A/N: Hey everyone, welcome back to The Crow's Atonement, because Chapter 10 is here.
Disclaimer: Like everybody else on fanfiction, I own nothing.
"Standard" - Normal Speaking
'Italics' - Thoughts
"Bold" - Super Moves
"Yaoyorozu-kun, how is Yaoyorozu-san?"
Having returned to the observation room after dropping his sister off at the school's medical wing, Itachi looked over at Mashirao and gave him an appreciative nod, "She's recuperating and her injures weren't major. Mo-chan is tougher than she looks, but thank you for asking, Ojiro-kun."
Mashirao nodded, looking relieved, then flinched in surprise as the floating pair of gloves and boots next to him shifted and squealed.
"Aww, that's so cute, Ojiro-kun. You've got a crush on Yaoyorozu-chan, haven't you?" Toru exclaimed.
Itachi's right eyebrow lifted slightly.
Mashirao choked on the air, his face burning a bright red as he frantically waved his arms back and forth, "No no no, Hagakure-san, Yaoyorozu-san is just a good friend. After seeing those hits she took from Bakugo-san, I'm just concerned about her well-being."
Toru's gloves grabbed each other and shifted left and right, showing she was clasping her hands together, "Whatever you say, Ojiro-kun."
Most of the other students were too busy clamouring amongst each other, discussing the match that they'd just witnessed.
"Aw man, you think Bakugo would've held back against such a hot girl... maybe he swings the other way?" Minoru shrunk under the two glares sent his way, crying out with fear as small explosions leapt from Katsuki's hands as a warning and threat.
"Still, Yaoyorozu was totally manly," Eijiro stated, grinning as many of the girls facepalmed, "she gave Bakugo some good hits, but his quirk is on another level. So is Midoriya's. That first finger flick with awesome!"
"Midoriya should've flicked Yaoyorozu's-"
Tsuyu's tongue shot out and smacked Minoru across the face, shutting him up and saving him from a likely Death-by-Itachi.
"Anyway," All Might interjected, "I believe the MVP of this match was Young Yaoyorozu. Can anybody tell me why?"
Several of the students looked at each other, seemingly confused.
With none of them ready to give any feedback, Itachi took the opportunity to speak and raised his hand so All Might would look over at him.
"Young Yaoyorozu?"
"Firstly, Bakugo-kun was blinded and driven by nothing but the rage he felt for his two opponents, while Midoriya-kun was driven by his will to prove himself. While Iida-kun stayed with the bomb, he contributed nothing to the exercise," Itachi started, causing the armoured boy to flinch at his brutal honesty, "Furthermore, Bakugo's recklessness when it came to using his quirk could've easily set off the bomb, had it been real, or brought down the building around them."
All Might nodded, motioning for him to continue.
"When Mo-chan presented the detonator, Iida-kun continued to keep up the theatrics, rather than snatch it from her, leaving himself open to fall into an easily avoidable trap." Itachi continued, furrowing his brows, "Heroes usually work together, but Midoriya-kun insisted that she leave him and go at it alone. And his initial reluctance to his quirk, something that a real villain would've easily exploited, could've cost them the match. When it came to the trial, Mo-chan was the only one who took it seriously; however, like Bakugo-kun, her use of explosives could've set the bomb off if it'd been real."
"What? You're just saying that because she's your sister."
Itachi turned his gaze to Denki, who shuddered under his intense stare, "Mo-chan may be my sister, but I will not let my love for her corrupt my opinion on her performance and the performances of everyone else."
The rest of the class, barring Shoto who stared blankly at him, Tenya who appeared to be stressing out over the criticism directed towards him and Katsuki who was wallowing in his own self-pity, gawked at him.
"What kind of feedback..." Toru trailed off.
"I wasn't even thinking along those lines," Tsuyu admitted, "I guess that's to be expected of a recommended student, ribbit."
Itachi shook his head, "I wasn't able to pick up all of that simply because I was a recommended student. All of you could've done the same as I did if you tried."
All Might laughed and gave him a thumbs up, "That's a wonderful answer, Young Yaoyorozu. Now then, let's move onto the next match. Let's see... Team B vs Team I!"
