Retiring had never been the plan. Even after having passed on his quirk, Toshinori still had fight in him. The only problem was that his injuries had reached the point where his body shriveled up to a far less mighty form. In his own opinion, he looked more like a meth-head than a hero. Even when he was younger, he had been tall and muscular, so the shock of a new form was... extreme to say the least.

Night Eye had taken the news rather well, more relieved to find his mentor alive than he was worried about some quirk. It may have helped that he still had that naive, blind faith in Toshinori. The two became friends in a more direct sense, rather than just partners. They had always been close, but their line of work required a certain distance even among colleagues.

Gran Torino, on the other hand, seemed content to leave it at that. Their parting had not been violent, or loud, it just seemed to have happened. A slow decrease of their conversations led to silence between them. Not a chaotic one, but a hesitant one. Toshinori feared Gran Torino was disappointed, while Gran Torino did not think Toshinori looked at him as anything other than a mentor. It was a quiet loss, but one they surely felt. It was a natural disconnect.

It was why he sought to rekindle their relationship after all these years, wanting his obvious successor to be trained by Gran Torino as well. At least, that was what he told himself. In truth, Toshinori was a lonely man. Despite the fame being All Might brought, not many knew Toshinori. Even Night Eye had not truly known him until after he lost his quirk. He did not mind at the time, if only because he was more All Might than Toshinori. Now, however, he only really interacted his fellow teachers at U.A. and his students.

The house had not changed, the location and feeling it brought from him. Gran Torino was just as much a hardass as he remembered, he'd bet. "Uh, Hello?" He called, the door creaking open.

"Toshinori? What are you doing here?" Gran Torino stared at his old student from the couch, surprised at the sudden visit. "Come on in" There was no mention of the door being open. No one was stupid enough to rob Gran Torino. Those who were, were not smart enough to survive Gran Torino.

"I wanted to ask a favor, actually." He lied to himself. "I'm teaching at U.A. now"

"You? A teacher? You have changed." Gran Torino smirked, recalling the constant beatdowns he had to preform to set Toshinori's mind right.

"Yeah... But I can't really keep up with these kids anymore." He gestured towards his emaciated appearance, catching an understanding glint in his teacher's eye.

"I suppose I can help, but this came out of nowhere... Ah. I see. You found your successor, didn't you?" Gran Torino pointed at him. "And you want me to clean up your mess."

"I... have no regrets giving that kid One for All, having met him. But he still needs to learn more. I couldn't think of anyone else with as much experience with One for All." Toshinori gave a helpless shrug. "Besides, it's true. All Might is dead, and Toshinori just can't keep up with these kids."

Gran Torino had a lot to say about that, but refrained. It was a lesson Toshinori would have to learn himself. "Well, if it's you whose asking, I suppose. Even if it means dealing with snot-nosed brats, at least it'll pass the time." Sad truth was, Gran Torino had even less human interaction than Toshinori, and rather liked kids... Or at least, he liked giving them really painful lessons that would help them later in life.


Gran Torino, along with Toshinori, stood in front of Class 1-A, near the combat-training center. Granted, the combat-training center was just a building designed to be confusing yet sparse. It was entirely designed to mimic the feeling of a labyrinthine villain lair. "So, now that you've got your hero costumes, if you can call them that, let's go over what we are doing!"

Toshinori continued for Gran Torino. "Each team will have two people, each team facing one other as villains and heroes. The villains' goal will be to capture the heroes, or keep them busy for ten minutes. The heroes' goal will be to capture the villains, or grab the atomic bomb. Naturally, a fake. No life-threatening injuries, but do not worry too much about holding back. We will stop it if it goes too far."

After a bit of clarification, the first match was ready, though the contenders were... far from happy.

"Me and Deku are facing No-face and Shrimp?" Bakugo complained. "Thats not even a fight."

Izuku, though he remained silent because All Might, had to agree.

"Yeah, I don't want to die a virgin!" Apparently Mineta agreed as well.

