Mark of a hero

by Sonnie Celanna

The first time he met the black eyed-man, it had nothing to do with his abilities or lack thereof. It had nothing to do with the boy's emotions or fears. It was mere coincidence he came during a moment when his life was in danger. "Izuku Midoriya, aren't you quite the interesting puzzle piece of history." "I am the outsider...and this is my mark."

5. Chapter 5

To say All Might was impressed was the understatement of the century. He'd been watching the quirk test Aizawa had devised to make sure his student was all right. After all, Aizawa wasn't known for letting people like Midoriya stay at U.A.

The blonde knew that Midoriya possessed far more power than he'd originally anticipated actually properly getting to see it and feel it himself. That sonic boom was proof, Midoriya was already terrifyingly strong within weeks of getting One for All.

'Holy crap kid. You really put the ultra in Plus Ultra, your fingers are broken but not your whole hand… 'The blonde found a giddy feeling rising inside him as he assessed his successor's performance. 'You knew you needed a high score but couldn't afford to break your whole hand so you threw the ball with your stronger hand and grabbed it with your new powers, making sure it was hollow on the inside to let the pressure travel. Instead of channeling the powers into your whole arm you restricted it to your fingers and let the air pressure to launch it. You used the extra height and momentum from your tendril thing to make up for the force you lost by not using your whole arm. Minimizing the injury to your body while possibly maximizing the throw more than One for All alone could…what the hell, young Midoriya?! HOW DID YOU GO AND GET SO COOL?!'

Pride. That was it. That was what the blonde was feeling, proud of his successor. The muscular man watched the scene unfold, it was subtle but he could see the change in Aizawa's eyes regarding Midoriya.

The greenette's classmates were all over the place. Half were talking amongst themselves how probably the only who'd beat the boy was the girl before him. The rest were too busy being stunned or recovering from the loud boom.

All Might constantly found himself grateful for his massively increased hearing from One for All. This was no exception as Aizawa announced Midoriya's score.

"1020 Meters." That brought the stunned students out of their stupor. Didn't take long for the praise to start, of course it wasn't from Aizawa.

"NICE! He's finally showing us what he can really do!" Exclaimed a brown-haired girl, she seemed to be the one his student saved in the exam. Uraraka? He wanted to say Uraraka. Uraraka seemed pretty happy about it.

"That tentacle was quite the surprise. I thought his quirk was simply an enhancement type. That would explain his ability to redirect himself in the exam." A blue-haired boy said. He stood quite tall. All Might could tell straight away he must be an Iida from his features. 'Looks just like Ingenium.'

"He broke his fingers, like in the exam. This quirk is very odd." Iida continued.

"It had quite a flair to it until the end." A blonde boy with a french accent said. "With a bit of work he could be as pretty as Moi~"

As All Mights gaze continued to wander over the students he spotted the blonde boy he saved so many months ago. Katsuki Bakugou. There was one student he had taken the time to learn plenty about. With how Midoriya often described him, he felt it best to be prepared.

The smaller blonde had his jaw dropped and quite an unflattering look of shock plastered on his face. Guess that answered the new teacher's question of whether he knew about Midoriya's new quirks yet.

All Might couldn't help his instinctual reaction to step out the shadows as explosions start happening around the boy's hand. He knew it would cause a scene though and stepped back in with a bit of guilt. 'Aizawa can handle it. Don't push yourself more than needed.'

"HEY! DEKU YOU BASTARD! TELL ME HOW YOU DID THAT OR YOUR DEAD!" The blonde screamed furiously. The greenette seemed to almost freeze up as the blonde rocketed towards him. Before the boy could get close enough to do any damage though Aizawa's scarf came flying through the air and trapped the blonde in place.

"Hey What the?!" Bakugou shouted in surprise. "Why the hell is your scarf so damn strong."

"Because it's a capture weapon made out of Carbon Fiber and a special metal alloy. STAND DOWN." The scruffy teacher demanded. "It would wise to avoid making me use my quirk so much. It gives me serious dry-eye. Your wasting my time now, whoever's next can step up."