Needlessly to say, Mashirao and Toru had been absolutely humiliated, outclassed by the sheer power of Shoto's quirk.
The tailed blond and the invisible girl had set up within their building and begun planning. During their five-minute interval, they settled on Mashirao staying on the floor with the bomb, whilst Toru would remove her outfit to make herself complete invisible so she could ambush Shoto and Mezo on the bottom floor and fight in the nude.
Whatever they had planned never had to chance on coming to fruition.
Mezo had used his extra arms to create ears to listen out for their movements. Upon discerning their locations and figuring out what they might've been planning, Shoto ordered his partner to leave the building, and in a display of exceptional quirk control, froze everything except the nuclear bomb, turning to building into a slippery death-trap and freezing the feet of his opponents to the floor.
Even Katsuki looked taken aback by the sheer amount of power on display before him and it only served to upset him even more, as if coming to the realization that he probably wasn't the best in the class.
Itachi didn't pity him in the slightest.
"You can take a step if you want," Shoto had said, uncaring as he entered the room with the bomb, "but know that the flesh from the bottom of your feet will peel away and make any attempt to move extremely painful. Try not to feel to bad about this loss, but the difference in power between us is just too great."
Despite having been frozen to the floor, Mashirao hadn't been defeated without putting up the barest hints of a fight.
As Shoto walked past him, the blond twisted his body and used his tail to strike the heterochromatic boy in the face. As the recommended student recoiled, surprise flashing through his eyes for an instant, Mashirao grabbed him by the shoulders, pulled him in and punched him in the throat; then grabbed the back of his head as Shoto gasped for breath and headbutted him thrice.
After stumbling backwards out of grappling range, Shoto fixed him with a blank stare and then froze him up to his neck.
"Defiant to the end. But in the end, it changes nothing." Shoto had said, appearing unfazed by the attacks as he walked past the frozen blond and touched the bomb.
"Hero team, WINS!"
Team G, Yuga Aoyama and Hanta Sero, and Team H, Fumikage Tokoyami and Tsuyu Asui followed after them, with the former serving as heroes and the latter serving as villains.
The Naval Laser quirk user seemed to be vain enough to believe that he could take on the other two students on his own, claiming that it's strength and flashiness were pro hero-level in strength, and despite the objections from his teammate, went off ahead and alone.
Encountering Team H as they descended to the bottom floor, he fired off his Naval Laser a few times. All he managed to do was repel Dark Shadow until his stomach began to act up. By which point, Yuga couldn't fire off his quirk anymore and was quickly taken down by the shadow creature who happily knocked him into a wall, dismissing from the world of consciousness.
That left Hanta to try and fight them alone
He lasted all of five seconds - Tsuyu was too agile and fast to be caught by his tape, while Dark Shadow simply tore through it with glee - and was quickly overwhelmed and incapacitated. The poor boy didn't even make it inside the building.
"Villain Team, WINS!"
Despite having faced a tidal wave of criticism from most of the class after the match was over, with even All Might giving a lecture about never trying to take on multiple villains without knowing their quirks and having backup, Yuga never lost his sparkle and flamboyant attitude. Not even the harshest of words from Itachi managed to restrain and dim his sparkle.
The fourth match quickly followed and Itachi acknowledged that'd he'd be last to participate in the exercise. Taking part in the fourth round was Team E, Kyoka Jiro and Ochaco Uraraka, who'd be serving as the heroes, and Team C, Denki Kaminari and Minoru Mineta, as the villains.
There never even was was a fight.
Using her quirk, Earphone Jack, Kyoka scouted out the building and determined the positions of the villain team through sound. Upon determining that Denki and Minoru had moved onto the second floor after thoroughly scouting out the third floor and coming to the conclusion that it was better for them to avoid combat, Kyoka had Ochaco float her up to the floor where the bomb was.
Shattering a window with a blast of sound, the two girls snuck in and secured the bomb.
"Hero Team, WINS!"
"So, Yaoyorozu, what's the plan?"
Itachi furrowed his brows as he stared at the bomb. The last to fight, he and Mina - who would the villains of the exercise - would be going up against Rikido Sato and Eijiro Kirishima. He knew nothing about the latter's quirk, and he didn't like not knowing, but was aware that Rikido received a boost in his physical parameters after consuming sugar.
