-D Surface as long as that object had a large enough surface area to contain his body. It was a pretty awesome stealth quirk that came with-
"Midoriya, focus!" Shin'ya-sensei barked, as he threw a punch that Izuku had to struggle to dodge. During spars he wasn't allowed to use his quirk most of the time, the reasoning was sound to Izuku. His Dojutsu, while an amazing quirk, was limited in the sense that it skewed Izuku's sense of perception. If Izuku grew used to fighting with only his quirk activated, he'd struggle in situations when he was blinded or couldn't keep his quirk activated for prolonged periods. It was better to have his body build up its natural speed, before including the benefits the Sharingan granted in terms of Izuku's enhanced perception.
Izuku found a lot of the fighting styles to be a bit more unnatural for him. By his nature, he wasn't very confrontational, choosing a more defensive fighting style focused on evasion and quick hits to wear down the opponent, before finishing when a decisive opening appeared that allowed for a big hit.
Bukijutsu training was a different experience for Izuku. He was unsure if using weapons was ideal for a hero, and he even brought it up with Kamihara-sensei.
"Listen, kid, just because you have a sword or a knife in hand, doesn't mean you have to resort to deadly force with it from the start. Use that head of yours and think for a moment, a knife is a good tool to have in hand to put villains on the defensive, and there are plenty of places on the body that won't kill someone right away. Know where the major arteries and internal organs are and you'll be able to use them effectively on a villain without going for the brutal option from the start. Not only that but a knife is a handy tool just a general, helping you escape bindings or cut away pieces of the environment might need to make use of in a survival situation."
Bukijutsu was a large category to cover.
The first thing they began with was focusing on human biology. Where the internal organs were, where the major arteries were, and which locations were susceptible to blunt force trauma. They even covered how to treat different types of wounds, how to apply basic first aid, and even resuscitate someone with CPR. This helped alleviate Izuku's worries about using weapons somewhat.
After that came Shurikenjutsu, they spent quite a lot of time on this section. Izuku was taught how to handle a kunai, which functioned very similarly to a dagger, how to throw one accurately, and even ways to use it in survival situations. He learned to throw shuriken and hyper-density seals as well. Izuku ended up preferring the shuriken to the hyper-density seals. The seals were a pain to carry around, and until Izuku built up some strength, they were harder to throw as well. Sure Shin'ya-sensei had shown him how powerfully hitting a strong hit could go with them, but they lacked any way to manipulate them after they were thrown. They were hard-hitting, but their trajectory varied little while in flight, always a straight line that was difficult to manipulate with anything other than ninja wire. Shuriken in comparison were much easier to manipulate, and with his Sharingan, Izuku was easily able to chain multiple shuriken to bounce off each other in mid-air to hit other targets, or even act as an improvised bola with some ninja wire.
When given the choice between Kenjutsu and Bojutsu, Izuku decided learning the bo staff would be more applicable to hero work. There weren't very many situations in hero work where a sword was applicable. A bo staff was safer to use when taking down villains, and Izuku was already brainstorming the additional features he could incorporate into one. It wouldn't be a stretch to have a tazer on the ends of the staff or even have a bo staff that, with some clever engineering, could swap into a pair of tonfas. He'd certainly seen crazier support items for heroes. Granted Izuku had to learn the tonfas at home and on his own time, as they weren't traditionally used in ninjutsu.
For his Genjutsu training, Izuku was surprised by some of the tactics he was trained in. He was shown how to operate circuit breakers to cut the power in a building, cutting off the sense of sight in the process for villains. How to mix drugs and poisons that were tasteless and would knock a person unconscious, utilize explosions to affect someone's hearing, glue traps, and slimes to mess with their sense of touch and even smell was used as a weapon. Fragrances that would make him come off as approachable, or scents that could hide his scent from those who were following him.
The final bit of Genjutsu training, involved messing with a person's emotions. Izuku had to learn to analyze people's personalities for emotions to exploit.
"People who are angry or facing inner turmoil and self-doubts are not balanced Midoriya. Maintain your balance, and skew the balance they try to maintain. Even if you must say something hateful to provoke, or cruel to discourage. Once the enemy is unbalanced, they have let their emotions control their actions. No longer will you be facing an opponent of sound mind, no, it will be a fight of beast and man," Shin'ya-sensei had said, after a spar where Izuku had given in to his frustrations.
The final bit Izuku was taught was infiltration and espionage.
"There will be times when villains will organize or are covering their tracks very well. In these cases, you may be forced to go undercover kid. Just being around them might net you some good information, but the real gold mine is going to be on their devices. A lot of that is password protected but with a good brain like yours, learning to hack should be no issue. Of course, ya gotta make sure to hide your identity as well. Shin'ya will teach you all about that, I'm too old to be putting on makeup," Kamihara-sensei had said when they reached this portion of the training.
