A/N: Hey everyone, welcome back to The Crow's Atonement, because Chapter 18 is here.
Disclaimer: Like everybody else on fanfiction, I own nothing.
"Standard" - Normal Speaking
'Italics' - Thoughts
"Bold" - Super Moves
All the students of Class 1-A who weren't immediately involved in the exercise that was taking place were stood, crowded behind All Might who muttered into a microphone linked to the headset he had, staring at the live feed of Itachi running through Ground Beta.
Katsuki seemed highly disinterested in the whole thing, barely paying attention to the screen while trying to find something that would distract him from Shitty Deku's presence.
Even thought fighting had yet to start, Shoto appeared unimpressed by what he was seeing. Granted, his train of thought was that somebody with a mere visual quirk stood no chance of getting in his way to becoming the No. 1 Hero with just his ice, compared to potential threats like Izuku and Katsuki.
Speaking of Izuku, he was currently muttering his thoughts, theorizing hundreds of different ways Itachi could beat the team of villains and ways they could beat Itachi, freaking out Ochaco in the process.
"Oi, Kaminari, what's with that thoughtful look on your face? Think too hard and your brain might explode."
"Jiro," Denki protested, "anyways, um, I was wondering if Yaoyorozu can handle this."
"Is this really coming from the guy who fries his brain whenever he uses his quirk?" Kyoka inquired, arching an eyebrow.
Denki pouted as Hanta, who was stood nearby, snorted and chuckled.
"Burned, man. Where's the nearest burn centre?" He asked, grinning.
"Dude!"
"Come on, Yaoyorozu has this in the bag. I know it," Eijiro interjected, punching a fist into his opposing palm, "he's proper manly. 4 against 1 won't be a problem for someone like him."
"Yaoyorozu bathes in the river of darkness..." Fumikage muttered, earning a wide berth from the rest of the class.
Momo narrowed her eyes at the screen, lips pursed and arms crossed over her chest as she, save for All Might, stood closest to the screen displaying a live feed, listening to the rest of the class debate Itachi's chance of succeeding.
"Come on, Itachi-kun, you've got this."
"Oh," All Might grinned, "what makes you say that, Young Yaoyorozu?"
Onyx eyes narrowed.
"Taking into account what I know of my brother and his skills. Mineta-kun and Aoyama-kun are entirely irrelevant to him; one has a highly visible quirk that can easily be avoided and other cannot operate his quirk for more than a second. Ojiro-kun and my brother have sparred dozens of times, always without their quirks, but Itachi-kun has bested Ojiro-kun 78-76 and he's simply not versatile or fast enough to outpace the Sharingan. Lastly, Iida-kun is an unknown factor, but if his quirk doesn't allow him to bypass the Sharingan's processing speed and my brother's reaction time, then Itachi-kun will be able to handle him."
All Might let out a boisterous laugh and clapped.
"Excellent analysis, Young Yaoyorozu. Let's see how this turns out."
Itachi ran at a steady pace, taking care not to overexert himself until he came across the target building. He slowed himself down, briefly glancing at a nearby camera, when he could see Tenya and Mashirao stood just beyond the main doors, with Minoru further behind them, seemingly distracted by something off to his right, whilst, Yuga was nowhere to be seen.
Itachi presumed he was hiding, whether it was through orders or his own vain cowardice, waiting to blindside him with his Naval Laser.
He saw Tenya lean towards Mashirao who nodded, likely in response to a question.
Coming to a stop about a few dozen metres away from the building's entrance, Itachi raised a hand, smirked and made a 'come hither' motion, hoping to bait the duo into leaving their two teammates behind and going for him.
After all, separating the team and not trying to take on all four members was how one would pass this exercise.
He let the smirk fall from his face, settling back into his usual neutral expression when he saw Tenya make a gesture before he and Mashirao walked forwards and exited the building, making their way towards him.
"Hero," Tenya exclaimed theatrically, "hahaha, you have no chance of defeating us. Not while you'll be so focused on trying to rescue that pathetic civilian. If you walk away now, we might just let you live."
"If you try and fight us, we'll be forced to put you down like a dog." Mashirao added.