Midoriya cautiously walked around the blonde, who seemed almost as though he was paralyzed on the spot before running off to join Uraraka who fussed over his finger.

'Young Bakugou, according to Midoriya you're a prideful one. To have him so firmly beat you…..' The muscular man made a mental note to keep an eye on the younger blonde when he could.

The rest of the events didn't prove all that interesting. Midoriya wasn't going to use One for All and destroy himself more when he was trying to avoid it and the Pro presumed that Midoriya didn't want to risk seeing what effects his broken finger would have on his Tendril-Tentacle when he still needed to complete the tests ahead.

Now it was time to see the scores. The blonde's breathe hitched into his throat. Aizawa was rarely one to go back on his words and he had said whoever scored lowest was to be expelled.

Midoriya may have had a beyond exceptional result for the ball throw but that was only one test. The first five he had performed somewhat above average, likely thanks to his mark. But the last three…..he had severely under performed. Could the boy get away with his performance? Even if he was just second last, it would keep him in the running.

The list formed into existence.

1. Momo Yaoyorouzu. 2. Shoto Todoroki.

3. Katsuki Bakugou. 4. Tenya Iida.

5. Fumikage Tokoyami. 6. Mezo Shoji

7. Mashirao Ojiro. 8. Eijirou Kirishima

9. Mina Ashido 10. Ochaco Uraraka

11. Koji Koda 12. Rikido Sato

13. Tsuyu Asui 14. Yuga Aoyama

15. Hanta Sero 16. Denki Kaminari

17. Kyoka Jirou (Tied) 17. Izuku Midoriya (Tied)

18. Tooru Hagakure. 19. Minoru Mineta

The blonde let out the breath he was holding. In the crowd he could his successor looking similarly relieved. One small student with purple balls for hair seemed to be shaking in fear. Was that the 'Mineta' on the list? Poor kid didn't last long.

"And I was lying, no ones going home." The tired pro announced. "That was just a rational deception to make sure you gave it your all on the test."

The class were all shouting amongst each other dismay. Some seemed to already presume that it was a ruse. All Might suddenly had the overwhelming urge to punch the wall beside him.

"Midoriya. Here, go see the old woman about your finger." Aizawa said, handing the boy a slip to see the nurse before wandering towards where All Might had been observing. "Oh and tell her I noticed something odd. Your bones don't break immediately."

"WAIT WHAT?!" The boy shouted surprised. That cause the pro to stop. A look of confusion on his face.

"You haven't noticed? Your fingers didn't immediately turn all bruised when you finished your throw. They only bruised up after a few moments of inactivity. I suppose you've just brushed the lack of pain of initially as adrenaline?"

"Yeah…." The boy answered, clearly unsure.

All Might looked up from his coffee as Izuku fidgeted nervously in the armchair across from him. The blonde had tried to reprimand the boys teacher but had just made himself look a fool.

He had returned here to rest and at the end of the school day Midoirya had showed up. Uraraka had tagged along but stayed outside. The boy had just finished recounting the voice in his head and what the voice had told him.

"Curious and curiouser….that mark." All Might couldn't find the words to describe what he wanted to say. He had looked up the facts the voice had told Midoriya and they all checked out. He would ask Nezu later if they could check up on those kids just in case. "Hmph. Well I can't say much more than be cautious. Even in this world of superpowers, hearing voices is rarely a good thing."

The greenette just gave a slight nod as he stared at the ground. Both found themselves eyeing the pattern on the back of the boy's hand.

"I want you to know, I wasn't sure whether I should've let you show multiple powers or not." The greenette looked up panicked at the idea he had accidentally gone against the blonde's wishes. "Relax, after seeing that display, it seems silly to prevent you from using them. You need to learn about using One for All and….Far Reach you said the voice called it? School can help with both so no point in hiding."

"Right." The boy said, with a sigh of relief.

"So tomorrow will be your first time with real hero training." The blonde clapped his hands, knowing the subject would definitely bring out his pupils cheery side. "What did you have your quirk registered as, if I may ask? After all there's a lot going on with you."

