Also, playing a bit with the background for Aizawa.
The only real difference is that he knew Sensoji, Shino (Mandalay), and Yamada (Present Mic), before entering UA, though it's a distant relationship during their middle school years.
Inspirational Songs:
Shonen Jump Rap Song by DizzyEight
Shonen MC's Rap from RUSTAGE
Now, for this little ficlet, it's like Most Wanted Man For Her, it'll have 'alternate timelines'.
Though, in this 'path', I'm giving you some options:
-Shino
-Nemuri
These two are the options/paths for this one with your choice in deciding if they get this 'path'.
P.S. This is a chapter which, along with another that'll be released, have been written over two weeks ago.
~NRK~
He rolled his shoulders as he looked in his bathroom mirror.
"One more month, huh?" He said to himself as a pair of coal-black eyes, in a fair-skinned face, looked at his hair, two tufts wiggling as his spiky black head of hair shifted as he left the washing closet.
Wearing a pair of dark gray slacks, and white socks, he began to button up his shirt where a burn mark could be seen on his hands in his reflection as well as some scarring from his shoulder.
He moved over to his bed where a small boy bounced up and down.
"Ne, ne, Obito-nii-san! A-Are your friends going to come over to celebrate?"
"... Maybe," Obito Uchiha said as he adjusted his pants as something unfurled from around his abdomen, a long, black-furred, tail that was feline in nature. "Haaa, despite how things have been, we're going to be entering our last year in UA soon."
Yes, it was he, Obito Uchiha, former Juubi jinchuuriki, former 'Uchiha' Uchiha, and former mad man.
This second go-around had been something he felt was both unexpected and undeserved. If anyone should have been here, it was Rin… and he'd learned from a single dream that would never return.
"You have to live a GREAT life!" She said with a chuckle. "When you do, come back and tell me all about it!"
The boy's green head of hair tilted slightly over a fair complexion dotted with freckles, holding the world's most innocent green eyes. Wearing a red shirt and green shorts, this boy was Obito's… nephew, weirdly enough.
His history in this place was… slightly complex.
His brother, Hisashi Uchiha, now Midoriya, had been 18 when Obito, at the tender age of 11, had come into his life.
Having lived in an orphanage most of his life, Hisashi had taken him with him when he left. The two building a rapport during the year they'd been together.
Growing up, he did his best to live up to his namesake and be a respectable, noble, member of society. He didn't want to become a leech on his sibling's rather low salary, back then, and did all the house chores once he was old enough.
By that point, he basically studied and did chores before training with his quirk. Furred Prowess had been the name he'd given it and, during his elementary, and middle school, school years, he'd become the top student in the country while also holding the greatest scores on Fitness Weeks.
He'd both skipped a year and had gotten a scholarship for a high school nearer to the brothers' residence and made it so that Obito didn't need money for the bus.
It'd been in his second year in middle school, age 13, that he'd gotten… acquaintances, for lack of a better word.
No, 'friends' was, despite his metaphysical situation.
The memory came to him with more ease than he expected.
~NRK~
He took notes with grand ease, his cat ears twitching twice as the school bell rang, the preteen sighing as he placed a pair of earplugs into his animal ears before finishing his notes and then going to the back of his notebook.
Obito found a blank space and began writing only to close it and lift it up, keeping it out of the way of the hand that came down to try and take it.
"Ohh?" Came the sound of what he knew was going to be a headache. "Come on, kid, I just want-"
"Leave," Obito said as he got up before locking eyes with the large boy before him. "You want to leave because I seriously don't care."
The guy's eyebrow began to twitch as his goons snickered behind him.
Wearing a similar Gakuen uniform to Obito, the kid before him was tall for his age, well-muscled, Obito would admit, and had a pretty good presence.
His chin was squarer than their classmates and he had short orange hair that came up in a little spike at the front of his forehead.
His green eyes narrowed down at Obito whose eyes merely narrowed. "Sensoji-kun, don't you have something better to do? Like, I don't know, actually training to get into UA?"
"You trying to say something, punk?"
"Oh, the irony."
"Excuse me?!"
"Oi!" Came a voice from the two's side, both brunette and carrot top turning to see a yellow-haired boy, whose preferred hairstyle seemed to be spiky pompadours, pointing finger guns at them, his concentric yellow and green eyes filled with resolve. "Come on, guys, we're all friends here!"
"Shove it, Yamada!" Came Sensoji's shout at the blonde 'loudmouth'. "This has nothing to do with you!"
"Sensoji-kun!" Came a shout from the two 'debating' teens' other side before Obito's head turned to the right to see a girl with a disappointed expression with her hands on her hips. "Why are you trying to bully Obito-kun?!"
She was… interesting in that, among this colorful cast of characters, Obito found her to be the most normal.
Having short dark red hair that sat upon her head, a fair complexion, and stern brown eyes, she was dressed in the school's girl uniform. That being a dark blue skirt, knee-high white socks, and a dark blue school top with a black bow at her neck.
"Beat it, Sosaki! You're still too manly-looking to speak to me!"
"Excuse me?!" The girl, Sosaki, nearly exploded on him. "You wanna say that again!?"
"Hm, hm, hm, Senso-kun, making Shino-chan angry isn't smart," Yamada said with a grin as the carrot top's eyebrow began to twitch. "Come on, Obito-kun's not… there?" The blonde said as the three looked down at a vacant seat. "... You know, he'd make a hell of a stealth hero."
"Shut it, Yamada!"
"It's 'Hizashi-kun', Senso-kun!"
"I'll say what I damn well please!"
"Honestly!" Shino Sosaki grunted as she crossed her arms. "Why do you have to try and scare our junior?"
"He ain't my junior if he's in the same class, dammit," Sensoji said with an annoyed expression. "He's a weirdo! This guy skips a grade and we're all going to act like it's normal?!"
"People do that all the time," came a voice from a student directly in front of Sensoji, behind Obito's desk. "Besides, he left through the window," said a rather gloomy-looking individual with a thumb at an open windowsill. "Hmph, might want to NOT try and bully our junior in age, Sensoji."
This was said by a boy with decently long black hair that looked slightly untamed who had black eyes and white skin.
"Hmph, finally decided to speak up, huh, Aizawa?"
"I also didn't want to hear all this chatting," Aizawa said as Yamada grinned and slid over. "Yamada, don't, God-"
"Let's go find him and apologize, Senso-kun!"
"Screw off!" Sensoji said as he stomped off.
"... I'm gonna go and find him!" Hizashi said before having his top held onto by Aizawa. "Hmm? Shouta-kun, come on, I've gotta-"
"Is he gone?" Came a head from the top of the open window, Obito's head sat on a swivel as he looked for Sensoji before sighing and flipping back into the room, bag on his back. "I seriously don't want to deal with that."
"Ho, ho, ho!" Yamada grinned. "I knew you'd be a hella good stealth hero!"
Obito raised a brow at him. "Stealth hero… I think you're mistaken," Obito said with a shake of the head, confusing the three. "I don't want to be a hero."
"Huh?" Shino blinked at him. "Why?"
"I don't want to put myself in the direction of danger like that," Obito said with a sigh as he crossed his arms. "Being a hero isn't for me, I'd rather focus on a hero costume career."
"D-Dude! But your quirk seems so good for fighting!" Hizashi, a name that confused Obito a lot, said with a dropped mouth. "And being a hero is so COOL! Think about it! If you even became the Top 200 you'd be famous and get as many costumes as you want!"
"Eh," Obito shook his head. "Not for me, I'd rather live a normal life."
"... That's fair, I guess," Shino said, a little put out. "Come on, we all could have become an amazing team."
"You want to make a hero team?" Aizawa asked and Shino grinned.
"Yup! The idea of working alone doesn't really… ring with me. Besides… hehe," she rubbed the back of her head with a nervous smile. "I don't ever want to be without back-up that I know can be there."
"Hmph," the gloomy-looking one grunted. "That's the right way to think about it, I think, but Uchiha has his right to his own decisions. The fact remains that he doesn't want to be a hero but he still helps. Kind of wish most people would actually think about this outside of those who actually train to go the distance."
"It's a smart idea," Obito said as he raised a brow. "Having a team that handles any of your weaknesses makes the most sense. What is your quirk?"
"One-Way Telepathy," came a voice in all three boys' heads, Obito's eyes blinking as Shino giggled. "I can send out pretty much any information vocally, though that doesn't help all that much with powerful villains."
"Hmmm," Yamada grinned. "My quirk is literally called Voice, I can increase the sounds that leave my mouth to super-high levels."
"Please don't step near a microphone," Obito said immediately as Aizawa also looked annoyed. "That's asking for busted eardrums."
"Hehe… I tried that once."
"Yamada."
"I won't!"
"Hmph," Obito said with a shake of the head. "My own quirk is called Furred Prowess," he said as his tail and ears twitched.
"So you're part cat, right?" Shino asked with a smile and a slight bit of nervous laughter. "I actually wanted to theme my own costume after a cat," she admitted with a blush at Obito's smirk. "I-I think it'd look cute, okay?!"
"Hmph," Aizawa grunted from his seat as the three's eyes went to him. "... My quirk is Erasure, when I activate my eyes, for as long as they're open, I can halt all the quirks I'm looking at."
"That's a rather amazing ability," Obito said. "You basically dominate every battlefield the moment you enter."
"While I see what you mean… I don't want the spotlight," Aizawa said with a grimace. "I'm not built for it and the idea of being in it makes me tired," he said as his head fell against his desk.
"Hmph."
The group blinked at the sound of a bell ringing before all eyes widened.
"Shit, we've got five minutes!" Yamada yelled as he ran out. "Damn you, English!"
"... he left his bag," Shino realized with a sweatdrop as Obito saw it.
"Hmph, I'll hand it to him," he said as he went over and picked up the loud blonde's effects. "You two aren't going to your next class?"
"I'm just down the hall," Shino said.
"Mine is literally right behind us," Aizawa said with his face down, a thumb pointing behind him.
"Heh," Obito chuckled as he walked out. "Get to class on time, Aizawa-kun."
"Mm."
Shino snickered as she walked out.
"Later, Aizawa-kun."
"Mn."
Hizashi Yamada began to sweat as he got to his class, on time, but with not a bag in sight.
'Oh crap,' he was doomed!
"Yamada-kun," he blinked at a familiar voice to his left, a familiar cat boy there holding out a familiar bag. "You forgot this."
"M-My savior!"
Obito shook his head.
~NRK~
Come lunchtime, the four found themselves at a table by coincidence.
Obito had been flagged down by Yamada when he'd gotten there. Aizawa had seemed to fade into existence next to the blonde while their redheaded friend had joined them moments later with a few others.
"Hmm? Who's this?" Obito asked as he set a two-layered dark blue, metallic, bento box. "?"
"Hm, hm, this is my friend from one of my other classes, Ryoko Tsuchikawa," Shino introduced with a smile at the blonde girl next to her who grinned.
"How's it going fellas?" Came the girl in question before she Obito and her eyes shined. "K-Kitty?!"
She had long light yellow hair that came down to her backside with a large bang coming down her face down to her chest. Her skin was fair while her eyes were blue and she was dressed in their school uniform.
Obito's expression went flat as he looked at the laughing Shino as Ryuko sat next to the youngest brunette among them, leaving Obito with a blonde on both sides of him.
"H-Hey, can I touch your ears?" She asked with an excited gleam in her eyes and Obito's eyebrow twitched. "Come on, be a pal!"
"One, we've just met," Obito said plainly as Aizawa smirked. "Two, no, that's personal."
"Come on, buddy~" She batted her eyelashes at him and Obito flicked her nose. "Ahhh!" Ryuko held her delicate smelling factory and pouted at him as he shook his head.
Then he opened up his bento and she'd forgotten all about his sins.
"Hold on, who the hell made that?" Yamada asked in shock and awe at Obito's food, the younger male's top layer dominated by delicate-looking filets, a small bowl of beef stew, and some small shrimp that glistened in the lunch room's light. "D-Dude, come on, pass some of that!" He pleaded as Aizawa and Shino leaned over from their side of the table to look as well.
"... You're a cook?" The former asked and Obito shrugged.
"It's one of my few hobbies outside of tailoring and training," Obito answered, confusing the group as Yamada spoke up.
"Didn't you say you didn't want to be a hero?"
"Yes, that still stands, that doesn't mean I don't want to be able to protect myself. Plus," Obito continued. "Most heroes are fit, if I'm to make clothes for them, having a similar body is only fair," he said as he took off the second layer of his food to show a large bed of chicken fried rice and small dumplings with a few small ceramic plates sat in a little compartment.
"That looks so good," Ryuko said from the side, drooling slightly. "Come on…" She pleaded again.
Obito groaned before taking out some of his small plates.
Soon enough, the four had four-inch plates of a mini-meal in front of them, Aizawa and Shino shot him looks that he shrugged at.
"I'm not so heartless as to ignore you two."
Using their own utensils, they tried his food in disbelief.
"... And you want to be a costume designer?" Aizawa asked with a confused expression. "That's certainly a way to surprise people."
"It's so fluffy," Ryuko giggled as Yamada prayed. "Dude, where did you learn skills like these? Tell me your secrets!"
"I'm self-taught," Obito said with a smirk as Shino stared at the small piece of filet on her plate.
Biting into it, her eyes widened as she chewed. "Hold on… isn't this tilapia? How in the world did you get it to taste so good!?"
"Lots of trial and error," Obito said as he ate. "Hm, hm… Mmm, it's the cheapest thing we can afford so I make the most of it."
"... Cheap?" Aizawa asked with a frown as the others stopped eating as well. "Hold on, are yo-"
"Basically poor? Not as of last year," Obito answered, getting a choke from all those around. "We simply make sure to make do with what we have."
"Dude, why didn't you tell us?!" Yamada asked as he looked at his food with guilt. "Ah, man."
"One, I wouldn't give it to you if I was struggling for food," Obito said with a shake of the head. "Go on, eat, I'm trying something new with this anyway and need guinea pigs."
"Guinea pigs?" Came the blondes at his side before they swallowed and stared down their food. "Fine, it's the least we can do."
They ate their oh-so-guiltily made, amazing, food with looks of determination that didn't last as they finished.
"Is this heaven?"
"Maybe."
Obito rolled his eyes at the two as Shino ate a bit more slowly and Aizawa sighed before scarfing down the rest of his.
"... I still want to know how tilapia can taste this good. How is this so sweet?"
"It's about not letting it sit for too long," Obito said. "I know that the market gets more tilapia every Saturday and go and grab it then. Tilapia that sit for too long doesn't end well. I'd say three days is the best I can take it before not eating it anymore."
"Damn."
"Hmph, it's good," Aizawa said as he handed back the plate at Obito's nod. "Did the scholarship help a bit?"
"It covered my entire tuition," Obito said. "It's also because I skipped a grade as well. I literally jumped into our second year, after all."
"Huh, what's it like to skip a grade?" Yamada asked as Aizawa's eyes went flat. "Oi, don't look at me like that! My grades are fine!"
"Fine my ass."
"Hah! So you do have some form of pride in you!"
The three others snorted.
What a hell of a duo.
~NRK~
Back in the present, he nodded to Izuku as he got up and picked up a little dark blue bag with a patch of the face of All Might, this world's strongest warrior and greatest hero, on the side.
"What's going to happen today, Izuku?" Obito asked the young boy, Izuku Midoriya, his nephew as he picked up his own bag. "This is your last week, right?"
