"The injured need to head to the hospital."
"The rest of you, change your clothes and get ready."
The exam was over.
The dust settled slowly across the battlefield, and the sound of explosions faded, replaced by murmurs and heavy breathing from the students.
Gang Orca stood in the middle of the wrecked arena, brushing dust off his white suit, which had torn in several places. He looked at Todoroki and Inasa, standing a few steps away from him.
"In the end, you two managed to work together." Orca's voice was deep, but his expression stayed firm. "But don't forget what happened before that. In a real battle, that first mistake would have cost lives that could never be brought back."
Todoroki lowered his eyes to the ground in silence, while Inasa bit down on his lower lip with obvious regret. Both of them knew that the pro hero's words, and Zoro's words before that, had been entirely correct.
On the other side, Bakugo was still boiling with rage.
"Hey! Moss head!" He stormed toward Zoro. "How dare you take the prey for yourself?! I was gathering all those annoying victims while you got to enjoy the fight!"
Zoro turned toward him with one eye half open.
"I wasn't enjoying anything. I was cleaning up a mess." Zoro said it coldly as he walked past. "And your shouting is annoying. Save your energy, the exam's already over."
"What did you just say?!" Small sparks exploded across Bakugo's palm, but Kirishima grabbed him from behind fast. "Calm down, Bakugo! This isn't the time to fight, we need to gather for the results!"
A short while later, hundreds of remaining students gathered in the large arena. The atmosphere was thick with tension. Some held their own hands nervously, others fixed their eyes on the giant dark screen ahead of them.
Yukumiro Mera climbed onto the platform. He looked exhausted as always, his eyes sunken from lack of sleep.
"Good work, everyone." Mera began in his tired voice. "I'll announce the results shortly, but first, let me explain the scoring system."
Silence settled across the hall.
"In this exam, we used a point deduction system. Every candidate started with one hundred points. We observed your actions, your decisions, and your general conduct during rescue and combat. If you made mistakes, points were deducted. Anyone whose score dropped below fifty fails."
He paused, then pointed toward the massive screen.
"The names of those who passed will now appear in alphabetical order. Look for your names."
A sharp chime rang out.
The massive screen lit up all at once, and hundreds of names appeared.
Chaos broke out across the hall. Everyone shouting, scanning the lines with their eyes.
"Roronoa Zoro." Zoro murmured, sweeping the screen with his gaze. It didn't take long. His name was clearly there. He let out a light, relieved sigh. "Good. One more step done."
Nearby, Midoriya jumped into the air, tears of joy filling his eyes. "I passed! My name's here! I actually passed!" He hugged Uraraka and Iida, who had also passed.
But in another corner of the arena, the silence was suffocating.
Todoroki stood frozen, his eyes widening gradually as he scanned the screen for the fourth time.
His name wasn't there.
Beside him, Inasa stared at the screen with the same shock.
"I'm... not there." Inasa murmured, before dropping his head hard, his usual smile vanishing completely.
Zoro's harsh words from the arena came back to Todoroki's mind. The stupid one isn't the one who makes a mistake, it's the one who makes the same mistake twice. Todoroki clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white. They had both realized the truth too late. Their eventual teamwork hadn't erased the fact that they had put the victims' lives at risk because of their pride and their score settling. They had failed.
Midoriya turned and fixed his gaze intently on Todoroki, frozen beside him.
A voice from a distance cut through that moment. "Todoroki!"
Inasa approached with steady steps, his expression firm as he closed in on Todoroki.
"I apologize!"
He dropped his massive frame suddenly to his knees, slamming his forehead against the hard ground with a force loud enough to be heard. Then he shouted in his booming voice, delivering his apology with clumsy, exaggerated sincerity, completely indifferent to the pain.
"It's my fault you didn't pass!"
"I apologize!"
Todoroki answered calmly. "No. It's not just your fault. I'm the reason you didn't pass either."
"But because of your direct confrontation with me, and what Zoro told us, I understood some things too."
Beside them, Sero and Ashido reacted with visible surprise.
