Chapter 17 Interns Part 3

Izuku woke up in a hospital bed, his shoulder burning. "Wha..?" He rubbed his head, trying to remember what happened. His facial expression changed as the memories started flooding in.

"Midoriya-san!" Iida's voice made Midoriya jump. He turned his head to see Shoto and Iida looking at him with concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Izuku said, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. I was just thinking about the fight."

"Yeah," Shoto said, nodding thoughtfully. "I couldn't help but feel that something was off."

"I felt like he was holding back," Izuku said. "I think he could have killed us at any time. We're still students, and Stain has killed a large amount of heroes. It's not like three students are stronger than the pro hero teams who were taken down by him."

"But..!" Iida started in disbelief. The three of them had given it their all, and he didn't want to believe that Stain could be any stronger, but after some reconsidering, he faced the facts. "I guess you're right."

"Thank you," Izuku said to the two, catching their attention. "I wouldn't be here if you two didn't show up in time."

"It's only natural," Shoto said to the boy, a small smile on his face. "You saved me. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't come to your aid?"

"Speaking of which," Izuku said. "What kind of message were you talking about? I never sent anything out."

"Really?" Shoto asked, taking out his phone, showing Izuku his text history. "I got a text from you just sending your location."

"Weird," Izuku said. "I would check, but I don't know where it is."

"Some old man said your phone was busted before we went in here," Iida said. "He said his name was Gran Torino."

"Yeah, he's the one I'm interning with," Izuku said.

Before they could say any more, Torino and Kuro walked in with a dog human hybrid who was about as tall as Kuro.

"Hey, little man," Kuro said. "You guys have a visitor."

"Hello," the man-dog said respectfully. "My name is Tsuragamae Kenji, and I am the Chief of the Police Force."

"It's an honor to meet you," Izuku said, his eyes darting between the three adults. "May I ask what is going on?"

"Ever since quirks manifested, the police force refused the use of quirks in the force," Kenji started. "As a result, Pro Heroes went up to take their place, but they have had a strict moral code. The reason young heroes are assigned to supervisors is because we cannot be sure if they can uphold said moral code. Even if it was the hero killer that you fought, what you three did was still breaking the law, and as such, you three and your guardians would be subject to legal repercussions."

"But that's-!" Shoto started, but was cut off when Kuro raised his hand. Even Kenji looked over, perplexed.

"You didn't let the old man finish, Sho-kun," Kuro said, smirking at the chief. "I think we should before you go off on him."

"I swear, Kuro-san. After all these years, I still think that your quirk can read minds," Kenji huffed.

"Call it hero's intuition," Kuro shrugged.

"He is correct. I merely spoke as a member of the police force," Kenji said before bowing to the three students. "But as a citizen of this city, I deeply thank you for keeping the peace. More people could have died if you did not step in."

Everyone except Kuro stared at the Chief of Police, completely dumbfounded. "Since there was not enough witnesses of the fight, I have proposed a cover up," Kenji started, raising to his full height yet again. "But due to recorded events, only Midoriya-san can take any credit for what happened. Is that okay with you two?"

Shoto and Iida nodded silently. "Thank you," Kenji said again. "This story is to prevent you two for getting in trouble. If that is all, I'll be taking my leave."

As the three adults left, Kuro turned around to look at his two interns. "Wheels up in five, kiddos," He said. "After all, you two aren't my only interns."

All for One gritted his teeth as he saw the recordings. Why was Shimura Nana alive? And even more importantly, why did she not look any older than she did in her final fight? This was a huge problem, but All for One knew that he needed to bide his time. He clicked a button and the screen shifted to the base of the league of villains.

"Sensei," Shigaraki said respectfully as he and Kurogiri bowed at the screen. "What can we do for you?"

"Some unforeseen issues have come up," All for One said with venom in his voice. "You're going to need recruit more people. The followers of Stain are now anyone's game now that Stain is gone. Go make contact with them and recruit them to our cause."

Kuro, Iida, and Shoto walked in Kuro's firm to see the interns battling it out with the squad. Mustard was working with the interns as usual, and Toga and Ochaco had already gone back to Gunhead to finish their internship.

"Alright, you two should return to your team," Kuro said. "I have to go back to individually helping all of you."

