A/N: Heya!
Here's a new prompt of mine… that took me a single evening to come up with and write… somehow…
The art ain't mine. I also won't classify it as a full-on crossover since there's not a lotof Naruto elements in it.
Will I continue it? Or leave it at that?
Who knows?
Without Further Ado!
"AWW! K-kaachan stop it"
"Don't follow me Deku! I'm warning you!"
"Yeah, useless Deku!"
"Go back to doing nothing like you do best!"
...
"Hey! What are you children doing to that boy?"
"Mind your own beeswax old man!"
"O-old? I'll have you know I'm in the springtime of my youth! And are you bullying that boy?! That is not youthful behavior at all!"
"Whatever! Screw this! I'm going home!"
"Hey! Wait for us Bakugou!"
…
"T-th-thank you s-sir!"
"No thanks necessary my boy! I'm simply doing what any youthful person would do!"
"Ah… umm…"
"Hmm?"
"A-are you Might Guy?"
"Oho! Why this is a surprise! I'm never recognized! And who might you be young man?"
"M-my n-name is Mid-Midoriya Izuku! I'm your biggest fan!"
"..."
"Might Guy? Why are you crying sir? I'm sor-"
"OH, THIS IS A HAPPY DAY! I FINALLY HAVE A FAN!"
"Eh?"
Musutafu, in a residential district...
"Thank you very for your help Izuku dear, I'm getting frail in my old age, and with the elevator broken, I would've had to leave the bags on the street," an old woman said kindly as she stood on the doorstep of her apartment.
The green-haired young man smiled at the senior citizen and threw a thumbs up to her, revealing a very calloused hand, a sign of hard work. "Nonsense Korochi-san! As Guy-sensei always says! The springtime of youth never ends! And if you ever need any help, do not hesitate to call our home!" The boy's pearly whites almost shined.
The old maid giggled to herself, "Oh you always go on about that elusive sensei of yours! He must be a great man to inspire such a heroic spirit in you," she gushed at the boy, raising a hand and patting him on his shoulders.
Izuku's cheeks colored at the praise and he sheepishly scratched at one of his cheeks.
"Thank you. I'll be sure your kind words reach him." He said, bowing once again.
Clad in a green and white exercise tracksuit soaked in sweat, the fourteen-year-old stood at an over-average height of 170 cm. The boy waved at the old lady once again before turning around and speed-walking back to the stairs, taking out a Hydro Homie™ gourd from his pack to refresh himself.
Beep Beep
'Rest time's over' he thought as he put his gourd back in place. He took out the phone and turned off the alarm while taking a glance at the time.
His eyes widened.
"Crap! Gai-sensei said he wanted to see me today before noon! And it's almost 11:50!" The boy yelled in panic and dashed towards a nearby window. Looking down, he was disheartened to find the sidewalk packed with passersby.
He groaned. The subway would take too much time too!
Gai-sensei's home/agency was almost four kilometers from here, right at the outskirts of the city. While such a distance could be covered by the average person walking in around an hour, he had to make it in a sixth of the time.
His eyes rose up to the adjacent buildings as a thought came to him.
'Maybe...'
His eyes narrowed and he got out of the window, balancing himself on the edge and tensing his legs.
'If I can't reach Gai-sensei by noon, I'll do five hundred laps around the neighborhood!'
With his self-rule cemented, Izuku Midoriya jumped.
"Parkour!" The green-haired boy yelled excitedly as he landed on a rooftop, going into a roll and dashing off the ground without losing any momentum.
The boy sprinted the length of the roof and shifted his red sneaker-clad feet, bending his feet under a pipe while his back remained away from the ground. The boy flexed his stomach and rose back, before continuing his sprint.
He was breathing rapidly, and his heart beat furiously in his chest, the pleasant burn of a workout had begun to manifest in his muscles.
He jumped again, not caring about the length of the wide berth beneath him, and landed in the center of the other rooftop
He'd already covered a third of the distance within if his mental countdown was correct, 255 seconds.
That was almost half the time gone! He was gonna be late!
He narrowed his eyes and pushed on the ground harder, pushing himself harder.
"PLUS ULTRA!" He egged himself on.
He did not pay attention to any possible spectators, most people on the ground wouldn't bother looking up and the few with a view of him would likely shrug their shoulders.
They lived in a society of superpowers! Strange sights were the custom nowadays!
'Not that I'd know anything about powers' a stray self-deprecating thought crawled out in his mind before he squashed it with extreme prejudice.
No! Gai-sensei believed in him!
Him!
A Hero as hardworking, dedicated, and kindhearted as the Might Guy had taken a failure like him in!
The memory of their meeting was forever etched in his mind, the words that his second idol (next to All Might of course) wove in response to his plight had moved his spirit.