"Yu-huh!" The boy grinned as they walked out of the young man's room. "Me and Kacchan are the tops of our class! W-We get a badge and everything!"
"Well that's because you're both so smart," the moss head preened under the compliment as they left Obito's room and passed Izuku's before they passed Hisashi and Inko's, his wife's, room. "And your parents are supposed to come home this evening, so we'll probably have a little outing for their return."
"Yay!"
They went into the kitchen which was placed across from a living room with a pathway of wood dividing the two spaces.
Obito cooked quickly and the two relatives were seated just as fast.
Eating some fried rice, pork being the meat seeing as it was Izuku's favorite, Obito considered his life as of late.
Starting from his entrance into UA's Support Course would probably be a good start.
~NRK~
"You ready for this?" Came Hizashi Yamada's voice from Obito's side, the blonde teen swallowing before turning in some deep breaths. "No, no, I know you've got this but we've gotta push through."
"Yamada-kun, you need to remember your training," Obito said as he adjusted his personalized black ninja sandals, dark purple pants he taped off by the ankle, and a black t-shirt, a pair of orange visor goggles hanging from his neck. "You're going to do more harm than good like this," he said as he adjusted a black glove on his left hand.
Dressed in Obito-made black pants and jacket, he wore some brown boots and had a pair of headphones around his neck. Over the years, the blonde boy had also taken to wearing a pair of glasses that had triangular frames with orange lenses. The boy nodded nervously as he adjusted an orange headband onto his hair, keeping his hair out of his face.
"Hmph," Shouta Aizawa leaned against the gates towards the hero school. "If you want to be a hero, you have to act like it."
"I'm more surprised you even want to come here," Yamada shot back with a grin at Shouta's roll of the eyes. "Come on! I remember what you said two years back, you never struck me as having the energy for this stuff."
"That's likely our fault," Shino Sosaki said as she came up to them with Ryoko Tsuchikawa at her side. "We're all here."
Shino had worn a long-sleeve dark red top that was made of 'Obito material' and a black stocking with red leg warmers above her black boots. At her waist were a pair of large cat paws with a metal set of retractable claws and hard leather bases, the fur was a form of synthetic hairs that he adjusted to act as a little extra protection for the girls' hands.
Ryuko had taken the sleeveless version of Shino's top, in light blue, and on similarly-colored arm warmers while wearing a pair of knee-length dark blue shorts. Her feet were covered by boots, similar to Shino, but with no leg warmers. She had a similar set of claw gauntlets.
Finally, after getting off the wall, was Aizawa's outfit… which was probably the plainest of the four.
"You should have let Obito-kun make you something more dazzling, Shouta-kun," Ryuko said as Aiwaza grimaced.
Wearing what was basically a black tracksuit… and that was it, outside of his steel-toe boots, which were also black, Aizawa looked more like someone going on a nightly run than a hero candidate.
"Don't patronize me, Tsuchikawa, I'm comfortable in this, I have to move more to make a difference," he said as a tanto bounced off his back along with a set of bandages rolled up on his hip. "Thank you, Obito, for making my life simple."
"Heh," Obito smirked as his tail waved lazily behind him. "No issues, come on, we've gotta go."
They went in with nervous nods all around sans Obito.
"Remember, I've given you some of the strongest material I can find."
"Which you still haven't told us about," Shino said with a raised brow as she pulled on her top around the stomach portion. "Seriously, this stuff is amazing. It washes pretty easily, breathes well, and is pretty light. What'd you do?"
His cat ear twitched. "Trade secret," he said with a chuckle as they entered the front portion of the school. "You guys are going to be in the Main Auditorium, right?"
"Yeah," Aizawa answered as the groups pulled out their tickets. "I'm in squad A."
"Same," Yamada said.
"I'm B," Shino answered.
"Same!" Ryuko said with a chuckle. "I wonder if it's a boys and girls thing."
"Hey, you guys know where you're going?!" Came a voice from behind the five and they all turned to see a young woman the same age as they waving at the group. "
It was a girl with moderately long, down to just below her shoulders, raven-black hair that was slightly wild. Her skin was fair and her eyes violet as she came to a stop.
Wearing a black tank-top and a pair of black yoga pants, her sneaker-covered feet screeched a bit as she skidded an inch.
"Sup," she said with a grin. "Name's Nemuri Kayama," the newly-named Nemuri said with a grin. "You guys know where you have to go by any chance?"
"Yeah, Obito-kun was leading the way," Ryuko said as Obito nodded and the five, now six, moved on followed by many of the other random students. "Man, this place is BIG, yikes."
"There are a ridiculous amount of quirks in the world," Aizawa said as the group moved past a wall of 'fame'. "Imagine if someone came in who had a growth quirk, the prospects must be considered at all times."
"Heh," Yamada grinned as the group of candidates stopped by a large door with an 'A' above it. "This it?" He said as he looked behind himself and used finger guns. "And that, ladies and gents, is the 'B' room."
"In a way, it makes sense, it's not like we're fighting against one another," Shino said as the group nodded. "Obito-kun, we'll see you when this is all over."
"Wait," Nemuri blinked as she pointed at Obito. "I-Isn't he doing the hero course?! Bro, look at those forearms!" She was by his side in seconds and holding his arm like a gun before rolling up his sleeve. "Damn, son, did the gun show come early?!"
Obito's eyebrow twitched as Yamada started to choke on his laughter as Aizawa snorted while Shino blushed a bit with a laugh and Ryuko grinned.
"He was known to have the juiciest arms in class in middle school," the blonde girl said with a grin as Obito's twitching began to involve his cat ears. "Talk about holding onto a legacy."
"... W-Well," Shino coughed into her fist. "Didn't he get Best Back awards before we left?"
"He did!" Yamada said as Nemuri grew curious only to have a tail coming around and moving her hands.
"Hold on, lover boy, tying me up comes after a date and dinner."
"Gufah!" The blondes of his friend group choked as Shino grew bright red.
Aizawa's eyebrow twitched even as his cheeks reddened a bit.
"Holy shit, dude, you have hella game!" Came a voice from down the hall as a person floated over on a yellow cloud with a blush and a grin. "Tell me how you do it!"
Obito's head mechanically turned to the newcomer.
It was a boy who had, standing-up, wavy white hair that parted by his forehead to have two small bangs hanging just above his eyebrows.
Across the bridge of his nose, the skin of which was fair was a narrow bandage and his blue eyes disappeared behind his eyelids as he grinned.
Dressed in a dark blue judo gi with the pants taped off at the ankles, allowing his white crocs to stand out, the guy chuckled from atop his cloudy perch, a set of goggles hanging off his neck.
"Come on! We could make history as ladykillers!"
"That's a crime."
"Hol-Snrt!" Nemuri choked on her words along with the others as laughing ensued, even from the newcomer. "Dude, your comedy is on point."
"So I've been told," Obito said as the cloud boy came off his perch and held out his hand. "?"
"Names Oboro Shirakumo," the albino said as Obito hummed before grasping his hand. "Nice grip! Wait, didn't you say you're not going into the Hero Class? Dude, what's the hold-up?"
"Ya see, Obito here," Yamada began as he threw an arm over the former ninja's shoulders, much to Obito's rolling eyes. "He's a real smarty, we're talking, number 1 smart. Plus he makes sick duds!" Ryuko chuckle as Shino smiled. "We can't let his talents go to waste! Though, I bet, he's gonna see how much fun we're having, put on a choker, and be a hero!"
"Hold on, put on a what?" Obito balked at the laughing blonde as Aizawa smirked behind them. "Yamada, I'm not an actual cat, dammit."
"Yea but when have you ever seen a cat person who doesn't wear a choker?" Oboro asked, much to the cat boy's annoyance.
"That's… I'm not sure but I know that's racist," Nemuri grinned. "Honestly, I doubt I'd look good in a-"
"No, no, he has a point," she said with a gleaming eye as Shino choked and Ryuko grinned. "Why, black-haired cat boys need a black collar! I bet we'd totally be able to get you a bad-boy rep in under a year!"
"That sounds counterproductive!"
"... W-Well, um," Shino blushed as Obito's face of complete bafflement, along with Yamada and Nemuri's grins, turned her way. "N-No, I'm not saying… Well, what I mean is… aesthetic?" She offered with red cheeks as Ryuko started laughing along with Oboro, Nemuri, and Yamada.
"God, you guys are the worst," Obito said as the doors to the two rooms opened.
"GET IN HERE ALREADY!" One of the examiners shouted at the group of candidates.
The group jumped before chuckling nervously as they nodded.
"Alright, you all need to head off," Nemuri said with a smile as she threw an arm around Obito's shoulders. "I'll head off with your friend here to find the Support Exams. Thankfully, you should still have 15 minutes left."
"Hmph," Obito nodded before turning to his group. "You all just do your best, your training will help if nothing else."
"Gotcha!" Yamada said with dual thumbs-ups. "Lemme cinch this test real quick-!"
"SHUT YOUR YAPPING!" That shut up the loud blonde quickly, much to Obito's amusement.
"We'll simply try," Aizawa said with a sigh as Obito chuckled.
"You know, you could still try out for the Support Course, might give you a new perspective."
"I'd think about it and somehow, he," he pointed at Yamada. "Would find out, trust me, this will give me less trouble."
"Yeah!" Yamada sweat at the sight of a teacher pointing their finger at him. "S-Sorry!"
"Hmph," Aizawa looked amused.
"Oh, such youth~" Nemuri's eyes shined with an inspired light before patting everyone's back. "Get on in there and join us already! I wanna see you all in the halls, talking, chatting, shooting the shit like youthful kids like ourselves!"
"Aren't we teenagers?"
"So?"
"... Alright, let's do this," Ryuko said as the group nodded before going into their designated rooms. "See you on the flipside, Obito-kun," she said with a wave as she and Shino left.
"Alright, we've got this," said Yamada to the guys who nodded. "... Nice ta meetcha, Oboro! Name's Yamada, this is Obito, as you know," Oboro chuckled. "And this sad sack is our resident grump, Aizawa."
"Sup, hehe," the cloud-creation quirk user greeted as the three of them walked towards the 'A' room. "Take it easy, Cat dude! We'll see ya after we get in!"
Obito crossed his arms with a raised brow before chuckling. "He slipped into the dynamic way too well, it's scary," he said as Nemuri grinned before leading him down the way.
"Come on! I was told I could help watch one of the examination rooms and I've gotta see your work."
Obito rolled his eyes.
~NRK~
Obito sat at his examination table with Nemuri looking over his shoulder.
The Support Course had them take a written test and practical portion, he'd passed the first part and was doing the second as we speak.
A man at the front of the room, with two large bolts in his head, raised his arm with the other behind his back.
"Remember! The point of this is NOT speed! It's all about making a workable creation with the materials you've been given!"
"Yes, Boltz-sensei!"
"Good! The topic is 'Support for Elemental-quirk heroes', get to it!"
He shifted a large set of metal to the side before mapping out a shape in it with a marker.
"Whatcha making, Obi-kun?" Midnight asked quietly as he worked. "Some kind of superweapon?"
"No, I am not," he said as he blurred across the room and back in three seconds with more material in his hands. "That said, it is a weapon but something simpler."
Nemuri's eyes widened at his speed. 'D-Didn't he say he wasn't trying to get into the Hero Course?!' That kind of speed did NOT match his words, dammit!
Obito worked some pre-built circuitry onto a large, thick, flat sheet of metal before using a laser-cutter to slice through it into a circle.
Behind each of the students, in Support Examination Room 1, were smithies, the students who knew how to use them had theirs active while those not were unactivated.
Nemuri watched Obito move like the pro he really shouldn't have been.
He moved with a confidence that no other student in the room had, the other students looked concentrated, at best, with a forced determination.
Obito, meanwhile, moved with purpose as he attached the circles together on a disintegration-set pipe, a pipe made for the act of breaking down finished products when applied with some machinery.
She blinked as he added an energy tube, a blade, and a rapid blurring, instrument.
Nemuri watched for the entire test and blinked when the examiner at the front called the two hours to an end.
'Holy shit, I was here for two hours?' She didn't think watching a guy work could be so entrancing but, hell, she learned something new today.
"Alright, who's gonna come up first?" The man asked and many of the students looked nervous if not outright embarrassed before Obito nodded and walked up to him. "Good, good, having faith in your work is NOT to be underestimated. What have you got, Uchiha?"
"It's a weapon made for changing the frequency of energy-nature quirks," Obito explained as the teacher looked intrigued.
"Anyone here got a similar quirk?" He asked the room and most of the applicants raised their hands. "Not bad, you, come up here."
A female student came up and Obito nodded as he gave her the tool.
"Activate your quirk with these on," Obito said as he attached a pair of metallic pads to her forehead. "These are basically attachments for if you can't manage your quirk from your hands."
The girl blinked at him before he gave her the go-ahead.
She activated her quirk and blue energy formed over the pole.
"Give the mental command to change into gunbai mode."
"... Uuuhh," she blinked at the weapon-type. "... Gunbai mode?"
The pole's sides formed a familiar fan-like construct that Obito knew well and good.
The Uchiwa Gunbai was Madara's original weapon from back in the Elemental Nations and had served him well despite how long he really used it.
So having it here just felt right.
Around its shape was the girl's blue energy and she blinked at the static-like marks on the front, also colored blue.
"Don't reach for that," Obito said. "That's a high-vibration frequency added to your quirk. It's to work as a shield and sword but it IS dangerous, don't go swinging it haphazardly."
The girl hummed as their teacher came forward before raising his hand.
A block of material, the same material as the floor, popped into existence.
"Try cutting this," he said and the girl nodded before both teacher and student stepped back.
She wound up like a batter before swinging hard at the block of cement.
The block was carved through in two seconds, the top part sliding down towards the floor.
"Not bad, Uchiha. Very good stuff," the examiner said, impressed, as the girl chuckled at the results. "This can be good for cutting through most debris."
"Well, it can do more than cut," Obito said as he gestured to the block. "Place the flat side down on it."
The girl grinned before moving forward and doing as suggested.
The sound of grinding and shearing reached everyone's ears as what sounded like a skill-saw came into existence.
The girl stopped and grinned at the still working item and the sheared-down side of the block.
"Like I said, sword and shield. If the energy being supplied is strong enough, you can block most attacks of an elemental/energy-nature."
The man nodded with a grin. "I like it, you pass, kid."
That seemed to give the other students confidence and they soon came up as Obito walked back to his work table.
"Nice, not bad," Nemuri said with a grin and he smirked before blinking at her speculative eye. "No, no, keep smirking, that goes very well with your quirk and face. Yes, yes, keep doing it, cat baby!"
"Ugggghhhh."
~NRK~
Seated in a cafe outside of UA a bit away, Obito's group, plus Nemuri and Oboro, filled their members with what had happened.
"Thank God, they let people with quirks like ours use items," Shino said as she threw Obito, her seat neighbor, a smile. "Thank you, Obito-kun! I know there's nothing I could have done without these," she said as she pat the gauntlets in her lap.
"How'd they hold up?" Obito asked the group and got many positive responses.
"They worked great!" Yamada said with a grin. "You were right, since I can hear myself during, I can adjust on the fly to lower the damage," he threw Obito dual thumbs-ups. "I didn't hurt too many people!"
"The important stuff!" Ryuko cheered with a grin. "I, on the other hand, got amazing scores! I can FEEL it."
"Of course, you've got one of the best quirks among us," Yamada said with a chuckle. "How hard was it really?"
