It was almost the entrance exam time. It was close, only about two weeks away. Nedzu made sure that Izuku was ready for anything. Over the years, Izuku and grown in many skills. Nedzu had helped him train his analysis to a point where he can pinpoint weaknesses only about a minute into a fight. Izuku was taught to locate any single weak point that he could find in any fight through his self-defense classes that he took with Uncle Aizawa. He learned a bit from Uncle Mic about learning a new language, so Izuku is currently fluent in both English and Japanese. He can speak a little bit in Chinese and Spanish, but not as well as the other two.
It was uncanny now similar Izuku was growing to be like him. It was getting to a point where even strangers can pinpoint that Izuku was indeed his child. There was a situation with a new hero called Mount Lady visiting only to see Izuku laughing maniacally as he hot-wired a robot prototype that Power Loader had made. She turned to see Nedzu on the sidelines cheering on his boy while simultaneously trying to not let the robot be destroyed.
And Izuku's friends have grown as well during these years. Tenya and Shoto were still honing their skill until the very last second of the entrance exams. The trio were focused on getting into the hero course. They wanted so badly to become heroes together as they planned since they were young.
Tenya studied extra hard during his years in his middle school to make sure that he passed the written exam. Tenya expressed how excited he was to go to the same school as his friends to further their dream of being heroes. His brother, Tensei, went out of his way to train him on moves that he could master with his engine quirk. It caused Izuku to go into a mumbling frenzy when Tenya had shown off his power move, Recipro Burst.
Shoto was studying with his sister to help tutor him in subjects he was having trouble in. Natsuo helped him out by teaching him more social skills. Touya had helped him handle his fire quirk more fluently like his ice quirk into a point where Shoto could handle both of them like a trained dancer with ribbons. Shoto had made his friends smile the first time he showed off how he could use both of them at the same time elegantly.
Nedzu sat at his office desk, looking towards the picture frame that was still on his desk after so many years. The photo of him in his son in matching suits all the way down to their red shoes. It made him smile honestly since that reminded him of the day Izuku had said his first words.
Which was...surprising at first but then he calmed down later on.
Nedzu was looking through the last of the attendees that were applying for the regular entrance exam. He clicked his tongue because he knew that not many of them at all would be accepted into the hero course. He had hope that this year's selection will be promising.
"Hey, Papa!" Izuku greeted when he walked inside his office with only three knocks to the door before he barged in. "Lunch Rush is making maki rolls today and I'm excited about it. He even told me that I can try to make some hand rolls with them. Hopefully, I can make something edible from all the ingredients. Ooh, salmon would be good for my roll. Hey, if I make something edible, would you try it with me?"
Nedzu nodded, "Of course, little mouse. Have you taken into consideration what you will be doing for the incoming exams? Do you plan to attend any of the hero school? I wouldn't be against it as long as they promise to give you the education you deserve."
"Papa, you know that UA is basically my home at this point. Of course, I would be going here if or when I'm accepted," Izuku replied back as he relaxed into one of the more comfortable seats in his Papa's office. He settled into a chair right near his desk before he continued, "I heard Tenya was taking the regular entrance exams. Did you hear anything about what Shoto will be taking?"
"Young Shoto will be taking both apparently. He wants to accept his brother's recommendation, but he also wants to just challenge himself a bit more," Nedzu explained.
Izuku hummed, "That sounds like a good idea. Taking both of the entrance exams to increase the chances. Hey, maybe I should-"
"No," Nedzu interrupted his son.
Izuku looked back at his father with mild confusion. "What why?"
Nedzu looked up to meet his green eyes, "Izuku. May I remind you of last year?"
"You mean last year when I technically took the entrance exam...?" Izuku questioned, growing a sheepish expression when he remembers exactly what happened.
"Yes. I still can't express how I was proud and momentarily scared at the same time," Nedzu started.