Itachi gave him a look that said, 'Really, that was so cliché.'
The Tail-quirk user went red from embarrassment but pushed on, "Not only will you have to deal with us, but there are two more looking over the hostage. Even if you get through us, you'll be easy pickings for them."
Given exactly who he was talking about, Mashirao didn't sound convinced himself.
Itachi extended one arm, pointing at Tenya and then at Mashirao, prompting the pair of them to tense.
"Hmph, seems like I'll have to go through the both of you. Still, any chance you could both be convinced to simply step aside?"
Mashirao sneered, trying to come across as intimidating but failing horribly, "Not a chance in hell."
"This is your last chance, hero," Tenya boomed, "walk away now or suffer the consequences, mwahahaha!"
Itachi narrowed his eyes, "I can't do that. There's an innocent civilian who needs rescuing and you villains, criminals, need to face justice for your heinous crimes."
A second passed.
Then Mashirao and Itachi began to run at each other, startling Tenya.
The former jumped and front-flipped, bringing his tail down, but Itachi had already sidestepped, allowing the limb to smash the ground where he'd been stood, and before Mashirao's feet had hit the ground, he was already punching at his head, but the strike was blocked by a forearm and as his tail uncurled from between his legs, Mashirao lashed out with snap kick.
It hit Itachi's cross guard and he shoved the leg aside, leaving his friend wide open. He lunged forwards, wrapping his hands around the blond's neck and raising his leg to knee him in the stomach, but was forced to disengage and jump back as Tenya charged into the space he'd been occupying, almost knocking Mashirao off his feet.
The armoured student turned and raced towards him again.
Itachi, pretending to have fallen over as Tenya's engine-propelled punch missed him by an inch, stuck his leg out and tripped him over.
With them both now on the floor, Itachi rolled back once and snapped his leg out into the space between Tenya's helmet and his chest-plate, his heel catching him in the throat and eliciting a horrible, pained gasp that sounded more like choking.
Barely getting a moment to breath, Itachi was forced to roll back multiple times to evade getting hit by Mashirao's tail before flipping back to his feet and catching a punch that, if it weren't for his Sharingan, probably would've hit him in the face.
He pulled back, throwing Mashirao off balance, then brought his leg up and kneed the blond student in the gut.
The blond grunted, bringing up his right leg to use his shin to block a kick from Itachi's left leg, then turned his head in time for the incoming headbutt to catch him just above his left eye rather than on the bridge his leg, then as he recoiled from the pain, a snap kick struck him in the chest, knocking him off his feet.
Itachi grunted as Tenya caught him in a rugby tackle of sorts and then suddenly stopped, sending him tumbling backwards.
As he fell backwards, Itachi tossed his density seals with pinpoint accuracy, hitting Tenya's armour and bringing him down, thought the armour killed enough momentum to prevent what should've been broken ribs, thought it still left him with massive holes in his chest-plate, making it seem like he'd been shot with a high calibre firearm.
The seals had also immediately fallen down the inside of the armour and bodysuit Tenya wore once they stopped against his chest, leaving them horribly close to his genitals.
Tenya seemed to freeze in place, letting out a noise of concern.
Mashirao ran up to him and knelt by his side, one eye closed as blood streamed down from the cut above his eye, courtesy of the abundance of blood vessels in the face.
"Iida-kun, are you alright?"
"I-I'm fine, Ojiro-kun," Tenya stammered, as pale as a ghost underneath his mask as his entire body trembled as if he were afflicted by Parkinson's, "I-I, um, h-have a major p-problem that n-needs sorting out. I'll b-be quick. C-Can you handle Y-Yaoyorozu-kun until I-i'm finished."
"Sure. Take as much time as you need. I mean, don't take all day, I'm might need your help." Mashirao replied, chuckling.
He raised himself up to his full height and turned to Itachi who seemed perfectly content to wait until he was ready to fight.
"Are you quite finished fretting over your friend?" Itachi inquired, his voice a slow, mocking drawl.
