A/N: Hey everyone, welcome back to The Crow's Atonement, because Chapter 23 is here.
Disclaimer: Like everybody else on fanfiction, I own nothing.
"Standard" - Normal Speaking
'Italics' - Thoughts
"Bold" - Super Moves
Naturally, as soon as Present Mic gave the go ahead, almost every team beelined straight for Izuku's team.
"Hahahaha, we're coming for you, Midoriya," Tetsutetsu bellowed as he, alongside Reiko Yanagi and Pony Tsunotori, carried Yousetsu Awase towards the team with the highest score, "this is gonna be a competition for that ten million points!"
"Give me those ten million points, Shitty Deku!" Katsuki spat.
As Dark Shadow emerged from Fumikage's abdomen, the Quirk's master glanced back at their team leader who had gone as white as a sheet, "Midoriya, we have five teams coming for us. The darkness is closing in from all sides. We'll have to make our move, our we'll lose our points."
Juzo shifted his foot and the ground under Team Midoriya seemed to liquify. They began to sink, as if caught within quicksand, in seconds.
"Eh, what's this?" Ochaco yelped, struggling to pull herself free.
"Don't worry. Hold on." Izuku told her, pressing a button on the teched-up backpack given to him by Mei Hatsume, one of his teammates. Thrusters at the button of the contraption roared to life and the whole team was launched into the air, but simply being airborne wasn't enough to deter the teams who'd be gunning for them, and the thrusters weren't powerful enough, forcing Ochaco to lighten them all so they could increase their altitude.
"Where the fuck do you think you're going, Deku!?" Katsuki roared, blasting himself into the air and shooting towards Team Midoriya like a missile.
"Um, Hatsume-san," Izuku yelped, "Does this thing have any countermeasures."
"Countermeasures?" Behind the goggles Mei wore, her eyes sparkled, "My baby has everything."
As Katsuki got within 8 metres of striking Izuku down - or simply taking his headbands - a small compartment opened up in Izuku backpack. A dart the size of a beer bottle shot out and exploded in Katsuki's face, blinding and repelling him with miniature fireworks, a stun grenade and flares.
Unfortunately for them, Katsuki Bakugo was as stubborn as a mule and barely able to see through watery, squinted eyes, he twisted in mid-air to get a better angle of Izuku and unleashed an explosion which Dark Shadow blocked with his body. The quirk yelped with pain and swiped at Katsuki who launched himself back towards his team.
"Good work, Dark-"
"Heh, nice try." Dark Shadow said, drawing Izuku's attention as the sentiment quirk batted away Tsuyu tongue which tried to wrap around his arm, but the quirk just pulled himself free and then knocked away Kyoka's Earphone Jack. The quirk then yelped as he and the team were entangled by thorny vines which began to pull them towards the ground, straight into the path off a ferocious beast that seemed to be charging straight towards them.
Izuku grit his teeth as he looked towards the source of the vines. It was a girl on the back of the rampaging beast and her hair was made out of the vines.
'What kind of quirk is that? I've got to ask her about it later.' Izuku reigned in his geeky tendency towards quirks before it could get out of hand. He was here to get to the next round, first and foremost. Geeking out over quirks could come later.
Hatsume-san," he cried as Dark Shadow struggled in the grip of the vines, "has this thing got any more thrust?"
"Nnnnope." Mei sounded too cheery for her own good, "but it has something else!"
Two robotic arms emerged from the backpack and shifted into two massive blades that sliced through the vines as if they were made out of paper. They even sliced apart a pair of animal horns that'd been racing towards him, the horns having come from none other then Pony who pouted at her failed attempt at stealing his headbands.
"We need to land," Ocahco cut in, sounding slightly sick, "I can't keep us floating for too long, and I don't think those thrusters have much more in them."
Bringing her free hand to the hand supporting Izuku, Ochaco restored gravity's hold upon them. At the same time, the thrusters cut out and they fell out of the air, and Mei's maniacal laughter drowned out Izuku's horrified scream.
Dark Shadow cushioned Fumikage's landing, but the specialized boots worn by Mei and Ochaco softened a landing that would've otherwise broken their legs.