"Todoroki..." Ashido said, staring at him in disbelief. "You didn't pass?!"
Sero added, "Did they fail two of the best among us?"
Elsewhere, there was a different kind of silence. A terrifying one.
Bakugo stood rigid. His red eyes scanned the screen, searching the B section for his name.
Nothing.
He searched again. Nothing.
"Bakugo..." Kirishima whispered nervously, noticing his friend's reaction.
Bakugo leaned forward slightly. He didn't shout. He didn't blow anything up. He was trembling in silence.
Kaminari turned to him and said with light sarcasm, "Bakugo! You might want to reconsider that foul mouth of yours. Words matter, you know."
Bakugo answered in a rough voice thick with fury. "Shut up. I'll kill you."
Mera's voice returned through the microphone, cutting through the murmuring crowd in the great hall.
"Your result papers will be distributed now. You'll find your scores and a detailed breakdown of every point deducted." He paused. "Please read them carefully."
Assistants in official uniforms began moving through the students, handing out the papers.
Bakugo took his paper and stared at it in terrifying silence.
Result: Failed.
Reasons for deduction: Aggressive behavior toward victims, use of inappropriate language (saying "save yourselves"), frightening the injured, failure to properly assess priorities.
Bakugo crushed the paper in his hand. He slowly lifted his eyes toward Midoriya, who was celebrating his success, then shifted his gaze toward Zoro, standing calmly examining his own paper.
Deku passed. And that idiot moss head passed. While I failed?
Bakugo felt his pride being crushed slowly beneath his own feet.
As for Zoro, he stared at his paper with his brows knit together.
Result: Passed (58 points).
Reasons for deduction:
Minus fifteen points: Excessive time lost and a disastrous delay in locating victims or reaching the evacuation zone.
Minus fifteen points: Complete lack of communication skills and failure to provide reassurance. Facial expressions terrified the injured, and no calming words were offered at any point.
Minus twelve points: Rough physical handling. The victim was carried in an entirely uncomfortable manner (potato sack carry method).
Committee note: The candidate came very close to failing. What saved him and kept his score above the fifty point threshold was his avoidance of hostile language, along with a flawless tactical and combat performance in the second stage, his protection of the rear line, and his decisive intervention that prevented victims from being harmed due to a dispute among his peers.
Zoro exhaled quietly, then folded the paper and put it in his pocket.
"Fifty eight points." He murmured to himself. "They docked points because I didn't smile and the road was complicated. Doesn't matter. The result's the same. I passed."
"You're kidding me!"
Zoro turned to find Bakugo standing right behind him, anger veins nearly bursting across his forehead. Bakugo had caught a glimpse of Zoro's paper before he folded it.
"How does an idiot moron like you, who got lost and carried victims like sacks, pass with fifty eight points, while I fail?!" Sparks flew from his palms.
Zoro glanced at him with one half open eye, unbothered by the outburst.
"Because I brought them back alive and never told them to save themselves." He answered with dead cold flatness. "Anger won't change your result. Accept it."
Zoro's calm words poured fuel straight onto Bakugo's fire, but before he could explode, Mera's voice returned, pulling everyone's attention back.
"Those of you who passed, from this point on, and strictly during emergencies, you may use authority just like professional heroes. In other words, fighting villains, saving people from crimes or accidents."
"You may act on your own judgment in those situations without a hero's guidance. However, this means every action you take carries a responsibility toward society."
"I'm sure you're all aware that the great hero All Might has exhausted his full power. His presence played a massive role in suppressing crime."
"But with that deterrent gone, disorderly people will certainly emerge. The balance will shift, and as the world changes significantly, you, the young, will one day become society's center."
"Therefore, all of you should aim to become ideal heroes, great enough to suppress crime yourselves."
While the students exchanged uneasy, tense looks under the weight of those words, Zoro's movement stopped entirely. Every trace of coldness or indifference vanished from his face. He lowered his head slightly, letting his hair shadow his eyes, and tightened his grip slowly around Wado Ichimonji's hilt until his knuckles turned white and a faint creak escaped the sheath. The air around him grew unbearably heavy, as though he carried a mountain across his shoulders.
