1-A walked onto the field that was the outside sports track as their teacher eyed each of them with a bored expression, making a few tense. Izuku, on the other hand, just kept walking, ignoring the man's gaze, stepping in front of him in a line up.
"Alright, now that you're all here, we're going to be doing a series of tests." He explained with a bored, seemingly uninterested drawl as he took eye drops out his pocket. "Quirk apprehension tests."
Izuku sighed quietly, just imagining how this would have gone down if he'd gotten in without a quirk before shaking his head lightly and focusing as the man dropped the eye drops into his eye.
"You'll be competing for the highest score, to give me an idea of your quirk's potential." He continued to explain, only to be interrupted by a hand flying into the air so fast it almost knocked Izuku to the ground. Looking to his side, he saw it was Iida who was holding his hand high.
"Sir! The schedule for today clearly stated that we would be doing orientation. Will this not cut deeply into that time?" He asked and Aizawa rolled his eyes.
"Yes, not that it matters. Real heroes wouldn't have time to care about such formalities even if they wanted to." His eyes flickered over to Izuku just a moment as he said that, making the freckled teen frown. What did that look mean? "Oh, and don't even think of phoning it in either. Whoever has the lowest score when we're done will be expelled.
The entire class tensed, Ochaco letting out a shocked shout. "What?! But- But that's-"
"Unfair?" The man asked sardonically, clicking his tongue before looking down and glaring at them. "So's life. If you aren't the best, you're on a path to death, whether that's yours or others. So prove you deserve to be here, or get out now."
'Harsh.' Izuku shuddered lightly internally at the strong, unfriendly vibes radiating off of Aizawa. Before he could continue though, he then pointed at Izuku.
"But don't worry, we'll have a demonstration first to make sure you understand what you're doing. Midoriya, you had the highest score in the exam-" He heard a growl nearby, no doubt Bakugou being more than a little unhappy with him. "What was your middle school ball throw?"
"Uh, something like forty meters?" He admitted with a small blush, ignoring the badly covered snort of a boy nearby as Aizawa gave him a disbelieving look before sighing and gesturing for him to come up, handing him the ball.
"Alright, now throw this from the ring, but with your quirk. Anything goes as long as you stay in the ring." He explained to Izuku who blinked in surprise at the simplicity before looking at the ball. He then nodded and took a deep breath.
"Really? He got the highest score?" He heard one girl ask with interested surprise nearby, Ochaco nodding excitedly beside her.
"Yeah, he was great! You should have seen him." She gushed making many seem interested, Bakugou growled more and one boy gave her a doubtful look.
"I mean, I know he's probably pretty strong but first place? Wouldn't his quirk be more obvious if he was that strong?"
Before Ochaco could get an answer, Izuku took a deep breath before a golden aura exploded around him, his muscles instantly becoming larger and more powerful as his hair spiked skywards and his eyes turned teal.
He took a minor step back and reared his hand back before throwing with all his might, arm turning into naught but a blur as he let go, with force that caused the ground beneath him to kick up dust in all directions as there was a bang and several had to plant themselves down firmly to avoid being blown back.
"Eight hundred and twenty nine meters!" The robotic device in Aizawa's hand chirped, making the man let out a mildly impressed hum as the others stared with gaping mouths.
"Good job. Now, there's a dash, long jump, race, side steps, strength test and more. Everyone, form a line in doubles and we'll go to the next event." He announced as he walked off, Izuku not far behind and after a moment to pick up their jaws, 1-A followed.
"Next for the dash, Tenya Iida and Izuku Midoriya." Aizawa called out lazily, making Izuku and the taller blue haired boy nod and quickly hurry to the starting marks.
Bakugou and a green haired frog girl by the name of Tsuyu Asui had just finished their own turn with impressive scores, leaving Izuku and his 'opponent' with an impressive gap to clear.
At least, that's how it seemed to most but Izuku had a feeling between his and Iida's quirks they'd quickly shot into first and second place in the dash in minutes.
Izuku felt the energy of his quirk crackling around him as he and Iida got ready, the countdown starting as the world slowed to Izuku as he focused on going as fast as he could.
"Three, two, one… GO!"
