Here's the second part of the Assessment Test! I hope you enjoy it!

In this chapter, I took a few liberties. Hopefully, they work out alright and you guys like what I did.

As always, there's an Author's Note at the end, if you want to read it.

Disclaimer: This story will be slow going, and I tend to be a bit excessive with words. I apologize in advance if this bothers you.

I do not own My Hero Academia.


"Just a moment, please."

Jumping slightly, Izuku turned his attention toward the source of the voice- the hero in the blood red suit, whose scowl seemed to deepen when the two of them made eye contact.

The hero purposely approached him until they were close enough to privately talk. There was a slight pause in the conversation, as if the hero was thinking about what to say, before he spoke suddenly in a rather blunt and insensitive tone.

"You haven't used your quirk yet."

He wasn't asking a question; he was stating an observation. One that Izuku felt himself dreading for reasons both logical and irrational.

"Y-yes sir-"

"Why not?"

Izuku felt his throat swallow without his permission as his teacher's intense stare whittled away at his already nonexistent confidence. Unable to look him in the eye, he instead focused on a point on the ground about a meter away, his answer coming out in a meek voice.

"I c-can't control my quirk… and m-my body can't handle the r-recoil, sir… "

Vlad King studied the fidgeting boy in front of him in detail for a moment. He always tried to pay attention to all of his students, but he decided to keep an extra eye on this particular one, given the decisions that were made for his enrollment…


About three to four weeks ago…

Unknown to most of the world, Yuuei had a fairly straightforward system when it came to sorting and separating the first years into their new homerooms.

Simply put, the students were organized by course, and then rearranged into syllabary order. Once that was done, they went down the list of students to review each of their records and profiles one by one to determine which teacher could give them the best opportunity for development. All the associated teachers for that specific course would participate in this sorting system to give their professional input in regards to the student's potential. But ultimately, the final decision to take up a student would rest on the shoulders of the homeroom teachers.

Each homeroom teacher in Yuuei had their own personal tastes and teaching styles that they adhered to, and the two in the hero course were no exception. But unlike the other courses, the hero course homeroom teacher's decisions were also influenced by their particular style of heroism.

For example, due to the nature of their quirks and equipment, Eraserhead preferred to to take in students with quirks that were better suited for combat while Vlad King preferred those with quirks that gave them multiple options at their disposal. Because of their different heroic careers and experiences, Eraserhead typically chose students who could potentially specialize in a single type of hero work, such as rescue or capture, and/or have the capability to work independently in the future. Conversely, Vlad King took in students who could prioritize versatility in hero work, and had the capability of working well in small, close-knit teams.

It helped immensely that their colleagues, who sat with them through the whole sorting ordeal, knew how each of the homeroom teachers operated. So on the day that it was the hero course's turn to divide up their students, they were able to efficiently sort through the workload in front of them. For the first year hero course, the teachers ended up knocking out the entire process in one day, taking a total sixteen hours from start to finish to complete the task.

They started out by sending the four recommendation students to the homeroom that would best suit them, and then they proceeded to begin going down their list, starting with a boy named Aoyama Yuga and finishing with a boy named Rin Hiryu.

It went mostly well, with a couple exceptions every now and then for a few students.

For example, according to their paperwork, the student named Koda Koji was better suited for a supporting role within small teams; but, there were a few heroes who argued that depending on the location, he could operate as a fully interdependent hero, specialized for certain jobs while using specific animals within his area. Conversely, there were some who wanted Shiozaki Ibara in class A for obvious reasons, but more than a few argued that her quirk gave her too much versatility for her to be potentially focused on only one aspect of hero work, like combat or support.

Little discussions like this were handled professionally and quickly, and as a result, they were able to sort through each of their candidates with relative ease.

That is, until it was Midoriya's turn to be reviewed and sorted.

The moment Cementoss had loaded his image onto the projector, the group of pros began to discuss among themselves the best way to determine where this particular young man should go. After a solid seventeen minutes of going back and forth on all the possibilities his quirk provided him with, they finally decided that his best option would be Class A. Under Eraserhead's tutelage, he would not only hone his overall combat abilities while preparing him for a solo career, but he would also be under the watchful eye of someone who could erase his quirk at will, preventing him from overusing it like he did against the zero pointer.

The group of heroes were ready to send him to class A and move on to the next student of their rapidly shrinking list until they heard Aizawa speak up for the first time since they began reviewing this child.

"It was a mistake to consider him for the hero course."

Silence began to grow in the conference room, and as the group of heroes took in his words they began to realize that Aizawa wasn't about to take in this student. In all honesty, they should have seen it coming- last year, they practically had to force him to take more than half of the students they sent his way, and he still ended up 'expelling' all of them. It was honestly quite a miracle that Eraserhead hadn't objected to any of his new students yet... until now.

Granted, that didn't make the group of pro heroes any less frustrated. They were so close to finishing too, with only four students left after this one to sort out.

The pros begrudgingly began to try to convince and argue with the Erasure Hero to change his mind, but try as they might he remained stalwart in his decision. Slowly but surely, the volume began to rise in the conference room before the principal decided to chime in with his squeaky voice in an attempt to solve this issue.

"Everyone! Please calm down. I know we all have our opinions on the matter at hand, but we must still act in both the way befitting of a Yuuei school teacher and as a veteran hero." As soon as the words left his mouth, the room's volume instantly dipped, as if the heroes hadn't even been arguing in the first place.

Nodding to himself in satisfaction, the principal gently turned in his chair towards his colleague, ready to discuss things civilly and logically once more. "Aizawa-kun, I know you have already spoken your beliefs on what we should do with the boy. It would be appreciated if you could elaborate on your stance."

