Young Ryu had just turned 4 years old. He was the younger brother of Li Senjin who was gifted with a mix of his mother and father's quirks. And now it was Ryu's turn. He was with his mother at the doctor's office awaiting what quirk he had.

"So we have the results," the doctor said.

"And?" Ryu's mom asked.

"I'm afraid there's no hope for him," the doctor said.

The words shocked Ryu. He couldn't cry as he was just too shocked to hear what the doctor said. Being told there was no hope for him to be a hero would break any kid's heart!

"w-why?" his mother asked who was twice as shocked by all of this, "He's dreamed of being a hero since he was 2!"

"Well... as you know, our society consists of 80% of quirks, as you see, your son has a double jointed toe here that keeps someone from having a quirk." The doctor said.

"So you're saying… you're saying that I'll never be a hero?" the poor boy asked, still shocked by the news.

"I'm afraid not kid. I suggest you look into another dream." The doctor said.

At this Ryu began to ball his eyes out. His mother then picked him up and walked out giving the doctor a glare for dashing her son's dreams. Later they were both at home.

"So, what did they say Miu?" his father asked.

"They told him he was quirkless," Miu answered, still shocked by all of this.

"He's what?!" his father asked, enraged by all of this.

"Q-q-quirkless…" Ryu squeaked, ashamed.

"You're telling me... that we're stuck with a quirkless!?" The father asked getting angrier.

"Stop it!" Miu said, "You're scaring the poor boy!"

"I don't care if he gets scared because it's the truth!" his father snapped, "He's quirkless and is a danger to our family's tradition!"

Ryu couldn't take it anymore. He ran upstairs to his room and locked the door

"You see what you did!?" Miu asked angry at him.

while the two of them were arguing, Li went upstairs. He felt sorry for his little brother and wanted to talk to him. He knocked on the door

"Little bro, you in there?" he asked.

There was no answer.

"Ryu, you're making me scared, please answer," Li said.

The door slowly opened. It revealed a tired looking Ryu who's eyes were red from all of the crying.

"Ryu! What happened bro!? I know it's not because of the fact our parents are shouting at each other mainly because that's just a normal Tuesday." Li said.

"When we went to the doctor... the doctor said... i'm quirkless..." Ryu said with tears still in his eyes.

"It's alright little bro. You can still be a hero! Hell, being a quirkless hero just gives people a reason to look up to you!" Li told him.

"W-weally?" Ryu asked.

"Of course! Now if you excuse me. I gotta go break up the shouting match between our parents." Li said walking downstairs.

"Hey, no problem little bro!" Li said as he went downstairs and towards his parents who were still having a shouting match with each other.

The father then slapped Miu hard in the face sending her to the floor.

"What are you doing?!" Li asked.

"You're supposed to be practicing your quirk," his father said, "This is adult business so stay out of it."

"If you're upset that Ryu is quirkless that's fine, but that's no reason to take it out on her!" Li said, "She's done nothing to deserve this treatment!"

His father grabbed him by the shirt collar.

"Don't you ever talk to me like that again," he said, "Now go out there and practice!"

Li did as he was told. A few years passed. While Ryu's brother and mother still loved him, his father acted cold and resentful of him. The next day Ryu was in preschool outside. Two kids approached him.

"Well if it isn't the quirkless reject," said one of them.

"Leave me alone," Ryu saaid, "I'm not in the mood."

"What are you gonna do?" the other one said as he pushed Ryu, "Complain to your daddy who hates you?!"

Ryu started having tears from the torment he was receiving from his dad and his classmates. The pain was too much for him.

"We as quirk users are entitled to pick on those without a quirk, because they're nothing but dreamers!" the bully said, "You need to learn your place."

He was suddenly chopped in the back by a giant hand.

"You're insane if you think you have the right to pick on a defenseless child like that!" a girl with orange hair said, "Now turn around and apologize!"

"Why don't you make us, big hands?" the bully said.

The girl then punched the bully in the face making him apologize to Ryu. Later on they al ran away. The girl then turned to Ryu to make sure he was safe.

"Is everything ok?" she asked him.

Ryu wiped his tears away and looked up to the girl who saved him from the bullies.

"T-t-thank you…" he said.