"And ready as I'll ever be to kick your ass, considering I kick hero ass for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Definitely." Mashirao retorted, getting hot under the collar as he was quickly starting to realize that unscripted trash talk wasn't his strong suit.
"Well then, bring it." Itachi replied, the corners of his lips quirking upwards.
He let Mashirao charge towards him once again, watching as the blonde front-flipped into an aerial tail strike that Itachi evaded again by leaping aside and then snapped his leg out and caught the other student in the ribs.
Mashirao grunted, blocking the following kick with one arm. With his other, he threw a punch at Itachi who tilted his head to one side, allowing it to brush by his face, and retaliated with a palm strike that slammed into Mashirao's jaw, forcing him to stumble back as he reeled backwards.
Taking a step forwards to keep the space between them constant, Itachi thrust his other hand out and hit Mashirao in the throat, prompting a choked noise from him as his head shot back down, revealing bulged out eyes.
Even without chakra to amplify his strikes, the Gentle Fist - at least the open palm-based strikes rather than fingertip-based - remained a versatile and useful fighting style
Not giving him a moment to regain his breath, Mashirao's head snapped to one side as the back of Itachi's fist slammed into the side of his face.
Then, he lunged forwards and jumped, sticking his leg out and booting the blond in the chest, knocking him to the floor where he groaned.
"Gah, damn you, hero." Mashirao coughed, rolling onto his side and rubbing his throat.
"Stay down."
Itachi widened his eyes when, as Mashirao looked up at him, he could see a whitish-blue light growing in size in his eyes.
Turning his head, Itachi jerked to one side as a focused beam the size of his head shot past his face, its close proximity and light intensity burning itself into his retinas with such force that he had to immediately deactivate the Sharingan or risk damage to his eyesight.
He staggered back, thrown off balance by the unexpected attack, blinking rapidly as he tried to clear the big red 'smudge' that was obscuring so much of his vision, though it was already beginning to clear, but not quick enough.
He knew by the time his sight was restored: Tenya would've sorted out his issue, Mashirao would have recovered and be ready to attack him, and Yuga might be ready to shoot him again.
"Whoa," Denki exclaimed, "did you see that? Aoyama nearly got Yaoyorozu."
"Still, shooting him in the back. That isn't manly of him." Eijiro muttered lowly.
Katsuki snorted, chipping him for the first time since the first match began, "Tch, stop being a dumbass Shitty Hair. Flashy's actin' like a proper villain. Let's be real, villains ain't gonna give a shit about shit like being honourable. They'll fuck you over at the first chance they get."
Kyoka looked over at Momo who was trying her best not to scowl.
"Hey, Yaomomo, your brother doesn't look to-"
"He'll get through this," Momo snapped, then looked apologetic for doing so, "I-I'm sorry, I just want Itachi-kun to get through this, but Aoyama-kun's sneak attack, especially given how close it was, would've overloaded his Sharingan. I think he'll have to get through the rest of the exercise without it, assuming he's not too hindered by not being able to see."
Izuku had gone on another muttering spree.
"Employing tactics used only by the forces of darkness."
Dark Shadow emerged from Fumikage's abdomen, giving a pair of thumbs up to the class, "What he really means to say is that he's unimpressed by the Sparkly Boy's sneak attack. It was really uncool!"
"Dark Shadow!"
Itachi was still blinking, narrowing his eyes as he looked around, trying to recover his eyesight as he could hear Mashirao getting to his feet and one of his density seals bouncing off the ground from wherever Tenya was.
"Hey, Yaoyorozu-kun, are you alright?"
He cocked his head towards the sound of Mashirao's voice, relying on his ears over his eyes given his current predicament, "I appreciate your concern, Ojiro-kun, but don't forget our roles. You're still a villain right now."
"Yeah, r-right."
Itachi watched on the edges of his vision as his friend's feet approached him and then one suddenly went out of view, barely seen through the red flash mark that was taking up most of his eyesight.
Hearing the shifting of clothes and observing the twisting of Mashirao's other leg, Itachi jerked to one side, feeling the rush of air that accompanied Mashirao's leg shooting past his head. The leg was quickly retracted and Itachi battled aside a punch, then thrust his leg out, catching Mashirao in the gut.