"Ashido-san?"
"Hm?"
Itachi looked up at her, "Yesterday, I noticed that you seemed quite familiar with Kirishima-kun. Do you know him?"
The pinkette grinned at him, "Yeah, Kirishima and I went to the same middle school together. He was a total wimp back then, had a emo phase, and guess what, his real hair colour isn't red. It's actually black. He just dyed it after the Entrance Exam so he could model himself after Chivalrous Hero: Crimson Riot."
"That's not important," Itachi stated, dismissing the information, "what do you know about his quirk?"
"Killjoy." Mina pouted.
Itachi narrowed his eyes, "Ashido-san..."
"Alright, alright. Kirishima's quirk is Hardening. It allows him to harden parts of his body, making him impervious to damage and giving him enhanced strength. Give him enough time and he'll be able to punch his way through rock and metal." She told him.
"I see. And you didn't display your quirk during Aizawa-sensei's test. What is it?"
Mina held up one hand and Itachi watched as acid dripped from her hand.
"It's called Acid. Pretty self-explanatory and I can control its solubility and viscosity." She told him, prompting Itachi to lift his visor and display his Sharingan. She whistled as she inspected the red and black of his eyes.
"Sharingan. I can anticipate the movements of whoever I'm looking at and induce hallucinatory images through extended eye contact." He told her as a buzzer blared, informing them that the exercise had started.
"Cool."
"Hn. I've also noticed that you have..." Itachi faltered slightly, internally hitting himself for what he was about to say, "...well developed thighs. Based on that, I assume you exercise on a frequent basis. Football, or dancing perhaps?"
"Breakdancing," Mina answered, smirking and fluttering her eyelashes at him, "and if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were checking me out."
Itachi already regretted his words.
"The exercise has started. Given the nature of Rikido-kun's and Kirishima-kun's quirk, I believe it would be beneficial if we met them at the bottom floor. Stall them for as long as possible." Itachi replied, dodging the question and making his way to the stairs with Mina behind him, swaggering along with a skip in her step.
It didn't take them long to find the opposition entering the front door as they stopped within the wide hallway.
Eijiro grinned and settled into a fighting stance as his arms hardened, prompting Mina to settle into her own as acid dripped from her hands.
Rikido plucked several sugar cubes out of his utility belt.
"It seems you've found us, heroes." Itachi said, grabbing his density seals and keeping them hidden in his hand.
The redhead punched his fists together, "Yeah, and we're gonna stop you."
"No, you won't," Itachi replied coldly, prompting Mina to glance over at him, "do you know why? Because you lack the willpower, the strength and the conviction to stop us. In a pitiful display of heroism, you'll fail to stop us from setting off this bomb. You will die, reduced to insignificant specks in the wind, as will the millions of others caught up in the blast. Society's faith in heroes will crack with the weight of your failure and the trust you've built up over decades will be forever lost."
Rikido, who'd been about to munch on his sugar cubes, paused in disbelief as Eijiro looked pale.
"I'd suggest that you run," Itachi continued, voice growing colder and colder, "forfeit your pride and run. Run and don't look back. Run and listen to the screams of the dead as this city is wiped off the face of the earth. Run and cling onto your pathetic lives and moronic ideals. Run and realize that your dreams and hopes have been forever lost. Disregard that, and you'll die here, face down on the ground and drowning under the weight of your blood and failure, regretting your inability to save the insignificant ants who live here."
All Might muttered something subdued into his earpiece.
Eijiro looked horrified, swallowing down a lump in his throat, and Rikido scrambled to catch a sugar cube as it slipped out of his hand.
"Hey, Kirishima-"
The redhead's eyes hardened with newfound conviction as he displayed a jagged grin, "Heh, Yaoyorozu, that was one manly speech, but I ain't about to give up. A city needs my help and I'm going to do everything I can to help it. Let's go, Sato!"
"Yeah!" The taller boy threw the sugar cubes into his mouth and quickly consumed them.
He roared and punched at the air, eyes dimming as some of his mental functions were reduced in exchange for a strength boost. After beating his chest, Rikido let out a bestial war cry and rushed towards them, Eijiro following close behind.