Shifting slightly in his chair, the pro hero Eraserhead shrugged as he turned his exhausted face towards the principal. "I'll stick with what I said earlier. He shouldn't be considered for the hero course."

"And why do you believe that?"

"Pick any number of reasons you want. It's obvious he can't control his power. He would become a liability instead of an asset out on the field. And it was completely irrational for him to take the test in the first place, given how late his quirk manifested."

"According to his quirk registration," he lifted some of the papers in front of him, "he was considered quirkless for the first fourteen years of his life. Sometime in the last six to twelve months, he changed his designation and registered his quirk as..." Aizawa blinked a few times as he looked at the form in front of him, "... Super Power..." The pro shook his head and continued with his argument. "Annotated within his records, he states that he never realized he had a quirk due to 'circumstances beyond his control'... whatever that means..."

"That tells me one of two things: either he was intending to take this exam without a quirk in the first place, or, because his quirk suddenly developed, he thought he finally had a chance at being a hero. Frankly, I'd rather not waste my time on anyone like this, especially since what he did during the exam was reckless and irrational, given how inexperienced he is at using his quirk."

The room was silent as the heroes listened to the level headed reasoning of their colleague. The logic was harsh, but... maybe, it was for the best...

The Erasure Hero looked the principal evenly in the eye and gestured towards the papers before him as he finished with a dry summary. "Basically, based on the evidence around us, I believe he has zero potential. It would be kinder to stop his dreams now before he gets himself killed. The world already has enough of those kinds of people playing hero- we don't need to add another."

"If you give him to me, he's as good as expelled."

Nezu acknowledged Aizawa's stance with a sagely node. As expected, the rational teacher presented a well thought out argument against Midoriya-kun's enrollment. Although he personally wanted the boy to become a hero here, Eraserhead did raise a lot of valid concerns. And since Toshinori couldn't be here today due to having prior engagements at Might Tower, it left Nezu as the only person left to come to Midoriya's defense, if the looks on his fellow colleagues were any indication to how they took Aizawa's level-headed response.

But before the principal could put any one of his many plans into action, a voice rose from his opposite side, straight across from the Erasure Hero.

"Then I'll take the kid."

As all eyes in the room suddenly turned to the speaker, Vlad King began to realize that he had spoken out loud without realizing it. He normally wasn't one for impulse, but... the scene that was playing out before him was all but familiar, like a sickening sense of nostalgia.

A young man with a strong quirk that put him in imminent danger because he couldn't control it, being cut down before he even had the chance to try to become better... now, where on Earth had he heard this particular story before?...

Intrigued by the out of character moment his colleague just had, and slightly relieved that he wasn't alone in keeping the One for All heir enrolled at his school, Nezu decided to indulge his natural curiosity. "Oh? This is certainly a rare instance for you, Kan-kun. Why the sudden change in disposition?"

Vlad King looked down at his information to thoroughly collect his thoughts before looking Nezu straight in the eye. "Eraserhead brought up many undesirably facts about Midoriya-kun. Those can not be ignored, and because of them, it will prove to be a challenge to make sure he can advance the same way the other students can." He trailed off, idly playing with the files that were neatly organized in front of him. He knew his next words were going to come off as unprofessional and maybe unrealistic, but... he, personally, needed to speak them out loud.

"But… we are teachers. It's our job to make sure that those under our care can live and grow into the adults they are capable of being. And... the kid is young. Who are we to label him as a failure before he's been even given the chance to try? And who are we to take away his opportunity for progress? Isn't that what growing up is all about?"

He briefly glanced over at Aizawa, who had nothing but a semi-interested look on his face mixed in with his boredom, before he turned once more to the animal with a quirk."Sensei, give me the kid. While I do believe he will be far behind in terms of progress compared to his peers… I don't think his case is necessarily hopeless."

"Hold on a second there, Vlad."

The Blood Hero turned to see who spoke, and saw Midnight shifting through the four student profiles and records that were left after Midoriya's placement was finalized. After a moment of her flipping through the paperwork, she looked back up at him while adjusting her glasses, speaking in a neutral tone that helped emphasize the point she was about to make.

"If you end up taking him, it might effect the other kid's placements. Currently, Eraserhead has eighteen of his twenty slots filled while you have seventeen. Just at a glance, of the four students left to review, at least three of them would probably fair better under your style of teaching and heroism than Aizawa's."

"Yeah, not to mention that Midoriya kid has one helluva quirk," Snipe added on, as he continued to read the green haired boy's profile with interest. "If ya do take him on, Vlad, how're ya plannin' to accommodate for that kinda power?"

Vlad swore under his breath; he... didn't have an answer to those questions. Hell, those concerns didn't even come across his mind until his colleagues had spoken up.

In response to their questions, he began to look through the remaining students. After briefly skimming the files, the Blood Hero could definitely understand where Midnight was coming from. Even without fully reviewing them, it was obvious that Monoma Neito and Yanagi Reiko would flourish under his training due to the nature of their quriks. He would even be willing to take in Rin Hiryu, because not only did the boy show great potential for versatility during the practical entrance exam, but Vlad King also needed a few combat oriented quirks to balance out his work load. There was a chance that, if he took in Midoriya, he would ruin one of these student's first year of education.

He... wasn't sure of the route he could take to ensure that this student, who had so much potential, wasn't nipped at the bud. And he couldn't even begin to formulate a response to Snipe's question.

Luckily, he didn't have to. Aizawa suddenly spoke through the quiet, interest barely noticeable in his usually bored voice.

