Alright, for those of you who have read this before, I've made some changes to this story, not too much that the story itself is different but more along the lines of (1) I put this through Grammarly as by God, the first version was bad and (2) to ensure that things such as grammar and spelling are on point, I'm looking for a Beta reader who can read through future chapters and helped point out any errors I missed.
I have been thinking about this for a while and with how my first MHA story is going so well, I just couldn't let this idea sit in my head forever. Now, as you must already know, this will be a villain Izuku story but unlike many others where he turns villain at more or less the same time All Might tells him his dreams aren't realistic, this will be different. That major difference is that he can't get into UA for another reason. That reason will be discussed later in chapter 2.
The story will begin in the begin proper during the sports festival arc since there is no need to drag on with the events leading up to it. I've gone on long enough, let's get to the chapter, I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 1: This is just the beginning
(New York – Manhattan Nightlight district: 01:30 am)
It was a normal night in NYC, many people were at home, either fast asleep or up late hanging out with friends or for many students, finishing those assignments they left till the last minute. There were others, however, who were up even at this late hour, partying the night away as they enjoyed the iconic, vibrant NY party scene, enjoying the fabulous nightclubs and bars that The Big Apple had the over. "Rooney! See you later, man!" And exiting one of those same clubs, was a middle-aged man who looked like he had some pounds he could stand to lose with his gut.
"Later you idiots! I got to take these lovely ladies," The guy called back, a bit drunk but still full of energy as he hugged the two women he had with him closer to his large frame though they didn't seem the care even though girls with their beauty could have scored something so much better. "Back to my place for some private fun." He finished with a laugh as one of the girls, the one with a darker skin complexion, giggled along with him.
"Screw you man!" Someone inside, most likely one of the people he was hanging out with yelled back.
"You're just jealous that I scored tonight, both with the ladies and your money." He shot back as he left the club, his pocket full of the winnings he had made gambling earlier. Afterward, the party of three made theirs down the street which didn't have that many people. It wasn't weird though as many people were still in the clubs and bars while those out at this hour were the drunks that had been kicked out, pros and other law enforcement out on patrol, or others making their way home.
At this point, there wasn't anyone with a badge in costume to see.
"You are on a hot streak." The second girl with a clear animal mutation quirk said to him as she swung her hand around his neck to bring him down to her level, seeing how she was a tad bit shorter. They had just turned a corner onto a deserted street with only a couple of drunks around.
"What can I say? Lady Luck is smiling down on me." The guy laughed as he made a killing earlier, winning around 12K on the tables.
"Oh yeah, that kinda happens," The taller of the two girls giggled to him as she moved to whisper the last part into his ear. " When you gamble with money that isn't yours." With that little statement, he left himself sober up a bit as his breath hitched.
"What?" He asked as he looked down at the two girls and realized that he didn't even know their names and the fact that their smiles, which had been sexy as hell earlier were now a lot more intimidating. Especially the darker-skinned one as those cat-like eyes and ears made her look like a cat that just caught the canary.
"Come now, you didn't think you could get away with screwing with the Valentino family, did you?" The dark-skinned girl asked him as she giggled, both of them breaking off from him as they moved to stand in front of him. To those drunks who had seen this, all they would remember was some guy being called out by two hotties for his bull.
"Y-you're mistaken, I didn't do anything." The man said as he found himself backing away from them, the fact that they brought up that name, the name of one of the biggest mafia families in the eastern US was enough to scare most into submission. But now, now that he had a feeling that these two bombshells in heels and dresses had something to do with them, he was scared.
"Oh, we all know that's a lie. You are just supposed to be an accountant. You balance books, make sure money goes where it should, when it should, not ask questions, not rat out your employers and never," The tall one started as she started to walk around him, eyeing him like a piece of meat. "Ever take even a penny of that money for yourself."
"Oh come now, Fang. He didn't do too bad a job. I mean, he and his loser friends moved from Chicago to try and get away with their little slight against his old bosses." The shorter girl mutation said to her cat-eyed friend as she chuckled as if amused about his vain attempt to steal from mobsters and get away with it.
"I can't fault you there, Panda. Oh, how could be so rude, we haven't been introduced, have we. I am White Fang and my dear friend here is Panda-fist. We're students and we got the interesting assignment of dealing…with," The cat-like one who had introduced herself as White Fang said as she pulled out a picture from her purse so fast he almost didn't see her take it out at all. The picture sent a slab of ice into his heart. "Rooney Winters." Because it was a picture of him, sure he was wearing sunglasses in the picture but he knew what he was looking at.