"My babies are amazing, aren't they," Mei cheered, a wide grin on her face, "Come on, tell me my babies are amazing!"
"Hatsume-san," Izuku started, smiling, "without your... er, babies, we would've been taken out of the game long ago. They really are amazing, taking us into the air like that."
"I was the one who was making the floating happen." Ochaco grumbled to herself.
"You okay, Tokage-san?"
Setsuna nodded, wincing, "Yeah, I can't believe Yaoyorozu had my hand frozen like that."
"Do you want us to go and get it back for you?" Itsuka asked, looking over at her classmates' stump.
Setsuna shook her head.
"Nah, I'll get it back after we've finished this match. You ready to make some noise, Shishida?"
The muscles in Jurota's back rippled like waves under their feet as he laughed boisterously, "I was born ready, Tokage!"
"Go forth," Ibara murmured, hands held together as if she was praying, "and we shall unleash the vengeance of the Lord against all those who may dare oppose us."
Jurota cheered as he charged towards Team Midoriya who were fending off an assault from several teams, with Katsuki Bakugo even trying to get up close and personal, only to be blocked by a quirk that seemed to be alive.
Sending forth her vines, Ibara wrapped up Team Midoriya who began struggling, trying to break free as Ibara began to pull them out of the air and right into Jurota's path. They were saved by the backpack that Izuku wore, blades coming from it and slicing through the vines, causing Jurota to groan as he barrelled past underneath them, unable to even swipe them out of the air if he could.
Jurota didn't break stride, continuing his charge towards the nearest team. It was a masked boy carrying his teammates in a basket of his own webbed arms, which he had six of. A set of floating clothes - a girl named Hagakure Toru if Itsuka remembered correctly - started panicking as Jurota thundered towards them and the girl with jack-shaped earlobes blanched once she noticed him towering over her.
"Shoji!" She commanded.
Mezo raised two his arms and threw a barrage of punches at Jurota who didn't seem to notice the blows pounding away at his chest. He grunted, eyes widening as Ibara's vines bound his arms together, the thorns digging painfully into his arms.
Tsuyu launched her tongue out of her mouth, stretching it up towards Itsuka who enlarged one hand and batted the slippery muscle aside.
Jurota growled and grabbed the tongue as Tsuyu tried to retract it. He squeezed his fist and the frog-like girl like out a pained croak, but he was soon forced to let go as Kyoka jabbed her jacks into his torso and blasted soundwaves through his body. Itsuka jumped off Jurota's back and landed amongst the midst of Kyoka, Toru and Tsuyu.
Tsuyu gave her a blank stare, seemingly not registering the pain she was in, while Kyoka looked baffled that Itsuka had willing jumped into their hornets nest.
Itsuka slapped Tsuyu with her enlarged hand, knocking her unconscious as she fell back into the wall of flesh that Mezo had created, ignored Toru - who was kicked in the face by Setsuna's detached leg - and then grabbed Kyoka with her enlarged hand.
The soundwaves being blasted into Jurota increased in intensity.
"Garrrrrrgh!" He roared, staggering back.
"Hold on, Shishida-san!" Itsuka called, grabbing Kyoka headbands with her free hand and pulling them off. Kyoka retracted her jacks from Jurota's chest, but her attempt to snatch the bands back was prevented by swift punches to the throat and solar plexus that left her gasping, almost choking for air, completely unable to prevent another set of vines from wrapping around Itsuka and bringing her back to her perch on Jurota's back.
"Nice one." Setsuna cheered.
Itsuka set the headbands upon her forehead and smiled, "The fight isn't over yet. Let's go take another team's headbands, guys!"
"Don't count us out just- Urk!" Mezo's defiant words were cut off as Ibara retracted her vines, just as Jurota smashed a furry fist upon his head. Mezo swayed and then collapsed, his entire team still held securely on his back, but they probably wouldn't be going anywhere for the rest of the match.
"He's not getting up for a while." Setsuna chuckled.
Jurota grunted a response and went barrelling towards another team. A team noticed them as they thundered closer and the team leader, a boy with bright yellow hair and a cocksure smile on his face - which quickly morphed into one of terror - yelled something, prompting his team to veer out of Jurota's path.
