Chapter 18 History

"Deku-kun!/Izu-nii!" Izuku turned his head one second too late to see two girls tackle him in a hug. Thanks to Nana's help, he wasn't completely flabbergasted, but his face still turned tomato red as he fully realized what was going in.

"G-guys!" Izuku managed, squirming his way out and standing up. "H-how was Gunhead?"

"He was great!" Toga chirped, standing up with Ochaco. "We learned so many cool things!"

"More importantly," Ochaco asked, her face colored with concern. "Are you alright? I saw the video online with you and Stain. What happened?"

"I was patrolling when I ran into him," Izuku answered honestly, knowing the next part wasn't as honest. "Kuro-sensei was also out patrolling, so he managed to finish him off, which is why I wasn't injured that badly."

"That's a relief," Ochaco said. "But don't go off and worry me like that!"

"O-okay…" Izuku said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Midoriya-san!" Kirishima ran into the room. "Is it true that you went up against Stain?! That's so manly! Was it scary?"

"Yeah," Izuku answered. "When he made that speech, I was frozen in fear. I felt like sky was being weighed down on my shoulders and if I moved a single inch, I would have been crushed."

"That sounds really scary," Ochaco said, still concerned. "I'm glad you're okay, though."

As the students were chattering, the bell rang, marking the start of Foundational Hero Studies. "Well," Izuku said with a smile. "Let's head to class."

"Today, we will be doing a rescue training race!" All Might said as the class stood in Playing Ground Gamma. "We will be doing it in four groups of five! Staring with Midoriya, Tenya, Mina, Hanta, and Ojiro! Kuro-san and I will be your destination."

As the group prepared, they started to talk about who would win. "I think Midoriya-san will win, kero," Tsuyu said. "He won the festival, after all."

"Tenya-san has improved a lot, though," Momo stated. "Kuro-san put us through hellish training and we have all improved tremendously."

"Really?" Ochaco asked. "What did you guys go through?"

"He somehow enlisted ex-villains to help us with our training," The class paled as Shoto stepped in to talk. Ex-villains? Shoto sighed. Kuro said to feel free to talk about their experiences. The squad was already off the charts, so no one could do anything about it, even if they wanted to. "An S-Class, an A-class, two B-classes, and a C-class."

"He made you fight an S-class villain?!" Sato asked. "That's crazy!"

"Twice-san was actually really nice," Toru said. "All of them were. They would point out what we did wrong and help us improve."

"I wonder what kind of man Kuro is to get villains to help with his internships," Kirishima said. "Part of me wishes I chose to go with him."

"Trust me," Kaminari said as Kuro's interns shuddered. "It's best if you didn't."

"Start!" Izuku went to fifteen percent as soon as he heard the command. He and Iida rocketed off at top speed, at each other's tails. Izuku hopped from beam to beam with blinding speeds while Iida used the strength of his engines to make huge leaps. As soon as All Might was in distance, Izuku diverted more power into his legs and jumped, causing him to wince. Nana said that he could channel a bit more power than he was capable of as a last resort, as it wouldn't cause too much damage unless he went too far. Since he used only around eighteen percent on his legs, it only caused his knees to bruise a little. He shot past Iida and towards the two pro heroes. Izuku paled as he realized he miscalculated. He was flying towards the two at a speed much faster than he anticipated. He closed his eyes, bracing for impact, but realized after awhile that there wasn't much of an impact. When he opened his eyes, he saw Kuro looking down on him. "Good job, little man," he said, smiling.

Izuku turned to All Might, who flashed a thumbs up. "Great job, young Midoriya. See me after school. We need to talk."

Izuku nervously opened the door to see Kuro, All Might, and Nana sitting on a couch silently. Kuro looked over to look at Izuku, a sad smile on his face. "Sit down, little man," he gestured towards the couch on the other side of the coffee table. "We have something important to talk about."

Izuku sat in the couch and apprehensively looked at the three. "What did you want to talk about?" Izuku asked. "And why are Kuro-sensei and Nana-sensei here?"

"We believe it's time to tell you the history of our quirk," All Might said, causing Izuku to tilt his head in confusion at All Might's language. "Long ago, there was an evil man named All for One. He had the power to forcibly steal and give quirks to people. He was the worst of the worst, but he had a brother. A brother with a strong sense of justice. Thinking that he was giving his brother a gift, All for One gave his brother a quirk that stockpiles power into physical energy. All for One's brother was once thought to be quirkless, but he wasn't. He had a seemingly useless quirk that passed on quirks, but now, it meant something. That was the birth of One for All."

Izuku quietly absorbed the information as All Might spoke. He understood it for the most part, but a couple questions were still nagging at him. "I understand, but why are Nana-sensei and Kuro-sensei here? Shouldn't we be the only two with this quirk?"

"You should be," Nana replied, causing Izuku's attention to divert to the woman. "You are the ninth user of All for One, All Might is the eighth, and I am the seventh."

"Wait…" Izuku massaged his temples. "You're All Might's predecessor?"

