The bus engine hummed steadily as it rolled down the highway, carrying twenty aspiring heroes away from the safety of U.A. High.
Inside, the atmosphere was relaxed. The tension of the previous days—the battle trials, the media breach, and the rigorous training—seemed to melt away in the face of a simple field trip.
Madara Uchiha sat near the back, his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He was conserving his energy. He listened passively to the chatter around him, his mind drifting but alert.
"I say whatever comes to my mind," Tsuyu Asui said, turning her large, inquisitive eyes toward Izuku Midoriya. "Midoriya-chan, your quirk is a lot like All Might's."
Midoriya stiffened, sweating nervously. "H-Huh?! Y-You think so? But I... uh..."
"Wait a sec, Tsu," Eijiro Kirishima interjected, leaning forward with a grin. "All Might doesn't break his bones when he punches stuff! They're just both super-strength types."
Kirishima hardened his arm into a jagged rock. "My quirk is flashy, but it's kind of boring. It's good for punching, but it's not exactly 'Pro Hero' material like Todoroki's fire or Bakugo's explosions."
"Don't worry," Madara's voice cut in, though his eyes remained closed. "Flashy quirks often come with flashy weaknesses. A solid defense is rarely a bad thing."
Kirishima beamed. "Thanks, Uchiha! That means a lot coming from you!"
Tsuyu tapped her chin with a finger, turning her gaze toward the back row.
"Speaking of Uchiha-chan... you're a bit of a mystery, aren't you?"
Madara opened one eye. "Is that so?"
"Kero. Your fighting style doesn't look like something you learn in a gym," Tsuyu said bluntly. "And you have a scary aura. It's cool, but it feels... heavy. Like you've seen things we haven't."
The bus went quiet for a moment. Even Bakugo glanced back, though he quickly scoffed and looked away.
Madara looked at the frog-girl. She had good instincts.
"The world is a heavy place," Madara replied, his voice calm and cryptic. "I simply choose not to close my eyes to it."
"Alright, settle down back there," Aizawa called out from the front seat. "We're arriving."
The Unforeseen Simulation Joint (USJ).
The bus came to a halt. The students filed out, and immediately, their jaws dropped.
Standing before them was a colossal dome, easily the size of a stadium. Waiting at the entrance was a hero resembling an astronaut in a puffy white suit.
"It's the Space Hero, Thirteen!" Uraraka squealed, vibrating with excitement. "I love Thirteen!"
"Welcome, everyone!" Thirteen's voice was gentle and polite. "Come inside without delay."
As they entered the facility, the scale of it became apparent. It was an artificial world containing a shipwreck zone, a landslide zone, a mountain zone, a fire zone, and more.
"Incredible!" Midoriya gasped, pulling out his notebook. "It really is like a theme park for disasters!"
Thirteen gathered them near the central plaza, overlooking the vast training grounds.
"Before we begin, just one thing... or two... or three..." Thirteen held up a finger. "As you know, my quirk is 'Black Hole'. I can suck up anything and turn it to dust."
"It's an amazing quirk for removing debris and saving people!" Midoriya nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes," Thirteen said, the tone turning serious. "But it is also a power that can easily kill. Some of you have quirks like that, too."
Madara listened intently.
"In this superhuman society, quirks are certified and regulated, so we often overlook how dangerous they truly are," Thirteen continued. "One wrong move, and you can take a life. Today, you will learn how to use your powers not to harm, but to save. That is the essence of being a hero."
Madara nodded slightly.
(Power without control is just destruction. A valid philosophy.)
"That is all!" Thirteen bowed. "Let's study hard!"
"Yeah!" The class cheered.
But as the cheers echoed through the dome, the air suddenly changed.
Zzzzt.
The overhead lights flickered.
The water in the central fountain sputtered and died.
Madara felt it first.
A cold shiver ran down his spine. It was the same sensation he had felt in the cafeteria yesterday, but multiplied by ten. It was a dense, suffocating pressure.
(It's here.)
In the center of the plaza, down below the stairs, a small black dot appeared in mid-air.
It expanded, swirling into a massive, purple vortex of darkness.
"Gather together and don't move!" Aizawa shouted suddenly, his voice sharp and urgent. "Thirteen! Protect the students!"
"What's that?" Kirishima asked, squinting at the plaza. "Is this like the entrance exam where the lesson starts with a surprise?"
From the purple void, a hand reached out. Pale, thin, and covered in what looked like severed hands grasping his arms and face. A man with messy light blue hair stepped through.
Behind him, a hulking, bird-like monster with an exposed brain followed.
And behind them... dozens upon dozens of villains poured out like a swarm of insects.
"Don't move!" Aizawa put on his yellow goggles. "Those are villains!"
The Descent.
The word "Villains" hung in the air, freezing the blood of the students.
Midoriya took a step back, his face pale. "Villains? No way... how could they get into a hero school?"
"The sensor intrusion yesterday," Madara said, stepping forward while others stepped back. His voice was steady, devoid of fear. "They used the press to disable the sensors. They were waiting for this moment."
Momo looked at him, terrified. "Uchiha-san...?"