Kodai Yui nervously walked into the training room, not knowing what to expect. Kuro had just returned from Hosu with Iida and Shoto and instantly called her in. Was she in trouble? Did she do something wrong? She saw Kuro sitting on the grass cross-legged, looking at the sky through the windows. "Come sit with me, Kodai-san," Kuro said, not even looking back. Yui paced over and sat next to the man without saying a word.

"How are the internships?" Kuro asked her, not turning his head from the sky. He looked to be deep in thought as he closed his eyes momentarily.

"Mm," Yui responded, turning her head to look at what Kuro was seeing.

"Yeah, the tomatoes are really good," Kuro said, turning to her. She looked at him, slightly shocked. He knew what she was intending to say, which has never happened before. He put his hand in his pocket and took one out. "Want one?"

"Mm!" Yui replied happily, plucking the tomato from his hand and taking a bite. "MM!"

"I'm glad you enjoy," Kuro said. "You've been doing well, Kodai-san."

"Mm," Yui nodded in thanks before tilting her head, putting a finger on her cheek. "Mm?"

"Well, I knew someone just like you when I was younger," Kuro said, his eyes filled with longing for his fallen comrades. "She was really sweet, but had a hard time talking. As such, my friends and I took the time to decipher what she was saying, even if it took years before she started talking properly."

"Mm," Yui said, nodding twice, despite not grasping the situation.

"Anyways, I wanted to give you something," Kuro said, grabbing a backpack that was sitting next to him. "With the help of Mr. Compress and the 'company' that makes my gadgets, we were able to create a backpack that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. I know your quirk has to do with size, so I thought if you have something to store things in, it would make life a lot easier."

"Mm!" Yui replied, her hands waving frantically. Kuro smiled as he handed her the bag.

"Nonsense," Kuro said. "We created this bag so you can have it. I don't want it to be used any other way."

"Mm," Yui said, a small smile forming on her lips as she took the bag.

"Of course," Kuro replied, the longing in his eyes returning. "I would do anything for my students."

Shinso walked in, his hand gripping the Capture Weapon that Kuro had given him when the internship had started.

"I see you've taken a liking to it," Kuro said, smiling. "I'm still trying to convince Shouta-kun to take you for your next internship, but that's besides the point. You're improving a lot."

"Thank you," Shinso said honestly as he let go of the scarf. "It's only because of you."

"Don't give me too much credit," Kuro replied, waving his hand dismissively. "The only thing that's gotten you so far in such a short amount of time is your tenacity."

Shinso nodded, seeing the smirk on Kuro's face. He tensed up as Kuro got into a fighting position, realizing what was going to happen, but smirked. Kuro was dumb to think that Shinso was the same person he had met the week before.

"Now," Kuro said, smiling. "Shall we mark your progress?"

Toru bounded into the training room, excited to finally have a turn with Kuro. "Kuro-san!" She called to the man, who was staring into space. He almost jumped when he heard her voice.

"Hagakure-chan," Kuro smiled at the bubbly girl.

"Ne, what are we going to do?" Toru asked excitedly. "Are you going to teach me karate? Are we going to learn some cool fighting moves?"

"Even better," Kuro said. "I notice that you try to sneak up on enemies with your invisibility, but that has some problems. You can still be heard, potentially giving away your location."

"Ehhh," Kuro could swear that Toru was putting her finger on her chin thoughtfully. "What can I do about that, though?"

"Simple," Kuro said. "I'm going to teach you how to become a ninja."

"A ninja?!" Toru squealed. "That's so cool! You didn't tell me you were a ninja, Kuro-san."

"I'm not, I just had a good teacher," Kuro shrugged. There were no ninja's in the war, but Toru's future self was the next best thing. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he smiled again at the girl, who was excitedly waving her arms up and down. "Anyways, shall we get started?"

Momo walked into the training field to see Kuro sitting on a table, reading over a book. The table was piled high with books and blueprints. "Kuro-san?"

"Afternoon, Yaoyorozu-chan," Kuro said, looking up from his book. "Please, take a seat."

Momo nodded and sat, looking at the books with confusion. "So what are we going to do today?"

"Well, I've been thinking. You don't have to know the intricacies of something to create it, right?" Kuro asked the girl. When Momo nodded, he continued. "I was thinking that if you did learn some of them, that you can create modifiers for them. If you learn how to create small parts of things, you might be able to create hero gadgets from your quirk alone."