Itachi stepped forwards to meet them, observing their movements with indifference.
"Ashido-san, take Kirishima-kun. I've got Sato-kun."
"You got it!" She replied, dashing forwards and dancing past Rikido who made a wild grab at her.
Itachi didn't even blink as Rikido barrelled towards him like a heavily muscled freight train. As a punch was thrown at his head, Itachi dropped to the floor and kicked Rikido's legs out from underneath him. As he crashed against the floor, Itachi flung the density seals and sent Rikido flying back into Eijiro who cried out as they were both sent flying down the hallway.
Mina's acid, which should've splashed against Eijiro's chest, fell against the floor.
The pink-skinned girl blinked in surprise, "Eh?"
From down the hallway, the two boys groaned as Rikido picked himself back up, the density seals falling from his chest and rolling across the floor. Eijiro, who had been crushed into the floor, picked himself out the trench his body had created.
"Holy crap, what the hell was that?" Eijiro inquired as Rikido grumbled, rubbing his chest.
"That hurt."
"Hyper-Density Seals," Itachi replied, slowly approaching them, "quite the humorous set of equipment, don't you think?"
Before the redhead could answer the question - ignorant over the fact that it was rhetorical - Rikido yelled out, threw the density seals back at Itachi who casually swiped them out of the air, and charged them once more.
He dodged the set of wild punches that were overly cherographed and seen way ahead of time by the Sharingan.
As Mina yelled out behind him, Itachi rolled to one side as acid splashed against Rikido's chest and dissolved the portion of the costume it hit. As Itachi rolled to his feet, Eijiro was suddenly upon him and throwing punches.
Itachi evaded them all with ease, shifting to one side to the other to avoid being hit and watching as the redhead steadily grew more and more frustrated as he failed to tag him.
The redhead was nowhere near fast enough to outpace the perceptive capabilities of his Sharingan.
Then, he jumped forwards and landed on Eijiro's shoulders, before pushing away and flipping in the air. Landing on Rikido's shoulders, he pushed off once more and landed back next to Mina who had acid dripping from her hands.
The two boys were upon them once more, not giving them any time to breath.
"Get back here and fight me like a man, Yaoyorozu." Eijiro said, rushing towards them; Rikido close behind.
Itachi reached into one of his pouches and flung at multitude of shuriken at the redhead who hardened his arms to deflect them, but then acid surged past Itachi and splashed against his chest. Eijiro let out a yell of annoyance; then Itachi ran forwards and vaulted over his shoulders and booted Rikido in the face, causing the taller boy to stumble back.
As he landed on the floor, Itachi dashed forwards and slipped through Rikido's legs and unsheathed his katana. Crimson eyes watching as Mina and Eijiro fought and danced around each other, Itachi sliced at Rikido's left calf, leaving behind a swallow cut, before doing the same to the back of his right thigh and grabbing his density seals as Rikido grumbled and turned to him.
He slashed him against the chest twice, ducked under a punch and executed a backwards cartwheel to avoid the second punch. Springing himself out of range, Itachi flung his katana into the air and flung his density seals into the larger boy's chest, sending him flying backwards, but Eijiro, who'd been paying attention this time around, avoided being flattened by the flying tank of muscle and sugar.
Itachi caught the katana and settled into an offensive stance, "Density Seal Barrage."
He watched as Eijiro's eyes widened upon seeing his teammate get taken down, dropping his guard momentarily. This left him wide open for Mina who leapt at him, wrapped her legs around his head and swung herself around as she pulled herself into a falling backflip of sorts, flinging the redhead into the floor.
"Oh damn, that actually hurt." Eijiro said as Mina quickly picked herself up.
"Your skin might be hardened, Kirishima-kun, but I suspect your internal organs are still soft. Provide a hard enough impact, and you'll still feel it internally." Itachi said as he waked over to Rikido who groaned, as he came down off his sugar high.
Glaring down at the taller boy who stared back cautiously, he pointed his katana at him and allowed the tip of his blade to rest against his throat.