"Do you really believe that Midoriya has potential, Vlad?"

Sekijiro answered without missing a beat. "Absolutely."

The Erasure Hero nodded absently to himself as he continued to read the files before him. "Then I have a proposition. You take care of Midoriya, Yanagi and Rin. I'll take care of Mineta and Monoma."

"Are you sure, Eraser?" The scruffy hero felt the stare of his fellow hero and he lifted his bored black eyes to meet his confused red ones.

After a brief moment, Aizawa gave a small dismissive shrug, and continued looking through his files. "I'm not gonna lie. I still believe Midoriya doesn't have what it takes to become a hero. And Yanagi and Rin would probably develop better as heroes if you taught them. I think I'll keep Mineta; at a glance, he seems to have a decent application of his quirk, and if trained properly he could become a decent restraining hero. But as for Monoma..."

Aizawa trailed off as he idly scratched his cheek in thought. "The way his quirk operates is reminiscent of my own. Not in function, per say, but in application. I could probably train him better than I could Midoriya, but... I'll leave the final decision up to you. Will this work for you, Vlad?"

Vlad King took one last glance at the leftover students. Everything that Aizawa had said made perfect sense, leaving Sekijiro with one final decision.

Did he want a kid who had no idea how to use the monstrous quirk that left him broken and crippled? Or, did he want a kid who knew how to use his quirk, but required certain conditions to be met in order to thoroughly fulfill the potential he had?

His answer came out as easily as his words from earlier did, and this time, they were upheld by purpose.

"I accept your proposition. I'll take Midoriya-kun, Yanagi-san, and Rin-kun if you'll take Mineta-kun and Monoma-kun. Thanks for giving the kid a chance, Eraserhead."

As the Erasure Hero waved him off while muttering something about logical decisions, the creature blessed with super intelligence spoke up at long last.

"I'm glad we were able to come up with an agreement! Kan-kun, I will leave it to you to ensure that Midoriya-kun can develop alongside his peers properly. But, let's not be too hasty here, everyone! While I do appreciate the spirit of the proposition, we must still review the final four students to ensure equal treatment and evaluation! So, everyone, let's go over our next student with the same passion we had for the others!"

As the pro heroes quietly groaned about their boss not allowing any shortcuts, Present Mic suddenly spoke his two cents. "Hey, wouldya look at that! With Midoriya in class B, both classes got an equal number of top scorers from the practical exam! How long's it been since that happened, yo?!"

As the pros commented on Mic's observation and the principal began to usher them into reviewing Mineta Minoru's profile, Vlad King began to feel the subtle weight of his decision rest upon his shoulders. Now that Midoriya was officially in his care, he had to make sure that this kid could succeed where others thought he could not...


Back to the present…

Overall, Midoriya's performance in the assessment test so far had been... questionable, at best.

While Midoriya's physical abilities were above average, they weren't exactly noteworthy. If they were doing this test in its usual quirkless fashion, he probably would have been ranked somewhere in the top ten spots. But, since he neutered himself in this assessment by not using his quirk, his ranking had reasonably dropped to dead last. Granted, it wasn't a total mystery to the Blood Hero as to why he hadn't used it yet, but, still...

It also didn't help that Midoriya was definitely psyching himself out.

As the test progressed, Vlad King had noticed the boy's extremely skittish and overly apologetic nature as he interacted with his peers; the teacher also saw how he steadily grew more distressed after each event, right until it was his turn to do the ball throw. That was when his distress had finally become defeat, the state of mind that the Blood Hero always hated to see on his students... mostly because it reminded him of his own humble beginnings as a hero at their age.

As the teacher thought these things over, he heard the boy stammer out something about 'lack of control' and 'recoil', and suddenly he was able to piece together a part of the puzzle that was his student. He saw how the fear of his own quirk paralyzed him, and how the lack of confidence in his own abilities crippled him even more.

He saw how Super Power made Midoriya choke almost exactly like how Blood Control made him hesitant not so long ago. Sekijiro was honestly ashamed he hadn't come to recognize his student's plight sooner.

And without hesitation, Vlad King decided that it was high time to start breaking a few of Midoriya's bad habits over his knee, and to also give him a healthy dose of reality.

And maybe... maybe a little bit of wisdom that I wish I had at his age, too... he added as an afterthought.


"And?"

Izuku's eyes jerked upward at the almost incredulous tone the hero before him had taken. His eyes were wide as he stared at his teacher with shock and surprise clear upon on his face.

Vlad King wore an unimpressed expression as he continued on in a quieter tone. "Do you really think you're the only one here who has a quirk their body can't handle?"

Izuku could only stare dumbfounded at his homeroom teacher, somehow amazed that he did not come to this realization sooner.

Or, perhaps more accurately, shocked that someone had the gall to call him out on a piece of logic that he knew of in his heart of hearts, but didn't want to recognize.

Sighing, Vlad King flicked his arm off to the side, where a spike of blood shot out before it hardened into a crystal-like construct. He tore the spike off and stuck it into the ground, finishing his movement with the graceful spreading motion of his hand. His blood responded in kind as the top portion of the spike flattened out to create a makeshift nightstand. After placing his clipboard and notes upon it, he turned his attention back to the kid.

"Let me ask you again: do you really think you're the only one here, with a quirk too big for their body to handle?"

When the kid hesitantly shook his head, the hero nodded absently and began to take off one of his gauntlets; as he did, he bit back a sigh of relief as his arm was liberated from the tiny iron maiden. "Tell me: what do you know about my quirk?"