(Flashback to Entrance Exam last year. Izuku was 14)
"Are the robots ready for the exam? The students have just entered into the written exam portion," Nedzu asked Power Loader.
Power Loader responded, "All ready to go. I have the zero linger all set up with the red activation button in the main room."
"Woah!" Izuku exclaimed with excitement. "They are almost like the robot blueprints you showed me!"
Power Loader laughed, ruffling Izuku's curls, "They are made almost exactly like the blueprints. I just switched the power button to the left instead of the right and added a few modifications to the outer appearance."
"Ah, got it," Izuku replied. He got taught many things in his years at UA. One of the major lessons besides his father's teachings was Power Loader's lessons on support items. He was taught the basics of things from engineering a small robot, making blueprints, and hot wiring. He knew how to do a few things, but he wasn't quite successful yet in making the ideas in his head.
Also, he was learning how to do coding and hacking by one of Power Loader's trusted associates that dealt with more technology. He hasn't gotten quite the hang of it yet since he only started the lessons a few months ago.
"Alrighty! I think we can are all set for the practical exam when the written exams end. It should be too long now before the participants are moved to the area where Mic will talk to them about the rules," Nedzu explained softly before looking to Izuku. "I'm guessing you will meet me in the room as always to analyze the quirks of the incoming students?"
"You know me, Papa. I can't wait for it! I might be a little late to it though. I want to look around at all these robots. They are just so interesting to look at. I want to see how they differ even more than the blueprints," Izuku responded, spinning around to look at all the robots lined up in the large warehouse.
"Okay. But be careful. Make sure to get out of here and not get distracted with your analysis," Power Loader warned.
Izuku promised to be careful before the two adults left the warehouse...
They left a curious little mouse in the middle of analyzing each robot right before the practical exam was about to start in about twenty minutes.
Nedzu looked at his watch expectedly when Present Mic announced the start of the exam. Nedzu thought to himself when he glanced back that the room's entrance, 'Where is he? He did say he would be late, but I don't know how late he might be. What happens if he misses the whole thing?'
Power Loader finally barged into the room unexpectedly when the exam was only started a minute or two ago. "Hey is he here? I didn't see him at the warehouse."
Midnight looked over her shoulder, "Who? Izuku? No, he isn't here."
Nedzu looked back at Power Loader, "Then where is he?"
"Has anyone seen him?" Hound Dog growled out.
"I see him," Aizawa said with a hidden smile behind his capture scarf.
Midnight answered back with relief, "Good. Wait where?
Aizawa pointed his finger at the screen where it showed one of the one pointers. Nedzu observed the screen only to see a green-haired boy on top of the one pointer, aggressively messing with the neck of the robot.
"Dammit! Should we call off the exam temporarily? Izuku could be hurt in the crossfire of one of the participants who decide to go for that robot!" One of the voices from behind Nedzu said. Nedzu could guess it was Cementoss from the tone of voice.
Nedzu hummed, "Wait just a moment. It looks like Izuku is..."
They watched as Izuku pulled out the wires hurriedly before using two separate wires to click together. Power Loader watched with amusement as Izuku started to hotwire the robot with immense speed just like he taught the boy.
Power Loader smiled, "He is hot wiring the one pointer..."
Ectoplasm looked between the screen and Power Loader, "To do what?!"
Nedzu looked at the screen intensely only to watch his son happily sit down as the one pointer slowed in speed. Everyone watched with bated breath as the one pointer almost seemed to reset. Before their eyes, the one pointer started aiming their aggression onto different robots near them. Nedzu watched with a smile as Izuku's hacked robot started to aim at the weak points that the other robots had. Nedzu almost laughed with pride as he heard his son laugh manically as the robot continued to charge at the others. Nedzu almost noticed how the one-pointer was avoiding very populated areas where the participants were trying their best to win.
"Oh! He hot wired the robot to go against its fellow robotic comrades!" Lunch Rush exclaimed from his seat in the back.