"Hmph, not at all!"
"Shouta-kun?" Obito asked Aizawa who grunted.
"I handled it the best I could."
"I.E. Like a champ!" Oboro said with a grin. "He moved so fast and covered so much ground, I find it hard to believe he's not in the top scorers when this is tallied!"
"Ugh," Aizawa groaned at that kind of attention. "I just wanted to pass," he grunted before looking at the amused Obito. "This is your fault, somehow."
"Because of training? Then, yes, it's all my fault," Obito said as Nemuri and Oboro raised their brows at him. "I helped train everyone in the group by offering ideas and workout regimens."
"Wait, dude, I'm sorry, are you sure you're not trying to be in the Hero course?" Oboro asked in confusion, his drink finished by Nemuri. "Like, come on! You have to be messing with us!"
"It's the world's oddest paradox," Ryuko said as she scooped up some ice cream from her sundae. "Mm! But, yeah, no, Obito-kun's a weirdo. I mean, he did tell us why but, with how good he is at… well, being smart and strong, you'd think he'd take the fast track to good finances."
"It's easier in the Support Course," Obito said with one eye closed, swirling his root beer float, confusing the others. "If you make consistent, good enough, products, you can get an early sponsorship for your own uses as long as it's for the benefit of society, mostly heroes. I'm considering making a sort of Soldier Pill."
"You want to make a drug?" Shino asked with a wince. "Obito-kun, that's kind of iffy."
"Wait, what?" Obito balked at her and Shino sighed. "You don't actually think I'd tell you I wanted to make drugs, do you?"
"Well… No, but saying stuff like you just did is kinda suspect," Ryuko said and Obito's eyebrow twitched.
"... For your information, it's not supposed to be some form of drug for highs and the like," Obito said with a grunt. "It's supposed to work as a stamina-enhancer-"
"Nice!" Yamada and Oboro hi-5ed, much to his temporary confusion.
"... You two have to be sharing a brain cell," Obito said after his expression went flat as the loud boys laughed. "God, I bet you two end up at the same hero agency. Anyway, it's supposed to give you energy that can last from 1 to 3 days. Of course, you'd probably crash afterward but its purpose is to increase your endurance so you can, say, keep a long-term stakeout going or long-term combat."
"I can see the former but who in the world can fight for that many days without people knowing about it?" Nemuri asked with a frown. "At the agency, I work for, we simply handle villains on patrol. I don't see how someone could even remotely fight for that long before a winner is decided."
"Trust me, there are probably more than our fair share of heroes who could," Obito said. "I also want to make a Temporary Backlash Pill," the group looked interested in this one. "It'd be a pill that can lower, or even nullify, the backlash of quirks, even if only for a while. Think of Endeavor whose body overheats."
"Now that sounds interesting," Shino said with a smile. "I guess it'd, what, change per quirk user?"
"... Well, possibly," Obito said as he leaned back in his seat. "But, that'd be too costly, what I'd need is a pill that can increase their limits, I guess would be a better goal… Like a limiter-release pill. Think, increasing the percentage of the brain most people are capable of using… but that comes with way more dangers than I can imagine."
Nemuri frowned in thought. "Yeah, I somehow doubt that'd be easy to make."
"No, not that," Obito said and the group raised their eyebrows at him. "Imagine if someone, not a hero, got a hold of something like that," their eyes widened. "Exactly. I have to make sure to consider what'd happen if a villain got a hold of my products. It's a big downside to making Support Items, you don't know who'll end up using it and I have to plan for that."
"It's a good thing to focus on," Aizawa said as he leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed. "Even just the stuff we normally have, right now, this sword can be stolen, the same with the Paw-Paw Gauntlets, hate that name, still, by the way."
"Blame Ryuko."
"Hey! I thought it was cute!" Said blonde pouted as she ate more of her food. "Hmph, it's not untrue, though… there are so many quirks out there, who knows who'll have a 'good' one for taking our babies."
"... Ignoring that, the point is, I want to make an all-purpose pill that can help the heroes but can't cause damage or, worse, a lawsuit that I'd have to pay for."
"Ew, those things," Nemuri grimaced. "Lawsuits are NOT fun, my God, it gets to the point that I wonder if people don't get that, yeah, collateral is gonna happen. It's not always gonna happen but it DOES and the paperwork is so ugggghhhhh."
"Exactly. While I'm fine with reading and writing reports-"
"Wanna work at Purple Agency?" Nemuri asked as she batted her eyelashes.
"-I don't WANT to be in that situation," Obito said with a flat look at their to-be upperclassman as Oboro chuckled. "... Hmph, perhaps you're right, Shino, making a pill like that, for general types of quirks, is probably for the best. Maybe I'm thinking too macro and micro. If I just had specific stores… No, maybe a website?" His eyes widened in thought. "I wonder how against a hero-personal website the world would be? Maybe if we introduced hero-only items on it?"
"Wait, that doesn't exist?" Yamada asked in disbelief. "How in the world does that not EXIST?"
"Sadly, it's not that simple," Nemuri said with a grimace. "The way it's set up, certain companies, stores, and even schools, use personal sites for their own brands of items and heroes. You do NOT want your student from, say, Shiketsu to be buying UA 'brand' stuff, do you? Imagine what that'd say about the graduate/student."
"Hmm… Then a general website wouldn't be so bad as long as it's recognized by the schools, right?" Yamada suggested and the group considered it.
"You'd need a wide catalog, though," Shino said before smiling. "But I think Obito-kun could do it. If there are so many kinds of quirks then surely that's a wide enough selection."
"You'd have to give us discounts!" Ryuko said with a grin as Yamada chuckled. "Call 'em 'ancestor' accounts! And, in that same vein, make some that can coordinate with our quirks first," she said in a whisper.
"... That's actually not a bad idea," Obito said in thought before nodding. "It's certainly a pretty good idea."
~NRK~
Leaving their home in the present, Obito considered the progress he'd made so far.
In Support Items, he'd become his group's personal 'sponsor' and had gone as far as using his Uchiha symbol along with the Kamui symbol as his emblems on their things.
Stun batons with flash functions, high-level 'armor' clothing, shuriken & kunai sets, steel wire, ninja sandals, jounin vests, and headbands.
Those had been rather hot topics when he first used them in the UA Festival.
~NRK~
"And here comes the Support Course Class F, G, and H!"
Obito ignored the cheers from the crowds, ears twitching as he listened for a specific set.
"YEAH!" He snorted as he heard his brother. "GET 'EM, OBITO!"
Then he heard Nemuri or 'Midnight', her hero name, calling out.
"Yeah, work that stage! Strut, strut, strut!"
He rolled his eyes as his group came to stand by the Hero and General Education Courses, finding himself at the front of the group to find Aizawa, Yamada, and Ryuko. Just a bit behind them were Oboro and Shino.
"Now!" Came a call from a hero directing the groups on a stage. "Will representatives of the Hero Class A and B, Yamada Hizashi and Ryuko Tsuchikawa come forth?!"
The two chosen balked in disbelief as the hero students clapped and cheered, much to the two's embarrassment as they walked up.
"These two got the highest scores in the entrance exam into UA!" The man said with a grin as the two blondes chuckled nervously as they were cheered on. "Say something, you two!"
The two looked at the microphone passed onto them.
"Well," Yamada spoke up first with a nervous chuckle as the crowds cheered. "... YEAAHHHH! I'm surprised I was the one with the highest scores in my class, I know my friends here were quicker on the move and had brighter minds… But that just means I have to make sure to not let them down!"
The crowd exploded into cheers and whistles as Yamada grinned, passing the microphone onto Ryuko whose nervousness slipped away, the girl's grin shooting on all cylinders.
"I'm about as surprised as my friend here, I saw so many amazing, powerful, unique quirks here at UA and knew I had to work my way to the top and stand out!" She grinned at the roars of the world. "And, similar sentiments, I've worked hard to get here and won't let myself, or my friends, down by not doing my best!" Ryuko declared with a fistbump.
The two blondes looked at one another before laughing. "AND THANKS TO OUR FRIEND, OBITO, WHO HELPED TRAIN US!" They shouted and the crowd roared with them, growing curious as the cat boy in question blushed a bit as all eyes went to him. "THANKS, DUDE!"
"You troublemakers!" He shouted at them before clenching his fist. "You did your damn bests to get here! Don't you dare forget that!" The Support Course student said as he stood on the raised stage. "You're all here because you're some of the best in the country, aren't you?!"
The world cheered along with the three as the blondes raised their fists into the sky, the brunette copying them.
"WE'RE HERE TO BE THE BEST OF THE BEST!"
The stadium rumbled with the cheers and roars of applause, Obito only now realizing what he'd just done, in full.
"... I really just let you bring me into your pace," he said in disbelief to the two blondes as they pat his back and the three walked off stage. "Dammit!"
"It was a hell of a speech," Oboro cheered from the back and Obito grunted with some red on his cheeks as the courses looked to him. "Tsk! Don't let them leave you all behind! Train hard and focus harder to make those dreams of yours come true!"
The courses clapped as he returned to his place, hands behind his back as Yamada and Ryuko did the same.
"Damn, I guess even those not in the hero course can show you just how inspiring they are!" Came the shout from the hero as the crowd clapped. "Then let there be no delay! The first part of the preliminaries for the UA Sports Festival shall be THIS!"
A large screen flared to life before it showed static.
The static cleared to reveal their first round.
Obstacle Mountain Climb
Many of the students looked at the words with interest, Obito hummed as he nodded.
"It's going to favor those who can move well," he noted to his friends who hummed or grinned. "You all know how this works."
"Hehe~" Ryuko grinned as Yamada chuckled nervously.
Shino was in the same boat as the male blonde while Oboro snickered.
"Dude, this is, like, my course!" He said with a laugh as the groups were ushered towards an entrance opening. "I'll see you all at the top!"
The ground shook and outside of the stadium the sound of machinery, creaking metal, and awe came as the floor rose into a rising tower in the distance.
"The external course is ready!" Came the call from their 'proctor'. "Is everyone ready?! The Babel, the tower you all will be climbing, is easily a football field tall and half as much in height! The first person to reach the top is the winner! The first 42 to reach it will move on to the next stage! Don't let your own fears take hold of you! On your marks!"
Obito's eyes narrowed at how… narrow the pathway was. They were going to be bottlenecked if they tried to run through with all the others.
He checked his gear. Obito had done his best to prepare for a numerous amount of terrain.
The former shinobi tapped his Ultra-Rebound ninja sandals, a kunai pouch sat on his right leg while a shuriken pouch was on his lower back. Last but least, he removed his UA uniform sports top and stored it in an 'Item Box' on his left leg, leaving him in a skin-tight dark blue top that had no sleeves and a collar that crawled up halfway on his neck.
"You getting all kinds of ready, huh?" Yamada said as he opened his own shirt to reveal a yellow tank-top before he took it off and tied it around his waist. "I know what you mean."
Obito nodded as Shino simply opened her top to reveal a red shirt, Ryuko did the same as Yamada to reveal her light blue crop top, Aizawa loosely wound his specialized bandage weapon around his neck, and Oboro did as Shino had, allowing his white tank-top to show.
"Get ready!"
Obito stretched his arms and the group, as one, turned their eyes to the path ahead.
"GO!"
The crowd of students, of all courses, made to rush out, the entrance was barely a foot away… but all of them were overtaken by Obito's group in less than three seconds.
"What's this?! A coordinated rush over the crowd led by the mysterious Obito Uchiha?! This ragtag group of teens follow their leader towards the tower… Or can they?!"
Obito saw what the announcer meant the moment he stepped out of the dark corridor to enter the external course.
He jumped atop the arm of a robot that was almost twice his height before he lunged down it and sent out a kick.
Its head left its body all in one motion, the cat teen using the metallic creation to repeat his move to numerous other robots as more of such destruction was reeked by his friend group.
Aizawa maneuvered around two robots before allowing them to slam their heads together with his super-elastic bandages, the heads of both robots crushing one another's.
Yamada proved his representative status and simply blasted away two with quick whistles that crushed their legs before sending out a burst of 'YEEAAHHHS' to crush them.
Oboro's cloud allowed him to moved about the bots quickly and tripped them up enough for Shino's clawed gauntlets to cut through their necks before moving on.
The most efficient one of them all, though, was Ryuko who sank the robots as they tried to approach her before she used them as platforms as Obito had.
The group tore through them with such ease, many of the other students balked with one of them, a familiar carrot top, growling before exploding forward with blasts of light from his hands.
"I won't let you upstage me!" Sensoji roared out as he surged forward before his fists slammed through numerous robots in his blasting charge. "OORRRRYAAA!"
~NRK~
The two heroes in the announcer's booths blinked at the group of rather skillful students.
"Fascinating," came the call of the principal of UA, a rat-bear-dog-ferret person who was three inches short of 3 feet in height. "They move like they've done this for years…" He said as he rubbed a paw over his scarred right eye.
Wearing a pair of light brown timberland boots, black slacks, a white dress shirt, a black vest, and a red tie. His long tail curled up in thought as he cupped his chin.
'They said this Support Course student trained them?' To be fair, that wasn't that weird.
Some people couldn't be boxers but could still coach like pros, so this wasn't as odd… but their movements made them out to be far more trained than you'd expect from just a teenager.
"What do you think, Nezu-san?" Came the announcer, from his side. "These kids look super promising."
"They are," Nezu said as he looked at all the screens in the deck. "... The boy with the cat quirk, Furred Prowess, was it? He's taken good advantage of its traits to an inspiring degree despite the fact that he's a Support Course student."
"From what I could look up in a few seconds, he scored the second-highest in the Support Exam. He's not only made many general tools but all those ahead, minus Sensoji Akamitsu, have their gear because of him."
"Interesting."
"Damn!" Nemuri balked at the group's skillful displays. "They've got the moves!"
And the blondies of their group had said it was because of Obito? Where had his training skills come from?
Because these guys moved well and it was scary to think about how much better they'd get in the future.
~NRK~
"Win, Obito-nii-san!" Came a call from a recently four-year-old Izuku Midoriya as he cheered. "Ne, ne, kaa-san! Obito-nii's in the front!"
"I know, Izuku," came a woman with green hair in a long style and similar facial features to her son. "Still, Obito-kun is rather incredible, Hisashi-kun," she said to her husband as she cheered for Obito in her white shirt and long, salmon-covered, skirt. "Win, Obito!"
Next to her, wearing a tan dress shirt and black slacks, was a tall man with white skin, freckles starring across his cheeks, and emotional black eyes.
His hair was messy and medium in length, much like their son's was, while his was black like his brother's.
"Obito's always been pretty athletic, Inko," Hisashi Midoriya said. "He's smart, good with money, and skillful. That said, he told me he didn't want to be a hero."
"Maybe this is for the sponsors?" Inko Midoriya asked. "This IS meant to also show off those. I mean, the business course is right down there."
It was true, those students hadn't even chosen to run and were, instead, chatting amongst themselves as they, too, watched the screens.
"Well, Obito typically knows what he's doing," Hisashi said with a cheer of support. "GET THAT TOP SPOT, BROTHER!"
Inko giggled as Izuku followed his father's example.
"GET HIM, OBITO-NII!"
~NRK~
He saw the robot that was easily the size of a three-story home.
'It's not the enemy,' he knew and he hoped the others did as well as they skid to a stop by it. "Don't just stop! Find a way around it!" He commanded as he ran up to the opposition.