While Izuku's training was rigorous, his life revolved around more than just getting stronger.
There was school after all.
Izuku and Eijiro were thick as thieves. While they both took their studies seriously, Izuku more than Kirishima, they knew how to have fun as well. The two boys were very well-liked by the staff at Daishi Elementary, and Izuku was surprised to find himself being one of the popular boys.
He'd blushed tremendously when he received a few Valentine's Day chocolates, most were obligatory of course, but one had been left on his desk from a secret admirer, and it had been well made as well.
This had sent the rumor mill going crazy for a few weeks, especially since no one could tell who had given the chocolate to Izuku.
While Izuku was quite young, he still knew the significance that such chocolate meant. Someone, probably a girl, liked him. Like, liked him liked him. It was quite surprising, and though he'd asked around, he'd never figured out just who had placed the chocolate heart on his desk.
Kirishima for his part, had simply grinned and exclaimed.
"Dude, whoever left you this chocolate, they've got to be super manly!"
At this moment, Izuku could have sworn he heard an 'eep' sound from the hallway, but when he glanced over, he hadn't seen anyone standing around or walking by.
When the chocolate hearts continued to appear over the years, Izuku knew that they had come from the same person, but had failed to figure out just who was giving him these hearts. All he knew was that they were always on his desk when he arrived at school each Valentine's Day.
One day, Izuku had decided to make his own chocolate heart. It was rather abnormal, as the girls were the ones who usually went through the effort of giving out the hearts. However, he was determined to thank the person who had held such strong feelings throughout the year, especially since it was their final year in elementary school.
Before leaving for school the day before Valentine's Day, he'd taken out his heart and left it at his desk. If the pattern held, then in the morning the person who had made the hearts would see it as they dropped it off. He left a tiny note on top of his parcel.
"To my secret admirer, I admire you too."
While Izuku had never met the person who made the hearts, he could respect that they had gone through all the effort to make those chocolates, without asking for anything in return. Sure he was a bit too young to be interested in anyone romantically, but it just felt right that he should leave such a note behind for his admirer.
In the morning, he found his gift had been received. With a simple, "Thank You!" scribbled on top of his latest gift. Izuku knew that with his Byakugan he could identify who had received his own chocolate heart, but had ultimately decided against it. This person was taking their time in approaching Izuku and he could respect that very much, besides, he would lie to himself if he admitted that he didn't enjoy the suspense that built each year his admirer went undiscovered. Izuku would wait until their confidence grew enough to approach him.
Izuku and Kirishima were hanging out on one busy autumn evening, Kirishima having been allowed to sleep over for the weekend. He'd carried a worried expression and had been taking glances at Izuku from time to time, obviously wanting to talk about something with his best friend but unsure how to bring it up.
It was only after the third time that Izuku had decimated him in a video game they were playing that Izuku finally broke the tension.
"Eji, you're worrying me. Three straight rounds against your main and you're playing about as well as if it was the first time you'd picked up the controller. Tell me what's up?" Izuku asked, curiosity and worry highlighted on his features.
Kirishima, for his part, sighed as he put the controller down and flopped onto his back.
"Dad got a promotion," Kirishima finally spoke, his voice in a weird tilt.
"Really?! Kirishima that's great" Izuku exclaimed in happy surprise before being cut off by Kirishima's next words.
"His company is offering a sweet deal on a high-rise in Shizuoka. We're moving during the winter break, I'll be going to Mustafa Private Middle School at the beginning of next term," Kirishima said, voice expression the dejection he felt. Eijiro and Izuku were both as close as brothers and to heart that they wouldn't be going to Middle School together was crushing both Eijiro up inside.
"...What?" Midoriya asked, confusion apparent on his face as it took him a few seconds to comprehend the life-changing sentences his best friend had just spoken.
"Yeah, same," Eijiro said, giving a humorless chuckle in response. The boys sat there in silence. Kirishima was waiting for Izuku's reaction, Izuku was sitting there contemplating.
"It isn't ideal but we may be able to meet up again on the weekends. I'll be heading into Chiba City to a new dojo come springtime on the weekends so maybe we can meet up then? It's not ideal but we can make it work. Our moms already have each other numbers, and mom was talking about getting me a phone as a Middle School present, so we can keep in contact and talk on the weekends, and -" Izuku's rambling was cut off, as Eijiro placed a hand over his mouth. An apologetic look came over Izuku's eyes as Eijiro looked at him, stupefied by the information Izuku was expelling.
"Wait…you're not…you're not sad?" Kirishima asked, a look of confusion coming over the other boy's features.