...
"I want to be a Hero! I heard you were quirkless so I believed if you could do it... then maybe… I mean if I try really hard… then maybe I could too. But nobody believes in me… even… even my Mom."
"..."
"Might Guy… Can I become a Hero too?"
"Call me Gai, my boy. As for your question, unfortunately, I cannot say whether or not you can become a Hero"
"Ah, I see-"
"Because… it's not always possible to do what we want to do, but it's important to believe in something before you actually do it."
"I… what?"
"Young man, I cannot tell the future, I cannot say for sure whether or not you'll become a Hero but I can and will support anyone who wishes to do good"
"You really mean it?"
"Of course! As long as someone has the perseverance, nothing is out of their reach!"
...
His teacher's words hadn't been the idealistic drivel he had wished to hear. They were the harsh truth he needed to accept.
It was time to stop dreaming and hoping, it was time for action.
Gai-sensei had offered to help not only sponsor him but shadow his growth into the fabled "Springtime of Youth" he had always spoken of.
All of it fascinated Izuku, so much so that he gladly became the Hero's pupil, or his protégé as his mother would jokingly refer to him. Speaking of his mom-
"GRAAHHH" A loud roar snapped the boy out of his brief trip down memory lane.
Looking to the left mid-jump he was shocked to see a monster-like man causing a commotion over by an intersection. The distraction and the ensuing urge to take out his notebook caused the boy to mess up his landing roll and hit a wall on the next roof.
"OOF" He exhaled violently as the impact shook him a bit.
With a grumble, the greenette took out his phone lamenting at the slightly cracked screen, before seeing the clock. The numbers 11:58 seemed to mock him, especially knowing that he still had a third of the way to go. The boy hurriedly got back on his feet and redoubled his efforts, determined not to disappoint his teacher.
'If I can't reach Gai-sensei by noon, I'll do five hundred laps around the neighborhood!' He repeated to himself.
He would not fail
Minutes later, YOUTH HQ...
"Gai-sensei!" Izuku called out as he entered the agency, bending forward all the while to catch his breath.
He failed.
But even if it was only by two minutes, his self-rule came back to mind.
'Guess I'm gonna be late for dinner tonight, better tell Mom' he thought with a frown reaching for his phone to do just that.
Then his instincts screamed at him and he righted himself, crossing his arms just in time to block a powerful kick.
"DYNAMIC ENTRYYYYYY!" His mentor, the man whom he had grown to admire as much as, if not more than All Might, gave him his 'youthful' greeting.
The boy grunted reflexively as he felt his feet buckle under the force. His teacher hit like a truck!
But he held on, before tensing his arms and pushing back.
His sensei jumped back, making sure to do a backflip in the air before he landed in a crouch.
"Congratulations my boy… is what I would have said if it wasn't 12:03 already!" he scolded sternly.
The green-eyed boy bent forward at a 90-degree angle, "I'm sorry for the tardiness sensei! I was helping Korochi-san with her groceries!" he said with shame.
He was met with silence until he heard the man's steps echo closer to him.
"Izuku..." The Hero addressed him with a grim tone.
The student did not dare look up at his teacher, no doubt the man would be disappointed in him. If he couldn't even be trusted to be punctual then what kind of a failure of a hero, would he-
SMACK
"...You fool!"
"Huh?" the boy winced at the hit and the insult from his position on the ground and brought a hand to rub the back of his scalp, more out of habit than anything.
He finally raised his head to look at his mentor.
Izuku's idol and his fellow quirkless was looking down at the boy with a frown, making his already thick eyebrows more pronounced.
The man stood a head taller than him at 186 cm with an imposing figure. Dressed in a form-fitting green jumpsuit that showed off his muscles and was complemented with a pair of orange leg warmers. The man also had a utility belt and thick sleeveless jacket made of Kevlar-like material, all of which contained various tools and objects that could assist him in his duties.
He was always prepared, always at the ready for action because as they say, evil never sleeps!
"My boy…" the man knelt before the student and gripped his shoulders sternly. He then surprised the greenette by hugging him tightly.
"Never apologize for helping people! A true Hero puts the citizens first!" Gai yelled, and Izuku just knew the man was crying from his tone.
Tears gathered in Izuku's own eyes at the kind words.
"Gai-Sensei!" he yelled in admiration.
"Young Izuku!" the man responded just as earnestly.
…
After calming down, Gai and Izuku both sat on the floor of the Hero's agency, which doubled as a dojo. The place was empty except for the two of them, it was simply a sign of Might Guy's own misfortune.
Where most Hero agencies, even minor ones, would have at least a sidekick to help around, or even be located in a building or at least a nice urban apartment, Might Guy used his own family home, one that had been passed down for generations. That might not have been so strange for Underground Heroes, who also used their own apartments as a base of operations, but the martial artist was not one of them.
