Thanks to a guest review, a clarification has been made, and the story has been moved to the MHA/JJK crossover archive!
Happy Halloween!
11/3/21: The rewrite has arrived!
Izuku panted as he sprinted full speed towards his home. As far as his mother knew, Izuku didn't come home from school.
Izuku looked up at the sky, pitch black with the occasional cloud rolling by. Stars peppered the blank expanse, accompanied by the sounds of night life in the suburbs.
He would've taken a couple seconds, if it weren't for the fact that he would be in for the grounding of his life.
As his house came into view, Izuku slowed down a bit. He mentally prepared himself for the scolding he would receive.
"You know, from what I see from your memories, your mother's a very kind person. I don't think she'd scold you too hard." Gojo appeared right next to him, seeming to float next to Izuku as he jogged.
"GAH!" Izuku tripped on an elevated sidewalk slab, falling onto the ground rather unceremoniously. He quickly propped himself up onto an elbow to look at Gojo. "Gojo-san?! Where did you come from?!"
"Didn't I explain this already? Ne, you have a bad memory Midoriya-kun!" Gojo replied.
"Wait a minute, how do you know my name? I never told you it..." Gojo chuckled.
"Simple, I looked through your memories."
"WHAT?!" Izuku clasped his hand over his mouth. He didn't need someone seeing him laying on the sidewalk seemingly talking to nothing, if Gojo really is a ghost. He lowered his voice to something akin of a whisper-shout. "How?!"
"Remember, Limitless and Six Eyes are yours now. They brought me along with them. So now, my soul is fused with yours now." Izuku gave him a blank stare.
"For real?"
"For real."
"So that means..." Izuku trailed off.
"Yes. I am able to read your thoughts, feel what you're feeling, and see your memories." Gojo went on. "Sounds like an invasion of privacy, which it is, but I guess that's just how Limitless and Six Eyes work. I'm the first sorcerer ever to have their soul dragged away with their technique. I didn't have a ghost man guiding me when I was alive."
Izuku groaned. "Ugh, if I stayed quirkless, I won't have you bothering me all the time..."
"Sorry Midoriya-kun, but it seems like I'm here to stay. Speaking of bothering you all the time, who is this Kacchan? He seems to harass you a lot." Gojo's smile tightened into a thin line, his cheerful tone no longer present.
Izuku groaned and pulled himself up into a sitting position. "He's my childhood friend. We... used to play with each other a lot. At least, until he got his quirk, and I didn't get mine. Ever since then he would always yell at me... or explode my stuff... or me."
"That doesn't sound like a friend." Gojo replied with a quirked eyebrow. He looked at Izuku, who hugged his knees and seemed to shrink. Damaged self-esteem, lowered self-worth... seems like they really did a number on him.
"Yeah, well, at least we've graduated from Aldera now. Kacchan won't bother me anymore unless we randomly cross paths. Hopefully I can find a hero school willing to take someone like me in." Izuku sifted through his choices. "Shiketsu? Ketsubutsu? Isamu isn't a bad choice either..."
"What's the best hero school?" Gojo inquired.
"It would be U.A, hands down."
"Then that's where you're going to go! With my help of course!" Gojo gave a thumbs up. "I still haven't told you about the capabilities of Limitless, nor Six Eyes, but that'll have to wait for tomorrow. For now, just go home and be with your mom." With that, Gojo faded away, presumably to reside in the domain of Izuku's mind.
Hey, this place doesn't look too bad! Gojo's voice rang inside his mind.
Izuku groaned. Great, now I have a voice in my head.
Hey! At least it's a handsome voice!
I'm too tired for this. Izuku picked himself up and trudged the last few minutes home.
Izuku reached underneath the welcome mat, fishing out the spare house key. Sticking the key into the keyhole, he gently twisted it, unlocking the front door. Quietly, he placed the key back under the mat, and as tenderly as he could, slowly turned the doorknob.
Almost instantly, the door flew open, revealing the puffy-eyed face of Midoriya Inko.
"IZUKUUU!" Inko wrapped Izuku in what one might call a "mama bear hug". With strength that shouldn't be possible without a quirk, she squeezed the life out of him, all the while crying a river. "MY BABY BOYYY!"
"MOM! Can we please go inside?! The neighbors might yell at us!" Izuku tried to pry himself away, but he was already starting to tear up. He hated making his mother cry.
With a huge sniffle, Inko nodded and pulled him inside, closing the door simultaneously. She walked over to the couch in the living room and set him down, rushing to the kitchen to grab tea, and some tissues.
Izuku relished the feeling of the couch underneath him. His mom returned with a pot of tea (it smelled like chamomile, Izuku noticed) and a box of tissues. As she set down the items, Izuku started.
"Mom, I know I've come home pretty late, but there's a good reason for that."
"It better be one hell of a good reason, young man! Do you know how worried I was?!" Alarm bells went off in Izuku's head. His mother almost never curses. That meant this was much more serious than he thought it would be.