The change to the boy's demeanor was near-instant. As his eyes lit up and he began to list facts about the quirk, the hero slowly began to peel off his gauntlet and roll up that sleeve of his uniform.

"You're quirk is really versatile, Kan Sensei! Blood Control lets you manipulate your own blood as you see fit, and-and, uh, the... applications you could use it… for, are… u-um, a-are…"

Izuku's rambling began to falter as the hero revealed his exposed forearm and hand to the boy before him, with his gauntlet tucked under his other arm.

The former was cratered with countless one and a half centimeter holes in a neat pattern that covered the entirety of his limb, and each hole was still fresh with blood. The later had three long, deep gashes that extended from between his knuckles to the back of his wrist; they were so deep that Izuku could see the movement of the tendons under his skin, and each gash was accompanied by fresh blood as well. Both parts of his body somehow looked like old wounds that had healed poorly and fresh ones that had just begun to scab over- in all honesty, there was probably more scar tissue than there was actual skin...

The hero gave a small chuckle at his pupil's reaction. "I assure you, this looks a lot worse than it feels."

His voice became slightly softer as he stared at his mangled arm, and he continued explaining his quirk where the boy had left off. "It's as you say; my quirk allows me to manipulate my blood as freely as I want. It can harden, lengthen, thicken, take on whatever shape I can think of... and that's just the basic stuff. But like all quirks, mine has a downside to it. Actually, it has more downsides than I care to admit, but… what do you think some of them are?"

"…I-In... in order to use your quirk… you have to, uh, get the blood... o-out of your body f-first…" Izuku answered numbly as he stared at the arm in front of him.

"Good answer. And, you're completely right, which is why I had to design these gauntlets to extract a large amount of blood from my arm at any time. I don't think I've had my arms fully healed in… nine years?" The hero paused to tilt his head upward in thought before he nodded to himself in satisfaction. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Also, after my blood's been out of my body for more than two hours, I lose any and all control I had over it; actually, it's probably more accurate to say that the staler my blood gets, the weaker my quirk becomes overall. That means that I absolutely cannot cut corners and rely on stuff like blood packs for hero work."

"It also doesn't help that the amount that I can manipulate is proportionate to how much I bleed out. I can't use paper cuts to make shields or swords, but I can use them to make pens, ball bearings, keys- stuff like that. So, to get the full use out of my quirk, I need to bleed in copious amounts; I can't afford to be stingy with my blood, otherwise… it may cost me someone's life..."

He let the boy mull over his words for a little before he asked him, "What else do you think I need to worry about, given what I just told you?"

Izuku furrowed his eyebrows in search of an answer. After a moment's hesitation, he mused quietly to himself, "Blood Loss? No, that can't be right... I read somewhere that your quirk makes you immune to it-"

"Actually, no." Izuku snapped out of his numbed trance to look at the hero with curious eyes, silently wanting him to give an explanation.

"My training is what makes me resistant to hypovolemic shock, anemia, and other similar conditions; but even with my training, I need to be vigilant of the amount of blood I use since my body has learned to react differently to blood loss. There have been exactly two hundred and seventeen times during my days in Shiketsu and my time as a sidekick where I almost became comatose from overusing my quirk; and one time as a second year, I even got a stroke."

His gaze became distant as his voice filled with melancholy, his mind recalling his hellish training days with ease unprompted. "There were many who said that my quirk was too hazardous for my health to be a proper hero. They told me... that if my quirk didn't end up killing me, then any villain with half a brain would finish the job while I was suffering from its side effects. I... can't tell you how many times I've been asked how I plan to save anyone when I can't even save myself from my own power. There were many who tried to convince me to give up on being a hero..."

Izuku's attention solely rested on his teacher; the brief memories Vlad King had recalled resonated deep within him. Although no one, not even All Might, had explicitly said these exact words to the young freckled boy... their foresight applied very much to his current control of One for All. Unbidden, images of his broken body falling several stories came to his mind as his teacher relived the dismissive remarks of his youth, and Izuku could help but feel like he was currently riding in the same rickety boat, along the same rampaging river his teacher did...

The hero's eyes suddenly hardened as he drilled his gaze right into the boy in front of him, and his whispered voice became tinged with a hint of defiance. "And yet... here. I. Am. Tell me young man, do you think I let the words of those cynics dictate my future? Do you think I let the weaknesses of my quirk weigh me down as I continued to struggle forward? Do you think that my lack of discipline was enough to stop me from doing my job and chasing my dreams?"

Izuku could only stare at him in a new light, realization and awe filing his eyes as he began to appreciate what was being conveyed with a whispered, "No sir."

Slowly, the hero's mouth transformed into a small smile as he saw the storm clouds behind his pupil's eyes start to break away. "That's right; I persevered, and you can too." He stepped closer to him and placed a firm hand on Izuku's shoulder, lowering himself as he did until they were eye level with each other; the hero's intimidating aura made the boy stand up a little straighter as the hero began to speak from the heart.

"Take it from someone who still has yet to fully master their quirk. Everyone in this world has the ability to get better, and we all do it the exact same way: one step at a time, through trial and error. But if you don't take that fearless first step, then we the teachers can't help you, and you will never be able to help yourself."

"I'm not telling you to break your body just for a good test score- that's just stupid. And that only creates bad habits and situations for yourself and those around you in the future. But what I am saying, is show me some semblance of your power, even if your control is horrible and your technique is sloppy. We can always fine tune it in the future- but in order to do so, we have to know where to start, and you have to at least try."

"So, Midoriya-kun, show me what you can do for now, and from there, we will aim to get better."

