Minor time travel elements will show up later. Just giving you a head's up!
Chiyo could honestly say she never expected this. She had gotten an application recently regarding a possible internship that would allow the applicant to also gain a provisional hero's license in return.
The applicant's knowledge base was sound and they were mostly lacking real world experience to gain a full medical doctorate. As for the hero's license, well that was mostly so they could act in live villain fights without being considered a vigilante in the process if they used their quirks.
They weren't allowed to target the villain directly, but with the license they could go in to active fights and bandage up the pro heroes without the police or heroes stopping them.
She just never expected the applicant to be twelve...or quirkless.
"I must say I'm impressed. I never expected someone your age to be able to complete most of the work required to earn a medical license," she said honestly.
Midoriya Izuku shifted slightly, almost out of nervous habit.
"There's an age restriction for the police academy, but not on earning a medical degree. As for earning my doctorate, well nothing says I can intern with a known medical hero while earning my medical degree until I reach the minimum age limit of a provisional hero's license," said Izuku. "Besides, doctors are paid more and save more lives."
Chiyo could appreciate his reasoning. Hero licenses were only issued to people who were of age to be considered adults. However the same was not true of a medical license. Sure, they might have to deal with a lot of irritation due to their age, but it was still possible.
"Why contact me? I'm sure there are a few retired heroes who would be interested in making you their intern."
"Because I need to get as far away from my current school as possible without leaving the district, and what better place to get real world experience healing heroes than UA? Not only does it make obtaining a provisional license easier later, but I'd get plenty of practice dealing with all the headaches of healing heroes and learn how to defend myself. That plus the fact it's considered a premiere school means that people will respect me in the field more," said Izuku.
"What do you mean you need to get away from your current school?" asked Chiyo. Something about how he said that rang alarm bells in her mind.
Izuku's expression went flat.
"My current school allows students to run rampant with their quirks, particularly if they have something impressive enough to earn a place in hero academies like UA. The teachers do little if nothing to stop their behavior and one student in particular is swiftly on his way to becoming a villain with his bullying habits. Unfortunately my mother happens to be friends with that student's mother, so it would be incredibly awkward if I were to report this matter to the police directly."
"Do you have proof of this?"
Izuku raised his shirt. Chiyo's eyebrows went up in alarm and shock at the number of scars on his body...from an explosion-type quirk if she wasn't mistaken.
"I have little doubt that once his primary victim is removed from the equation, he'll turn his ire to someone else and maybe their parents will finally DO something about it."
"Why not ask your mother to pull you from the school?"
Izuku thought of the best way to phrase this.
"Imagine how a pro hero like Endeavor would react if someone who was a low-level sidekick his entire career suddenly swept in and took the position of number one hero from All Might after all the effort he's put in to make himself look like the best," said Izuku.
Seeing Recovery Girl work that one through her head and cringe was enough for him to know she got the gist.
"Now add a lack of self control and a quirk that can literally cause explosions with the same sort of ego and disregard for others that Endeavor has," said Izuku. "The last thing I want to be responsible for is an unintentional massacre because he lost his cool and used his quirk in an enclosed environment."
Well at least the boy had the right mindset for a proper hero.
"What about your mother?"
"Better to ask forgiveness than permission. She won't ask questions until the teachers call her about my 'absences' and it's easier to explain things after the fact."
Inko was supportive, mostly, but she wouldn't believe him capable of earning a doctorate so early without actual proof. Revealing he had dropped out of his current school in favor of an internship that would let him obtain his dream would be easier if she wasn't in on his plans from the get-go.
Besides, he could never find a way to explain his complicated and highly caustic relationship with Bakugo Katsuki without making her feel incredibly guilty because he lost the genetic lottery and didn't have a quirk.
Recovery Girl looked at the boy seriously. He was an incredibly mature and slightly odd child, but he was trying to find a way out of a rather bad situation. While it would be odd to have an intern as young as him in the school, if he could handle the workload and knew what he was doing then it would be a waste to make him linger in a secondary school.
"Give me three days to get something set up. If you can handle what I have planned as a test, then I will consider making you my apprentice. However if you can't then I will have to reject your application. Though I will be having words with the Principal regarding the issue you spoke of at your school."
A school allowing their students to run rampant and not keeping their quirks in check was a serious matter.
A little while later...
The meeting with Nezu and Izuku was somewhat anticlimactic. Apparently Izuku did have some knowledge in how to handle less than human quirks, but he still needed more studying before he could handle it on his own.
Chiyo had a strangely foreboding feeling when she heard the principal cackle at Izuku's reasoning for allowing the apprenticeship, despite the fact Izuku was three years too young to join UA as a normal student.
Apparently Nezu thought the idea of a quirkless student like Izuku getting a rare and coveted apprenticeship with a UA teacher as well as potentially gaining a provisional license as a pro hero was hilarious...in that it would piss off heroes like Endeavor and others who though that flashy quirks were the only thing one needed to become a good pro hero.
It would cause all sorts of ripples if Izuku successfully managed to obtain a license without a quirk, all because of a legal loophole. The fact it could potentially open a way for others like Izuku or those with less than flashy quirks to become heroes was a bonus.
Either way, it would set a precedent.
Recovery Girl gave Izuku a series of exams that came out of medical school. If he could pass most of them, then at least he had a proper grounding in what she would be teaching him.
Much to her surprise (and delight) he managed to pass seventy percent of it, and the wrong answers were acceptable enough that it was clear he merely needed to do a bit of studying to get them right. For a twelve year old, the mere fact he got that much was astounding.
Then came the rough practical. Izuku was slightly awkward, but he handled himself better than most his age would.