"Mom... did something happen?" Izuku asked. He tried to think of a lie on the spot.
"Didn't you hear?" His mother replied. "Katsuki-kun was attacked by a villain!"
A villain? Now Izuku understood why his mother was so worried.
"It was on the news, Izuku! Katsuki was being suffocated by this... sludge villain!" Izuku's eyes widened. The sludge villain attacked Kacchan?
Are you going to tell your mother that the sludge villain attacked you too? Gojo asked.
No, I don't think I will. It'll just stress her out even more. Izuku listened as his mother explained how Katsuki was held hostage by the sludge villain, about he almost died until All Might stepped in.
All Might. Izuku felt bitter about the Number One Hero, but he couldn't fault him. Izuku knew the statistics. All Might probably did too.
After a heartfelt conversation (and a lot of scolding), Izuku bid goodnight to his mother. He ate a quick dinner and took a long hot shower.
As Izuku laid down in his bed, he thought about how much of a rollercoaster today was.
Little crazy right? You were suicide-baited (Izuku winced), were attacked by a villain, saved from the villain by the "Number One Hero", got your dreams crushed by him, and got super awesome powers from yours truly. Gojo said.
Yeah. Little crazy. Izuku sighed and turned over in his bed. I should probably tell mom I have a quirk.
You didn't think to do that earlier?
Yeah, well, I don't want to stress her out anymore. What would she think after her son tells her he gained a quirk after not coming home on same day of a villain attack?
Fair point.
And with that, Izuku dozed off.
Izuku woke up in the middle of the afternoon the next day.
Must've gone to sleep real late, huh?
He stretched and felt his joints creak. As he rubbed his eyes, Gojo manifested next to him.
"It's gonna be a busy day, my little shounen!" Gojo clapped his hands. "Today, you're going to learn the basics of Limitless and Six Eyes, and start preparing for your journey to become a hero!"
Izuku marched to the bathroom to freshen up. As he splashed cold water onto his eyes, Gojo continued.
"But let me warn you. You are going to be FAR from mastering either, considering that it took me nearly 2 decades to fully master Limitless and Six Eyes. Not to mention, becoming a hero and being a hero are far different from each other. There's a reason why the average hero tends to have a shorter lifespan than an average citizen."
Izuku wiped the excess water off his face with a towel. "I know. But I will become a hero! Besides, isn't that what you're here for? To teach me?" He went downstairs into the living room area. He went over to the kitchen. Stuck on the fridge was a sticky note.
Called in for a late shift today. Lunch and dinner are in the fridge! Just heat them up.
- Love, Mom
Izuku smiled. He loved his mom, and she loved him back. Opening the fridge, he reached in, pulled out a bento box, and stuck it in the microwave.
Izuku pulled out the steaming bento box and sat down. After saying a quick "itadakimasu", he dug in with his chopsticks, consuming the dish greedily. Gojo sat on the table as Izuku ate.
"I've got an idea." Gojo said. "Put on a tracksuit. We're going out today."
"Takoba Beach?" Izuku stood in front of the beach turned landfill. The sandy expanse was filled to the brim with trash, stretching as far as the eye could see.
"Yep! This is where your journey begins!" Gojo spread out his arms to gesture towards the mountains of trash. "We need to strengthen your body, and teach you how to use Limitless and Six Eyes for the U.A entrance exams. After all, you're kind of a stick." He turned to Izuku.
"Hey!"
"Izuku. You want to be a hero, right? Even when you were beaten down by your peers and ignored by the adults?" Gojo asked.
"Yeah. It's my dream to be one." Izuku replied.
"Then why didn't you prepare?" Izuku perked up at the question.
"Huh?"
"You heard me right. If you wanted to be a hero, then why didn't you prepare your body? Even the weakest heroes have a strong body. It's a straining job. Why didn't you do that? Seems like you were too busy writing down hero facts in your notebooks." Izuku looked down in shame.
"I'm not making fun of you Izuku. This is a wake up call. From what I've seen, being a hero requires brains to be complemented by brawn. That's why I'm here. To make you stronger. To make you the best you can be."
Izuku clenched a fist and held it to his chest. He's right. All these years, I've been doing nothing but fanboying! I've never done anything to prepare to become a hero... but that changes now!
A fire was lit in Izuku's heart. Starting today, starting now, he would do his best to become a hero. He didn't care how much blood, sweat, or tears he would have to shed.
"Teach me, Gojo-sensei." Gojo quirked an eyebrow at the change of honorific. It reminded him of an old student of his. A pink haired student, with the personality of sunshine, and a will of steel.
"Very well, then."
Izuku sat down on a rusty fridge as Gojo started to explain.
"Limitless is my family's inherited technique. It brings the concept of Infinity into reality. A more apt description of it would be the ability to manipulate and distort space. However, doing so requires immense concentration, and quite a good deal of cursed energy." Gojo clenched his hand into a fist, leaving his pointer finger extended. A blue orb formed on the tip, swirling with dark energy.