Eijiro gasped, horror entering his eyes, "Hey, Sato, are-"
"Hero," Itachi interjected, his voice cold and devoid of emotion as he took in the emotions flickering across Rikido's face, "surrender, or your friend dies."
Eijiro shot to his feet, eyes narrowed, "You wouldn't."
Rikido gulped.
In response, Itachi pushed the blade deeper into his throat, exerting just enough force as to not break the skin, as All Might muttered frantically into his ear.
Looking helpless and frustrated with himself, Eijiro turned to Mina who waved as acid dripped from her hands and steadily melted through the floor which hissed as it was burned away, leaving behind a fist-sized hole; then turned back to Itachi who stared back at him impassively.
"Gah, this sucks," Eijiro huffed, throwing his arms up in the air, "but a real man knows when to admit defeat. I forfeit."
Itachi nodded and retracted the blade from where it lay at Rikido's throat, sheathed his katana and extended a hand as All Might's voice blared into their ears, "Villain Team, WINS!"
Rikido accepted the hand and Itachi had to steady himself as Rikido pulled himself up, nearly pulling him down.
Eijiro looked upset with himself, even as Mina patted his shoulder sympathetically.
"Don't mope too much, Kirishima-kun," Itachi spoke as he deactivated his Sharingan, prompting the redhead to look up at him, "everybody loses in life, and I'm sure even All Might has lost before. Instead of getting too upset over your loss and diving headfirst into an inescapable pit of grief, take the opportunity to learn from it and advance yourself. People's greatest successes in life can stem from their early failures."
The redhead nodded, grinning once more, "Because that's exactly what a real man would do!"
"Hn."
Mina sweatdropped.
Rikido winced as blood streamed from his shallow wounds and his chest began to bruise, "Uh, yeah... you guys go ahead and get back to the the observation room, I'm gonna go to Recovery Girl."
"Need me to go with you, buddy?" Eijiro offered, but Rikido shook his head.
"Nah, I'm good. Thanks though, Kirishima."
"No problem, man."
As they all left the building to return to where All Might and the other students were waiting for them, Rikido took a slight detour and left the trio to their own devices. Returning to the observation room, they found the blond goliath grinning at them. Momo, who was amongst the crowd, waved at them as she appeared to be eating an energy bar.
All Might chuckled, "With the final match concluded, I believe it's safe to say that Young Ashido and Young Yaoyorozu were both MVPs. Would anybody like to tell me why?"
Shoto quietly raised his hand.
The top hero nearly missed him over the clamouring of the other students and gestured for him to proceed.
"Go ahead, Young Todoroki."
"Kirishima and Sato had no actual plan besides punch their way through the opposition," the heterochromatic boy started, "and it's clear that Sato has no plan to deal with his quirk's benefits and drawbacks. Also, Kirishima overestimates his own abilities, is easily distracted and it was obvious that he was holding back whenever he fought Ashido. In a real situation, his chivalrous attitude would've gotten them both killed. Male or female, if a villain wants you dead, they'll have you dead."
Eijiro looked slightly downcast at the news.
Mina playfully punched him in the arm.
"Furthermore, even though they had little time to plan out a strategy and probably knew very little about each other's quirks, Ashido and Yaoyorozu were able work almost seamlessly with each other." Shoto continued, staring at Itachi who stared back, "Additionally, when caught between Sato and Kirishima, Yaoyorozu chose to retreat and return to his teammate, acknowledging how both fighters outclassed him in strength, rather than take them both on by himself."
"Thank you, Young Todoroki."
Shoto nodded and stepped back, ignoring all the curious stares he was getting.
"Damn, these recommended kids are so analytical." Denki muttered.
"Sheesh, tell me about it. And those were some nice moves, Yaoyorozu." Hanta replied, grinning.
Itachi nodded, "Thank you, Sero-kun."
"Anyways, good work, everyone. Besides Young Midoriya, nobody suffered from any major injuries, and I can tell you all gave this 110%. Good job with your first training session, all of you." All Might declared.
"After Aizawa-sensei's class, this was kind of..." Tsuyu paused as if looking for the right word, "...anticlimactic to say the least."
The majority of the class nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, I must check on Young Midoriya," All Might announced, getting into a runner's pose, "Get changed and return to your classroom."
