Disclaimer:I do not own Hunter x Hunter or My Hero Academia. Those rights go to the legends Togashi and Horikoshi.

Edited: 23/03/2020

Thud thud thud. After a deserved night's rest, early morning, three loud knocks resounded through the house. It was likely this hunter friend from last night mother invited (but then realised Kacchan and I were tired so postponed the visit to tomorrow). Hurriedly, my mother rushed to the door and swung it open without even checking it really was who she thought it was.

"Shota! You came! Trust me, Izuku and Katsuki are fast learners, they'll be great students.
"Prove it to me first." I heard a gruff voice and I went to investigate.

Standing in the door way was a tall, pale man who looked as if he hadn't slept in days. He wore full black, and had long, unkempt black hair that fell over his face. His black eyes were still visible through his bangs, and black stubble was growing on his chin.

"Izuku, Katsuki, this is Shota Aizawa! Shota, this is Izuku Midoriya. Katsuki Bakugo should be coming soon." My mother was highly pleased with herself for persuading Aizawa to arrive here. We waited for Kacchan's arrival.

"Alright. Midoriya, Bakugo, Inko here told me you would show me your abilities." he stated with an air of authority, sly grin spreading across his face.

I could tell his standards were high. And so both me and Kacchan faced multiple tests, his nen also being assessed.

After completing a few basic tests, Aizawa-sensei instructed us to spar under his supervision.

He lunged immediately for a right punch, one of his favourites.
Expecting it, I grabbed his arm and swung him over my shoulder, slamming him onto the ground. However he managed to quickly bounce back up, almost like no damage had been dealt. 'Nen?' But that was all I could think before he sent another kick flying towards my waist.
The hunter exam had vastly improved my reflexes so I managed to block in time with my right arm. He left his right side open, so I grabbed his right wrist with my left hand and aimed a kick at his waist, preventing him from blocking. Yet it was not him, but I felt the pain in my leg.
He landed on his feet and jabbed my gut with his free right arm. It hurt much more than usual, and I was thrown back.
Ignoring the pain, I hopped back up and threw a half-hearted punch to the approaching blonde. He easily clutched my wrist and pushed my shoulder down, pinning me on my front.

"I win."

/

Fortunately, we both passed his tests, and so our training regimen began. We had 7 months left before our planned meeting with Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio. Kacchan was developing his hatsu, and I was relearning nen. As I had previously known it, after only 2 weeks of meditation, I had rekindled my ability. It was also much easier to learn different aspects of nen, as it was already ingrained into my subconscious. He also taught ways to practice the different branches of hatsu. I may have mentally forgot about nen, but the physical memory was still there after all those years. Turned out I could still use nen (Kacchan and mother both looked very guilty at the fact they stopped my association with it completely after the incident). If I could develop a new hatsu, it would be extremely useful, so I decided to ask.

"Aizawa-sensei, since my aura was stolen, is it possible for me to create another hatsu?"
"I think it is possible, however it likely won't be as powerful as the first. There is also the possibility you won't be able to create a new hatsu at all."
"S-so... would there be a way to recover my hatsu?"
"I think perhaps... maybe a nen exorcist might be able to... In fact, I want to try something..." He never went into detail what he wished to attempt, and I never asked.

"Midoriya, Bakugo, it's time to spar again. Bakugo, you may use your hatsu." That frightened me. I had not been able to come up with a new hatsu, however didn't know if this was due to a lack of ideas or simply not being able to. Kacchan said my healing hatsu had been created on instinct, so I was banking on the fact my new hatsu would also come up on instinct.

Once again, he began with a predictable right hook. However I was not sure if it was a feint or not, so I simply rolled to the side to dodge. Now behind him, I threw a kick at his side, my foot infused with 80% ryu, but before my foot could reach its mark, he jumped out of the way. We had both certainly become much faster.