It swung down and he was on the arm in seconds before being up by its face, the cat boy grinned as he jumped onto its screen and tapped on it.
He flipped up and over it before using its head as a board to jump height into the sky. He ignored the loud crash of sound behind him and reached into his shuriken pouch.
Seconds later, he was gliding towards the tower with a large cloth held in his hands, catching the air and allowing him to stay high in the sky.
The others balked before running after him.
"... I got it!" Yamada shouted before jumping off a small robot and turning upside-down. "YYYEEEAAAHHHH!"
The force of his voice sent him flying and he righted himself right as he reached Obito in height.
Their eyes locked and smirks erupted on their faces.
Obito released the cloth before removing a kunai and sending plunging into the tower's side, a wire attached to it and whirled in by a motor in his 'pouch'.
Yamada balked as the feline male shot towards the tower which was like an ascending hill with 'rings' of inclines.
"WOOOO!" He shot after him with a burst of his voice.
Shino chuckled at that. "Someone's having fun," she said before doing as Yamada did and jumping off the top of a robot. "Like… THIS!"
She'd had a similar contraption to Obito, also Obito-made, and plunged a kunai into the wall before it pulled her forward and activating her quirk with red cheeks.
Yamada and Obito had barely made it to the halfway point of the tower when a voice shot into their minds.
"It's nudes of Midnight!"
"What, where?!" Yamada shouted before losing his grip and falling to a lower level. "DAMN YOU, SHINOOO!"
Obito, meanwhile, groaned.
'You're a man in a teen's body, get a hold of yourself!' He knew that and, obviously, Shino couldn't send images across to their minds… but his body had a different idea. 'Fucking puberty!'
His hands clasped onto the wall lest he reveal to the world his 'secret kunai'.
Shino grinned as she landed by Yamada before she began climbing towards Obito who grimaced as he tensed his thighs.
"Playing tricky, huh?"
"Learned from the best!" She said as she passed him only for both of them to blink as a familiar elastic bandage wrapped around their torsos.
"Freaking-" They began to say before being pulled down as the figure of Aizawa shot past them with Oboro right on his tail. "Aizawa-kun!"
They landed near Yamada who had already shot himself up a second before.
Then the area around them rumbled and both teens jumped to the side as a rollercoaster of dirt passed them by.
"See ya~," Ryuko said as she blew them a kiss as she rolled up the side of the tower, passing Aizawa, Yamada, and Oboro as she did. "See ya, losers!"
"Oh, hell no!" They shouted before a bright series of flashes blew past them. "Sensoji?!"
They redoubled their efforts and climbed faster as the other students began to catch up.
Obito's eyes narrowed at the top of the tower before he hopped in place, his footwear bouncing an extra few spaces into the air as he did this five times.
He crouched on the sixth before unwinding like a stressed spring.
"Heh," he wall jumped rapidly, passing Shino and Yamada before reaching Oboro and Aizawa.
They saw his grin before Obito blurred higher with numerous bounds.
"Hell no!"
Obito, meanwhile, was catching up to Sensoji who heard him coming.
His bulky form turned in the air and his arms pointed at him, the cat boy's eyes glinted before Obito jumped in zigzag patterns to dodge blasts of Blast Bullets.
"Tsk!" Sensoji turned his focus back on flying up as Ryuko came into sight, the two males' eyes landing on her and her head turned to see them.
No shock greeted them, horrifyingly enough. Ryuko grinned as her gauntleted hands slammed into the walls at the side of her mud vehicle.
Obito sweatdropped at the dirt puma heads whose mouths opened to shoot earthen bullets at the two.
'It's basically the Doryuudan!' He grinned at her ingenuity, totally proud. 'I won't let your efforts be unmet!'
This second life was something, he'd somehow found himself with a friend group below his mental age… and yet here he was, having fun.
Sensoji dodged by simply flying back but it slowed him down meanwhile Obito lunged into the barrage and dodged each bullet by hair's breadths.
"Seriously?!"
~NRK~
"It's impressive," came Nezu's words over the microphone. "He's choosing to simply dodge as well as he can to not lose as much speed, especially seeing as the two by him are more advantaged by the environment!"
"It's rather risky," the other commenter said. "Your reflexes have to be top-notch to pull off this… and the Uchiha boy has broken through the barrage and is now neck-and-neck with Ryuko Tsuchikawa!" He shouted over the mic!
"You get him, Obi!" Nemuri shouted with excitement. "Oh, I can tell how much he's enjoying this! Pulling off all those ballsy moves!"
She couldn't wait for the second-years' turn!
"Get him, Obito-kun!" Inko cheered as the young man was slowly overtaking Ryuko. "Oh, we should celebrate after this!"
"I've already set up the yard!" Hisashi shouted before cheering like a dying man in the ocean. "GET HER, BOYO!"
"You got this, nii-san!" Izuku shouted with eyes shining with excitement.
His uncle always seemed to bring out his excitement, the teen knowing how to inspire people even if he didn't know it.
~NRK~
"?" He looked at the screen, blinking as he adjusted his visor. "A Support Course student is fighting that hard for the top?" A large, well-aged, man said as he and his sidekicks watched the screen. "Saru, what do you think?"
"He's perfectly aware of his body," one of his sidekicks, wearing a monkey mask, said excitedly. "It's interesting to think that he's a Support student, though. Why not join from the offset?"
"This might be a new burst of inspiration?"
"I don't know, Yoroi-dono."
~NRK~
He watched it with a tilt of the head, blue eyes as well as red-and-white hair shifting to watch him.
"He's so fast, kaa-san."
"I know, Shouto-kun," his mother said, her white hair tilting with her hair. "But a Support student?"
Shouto Todoroki didn't know, it was weird to him too.
But he was so cool!
~NRK~
"He's amazing, Nighteye."
"I'm already looking into his information," came the sidekick at his side. "This boy might be the one."
"Perhaps. With that speech from before, I'm rather curious."
~NRK~
"The last stretch!" He said to Ryuko as they began to climb the last 'level' of the tower.
Sensoji, Ryuko, and Obito landed at the top with the third being first.
"AND FIRST PLACE IS OBITO UCHIHA!" They heard over the speakers.
"D-Dammit!" Sensoji shouted to the high heavens as Oboro made it over the edge. "Why are you even in the Support Course?! If you wanted to be a hero so damn much, why not just come in?!"
Obito sat down and leaned back on his hands, legs very warm. "I'm not trying to get into the hero course, I just need the popularity," he said with one eye closed at Sensoji's disbelief. "Last I checked, I'm still a Support Course student, Sensoji-kun."
"Gaaahhhh!"
"Yo… who's making all that noise?" Yamada asked as he crawled over the ledge before collapsing onto the floor. "Oh… It's you, Sensoji-kun… sup?"
"Bite me, Yamada!" The carrot top said before pointing at Obito. "Why the hell are you getting in my way?!"
"Um, I'm not," Obito said as Aizawa and Shino, in that order, came over the ledge. "It's the simple nature of competition. You don't get to win just because you want to, you need to train as well. That's the same reason Ryuko got second and not you."
"Hehe~" The blonde girl grinned as she laid down on the floor. "That was a rush!"
"It really was," Shino said with a giggle before looking at Obito. "People are going to be so disappointed when they find out."
"Eh, they can think all they want, that doesn't change my path in all this," Obito said. "I've got my own objectives and that won't change, easily."
"Hmph," Aizawa chuckled a bit as Oboro laughed. "That sounds right."
This group of his… maybe they were right.
This was the path he chose to be on, no one else chose for him.
Aizawa's eyes gained a glint that had been lacking compared to his friend group.
This was his path to being a hero.
~NRK~
Back in the stadium proper, the group was audience to the large screen showing the numbers.
"The top ten students who made it to the tower!" The proctor from before began with a grin. "Are as such!"
Obito Uchiha
Ryuko Tsuchikawa
Sensoji Akamitsu
Oboro Shirakumo
Yamada Hizashi
Shouta Aizawa
Shino Sosaki
Tsuyoi Chikari
Ken Ishiyama
Shiyon Heiho
"Hmph, you're pretty amazing," came a voice from Obito's side and he turned to see the other top tenners in the climb. "Name's Tsuyoi Chikari, my hero name to be is 'Death Arms'."
He was a rather well-sculpted boy with a strong chin, black eyes, and slightly tan skin. His hair was a stark white and shooting back in a spiky style.
"You're good," came another boy who had four arms. "The name's Shiyon Heiho, hero name to-be 'Fourth-Kind'."
He was slightly tan as well, had dark, almost black, brown eyes and a shaved head.
"And I'm Ken… Ken Ishiyama," came the call of a cement block-like person whose head was square in shape and his eyes kind if not a little nervous as he rubbed the back of his head. "H-Hero name-to-be 'Cementoss'."
"Obito Uchiha, no hero name," Obito said as he shook each boy's hands as his group chuckled. "So you all also made it into the top ten, that's impressive."
"Hmph, not as much as you," Tsuyoi said with a grin. "You've gotta be aiming pretty high with skills like yours."
Obito felt two arms lay themselves on his shoulders as Oboro and Yamada grinned.
"Oh, you seem to be mistaken."
"This guy just wants a sponsor!"
"... Hah?" Shiyon balked. "N-Not a hero?! Are you insane?!"
Ryuko started giggling incessantly as Shino chuckled. Sensoji grimaced off to the side as Aizawa hummed.
"You're well-trained for a Support Course, is what he means?" Tsuyoi said as he crossed his arms and tilted a bit. "It's just… weird. From what I know, most Support students aren't exactly hero-bodied if you know what I mean."
"I do and, yes, I'm an exception to the rule," Obito explained. "I think it's important to be able to protect oneself, though. We literally live in a world where a person with acid arms can come around a corner. Might want to be prepared for something like that."
"... That's fair."
"All 42 contestants! Come forth!" Came the call of their proctor and the groups congregated on the top ten. "Welcome to the second stage! This battle shall be… A VIP Battle!"
"VIP-"
"Battle?" Ryuko finished for Shino as the words showed up on the big screen. "What do you think that means?"
"... Well, if VIP is to mean anything, bodyguard duty?" Obito suggested and Aizawa groaned. "That said, how this works is yet to be explained."
"You all will form teams of four and one of you will be the 'VIP'!" The hero explained. "Then you all will be navigating the stadium field while protecting your VIP! The VIPs will be given headbands with a certain amount of points. The Number 1 spot's headband is worth…. TEN MILLION POINTS!"
Obito's face shifted from intrigue to a flat expression as all eyes went to him.
"The goal of the exercise is to protect your group's headbands. From here on out, you'll navigate the maze to leave with each VIP having a map to find the way out! If you meet another group in the maze, you can either run with your VIP or try to steal the opposing team's own headband. The VIPs are NOT allowed to use their quirks and must not fight back!"
"Dammit," Obito realized with a groan as more eyes went his way. "He's doing this to spite me, he has to be."
"Everyone got the rules? Good? Then get to it!"
Obito didn't so much as move an inch before he was surrounded by crowding students.
"Just join us and we'll get out ASAP!"
"My quirk can get us out easily! Come on!"
"Your points can easily make it so we can always run away!"
More of such words passed his way and Obito's eyes went flat as his group was left on the edge.
"Geez, I thought this would be the other way around," Yamada said with a nervous chuckle before being approached by a girl and boy. "Uh, yo?"
"Come on, we can win this if we just play to our strengths."
"Just the three of us," the girl said after the boy.
"Uh, right, well-"
"He's in a group already," Aizawa said as he walked forward with Ryuko. "We're a three-man team."
Shino and Oboro blinked before chuckling and grinning, respectively.
Obito had been in the middle of denying a rather mortifying compromise when he saw the cloud above with a grinning Oboro on it holding out a hand.
"You in a squad, yet?"
"... Nope," Obito said as he jumped up as they grasped hands, Oboro longing his tongue out at the group of students as he floated the two of them over to Shino. "And now we're a three-man team."
"I see," Obito said with a nod and a smirk as he saw Yamada's three-man team. "We'll see you at the end."
"Same!" Ryuko said with a grin as Yamada copied her and Aizawa smirked a bit. "See you in the winner's circle!"
The second event had gone well with his team coming out on top due to their height advantage with Oboro's quirk.
The final teams ended up being as followed.
His team
Sensoji'steam
Ryuko's team
Death Arms' team
Four teams of the three, twelve participants for the battle royale.
"With this, we've come to the second to last stage of the Freshman portion of the UA festival!" Came their hero proctor, his hands behind his back. "You all will be separated into brackets and fight to the top!"
"Then I will be removing myself from the standings," Obito said with crossed arms as the man, and those not in his friend group, balked at him. "I got what I wanted out of this. I'm not here to actually fight anyone."
His friends laughed nervously at Sensoji as his eyes went white.
"UCHIHA?!"
"Hush, Sensoji-kun."
~NRK~
"You what?!" The man, Yoroi, balked.
"It seems like he doesn't care?" Saru said unsurely. "I don't understand some of the youth these days."
~NRK~
"... Nighteye, I'm confused."
"... I don't know what to tell you, sir… This isn't normal behavior for a UA student."
~NRK~
"H-Huh?" He swallowed as his mother blinked at him, having just come back into the room. "Mom, why'd he quit?"
A white-haired woman with grey eyes and fair skin shook her head at him, wearing a white jacket over a blue shirt and black pants, she hummed.
"I don't know, Shouto-kun," Rei Todoroki supplied with another confused hum. "He just seems like he just wanted to use his Support Items."
"B-But he's so cool!" The boy said with a pout and Rei giggled before rubbing his head. "M-Maybe he wants to get more things."
"Hm, hm, maybe."
\~NRK~
"Haaa, man, he told me but I really wanted to see my little bro out there, making them kiss the floor he wants on," Hisashi lamented as Inko's eyebrow rose in an amazing turn of confusion.
"What world do you live on, Hisa-kun?"
"... That depends on the time and day."
"Hm?"
"Earth, honey!" He said and Inko giggled as their son flopped. "C-Come on, Izu! I promise! Your uncle is just… complex!"
"What's 'complex' mean?"
"... Complicated."
"What's 'complicated' mean?"
"... Ya know, there's this great dictionary I just bought."
Inko rolled her eyes at him.
"Nah, man! Come on! Go out there and take more names than you caught with a collar on!" Nemuri cried out in sadness.
"Just who are you talking to?" Came a boy at her side who wore an expression of such confusion, he looked lost. "That's gotta cross a line that I'm not aware of."
"Tensei-kun, that's not a good look!" Nemuri said with a tutting finger. "Not between friends!"
"That sounds horribly abusive!"
"Eh."
Obito ignored those around him before Sensoji's explosion of emotion got a shake of the head from him.
"I've got nothing else to gain from fighting you all any further," he reiterated. "So, yes, I'm removing myself from the brackets," Obito informed the proctor who also looked disappointed. "Snrt."
"Fine, fine, dammit, kid. I was getting so hyped!"
"Apologies but my answer is still the same."
"Fine, anyone else?" The hero asked and the students' eyes were all on Obito. "I'll take that as a no. Geez, never had the number 1 step out like that."
Obito shrugged before turning to his friends. "You've all gotta put on a show, as it turns out, I've disappointed people."
"Talk about a showstopper," Yamada said with a snicker. "Man, I kind of wanted to really show ya how well I've learned to use my quirk."
"I saw a lot of it during the race," Obito said with a snort as Ryuko and Shino chuckled. "You've all improved a lot, it's time for you to take your stage."