"Yeah," Naha replied. "I don't know how I'm still alive. All for One should have killed me many years ago, but here I am."

"And what about you?" Izuku turned to Kuro. "Are you the sixth?"

"No, nothing like that," Kuro waved his hand dismissively. "I was All for One's attempt in recreating the quirk. Since One for All was so powerful, All for One tried to create something similar, but stronger to combat it. That thing being me, but unfortunately for him, he didn't prepare for the possibility of me being more like his brother rather than himself."

Izuku nodded knowingly. It made sense, considering that Kuro had once talked about how Eri was being experimented on. It would make sense that Kuro wanted to adopt her, as he had suffered a similar fate sometime in the past.

"Anyways, what we needed to tell you is that All for One has returned," All Might said, causing Izuku to pale. "He is the one behind the league of villains. We suspect he has gained a quirk that stopped him from aging. We know that it is our destiny to keep fighting. One for All must defeat All for One. That is why we must ask you. I know it is a lot, young Midoriya, but we must ask you to join in this fight."

Izuku's eyes flashed with determination. "I'll do it," he said without thinking. "As long as you three are here, we will defeat him. He won't stand a chance."

"Class 1-A and 1-B will be going to a forest lodge over the summer," Shouta said, much to the excitement of the class. "But those who fail will be stuck in remedial school, so it would be best if you prepared."

The class had mixed emotions to that, chattering loudly. "That being said," Shouta said sternly, causing the class to fall silent. "All Might is taking an extended leave for personal reasons. Kuro-san has graciously offered to substitute Foundational Hero Studies for the time being, so be on your best behavior."

With that, Shouta walked out of the room as Kuro walked in. "Sup kiddies," he said, waving nonchalantly. "Now as much as I want to drone on for a couple hours about the values of being a hero like the course material states, we have an exam to prepare for, and I'm sure none of you want to go to remedial school, am I right?"

Kuro smiled as the class nodded in unison. Even Toga did, much to Kuro's surprise. "Come with me to the training field," he said. "We have a lot to do."

When they got to the training field, Kuro stopped and turned around. "None of you are supposed to know anything about the exam, but I'm a chill dude, so I'll give you a hint," Kuro smiled at the kid's excitement. "It's going to involve teamwork, so starting today, you will be sparring in pairs, learning how to adapt to each other's strengths and shortcomings."

The kids looked at each other and Kuro smirked. "Now, kiddies. Let's have some fun."

Shigaraki walked into the bar with his two newest recruits, Muscular and Moonfish. Apparently most of the followers of Stain have been out of sight for the past few weeks, and even Giran wasn't able to find them. Shigaraki wasn't too happy about that, but it was fine. Muscular and Moonfish were both very strong villains. Shigaraki walked to the screen, which had All for One on it. "I have returned, sensei," he said, bowing. "Giran reported that most of the followers of Stain have been missing for the past few weeks. These were the only two that agreed to join us."

"That seems to be a problem," All for One said. "But no matter. The Nomus are coming along well enough. By the time we head out again, we will have more than enough to compensate for our losses."

"Hai, sensei," Shigaraki said calmly. Ever since Kuro had started butting heads with the league, All for One has started to accelerate the research and production of Nomus, trying to make one that would be strong enough to take on Kuro. "That is all."

"Very well, my pupil," All for One said before cutting the transmission, turning off the TV.

"Papa!" Eri called over. It was a Saturday morning, and Eri woke up to see Kuro getting ready to leave with his hero costume on "Where are you going?"

Kuro smiled and patted his daughter on the head. "I'm just going on patrol, Eri. I'll be back soon."

Gigantomachia was walking around the forest, deep in thought. All for One has told him to stand by until his successor took over. The giant had no idea who his leader's successor what or how strong he was, but he knew that he was loyal only to All for One. Whatever successor All for One had would have to prove himself.

Suddenly, he felt two taps on his shoulder. Gigantomachia turned, noting to himself that it was weird how someone managed to reach such a height without noticing. He turned to see Black Lightning, the number two hero standing on his shoulder, waving sheepishly. Before he could react, though, Kuro's waving hand clenched into a fist and he punched the giant, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Oh, that was satisfying," Kuro said, landing on Gigantomachia's chest. As the giant attempted to get up, Kuro stomped his foot on his chest with enough force to cause the giant to crash back to the floor, causing him to spit out blood. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"What do you want..?" Gigantomachia said, struggling to get up. Kuro was walking closer to his head, stomping the giant back down with every step.

"Oh, me?" Kuro said, a shield forming on his right arm. He channeled all of his power to his right arm, causing it to crackle with black electricity. "I'm just here to take out the trash."

Kuro walked away from a beheaded Gigantomachia, dismissing his shield. He looked at his arm, which had been completely shattered, not unlike the times when he first manifested his quirk. "Huh," he said to himself as he shook his arm a bit. "I think that's the first time for that to happen to me since my final fight with Shigaraki. No matter, I'll deal with things as they come."

He jumped off, heading to the hospital. It sucks, but for the first time in years, he decided to give Recovery Girl a visit.