As the Blood Hero turned away from his student to collect his clipboard and reabsorb the blood into his body, Izuku forcibly blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill as he sniffled and cleared his throat; he had no idea that teachers could be so... supportive. A few tears did manage to leak out from the corners of his eye, but he ignored it as the lead weight in his gut dissolved into nothing with a final deep, steadying, breath.

Having finally gotten a hold of himself, Izuku noticed the lack of sound coming from his classmates. Hesitantly, he looked at the group of teenagers, seeing them all eyeing the duo curiously, no doubt wondering about the quiet exchange that the two of them just shared. His eyes darted between his classmates as Vlad King's words replayed in his head, idly wondering just how to get multiple good results out of a quirk that destroys the user the first time it's used...

Then his eyes met the ones of a certain green haired, green eyed girl, and he remembered how well she performed in this specific test.

He remembered exactly what she did for her ball throw- which, ironically, included not actually throwing the ball.

She simply held her ball at shoulders length, and then willed her entire arm to fly forward separately from her body. When her arm got to a certain distance, her elbow separated from the rest of her upper arm and continued along the same linear path for a shorter distance. She repeated the process to separate her wrist, and then once more to separate her fingers from her palms. Only when it appeared she had reached her maximum separation range did the ball- still being carried by her fingers in a similar way to the how a claw machine picks up a toy in an arcade game- finally get tossed, gaining it an extra meter or so.

As he remembered her performance, his mind finally decided to incorporate the research he did on two particular heroes, interweaving them into his plans.

The first hero was Edgeshot, and he started training with his Foldabody quirk by focusing on the already small parts of his body, such as his fingers and toes, and 'folded' them into the smallest forms he could muster. According to Izuku's research, the hero made sure he got the sensation down in these areas to a pat so that he could mimic it when he finally began to practice on gradually bigger parts of his body.

The second hero was Tiger, and he began training with his Pliabody quirk by only focusing on activating it while he stretched out his body; essentially, he waited for his body to get to its maximum natural flexibility through stretching before slowly applying his quirk to the stretched parts. This ensured that his quirk worked hand in hand with his body and not against it, which was crucial for the hero when he realized how his quirk actually worked.

And then all at once, everything began to fall into place.

Pulling his gaze from the green haired girl, he gazed at the ball with curious determination, as if trying to work out some calculus problems in his head.

Tokage-san… shifted the extent of her power from shoulder to finger… Edgeshot… focused on making his extremities smaller… before he focused on his entire body… Tiger… only activated his quirk when his body was at its max potential… to make sure it didn't work against his body… If I… If I can put this together… then maybe… yeah… yeah! That's the way! That's what I need to do!

What finally brought his thoughts together was his teacher saying nine simple words over and over again within his mind: One step at a time, through trial and error.

He looked away from his classmates and began to go through the motions of the throw, trying to get a grasp on combining all the elements he wanted. After a few mimed throws, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He brought the ball to his chest, and tried to will his heart into a steady rhythm.

He had no such luck.

Do what you can for now, and then aim to get better…

Suddenly filled with a determination he hadn't felt before, his eyes burst open and his body went into action, not even bothering to give him the chance to think.

Just then, time seemed to slow down, but only for one person in the world.

He focused on his throw, his mind naturally shifting into high gear without a second thought. He felt the rush of One for All flood his arm as it had against the zero pointer, and for a brief moment, he panicked...

But just as quickly as his panic appeared, he clamped down on it with an iron will he never knew he had, and shifted all 100% of his unrestrained power to a single point: his right index finger.

And right at the peak of his throw, he unleashed the built up power in his finger and propelled the ball as far away from him as inhumanly possible.

An incredible gust of wind erupted from the force of his throw and a cry of determination escaped from his lips as a mix of pain and resolve and fierceness.

And just like that, the spell was broken over his observers.

"WHAT THE F-"

"Holy, mother!-"

"Did you just SEE that!?-"

"… Bruhhhh…-"

"No way! Dude, that's gotta be a new record!-"

"God damn that was amazing!-"

"Please don't use the Lord's name in vain!-"

"About time he got a decent score-"

"Is it me, or is his finger looking a little swollen?-"


Not too far away in the adjacent building, Yagi Toshinori had jumped up with his arms raised in excitement and joy, a wide grin crossing his gaunt features as he watched his successor with admiration.

It had been less than a month, and the boy had successfully pulled out a last minute miracle and had made a huge leap forward, successfully controlling that godlike quirk of theirs. Needless to say, he was ecstatic and pleased- now that he did it once, he would be able to do it again.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, YEEEESSSS!"

As he settled back down, he began to appreciate how long and difficult the road before them was.

After today was over... Toshinori was going to make damn sure that his successor would never walk on it alone again. He needed to inherent the mantle that was his when the time was right, no matter what the future had in stock for them.

And to do that, the gaunt blonde swore to himself that he would never neglect the well-being of his disciple anymore. He was going to walk before him, to show him the way, and he wouldn't allow the young man to descend so low ever again.

But that was for tomorrow. For now, he was simply proud and in awe of the boy, and of the path that he had forged all on his own.


Vlad King wore a satisfied smirk as he looked at the timid kid who now had a fierce look in his eye.

Midoriya had the kind of look that one gets when their soul is alight with fire, with their body and mind reeling from the high of achievement…

Or, perhaps a little more accurately in this case, shock.

Glancing down at the boy's trembling fingers, he had to fight to keep his expression unchanged as he took a look at whatever was left of it. The once normal index finger was now all shades of black, purple, red and blue. It was now notably bigger than his other fingers, and it looked like it had gained about three extra joints. Whether the kid was shaking from excitement or pain was anybody's guess at this point, and right now it was time to be a caretaker.