"... O-Okay, you kind of just made this a big thing," Oboro realized with a nervous cough as Aizawa's face went flat. "Damn."
"Hmph," Obito rolled his eyes before walking towards one of the gates into the field. "Handle yourselves," he said as he turned to see Sensoji in the way. "You as well, Sensoji-kun."
"You can't just walk away! Where's your pride, dammit?!" Sensoji couldn't take this lying down!
To have beat him and just leave before he could get his shot at him?! Who the hell did he think he was?!
"I told you my reasons, I don't want to."
"So you'd disappoint the world?!"
"Do I look like the world's family member? No? Then we have your answer," he said, walking past the large teen.
Sensoji reached out-
His chin soon sat against the floor as Obito sat atop him, looking down at the larger boy with his arm in his grip.
…?!
"Holy shit!" Nemuri balked along with most of the crowd. "I-I didn't even see him move!"
Tensei's eyes widened as well.
Wasn't he supposed to be a Support Course Student?!
"Whew! He went out with a bang, Izu!"
"Bang bang! Like Kaachan!"
"Yeah, like Kacchan!"
Inko's shoulders shook as her mouth barely held back her laughter.
"... That speed was," his fellow announcer couldn't finish his sentence. "N-Nezu, is this kid serious?"
Many of the other heroes in the booth balked along with him.
Nezu's 'hands' came together as he observed what had happened in the replays around the room.
"... I don't have an answer for you, Crust… This young man… I don't understand him."
~NRK~
Nighteye stared for a moment, confusion on his face.
"... Nighteye, that young man… His speed is incredible," came the hero at his side, leaning down to get a better look at the screen. "I don't understand, why is he a Support Course student?"
"... I don't understand him all that much myself. Such well-developed speed… unless it's his quirk which doesn't seem to be the case from the files I've brought up, then he trained to get that fast and yet remains a Support Course student."
~NRK~
"What a whoo?!" The large, well-aged, man said as one of his masked sidekicks balked.
"I-I barely caught that!"
"Saru, bring up information about this young Obito Uchiha, would you?" Yoroi asked as his monkey-masked sidekick nodded.
"I'm surprised to see this talent in a kid his age, though… It's amazing."
"It is."
~NRK~
Shouto Todoroki's eyes shined as his mother blinked.
"He's so fast!" The boy said with joy. "Mom, he's super fast! Kind of like All Might!" Shouto cheered as Rei tilted her head.
"H-He's pretty fast, Shouto-kun."
"Yeah!"
~NRK~
Everyone else in the field balked, Obito's friends included, as he got off his bigger fellow student.
"I'd suggest you focus on goals, attainable, Sensoji-kun," Obito said as he left before hearing a shout from his side.
"Get your ass up here, Obi! We've got words!" Nemuri shouted at him, getting a snort from the cat boy.
"That's me," he said to the others as he turned to say his last words. "Do your best, you all, this isn't mine, this is all of yours. Besides…" Obito grinned.
"You'd have to beat Aizawa and them before you could even try me."
He then leaped casually onto the railing of the stands before walking over to Nemuri with his hands in his pockets. "Hello?"
"Where'd all this badassery come from?!" She shouted at him.
Aizawa grimaced. "And, as he leaves, life becomes harder," he grunted to the others who were left in various forms of nervousness as Sensoji got up with burning eyes.
"I'm killing all of you!"
"Fun," Yamada said as Ryuko snorted. "Hehe, he left quite an impression… We're gonna have to go all out to beat that," he said with a widening grin as the others gained looks of determination as all battlers looked at one another. "... I'm gonna win this thing!" He declared to the group who balked.
"The hell you will, Hizashi!" Sensoji shouted.
"Then beat me, Sen-kun!"
"Hm!" Ryuko's eyes shined. "This is gonna be one of our biggest debuts! We've gotta do well, Shino-chan!"
"Y-Yeah!"
"Heh," Oboro chuckled with a finger rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Alright… Alright! Time to style on the haters!"
"You calling me a hater, Cloud Boy!"
"Hehehehe~"
Obito sat down with his arms crossed and his mind ignoring every one of the second years.
Well… all of them save for a few.
"That was… outstanding," the boy from his side with engines in his legs, Tensei he said his name was, said. "I can reach those speeds but my ability works more with chases instead of outright combat."
"That's not an issue, not everyone has such a quirk. That said, all types are needed," Obito chatted.
"A good way to look at it… though your big friend seems rather irritated," Tensei said with a sweatdrop as Sensoji roared at Obito's friends. "Hm, hm."
Nemuri was not deterred. "Dude, since when were you, like, a ninja? There's no way you just pulled the Zazashi special on Sensoji!" Obito choked and snorted all in one go.
"The w-who?"
"It's this guy from this manga about a ninja."
"Once again, who?"
"Hey!" Came a voice from behind and the three, gaining their attention. "You can't just go out there, be badass, and just leave Freshie! Come on! I want to see some asses kicked!"
It was a boy with light brown skin, short dark brown hair, and brown eyes. His cheeks were covered by red, tribal, paint and he wore a look of total disappointment.
"Mori-kun, I know, I'm also very at a loss about Obito-kun's chance at the big time!" Nemuri said with tears of sadness. "But we can't force 'em back onto the stage, what if he has horrible stage fright?!"
"I don't," Obito said flatly as Tensei chuckled.
"Nemuri's always had a… interesting affection for the dramatics."
"So I've learned in the past month."
Time passed and, as it did, so did the battles.
Obito was proud to say, his friends had done well to conquer the crowd's enthusiasm, especially Ryuko who had her flashy quirk and could do so many versatile things with it.
When the fights continued, they came to a surprising final match.
Ryuko Tsuchikawa vs… Shino Sosaki
The upset had happened during the third fight when she was facing Sensoji. The fight had been good and she'd come out on top with a trick wire.
Oh, how the boy had slumped after his defeat in his first match.
While Ryuko had gone on to fight Oboro, Death Arms, and one of Sensoji's lackeys, Shino had been faced with an opponent that made their fight nothing but technical skill.
Of their group, Obito had given those two the most technical training that he could and, in the end, Shino won out by beating their male friend with her clawed gauntlets.
Obito already wrote down that Aizawa needed gauntlets for protection.
Shouta defeated Yamada so Shino had been left to face off with Ryuko.
In that time, he'd, along with Nemuri, gone over to his family's section.
"What do ya think about her chances, little bro?" Hizashi asked Obito who considered the match-up. "I know that Shino-kun can be underhanded… but Ryuko-kun?"
"It's going to be a fight where Shino has to set as many traps using Ryuko's quirk as coverage," Obito considered with narrowed eyes. "Ryuko needs to establish a good pace from the start. While she's good at manipulating the earth beneath their feet, she can't automate her creations all that much yet and has to focus on what they're doing. Right, I'd say Ryuko has the advantage from the offset."
"Pretty well-thought-out," Nemuri said with a smirk. "You considered the downsides to their quirks and already considered their win cons, not bad," she said as Inko giggled.
"Obito has always been one with long-term planning, he's more used to long-term satisfaction than short-term gratification," Inko noted as Obito grunted.
"There's no point in planning for the short term, to me. Besides, long-term goals typically work out better."
"And there it is, the maturity," Nemuri noted with a chuckle. "Let me tell ya, it's like he's way too mature for his age. What do you feed him?"
"Now that's the other way around," Hisashi said with a grin as Nemuri raised a brow. "Obito and Inko do the most cooking, Obito does it the most and he would captain the kitchen if he actually owned it."
"No comment," Obito said flatly as Nemuri snickered.
"Then you should totally cook for us after this! We can go and do a hot pot & grill!"
"... I'll consider it," Obito said with a hand cupping his chin. "There was this place down the way where you could mix your own sauces… Very well, I'm convinced."
Nemuri sweatdropped. 'Didn't you just convince yourself?' Well, more fun for her!
Ryuko slapped her gauntlets' paw pads together. "No hard feelings, Shino-chan!" She declared as Shino chuckled a bit.
"I know," she said with a nod as he got into a loose stance. "But I'm going to win."
"Hehe~" Ryuko raised her covered hands and shifted side to side. "Let's have some fun!"
"BEGIN!" Came their proctor's hand chop.
Tsuchikawa's hands hit the ground and two mounds rushed towards Shino.
'The fast kinds,' she knew, she'd trained with all her friends to know their ins and outs. 'Going in physically is the current plan!' Shino thought as she rushed in, arms pumping back and forth.
Ryuko grinned as she flexed her hands downward and the mounds, once they were around, exploded into bits.
Shino jumped back as she threw a knife at Ryuko's feet, the earth quirk-user covered her eyes as a small flash, comparable to that of a camera's, hit her block.
'Already bringing out the flashes, huh?' She realized before slamming her hands into the floor and covering her body with earthen walls. 'I know how this works, Shino-chan!'
Obito had given her a heads-up that she should try to protect her vitals if not able to see the opponent.
So, with her slightly blurry vision, she'd locked herself up in her earth confines to recover.
That said, she was still not able to tell where Shino was especially since she'd been taking Stealth lessons with Obito and Shouta.
So, she opened small holes in her 'armor' and looked around.
'Not in front of me, at the sides… So…' Ryuko's eyes went up and considered her back. 'She knows that I can't keep this up.'
Her skill with her quirk had grown in leaps and bounds under Obito's tutelage even if he told her it was half her own hard work.
So, at present, she could handle three creations with some strain. With this one creation, though stationary, she was at three.
… Is what Shino was probably thinking!
Tsuchikawa grinned as she slammed her hands into the ground and something in her mind twinged.
A fourth creation wouldn't be painless but she only needed a few minutes!
Outside, Shino skirted her friend's protection by a meter, far enough to disappear out of her vision but close enough to attack at a moment's notice.
So when the floor two meters all around began to bulge up, she panicked and jumped high into the sky as the earth exploded along with the shell of earth protection, revealing a grinning Ryuko.
"!" Her eyebrow twitched but the earth-user slammed her hands into the ground, a pillar rising out of the ground towards her friend.
Shino grimaced before sending out a wired kunai to the floor to the side, using her Kunai Rotor box to pull herself out of the way.
'Ryu-chan is always so surprising,' she'd not considered the girl might have pushed herself on her own. 'Still, that's not a good move for her mental health.'
Using her earthly creations made Ryuko a threat but also a person with a vital weakness. If she went over her limits, she'd be slower, mentally, to act.
So, once she touched the ground, Shino lunged at her friend as Ryuko brought her hands down and then up.
The telepathy-quirk user frowned as she skidded to a stop by an earth wall before her quirk activated.
Ryuko grimaced as she heard footsteps at her side. 'Damn telepathy!' She knew how Shino could turn a protective wall into a trap.
When she was out of the blonde's vision, anyone's vision, Shino was at her best. Obito had made sure that was the case.
So, Ryuko flickered her head left and right before a shadow appeared above-
Blue eyes widened in horror as a kunai floated down from a cloth balloon.
Footsteps from her right grabbed her attention, unfortunately, as she kicked in that direction from her left.
"Wow, didn't expect that," Nemuri said.
"It's one of the simplest tricks to use," Obito said with a nod. "When Shino is out of sight, she can easily control the pace of the fight. Was she to aim for Ryuko's vitals as she had to Aizawa…"
"She'd have taken her down… but something's coming off of Ryuko's body."
The group saw the dirt falling out from the blonde's clothes.
"Smart," Obito said with a chuckle and smirk before blinking as Nemuri's phone flashed several times. "... Excuse me?"
"Your smirks are to live for Obi!" She said with a widening grin. "Hm, hm, hm! Yes! Are you sure you don't want a collar?"
Hisashi choked as Inko gasped and Izuku blinked in confusion.
"Collar?" The green-haired child wondered. "Uncle's not a pet," he decided with several nods as Nemuri grinned and Obito's eyebrows twitched.
"Ignore her, Izu-kun, Nemuri's a troublemaker."
"Ya darn tootin'!"
"Tsk," Aizawa rubbed the back of his head as Yamada chuckled.
The two sported no big bandages but the former had a set of bandages around his forehead while Yamada was bandaged in his abdomen under his clothes.
"She used that move against ya too, ey? Sen-kun?" Hizashi asked nervously to the slumping carrot top beside them. "... You know it's not the end of the world, right?"
"..."
"And he's not responding, golly-gee," Yamada shrugged with a sigh.
"Hmph, leave him alone, he's not happy and it's not my problem."
"Oh, so cold!"
"You sayin' something to me, Aizawa?!"
"There it is."
"Nice!"
"Do you think we can assume she was trained by that young man as well," Crust asked with a raised brow. "They all seem to wield his tools and sport his emblem."
"It must mean that he's had some sort of input on their fighting, at least," Nezu said as he worked a laptop at his side. "Hmm… He's adopted?"
"That so?" Crust said. "So he doesn't have a hero family, does he?"
"No, he doesn't, he's from a normal family with his adoptive brother who has a wife and child."
~NRK~
"So he's this way all on his own?" Came the hero next to Nighteye's chair's voice. "He's not just trained himself but others as well?"
"Hmm," Nighteye adjusted his glasses as he read off the files. "He and that group minus Oboro Shirakumo have gone to the same school for the past two years, it seems. He jumped a grade in middle school and joined them in their second-to-last year."
"So, two years of possible training?"
"It's not unlikely."
~NRK~
"..."
"He reminds you of your own beginnings, doesn't he, Yoroi-dono?" Saru asked with a chuckle.
"... Yes, he does," Yoroi began. "The days of being poor and trying to establish myself… those days feel like they'd just happened."
"I hear ya," came another sidekick with a horse mask. "... Huh, crazy that," she said as she turned her computer screen to the two where they blinked at the information on it.
"He takes some of my courses?!" Yoroi shouted in disbelief. "Which sector?!"
"Mustafu," she said as she read off the screen. "... Yup, yup, turns out he's really liked by the coach there, she's going to send him off to an intermediate tournament soon."
"Wait, intermediate?"
"Yes, he's won several beginner ones and outclassed everyone there," Uma snickered a bit. "Turns out, they don't think he belongs in the 'Beginners' bracket."
~NRK~
"..."
"... Shouto-kun," Rei looked intently at the slightly pouty boy. "... You want to go and meet him, don't you?"
"Y-Yes."
"..." Rei pulled out her phone and hummed in thought. 'UA, huh?' But, then, he was also a Support Course student. '... The website.'
Her… husband told her numerous times that the UA Store, the school's website, would show civilians whose items were the most successful in the school. It'd be an entryway into the school's, and their most notable heroes', minds on what was most notable.
Looking in, on the front page, Rei hummed before blinking at the boy's items placed in the top 300 ranks, more specifically, rank 250. His 'Uchiwa' items occupied several slots.
'That's impressive,' this meant that he was notable… but 89th? 'Didn't he just join?'
There had to be numerous weapons and items that had been made before his entry… and he was that far up?
'Enji would probably be interested in him,' she noted with a troubled expression. '... Is he even watching the UA Sports Festival?'
She didn't know… and wasn't sure if him being here or not was a bad thing.
… 'Back on topic… He's been there a month and has enough credibility,' which means that he shouldn't be hard to find. '...?' Rei blinked at the clothing section with interest. 'He does clothes?'
Well, well, well, she was more intrigued by this young man's skills.