"That is definitely your kid," Vlad King chuckled slightly.
Nedzu nodded with a mixture of pride and joy.
Ah...
He is sooooo going to get lectured with a cup of tea when he gets down from there.
"I can't wait to see what kind of student he will be for my class," Aizawa states before he slurped on his juice packet.
"What do you mean YOUR class?"
Nedzu explained without turning his head from the screens, "I already gave him the go-ahead. Aizawa will be Izuku's homeroom teacher when he applies."
"But why?"
"He asked first," Nedzu replied,
Present Mic groaned as Aizawa slowly returned to the dark of the back of the room. He hid his grin from the rest behind his scarf as he continued watching the kid take charge. From up on the robot's shoulder, Izuku was yelling about how the kids can use their quirks against the robots better. Hearing him show the others the weak points of the robots as he passed by them quickly.
This kid will definitely be the problem child of his class...
"Okay... I won't take both of them," Izuku replied almost with a pout before raising a brow. "If I'm going to take the recommendation exam, then who recommended me? Was it you?"
Nedzu chuckled, "It was me and almost every pro hero that has met you. And I'm not over exaggerating. You have gotten several recommendations to a point where it extends to Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu as well."
"Wow. Well, I guess this means I have to train extra hard to make sure I'm ready for the recommendation exam," Izuku said. He thought that the recommendation exam wouldn't be as bad as hot wiring robots. As far as he knows it is an obstacle course from the slip up that Uncle Mic gave.
Nedzu questioned, "And I guess I won't have to tell you?"
"I know you don't play favorites, Papa. I will prove myself the best I can with the exam and the interview. I will show everyone that I have what it takes to be a hero," Izuku promised.
Nedzu nodded, "Good. But this time, don't make any Gundams out of the materials that are found in the recommendation exam course."
"No promises," Izuku said with a nervous chuckle. "I'll try my best to not let you or any of the others down."
"You could never let me down, little mouse. And I'm very sure that the others wouldn't think less of you either," Nedzu answered.
Firstly, Izuku had to take the written exam in one of the many classrooms. He spotted Shoto all the way in the back next to a girl with a long ponytail. Izuku easily glided through the tests because of the help of his father's tutoring among the years. Izuku found the hero portion most enjoyable because he could break down what exactly the situation was and how to handle it with his abilities.
The next part that Izuku had to face before the practical exam was the interview. Izuku was still dressed casually in a white shirt and black pants when he arrived inside the room. He was nervous when he walked in only to calm himself when he saw familiar faces. He answered all of the questions to the best of his ability, and he really showed his analysis skills when they started to give him hypothetical scenarios.
A rescue mission? A bank hostage situation? A threat against the city with a huge rampaging monster? Any scenario brought up would be resolved when he started talking about what he would personally do in that situation.
Which all brought him down to this. Izuku changed out of the casual shirt and pants into a more fitting attire. He was dressed in a lightweight tracksuit just like many other participants that were recommended just like him.
He walked up to see Shoto talking to the girl with a sleek ponytail. "Hey!"
"Oh, hello. I was wondering when you were coming. Izuku meet Yaoyorozu Momo. Momo meet Izuku."
Momo said, "Nice to meet you."
"Same to you. I wish you the best of luck in the exam," Izuku replied.
"Thank you."
"HEY!"
Shoto turned around to see a tall teen boy with a shaved head bowing behind him. "Hello?"
The boy greeted, "I wanted to wish you all the best of luck on the exam!"
Shoto continued to stare at the boy, "As to you..."
"Yoarashi Inasa!"
"Best of luck to you, Yoarashi," Shoto replied back, waving as the teen walked ahead.
Yoarashi smiled to himself after taking notice of his competitors. The son of Endeavor was more kind than he envisioned. He hoped that his father's eyes of cruel hatred weren't displaced in his as well. And turns out that the son of the former number 2 hero didn't have any trace of hatred in his eyes. All Inasa could see in his eyes were hesitance and yet a fierce flame of competitiveness.