"Eji, of course I am. I won't get to see the one person I can call brother every day anymore. You're my best friend, and it's going to suck not having you in my Middle School classes, but there's still plenty of ways to keep in contact with each other. Shizuoka is a far train ride but not an impossible one, I'm sure Mom will let me come over every other weekend or something. A little distance won't tear down our friendship. I promise!" Izuku declared as Eijiro removed his hand.
Kirishima looked at Izuku quietly for a few moments, before tears started leaking from his eyes and down his face. Kirishima stretched over and hugged Izuku, as he cried into his friend's shoulder.
"H-Have I-I told you, just how manly you are Izu," Kirishima said as he pulled away, wiping the few stray tears left on his face away.
"Only once or twice today. It's how I knew besides your terrible gaming that something was wrong," Izuku readily admitted with a cheeky laugh. Kirishima couldn't help but bark out a laugh as well, giving Izuku's shoulder a soft punch as well, before the two returned to their gaming.
Their worries soon being left forgotten as they returned to their gaming. The two friends were sure that nothing would split their friendship apart.
Izuku ducked a kick sent at him by Shin'ya-sensei. This was his first ninjutsu lesson since his talk with Kirishima, and he wanted to go all out in a spar. Shin'ya-sensei had allowed the use of his quirk and had come at Izuku with a ferocity that Izuku hadn't been expecting, but their training had been paying off.
It was obvious that Shin'ya-sensei wasn't moving at full speed, those attacks were usually unavoidable. However, the speed he was moving was challenging Izuku. Sweat poured down the boy's face as he took in the two jabs Shin'ya-sensei was prepping, only moving his body aside in the nick of time as they brushed past his hair. It was strange to imagine that a blow like that a year ago would have hit him.
Taking advantage of the opening, Izuku had moved in on Shin'ya-sensei's exposed side, delivering a strong sidekick that put his teacher on the retreat. Shin'ya gave Izuku an approving nod before he sent a right cross at Izuku, but the tensing muscles in his legs meant a kick was inbound so it had to be a feint. As Izuku readied himself to reposition away from the kick, the expected kick never came and he was punched in the face instead, it likely being thanks to the headgear they were wearing that he wouldn't bruise.
"Those eyes can still be tricked Izuku, stay alert!" Shin'ya-sensei barked, as he gave Izuku time to recover. Izuku spent a few seconds panting on the ground, feeling frustrated that he'd let himself get caught by the double feint. He had to get stronger, he couldn't stay down. It was just him now. With Kirishima gone, soon I'll be alone again. I have to be strong so that no one calls me useless again!
The determination to keep fighting, the frustration in his weakness, the desperation to never be called useless again, and the utter love he felt for his brother in all but name Kirishima had mixed into a potent cocktail. One that Izuku would later be unable to explain. At that moment, the veins around his Byakugan swelled a little more, while a second tomoe wheeled out of his Sharingan.
It was a slight change, not immediately noticed by the older instructors, nor had Izuku even realized anything had happened.
At that moment, he just knew, that he was stronger.
He launched himself at Shin'ya-sensei, whose movements had become almost slow to Izuku. The tell of his actions was more obvious and broadcast to Izuku in a way that he saw Shin'ya-sensei's attacks coming seemingly an eternity before they happened. Izuku let out a roadhouse kick to put his sensei on the defensive, before closing in to deliver a quick jab.
While he wasn't moving any faster than usual, the newfound confidence he gained as he attacked, and the ease with which he was able to dodge, had surprised Shin'ya, leaving an opening for Izuku to exploit. Shin'ya ducked to the side to avoid the jab, and let out a startled gasp as a slight graze tore and numbed up his brachioradialis. At the exclaim of pain from his teacher, Izuku backed off, worried as for the first time he noticed that the quirk pathway system in his hands had been flaring up when they hit his sensei's arm. As he studied his sensei's arm, he noticed that the quirk pathway system wasn't circulating the same energy as freely as before.
Shin'ya for their part was more surprised than hurt by the attack. His arm was already starting to bruise, but he'd honestly received worse injuries in his day job. The pain from this strike was nothing in comparison.
"Relax, Midoriya. Just some bruising, I've had worse," Shin'ya said, trying to get his student - who looked on the verge of tears - to relax.
"But sir, your quirk pathway system. I think I hurt it!" Izuku exclaimed, looking ready to bawl.
Shin'ya couldn't help but look into his student's eyes, confused by what he meant by that.
"Quirk what no-," whatever Shin'ya had been about to say was caught off as he noticed the change in his student's eyes. It was subtle, but it was there. His Byakugan had the veins around it swelling much larger than before and the Sharingan had another tomoe.
"Midoriya…"
"Yes, sensei?"
"Congrats, you've undergone a quirk awakening."