"I-I don't know any Rooney Winters, you must have got the wrong guy." He tried to buy himself time as Fang rose one hand to let him see how her perfectly manicured nails grew and hardened into claws. Shit, he wasn't much of a fighter and his quirk only gave him minor boast to pain tolerance. He couldn't win in a two-on-one, not against hired hit-women for the mob. He had to get out of here.
"I don't we did. You do look a lot like the picture we were given," Panda-fist said as she looked up at the picture and then turned her stunning green eyes back to him. Like the alias implied, the girl shared many similarities with a Panda, those being panda-like ears and a nose while she had dark circles around her eyes which looked like a large domino mask. "Or am I wrong?" She asked a rhetorical question as they all knew the answer to it.
"No, you're spot on. We wouldn't have waited in that club, having to deal with all those drunk and sweaty losers for hours if we didn't think you were the guy. But you don't have to worry about that, quite the contrary, we're happy for you. You had time to hang out with friends, had some drinks, and even almost got to take two stunning girls home for the night." Fang said as she gestured to herself and her partner at that last bit in their strapless, form-fitting dresses and heels, they were quite the catch and they knew it.
"We are quite happy that your night turned out so well," Fang said with a smile that poured with superiority as she licked her lips. "Because this is your last night on earth." That was all it took for the man to turn tail and run from the two.
"Oh I love it when they run, it looks good when they grade us." Panda-fist said as she quickly took off her heels and started to jump side to side, getting ready to chase him down.
"I hate it, I didn't feel like clubbing tonight." Fang sighed as she wasn't in the mood for partying tonight, they had midterms they had to study for but here she was, out late at night, chasing after some dumb fool who upset the mob. With that said, both took off after him, Fang seemingly having no problems moving in heels as she kept pace with her bare-foot friend.
"For a heavyset guy, he sure can run." Panda joked with a toothy grin which showed off she had the teeth of a bear as well.
"He's not the first. Your life being on the line can be a great motivator." Fang, on the other hand, stayed professional as they chased after the dude for about 5 whole minutes. Soon the guy, sweaty from the run, found himself in an alleyway. Having been in such a state of panic, he hadn't thought about running into one of the bars, yelling for help from any pro that could be in the area, or call the police and pros. Seeing that they weren't that far behind him, he took cover behind a dumpster.
"Looks like he gave us the slip." Panda said as the two of them soon came around the alley but didn't see him.
"Someone that fat couldn't have gotten far, find him." Fang dismissed the notion that he could have gotten far as the two of them quickly took off again. The guy waited another few minutes to make sure they were gone before he left his hiding spot and quickly took off towards where he had parked his brand-new supercar.
'Bitches think this is the first time I've run for my life.' He thought to himself with a smirk as he thought himself in the clear as he reached his car. He quickly dug around his pockets for his keys before he opened the door and got inside. 'Gotta get the hell outta here!' He reasoned as he now knew that even if he avoided those two tonight, the Valentino's would just send more to off him if he stayed in NYC. He would need to get home, pack his shit and make a ran for it, hopefully, he can escape south. But before he could any of that, he saw a note, closed and taped to his touchscreen radio's screen. Fearing the worst, he slowly reached for it and pulled it off to read the contents.
'Say your prays, fatso'
CLA-PAK!
No sooner had he finished reading the note, did something thin and very, very fast pierce through his windscreen and get stuck in the passenger seat next to him. 'Wha-!'BOOM! He never had the time to realize that the object he was looking at was a modified arrow, one that it had an explosive charge attached to it. Even then, for such a small device, the NYPD CSI technicians would later find out that that small charge blew up with the equivalent explosive force of around 3.5kg of C4, reducing the car and the unfortunate Rooney to burnt wreckage and scared human remains.
"Good job, Taskmaster." Meanwhile, watching this from a distance as a crowd gathered to point and gawk like idiots at the burning remains of the car, both Fang and Panda blended in with the crowd as Panda made a call to their third teammate.
(One a building, 350m away)
"That was some fine shooting, as always." She finished over the line. The person in question was not dressed up for a night of the town but wearing something that was a mix of military combat gear and a hero costume. Proof that they had been the one to fire the shot was in the fact they had perfect sight of the destroyed car, even on a 28-floor building over 300m(984ft) away and because they were still holding the custom made, cutting edge bow that had fired the shot.