The beast-like student huffed irritably when the yellow-haired student stuck out his tongue at him and continued onwards, heading for a team which had one of his classmates on it, a boy who looked like he had a flesh-coloured mountain range for a head and a blond boy with a thick tail, and they were all carried a boy with purple hair who lazily glanced at them as they approached.
Jurota stopped just short of the team who made no effort to move away, not even flinching when he cocked back a fist. If he'd looked more closely, he would've noticed that the team 'horses' didn't even look like they'd noticed him, it looked like they were staring straight through him.
"Hey, big guy," Hitoshi said, an excited glint entering his bored eyes, "your quirk sucks!"
"What! You won't be saying that once-" Itsuka and Setsuna shared inquisitive looks as Jurota suddenly fell silent, his entire posture relaxing and his heavy breathing quickly becoming more and more steady as seconds past. They knew it wasn't like their classmate to randomly stop attacking someone because of a simple taunt.
Itsuka grabbed fistfuls of hair and pulled herself up onto Jurota's shoulder, slapping his face a couple of times.
"Hey, Shishida-san, you in there? Now isn't the time to be going to sleep." She said.
"What on earth is wrong with Shishida?" Setsuna asked, looking at Ibara who shook her head and climbed up to Jurota's shoulders and fixed Hitoshi was a cold stare, gesturing to him with one arm and commanding her vines to extend towards him.
"I know not what you have done," Ibara said, her voice impossibly soft and serene, "but with the Lord on our side, we shall not lose."
"A Christian, huh?" Hitoshi's lips curled up into a malicious smile, "Yeah, well, God's overrated."
Anger flashed across Ibara's face, "How dare you sully-"
Like Jurota before her, Ibara's posture went from tense to relaxed as she stopped speaking. She lowered her arm and the vines that'd been reaching out for Hitoshi suddenly faltered and came to a rest on the floor.
Itsuka frowned and then clicked her tongue as she retreated down Jurota's back, where she found Setsuna looking at her expectantly.
"I think I know what's going on." She whispered.
Setsuna hummed, "Go on."
"You two can't hide from me forever," Hitoshi's voice cut off whatever Itsuka had been about to say, "why don't you just come out and give me your headbands."
Holding up one finger to Setsuna, indicating for her to be quiet, Itsuka mentally counted down from ten and then spoke, "I think this guy's quirk is a form of brainwashing, but it requires whomever he's targeting to answer back. And if Hollywood movies have taught me anything, brainwashing and hypnosis techniques are often broken by incapacitating whoever caused it or freeing the victim with a sharp blow, usually to the head."
Setsuna smirked, "You gonna use your quirk and slap Shishida? I doubt a regular slap would work and I doubt anything could knock him out. Shishida's as tough as nails. I'll, er, snap Shiozaki out of it."
"Alright, let's go."
Setsuna nodded. She and Itsuka climbed up to Jurota's shoulder, thought it was slightly tougher for the former since she only had one hand and 'Holy shit, my wrist is so fucking cold!'.
She grabbed Ibara's shoulder, spun the girl to face her and then - mentally apologizing the entire time - slapped Ibara across the face, hiding a grin of satisfaction as Ibara's eyes refocused and one of her hands shot up to her face.
"Sorry, Shiozaki, but I needed to snap you out of it. That guy over there took control of you with his quirk. Whatever you do, from now on, don't answer him. Kendo is freeing Shishida-" there was sound of flesh hitting flesh, followed by an angry roar "-as we speak. I need you to use your quirk to bind that guy with the purple hair."
Wordlessly, Ibara nodded and held out one hand.
Hitoshi grunted, struggling as the thick vines wrapped around his body, their thorns cutting into his clothes. Opening his mouth to try and coax one of his opponents into falling victim to Brainwashing, he gasped and ceased his struggling as another vine wrapped around his mouth; thorns delicately poking at the flesh on either side of his mouth.
He couldn't even try and pull the vines away from his face, because additional vines had bound his arms together.
Seeing the open goal that lay in-front of them, Itsuka jumped down and landed on Mashirao's shoulders. The boy staggered from the introduction of Itsuka's weight upon his shoulders, but there was no response from him otherwise. Shooting Hitoshi a quick glare, she snatched the bands that were wrapped around his head and then whistled.