It suddenly extinguished, as Gojo let out a breath he had been holding and stuck his hand in his pocket. "While anybody in my family can inherit the technique, it can only be mastered with the use of Six Eyes. However, it seems like you haven't unlocked the true potential of Six Eyes yet." Gojo leaned closer to Izuku, staring at his eyes through the blindfold.
"What do you mean, true potential?"
"You see, when I was born, I was immediately able to use Six Eyes. Six Eyes is a rare ocular jujutsu that is also able to be inherited in my family. It grants the user vast perception and immense brain processing power, which allows them to refine Limitless to the point they can manipulate space down to the atomic level. It also processes the user's cursed energy extraordinarily efficiently. So much, to the point that when the user uses a technique, the cursed energy expended is almost nothing. In short, a Six Eyes user will never run out of energy. Ever."
Izuku could only look on in shock. Space manipulation to that degree? Never running out of energy? No wonder Gojo regarded himself as the strongest.
"Now, when I said 'haven't unlocked' , I mean more along the lines of dormant. You can see quirk energy, but you haven't accessed the perception or processing boosts yet. Seems like you'll need to train to unlock it."
"How would I do that?" Izuku got off of the fridge he was sitting on. He was eager to learn, to finally start his path to becoming a hero.
"Well first, we need to refine your body, and teach you how to use cursed energy. Cursed energy is extremely useful, but also really hard to control. Strengthening your body will allow you to handle more powerful usages of cursed energy. Let's try it out."
Izuku watched as Gojo took out his hand once again. It suddenly ignited with swirling blueish green energy, outlined with black.
"Amazing..."
"Cursed energy runs off of negative emotions, if you remember my explanation last night. It will be hard to use or even manifest, but that's what Great Teacher Gojo is here for!" Gojo extinguished the cursed energy in his hand and gave Izuku a thumbs up.
"Alright, time to give it a shot!"
Izuku stood on the beach in a wide stance, breathing deeply. Gojo sat on a nearby rusted car, eager to see how his protege will perform.
Izuku closed his eyes and breathed deeply.
Gojo-sensei said that cursed energy runs off of negative emotions... so that means...
Izuku began to think of the injustices he suffered throughout his life.
The day he was diagnosed as quirkless. His mother's deflection of the question he had asked. Kacchan's change in behavior towards him, becoming aggressive, violent even.
The class laughing at him as he said he wasn't going to get a quirk. The teachers' change in behavior, going from supportive to downright cold.
Classmates tripping him in the hallways, destroying his property. Teachers turning a blind eye as Izuku was shoved into a locker.
The day Kacchan, no, Bakugo, told him to jump off of the school roof. Izuku didn't know why he still called him Kacchan. He had used the nickname in hopes of reminding Bakugo of their old friendship, but that will never happen.
Being attacked by the sludge villain. Izuku's throat dried up at the thought of the slime reaching down his throat.
All Might. Again, Izuku could not fault him for telling him to be realistic.
But as he recalled all the times he had been beaten, rejected, and abused, Izuku found himself feeling an emotion he rarely felt.
Anger.
That's what it was. He felt angry. Angry at society, angry at the fact that an extra toe joint led to being an outcast, a reject, a failure. What had society become, to value power over other human beings?
Izuku heard a small whoosh.
Opening his eyes, he looked at his hands, which were clenched into fists.
They were softly glowing with cursed energy, his hands glowing blueish green. The occasional ember flew off. The cursed energy looked so miniscule compared to the blue orb Gojo had created, a storm compared to a raindrop.
But to Izuku, this was a major step forward for him. This was a step towards him becoming a hero.
He looked towards Gojo, who grinned.
"It's not much," Gojo said. "But we have 10 months until the U.A entrance exams."
"That doesn't seem like a long time..."
"Don't worry Midoriya-kun! I've got you covered!" Gojo's grin widened. "Cursed energy is a difficult concept to master, let alone learn to use. But you managed to manifest it first try! Sure, it's barely anything right now, but it'll get easier to control and use as you practice. Not to mention, when you unlock Six Eyes, it'll practically be effortless!"
Izuku turned back to his hands. The embers of cursed energy had faded away, but he could feel it swirling inside himself. He felt powerful.
Powerful. That's something I haven't felt in a long time. But thanks to Gojo-sensei... I can do it! No, I WILL do it! Turning to the ocean, Izuku found himself yelling.
"I WILL BE A HERO!"
Gojo could only look at Izuku in approval, a training plan already forming within his mind.
10 months of hell would soon begin. 10 months to prepare Midoriya Izuku for the U.A entrance exams.
10 months to make his dream a reality.
One of the longest chapters I've written!
Please leave a review on where I can improve! It would be appreciated.
Chapter 4 will probably come some time this week.
11/3/21: Hope you enjoyed the rewrite! I felt like I finished this chapter so quickly!