~NRK~
'That smarts!' Ryuko thought with a grimace as she rolled to a stop, getting up to her knees. 'Thank God for the Ji-Yoroi (Earth Armor),' she thought as she slammed her hand down.
The earth beneath her limp shot out in a burst of crumbling dirt. Shino jumped back before tossing a knife at her blonde friend's feet.
'Dammit!' Her eyes clenched shut as another Flash Kunai, an Obito-made tool that most of them saw making use of in the future.
She grunted as the leg slammed into her midsection before grabbing it and swinging around to throw Shino against the floor.
The grunt she heard got a grin out of the blonde but she was still unable to really see.
So she slammed her hands into the ground by her friend's feet before jumping back and tearing them up, a blanket of dirt coming over Shino.
"Oh shirt!" Shino shouted as she pushed off into a roll to the side before getting to her feet as Tsuchikawa wiped her eyes one more time, a grin on her lips. 'She's got so much versatility it's terrifying.'
Yamada was good at this too but Ryuko had a whole repertoire that could leave you unsure if you had an advantage at times.
'I have to put her into a position where she can't use her quirk,' she realized as placed one of her hands on her pouches. 'My steel wire… but that requires…' It required Ryu-chan to not see it coming.
Brown eyes narrowed as she removed a pair of kunai from her pouch. 'Two more left…' Her eyes gained a determined gleam before her hand dipped back into her pouch.
Ryuko crossed her arms in front of her face as a knife hit the floor beneath her feet only for her body to be pelted, rather unpainfully, by several white balls.
"Smoke bombs!" Ryuko narrated with a grimace as she jumped back before the sound of a knife being pulled from the ground reached her ears. "Ahead-!?"
Her vision flashed as something slammed into her face before she was tripped off her feet.
Something wrapped around her limbs quickly and locked her to the ground with a pair of knives.
When the smoke cleared, the winner had a knife in her hand as she kneeled by her friend's head.
"... Then the battle has concluded!" Their proctor said as Shino undid Ryuko's bindings. "The winner in first place of this year's Freshman bracket is SHINO SOSAKI!"
The crowd exploded into applause as Shino helped Ryuko to her feet.
"Damn, didn't expect that," the blonde girl said with a chuckle as Shino smiled. "That said, congrats, you've made it the top spot!" Tsuchikawa declared as the loud clapping from the audience grew. "A damn good fight!"
"I-I'm glad," Sosaki said with a blush as she bowed to the crowd. "Thank you!"
"Hehehe, not bad, ay, Sensoji?" Yamada asked the grumbling teen. "Hey, think about it like this, the person who beat you is the winner of the entire tournament. Why not think of it like that?"
The carrot top considered it with a grunt before crossing his arms and scoffing.
"Whatever! She was kind of tough!"
"There ya go!"
"Hm, hm, hm," Oboro snickered behind the three as Aizawa hummed. "He's certainly good at managing someone's attitude."
"... I guess," Shouta said with a hum. "So, Shino won."
"How do ya feel?"
"... Fine," Aizawa shrugged. "I… I need more training, my quirk's potency relies on sight, I need to work more on it."
"Same but I just need more creativity," Oboro said. "Think that Obito guy can help a dude out?"
"Snrt."
Obito's group stood up with claps.
"YEAAAAHHHH!" Hisashi's arms flew into the air, copied by his son. "You've won!"
"Hm, hm, hm," Inko giggled as she clapped loudly. "Outstanding!"
"Yeah!" Izuku said.
"She's a hell of a gal!" Nemuri remarked with a wide grin as Obito smirked, hands clapping loud and proud. "How's it feel to have a student of yers up there?"
"Pretty damn good," he admitted with a chuckle. "Shino deserves this victory more than she knows."
"Ho ho~ Someone's pretty into this! Thought about a special gift?" Nemuri asked as she confused Obito.
"What are you talking about… Well, I am cooking for them, I'll probably make her favorite foods."
"Swing and a miss," Nemuri noted with a chuckle as Hisashi made an interesting sound while Inko blushed. "Talk about a stoic wall."
"Wall?" Izuku blinked in confusion. "Uncle is a cat."
"Yes and he's as standoffish as one at times."
"Ooohhhh," Hisashi snickered as Inko smiled, the Freshmen Losers games taking place. "Gonna get in on that?" He asked his adopted sibling who shrugged.
"It's not mandatory, the last thing I need is for people to see me any more than they already have."
"And , one of that friend group wins," Nezu stated to the heroes as the screens all around them showed the top twelve Freshmen. "Is this pre-destined? Was he the one who helped them go this far? What does that mean?"
"Maybe he's a better coach than a fighter?" Crust considered and Nezu hummed. "... but none of us believe that, do we?" He asked and those in the booth chuckled.
"Nope."
"Not in the least."
"Hm, hm, glad to see we're all in agreement," Nezu said as the Loser Games began. "And it seems our friendly neighborhood cat person isn't participating."
"He seems like the no-nonsense type."
"I agree."
~NRK~
"And so it ends," Nighteye said with a hum. "This Shino Sosaki seems rather skilled for her age, I'm interested in seeing how she might enjoy working at my hero agency."
"Hm, hm, ideas running around in your head?" His hero asked as Nighteye smiled. "She seems well aware of how to best use her quirk at that. Flash-producing knives, smoke bombs, thin steel wire… And each of these items is from that young man, aren't they?"
"They are," Nighteye said as they looked at Obito's product placement. "And he's in the high 200s, impressive."
"Are you thinking about sponsoring him?"
"It wouldn't be a bad idea."
~NRK~
"Mmm," Rei considered the clothing section. "They all have good reviews," she noted.
To be fair, it was the beginning of his tenure so who knew how things would change?
"... This one looks kind of cute," she considered, confusing her son, as she considered the arm warmers he'd had up for sale. "It might be kind of different for me…" Rei's eyes went to Shoto's, the boy's eyes blinking at her as he tilted his head.
She purchased them in a small size.
~NRK~
"She might have some potential to join you all, Saru, Uma," Yoroi said.
"She's certainly underhanded enough," Uma noted. "Add on that she seems to have a pretty vast tool repertoire."
"That Uchiha kid again," Saru noted with crossed arms. "He's stronger than we know, makes pretty versatile Support Items, and trains these other kids. What, does he cook and do fashion?"
"... Actually," Uma began with a giggle as Saru nearly fell out of his seat. "A little digging tells me that, shocker, he not only has clothes on the UA Store but he's entered several cooking competitions before coming to UA," she said with a cheeky tone.
"Sir, you have to grab this kid!"
"Turns out, he got first place in all those comps."
"Think of the food!"
"Saru, you're, as always, a very special case," Yoroi said with a grunt.
"... Apologies."
~NRK~
The UA Festival quickly after they got through the second and third years.
Soon enough, sometime after, they were in the backyard area of the Midoriya home, the area big enough for them to eat… especially with their few extras.
"Hmm, hmm," Nezu smiled as he tasted some glazed chicken tenders. "You have a talent, Obito-kun!" The mouse-bear-rat said with his arms raised in joy. "Why I'm more and more surprised you're a Support Course student!"
"It's quite interesting," Tensei said as Nemuri ate with gusto. "The only people I know at my home who could cook like this would be our staff."
"You've got staff?" Yamada asked in disbelief as Ryuko hummed.
"Well, he is an Iida," she noted as she tasted some of the chicken on her own plate. "So damn good!" Ryuko cried tears of joy as the older UA student chuckled.
"Hmph!" Sensoji grimaced as he looked down at his plate of half-eaten food, hating how good it tasted. "Dammit!"
"Use your words," Oboro said with stars in his eyes as he ate. "Hm, hm! I finally get to taste your so-called legendary lunches! You do NOT disappoint!"
Obito snorted as he served his family, Inko and Izuku's eyes as wide as possible as they looked at Principal Nezu.
"T-The principal of UA, I-Izuku!"
"Y-Yeah!"
"Geez, there are so many people… Is that Principal Nezu?!" Came a woman from the door leading into the backyard. "I-Inko?!"
"Mitsuki!" Inko cried in confusion.
Mitsuki Bakugou was a fairly above-average in height woman with a fair complexion, slightly red eyes, and slightly shaggy platinum blonde hair that came down past her ears. Dressed in a yellow shirt, pink cardigan, and white capris, her mouth dropped at the sight of Nezu.
"I-Izu! How'd Obi-jii do this?!" Came a small child, at the woman's side, the same age as Izuku but sporting most of the grown Bakugou's features.
He had short hair in a similarly shaggy style of the same color while also sporting her skin and eye color.
Wearing a small red hoodie and tan shorts, he gawked at Nezu's presence.
"W-What's going on?!"
"Ah, well, I was curious about my oddest of students this year," Nezu said as he looked at the cooking Obito. "One of them decided to make a rather explosive statement but left it to whimper. Isn't that right, Obito-kun?"
"Who knows?" Obito shrugged.
~NRK~
The time spent after that had been full of all kinds of people trying to meet him and get in his face.
He'd done his best to ignore them and had been able to get through two years of ignorance.
"Let's go," he said as they left their home, locking up before they went down the stairs where a familiar woman and young boy were. "I'll take him from here, Bakugou-san."
"Thanks, Obito," Mitsuki said as she ruffled Katsuki's head of hair, the boy's mouth set in a wide grin.
"Yo, Obito-ossan!" The young blonde said as Obito snorted and Mitsuki smirked.
"Be nice to your uncle, he's got his own last set of classes soon."
"I got it, old lady!"
"Who are you calling old?!"
Izuku smiled as the two bickered before the small boy was in a large hug and noogie that he squirmed to get out of.
"Don't mind his mouth, I have a feeling I know where it comes from," she said with a nervous chuckle. "God, Masaru's probably way too nice to say it outright," Mitsuki said with a hand on her cheek.
"He just seems to work well with you," Obito said. "He knows when to intrude and not."
"Who? The old man? He's a wimp!" Katsuki declared as Mitsuki choked off to the side. "I beat him in swords yesterday and he won't look me in the eye!"
Mitsuki's shoulders trembled and Obito wore a wide smirk.
"I'm sure you beat him good, Katsu-kun."
"Yeah!"
"L-Later," Mitsuki said with a trembling grin under her hands.
Leaving the woman to explode into laughter, Obito shook his head as the three of them walked down the street, hand-in-hand, before walking into Mustafu's daily morning rush.
"Ne, ne! Nii-san, I've gotta show you my quirk!" Katsuki said with a grin as his free hand sparked with bursts of flame. "I got good at blowing things up!"
"That's concerning, Katsu-kun," Obito said as he walked down the street, passing by smiling faces. "Good morning. Have a nice day. I hope your back is doing well," he greeted those passing by before helping an old woman go across the street.
The two boys did their best to help and got some candy out of the deal from the amused old woman.
They continued down the street, the boys enjoying their candies when the earth beneath their feet rumbled and Obito grimaced as he turned his head to see a man rushing down the street, his hand holding something over his shoulder, a sack of some sort.
"Someone stop him! He stole my cash register!" Came the store owner who was running after the thief.
Obito frowned before his ears twitched.
"Ah, so they stayed until dawn," he observed, confusing the children at his side. "One moment."
The running villain, a man with a set of metallic pauldrons that had cannons in each, grinned like an idiot.
"Haha-?!" He tried to laugh only for a bandage to fly out of an alleyway and wrap around his ankles. "What the-?!"
"Ha, HAAAAA!" Came an explosive set of soundwaves from above that sent the villain into the ground in a crater. "Whhheeeewww!" Landed a familiar blonde from above who turned to Obito lifted his shades to throw the young cat man a thumbs-up. "How's the morning treatin' ya?"
Obito hummed. "Fine, just the occasional villain," he said as Yamada Hizashi, hero name Present Mic, chuckled.
"Sounds like a peaceful day," he said before posing for some flashing cameras. "Yeah!"
"Hmph, are you three alright?" Came a droning voice from their side, a familiar drowsy-looking teen coming out of the alleyway.
"A-Aizawa-san!" Izuku squealed as the young man, hero name Eraserhead, rubbed the back of his head. "Y-You're doing a morning task?"
"Yeah, we get to spend more time doing our internships than being in class. That said, we'll definitely be doing our year-end exams soon," Shouta said with a grimace as Hizashi chuckled.
"Hey now, you're actually one of the people with above-average scores!"
"Ugh."
"Hmph," Katsuki grinned widely. "When I'm able to enter UA, I'm gonna leave you all in the dust!" He declared with a ferocious grin… well, for a four-year-old.
"Hm, hm, hm, you've gotta beat Ryuko, Katsudon-kun," Yamada teased the small boy who grimaced.
"Katsuki!"
"Yup," the blonde teen said with a chuckle as he ruffled Katsuki's hair. "Grow up big and strong, kids!" He said.
"We will!" Both elementary schoolers said.
"Hehehehe. You have study hall, doncha?" Yamada asked Obito who rolled his eyes. "Gonna go and spend it at your favored company? He asked teasingly and Obito snorted.
"Yes, I like being employed."
"Oi, I'm totally employed!"
"Snrt," Shouta snorted off to the side. "Yup, being interns sounds like total employment."
"E-Eraserhead!"
"Snrt, are Oboro, Ryuko, and Shino still on the Far-Reach Program?" Obito asked and Aizawa hummed.
"Yes, Oboro's still recovering from his injuries, though," he said with a grimace but Obito nodded. "I'm glad, forever, that you're our costume-maker."
Yes, there'd be a whole event about six months back during their current school year.
Oboro had been injured by some falling rubble and the only reason he'd been alive was because of Obito's newest bandana head-wear that covered the head in its sturdy material.
He'd been out of commission for a month but he'd survived and Obito had not only been thanked well by his friends but his reputation had gone up when the results had been revealed to their class.
"Still dealing with your newest fans?" Hizashi asked with a relaxed smile. "I'm still mad grateful you're our dude, my dude."
"They've lessened… but the business cards haven't," Obito said with a flat face as he took a box out of his bag that was barely closed with some rubber bands, the sheer stack of cards within getting nervous chuckles from the group.
"You deserve it, Obi-onii-san!" Izuku declared as Katsuki grinned.
"Yeah! You saved a dude! And you're not even a hero!"
"Snrt, they're good kids," Aizawa said with a smirk. "And, for the others, guess what? You know how they were sent to the same place, right? Sosaki and Tsuchikawa joined up with Tomoko Shiretoko, the girl from our class with the Search quirk, and joined up in a team with Chatora-senpai. They call themselves, get this, the Obito Crew."
"Please, for the love of God, do not tell me they named themselves that."
"Hahahaha!" Yamada laughed. "Oh God, I can see your soul breaking from the idea! And, no, they named themselves the Wild Wild Pussycats, oh God," Aizawa grinned as their blonde friend leaned on his shoulder. "God, Aizawa, you need to do that more."
"Ignore him, remember, being stoic is rare, Shouta-kun," Obito immediately said and his fellow black-haired friend grinned wider.
"I'll see," he said before patting Yamada on the back as the police came in. "We'll see you when our shift is finished."
"Alright, tell Sensoji and Nemuri-senpai I said 'hi'," Obito said with a shake of the head. "Honestly, they've infected him somehow."
"Hehehe~" Katsuki snickered as they continued.
The trip to their school had been quick and painless, Obito dropping them off before he went to the school.
Walking through the front gates, ignoring the news reporters who were there and trying to gain his attention.
"You! Please look over here, sir!"
"Obito Uchiha! You've got to give us an interview!"