Madara pointed down at the horde. "Look at them. They aren't moving with the coordination of a trained unit. They are a mob. But the ones in the front... the Hand Man and the Bird Monster... they are different."
"Where is All Might?" The man with the hands (Shigaraki) rasped, scratching his neck. "We went through so much trouble to bring this crowd... and he's not here? Maybe he'll come if we kill a few kids?"
Aizawa's scarf began to float.
"Thirteen, start the evacuation! Try to contact the school!" Aizawa ordered. "Kaminari, try to use your quirk to signal for help!"
"Sensei!" Midoriya cried out. "You're going to fight them alone?! Even if you can erase their quirks, there are too many of them! Eraser Head's style is capturing after erasing... a head-on battle against a group is..."
"You can't be a hero with only one trick," Aizawa said simply.
Then, he jumped.
He dove into the crowd of villains like a wolf among sheep. His capture weapon flew, his kicks landed with precision. He was fighting like a demon to buy time for his students.
"He's amazing..." Midoriya whispered.
"He is desperate," Madara corrected coldly. "He is targeting the weak ones to thin their numbers. But he is human. His eyes will dry out. His stamina will fade. He is fighting a losing battle to protect us."
The Scatter.
"We need to go! Now!" Iida shouted, ushering the class toward the exit.
They ran toward the massive doors. But before they could reach safety, the purple mist materialized in front of them, blocking their path.
It rose up, forming a towering wall of darkness with glowing yellow eyes.
"Nice to meet you," the mist (Kurogiri) said politely. "We are the League of Villains. It may be presumptuous of us, but we have invited ourselves into the home of heroes, U.A. High School, in order to have All Might, the Symbol of Peace, take his last breath."
The students froze.
"Thirteen!" Aizawa shouted from below, distracted.
"But it seems he is not here," Kurogiri continued. "Well, no matter. My role is to scatter you and torture you to death."
"Not if we blow you away first!"
Before anyone could stop them, Bakugo and Kirishima lunged forward.
"Bet you didn't see this coming!" Bakugo screamed, unleashing a massive explosion directly at the mist's "body."
BOOM!
Smoke filled the entrance.
"Did we get him?" Kirishima asked.
"No, you idiots!" Madara shouted, his composure cracking for a split second. He reached out to grab Momo's arm to pull her back. "Physical attacks don't work on gas! Get back!"
The smoke cleared. Kurogiri was unharmed.
"That was dangerous," the mist said. "You students truly are golden eggs. But your journey ends here."
The purple darkness expanded instantly, wrapping around the students like a dome.
"BEGONE!"
The world spun. Gravity vanished.
Madara felt the ground disappear beneath his feet. He saw Momo reaching out for him, terror in her eyes, before the darkness swallowed them all.
The Mountain Zone.
Wind whistled past Madara's ears as he fell through the air.
He opened his eyes. He was in freefall, about fifty feet above a jagged, rocky landscape.
(Teleportation,) Madara deduced instantly. (He separated the group to pick us off individually. Smart.)
He twisted his body in mid-air, spotting a flat plateau. He channeled energy into his legs to cushion the impact.
THUD.
He landed in a crouch, kicking up a cloud of dust. His landing was heavy, but controlled.
He stood up slowly, brushing the dirt off his uniform.
He looked around. He was in a canyon of steep cliffs and loose rocks. The "Mountain Zone."
"Heh... look what we have here," a rough voice sneered.
"Just a kid. Bad luck for you, falling right into our nest."
Madara looked up.
Surrounding him, perched on rocks and blocking the narrow paths, were about twenty villains. Some held crude weapons; others sparked with minor quirks. They looked eager. They looked hungry.
"We heard the plan was to kill All Might," one villain with spiky hair laughed, slapping a pipe into his palm. "But taking out a U.A. student is a nice bonus. Maybe we can hold him for ransom?"
"Nah, just kill him. It's faster."
They began to close in, circling him like a pack of hyenas cornering a rabbit.
Madara stood in the center of the circle. He didn't take a fighting stance. He just stood there, his hands hanging loosely by his sides.
His head was lowered, his hair shadowing his eyes.
"Hey, kid! You scared? Can't speak?" A villain lunged forward. "Die!"
Madara looked up.
In the shadows of the canyon, two crimson lights flared to life.
The Sharingan spun violently, three tomoe locking into place.
The villain froze mid-lunge, paralyzed by the sheer, overwhelming pressure that suddenly flooded the canyon. It wasn't just fear; it was the biological instinct of a prey animal realizing it had walked into the den of a predator.
"Scared?" Madara repeated the word softly.
A slow, terrifying smile spread across his face. It wasn't the polite smile he gave teachers, or the smirk he gave rivals. It was a smile of pure, unadulterated joy.
The air grew heavy. The temperature seemed to drop.
"For the first time since discovering my power..."
Madara stepped forward, and the villains instinctively stepped back.
"There are no teachers to stop me. No rules to hold me back. No 'heroes' to lecture me about restraint."
He cracked his knuckles, the sound echoing loudly off the canyon walls.
"You think I am trapped in here with you?"
Madara's red eyes widened in manic delight.
"No... You are all trapped in here with me."
The hunt began.