Mashirao grabbed his ankle, preventing him bringing his own leg, stepped into Itachi's guard and blocked a punch, and swiped his free leg out from under him.
Itachi grunted as he fell onto his back, grateful that he hadn't fallen from a higher height as his shoulder hit the floor, followed immediately by the top of his head bouncing off the floor.
Still unable to properly see, he lashed out with his free leg and booted Mashirao in the crotch, prompting him to let out a squeal of pain.
Then, pressing his palms besides his head, Itachi folded himself and then pushed forwards, flipping to his feet and booting Mashirao in his chest. The blond staggered back as Itachi regained his footing and then they proceeded to exchange a series of punches, forearm and elbow strikes, and kicks.
In the midst of an exchange between them, Itachi cocked his head as he heard Tenya's Engine revving to life once more behind him, followed by the distinct 'Fwoosh' of him accelerating towards them.
He grabbed Mashirao's wrist as he tried to punch him in the face, twisted his arm to bring about a pained yelped, then yanked on the arm as he booted him in the chest, dislocating it as he pulled the blond past him, putting him in Tenya path.
The Engine-quirk user was forced to come to a halt to avoid slamming into his teammate, only to grunt as Mashirao fell into him after being kicked in the back.
"Damn you, he-" Tenya huffed, cut off his Mashirao let out a groan when Itachi pressed his foot into the square of his back, grabbed his other arm and pulled, dislocating it.
Mashirao let out an agonized scream, unable to lift his arms as they hung limply by his sides.
Tenya stiffened, narrowing his eyes behind his mask, thinking Itachi had gone too far in dealing with his opponent.
Itachi stepped away and walked around them, staring them down as Mashirao shifted in place and groaned, tilting his head so he look up at his friend.
"I'm sorry, Ojiro-kun, but you're-"
Itachi was flung onto his back as Mashirao's tail lashed out and struck him in the chest, launching him back a good dozen metres
For a moment, nothing moved except for Mashirao's tail which twitched, lazily swinging back and forth, and Tenya wasn't entirely sure whether Itachi had been knocked unconscious by the blow.
And then the ground shook as, nearby, spiralling waves of faint, yellow energy tore through the designated target building, leaving behind an odd pattern of strangely-shaped holes which looked like a giant had tried to carve doughnuts or cinnamon rolls out of the walls.
Itachi sat up, grateful his vision was back to normal as he hid his discomfort and pain behind a well-practised mask of calm and indifference, and then rose to his feet and approached the downed duo, though this time he made sure to keep out of range of Mashirao's tail.
That had been a foolish mistake and if she found out about it, Itsuka would never let him hear the end of it.
"As I was saying," Itachi started, glaring down at them as his Sharingan came to life once more, "I apologise for having to dislocate your arms, Ojiro-kun, but we could fight hand-to-hand forever. As it turns out, I have an objective to complete, and I'm sure Recovery Girl will leave you in fighting shape afterwards. Iida-kun, good luck getting out from underneath Ojiro-kun without hurting him."
"Damn you, Yaoyorozu-kun." Mashirao grumbled, holding back a hiss as the slightest hint of movement send pain shooting through him.
"Hn, love you too, Ojiro-kun."
He'd tried to hold out, for the sake of his team, Minoru Mineta couldn't help himself anymore... and Yuga wasn't around to stop him.
The hostage he was supposed to be guarding was so damn cute. She was statuesque and busty like Yaoyorozu, had the infectious, bubbly attitude of Ashido and had the innocent, curious air of Uraraka. And nobody could stop him from copping a feel, not even All Might.
Allowing the rush of blood below his waist to override his common sense, Minoru found himself overcome by lust as he shifted towards Nejire who smiled at him when she realized that he was the only one still there.
"Heeey," she cheerily greeted, "looks like it's just you and me. Do you reckon they've torn up the street outside? Where did the blond boy with the armour go? Do you think you can take on Yaoyorozu-kun if he makes it past the others?"
Minoru wasn't hearing anything.
He was just in a lust-filled, single-minded haze and any question she fired at him went straight through one ear and out the other.