In a burst of wind and sound, he was suddenly gone.
"So cool!" Denki cheered.
"Why is he running away just to check on Midoriya?" Minoru inquired.
"That strength he displayed... he must be All Might's secret love child." Shoto theorized, staring blankly at where All Might had been stood.
"It could be guilt," Momo suggested, prompting the class to look at her, "All Might is one of our teachers, but he's clearly new to the field. It must've hurt him to see what was essentially a deathmatch occur between Bakugo-kun and Midoriya-kun. Perhaps, he feels like Midoriya-kun wouldn't have been injured if he known about their past rivalry and pitted them against different teams."
Several of the other students nodded, thinking over her answer.
"We should get going," Itachi interjected, "All Might may be waiting for us after checking up on Midoriya-kun and it would not be wise to keep him waiting. Exuberant as the man may be, I doubt his paitence is unlimted."
After changing out of their hero costumes, the class returned to their Heroics class where not much happened. All Might didn't turn up again, which Itachi found strange, but Aizawa-sensei took over the class and tried to the maintain order - the keyword being tried - until it was time to go home, with Izuku turning up less than five minutes before he dismissed them.
The green-haired boy was promptly swarmed by most of the class.
He ran off as quickly as he arrived, something to do with confronting Katsuki about what they spoke about during the battle trials.
As everyone seemed to stand around, Itachi, Mashirao and Momo took their leave.
"Today's heroics class was really cool," Mashirao started, "it's just a shame that I didn't get to fight the same way you guys did."
"I'm sure you'll get another chance, Ojiro-kun." Momo replied, a small smile on her face.
Itachi nodded, "Agreed, I doubt All Might's battle trials were a one off. I'm sure they might have these once a month to check on the progression of our quirks. Not doing so, as Aizawa-sensei likes to say, would be irrational."
"Be careful, Ita-kun, you might develop an irrational habit of sleeping on the floor." Momo replied, smirking behind her hand.
Mashirao snickered.
Eventually, they left the primary building and began walking down the extended pathway that'd led them to the main gates. Much further along the pathway who Izuku who was walking alone and they caught the distant figure of Katsuki, instantly identifiable by his ash-blond hair.
Momo and Mashirao shared a glance.
"Is that Midoriya-kun? I'm surprised Bakugo-kun isn't trying to choke the life out of him after what happened in our fight." Momo mused.
"Bakugo-kun's a fool," Itachi replied, "but he's not stupid. Attacking Midoriya-kun, when he doesn't have explicit to be able to do so, would only result in his expulsion from the school."
"Well well, if it isn't Mr. Good Looking."
The trio paused and Itachi let out a dejected sigh.
Turning around, Itachi saw Setsuna sauntering towards them, a massive grin on her face, flanked by a smug blond boy with blue eyes, a grey haired boy with massive eyelashes and a boy with an insect-like head and wild, green hair.
The grey haired boy blinked at them, "Tokage-chan, who is that?"
"I'm not sure who the other two are," Setsuna replied, swaggering her way up to them and stopping just short of Itachi who stared at her, "but Mr. Good Looking is the boy that Kendo-san won't stop talking about."
Itachi raised an eyebrow, "I assume you're in the same class as Itsuka-san, Tokage-san?"
Setsuna nodded and then looked over Momo, her grin only growing wider, "My my, you didn't tell me that your sister was such a looker. Hehe, don't mind me, I'm just checking out the prizes on both sides of the aisle."
Momo just blinked, bemused.
Mashirao just scratched his head in confusion, "What's going on?"
"Hmm, Tail Boy isn't bad either..."
"Tokage-san-"
"What's this," the blond started dramatically, "is this the Class 1-A fool who has been harassing our dear Kendo-chan for the past goodness knows how long?
Itachi narrowed his eyes at the blatantly false accusation and Setsuna widened her own, her jokey attitude vanishing in an instant.
"Monoma-"
The other two boys sneered, stepping forwards and sizing Itachi up as their quirks came to life. The one with the insect head snarled as blades grew out of his arms, whilst the other boy's arms took on a metallic sheen.
"So you like harassing girls, huh, tough guy? Am I going to have to rearrange your face?"