"Mark. I just had it registered as Mark." The boy told him. "It hides One for All, explains the…well mark and is vague enough that no-one will really question any odd design features I'll need for my costume."

"Smart." The blonde improved. "I'll be honest with you, my boy. I am a little nervous about tomorrow. Going from one pupil to 20, won't be easy."

The greenette was up on his feet in no time. "You'll do great All Might! You're the #1 pro for a reason so I bet you'll be the best teacher."

That got a laugh from the blonde, which caused some blood to spray out. "I think your fanboying might be getting in the way of realistic expectations but thanks kid. It helps."

The blonde then smirked. "Speaking of great, so your body DOESN'T get immediately get destroyed by One for All? That's some pretty good news. What exactly did Recovery Girl say?"

The boy scratched the back of his head and shut his eyes with a soft smile. "She has a theory that when one for all is active and im still moving the damage doesn't take place. It only appears once I stop moving which is why I wasn't hurt until after I took out the zero pointer at the exam. My own theory is that the mark must have something to do with why that's the case."

"Makes sense." The blonde said, sipping his coffee.

The boy sat back down and started fidgeting. The blonde had spent enough time with the boy to pick up on his habits. Whenever he wanted to ask something or say something but thought the man would berate him for it he'd fidget. (He rarely did berate him, the boy's self-confidence still needed work.) "What do you want to ask, young Midoriya?"

"Well…." The boy started before trailing off, like he was trying to find the right words. "I don't want to cut into any more of your precious time when I already stole so much of it during those ten months but…..I took a massive risk using Far Reach in the test, I still have barely any idea how it works and I should probably make sure I have at least some idea before I use it in any lessons…."

"Understandable." The blonde said, He could already see where this was going and found himself resting the urge to roll his eyes at his protégé, it was hardly his fault his confidence was so down.

"I was wondering if….maybe…. you'd spend some time with me and try to help me train using Far Reach?" The boy asked nervously. "Ifyoudon'twanttothatsfineitottallyunderstandatitwasprobablyprettypresumtousofmetoaskatallimsorryishoudln'tof-"

"Can you develop a third quirk please that mutates a zip on your mouth?" The blonde asked, exasperated. He stood up and put a hand on his kid's shoulder "Listen, my boy. I was your teacher even before I joined U.A., It's my job to train you. You should never be afraid to ask, cause training you will never be a burden, ok?"

The blonde did roll his eyes when tears formed in the greenette's. What the blonde wasn't expecting was the sudden hug from the boy. "Thank you."

The blonde, once he realized what was happening, returned the hug. "Alright kid, that's enough with the sappy stuff, isn't that girl waiting for you?"

That caused a massive blush on the boy. "Ahh! Right, Uraraka, I shouldn't have left her waiting so long." The boy turned and hurried out the door. "Bye All Might!"

"Haha, see ya later kid. Oh! And I'll text you were to meet up later. Now go get your girlfriend!" The blonde teased as the boy ran off. There was a squeak that unmistakably came from Midoriya.

The blonde went for another sip of coffee but almost ended up spilling it over himself in surprise when he heard a voice behind him.

"Well well well, looks like someone's already getting one well with some of the students." Midnight giggled. Another pro at the school with long purple hair and a very provocative outfit. "It gets me all excited just thinking about it."

"You really need help." The blonde groaned.

"I get help weekly from Hizashi I'll have you know." The woman said with a wink, causing the blonde to spray his drink across the room and making her laugh. "Kidding~"

Not for the first time, All Might found himself laughing himself to death at his successor. It was probably a bit mean but the boy has turned into a walking slapstick routine while training his Far Reach.

The blonde had brought them to a large abandoned warehouse near the beach they used to work at. It was completely empty on one side and the other had loads of miscellaneous items scattered about. It proved to be the perfect space to work on the boys powers.

They had first used the empty space to get the boy used to summoning his power. They quickly found no matter what the tentacle would always come out at the same length if it had nothing to grab onto. Midoriya could keep it active but if he did he would quickly tire out.