'Big Boobs...'
He shuffled closer to her, completely oblivious to Yuga's sudden reappearance in the corner of the room, watching him with distaste.
'Tits...'
Minoru reached out, watering at the mouth as if he were Homer Simpson lusting after doughnuts, and Nejire's bubbly smile dropped off her face.
Because of her ditzy, airheaded attitude, Nejire was often considered one of the least intelligent members of U.A.'s 3rd year students, but looks and the strength of her quirk alone didn't solely qualify her to become one of U.A.'s Big Three students. In fact, Nejire was one of the smartest students in U.A., and she had to be, especially to handle her quirk, but she never felt the need to throw those smarts in the faces of other people.
As such, because of her ditzy personality, so many people thought she was genuinely stupid - 'So unfair, Togata-kun acts like a silly goof everyday and nobody thinks he's stupid.'
And she didn't dislike many things, but perverts were at the top of her list.
As wisps of yellow energy began to emanate from Nejire's left hand, All Might's voice boomed through the building.
"Young Mineta, get control of-"
He lunged.
"10% Output."
Minoru never got within a metre.
Nejire thrust out her hand and a whirlpool of golden energy surged out, slamming into Minoru who screamed in terror and sent him crashing through the nearest wall. The excess energy flared outwards, carving through the floor above and additional walls.
Yuga just blinked, having watched in shock.
"Perverts suck," Nejire scowled, uncharacteristically serious, and then her face brightened up as she spotted Yuga who looked like he'd seen a ghost, "Oh, hey there."
"Um... hello m-madamoiselle." Yuga stammered, glancing at the wall Minoru had been blasted through.
"Whoa," Denki exclaimed as the entire class watched as Itachi dislocated both of Mashirao's arms, "All Might, hey, is he allowed to do that? Isn't Itachi supposed to be the hero of this exercise? What kind of hero does that?"
All Might paused, then looked away from the screen so he could look at Denki.
"While... ah, Young Yaoyorozu's method of incapacitating is less than desirable, some heroes who don't have an enhanced physicality or elemental powers are given a leeway on how they take out villains. Trust me, Young Kaminari, I've seen worse." All Might stated.
"Worse!?" Denki squawked, yelping after Kyoka swatted him over the head.
"Stop getting your boxers in a twist, moron," she deadpanned, "you can unleash electricity. You'll be frying any unfortunate villain unlucky enough to get their hands on you, like that dumbass at the U.S.J."
"Oi, hey, uh, All Might, what is Mineta doing? I don't think that constitutes as looking over the hostage." Eijiro said, face flushed with embarrassment.
All Might turned back to the live feed and blanched when he saw Minoru inching towards Nejire with a lustful, predatory expression.
"Young Mineta, get control of-"
All Might was cut off as the feed was overwhelmed by a haze of yellow before suddenly cutting out. He hunched over the control monitor, frantically pressing at buttons until the screen connected to another camera, showing a heavily bruised Minoru slumped against a cracked wall, everything else around him having been destroyed by the act of self-defence.
Another feed showed the destruction from outside the building.
"Holy shit..." Mina muttered, gawking.
Momo simply crossed her arms, sniffing with satisfaction.
Kyoka couldn't stop herself from smirking, "Laid out that perverted bastard just like that. I like her."
"That was manly." Eijiro nodded approvingly, though he was still blushing.
All Might's fist tightened around a microphone as he ground his teeth together, frustrated and angry at himself for not paying attention to somebody who was already notorious for being Class 1-A resident pervert.
"Young Hado, are you okay? I'm sorry you had to deal with that."
Her bubbly, cheery voice came through an unseen speaker, "I'm fine, All Might. He just... caught me off-guard, that's all."
After retrieving his density seals and leaving Tenya underneath a pained Mashirao, Itachi made his way to the target building, his aching Sharingan looking back and forth as he tried to discern movement amongst the walls, rubble and dust. He was more than ready to turn off his quirk if Yuga tried shooting at him again.
He wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice.
Itachi paused when he saw Yuga peek at him from beyond the doors and around a wall. The blond widened his eyes when he spotted him and fully emerged from around the corner, his abdominal lens already brimming with energy.