"Please, it wasn't that hard a shot. What about his friends?" The person, who was making use of a mask and a voice scrambler, replied as he lowered their bow, blending into the shadows well enough that even as a pro zipped across rooftops close to him towards the burning wreckage, he remained undetected.
"We don't need to worry about that. Night Owl, Gingerbread, and Scarlett just reported in, they have all 6 of them." Fang said over the line as they moved away from the scene of the action, they had completed what they had been sent out to do, time to pull out.
"Great work people," Taskmaster said as they got down from the ledge and quickly went about removing any trace that they had been there. "I'm sure our performance is worth top marks tonight." He finished as he looked over to a camera that had been looking right at him the whole time. He didn't worry though, he knew that the footage of the roof had been looped for a previous night for the building's security, leaving only one group that could have been watching their little….performance.
(The next day – Upstate New York)
"Yo, Izuku!" Hours later, around 8 in the morning, Izuku found himself approached by two of his classmates. Both had clear mutation-type quirks with the first one having a third eye on his forehand and the second having elf-like ears. Like himself, they were dressed in their school uniform. That uniform was made up of a white collared shirt with a black and yellow tie along with grey pants and yellow and black double-breasted blazers.
"Hmm?" Midoriya, one of many foreign students in the private school, looked up from his book towards his two classmates. They weren't friends by any stretch of the imagination but they were far from hostile to him, which was a welcome change from his middle school days. Like them, he was wearing their high school uniform but except for his now-iconic red kicks and his badly done tie.
"You hear what happened last night?" The one with elf ears asked him as the rest of the class simply had their little conversations in their social clicks. It was the first period but their teacher hadn't arrived yet so they were taking full advantage of that.
"Not really, didn't have the time to look up the news when I woke up." Midoriya, with a clear Japanese accent, replied to the two of them as he put his book down to face them.
"Dude, some guy got iced in Manhattan, in the clubbing district." The one with the third eye said as it was plastered all over the local news.
"They say that his whole car got blown up, that's insane." The elf eared one added in with a wince as a car bomb was a brutal way to go. At the same time, one of the girls in their class walked in with her group of friends. Like the two boys, she had a mutation to her body in the form of her gold, cat-like eyes and black cat ears. She like all the others girls wore the female version of the school uniform, that uniform having the change of rather pants, the girls wore black stockings and black and yellow knee-length skirts. Her uniform had a short-sleeved dress shirt rather than the long-sleeved one and she wasn't wearing her blazer but carrying it.
"They blew up his car?" Midoriya asked the two, surprised at what it was hearing from them.
"Yeah, the news says that he was roasted!" The one with a third eye replied before he took out his phone and gestured for him to lean in closer and watch the news story. "Here you gotta see this."
"Police are still on sight here in Manhattan, trying to recover all that remains of the victim of this tragic incident. Information around the incident is scarce and the police and pro heroes at this time have refused to answer any questions around it." The reporter on screen reported as they held up an umbrella to shield them from the morning rain. Behind him, the alley where the car had been sealed off to the public as CSI techs moved in and out, gathering evidence. To the side, they could make out the black bag which must have had the remains of the man being loaded into the medical examiner's van. "The incident occurred late last night when authorities were alerted to an explosion and fire. Pro heroes and firefighters were the first to arrive on the scene but were unable to save the victim in the vehicle."
"This being the 7th such incident involving a tragic death this month alone, leaves many wondering if this is the work of criminals." The reporter finished as this had only been the latest in a string of deaths under suspicious means throughout the city. The feed then cut to the major's office where he was addressing reporters and concerned citizens on how the NYPD, NYHD, and city were doing everything in their power to investigate these events and find out the truth of the matter.
"Jeez, what you gotta do to make someone that mad?" The elf-eared boy asked as they already thought it was a hit.
"I don't know but I hope I never pissed someone that crazy off." The one with the third eye said just as the teacher walked in and took her place at the head of the classroom.
"Okay students, settle down and take your seats. We have a lot to cover today." The woman who appeared to be in her late 40s told the class as she looked out onto the groaning mass of teens through her glasses. "Don't even start with that today. Here at Honey Lakes academy, we only accept the best and aim for the best and that will never change." The green-eyed, blonde teacher reminded them as they began with their lesson.
(Later that day)
"Midoriya," One of his classmates, a girl with a panda-type mutation asked as she walked up to him. "You got a minute?" She asked as the group of boys he was speaking with all nudged him and gave him side glances, one of whom pointing how he somehow scored a hottie despite being one of the more plain-looking guys in class, even if he was built like a tank.