Gran Torino snorted. "That is exactly the point. As much as you two are obscenely powerful, you probably only fought each other. You might be able to take each other's blows, but what will you do when one punch is too much for a villain? Meanwhile, it means these two will be facing a superior force and have to think tactically. It all depends on who learns faster."

Toshinori waved his arms. "The point of this test was for them to figure that out!"

"Why? If they can't even figure that much out, they shouldn't have tried joining the Hero course in the first place." Gran Torino spoke, harsh, but fair, as they both knew.


Despite neither Katsuki, nor Izuku using their quirks, the round lasted only five minutes, four of which was just finding the invisible girl. For whatever reason, Mineta had already been beaten before either of them touched him...


Despite the lacklustre nature of the first match, the rest seemed both intense and interesting. If nothing else, it gave both Katsuki and Izuku new rivals, though in vastly different areas and for vastly different reasons. Katsuki saw Shouto as a rival in raw power, while Izuku saw Momo as a rival in intelligence, something that was proven by her quick diagnosis of the first match.

As a bonus for Izuku, many of the other students displayed both their quirks, and their creativity. He was particularly interested in Ochako's quirk, much to Katsuki's continued smirking.

Gran Torino had little comments each fight, which proved more and more insightful the more one listened, but other than that nothing of note happened, leaving a strange sort of tension in the air, despite the exciting nature of the day.


It was only a few days later they realized it had been the calm before a storm.

The day started normally enough, although an unexpected election of class representatives had shaken them up the previous day, Momo and Kirishima seemed good enough that it was nothing too great. There was the press breaking in, but it was a footnote to the students. The real shock had been the sudden field trip the next day, to the USJ, which was almost certainly a copyright violation.

The first look inside had been exciting, and perhaps awe-inspiring. U.A. had one hell of a budget.

The next few seconds, everything went to hell. Hundreds of villains poured out of some black mist, so many different and violent quirks even Izuku had a hard time keeping track. They all heard the sudden pops that signaled Katsuki preparing explosions, and almost half the class became ready for a fight. They barely had a chance to protest when Aizawa jumped into the fray, taking on multitudes of villains at once, with a skill that left even Katsuki speechless.

Everything after that turned into a blur, the source of the mist appearing, Thirteen being wounded, and everyone being split up, with only a few remaining in the area.

Izuku dealt with the villains in the fire area easily enough, while Todoroki just froze the flood district, and Katsuki made the ruined-city district more authentic. The others, they would only hear about later.

By the time they reached the center again, at least to a point where they could see it, Aizawa was beaten to a horrifying extent, his arm broken and blood flowing freely from his wounds. The black-bird monstrosity holding him up was the obvious source of the wounds. Still, it was only when Shigaraki moved at Tsuyu that Izuku reacted.

Neither Izuku, nor Katsuki had imagined something could not only tank a full power hit from him, but absorb so much shock that it negated any harmful effects it had on Izuku. Still, it was useful information.

"Go on, kill him Nomu." Shigaraki urged, a gleeful cackle in his throat.

The beast managed to grab Izuku's arm, before Katsuki intervened, an explosion causing the creature to stumble slightly. "Hah! My quirk IS stronger!" Katsuki laughed, preparing to fire another, right at the creature's elbow.

Izuku, seeing his chance, pulled with all his might at the same time Katsuki let off his next explosion. The force, combined with the sudden shifting mass (which was required for shock absorption), ripped the creature's arm off right at the elbow. "No, you hit the ground too. Plus it might have damaged its ears." He only changed that idea when he saw the limb growing back. "Or mildly irritated it." They both jumped back, the creature on them just as fast.

It was only mildly hindered by a wave of ice thicker than its entire body. The two turned, Izuku smiling, and Katsuki frowning, to the newly arrived Shouto. "Keep your eyes on him, that won't hold him for long."

"Gives us time for a plan." Katsuki grumbled, not liking having to work with Todoroki.