Hitoshi scowled at her.
"I don't appreciate you controlling my friend like this," she said, Ibara's vines beginning to pull her away, "maybe you panicked because people were forming teams without you, but it isn't cool to make people act without their consent. After this match is over, you're going to apologise to Ojiro-san."
Hitoshi was glaring at her now, a deep scowl marring his face as Itsuka was resettled on Jurota's shoulder.
Jurota huffed, giving Hitoshi a ferocious glare of his own and then dashed off, racing towards another team.
Team Yaoyorozu, as per Itachi's instruction, had yet to move, and judging by the hollering and name calling, it was drawing a lot of attention from the crowd, but Itachi didn't care what they thought about his team's inaction His Sharingan was shifting back and forth, observing the movements and quirks held by the other teams, gathering crucial information.
With less focus on teams with members from Class 1-A, since he knew almost everyone's quirks thanks to All Might Battle Trial sessions, he prioritized the teams with members from Class 1-B. However, he kept eying Team Kaminari, because even thought it had Denki, Mina and Minoru, it also had Tomiyashi Kawasaka from one of the classes beyond Class 1-A and 1-B.
He didn't know what quirk Tomiyashi had and didn't want his team to be caught out if they engaged Team Kaminari, but after a minute of Team Kaminari being harassed, Tomiyashi had yet to reveal his quirk and Itachi wasn't about to waste anymore time, especially since a minute and a half had now passed and Katsuki had retaken his team's headbands from Team Monoma and narrowly missed swiping the headbands Neito wore around his forehead.
However, he didn't like the dead-eyed look on Mashirao's face. His friend was with Hitoshi Shinso and Itachi believed Mashirao had been subdued by Hitoshi''s quirk and was operating as part of Team Shinso against his consent.
'I'll have sort that out before this match ends. His quirk shook me. I can't imagine how Ojiro-kun is feeling or will feel once he's snapped out of it.'
He tapped Shoto's arm with his foot.
The heterochromatic boy shifted and looked up at him, the movement alerting Momo who also looked back at him.
"Itachi-kun?"
"Yaoyorozu," Shoto murmured, "what's your plan?"
Itachi's eyes darted over to a three-man team of Togaru Kamikiri being carried by a student who had a speech bubble for a head - he thought Deidara's hand-mouths or Sasori being a living puppet would be some of the strangest things he'd ever see - and black, shoulder-length, bob-shaped hair, "Go for the team with the lowest amount of points. We'll work our way upwards. Team Midoriya will, preferably, come last, but given our time constraints, we'll shifts plan if need-"
His hand snapped out and grabbed the disembodied hand trying to pull the headbands off from around his neck.
"What the- A disembodied hand?" Shoto tilted his head, appearing slightly perturbed.
Itachi turned his head to look over at Team Kendo, where Ibara sat with Itsuka and Setsuna who playfully waved at him from the shoulders of their beast of a classmate who growled as he bulldozed through several teams, the latter missing her left hand. Unaware if Setsuna could feel pain through her dethatched limbs, Itachi tightened his grip until the hand let go of the bands and he watched in perfect detail as Setsuna winced.
"Todoroki-kun, freeze this for me."
Presenting the hand to Shoto, without taking his eyes off Setsuna who blanched, Itachi tightened his grip on the hand as it tried to pull away and watched as Setsuna yelped, face contorting with pain once her hand was covered by a thin layer of ice. The hand went limp and Itachi dropped it to the floor, where it curled up like a dead spider.
With her other hand, Setsuna pouted and flipped the bird at him.
Deciding that they'd already wasted enough time, Itachi turned to his team.
"Alright, let's go," he said, gesturing to Team Kamikiri, "we're starting with them first."
Team Yaoyorozu began moving, approaching Team Kamikiri. Togaru snarled as they approached and began muttering something that the Sharingan read perfectly.
"Fukidashi, use Comic to push them back. Kodai, use Size to shrink what Fukidashi creates and catch them off guard." Itachi saw him say, too far away to actually hear him speak.
"Be on guard," Itachi warned, "They're preparing something. One of them can shrink objects, so I suspect they'll try and catch us off guard. Todoroki-kun, Iida-kun, have your ice and Engine ready. Momo-chan, support them if need be."