Izuku talked with Shoto and Momo a bit more as they walked to the starting line. Izuku looked up to see the recommendation exam looking like a huge obstacle course track. He looked around to see many other competitors taking their place at the start of the track.
Izuku listened as Present Mic began to announce the rules. "Use the course to the best of your ability. You can all use your quirks to advance ahead to the finish line. Six at a time now! You will race this three kilometer course and I will record your time. Now get ready!"
Izuku bent his knees while looking intensely at the mass of obstacles in front of him. He didn't have much on him at that time. He looked to the left of him to see Inasa, Shoto, a girl with black hair, a boy with brown hair, and another teen with blue skin. He focused his eyes ahead of him to see where exactly he can go towards.
"Get set! GO!" Present Mic yelled. The blue light went off with a siren-like bell to announce the beginning of the race. Izuku took off running right as Inasa and Shoto took off ahead of everyone else using their ice and wind quirk. Izuku ran straight towards the obstacle that looked like a waterfall.
When Izuku got to it, he looked back to see everyone else just using the track that goes underneath the waterfall. Izuku relaxed his shoulders before starting his climb up the rocks next to the waterfall, already planning on using the zip lines nets to it. Izuku climbed fast, clinging onto every strong point he could see on the mountainside. He mentally thanked himself for having Uncle Zawa teach him parkour. He also would like the thank Tensei for that time when he took him and Tenya to go rock climbing.
With that, he could climb the mountain with only the slight fear of falling since he had nothing to hold him up with. Eventually, he climbed up with the help of a rope that was hanging down about halfway. With renewed endurance, Izuku took the belt from his pants to make a makeshift zip line for the sharp mountains next to the waterfall. Looking down, Izuku could see that the others were ahead of him. Inasa and Shoto were still in the lead while the three others were actually behind him.
There is nothing against the rules from what Nedzu had shown him for the exam and what Present Mic had detailed before it. There was nothing against the rules for using the obstacles themselves to your advantage.
Izuku smiled as he started to use the lines between the mountains ahead of him as his own personal zip line using his belt. Izuku guided himself down form the height to a more slide looking obstacle. Izuku slid down the slide before continuing his run. The zip lines had actually provided him a nice jump ahead because they easily landed him near the end.
Izuku buckled down in his run, using his stamina to clear the rest of the way ahead of him. He could hear the others trying to catch up from behind the slide obstacle meanwhile he could hear the faint voices ahead of him as Present Mic called out two times. He raced ahead until he could finally see Shoto and Inasa in front of the finish line.
"Come on!" Shoto shouted to him, making Izuku practically double his efforts before Mic called out his time. Izuku breathed heavily, relaxing when Shoto laid a cold hand against his forehead. "Good work."
"That was impressive! I saw you climbing up the mountain when I passed! That was true work of thinking outside the box to get to one's goal!"
"Thank you, Yoarashi. And congrats for finishing first and second. Can't wait to see who is going to be our classmates," Izuku said.
Inasa grinned, "I'm between UA and Shiketsu High at the moment! I plan on taking the Shiketsu exam before I decide!"
"Well, I hope to see you again. Ooh, hold up! Give me your phone number and we can keep in touch," Izuku stated. Inasa agreed, giving the two his phone number before running to catch the train since the exam was over.
Shoto and Izuku relaxed for a bit while the next round started with Momo. After it ended, Izuku almost obtained Momo's contact to stay in touch after he talked with her some more.
Izuku was hopeful that his future class would be filled of so much potential. He got to gush over Momo's unique quirk that he knew had many possibilities. Shoto watched it all while Izuku continued to make small talk with him and Momo.
Izuku knew there was limited seats, but he can only hope that those seats will be filled of many people that he knew deserved the spot.
After Izuku had taken the recommendation exam, he met with his father in the control room to watch the entrance exam that Tenya and Shoto would be taking. He was taking down analytic notes of many potentials that took his interest right away.