"You're the newest faculty at UA! You've been sponsored by Endeavor! Surely you can tell us the story on how!"
More of such things were asked, shouted, his way but he ignored them like he always had for the past five months.
Ever since Oboro's incident, Nezu had, apparently, put in word for him with some of the other UA alumni and students, giving him more clientele than he'd ever had before.
Maybe it was that… maybe it was also the fact that the wife of the No. 2 bought one of his products and asked him to bring it?
~NRK~
He walked down the sidewalk, ignoring the passing eyes of the people in this particular neighborhood.
'This is… interesting,' he considered as he walked down the street in some baggy black pants, a v-neck green shirt, and a pair of white sneakers on his feet. 'I didn't think the No. 2's wife would want anything to do with me.'
Maybe she supported her husband by looking for ways to support his career that he couldn't.
When he made it, he turned to look at the Todoroki estate.
It was a large home that was seemingly built like it had two levels of a large one-story apartment.
It had cream-colored walls, red roofs and shingles, and clear windows with a sort of second-floor balcony that surrounded that 'second level' he spoke of. Its front lawn was bright and healthy with several medium-sized stones that led up to the front door and had a large black chain fence around it.
Standing at the gateway of the fence, he opened it and walked through the threshold, ignoring the gaping eyes on him.
'They're rich and, yes, the patriarch is the Number 2 but this is kind of ridiculous,' Obito thought as he made it to the front door and rung the doorbell.
It didn't take long for someone to answer and, when they did, he bowed to the wife of Enji Todoroki, Rei Todoroki.
The woman looked… well, 'fine' but kind of strained.
"Ah, it's you!" She blinked before smiling widely, her former casual expression melting into a rather genuine one. "I-I guess you received my invite?"
"Yes, I'm surprised but honored that you'd actually request my presence," Obito said as she gestured into her home. "Thank you. Now, these do look like they can fit you but I'm assuming this is for-"
"M-Mom?" Came a voice from around the corner by the foyer. "?!" Shouto Todoroki's eyes widened before he scrambled over his white shirt and blue shorts.
Obito had two seconds before being slammed into by a red-and-white-haired child of similar age to his nephew. "Uuf! Pleased to make your acquaintance," Obito said as blue eyes looked up at him with sparkling wonder within their depths.
"I-It's you, the cat-person!"
"Snrt."
Obito's eyebrows rose as Rei barely held back a giggle. "... I see," he said with a raised brow as he ruffled the young boy's head of hair. "A pleasure to meet you."
"I-I'm Shouto!" Shouto introduced himself and Obito chuckled. "I-I watched you all the time on the TV and computer!" He continued, getting a raised brow from the older boy.
"He was taken with you the moment he saw you at last year's UA Sports Festival," Rei said with a smile. "I didn't really understand how deep his interest went until he tried to put your face on a button and…" She chuckled at Obito's confusion.
"You're a big fan, are you?" He asked as the boy nodded rapidly. "So, I take it that this is yours?" Obito asked as he removed a medium-sized tablet from his shuriken pouch.
Pressing a button on its side, the item released a suitcase.
"Come, we can check it in the living room," Rei said.
Getting there, Obito hummed as he saw a large space with a pair of three-seater couches, three recliners, and a good carpet on the floor. Ahead was a TV and, by the side, was a sliding door that led out into the front yard which was cordoned off by a set of hedges.
Walking to one of the couches, Obito chuckled at the excited boy's kneeling position by him.
"One moment, one moment," he calmed him as he undid the briefcase and took out a pair of fingerless gloves with plating on the back sporting his emblem. "These are yours, I'm assuming," he said as Shouto received them.
"They're so cool!" The boy said as he put them on. "I-I thought they were super cool in the Festival that passed!"
"Yes, your team inspired Shouto," Rei said. "He considered it a team uniform."
"Y-Yeah!"
"Hmph, I'm glad you liked it, my friends all come to me to do their costumes every now and then."
"... Hm?" Came a voice from one of the two openings leading into the living room, getting flinches out of the two Todorokis Obito was with, much to his confusion. "... You're that boy, aren't you?"
When Obito's vision turned to the opening in the wall, he saw him.
Enji Todoroki, hero name Endeavor.
The Number 2, at current, hero.
And Obito saw something he didn't like in those eyes of his… something about them were worryingly familiar.
The man was built like a house in stature and muscle mass, having a perfectly defined body with a broad chest and shoulders.
His skin was fair like his son's and his eyes blue like his as well. His hair was short, red, and slightly spiked forward while his chin sported a little stubble.
Wearing a fitting black shirt and jeans, his thick arms crossed over his powerful chest, eyes calculating Obito the moment he saw him.
"I hope this Friday afternoon has been going well for you, Todoroki-san," Obito said calmly, surprising the man a little. "I was just bringing over some of my products. Your son needs to be well-fitted for the future, after all."
"... He does," Enji said after a moment of consideration, eyebrows furrowing some. "Obito Uchiha, second-year Support Class student, and one who's been making waves for the past two UA-centered years."
"That's not incorrect," Obito said simply, standing to his full height of 5 '8, about the average height of a Japanese person, in this world. "You seem to have gained some interest in me."
"Hmph, I'm always aware of the talent that leaves UA," he said with a huff as he came in and sat down in a recliner, Rei sporting that slightly strained smile once more. "You've brought this to my son, you said?"
"I-I suggested Shouto meet the newest uprising youth in UA," Rei said with a strained smile as Enji cupped his chin. "You always said you'd want him to have powerful connections."
Obito's eyes flickered to Shouto's nervous positioning on the floor, perfect seiza with twitching fingers.
Suspicious. "Could I interest you in some of my wares, Todoroki-san?"
Enji considered the idea for a moment before leaning forward with a gleam in his eyes.
"Tell me, boy, how resistant are your wares to temperature changes?"
"I'm reaching decent levels of protection but the material I'm working with," Obito answered back smoothly. "It's all about making sure those who wear them can survive more notable hits. Not all big-time villains have as powerful elemental quirks as you do, much less do they try."
"... And what's the end goal of this equipment?"
"... If I can find a way," Obito began slowly. "Taking at least ONE hit from All Might would be the magnum opus of my studies."
"... An amazing goal," Rei let out a sigh of relief as Shouto wore a small smile. "That said, I've read that no one knows what it's made of."
"As I've told everyone, that's a secret only me and my employer will ever know," Obito chuckled. "And, right now, that's UA."
"R-Really?!" Shouto asked in awe and even Rei looked surprised. "U-UA asked you to work for them?!"
"Yes," Obito said with a chuckle. "They did."
"I see, Nezu snatched you up before anyone else could," Enji considered as Rei hummed for a bit. "That said, that doesn't mean you can't find different employment come the end of your tenure at UA."
The Todoroki mother and son balked. "E-Enji, you m-mean…"
"I don't want my hero agency to be lacking in personal facilities. While the idea of having such a division was never in mind, he makes the idea far more feasible. Especially since I've heard that you do all your own work, surprisingly."
"... Interesting knowledge that you have there, Todoroki-san," Obito considered with a hum.
"As noted," the larger-than-life man said. "Hmm…" His eyes met Obito's and the younger man crossed his own. "... I don't understand you, I wish to know, why did you enter the Support Course?"
"You mean why didn't I become a hero?"
"Not in such words but, yes. Why?" Enji looked annoyed. "You've talent, you've goals, you've ambition," he uttered and Obito felt the picture come together.
Especially the moment that the man's wife and youngest child flinched at that.
"Because, at the end of the day," Obito began as his eyebrows furrowed. "It's not right to disregard everything else for my ambition," he said directly to the fire hero whose eyes narrowed.
"Is that so?"
"Yes," Obito nodded. "Because I've been there," he said simply, confusing the man. "You end up in a situation where you feel it's hopeless if you don't succeed," Enji's eyes widened.
"You begin to focus on it, you lose all other values save for that one because, why not? It's going to end up well for everyone else, right?"
Enji Todoroki's hands gripped his recliner's arms tightly, getting nervous stares out of his wife and child.
"O-Obito-kun, perhaps-"
"Todoroki-san," Obito said simply with a shake of the head before turning his gaze back to the now standing Endeavor. "No, I can't, won't, let someone I can save fall to such a disgraceful level."
And those words confused the three but none more so than Enji himself.
"... Hmph, save me?" Enji looked dangerously close to dismissing him… but that was it.
The man hadn't, Obito knew that he'd gotten to him on some level.
"Yes," Obito said. "Because I can see it in your eyes which were just like my own, back then, you're at the beginning of that vicious, demented, cycle and you can still come out of it," the cat boy said with his tail waving back and forth. "... But, not like this," he said with determination in his voice. "Endeavor-san, I'd like a match with you if you don't mind."
The three's eyes widened to impossible levels and Shouto made his displeasure show.
"W-Wait, no, you don't want to fight dad!" The boy pleaded as Enji's eyes grew cold and calculative. "H-He's the Number 2! Why would you-?"
"Because, as I've figured out, he won't listen to mere words," Obito figured out as the man's arms rested at his sides but flexed a bit as fire peeked out of his forearms. "... Is it the title of Number 1, Endeavor-san?"
"Don't speak such condescending words to me, boy," Endeavor said as he left the room. "Shouto," the boy flinched. "Show him to the backyard."
And then he left, powerful muscles getting prepared for their eventual fight.
Rei had had enough. "Obito-kun?!" But he didn't listen! 'He's just like Enji!'
… but something in her twinged as she remembered his description of how obsessed of a person he'd been… of how obsessed of a person her husband had become.
"... He wasn't always like this," she whispered as Obito looked at her with understanding eyes. "H-He was a little rough around the edges but he loved us so much more than I knew he could even say… W-When Touya was born, it showed, a little, but he was so much more gentle back then and he'd looked forward to Fuyumi's birth."
"I'm not surprised," Obito said. "People like us… people who become mentally locked in a place where we don't see a way out, that changes us on a horrible level… and that's why I'm going to try right here and now to make sure he can come back from this point. He's not done anything too harsh yet, I can tell, you still love him but are concerned."
"..." Rei blushed as she looked down, eyes moving to Shouto. "... I do… I-I'm concerned and y-yet… I love him so much."
Endeavor stood in front of his closet, in his study, listening in to the speaker connected to the living room.
"... I love him so much."
His eyes flickered between disbelief, horror, anger, and then determination.
'There is no mistake,' he continued, putting on his hero costume. 'This isn't a mistake, I'm going to make Shouto into a hero that can best even All Might.'
Touya had been so promising, so powerful… and then he'd realized the horror of what could happen with the boy's disposition.
So, he discarded that plan for him, the boy needed to know what he could do and not, and that included not being a hero.
Especially since he'd been ladled with the same, but worse, drawback of his father.
Obito adjusted his gloves on his hands, tightening them, before putting on his black ninja sandals under the concerned gaze of Rei and Shouto.
"... O-Obito-nii-san," Shouto spoke up, his phrasing surprising Rei a bit. "... D-Do you really have to fight dad?"
"Yes, Shouto-kun. To make my point, to get to the very bottom of all this, I need to fight him… and defeat him," he said as the sounds of heavy steps came from behind him. "Is that alright, Endeavor-san?"
"You raise the danger against you, boy," Endeavor said as Obito turned to see him.
He was dressed, head to toe, in a skin-tight dark blue bodysuit and thick-looking orange boots. On the bodysuit's sleeves, abdomen, and chest which reached around to his back were burning orange lines that interrupted the dark blue color well while, on his forearms down to his hands, Endeavor sported white gauntlets that covered the back of his hands with the man sporting some fingerless gloves as well.
It was a suit that was almost perfect… All it was missing was his specialty, his finishing touch.
Flames exploded around the boots, the lines on his bodysuit, and his face covering up his jawline and face in a forehead-helmet protector while burning into a three-pronged 'headband' on his forehead.
This was him. The Flame Hero.
Endeavor.
"I already thought of the stakes," Obito said. "If you beat me, I'll officially work with you no matter what comes my way, even a business card from All Might himself."
Enji's eyes widened at that. "... I see and what is your reward for my defeat?"
"... Well, I'd ask that you give serious thought to what I've said before, and will after, this fight," Obito said as he walked out into the rather large backyard with a forest on the edges. "That's all. That said…" Obito knew one thing.
He needed Endeavor giving his all in this fight, so in that same idea thread…
He released his murderous intent the moment he stepped out into the field.
"H-Ha?!" Shouto froze and sweat fell down his face as the air grew taut around his throat.
Rei froze out of complete and total fear as her hands on her lap began to clench harder than necessary.
And Enji… Endeavor's eyes widened as a fear he'd thought he'd taken over, beaten, and pushed down came to the forefront.
Yet… this boy, not even a hero… brought out a flinch and grimace from him! The Number 2 HERO!
… Endeavor grimaced as he remembered Obito's earlier words.
'... He's gone down this path?' His mind betrayed him and Endeavor grit his teeth before it all fell away.
The intensity, the pressure, the need to breathe.
It all disappeared along with those blazing red eyes.
"I'm going to give you this last warning, Endeavor-san," Obito said as he turned to face the man, body lacking all his tools, machinery, and equipment save for a timer in his hands. "Don't think this'll be easy."
Endeavor found himself realizing just how true those words were… and took another step-
A hand on his bicep stopped his cold and, as he turned to look, his eyes widened to levels that shouldn't have been possible.
Rei's hand held him there, stopping him from going forward… concern for him in the way of a wife fearing for her husband.
'These are the "words" you should remember.'
His mind betrayed him and Endeavor turned his head back.
"... I won't lose," he said as he removed her hand from his gauntlet. "Just watch."
A true threat? This child?
… Endeavor's eyes narrowed and Obito smirked as he set the timer down to the side of them, one minute already ticking away.
"What are the win conditions?"
"Until one of us can't move, respond, or stay unconscious."
"Hmph, simple enough ones," Endeavor said as he looked at the timer.
Thirty seconds.
"I'll have the time after… but I do not understand what a boy like yourself could get out of this," he said as he lowered his stance, eyes flickering to Shouto as the boy's own blue orbs looked back at him. "... Watch, Shouto," he said as his hand began to glow brightly.
"My goal is to help people with my products… but this situation can only be solved by one specific one… My past," Obito said as he 'tied' his pants to his ankles. "The most powerful yet situational thing in my arsenal."
Fifteen seconds.
"... It can be," Endeavor said. "A past is terrifying."
"You don't wish to look back."
"And it's a worrying thing to do… so I must look forward."
"Even if it destroys everything?"
"..."
The timer rang.
"Kaku Shakunekken Jettoban!" (Flashfire Fist Jet Burn!)
The man's fist shot out and a blazing, concentrated, fist-sized flame shot towards Obito's previous location.
The hero's eyes widened as a tail slipped past him before he backhanded the space behind him, the explosive power of his technique giving him more than enough power to do one at full strength… but it missed.
The young cat man landed on his fist with eyes whose black depths couldn't hide how his slitted pupils dilated.
Endeavor shot back as Obito backflipped and hit him in the chin at the same time.
"W-What?" Rei was shocked to think that Obito, a young man who wasn't a trained hero trainee, was capable of even landing a significant blow, no offense to him, to her husband.
Shouto simply balked as the two combatants landed, the grass crunching beneath their feet.
Endeavor's mind calculated, 'his speed is greater than it was at the Festival,' which wasn't impossible.
The boy clearly trained hard and well, he'd seen how Obito seemingly dominated the first two events of the Festivals before surrendering on the battle bracket.