"Hey don't worry about it, people have no right to bully someone like that," the girl said, "Why were they bullying you in the first place?"

"Its because they found out I was quirkless," Ryu said.

The girl noticed the pain that Ryu was experiencing being a quirkless person. She faced him, then wrapped her arms around him giving him a comforting hug.

"Don't listen to those bullies," the girl said, "Nobody deserves to be treated like that."

"My daddy thinks otherwise," Ryu said.

"You still have other people on your side don't ya?" the girl asked.

"Well... I have my bwother, and my mommy, but... my dad hurts me..." Ryu said through tears, "Because he sees quirkless people as a disease… Because of it, I don't have any friends."

The girl suddenly had an idea.

"Hey, do you wanna be my friend?" she asked.

"W-w-weally?" he asked.

"Of course! You seem like a nice boy! Of course, we should atleast know each others names. I'm Istuka Kendo!" She said.

"I'm Ryu Senjin," Ryu said, "And I like martial arts."

"No way me too!" Kendo said, "So what do you wanna be in the future?"

"If I tell you you'd probably laugh at me and make fun of me." Ryu said with his head down.

"Come on, tell me!" Kendo said with a smile.

"Well... I... I want to be a hero." Ryu said flinching after he said that expecting her to make fun of him.

"Me too!" Kendo said.

"Wait, you're not gonna make fun of me?" Ryu asked.

"Why would I?" Kendo asked, "Just because you don't have a quirk doesn't mean you can't be a hero. Now when we go to my dojo, we're both gonna train to be heroes!"

Ryu smiled.

"Yea," he said.

From that day on, the two of them formed a great friendship. Almost every day, Ryu went with Kendo and met her grandfather who taught him a few martial arts techniques. He learned some self defense moves and offense techniques that would help him become a great hero, even with no quirk.

It paid off. Those boys tried picking on him again, however he was ready for it.

He was walking inside for class when he saw Kendo on the floor. Someone tripped her and she dropped her project. Ryu knew he had to stand up for her the same way she stood up for him.

"HEY!" he shouted, "You just ruined Kendo's math project."

"What are you gonna do about it?" the boy asked, "You quirkless reject? You shouldn't even exist because you're a stain in our world!"

That was the last straw. He went up to the boy and then...

WHAM

Later on, he was sitting outside the office while his parents were talking with the principal.

Miu was shocked by this and tried to defend her son's actions

"Your son slugged another student's tooth out! We cannot allow this!" The teacher said, while Ryu's father agreed with him.

"Don't worry sir, I'll straighten our son out something fierce as soon as we get home."

"It was self defense!" his mom said.

"Hold it!" the principal said, "Ms Senjin is right. Young Senjin was defending his friend."

"He knocked out my star student, when he was not the one provoked!" the teacher said, "Coincidence? No sir."

The principal tried to reason with him.

"Uh... Han..."

"Don't 'han' me," said the teacher, "THIS LITTLE RAT IS GUILTY!"

The principal turned to the family of three.

"You and your son can go now," he said, "I-I'm sorry for the trouble."

Later at home...

A slap sound could be heard. Ryu's dad smacked him hard in the face for what he did.

"I can't believe you would go and do something like that!" Teshi shouted.

"What? They were hurting my friend!" Ryu then got smacked harder.

"How the hell did someone as pathetic as you get friends!"

"What was I supposed to do?!" he shouted

"You aren't supposed to do anything! You're a failure and you'll be nothing but a failure!" Teshi shouted as he punched Ryu who was now laying on the floor.

"But Daddy…"

"Don't 'but Daddy' me! I'm still trying to figure out how someone as weak as you got into this family!" Teshi shouted, kicking Ryu to the side.

He continued to beat up Ryu.

"Teshi stop it!" Miu said.

"DO NOT INTERFERE!" he shouted.

He then smacked Miu and she fell to the ground. Ryu watched him mercilessly attack his own wife. He wasn't going to let it happen again.

"Stop it!" Ryu said.

He continued beating her. Ryu grabbed a knife and rushed at him enraged.

"I said STOP IT!"

He then stabbed Teshi in the arm. He was infuriated that Ryu would go and do that.

"That's it," he said in a cold voice, "Get out."

"Teshi..." Miu said.