Midnight sneaked a glance at Izuku as he hurriedly mumbled under his breath while watching the screen intensely. Nedzu looked over to his son as the 15 minutes was slowly dwindling down for the participants.
Tenya was easily brushing bast the robots, gaining more points by the minute. Nedzu guessed he was almost to thirty five points by now since the timer was only reading ten minutes. Tenya didn't use his power move wisely since it has been proven to stall his engines, but he was showing off the strength he truly had in his engines.
Meanwhile Izuku was paying attention to some other potentials in Tenya's area. A girl with an gravity quirk activated by her fingers. That would be a good contender for rescue. Another boy who had duplicate arms that seemed to transform into eyes, ears, and hands. That would be very beneficial for gaining intel. And he also saw a purple haired kid that reminded him of his uncle.
"Hey, Uncle Zawa?"
"What is it?"
"You didn't have any children, right? Who is this? Purple hair..." Izuku wondered, searching through the files of the participants.
Aizawa passed him a file that showed a middle school identification picture of the boy on the screen. Aizawa hummed, "That would be Shinso Hitoshi."
Izuku hummed as he took in the information with interest, "Quirk: Brainwash? Oooh, a mental quirk! This will be very interesting. Ooh, Papa, this might be a good chance to use the special program!"
"You're right. But let's see how he performs in the exam first to see how he will handle things. He does looks promising," Nedzu replied.
"Hmm, I'll be the judge of that. The kid looks like he has potential. He just needs to work a bit more physically and not rely on his quirk," Aizawa observes as he paid attention to the screen. They both watched as Shinso dodged the robots' path, they paid extra attention to how he pulled others out of the way almost instinctively. He pointed others in the direction of the nurse's tent as he continued ahead.
Izuku smiled with a promise of mischief behind his eyes, "I'm sure you can help him, Uncle Zawa. He just needs the right teacher after all. And plus with the program, it will definitely be beneficial for both parties. Ahh, this is so nice."
Shoto looked to be having more fun in his own testing area. Izuku turned his attention to his friend to see how he had already frozen half the robots on the fake city street. The robots' bodies were all frozen at the perfect time for all of them to remain steady. The other half of the street showed the burnt or melted robots. Some of them still had flames coming up for the tops of the heads. Izuku laughed as Shoto breathed out almost like he was bored before running off.
"No doubt trying to find people to help out since he thinks he already has enough points. He will no doubt grab more on the way through because it seems a few others are having trouble with the robots in his area," Izuku muttered, writing in his notebook as he spotted another boy with a hardening quirk on the other screen. "Ooh, a hardening quirk. Perfect for offense and defense. It is very versatile and form the looks of it, he is very promising."
"Die! Die! Die!" A changed yelling came from the muffled speaker of one of the other test areas that was shared with the boy with the hardening quirk.
"Hmmm. The explosive boy has great potential. He is outranking most of the others by all the villains points he has. But he has no rescue points so far. He looks confident in himself to win that's for sure. He looks strong and the quirk is no doubt powerful," Izuku commented, flinching when he saw that greedy look in the blonde's eyes. He didn't really like the overconfident ego that the red-eyed boy was showing, but Izuku had a feeling that UA could change him for the better.
Nedzu cleared his throat, "Izuku, it's almost three minutes left of the exam..."
"Already? Ooh! OOH! Does this mean what I think it means?" Izuku asked excitedly.
"It's time to press the switch," Nedzu smiled
"Time to release the beast," Izuku repeated back to his father with the same almost borderline sadistic smile.
'There is no doubt that they are father and son.' Aizawa thought as he watched the duo release the zero pointer. Aizawa spotted Izuku's overjoyed expression at seeing one of his favorites named Shinso move towards the gravity girl to save her from the Zero Pointer.
Aizawa knew that Izuku would be one hell of a student to teach this year.