Kacchan then turned around and, sweat - 'no not sweat, that's nitroglycerine! It's his hatsu,' - dripping from his arm, threw an explosive punch at me. I used ken all over my body, and the fist never touched me, yet I was blown back through the force of the explosion, flames and smoke licking my body.
'Come on! Now would be a great time for me to figure out my next hatsu.' I urged, but to no avail. Kacchan was going to use his emitting technique, aimed directly at me. I managed to barely jump out of harms way as a shot of explosive nitroglycerine was sent my way. It was a long-ranged attack, but it's weakness was it only affected that in its line of sight and slightly outwards. I was out of range. I threw myself at him and, with nen concentrated in my palms, grabbed his waist, picking him up and launching him at the wall.
Once he landed, he immediately used his nitroglycerine aura to explode behind him, propelling him forward straight towards me. Prepared, I covered my body with ken, and began dodging side to side in an attempt to confuse him. I also attempted to use emitting techniques to send a ball of nen but it simply disappeared a few metres away. I was not trained enough. Kacchan flew towards me. I managed to graze his arm, but that was enough.
I was blown back from the explosion once more, and the wind was knocked out of me. Using ken twice in a row was incredibly straining, excluding the impact of an explosion. Before I could react to his next attack, Kacchan was above me and pinned me to the ground.

I heard the same words "I win." They were bitter to my ears, I could feel incompetency welling inside me, but Aizawa-sensei reassured us both.

"You have both passed the secret hunter exam."
"Secret hunter exam?"
"Yes, you are required to learn nen before becoming a hunter. You've both improved vastly. Your nen control is excellent. Bakugo, you have developed a good variety of moves using your hatsu. Of course, Midoriya you may not be able to use hatsu, unfortunately, however you have grasped the other principles of nen well. I think the hunter board will understand that you have not yet been able to develop a new hatsu, as it is possible that you cannot anymore. Midoriya, can I speak to you alone?" His eyes narrowed dangerously when addressing me, signalling the thing he wanted to speak about was not great.

I followed him behind some trees as he began to speak.

"First, how are you using ken and ryu! And why were you trying out emitting techniques! What were you thinking?" He hissed as me, grasping my collar as he bent down.
"I-I..."
Before I could formulate a response, he sighed and made one for me. "You overworked yourself didn't you. You thought 'I want to catch up to Bakugo' and so you over trained. Idiot! In training, rest is as important as the training itself! You can't overwork your body. Ken and ryu and other advanced techniques were for Bakugo! He's learnt and retained his knowledge of nen for over half his life. Why did you eavesdrop when I told him his exercises! You have 3 months before you said you need to be somewhere right? Rest for a month, then I'm going to take you two somewhere. Don't even think about using nen."
"I...I'm sorry... th-thank you..." I mumbled, head bowed in shame. I had to disclose that we both had to be at Yorknew at September, but I was too flustered.
"Moving on. You need to retrieve your hatsu. There is a secret hunter exam after the official one, in which the examinee must learn nen. Of course you have learnt nen, with some room for improvement of course, you need a hatsu ability. Your fight with Bakugo was proof of that. I believe a nen exorcist could do the job and return your hatsu ability, however I do not know any nen exorcists. Nen exorcists are rare. If you wish to recover your stolen hatsu, you'll likely confront the perpetrator before you find a nen exorcist. I think then, it might be possible to persuade them to return your hatsu. If that is even possible for them." He paused to wait for a nod, confirming I was understanding.
"I know of a troupe, called the Phanto-"
"Phantom Troupe! Yes I know them!"
"You do? How did you find this information? I thought it was classified in the hunter website..."
"My father left his hunter licence at home..."
"Ah, of course Hisashi did. He would always fret to me that he'd lost it. Do you then know of the leader - Chrollo Lucifer's nen ability?"
"Hmm... I think it was..." I gasped as realisation dawned on me. 'Mine and Kurapika's goals align, somewhat.' "He can steal hatsu!"
"Yes. Although it is strange to think the infamous Phantom Troupe leader visited a town such as Musutafu. Chrollo Lucifer is incredibly strong. Do not think for a second you could last in a fight against him. That is why I urge you, no matter what: Avoid. The. Phantom. Troupe. You can simply find a nen exorcist if it turns out he was the thief."

I was truly grateful for Aizawa-sensei. He had given his time and energy into training both me and Kacchan, served as stimuli for both our nen growth, and in Kacchan's hatsu. I had also noticed a change in Kacchan's attitude, likely due to both the unveiling of the truth as well as Aizawa-sensei's glares whenever he used my nickname. In the 6 months I had gotten to know him, he had earned my trust and respect. But this was one of his wishes I could not follow. Kurapika was set out to get revenge on the Phantom Troupe, which of course, I did not approve of, however, his resolve was too large to be discouraged by me. The best I could do was to help him in his mission of revenge to make sure he is safe, and also to make sure the Phantom Troupe are captured, but not killed. This way, I could also possibly confront the leader and recover my hatsu. I didn't want any deaths. Even if they are a villainous group of bandits, they do not have to die.