"Got it."
Then something emerged from Fukidashi's face, rapidly growing in size and shaped like kanji, thought it vanished when Kodai touched it. No, it hadn't vanished, Itachi could see Kodai holding something that looked like whatever Fukidashi had created with his quirk.
Togaru tensed as they came closer, snarling as he crossed his arms and brandished the blades on his forearms.
Tenya's Engine rumbled as the exhausts on his legs powered up and launched them forwards.
Kodai's face barely shifted as they approached three times faster, instead she simply threw whatever she'd been holding at them and then pressed her fingers together. Suddenly, a wall of letters appeared before them and Tenya's cut off his quirk to stop them from crashing headfirst into the enlarged letters, thought it was the wall of ice Shoto brought up that stopped them from being crushed.
The ice cracked under the weight of the letters, prompting Team Yaoyorozu to retreat and take in the sheer size of the letters which blocked out the sun and cast a shadow over them. They were easily half the size of a zero-pointer robot and Itachi had to strain his neck to see the top of the letters.
"This is the kanji for... bang and bonk," Momo murmured, observing the dull grey appearance of the kanji that had blocked them off with a sharp gaze, "both are forms of onomatopoeia. An impressive quirk, but we can't automatically assume this guy's quirk can create words that aren't onomatopoeia until we have proof."
Tenya nodded, "Yaoyorozu-kun is right. Underestimating this team could end with our defeat."
They heard a muffled "Splash!"
The wall suddenly shrunk and the enlarged kanji for splash appeared, smashed through the wall of ice and hit the floor. It burst apart into actual water, which soaked the shoes of Itachi's team and created a miniature lake, though Itachi's eyes widened by a fraction when Fukidashi followed up with a "Zap!", which produced kanji buzzing with electricity that fell into the newly created lake.
Shoto's shifted his right leg a split-second earlier, freezing over much of the water. As ice was non-conducive, the set of electrified letters sat at the edge of the ice and sparked harmlessly. He swept his hand forwards and more ice surged forwards, engulfing the letters and Fukidashi, immobilizing Kodai who couldn't move her arms, and freezing Togaru's legs, leaving him unable to move.
Togaru huffed and growled as he struggled to free himself, then made the mistake of looking into Itachi's eyes as he glared over at the opposing team. He stilled, mouth going slacks, and his entire body going limp as his eyes glazed over, leaving Team Yaoyorozu free to approach without danger of retaliation and Itachi grabbed the headbands wrapped around his neck, pulled them off and then tied them around his own neck.
"One down. Nine to go." Itachi said.
He turned his gaze to the team with the second-least points, a team with three members of Class 1-B: Hiryu Rin, Shihai Kuroiro and Kinoko Komori. However, he noticed that the team leader, Hiryu, seemed to be frustrated by the apparent loss of his team's headbands.
Dismissing them without a second thought, Itachi looked over to Hitoshi Shinso's team. The purple-haired student was staring right back at him, as if daring him to come and try and take the headbands that were tied around his head.
"Shinso-kun." Itachi murmured, mostly to himself.
"Who's that," Momo asked him, "is he the one with the purple hair? Ojiro-kun's on his team."
Itachi looked down at her as they began to approach.
"That's right. Shinso-kun confronted me shortly before our second set of Battle Trial lessons. He caught me off guard with his quirk," Itachi told her, "if you've seen the movie Get Out, it felt like when the protagonist had been incapacitated via hypnosis. I didn't feel like me... and I was looking at the world through a cinema screen. I believe his quirk is some forth of brainwashing and it requires the target to respond."
Although Itachi couldn't see the action, Tenya frowned, "Ojiro-kun is part of his team and he probably had no say in the matter. One would think only a villain would act so callously. If we go for them, we can't respond to anything this Shinso-kun says?"
"Correct."
Momo giggled, "He'd have a field day with Bakugo-kun then."
"Indeed." Itachi chuckled, then his team came to a halt as Denki Kaminari's team intercepted them, blocking their path towards Team Shinso. Mina was grinning at them as acid dripped from one hand, Minoru - who was so short that he had to leave the carrying to Mina and Tomiyashi - was openly leering at Momo, and Tomiyashi seemed to be putting on a brave, determined face.