"If I can get close enough to rip it apart, then all I need is for you to cauterize it. Think you can turn up the heat and lessen the force of your explosions Kacchan?" Izuku questioned, ever the strategist of the group.

"Yeah, just keep him off me. I don't have your ability to get out of that thing's grip." Katsuki nodded. He had a fair point, given Izuku's body was enhanced whenever he used his quirk, while Katsuki's was not. Any attempt to rip off the arm of the beast would just create a match of durability between the beast's arm and his own, not something he wanted to happen.

"Todoroki, can you keep it off him? I'm going to be pressed just to keep it off me." Izuku asked.

Just as he opened his mouth to respond, the beast broke through the ice, and was upon Izuku. In the back of his mind, he noticed Gran Torino battling Shigaraki and Kurogiri, but dismissed it for now.

The thing lunged at Izuku, either not learning it's lesson, or not having the capacity to. Given the exposed brain, either could be the case. Still, Izuku dodged, since Katsuki was too far away. He rolled in the direction Katsuki was, having to narrowly dodge the beast's fists the moment he righted himself. Grabbing the beast's arm and twisting his waist, Izuku jumped up, applying a kick to the beast's chest, while pulling at the arm, once more ripping it off.

Katsuki immediately set upon the beast's injury, his terrifyingly hot explosions instantly cauterizing the limb as well as applying some decent burns to its chest, though they were gone in an instant.

With Shigaraki not around to give it any further orders, it only had eyes for Izuku, who was saved once more by a rush of ice, this time only catching the feet of the beast. Izuku too his chance and grabbed the other arm, once more pulling it. Katsuki once more cauterized it, and they felt a sense of relief. After all, it should stop attacking now that it had no arms, right?

The beast broke the ice, slamming its entire body into Izuku, who went flying straight into a cliff in the landslide zone. The beast made to follow, but was once more stopped by ice. Suddenly the beast seemed to explode with electricity, a violent hiss and the smell of burning flesh mixed with ozone filling the air.

"Sorry guys, if I had known it was something like this, I'd have come sooner!" Kaminari grinned, still holding onto the beast, who seemed unresponsive.

"Electricity was a good counter." Shouto acknowledged. Even if it regenerated, electricity still messed with the nerves and muscles enough to leave the creature unresponsive, unless it actually was weak against nerve damage. Though, if that were the case, the exposed brain made even less sense.

Katsuki, meanwhile, had already left to find Izuku and laugh at him for taking that hit (He would not admit to being worried).

"What?! Shigaraki bellowed, taking his eyes off of Gran Torino for a second, who took the time to breathe for the sake of his quirk. "Damn overleveled brats. What kind of cheat lets a mob unit take on a boss?!"

Gran Torino, his breath having caught back up to him, rushed Shigaraki again, knocking him off his feet but doing relatively little actual damage. It seemed as though Shigaraki had superhuman durability, as well as speed. Nothing he had not faced before, but he was no longer in his prime, able to take on Toshinori.

"Enough!" Shigaraki called out, immediately being enveloped in a black mist. "At least I know who it is now... One For All!" An insane cackled followed his departure, before leaving an icy silence.

The main injuries from the event were Aizawa's broken arm, broken ribs, sprained ankle, and damaged eye. Gran Torino only had pulled a muscle in his chest from his quirk's requirement, but was otherwise fine, something he was less than proud of, given Aizawa's state. Thirteen was damaged, but no one knew quite how much except those who operated on him. It was hard to tell the health of a living black hole. The only student injury was Izuku Midoriya, who had five broken ribs, and an almost-severed arm, likely caused from the beak of the beast impacting him.

The injuries were only the beginning, though. The PR backlash was enormous, even if it was overpowered by sympathy for the heroes. However, the person who took the news the absolute worst was one Toshinori Yagi, a new fire lit inside of him, born of fear and worry.


Yeah, gonna be a three-parter.

Also, Bakudeku is a horrifying concept to support because theirs is the most toxic and abusive relationship in the series, including All For One and Shigaraki.