"Really?" Momo asked, dumbfounded. She, nor her family has never thought of anything like that. They have always strived to make things bigger instead of smaller, but here Kuro was, saying that the smaller details matter too.

"Sometimes you must think of the smaller things, rather than the bigger ones," Kuro said thoughtfully. "Right now, you can create things that you have seen before. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you know how to make certain components, you can put them together when you're using your quirk, combining them to make all new hero gadgets."

Momo nodded hesitantly as Kuro picked out a book from the stack, handing it to her. "Now, let's get to studying, shall we?"

Awase walked in tensely as he saw Kuro standing there with his hands in his pockets. "You need to loosen up," Kuro notes. "I'm not going to punch you or anything."

"I'll loosen up when I feel like it," Awase replied harshly. "Now what the fuck do you want?"

"Your quirk can fuse things at the atomic level, right?" Kuro asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" Awase responded sharply.

"The thing is, you're always touching air," Kuro said, startling the boy. "The air is full of water vapor, oxygen, and nitrogen. Breathe out, and you produce carbon dioxide. Poke a hole in a balloon, and helium comes out."

"Your point?" Awase asked, annoyed. He came here to be a hero, not learn some stupid chemistry.

"I'm surprised you haven't seen it yet," Kuro said. "Your quirk is exceptionally powerful. You can make water from combining Oxygen and Hydrogen in the air. Get some salt and some water, you can combine the chlorine to make pool water, but you can fuse the sodium with water to make it explode."

Awase stared at the man. He had never been one for academics, but Kuro was making a good point. Kuro smiled as he saw the expression of the boy before talking out a chemistry textbook. "Now that you've realized, we can get started."

Kaminari walked in, thankful to get a break from the villains. They have helped a lot, but they kept on knocking him out after he uses a large amount of electricity. "Yo, Kuro-san!" Kaminari said as he saw the man. "What are you going to teach me?"

Kuro smiled at the young man. "Well, when you discharge a large amount of electricity, your brain fries. We need to fix that issue."

"How am I going to do that?" Kaminari asked. "I can't really control my electricity that well."

"That's the point," Kuro said, taking out what looked like miniature lightning rods. "You're going to learn how to control your electricity."

The students all stood in a line, exhausted. They have admittedly gotten a lot stronger ever since they have started, but the training was still hellish. They tried their best not to show it, though because the villains would trash talk them if they showed signs of weakness.

"Well, today's the day," Kuro said, walking into the room with the squad. "After tonight, our time together will be over. I have to say I'm proud of every single one of you."

"You kids aren't half bad," Dabi said. "Keep this up and you'll give guys like me a real problem."

"Nah, you're all trash," Twice said, flashing them a thumbs up, causing the kids to flinch. "You'll probably be able to beat me in a few years if you keep training."

"Stop contradicting yourself, Twice," Spinner growled. "I'm glad that you all will grow up to be real heroes, not those damn fakes."

"Heh, I never thought this job would be fun," Magne said, shrugging. "But you kids are alright."

"Quite the show indeed," Mr. Compress said. "You will all become great showmen."

"You're all going to kick ass and take names back at UA," Kuro said proudly. "Now take the rest of the day off. You deserve it."

Stain sat in his personalized cell. Since he wasn't injured too badly, he was transferred to prison earlier than anticipated, but the police still had a cell made specifically for him. "Akaguro Chizome," a gruff voice caused him to look up. He saw the dog man, Tsuragamae Kenji looking at him through his cell. "Your lawyer wants to have a word with you."

"Lawyer?" Stain scoffed. "Since when did I have a lawyer?"

"Shut up and come with me," Kenji demanded. "I don't know what he sees in you, but I pulled a lot of strings to make this happen, so you better comply."

Intrigued, Stain stood up and followed the man to a room. Kenji opened the door for Stain to enter. As he did, his eyes widened in shock to see who this "lawyer" man was. Kuro Gisei sat at the table, his legs crossed and his arms relaxed behind his head. He was so shocked to see the hero, he barely heard the door close behind him.

"Ah, Akaguro-san," Kuro said with a smirk on his face, causing Stain to flinch. Kuro uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, placing his hands on the table. "As much as I want to discuss pleasantries, I'm not here for that. I have a proposition for you."