The deterrent gone. The balance collapsing.
Fine.
That man chose sacrifice to pave the way for us. Let this new era come.
If All Might left a void in this world, I'll fill it with the edge of my blade. I'll prove his sacrifice wasn't wasted.
At that same moment, Todoroki stared into empty space with dim eyes, his features frozen as though carved from ice, while Inasa bowed his head hard, his eyes wide with a heavy regret tearing at his pride. Bakugo stood rigid, his face lowered, hair shadowing eyes that burned with contained fury, the veins in his neck nearly bursting from humiliation and weakness.
Then everything shifted when Mera's next words reached them.
"As for those of you who didn't find your names, don't lose hope."
Todoroki, Inasa, and Bakugo lifted their heads fast.
"Your path doesn't end here." Mera continued in his tired voice. "Based on our assessment, we found you possess considerable potential, but you lack fundamental elements related to conduct and cooperation. Therefore, the committee has decided to grant you a second chance. You'll undergo a special, intensive three month training program. If you complete it successfully, you'll be granted the license."
The look of despair in Todoroki and Inasa's eyes transformed into burning resolve. Neither of them was willing to give up. As for Bakugo, despite the second chance, he was boiling inside. Midoriya's success, Zoro's success, and his own failure had stirred a chaos inside him he could no longer suppress.
"You may choose to retake the exam in April instead, but..."
Before Mera could finish the sentence, Bakugo and Inasa cut him off, shouting at the same moment. "Of course!" "Please!" Todoroki stayed silent, but readiness and anticipation were plainly written across his face.
Behind them, Zoro glanced at the three with one half open eye, watching the sudden shift in their presence. Inasa's enthusiastic shout, the sharp focus returning to Todoroki's eyes, and Bakugo's savage stubbornness.
"Heh. Crying like the weak would have made you nothing but trash not worth looking at." Zoro said it with a tone closer to respect than mockery. "Since you refuse to stay down, show me what your pride is worth next time."
The provisional hero license exam had officially concluded.
As everyone carried their costume bags toward the bus to leave, Midoriya stood holding his license card between his hands, staring at it with intense focus, caught in a disbelief he could barely process.
He raised his phone with overwhelming joy. "I have to show this to my mom and to All Might as soon as possible!"
Zoro, walking toward the bus, turned his own card between his fingers with boredom, then shoved it into his pocket without care. He murmured with a faint sideways smile, "First step done. At least now I can carry my swords in the street without the police cracking my skull over their annoying laws."
Elsewhere, inside a dim, empty alley, the girl known as Kemi walked with light, graceful steps echoing softly against the asphalt. Then her body began melting, dripping like thick mud, shedding the fake shell to reveal Himiko Toga beneath it, in her usual school uniform, her unhinged smile showing off her small fangs, her cheeks flushed with sick fascination.
The phone rang. Rang again. Rang a third time.
Its sound broke the alley's stillness.
Toga answered lightly, and Mr. Compress's voice came through the speaker, asking:
"Where are you now? Did you complete the mission?"
Toga's smile widened further, and she raised her free hand toward the pale moonlight slipping between the buildings. Between her fingers, she toyed with a small, tightly sealed glass vial, one single drop of blood rolling inside it.
"I'm on my way back." She whispered, her voice dripping with obsession and delight, her eyes gleaming with fascination as she stared at the vial. "I got exactly what I came for. It's wonderful. So warm."
"Tomura-kun is going to be so happy."
.
.
For Advanced Chapters:
Zoro has already stepped into one of Musutafu's most dangerous districts alongside Yoroi Musha. With every step, they get closer to the legendary Black Blade he's been searching for. But what started as a simple investigation is slowly turning into something far bigger. Their search is leading them toward the first real trail connected to the Shie Hassaikai... and the road ahead is far more dangerous than either of them expects.
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Chapter 122: Deep in the Shadows
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