The man soldiered through his days, working a truly thankless job with little to show for, and it wasn't even his fault! Agencies only ever received cases if they were contacted directly by either the police, or citizens, or in the rarer events where the Heroes encountered the villain directly while on patrol.
And who would want to ask the Hero without a quirk, or advanced support gear, whose rank didn't even reach the triple digits, for help when there so many "better" heroes out there? Even when the man did encounter villains on patrol and deal with them effectively, the press never published the story, and the Hero was only left with the brief thanks of any witnesses around him.
Most admired him long enough to find out of his condition, and then went back to the status quo.
And with how small the quirkless population had gotten, especially the youth, it was really no surprise that Izuku had been his first fan. Rarely had the name of Might Guy reached anyone outside of Musutafu, let alone anyone sympathetic.
Izuku internally lamented at his sensei's luck, at how blind the society around him was.
Yes! Heroes were cool! And his sensei was the picture-perfect cool guy. His monstrous talent in combat! His heroic spirit! Even his Nice Guy Pose™ (which Izuku wanted to emulate).
But all everyone ever saw was his lack of quirk, just like all his own peers ever saw were a De-
"IZUKU!"
"Huh?" The greenette snapped out of his funk only to receive a second chop on the head, one much lighter than the first.
"Again with that nonsense? I already told you, my boy! It does not matter if you're the Number One Hero or the Dead last! A Hero's duty remains the same! To protect and serve! To fight evil and unyouthfulness in society!" the man shook his fist with an aura of sheer determination around him.
"Yes Sensei!" the boy took in his mentor's words like they were Holy, even going as far as to jot them down in his notebook.
The man took a deep breath and calmed down before he looked at his student and smiled.
"I didn't call you here to lecture you Izuku! But to warn you! The U.A. entrance exams are only a year away, you will have to train even harder before then! Which is why I have here," he gestured to a box beside him, "just the right tools to help you!"
Izuku was speechless at the gift and he took it carefully, as if afraid he'll shatter is with his grip. Putting the box before him, he took off the lid and looked inside only to gasp.
"I don't know what to say I-!"
"There is no need my dear student! Ever since that fateful meeting between us, I knew I had found a seed, one that needed the right soil to thrive and with the years you've spent under my care, you've proven that, like the mighty oak tree, you refused to bend to the wind aiming to knock you down!" the man said with determination.
"S-sensei!" Izuku sniffled before he recollected himself. "But doesn't the tree get broken while the reed survives because it bent?" he asked, familiar with that particular fable.
"Err" the man stammered at his error before righting himself and shooting his student his patented Nice Guy Pose™. "W-well yes, but you see? One must both be strong to face the challenges ahead while, like the reed, turn his weaknesses into strength" he nodded to himself with a smirk.
"I never thought about it like that!" the boy was simply amazed at the wisdom and once again reached for his notebook.
"But I digress!" the man cut him off before they could be derailed further from their subject. He then pointed at the box's contents. "In this box, my boy is the 'fertilizer' that will help you grow stronger! The man I usually contact for my own support tools was able to customize something for your size and proportions. These…" he reached in and pulled out a pair of thick straps with interwoven bars. "Are a pair of adjustable leg weights for your calves. They can be separated into pieces so you can add or remove the weight as you desire, BUT!" He raised a finger, suddenly extremely serious.
Izuku narrowed his eyes as well, leaning in to observe the objects closely.
"To avoid any serious injury, I will be coaching you through using them. We'll progress gradually to avoid any muscle tear" he explained before gesturing for his student to open his arms.
The boy did so but regretted it immediately as the weights were dropped on his hands, bringing him back to the floor.
Gai puffed his cheeks before laughing heartily at the greenette's predicament.
"HAHAHA! Sorry, my boy! I guess I forgot to mention those were high-density weights. Since they're all complete right now it's natural for them to be too heavy for you! They're a whopping 50 kilograms each!" the man exclaimed with his eyes closed and a giant smile on his face.
Izuku widened his eyes before looking up at the man, tears once again welling up in his eyes.
"S-sensei I-" he started saying before he frowned, let the weights go, and adjusted his position, going into a kowtow before his teacher.
"THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!" He yelled, crying his eyes out.
When Gai opened his eyes and saw the sight, his eyes gained a humid sheen as well. The next thing both martial artists knew they were gripping each other in a powerful, manly hug.
"Young Izuku!"
"Gai-Sensei!"
"Young Izuku!"
"Gai-Sensei!"
The exchange would go on for a while, and if anyone were to watch the scene and see a sunset materialize behind them?
Then it was simply the Power of Youth!
A/N: So err… it's short... But then again there's not much to say about it.