"Sure." He said to her as he picked up his yellow back-up and the two of them walked out of the classroom. They didn't need to travel far as the school day had already ended so they simply found an empty classroom. "What you-" He didn't even finish the sentence before his classmate moved in and pushed him onto a seat, where she then mounted him and went in for a kiss that quickly shifted into a make-out session that involved a lot of tongue. "Okay, that is a lovely surprise." Midoriya breathed out after the two of them broke off, looking into the eyes of his girlfriend as she smirked right on back at him.
"God, I needed that. I don't know how but you make the Asian accent hot as hell." She said as she leaned down to lay her head on his shoulder, feeling the pulse of blood in his veins.
"I don't do much." Midoriya answered as he wasn't doing anything special other than not sounding like he couldn't pronounce sounds of the English language. "We still on for later?"
"Yup, same place. Don't be late." She said as she gave him one last kiss before getting up, picking up her blue and white book bag, and walking out of the class towards the dorms where the two of them along with the rest of the student body stayed.
This left the boy alone in the class as he sighed to himself and looked out the window at the many buildings that made up the school's expansive campus. 'Can't believe it's been two whole years since that day.' He thought to himself as he found himself lost in memory, his hand found itself gripping a keepsake that he had gotten from his mother. It was a keychain that had a round shield with an orange sort of orange three-pointed star. Behind that was a grey skull design. 'I'll have to call and see how mom is doing.' He thought to himself as it had been some time since he checked up on his dear old mother.
(Later that day – In the secret bowels of Honey Lake)
"Sienna, Emily, Izuku, Abraham, Beatrice, Julius. You all performed wonderfully on your little assignment. You even manage to score extra credit by managing to capture the target's friends with no one noticing." Later in the evening, the 6 from the previous night found themselves gathered in front of several screens, each of them had been blocked out to only give audio. Voice modulators ensured that none of them knew who the people behind the screens sounded like. Along with Izuku, were the two girls from the previous night. Sienna Khan - the cat-eared girl and Beatrice Wang, the panda girl. Lastly, were the three who had picked up the other targets while they lured the big catch away. The first one was the upbeat, redhead of the group, Emily Scarlett, a girl who will tell you that she is Canadian and proud. The second was more reserved, at least in school, Abraham Wilson. Last but not least was the lady killer of the group, Julius Matterella.
"Fights in clubs where alcohol is served aren't that uncommon. The real trick was hiding our presence from the cameras." Emily replied to one of the people on the screens that had spoken up. The 6 of them were even still in their uniforms, sans blazers. "I take it the clients were pleased?" She asked with a smirk, recalling the obsolete chaos they had left in that club, all to distract people from their successful kidnapping.
"Extremely. With the men you all brought it, they have a good chance of finding the rest of their stolen money. The Valentino family was quite pleased with that and wished to extend their gratitude towards the school, and the skilled students who had taken up the job." Another person on a different screen spoke, this sounding like a woman but they couldn't be too sure.
"You flatter us with your praise, we only performed at a level that one would expect of students of our great school." Julius, ever the silver-tongued guy he was, effortlessly responded for the group as they all bowed their heads along with him, they might not be able to see who they were speaking with as it was only one way, those on the monitors could see them just fine and in their line of work, a little modesty could go a long way with your clients.
"I wouldn't sell you short, Beatrice, Izuku." The two called students rose their heads to look up at them, none of the teenage humor or arrogance present, only a cool, collected straight face. "The two of you have proved to be extremely talented individuals and were moved up from the 1st year to the 2nd year course in only 6 months." The voice said as they had proven to be so skilled and gifted both in their academics but also their villain work, that they were bumped up to the second grade in both their schoolwork and villain training. This was something that only ever happened once in a blue moon.
"Yes, your skills, strengths, and cunning intellect are a cut above the rest. Of course, that's not to say the rest of you are lacking, far from it. You six have quickly risen and have become the most skilled team of your grade." The first screen said as they had proven to be efficient, well-oiled machines and proved that they worked well together.
"We thank you for your praise." Izuku said in response as he hid the smile that threatened to break across his face at their praise. He was proud of his skills and his work ethic, even more so when he got his rightful recognition for it.
"It is for that reason, that we have another assignment for you, though it may prove to somewhat of a challenge, we have all the faith in the world, that you will succeed." Another screen said to them, revealing that this meeting was more than a debrief of their past mission.