"No, I'm done listening to reason," Teshi snapped, "He is a quirkless nobody and has no place in this family, or in society! By the time I get back, I want him out of this house and OUT OF OUR LIVES!"

He then walked away and slammed the door. Miu crawled over to her son and embraced him in a big hug. Ryu bawled his eyes out and cried.

"I guess I should pack my stuff..." he said, "Goodbye mommy..."

Before he could leave, he was stopped by his brother.

"Who said you had to leave?" Li asked.

"Daddy did…. He hates me, and it's obvious that I only make things worse," Ryu said.

"Screw him," Li said, "Any kind of father who treats their kid the way he treats you is no father of mine. So if you're leaving, then so are we."

Later on, Ryu and his mom and brother left the house. They went somewhere they were guaranteed to be safe. Ryu went to the door and rang the doorbell. Kendo came out.

"Ryu what a surprise," Kendo said, "What happened?"

Ryu explained everything that was going on. The minute he told her what happened Kendo dropped her stuff. She then gave him a big hug. The two of them went inside and explained everything to her grandfather who was more than willing to welcome Ryu and his mother and brother in open arms.

"Are you Itsuka Kendo?" Miu asked, "The one my son talked about every day?"

"Yep! That's me!" Kendo said. "And Ryu and I are training to be heroes!" She said as she hugged Ryu tightly from behind.

"Thank you so much for being loyal to my son," Miu said with a smile.

"Of course! He doesn't deserve to be treated like that!" Kendo told her, "Which reminds me, Ryu you should come sleep in my room."

Ryu looked to his mother who nodded.

"Hey Ryu-kun! You should put your things in my room." Kendo told him.

"Ok," he said as he did so.

He then started setting up a sleeping bag on the floor next to Kendo, much to her confusion.

"Why are you sleeping on the floor?" she asked.

"I got a sleeping bag," Ryu said.

"You know, my bed is big enough for the both of us, there's no reason you should sleep on the floor. Besides it's winter, the floor is probably cold as all get out!" Kendo said.

"O-ok…" he said shyly.

Ryu climbed up on Kendo's bed. She hugged him after he did so.

"In case either of us get cold." Kendo said.

Ryu soon fell asleep in Kendo's arms.

The days went by and Ryu felt safer by Kendo's side. Meanwhile his brother made a speech about those who were quirkiness and began a campaign against the bullying of quirkless people. He had a vision where everyone could be a hero whether they had a quirk or not, and that those with quirks had NO right to bully those without a quirk.

One day as Ryu started to fall asleep, he was starting to have a dream. He found himself in a room with 5 lights showing around him. Suddenly someone approached the boy. It was a shadowy figure with all of the colors of the lights around him.

"Ryu Senjin," the stranger said.

"How do you know my name?" he asked.

"I have been watching you for a long time," the stranger said.

"Who are you?" Ryu asked, confused.

"I have been known by many names in my time," the stranger said, "But you can call me Kai."

"Like that alien from Dragon Ball?" Ryu asked.

"Not quite, young one," Kai said, "But let me ask you this. Do you want to be a hero?"

Ryu looked down to the floor.

"I do…. But I don't know if I can do that without a quirk."

Kai then walked over to Ryu.

"For ages, my disciples have protected this world with a powerful gift known as the Kaioken Gates," Ryu said, "It is a special ability that can enhance one's body in extraordinary ways. I have seen how you stood up for others despite not having a special 'quirk' as they put it. Ryu Senjin, I pick you as my next champion. Do you accept?"

Ryu thought for a moment. He remembered people teasing him for not having a quirk, and how his father mistreated him. Then he remembered having his friends behind his back and standing up for him. There were still people who believed in him.

"Yes," Ryu said.

"Excellent," he said, passing him a book, "This book contains the knowledge of the Kaioken Gates and how to train your body for them. If you believe you are worthy, then you will study this book. I will speak with you more later. Farewell for now."

A light emerged. Suddenly Ryu woke back up in Kendo's room. Kendo was trying to shake him awake. Ryu woke up and looked at Kendo.

"Are you ok?" she asked, "You seem like you had a weird dream."

She noticed a book in his hands.

"What's that you got?" Kendo asked.

Ryu looked at it and then smiled.

"The key to my future," he said.