Denki, displaying a surprising level of intuition, didn't meet his eyes. Instead, the blonde's eyes were fixed on his chest as his mouth was curled up into an arrogant smirk.
"You seem confident, Kaminari-kun." Itachi observed.
"Well yeah," Denki's smirk seemed to grow, "we're gonna take your team down and swipe your headbands."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, trap 'em, Mineta!"
Minoru started throwing his Pop Off wide. Looking around them, Itachi has the sticky, purple balls formed a semi-circle of sorts around his team, meant to prevent them from going any direction that wasn't forwards, and there were stray Pop Offs here and there, turning what little space they had into a hazardous minefield.
Itachi shot Denki a flat, unimpressed look.
"You do realize I could just freeze this little trap you seem to believe you've caught us in?" Shoto asked.
"Heh," Denki chuckled, "be my guest, Todoroki."
The heterochromatic boy grunted, then stomped his right foot, directing ice towards the Pop Off that made movement impossible, intending to clear a path for his team to move through. The ice was abruptly halted, shattered by a metallic-grey pole that slammed down onto it, carving a small trench into the ground and sending shards of ice flying everywhere.
Itachi tilted his head to one side, allowing a stray piece of ice to fly past his face.
Following the length of the pole, he saw it traced back to Tomiyashi, where it seemed to have emerged from his left arm, with everything below the elbow transformed into the pole. Then, the pole retracted and Tomiyashi's arm returned to normal as he gave it a shake.
"My quirk is called Iron," Tomiyashi told them, grinning, "as you might've guessed, I can turn parts of my body into iron and mould it into whatever I want. And I can even reshape it after it's been detached from my form, but I can't control it for long after that."
He cocked a fist back and then thrust forwards, launching an even larger iron fist towards them.
Shoto sent even more ice forwards, but forced it to become a ramp of sorts. The fist glided along the ice, that shot up into the air, but with a wave of his hand, the iron fist rippled as it burst apart and turned into hundreds of arrows which began to fall towards them.
"Let's see you get out of this. Iron Storm!"
Momo, having created a shield that was big enough to cover the whole team, handed it to Itachi who raised it above his head. His team winced as the shield was pelted by dozens upon dozens of iron arrows which bounced off the shield, denting its surface upon impact, and fell to the floor around them.
Itachi's arm trembled even after the attack had ceased, the shield's weight forcing him to put as much effort as he could into keeping it held above his head. Discarding the shield, he tossed it to one side.
Shoto swept his free arm out, sending ice surging out towards Team Kaminari. Tomiyashi threw several iron balls on the ground ahead of the ice and they popped like balloons, splattering the ground with liquid-like metal. As he raised his arm and clenched his fist, the iron shifted and formed a sizeable wall which deflected the ice
"We can't kept messing around with these guy. You wouldn't think so much time has passed, but we've barely got two minutes left." Tenya stated.
The wall of iron collapsed, forming a puddle once more.
Itachi glanced over to his left, "Fortunately for us, we've got a distraction."
Team Kendo charged into a fray, eliciting a scream of terror from Minoru and a distraught whine from Denki who paled. Tomiyashi, suddenly aware of the brute charging towards them, pointed one of his arms at Jurota.
His arm shifted into a metal rod which rapidly extended and slammed into the beast's chest, but as he went to slap it aside, additional, thinner rods emerged from the large one and several hit Jurota's jaw, prompting a deep growl to rumble through Jurota's chest as the blows forced him to stagger back, even as he grabbed one of the rods and snapped it with a quick flick of his wrist.
"Go, while they're fighting each other." Itachi ordered.
His team dashed off, heading towards Team Midoriya who looked like they hadn't moved for a while, apparently taking a breather as the rest of the teams fought amongst each other, but they shifted - Dark Shadow even emerged from Fumikage as they approached.
Even as they approached, Itachi was suddenly made aware of a whining that sounded like the engine of a fighter jet rumbling to life, and after a quick look around, realized it was coming from the exhausts coming out of Tenya's legs.