Clearing his throat, he drew the attention of the green haired boy, who had a maniacal grin laced with pain on his face as the light in his eyes danced with life.

Or were they tears?

"You good? You ain't gonna drop on me now, are you?"

"I'm good Sensei! Sorry I took so long to warm up!"

Vlad King's grin widened, the answer more than ok in his book for the kid to continue on. He glanced down at the scoring device in his hand, making a pleasantly surprised noise in his throat before he turned the screen to the young man, showing him his distance of 705.3 meters. You broke the record on your first try. Not bad kid. Not bad at all.

Out loud though, he challenged the boy. "Nice throw. You think you got two more scores like that in you?"

"Yes sir!"

"Then prove it!"

A fresh ball was tossed to the kid, who caught it with a slight grimace. After going through the same motions once more, he released another super powered throw from the same hand.

The boy's classmates were absolutely going ballistic again at this point of time, but Vlad King narrowed his eyes. He knew even without looking at the score that, although the throw was certainly impressive, it was nowhere near as amazing as his first one.

Izuku gave a small grunt of pain as his middle finger took on the exact same look as his index. Cradling his hand he turned to look at his score as he somehow ignored the utter uproar that was happening on the sidelines. He gave a small tsk, annoyed at the result. He instinctively knew that this one wouldn't be as good as his last, but still…

Only 496.7 meters? It dropped by that much? My finger was hurting, so I knew it wouldn't be great, but still… Dang it, I got to make this last one count!

The hero's face still had traces of a challenge upon its features, but underneath he was flabbergasted. Is he annoyed at this score? Kid, the average for this event is roughly 275 meters. And even with your lower score, you still managed to land in the same scoring range of the former record holders for the ball throw, barring Uraraka-san's, Monoma-kun's, and Bakugo-kun's results a few hours prior.

Looking at his student's hand, he had a pretty solid idea as to why the second score was lower, since there was no way that his already broken finger hadn't got swept up in his power when he had fired it off again. That was bound to not only hurt, but interfere with his throw. I wonder how he will deal with this little hiccup…

Saying Izuku's hand was hurting him was like calling the sun bright and hot, and with the little stunt that he had just pulled, that pain had been tripled. Right at the moment that he began to throw the ball again, he realized much too late that copying the exact same thing as before was a horrible idea. Especially when the weight of the ball had suddenly shifted onto his broken finger at the last second before he threw it. He was going to have to come up with a different way to throw the ball altogether- there was no way he could throw it normally now, not with two fingers that were all but destroyed.

But on the plus side, his body didn't hurt as bad as it did in the aftermath of the practical exam. That was something, at least.

In the brief pause before his third throw, he began to brainstorm for any ideas that could work.

He wasn't about to throw with his other arm for obvious reasons: the first being that it would feel extremely awkward to him, and he wasn't confident that he would be able to use his power as 'effectively' as he could if he used his dominant hand. The second was that he wanted to at least save one of his arms, just in case. Kan Sensei had told the class to start getting into the right mindset for training, so Izuku figured that having one broken arm and one perfectly functional arm was more tactically sound than having two arms that were kind of broken, but still slightly usable.

Maybe he could punt the ball? He could focus all his power into his instep to launch it far away… aaaand then be limping the entire time during the endurance running event. Pass.

Maybe he could-

Izuku was jostled from his thoughts when his teacher placed the next ball into his palm (Seriously? How many of these things does he have?) and then he realized... his palm wasn't hurting nearly as bad as his injured fingers… and... he still had two fingers left…

Grinning like a maniac, he didn't even bother to practice his throw for this one, content to use his sudden inspiration to give himself a morale boost. Instead, he took a deep breath and flooded his palm, ring finger, and his pinky with One for All.

This time, instead for opting for an overhead pitch, he decided to go with an underhanded one, stepping and yelling with the throw to give it a little extra oomph. He also made sure that the ball did not graze his injured fingers this time by angling it to sit at just the right position, so that the ball would rest on his unbroken-but-not-for-long fingers instead of the other ones.

And this time, the throw- as well as the accompanying windstorm- was exponentially stronger than his last attempt.

Which… unfortunately, meant that the pain was also exponentially more present after this throw than in his previous ones. Feeling like his entire hand had just been placed into a meat grinder and then tenderized by a jackhammer- except somehow, it was so much worse- the green haired boy heard a faint whistle to his right over the racket that was happening on the sidelines. Izuku turned to look at his teacher, who wore a surprised expression as he looked at the scoring device.

"Vlad King Sensei…" Izuku began, gritting his teeth into a jittery smile as he faced his teacher while attempting to clench his broken hand. "… How did I do?"

Looking up, the hero simply showed him his number on the scoring device with a slight grin, causing Izuku to nearly stumble from shock.

His third score had been over a kilometer. 1,064.4 meters to be exact.

Vlad King nearly bit his tongue off trying not to praise him as the young man only stared dumbfounded at his final score. Most hero hopefulls would be ecstatic for a score like that, and some would even let it get to their head. Apparently, not this young man.

I hope this helps boost your confidence even a little bit, Midoriya-kun. Heaven knows, you need it. "Nicely done young man. Let's get back to your classmates- we have the endurance event up next. Are you alright to run?"

"Y-yes sir!"