Both teens shot off with enough force to kick up yet more dust from the ground, feet battering rapidly across the ground they were sprinting across. Izuku's head turned to observe Iida for a moment as he began to overtake him.
Only to be shocked by seeing the boy's eyes glow blue, before suddenly following him at a normal pace even as he gained more and more of a lead.
'What the-'
"Zero point fourteen seconds" The robot measuring their speeds chirped, making Izuku come to a dead stop, hair instantly going back to normal as he turned around and watched Iida at a regular human pace, quickly crossing the line a few seconds later. "Three point four seconds!"
Izuku let out an impressed whistle as he turned to join the class to go to the next test as he and Iida had gone last. He had to fight hard to resist a snort when he saw several jaws hanging wide open.
And a very small mischievous part of him couldn't help bubbling up at the sight. "I should probably work on my technique to not be so slow, huh?"
"…What the fuck…"
"Hey Iida?" Izuku called over to the taller teen, who looked up in the midst of adjusting his glasses with curiosity, as they watched the other students taking turns with the long jump. It was Asui going up next, stretching her legs just beforehand.
"Ah, Midoriya." Iida said as he made his way over, giving him an inquisitive look. "Is something wrong?"
"No, no, I'm just curious." Izuku hummed thoughtfully as he fully turned his attention to the blue haired boy. "When we were doing the dash, your eyes glowed blue. What was that about?"
Iida blinked at him, seemingly in surprise then chuckled lightly. "Ah, that would be a secondary quirk mutation of mine."
Izuku blinked several times, which in turn prompted a confused look from Iida. "Secondary quirk mutation?"
"You… do not know what they are? Surely your doctor must have informed you when you were younger about them?" Iida asked, only to get a shake of the head from Izuku. Iida's glasses slowly slid off his face, falling right into the boy's hands as his eyes widened In shock. "That… is truly surprising. Well, I shall endeavor to explain as best as I am capable!"
Izuku couldn't help but snort as Iida nearly smacked the passing by Bakugou behind him, who fortunately didn't notice, before Iida continued on.
"You see, while quirks are powerful, they can often come with debilitating side effects if they are not controlled successfully. To that end, it is believed secondary quirk mutations were developed by our bodies after the fact in response to each quirk to make them safer." The taller teen explained enthusiastically, waving his hands to and fro with passion in his gestures and explanations. Izuku let out a small hum, clutching his chin in thought.
"Like… fire throwing quirks may result in secondary mutations like fire immunity to make it work better." Izuku theorized, getting a curt nod from Iida.
"Precisely. Of course,they're dependent on the quirk and person, these mutations can vary wildly in effectiveness and purpose." The bespectacled boy informed him, putting on his glasses again and adjusting them properly. "My secondary mutation that you witnessed would be rapid perception. In order to safely navigate while running at high speeds, my ocular facilities needed to parse information much, much faster than was regular for someone of my age, but my perception can be boosted to be even faster than I can actually sprint, a useful skill when confronted with a faster opponent."
Izuku nodded in understanding, opening his mouth to question what other kinds of mutations he knew about or maybe had but before he could…
"Midoriya, you're jumping next." Aizawa drawled out, making Izuku turn to see the man once again giving him a less subtle glare for some reason. With a sigh, Izuku walked over to the sand pit and focused on the frustration said look gave him.
Mixed with several other old memories, it took only a second for his body to explode with golden light once more before he began sprinting.
'Time to leap!' He thought as he bounded forward… much faster than intended, ripping up the ground and going flying through the air. He tumbled around before barely landing on his feet, stumbling directly forward and smacking his face off the wall of the school.
"Ah!" He yelped, not hurt but definitely surprised as he staggered back, before turning to see his class, barely visible in the difference, presumably concerned. He quickly gave a thumbs up and a sheepish chuckle.
"I'm okay!"
He could swear he heard and saw at least two facepalms in the distance.
The final test, before the big race to end the day and the one Izuku had personally been most looking forward to, and that was the strength test. With Super State, he was guaranteed to get at minimum in the top three of the highest scores and secure his place.