"Yaoyorozu-kun, brace yourself and get ready to grab Midoriya-kun's headbands. We've only got one shot at this." Tenya said, and Itachi could hear the determined grin that he wore as the whining grew in intensity, before suddenly exploding into a furious roar.
Without his Sharingan active, Itachi was sure the world around him would've blurred together as his eyes read the confused expression on Izuku's face with painful accuracy, his team suddenly shooting forwards like a rocket, and Itachi wasn't even sure how he managed to snatch Izuku's headbands.
"Torque Over - Recipro Burst!"
Something brushed past Itachi's head and he narrowed his eyes.
"TIMESSS UPP! But did you see that, folks? In the very last second, Team Midoriya found themselves absolutely swept by Team Yaoyorozu. Say YEEAAH if any of you saw this coming, because I certainly didn't!"
They shot past Team Midoriya, and as they slowed, Tenya was forced to heave his team to the left to stop them from crashing into the arena walls. Once they came to a halt, Itachi's eyes shifted back to black and he jumped to the ground, watching Momo and Shoto as they staggered and fell onto their backsides, clearly disorientated by the sudden burst of speed.
He walked over to his sister and gently rubbed her back, "Deep breaths, Momo-chan, deep breaths."
She sucked in a lungful of air and gracefully stood up, "Thank you, Itachi-kun. It's just... Iida-kun's Recipro Burst caught me off guard. I didn't expect being pulled along so suddenly at such speeds."
"Some forewarning would've been nice." Shoto grumbled, low enough so only they heard him, as a frustrated scream, coming from none other than Katsuki Bakugo, pierced through the air.
"Sorry about that," Tenya said, looking over them with a smile on face, "that was my ace in the hole. In fact, that move is my older brother's signature super-move. Iida Tensei, but you may know him better as Ingenium."
Itachi hummed, nodding. Sir Nighteye had spoken highly about the pro hero.
"Alright folks. In first place, we have Team Yaoyorozu with 10,000,510 points; second place is Team Kendo with 1,595 points; third place is Team Bakugo with 1,005 points and in fourth place is Team Awase with- wait, no, what's this. I can't believe it, but Team Midoriya don't know when to quit. They are in fourth place with 840 points!" Present Mic announced, generating a roar from the crowd.
Itachi's eyes widened, raising a hand to his head. He hadn't imagined it after all.
"Yaoyorozu," Shoto said, "how did Midoriya get our headbands?"
Itachi exhaled, then turned to his team.
"I... thought it was mistaken regarding what I saw. When Iida-kun used Recipro Burst, I managed to snag the headbands Midoriya-kun wore, but Dark Shadow managed to take mine in return. Even with my Sharingan, I thought I wasn't seeing things correctly. As it turns out, I saw exactly what I saw." Itachi said, glancing over to where Fumikage and Dark Shadow were.
"Your Sharingan can anticipate the movements of living things, right," Dark Shadow cheered, winking and waving the stolen headbands at him, "Unfortunately for you, I'm not exactly 'living' in a traditional sense."
Alright, everyone, go and get your refreshments. Our next event will start in one hour."
"Yaoyorozu-san..."
Itachi turned and found Mashirao stood behind him. Itachi didn't think he'd ever seen the blond look so confused and downcast before.
"Ojiro-kun, I noticed you weren't quite-"
"Ojiro-san!"
Itachi crossed his arms as Itsuka hurried over, her orange hair fluttering around her face. She stopped just before them, gave Itachi a smile and a nod, then turned to Mashirao who looked like he was trying to shrink in on himself.
The blond shifted uncomfortably as everyone stared at him.
Itsuka pursed her lips, setting one hand on Mashirao's shoulder. Itachi stared on impassively.
"Ojiro-san, look at me... please."
He looked up, eyes watery as tears threatened to spill from his eyes.
"I-I j-just-"
Itsuka shushed and drew him into a hug, "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Ojiro-san. Do you mind telling us what happened?"
Mashirao nodded, "I was going around, trying to find someone to partner up with, when the guy with the purple hair confronted me. All I remember was that he asked me a question, I answered it... and then nothing until the match finished. There's 18 minutes of empty space that should be filled with... I don't know, anything."
"That's awful." Momo said, cupping her mouth with her hands.
Itachi sighed, "I've fallen foul of his quirk before."