After that, Midoriya had suggested they replicate the incident with the TV remote that happened at his house but try to have the boy catch the items. They had gone up to the higher floor to practice, near a broken window. It had turned out to be good training as well as a good bunch of laughs for All Might, the boy had a talent for having the things he pulled barely miss his hand and hit him in the face or chest instead. The first time the blonde had been concerned, the 20 consecutive times he'd risked causing more damage to his stomach from the laughs.

The blonde didn't think he'd laugh as much when Izuku got ready to try again, it was starting to lose it charm. Of course, when he had expectations Midoriya had a way of far surpassing and destroying them. The boy summoned his power again and completely missed the items this time. They were both in for a surprise tentacle stuck to the wall just behind the table and Midoriya got yanked through the air towards it.

"AGGHH!" The boy shouted in surprise as the skinny blonde almost collapsed from laughter.

"Holy crap kid. You sure hero work is your calling and not comedy work?" The blonde laughed. As he finally calmed down they both took a break and sat on the ledge of the broken window.

"That was….weird." The shorter of the two said in reference to the wall incident.

"Hmm, I wonder…." The blonde said aloud as he thought about the power. "Hey kid I know it tires you out but you think you could keep it summoned for a minute?"

The boy did as he asked and All Might ran his hand across the tentacle. "Just like I thought, it's all sticky." The blonde smirked at the kid. "It would be pretty good for navigation if you figure out how, clearly. Even without One for All this is a pretty amazing power kid."

"I just….I wonder why it took so long to manifest then if it's a quirk." The boy said, examining it.

"You sure like to look at it that's for sure." The blonde joked, causing the greenette to look up surprised.

"Oh…well uh…..I guess its just physical reminder that I actually have powers now. Hurts though." The boy said. Alarming the man.

"Wait what do you mean hurts?" The blonde asked concerned.

"Oh, I didn't want to worry you! It's nothing serious, just whenever I use the Far Reach my hand kind of flares in pain. Not much, it's bearable. I thought it was just cause of breaking myself during the exam and earlier today but now I think about it… It hurt when it activated at the exam as well even before I destroyed my arm." The boy admitted. "Its nothing I can't handle though."

"For goodness sake…" The blonde sighed, exasperated. "Promise me you'll talk to recovery girl about it at least, that could be serious."

"Right! Im sorry for not doing it yet." The greenette apologized. "Its just, so much else was happening, it slipped my mind."

"Well at least you—WOAAHHH" The blonde had made to get up as he was talking but ended up standing on one of the items neither had noticed, causing the blonde to slip and fall backwards out the window to Midoriya's horror.

"ALL MIGHT!" The boy shouted in shock. On instinct he leaned out the window and threw his left hand forward, summoning his power. At the same time, The man bulked up into his muscle form. The boy had forgotten about that! 'oh crap im going to get pulled out by his weight!'

At least, that's what the boy thought but to both there surprise when the tentacle wrapped around All might, He was stopped in the air. He was definitely heavy but not enough to pull the boy out like he thought.

The muscular man looked up and laughed. "Haha, nice work Midoriya! Why don't you see if you can pull me up from there?"

"I don't have the strength for that!" The greenette cried out.

"Come on! You want know until you try." The blonde encouraged him. The greenette cursed his mentor but listened, pulling. To his surprise, while it was no easy task he actually could pull the man back up.

It took a fair few minutes but eventually the blonde had climbed back in through the window and powered down to his skinny state. "Nice job kid!"

The greenette didn't reply, instead opting to lie on the floor panting,

"And hey, know we know you can carry some seriously heavy loads." The blonde laughed. "Take a breather, then I think we should start experimenting with travelling using that power."

The two ended up spending another 4 hours training. The boy was just finally starting to get used the momentum of the power and how far he could travel when he got a phone call from his mom wondering where in the heck he was.

The boy looked at his phone and nearly dropped it in surprise when he realized it was half 11.

The two departed, apologizing to each other for taking up so much of the others time. As All Might watched Midoriya run home he smiled. Hopefully the accidental extra time training would give the boy the confidence to use it tomorrow. After all, the blonde was quite excited to see what the boy could do with his brains and that power.