/

3 weeks passed and, using a combination of our already planned meeting as well as persuasion that I'm fine, I somehow managed to convince Aizawa-sensei and my mother that I had rested well enough, thus both me and Kacchan were ready to go wherever Aizawa-sensei wanted to take us. And so reluctantly, Aizawa-sensei took the two of us on the air blimp to Heavens Arena. 'I wonder what Kurapika, Killua, Gon and Leorio are doing? They must have learnt nen by now, as Aizawa-sensei said it was the secret hunter exam... In that case, I wonder what their hatsus are? And how will I say my hatsu was stolen...'

Soon we were standing in front of the world's fourth tallest building, 251 stories high. Of course I had heard of and read of Heavens arena, but it never occurred to me I would actually be visiting. Problem was, we had just under a week, and participating in Heavens Arena meant you were there for the long haul. I bit my lip with both guilt and anticipation. If I hadn't over worked myself, we could've had an extra 3 weeks. Nonetheless, the prospect of earning money and training at the same time was motivating.

Ooh parallels to BnHA canon! And Aizawa's scarf thingy now makes sense - he uses nen lol. Also, now Izuku and Katsuki are deviating from canon in terms of character, but it makes sense since they don't live in the same world, right?

By the way, if you want to know what I classify all the BnHA characters as for nen here it is (they are all quirk based and not personality based):
Inko Midoriya: Manipulator - can manipulate objects to pull them closer. She never trained much so she can only attract smaller objects with ease, but if she wanted to, she could learn to control larger objects. Wasn't ever a fighter so decided she'd use her nen to make her life easier - thus attracting objects.
Mitsuki Bakugo: Transmuter - transmutes her nen into moisturiser. Like with Inko, not combat oriented, so wanted to make her life easier.
Shota Aizawa: Conjurer - conjures a scarf type thing (like in canon) that he can control, and like with Kurapika's chains, force the person into a state of zetsu if it is touching them. He can also hide this scarf with in to make it seem like his eyes are the one "erasing the nen".
Note on Masaru Bakugo: He knows of nen, but never learnt it, believing that his wife can protect him if needs be, and also believing Musutafu is a peaceful enough area.
Hisashi Midoriya: Emitter - transmutes his nen into flames and emits it. Unlike in BnHA canon, this means he can emit flames from anywhere in his body, but he has a restriction which only allows him to emit flames from his mouth, and this makes it stronger, thus giving the effect of breathing fire. (Thank you RiIl for the restriction idea!)

Thank you for reading! And thanks for all the follows, favourites and reviews!

Replies to reviews:

bloodyss2god: Hit the nail on the head :)

D3lph0xL0v3r: THANK YOU! Right, that's fair, but I think Bakugo, growing up next to the saint Izuku, Izuku's pure morality could rub off on him slightly, as in, he doesn't want to kill. I personally think myself Bakugo didn't become Sasuke2 merely because of his morality. He had always wanted to be like All might, so he wouldn't have to be kept by rules. I mean rules didn't even seem to apply to him haha, I mean he bullies Izuku! Then again, since there is no obvious All might in the HxH universe, maybe there wont be a role model for him to follow? But also, this universe is different from BnHA. Bakugo I feel is much nicer (at least more obviously to Izuku). It reminds me of Bakugo vs Izuku season 3, when he blamed himself for All might's retirement. He could blame himself for Izuku's nen being stolen - after all Izuku had shown his hatsu ability to heal him so... He is definitely a much more inherently violent person than Izuku. He may end up killing someone, whether its by accident, or by rage, or by necessity (one of Izuku's weaknesses, especially in the HxH universe would be that he's reluctant to kill, and in such a selfish world...)
Yep! It is Aizawa, as you would've understood by reading this chapter lol. And about Chrollo (who yeah he did steal Izuku's nen, I wasn't about to bring another HxH All for one when there's already one) it will be explained in a later chapter, I have planned out a plot that makes relative sense [I think... ^_^]