He raised his hand and bursts of flame shot out.
The feline human dodged them with a sort of ease Endeavor expected and didn't.
'Full strength, huh?!' Endeavor's eyes narrowed before he rushed the feline.
Obito lunged at the challenge.
The hero skidded forward as his fist reared back before being unleashed.
A kick met it and the two of them struggled before they rebounded, Obito more than Endeavor.
They rushed again, precise punches meeting sharp kicks in quick succession.
'He's good at hand-to-hand,' both realized as they separated, skidding back. 'That's to be expected, in a way,' the two considered before circling one another.
Not only had Obito shown good bodily understanding but Endeavor had also seen that he took martial arts classes.
Obito, meanwhile, knew that Endeavor had many years of being a hero under his belt, there had to be numerous kinds of villains.
This fight-
-Would come down to the person-
-Who could outdo the other with their experience!
Obito lunged low and Endeavor pointed his flames towards the floor.
Fire erupted out in controlled waves and the feline teen's lunge turned into a leap, Endeavor's mouth set into a vicious grin and raised his arms.
Obito's eyebrows furrowed before he twisted harshly to the side and, as the blast of flames left Endeavor's hands, he barely passed by it with some singe on his tail.
'What?!' The No. 2 hero barely got the thought out before a body appeared beneath him and soon a kick to his chin followed. "Gfrk!" His head snapped up.
The boy was going for debilitating blows. His kicks were about as sharp and precise as his own punches!
Obito made to follow up only to barely jump to the side as Endeavor's hands flashed orange.
'He's good,' he realized as his jump became a pair of backflips, allowing him to land a few feet away. 'Even with the shock, he made an evacuation strategy,' Obito smirked. 'Not bad.'
She looked out the window as… "D-Dad?" Her white hair. with red dotting it, jumped as Endeavor was kicked upward. "DAD?!" Turquoise-colored eyes trembled only to widen once the opponent jumped back from a burst of her father's quirk, Hellflame. "O-Oh," she swallowed before rushing downstairs from her room, fair complexion covered in sweat.
When she rushed to the backyard, she blinked at the sight of her mother and youngest brother sitting, watching, as Endeavor and this, now that she could look at him, cat person.
Her white blouse and black skirt shifted as she came to an abrupt stop. "M-Mom, what's going on? W-Who's dad fighting?"
"F-Fuyumi-chan?" Rei turned her head with a conflicted expression before sighing. "... Obito-kun, the young man your father is fighting, is his name. He's the Support Course student from the UA Sports Festivals."
Fuyumi Todoroki blinked. "... Why?"
"Uhhh… Your father wants him as part of the Endeavor Company's facilities," Rei said, omitting any of the more severe details while patting Shouto's head.
Fuyumi blinked before taking a seat next to her mother and brother. "W-Who's winning?" She asked only to jump at a harsh 'CRACK' that originated from the back of Obito's leg slamming into Endeavor's gauntlets.
The man swung his opponent off but the younger male simply flipped back to the ground and lunged with a kick to his chest that sent him skidding back before the hero's hands rose and Obito dodged out the way of several blasts of flame.
"T-They loud," Fuyumi said with her hands over her ears but eyes, shaky as they were, transfixed on Obito. "..." Her eyes tracked his every move and her cheeks reddened as he smirked after one rather violent exchange.
"..." Rei's eyebrow rose slowly. '... Oh, she's got a crush,' the mother of four realized.
What an odd predicament.
Obito ran at the hero who crouched low with his hands raised. 'Ready to receive me, are you?' He thought as he skidded to a stop before vanishing in a blur.
'His speed!' Endeavor's eyes widened before he crossed his arms as a shin slammed into his block, causing him to skid back a bit. 'This makes sense the more I think of those UA students,' he considered as he allowed flames to explode out from his body in a controlled burst.
Obito skidded back, hands slightly steaming.
Blue eyes revealed themselves from behind powerful forearms before Endeavor considered his option.
Fast opponents typically had low defenses and high levels of spatial awareness, the well-trained ones, that is.
Obito Uchiha had demonstrated the second point but Endeavor was a bit ashamed to say… he hadn't landed a hit on the teen, his flexibility wasn't just simple training.
His tail bristled at times where Endeavor was sure he had good shots at the student's body and then he'd barely dodge by the hair on his tail!
'This training… why?' Was this also a part of his little past/lesson he was trying to impart? '...' He shook his head, doing his best to not let the boy's words get to him… but they were starting to slip in even if the man didn't want them to. 'Dammit!' For now, focus.
If he was this quick, the hero needed a way to stunt his movement and/or gain a decisive, debilitating, blow on him.
So, wide-area attacks it was.
Obito's eyes narrowed as he followed after the flame hero, the man rushing into the woods behind the home.
'... This is probably where my hand comes into play, isn't it?' If this was going to be an attack the man was worried to hit others with then Obito knew his time was up.
So, as he vanished into the underbrush, his eyes narrowed as black orbs turned red.
Endeavor's eyes narrowed as he listened for the feline teen's steps before grunting as they disappeared.
'Correct, stealth was another skill those kids had learned from him, wasn't it?' This meant this was both a boon and mistake but that latter part wouldn't last.
He skidded to a stop as the hum of nature surrounded him. 'Apologies,' he told all the little lives around him as he crossed his arms in front of him.
His body glowed bright orange as Obito looked down from the tree branches.
The feline human's Sharingan rotated violently as the air around him was lit up by towering fire.
The three gaped at the large orb of orange flames that erupted from the forest.
"I-Isn't that too much?!" Fuyumi squeaked as Shouto nodded rapidly. "H-He'll kill him!"
Rei wasn't so sure of that but she was also horrified without a thought. "... I-I don't think End… Enji won't… he's a hero despite everything," she said with some form of conviction, confusing her kids as the explosion of orange came to an end.
Endeavor let out a hot breath as his body steamed some. 'That shouldn't have killed him nor should he be unharmed,' he'd know in the coming seconds-
Endeavor's eyes widened as he crossed his arms and lifted his block only for a singed, wiry, foot to slam down and glance off his block.
The area erupted into destroyed pieces of burnt earth while Endeavor choked at how strong that kick had been.
"Endeavor," the voice came from all around but the man's eyes focused ahead where a figure appeared within the hot dust from his ax kick. "You're pretty good," the teen's voice came as he stopped a few meters away from his opponent.
When Endeavor him fully, the hero blinked, eyes narrowing at the younger male's state.
The cat boy's top had been burned off, basically, with only the sleeves of his green shirt left. This left the burn across his chest visible to the hero while the boy's left shoulder hung oddly.
His pants were a good bit better, having only burnt patches on the thighs and nothing else.
"... I'm impressed," he admitted with a nod and crossed arms. "I'm not sure how you did it but you diverted most of the attack."
"It wasn't easy," Obito said with a chuckle as something slipped out the back of his head and gripped his left shoulder.
Endeavor's eyes widened at the black tendrils pulling the boy's shoulder back into place with a slight hiss from their owner.
"What?"
"Oh, that was the best way of doing it," Obito admitted with a chuckle and then a smirk. "I mean, after all-"
Something formed over Endeavor's shoulder before jutting into specific points with needle-like limbs.
"No one knows what my real quirk is, save for a few," Obito admitted as the hero hit his hands and knees. "I finally hit some of your pressure points, phew," he whistled as he looked at his hands.
The palms were singed pretty badly and simply flexing them hurt.
"H-How does no one know?" Endeavor asked from his downed position, head looking up at Obito with disbelief. "T-That doesn't make sense."
"It was weird, at first, for me, too," Obito said as he stumbled over before, with the aid of those tendrils, lifted the hero, and hobbled over to the man's home. "God had I not known my actual quirk, this would… Hrmm! Have been harder," he grunted, stumbling for a moment before regaining his footing as Endeavor groaned.
"For so long?" He had to ask.
"Heh, I've used my quirk, like a transformation type, for a long time," Obito explained. "I never considered that it'd be something more than that. My quirk, Furred Prowess, isn't just for the cat-like appendages I got."
From his hair came those wire-like tendrils in front of Endeavor.
"It's also because my fur, itself, is my quirk. I can turn my fur, my hair, into thread," the feline teen explained as they broke through the barely-there treeline.
When the Todorokis saw him, they gaped in complete and total shock.
Obito grinned shakily before stumbling over with Endeavor in a large thread claw that kept the man on his shoulder.
"W-We might need some medical attention."
Shouto was left there, stunned, as his father and, in the past two years, favorite new person were looked after by Rei, herself.
Obito had been surprised… after he'd woken up, being patched up by the woman.
She'd told him, still in a slightly shocked stupor, that she had medical knowledge before she and Enji had married.
Even now, as he laid down on one of the Todoroki family home's medical cots, in a medical room, Obito was given some ice for his wounds by Shouto's and his mother's quirks.
"Hooo," he let out a low sigh of relief as Shouto deposited some ice on his burns. "Thank you, Shouto-kun."
"Y-You beat dad," the boy looked shocked beyond words as he stopped. "Y-You somehow beat dad."
"It's a bit more complicated than that… but, yes, I did defeat your father though not without my own 'prizes' if you will," Obito admitted as he looked to his other side at the shocked Fuyumi sitting next to her father.
Endeavor hadn't seemed to have taken that many bad blows but, beneath his costume, it'd been shown that Obito's hits had given a few bruises, especially around his chin, and upper chest.
So, the man sported a few bandages around his chest, neck, and chin.
"I don't understand," he said as he leaned forward, elbows on his thighs, and hands templed in front of his face. "Why not let the registration know?"
"Because I just didn't see the reason to," Obito said as he grunted. "Never mind that we were still poor back then so couldn't afford to change the registry."
"Poor?" Shouto blinked as he repeated the word. "What does 'poor' mean?"
"It means those less fortunate, financially, Shouto," Enji explained with a grunt as he rolled his neck and heard a satisfying pop. "Not everyone lives as we do."
"Huh? W-Why?"
"... Money is hard, and easy, to explain, Shou-kun," Rei said as Enji nodded. "For the sake of keeping things simple, people put a value on money and give only the really important people a lot of it."
"L-Like Dad and All Might?"
"Yes, exactly like them."
"Oh…" Fuyumi blinked to see an amused Obito. "Why not just become a big hero?"
"Hehe, I get that a lot," Obito said with a smirk that Fuyumi blushed at with Rei and Enji raising eyebrows. "It may seem weird, Fuyumi-kun, but I don't really deserve to be a hero," he said as he let his head drop back, confusing the four. "... I told your parents and Shouto this but I had a past where I was very obsessed… and I did things that no hero should just to try and live up to an insane ideal."
"O-Oh," the 11-year-old answered with a confused frown.
"... I'm not sure how much of hero life they know about," Obito directed at the parents.
"... They… I'm not sure," Enji admitted with a sigh.
"... They know that some villains can be too strong, too tough, too evil," Rei answered after a moment of contemplating her husband with soft eyes. "While it's never said outright by news reporters, the implication is there."
"Mom?" Shouto looked confused as Fuyumi tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"I had hurt people badly, Shouto-kun," Obito said, gaining the youngest pair in the room's attention. "And not because I was being a good person but because I thought I knew best that I could make their… ends worth it even though I was forcefully taking their futures from them… and what came at the end of all that? I ended up a husk of the boy I always was."
In a way, that was true, Obito may have grown up, hell he might have even gained some 'maturity'.
But he'd always been that broken boy at heart and that hadn't changed until he was defeated by Naruto and Sasuke.
"I was a fool surrounded by his 'mistakes'," he said intently, looking at the two, rather horrified, adults in the room. "Trust me, I really don't deserve to be a hero."
"... B-But now you've gotta!" Shouto said childishly, getting a snort out of the bedridden Obito. "Y-You did bad stuff… so now you have to do good stuff!" The boy declared and Obito chuckled some more.
"Is that so?"
"Y-Yes. You do Support stuff for heroes like dad," Enji grunted at that. "A-And even All Might probably did something bad before… I think."
"... That's rather mature of you, Shouto," Obito said with a chuckle. "And, I do understand you, really I do, but, right now, I am doing my best to help people. I'm a Support Item creator and, soon enough, I'm going to settle into other fields to increase the help I can spread."
"Is that so?" Enji asked. "I'm interested in what other fields you're interested in."
"Well, the medical field, for one," Rei blinked at that. "I… Hmm, I'm currently working on something myself and my hero associates are testing. Well, one of two things. They're pills to try and lower quirk drawbacks."
Rei and Enji's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"
"It's not perfect, hell that was kind of simple as is. What we're working on is basically a pill to try and up the percentage of our brains we're using but dedicate all of that to raising the point of drawbacks."
"T-That sounds complicated," Fuyumi said and Obito nodded.
"Yes, while I have ideas on how to do such things the real case would be the legality," he said, getting flat looks from the parents.
"The legality. Not the whole 'manually up the brain usage percentage' part?" Enji asked flatly as Rei looked worried.
"Obito-kun, that's dangerous. Messing with the brain, I'm sure you know, could lead to horrifying consequences if one wrong move is made," she said with a grimace.
"Yes, that's correct and I'm doing my best to not try and go that far," Obito said. "I've been cross-referencing diagrams, pictures, notes, photographs, and more on the brain's increase in percentage usage over the past two hundred years. I'm looking at how that change began and the new lines that connect. I've been known to work well with energy, thanks to a part of my quirk," he said as his Sharingan activated.
"... H-Huh?" Fuyumi made a confused sound as Rei and Shouto blinked.
"Y-You've got two quirks like me?!" Shouto asked in disbelief.
"Hmm, it probably seems that way, doesn't it?" The boy nodded. "Well, it's not like your famous graphs, this is all part of my quirk, it allows me to see and adjust the follicles I'm making use of," Obito explained as his tail's fur began to extend.
"?" Shouto blinked as he was soon lifted on a thin 'plate' of thread. "I-I thought you were a cat!"
"It's part of my quirk, I guess it gave me more fur to work with," Obito said as Enji frowned at the platform.
"... This is it, isn't it?" The hero asked, confusing the others save for Obito who chuckled. "This is the material?"
"Yes, my threads are far more powerful than a good amount of the material I can use for most basic items," Obito explained with a chuckle. "But that's not where the true magic of the thread comes from and that's a secret I'll be taking to the grave because it's really ridiculous."
"How sure of that are you?"
"Like I said," Obito said with a chuckle. "Only my employers will ever know."
"... And you're sure you don't want to work with the Endeavor Company?"
"... Hm, hm," Rei giggled a bit.
"It'll be interesting to see that many fire quirk users, we'll just have to see. I mean, you are an UA alumni, maybe Nezu can work something out."
~NRK~
Back to the present, Obito chuckled.
Ever since, it'd gotten into the headlines, somehow, that he was also being given support by Enji Todoroki.
"Oh, you've returned for another school workday," came a familiar mouse-bear-dog principal. "Honestly, Obito-kun, we might need to just get you a studio somewhere because this is getting ridiculous."
"Apologies, I'm still not sure how they learned of this fact."
"... I think that might be the hero gossip vine. You don't exactly get a ton of students who get sponsored by one of the top three heroes in all of Japan," Nezu said as they walked down to the teen's workplace. "But, for now, let's look at that new idea of yours, yes?"
Obito smirked.
Life was odd, he was a prime example.
~NRK~
This has been finished like a month ago, I just never published it yet.
Sorry for the length.
Words: 25.6k+
~NRK Out~