"If I might be so bold," Beatrice asked permission and when none of them speak up, she took that as her permission. "What is our task?"
"I believe we'll leave that your employer to explain." One of the screens said as an 8th screen appeared and turned on, showing that it had been fixed to 'audio only'.
"Greeting, students of HIVE. I have heard much about you six. I am All for One, but you will address me as sensei for the duration of your assignment." The unfiltered voice spoke up through the connection.
"If that is what you wish." Izuku said to them, if they were already speaking with the client then their contact was as good as agreed to.
"As individuals, your precision and proficiency are at the level of villains much older and experienced than you six but together, well, the fact that you have no failed missions to your name speaks for itself. Your skills and conduct in the field also show that it is well suited for operation in the real world." AFO said to them as different screens opened up which showed them all on numerous assignments and missions. The last screen was of Sierra breaking some guy's neck with a well-placed kick, she remembered that one nicely, some undercover cop thought they were hot shit.
"I have a young protégé, he may be older than you six but he has potential to grow and become a truly powerful villain. The job is for your six to join the ranks of his lackluster league of villains, you will act as his bodyguard, his advisors, and ultimately will follow his orders unless I say otherwise." AFO revealed his reasons for hiring them in the first place to the group of teens.
'The League of Villains?' Izuku thought to himself as that name seemed pretentious and loud, and any criminal organization with that kind of mixture in branding was always somewhat immature and short-lived. "Sensei, what is this League of Villains?" Nonetheless, he asked as he was fully dedicated to fulfilling his duties and he could say he was positive the rest of them felt the same.
"It is at this point a small group, one that wishes to shake the very foundations of hero society to its core and one of its goals, is to kill the symbol of peace himself." AFO didn't waste time and simply said it, to mixed results as the students lost their calm faces at such a bold claim.
'Kill All Might!? He must be joking! No-one can kill him!' Beatrice thought to herself, recalling how your boyfriend spoke of the man and his reputation, she might have never seen him in action but you didn't come to be known as the symbol of peace the world over by being a pushover.
'Great, another crazed client. I hoped we don't have to leave the country for this.' Sierra thought to herself as she hated whenever they got some idiot with no plans but a grand goal. All she could hope for is that they stayed local, she rather enjoyed the food here in New York.
'He must be mad! How in the hell does he expect us to kill the goddamn symbol of peace?! Not even Deathstroke the Terminator could do it!' Midoriya thought to himself, having the urge to try and back out of this suicide mission.
"Of course, I understand whatever skepticism you may have. All Might, for better or worse, has proven to be the ultimate challenge, one no villain had been able to defeat but I'm confident you'll change your minds once you get your feet on the ground here." AFO told them as even though he couldn't see them, he figured that professionals such as themselves wouldn't take such a notion lightly. Still, he needed these kinds of people to ensure that Tomura didn't end up captured or killed because of his childish immature nature, Kurogiri was barely able to pull his ass out of the fire when they retreated from the USJ. He needed their skills and power.
"I'm assuming that where ever you want us, is Japan, correct?" Up till now, silent Abraham asked as there was little chance that they weren't being shipped to the land of the rising sun, it was All Might's home and stomping grounds after all.
"That is correct, don't worry, I have already placed down the down payment and fees for the first month." AFO informed them like it was no a simple deal, yet they knew it was far from that.
'Well, at least he has money, for extended jobs like this, the down-payment for just one of us is around 4,000US$. But since we're going as a group, and have paid for a full month means he must have paid around 89,100$ for our services.' Izuku thought to himself as he knew that even just 2nd years like they were didn't go for cheap, their last job came with a price tag of over 40K for the whole assassination of the money stealing accountant.
"We have made the arrangements, you all leave in two days. We suggest you get ready." One of the screens told them before they all went off, one by one, soon leaving the 6 to get up and go make their preparations for what was sure to be a long trip.
(Two days later – JFK International)
"So, we have to board a flight here to San Francisco, then another to Tokyo?" Sienna asked as the group of 6 students found themselves in line for boarding their ride. Unlike before, when they were all dressed in their uniforms, now, they were all dressed in casual clothing, only carrying things like their phones, laptops, clothing, etc. They didn't need to worry about their gear, they were told it would arrive about a day after them. It paid to have people in major airport's security who ensured that their equipment and packages would get through security undetected.