"This Class 1-A bastard has been annoying Kendo-chan. Don't make me have to beat you up."
Itachi scowled, activating his Sharingan, "Whatever you've heard about me, it's not true. Itsuka-san and I are good friends."
"If that's true, then what's her favourite type of vehicle?" The one with blades growing out of his arms inquired, eyes narrowed threateningly.
"A motorcycle."
"Which brand?"
"The Kawasaki, specifically the Ninja H2; although, she is particular to the Harley-Davidson."
Insect Face faltered for a moment.
Momo and Mashirao looked ready to defend him if a fight broke out.
Setsuna huffed and smacked the blond who held up his hands in a defensive manner, a fake smile plastered across his face as he leered at Itachi, "Whatever is the matter, Tokage-chan? I was just making sure the Class 1-A fool knew his place."
"What the heck is going on here?"
Itachi looked past them to see Itsuka sprinting down the pathway, eyes darting back and forth as she quickly assessed the situation and rounded on the blond boy who still had the fake smile on his face.
"Tokage-san, what happened here?"
"Monoma made up a lie about Mr. Good Looking harassing you when you were younger." Setsuna said, sighing.
"Monoma!" Itachi felt a strange sense of satisfaction flow through him as Kendo karate-chopped the blond who seized, as if struck by a taser, and crumpled to the floor, but dismissed it as nothing more than himself being glad to see his oldest friend.
With the smug blond dealt with, Itsuka turned to the other two boys who seemed unsure of themselves now that she had turned up. She placed her hands on their shoulders and shook her head, prompting them both to deactivate their quirks.
"Ignore what Monoma said, Kamakiri-san, Tetsutetsu-san," Itsuka told them, running a hand through her orange hair and looking up at Itachi, "what he said wasn't true in the slightest. Itachi-san and I have been good friends for years."
"So... no beating up the Class 1-A scum?"
"No beating them up," Itsuka confirmed, causing the two boys to relax, "and they're not scum. Their names are Yaoyorozu Itachi, Yaoyorozu Momo and Ojiro Mashirao. Guys, these are Tokage Setsuna, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and Kamikiri Togaru, and the blond moron is Monoma Neito."
Togaru nodded and stepped forwards, extending a hand for Itachi to take, "Yeah, whatever, sorry about the misunderstanding. Guess I won't be kicking your sorry ass after all."
"He's like Bakugo-san." Ojiro mumbled.
A light scoff came from Momo, "He has manners, at least. Bakugo-kun wouldn't have apologised and would've threatened to beat him up another time.
Setsuna snickered, "Sounds like a nice guy."
Itachi shook the offered hand, "You couldn't, even if you tried."
Togaru huffed and glared at him, squeezing his hand and forcing Itachi to squeeze back.
"Boys." Itsuka said warningly.
They released each other and Togaru backed off, but Itachi to keep a straight face - which wasn't all that hard, he'd had years of practising a perfect poker face - to avoid displaying any signs of discomfort the tight grip had caused him. Not interested in waiting around now that he couldn't beat somebody up, Togaru stalked off and dragged a complaining Tetsutetsu with him.
Itachi shook out his hand.
"Sorry about that," Itsuka said, "a lot of the boys in my class are quite hot-headed."
Momo smiled, "We've got a few like that in our class."
The two girls shared a quick hug, a high five was exchanged with Mashirao and then Itsuka turned to Itachi who presented her with a small smile, which for him was practically the equivalent of anybody else wearing a grin which split their face in two.
"What'd you lot get up to today?"
Itachi shrugged, "Battle exercises with All Might; he's our hero studies teacher. We were split between heroes and villains, 5 teams each, and the main target was a nuclear bomb."
"The bomb had to be protected by the villains, while the heroes had to secure it?" Itsuka guessed.
Itachi nodded.
"And you have All Might as your teacher? That's so cool."
"He's not exactly the best when it comes to teaching, but he tries." Itachi deadpanned.
A/N: And that's Chapter 10 for you guys. Hope you enjoyed Itachi and Mina vs Eijiro and Rikido, and I apologise to anyone who wanted more focus on the other battles, given that some of the teams had been mixed up. You all know what's next - picking Class Representatives.