"What do you think, Chiyo-sensei?" asked Nezu honestly. This decision was ultimately up to her after all.
"Hmm...he's a bit rough around the edges, and his knowledge base could use some work. But he could work out as a general apprentice provided we put some guidelines in place," said Chiyo. Neither missed the look of hope in Izuku's expression.
Nezu nodded in agreement to that. It was going to be a headache to allow Izuku into UA since he was entering into an apprenticeship with one of the pro heroes instead of as an actual student, never mind the fact he had no quirk. If they didn't have sufficient guidelines it would only bite them in the ass later.
Nezu observed the rather interesting young man that had managed to secure a provisional apprenticeship with Recovery Girl. Young Izuku was a rather interesting human child...and not even Chiyo-sensei could have anticipated how fast he would pick things up.
It was more like he merely needed a refresher course before he took his lessons like a duck to water.
And that was before Izuku started writing down what looked like the chemical compositions of potential medicines.
Chiyo-sensei had already sent one off to a trusted friend of hers in the pharmaceutical industry to see if the chain was viable, and had been pleasantly surprised to learn that Izuku had somehow created a new medicine that could be applied to eye drops for heroes who had ocular quirks...like Eraserhead for instance.
So far it was still in the clinical trial stage, once they figured out how to create it anyway...but the results looked highly promising and Aizawa had already been slated to act as one of the human trials.
From what they could tell, it would completely replace the current medicine for chronic dry eye used by heroes.
Honestly, Nezu was more surprised that it took two full months before Izuku's old school finally had enough of his 'chronic absences' that they called his mother in. Since he left home every day at the same time he normally would have, and came back like normal, Inko had absolutely no idea her son had dropped out of his old school and had taken up an apprenticeship at UA.
And to be honest, after seeing the rather damning videos the boy had produced thanks to a personal body camera he kept on him, he didn't blame the boy in the least for going to such extremes.
As it was, Nezu was going to personally visit the school with Recovery Girl around the time of the meeting to deliver the news that Izuku's former school and most of the teachers were going to be subject to a full investigation.
There was absolutely no excuse for the teachers to allow their students to run rampant with their quirks, never mind the video evidence of them subtly encouraging young Bakugo into using his explosion quirk on another student. The fact the boy never got a reprimand once for using it in class was damning enough, as it was a very dangerous quirk that could have lethal consequences if he built up a big enough charge.
Endeavor at least had the sense to hide that particular aspect of his personality until he had a big enough following and clout to handle the repercussions. The way Bakugo was going, it was more likely he'd cause a major incident and be labeled a villain after causing an untold amount of collateral damage.
Nezu and Recovery Girl didn't hide the fact they were entering the building. Their appearance alone had the students in an uproar, and the poor secretary was rather flustered as she tried to explain the principal was in a meeting with a parent regarding a certain student.
Nezu smirked, as Chiyo-sensei calming explained they would go in regardless, as it pertained to the student in question.
The expression of shock and recognition on their faces, as well as the bored relief on Izuku was rather hilarious.
"I almost thought you would miss the timing," commented Izuku. "Cutting it close, aren't you?"
"Well we had a bit of difficulty regarding traffic," said Chiyo-sensei. "Some poor misguided fool gave the rookie heroes no end of trouble and blocked it for fifteen minutes."
"What is going on here?" demanded the principal, once he had his wits gathered.
There was a reason why Izuku kept his silence about the apprenticeship to the school and his mother. He realized that Principal Nezu would get no end of sadistic pleasure delivering the news personally to the idiots who had let things get so out of control.
The mad cackling Nezu let off when he realized the extent of Izuku's quiet sadism gave the other teachers nightmares.
Izuku watched silently in dark satisfaction as his former principal was thoroughly chewed out by Nezu and Recovery Girl, complete with the video evidence supplied by Izuku and the testimony of the person they sent in to act as a substitute teacher for two days.
Todoroki Fuyumi was appalled at the lack of discipline and if they hadn't told her to ignore the class using their quirks in front of her, she would have frozen them on the spot and given them one hell of a lecture. And the worst offender in that class was none other than Bakugo Katsuki.
It hadn't taken much to draw parallels between Bakugo and her father.
Inko was silent through most of it, but the shock on her face upon learning that the reason her son had been 'skipping' class was because he had an apprenticeship with a pro hero was pretty evident. Especially when she found out why Izuku had reached out to Recovery Girl of all people.
She didn't know whether to be proud of her son for finding a way to become a hero, or ashamed of the fact she hadn't noticed what he was doing.
It was a somber Inko who spoke to her son that night.
"Why didn't you tell me about this?"
"Would you have believed me if I said I was trying to earn a doctorate after recently getting into middle school?" said Izuku sensibly. "The only way you'd take me seriously would be if I got the apprenticeship first and presented it to you after the fact."
Inko silently acknowledged the truth of that. If Recovery Girl and the principal of UA hadn't presented evidence that Izuku was not only doing well in his new chosen profession, but actually thriving, she never would have believed it. It hurt that her son did this behind her back though.
Bakugo POV
He was pissed. There was no other word for it. Not only had the school been forcibly shut down pending a major investigation, but he had been told in no uncertain terms that he would have to undergo mandatory therapy sessions for a minimum of one year or else the major hero schools would refuse his application. The fact that UA was spearheading the investigation and laid down the ultimatum served to majorly piss him off, because it meant he couldn't skip out of it or he could kiss being a pro hero goodbye.
At least the loser Deku wouldn't be around to dampen his parade anymore. Apparently he had been kicked out before the investigation because he skipped out on too many days, so he wouldn't have to deal with the shitty nerd's presence anymore.
Deku was nothing more than a mere stepping stone for him anyway.