He watched others doing their turns, being impressed with the ingenuity of some (one tall raven haired girl had made a clamp, and Iida had used his legs engines to more forcefully press his knee onto the grip against the ground and force the score higher).
He checked his own score, starting out at a natural ninety four. With a soft chuckle, he loosened his grip then took a deep breath before pulling his hands to his sides with his fists clenched and…
Nothing. There was no explosion of golden light, rush of energy or gain of mass. Izuku blinked three times in confusion, looking down at his still regular body before feeling something burning into the back of his neck.
He turned, only to see Aizawa less than a foot away, with bright red eyes boring into him. His eyes went wide at seeing the man up close, more specifically seeing his goggles.
"You erased my quirk, Eraserhead?!" He asked shocked and it seemed the feeling transformed to be mutual a moment later as Aizawa blinked, hair dropping down as his eyes regained their original hue.
"I… admit I didn't expect you to know my name." He shook his head before returning to his glare. "But it doesn't matter, your showing has been terrible so far."
'….But… I got first in most of the tests so far…' Izuku thought in confusion, blinking at the man, who seemed to sense his thoughts.
"Oh, your scores have been high but you're using your quirk too much." He spoke. Izuku immediately went to object only for Aizawa to continue. "This may be a quirk assessment test but it is just as much to root out those overly reliant on their quirks. You were born with something perfect and don't know how to use anything other than it with how much you fall back on it."
Izuku's eyes twitched, feeling a burning heat in his chest rapidly rising. "Excuse me?"
"You're acting like the other annoying pros who rely on their strength too much, like the new teacher here at the school." Aizawa scoffed, rolling his eyes. "But he's at least lucky enough to be able to pull it off, but none of my students will be acting like him. If I must expel the over-reliant to keep them from getting killed when their quirks finally fail them, so be it."
"What the hell…" Izuku muttered.
"Take your turn, but your quirk won't help you escape this if you don't stop acting like All Might."
Izuku's head snapped up, eyes flashing teal but not transforming fully into his super state as he glared into the man's eyes as he snapped. "Don't you dare say I'm like that, you jerk!"
Aizawa's eyes went wide and a few people not so subtly looked over, the intensity of the glaring match between teacher and pupil becoming hard to miss.
"Never able to rely on anything but my quirk? Did you even read my student report?" He asked and Aizawa blinked, giving him an odd look.
"Of course not, I'd make impressions ahead of time without a proper look at the students."
"Well one day is a terrible look into your future students." Izuku said as grabbed the strength test machine, eyes going back to green but losing none of the fire, the crackle, the raw angry energy behind them this time. "Cause if you checked, you'd know I was a late bloomer."
Something gave in Aizawa's face for a moment, something that wasn't shock but almost smugness, but Izuku missed it in the moment as he was too focused on his anger.
And without warning he punched the back of the machine with his quirkless strength, busting the flimsy plastic plate off and reaching inside, pulling roughly on the mechanism.
The numbers quickly began ticking up too fast to keep up, passing double, then triple then even quadruple digits due to the forced pressure much easier to apply from the back then the front.
Then finally, Izuku let go and shoved the display in Aizawa's face, revealing his score of over one thousand and two hundred. "And my quirk is the last thing I'd put as my 'only option'."
Things were tense and silent for several moments, both ignoring the staring of the others. Then after what felt like an eternity, righteous anger slowly turning to panic as Izuku realized what he'd actually just done, the man cracked a frankly disturbing smirk.
"Good. Both for proving the last thing you need to be a good hero is a quirk, and your point." He walked off as if he hadn't just thrown everyone for a loop back to his original position, with a final comment. "Remember that mental fortitude. The best heroes have mental strength as much as physical strength, and they need it."
"…What the heck?" Izuku muttered lowly, eyes wide. He heard footsteps beside him and turned to see an equally shocked looking Iida and Uraraka, before he turned back.
And just barely saw what looked suspiciously like the name Midoriya backwards jumping to the top of the small holographic list Aizawa was reviewing.
"Did… Did you just get into an argument with our teacher?" Iida asked, highly disapproving. Izuku shook his head, turning to Ochaco with a small amused scoff.
"Actually, I think I got in a mental match… and won."