"Seems like it, so get ready for a long flight." Emily replied as she swayed from side to side, a ball full of energy as she wore her favorite, 'I hugged a moose and got away with it' tee-shirt. Her long red hair was styled into a bun.
"God, I hate those." Julius said as he always hated how jet-lagged he got after long flights. "Hey, Midoriya, you're from Japan right?"
"No, I'm from Mexico, what do you think, dumbass?" Izuku replied to him as he handed his ticket to the stewardess who was checking them to make sure everyone booked for the flight got on board. At his comment, the rest of them chuckled at their friend's expense.
"Jeez man, it was just a question." Julius said as Izuku was let through, quickly followed by Beatrice and then Julius.
"Whatever, what about it?" Izuku asked him as they all entered the cabin of the jet and looked for their seat, having booked to have seats near to one another.
"You know anybody there we should look out for, any sights?" Julius asked him as it wasn't like they couldn't have some fun while they were in Japan. They were going for a 'cultural exchange' with another school there, one that Honey Lakes had a long history with.
"My hometown didn't have all that much, to begin with. Except for the one thing," Izuku said as he couldn't think of any good memories of his former home that didn't involve his mother in any way. But he could think of the main reason that the city grew as large as it did. "The best hero school in Japan, UA High."
"Isn't that sports festival of theirs coming up? Maybe we should see if we can't score some tickets." Beatrice asked as they all managed to get on board and place their carry-ons into the overhead bins before sitting down, with Beatrice sitting right next to Izuku and taking his hand into hers while Abraham took the window seat, he enjoyed looking at the clouds.
"As for people," Now his mind jumped to two people, two individuals he never thought he'll ever see face to face again. One larger-than-life, a symbol of power and excellence the world had never seen before. The other was the biggest and most violent asshole he ever had the displeasure of meeting. He then cleared his mind as he lazily leaned back into his seat with a smirk on his face. "I only have one person in mind. It has been a long two years, I wonder how Katsuki is doing."
And done! That was chapter 1 and unlike my other MHA story, it wasn't pure set-up but rather things are already in motion in this story. I know that you have A LOT of questions like why is Izuku in the states, why is he a villain in this one, how the heck did he get bumped up to the 2nd year, and for the first two, you kinda have to wait for chapter 2 as that one will clear a lot of the confusion and questions this chapter might have left you with. As for the whole plot of the story, I'm surprised that there aren't any stories where Izuku goes to a school to train to become a villain as sure, they are many villain Izuku stories but besides the one where he gets trained by Stain in some shape or form, none exist where he attends what is the reverse of hero schools, and with HIVE acting as the mirror image to UA, you can bet that he's receiving the best damn training possible for a future lawbreaker.
The first one, Honey Lakes, which is the public face for HIVE academy, no reason to hide it at this point, has 4 grades like most US schools, rather than 3 like in Japan. As I'm not American, I asked around with other writers here and found out that the average freshmen(1st year) is 14-15 years, the same as the first years in UA. Why he was bumped up so far for their villain course will also be explained as the story goes.
With their little bit of action that I showed, that scene was inspired by how Black Spider and Terra took down some dude in the third season of Young Justice, I just replaced the being crushed by a boulder with an explosive arrow.
Unlike my other story, Izuku will have a quirk and at this point, as they leave for Japan, he has had it for some time now, but like the quirks of most of his friend group, it hasn't been revealed in its entirety yet, only bits and pieces as far as two of them go. However, one of them is based on another character so those who recall the name will have a faint idea of what ability they have. As you all read, they have been hired to serve under Tomura as AFO is being cautious, he knows that the Tomura is immature, short-sighted, and prone to childish fits of rage so he wants to ensure that his successor doesn't wind up caught or dead so he is bringing Izuku and his team into the picture to make sure that doesn't happen since at this point, the only person he has watching over, aiding and protecting Tomura is Kurogiri and though he is skilled, he's just one person.
I'm not bashing his character as even if you don't focus on what he's done in the manga and only focus on the anime, which is now in its fifth season we all see clear signs that he's growing as a leader and as a character with real depth and personality to them and as a threat to the heroes but at this point, that growth hasn't happened yet and thought AFO believes in his apprentice, there is no way someone like him didn't get as far as he did without having some insurance measures or fail-safes to rely on in case shit hits the fan….like All Might caving in your face.
When we came back to the action, which should be in chapter 2 or 3, we will pick things up in the sports festival arc which although will be different from canon, I won't highlight it too much.