Ignoring the ache in his eyes, Itachi deactivated his Sharingan and jumped aside as Yuga fired at him, blasting the building's front doors. The whitish-blue energy beam shot past him and one of the doors crashed into the ground in-front of him, showering him with glass and forcing him to protect his eyes.
Lowering his arm, Itachi jerked aside as Yuga very nearly scored a shot that would've hit him centre mass.
The beam grazed his shoulder, but still carried enough force to knock him backwards.
He lay on his back for a moment, then flipped to his feet. Turning his Sharingan on once more, he darted into the building and found Yuga waiting for him in a partially opened doorway, face scrunched with concentration and pain as he prepared to fire once more.
Leaping aside and turning away to prevent another bout of flash blindness, Itachi allowed Yuga to waste his shot on the wall opposite him.
Then he stepped back, entered the room as Yuga cowered from him and spun in place, knocking out the French-Japanese boy with a single kick to the neck, causing him to crumple to the floor.
With him dealt with, Itachi stepped back, shut the door and grunted as he found himself tackled by a speeding Tenya who carried him over to the biggest room on the ground floor where Nejire was sat cross-legged, watching them with vague surprise.
"Your crusade stops here, hero!" Tenya declared, stalling his quirk and bringing himself to a halt.
Unfortunately, Itachi's own momentum meant he continued backwards and slammed into a wall with enough force to painfully jolt his back as the impact made a crack in the wallpaper, then he dropped to the floor with a sigh.
Slipping his density seals into one of his hands, Itachi picked himself back up as he glared at Tenya who stared back defiantly.
"Tch, you don't know when to give up, do you villain?"
"Of course not," Tenya thundered, chuckling menacingly, "I won't warn you again, hero. Surrender and leave the hostage with me or-"
His vision becoming shaded with a deeper tint of red, time seemed to drastically slow down and Itachi noticed creases, almost invisible to the untrained eye, develop in the bodysuit Tenya wore underneath his armour as he bent his knees, preparing to race towards him again as Engine fired up like a sports cars being revved.
And then he pushed off and Itachi flung his hand outwards.
'Come at me as fast as you want, Iida-kun. No matter how fast your quirk allows you to move, you can't outpace my Sharingan.'
Tenya flew back as Itachi's density seals flew through the holes in his hero outfit and slammed into his body. He hit the floor and remained still, not moving, indicating that he'd been knocked unconscious.
"How's that for surrender?" If Itachi was going to play the part of a hero, then surely a cheap one-liner, no matter how silly it was, wouldn't hurt?
Walking over to Nejire, ignoring his body screaming in pain for him to stop, Itachi stopped by her and extended a hand.
"Come with me if you want to live?" Nejire supplied, putting on a terrible Austrian accent.
"Yes," Itachi deadpanned, "that."
Nodding, Nejire took Itachi's hand and he pulled her to her feet. Quickly checking her over for any potential injuries and discovering none, Itachi was about to lead her outside when he noticed movement off to his right.
Glancing that way, he noticed a bruised and battered Minoru staring at them, horror etched onto his face as he stared at them.
He let out a shriek and ducked for cover as Nejire presented him with a bright, innocent smile.
Itachi raised an eyebrow and then turned to the blue-haired older student.
"You did that to him?"
Nejire nodded unapologetically, "Yup, he tired to grope me, so I taught him a lesson."
"I see," Itachi narrowed his eyes, "let's get you to safety. I doubt Mineta-kun will try stopping us. He's already terrified of me and it seems like you've instilled the fear of God into him."
Together, they hurried past the unconscious Tenya and the room Itachi had left Yuga in, making their way outside, thought every now and again, Itachi would check behind them to make sure Minoru wasn't following after them, then made their way past Mashirao who was still laying prone, arms hung limply by his sides.
With the opposing team unable to form a solid resistance as they were either incapacitated, in fear of their life or unconscious, Itachi slowed their pace to a light jog as they made their way to the rendezvous point.
He set foot upon in first and no sooner had one of Nejire's feet hit the point, All Might's voice came ringing out through dozens of loudspeakers.