As the hero turned to leave, Izuku lingered back slightly as he stared at his injured hand. He was still in a daze about the score he just received, and the insane throbbing of his entire right hand refused to let him think about anything else.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the hero gesture for everyone to get onto the race track; apparently, he was ready to start the final event. Some of his classmates lingered too, obviously wanting to talk to the unexpected superstar... but then, Vlad King began calling them out by name. He warned them that if they didn't hurry up, he would add five more minutes to everyone's run. Reluctantly, the lingering peers turned to join the others that were on the racetrack.

Shaking himself from his inaction, Izuku began to trot over to the others too, and immediately regretted this particular life decision. He damn near bit his lip off from all the jostling created from his simple movements. Oh man… this isn't good… If his injured hand hurt this much from a simple jog, then this next test was not going to be fun. At all.

As soon as Izuku had joined the group, Vlad King began to explain the next event. He informed them that the only real rule for this event was to continue running no matter what and to get as many laps as possible in the time allotted. After making sure that everyone was ready to go, he blew his whistle and thus began Izuku's fifteen minutes of hell on earth.

At of all the people in 1B, only three were capable of using their quirk to the fullest for this event- the rest were either too tired from overusing their quirks on the other events of the day, or else they simply relied on their physical body to push themselves until they were even more ragged than they already were.

One of the three, Shishida, had simply dominated the event. Before the event started, he had taken off his top and had gotten down on all fours once more. But this time when the whistle blew, his body went through some sort of transformation. Before anybody could react, everything about him had grown to more than double his size (OH! So that's his quirk! It must boost his phy- ow! Ow, ow!), and then he took off in a sprint.

For the entire time.

Granted, about halfway through the run he shrank back to his normal size and his speed dropped considerably, but he still continued to run as fast as he could regardless of it.

The second student who was able to benefit from the use of his quirk was Honenuki. As he made his way around the outside ring of the track at an even pace, he used his quirk in rapid succession, turning the ground beneath him into an almost elastic consistency. It made it look like he was jogging on a trampoline.

And as for the third person-

"Hey, stalker! Nice job on that last event!"

Panic flooded Izuku as the wily, feminine voice, uncomfortably close to his ear, made him jump and yelp in fright. He was worried about the implications of what was just said, but that quickly took a backseat to the more pressing, throbbing concern that was his hand. Sucking air through his teeth and clutching his broken hand gingerly with the other, he turned to the source of the voice and jumped again (and regretted it, again) when he was greeted by the floating, smiling head of Tokage.

Being thoroughly in pain and caught off guard made the poor boy stumble on his feet for a solid three seconds before he was able to right himself again.

The girl winced in sympathy, suddenly feeling just a teensy bit bad for surprising him.

"You ok man? You didn't, ah, break anything else, did you?"

"Y-you snuck up on me! I-I didn't even hear you coming!"

"Yeah, because my legs are on the other side of the track. Duh."

She gave a light roll of her eyes, wincing internally when she registered the words that just came out of her mouth. Hopefully, he wouldn't mind her quick retort too much. Luckily for her, when she glanced back at her classmate, he was a little more preoccupied at the moment.

Izuku couldn't stop staring at the floating head. Watching her head move without the rest of her body was honestly a bit disturbing… but also fascinating! As he continued to trudge along in the run, he found himself idly wondering about how in the world she kept her body parts afloat whenever she was separated like that. And also how much effort it took for her to control multiple separated body parts.

Setsuna was usually pretty patient when it came to people ogling at her while her quirk was active. After all, it was only natural to stare at a freak, and she owned that with pride. But this time… she couldn't quite place it, but it just felt weird to be stared at. By him. Not unpleasant… but also strangely uncomfortable.

Sensing the lull in the conversation, she proceeded to push those thoughts out of her mind, and opted to continue where she left off. "Anyway, I just wanted to say nice job on the ball throw! You were starting to concern me there, for a little bit."

Izuku's face flushed red as he averted his eyes. It wasn't every day that he got praise. Or… someone expressing concern for his well-being (besides his mother, of course. And All Might). But twice from the same person, on the same day? For him, that was almost unheard of.

"T-thanks!… I, uh, I-I think I might have been caught up in m-my own head. Sensei… he really... helped me out back there." Despite the pain, Izuku felt a grateful smile appear on his face.

"Oh yeah? What was he saying to you anyway, before you got what those awesome scores?"

Izuku thought briefly on how to best paraphrase the life changing conversation. "B-Basically, that I, uh wasn't the only one with a-a quirk that their body can't handle. And t-then he, uh, told me that it was o-ok to make mistakes and to get hurt. Because that's how w-we get better. It was… it was something that I, uh... something that I really needed to hear."

She hummed and nodded in response, keeping her face forward as she did. Then she looked at him from the corner of her eye, her voice taking an almost soft quality to it. "You… kinda get in your own way sometimes. Don't you?"

The odd boy laughed a little shrilly at her words. Apparently, he agreed with her, but whether he did so out of self-depreciation or self-reflection was anyone's guess. Or, he could be slightly delirious from the pain he has got to be in...

Setsuna took a glance at his hand and immediately wished she hadn't. She wasn't squeamish by any means but... damn. No wonder he was trying so hard to find a way to control his quirk; if this was the end result whenever it was used, she would have been doing the exact same thing! What kind of quirk does that to its wielder?! Granted, she wasn't one to talk… but still!

Personally, she had more than a few private thoughts on this particular subject, but in the meantime…

"So, stalker, how's your hand feeling?"

"It-It hurts… But I can bare it. And, uh, s-sorry! I-I don't think I've introduced myself yet. I'm, uh, I'm Midoriya Izuku!" Izuku, attempting to be polite but not wanting to look like an idiot, reached out to shake her hand with his non-injured one. But then he realized…

…She didn't have any arms…

There was an awkward pause before the girl's floating head began to bob up and down as she wheezed out in laughter and the boy retracted his arm awkwardly.