Itsuka looked over to him, her lips set in a firm line, "You did? When was this?"
"After our final lesson, on the day Aizawa-sensei announced the Sports Festival," Itachi answered, frowning, "Shinso-kun confronted me and said he was going to replace one of us in Class 1-A. He caught me off guard with his quirk and it felt like I was floating in nothingness. A good minute of nothingness. I thought I was going to vomit after he snapped me out of it."
Mashirao managed a weak smirk, "You too, huh/"
Itachi nodded, a hint of amusement in his voice, "Unfortunately. Still, we have an hour before the next event. Go and get some water, Ojiro-kun, it'll do your nerves good. Momo-chan?"
"Come on, Ojiro-kun. I'll get you some popcorn too." Momo said, taking Mashirao by the shoulder and steering him away.
Once they were both gone, Itsuka nudged Itachi who stared down at her, a questioning look in his eyes.
"Tokage-san's really upset at you, you know that?"
Itachi chuckled, "She shouldn't have tried to steal my teams headbands. Did she manage to get her had back, or do I need to get Todoroki-kun?"
"Nah, she's good. Anyways, I've got to go and round up my class. They'll be lost without me otherwise. See you later, Itachi-san."
He nodded at her, smiling, "See you, Itsuka-san."
She hurried off.
After getting some helpful directions from some of the pro heroes scattered around the stadium, Itachi made his way into the interior of stadium. Going through several flights of stairs, he made his way past an infuriated Shoto - who didn't even look at him as she stormed past - and as he made his way down a hallway to a cafeteria, Itachi suddenly found Endeavor blocking his way, the massive man staring down at him as fire rolled across his face.
He paused as the man's eyes narrowed, the anger in his eyes seeming to intensify.
"Endeavor." Itachi said flatly.
The man just glowered even more.
"Yaoyorozu Itachi." He rumbled, massive arms crossed over his equally massive chest.
If Itachi was surprised, he didn't show it.
"You know who I-"
"Son of Hanzo and Maeko Yaoyorozu, long-time apprentice of Sir Nighteye," Endeavor smoothly interrupted, "and you're in the class with my boy, Shoto. You're Class 1-A Vice-Representative, correct?"
"You're well informed," Itachi replied, "How can I help you?"
"My Shoto is a... stubborn boy with foolish notions of pride. I want him to grow. I want him to be the best of himself. I want him to succeed. You may know that he can use fire with his left side, but refuses to utilise it, even though they would make him strong. You are in charge of his class, are you not? I want you to make that boy use his fire." Endeavor stated.
Itachi shrugged, "I'm not going to make Todoroki-kun do anything."
"You don't have a choice in the matter. You will convince Shoto to use his flames." Endeavor stated resolutely.
"Alternately, I could just... acknowledge this conversation but not do what you want." Itachi rebuked.
The man growled, baring his teeth as his flames grew hotter. He took a step closer to Itachi and stared him down, impressed by the fact that the boy didn't even flinch.
"Do you know who you are talking to, boy?" Endeavor stated, growling, "I could end your career before it fully begins."
Without a word, Itachi closed his eyes and walked past Endeavor. The No. 2 let out a scoff of satisfaction as he turned to look at him, but then frowned when he found Itachi staring back at him with his left Sharingan active, "How truly desperate you must be to threaten a minor, Endeavor? Just don't forget who I know and who my parents are. The lawyers you could muster would be pitiful to the amount my parents could hire. I could open my mouth and cause the biggest fall from grace the world has ever seen. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and prepare for the next round of the Sports Festival."
"Do you not know who I am? You think you can threaten me, boy?" Endeavor temper flared.
"Yes... I do."
Endeavor could only watch him walk off, stewing in a mixture of shock and anger. First his upstart son had refused to listen to him and now this... uppity brat had the gall to threaten him!
And it was only once he was out of earshot did he open his mouth again.
"Stop hiding by the stairs, All Might! I know you're there!"
A/N: I'm sorry that it's later than most of you might've expected, but here's Chapter 23 for you guys. I apologise for the wait, I've just been stressed out by the fact that I'm coming to the end of my apprenticeship. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed the Second Round of the Sports Festival.