"Hero team, WINS!"
Nejire started cheering, bouncing up and down, and Itachi allowed himself a smile.
He watched a Recovery Girl, flanked by an army of medical robots, appeared from one of the buildings. The robots began to head over to where the fighting had taken place, whilst the elderly hero hobbled over to Itachi and squinted up at him.
"Are you hurt, young man?"
"Bruised, but I'll-"
"Nonsense," Recovery Girl snapped, cutting Itachi off as she grabbed his collar and pulled him down to her height, "you were stubborn after the Attack on U.S.J, but I can see you're hurting now. I swear, all you boys are so stupid: 'Look at me, I'm injured, but I won't tell anyone until I'm on deaths door'."
He shuddered as she pressed her wrinkly lips against his cheeks, her quirk already working to heal him and restore him to full health, though he felt even more tired now that the adrenaline that'd been coursing through his body during his fight had ebbed away.
"You should be recovered by the next hour, but I'd advise you rest. Last thing I need is you falling on your face because you decided to a stubborn brat." Recovery Girl told him.
"Hn."
Itachi bit back as a curse as she hit him on the arm with her cane, despite the fact that he saw it coming from a mile away.
"Am I understood!?"
"...Yes ma'am."
"Good," she shooed him away, "off you go now."
Leaving them behind, Itachi made his way to the observation room where he found All Might - who gave him a thumbs up, before humming as he cocked his head to one side - and the rest of the class waiting for him; Denki, Mina and Eijiro swarming him before he could get a chance to say anything.
"Yaoyorozu, that was so cool." Mina cheered.
Denki blanched, "Dude, you fully broke Ojiro's arms. That was totally ruthless. I'd hate to fight you."
"Dislocated," Itachi corrected, "not broken. There's a difference, Kaminari-kun."
Eijiro held up a fist and Itachi reluctantly exchanged a fist bump with him, then redhead looked up at his eyes and his own widened as he mouthed 'Whoa'.
"Is something the matter, Kirishima-kun."
"Uh... well, your- erm..."
A cough from behind captured Itachi's attention and he looked to his right to see Momo smiling at him from behind the fist she was holding up to her mouth. He watched as her eyes flitted up to his own, causing her onyx eyes to bright and her smile to grow even wider.
Itachi furrowed his eyes.
"Hmmm, Kendo-san is going to be so upset about this."
Procuring a handheld mirror, Momo approached her brother and held it up to his face, allowing him to see that the Sharingan in both of his eyes were adorned by 3 tomoe; one sat at 12 o'clock, another at 4 o'clock and a third sitting at 8 o'clock.
Itachi felt the corners of his lips quirk upwards, "Indeed she will."
Acknowledging his fully matured Sharingan, Itachi nodded and deactivated his quirk.
'The shock of nearly being flash blinded by Aoyama-kun must've pushed my Sharingan to full maturity.'
"Congratulations on succeeding, Young Yaoyorozu," All Might said, chuckling as the students turned to face him, "but I doubt you all want to be dilly-dallying until nightfall comes, so let's move on to the next match. Villain Team 2, please make you way to this building! Like the team before you, you'll have ten minutes to prepare and develop your strategy."
He held up a photograph displaying a building with a large, green '2' painted on it and Izuku, Mezo, Denki and Eijiro nodded as they hurried out of the observation room.
All Might then turned to Tsuyu who was stood next to him, one finger pointed at her mouth.
"Young Asui-"
"Call me Tsu, All Might... please, ribbit." She croaked.
"Right, ah, Young Tsuyu, you understand what you have to do, yes?"
"I do, ribbit," she replied, blinking as she noticed Minoru waddle into the room, pale as a ghost, "locate the target building, take out or evade the villains, and then bring the hostage to the Rendezvous Point."
"Excellent," All Might laughed, handing the frog-like student a map, "off you go now, Young Tsuyu. Good luck."
A/N: And that's Chapter 18 for you guys. Hope you enjoyed Match 1 and we now move on to Match 2 and, I apologise in advance to all Tsuyu fans out there, Match 3.