After she calmed down a little bit, the floating head turned to him to reciprocate the manners. "It's nice to officially meet you, Izuku," she said with a warm smile, watching as the boy named Izuku flinched at the casual use of his first name. (That… was an interesting reaction. I wonder what that was all about… I probably should have asked if it was cool to do that first. Whoops.) "The name's Tokage Setsuna! You can call me Setsuna if you'd like!"

"N-nice to p-p-properly meet you, T-Tokage-san." The young man averted his eyes once more as he did his best impression of a tomato (First name!? FIRST NAME!? I-I-I don't know if I-I-I could do that…).

Unfortunately, this meant he did not see the confused frown flit across her features at the use of her surname. (Ok, I know he's an introvert, but this is just… wrong. It's like… It's like he's never had friends before…)

As the silence between them started to get awkward, their teacher began to yell out some encouragement by announcing that there was only 3 minutes left on their run.

Setsuna took the time to leisurely look at her peers to see how they were all fairing, before her eyes fell once more onto her newest acquaintance. There was still a slight flush on his face, but it looked like it was from the exertion of the run… and probably from the pain in his hand too. Regardless, Izuku continued to trudge forward, gritting his teeth to bear the pain.

Despite how the pain clouded his eyes, that sun was still there shining brightly, refusing to be blocked out by something so trivial. It spoke of nothing but focus and fortitude as he refused to give in, and Setsuna felt herself both drawn to the light and needing to avert her eyes.

She chose the later option, and as she did, she reflected on how… surprisingly intense he could be for how normally jumpy he was. He… really is an enigma isn't he?… Despite his average scores and the extreme pain he's in… he's still giving it his all… I respect that.

I… guess I was wrong on my judgement…

Setsuna began to feel a little guilty that she had distracted him, even momentarily, just so she could indulge herself for a small chat. Here he is, doing the best he can, and here she was, completely disregarding it through interference. There wasn't any need for her to do that… especially when she more or less coasted through the whole test, and he had to put himself in harm's way just to keep up…

That… left an unpleasant taste in her mouth, and a nasty feeling in her gut.

Not wanting to intrude anymore, Setsuna once again turned to Izuku with a small, apologetic smile on her face. "Hey man, I'm gonna go on ahead and finish this event strong. Good luck, and I hope your hand heals properly! I hope you get some good scores!"

Izuku turned to her as his face flushed a slightly deeper shade of red and gave her a trembling smile. "T-Thanks! I, uh, I hope you do well too! Not that, uh, n-not that you wouldn't do well- because you p-probably did really, really good, actually! I, uh… yeah…" he finished rather lamely as the green girl's floating head shook in amusement and sped past him, leaving him alone with his injured hand.

Aw man... I forgot to say thank you for the tip about the test again...


About a minute and a half later, Vlad King blew his whistle and signaled for everyone to come gather around him. He waited patiently as the group of twenty students slowly made their way toward him, some panting with exertion, others dripping with sweat, and all of them looking tired.

As he waited, he pretended to be going over their scores. He was extremely pleased with the efforts that his students had performed with, but…

This last part- the part that he improvises every year- is what excites him the most during the assessment tests.

With the grace of experience, he retained complete control of his composure as he addressed the class before him with an even tone. "Well done, everyone. That completes our required eight events for today."

He intentionally paused as a few of the heroes in training whooped in celebration, and a pleased look of achievement becomes a common sight on most of their faces.

Most of their faces.

There were some in the crowd that began to look downright wary; among them were the two recommendation students, Tokage Setsuna and Honenuki Juzo.

The former didn't even bother to hide her suddenly suspicious expression, while the later minutely tensed as his eyes narrowed and the teeth on the outside of his skin took on the form of a frown.

Kendo Itsuka, who was next to Setsuna, also picked up that something was amiss and began to quietly whisper to the girl next to her as they continued to observe their teacher.

Shishida Jurota, who had been putting on his gym top, paused as his sharper than normal senses picked up on the tone of his teacher's voice and the whispered conversation of the two girls behind him.

And the young man with blade-like tusks, Kamikiri Togaru, sensed with his unusually sharp battle wit that something wasn't right, albeit right at the last second.

"Now all we got left to do is the hit or miss challenge!"


Author's Note Time!

So, when I started writing this story, the chapter where Aizawa's expulsion rate was explained got released like... two weeks later. What that means is that I had planned everything in this story on the premise that Izuku would have been kicked out on his first day, had he not made a decent impression with Aizawa. I promise to do my best to fix this detail (somehow) as I continue this story in the future.

Also, how did you guys like the background I gave Vlad King? Again, we didn't really have much to work on cannon-wise, so I kinda... free styled a bit. For those of you wondering, I know Vlad was born waaay up in northern Japan, and I know Shiketsu is... somewhere on the western side of the country. I realize that it may be a bit of a stretch, but I do have my reasons. Also, his demeanor makes me think 'old school', and I thought it would fit well with how Shiketsu is depicted.

And as for his quirk... I know in the wiki, it specifically states that Vlad is immune to effects of blood loss, but I felt that it would help with Izuku's character development if that part of his quirk was more because he trained really hard and not because it's naturally like that. Like, Shindo, that vibrating boy in Ms. Joke's class. So, I tweaked it a little bit.

Seriously, you guys are awesome. I hope you guys liked this chapter! I promise, things will start get interesting soon.

See you guys in the next chapter!