Sry for the long wait, I just finished my exams. Ok uhmm, guys, I have actually considered having Izuku refuse One For All, but after reading the manga, I decided to give him One For All due to Tomura shigaraki. From the way I'm writing, I'm not trying to make Izuku ridiculously overpowered, for example, despite knowing breathing, he still had trouble with the slime villain because he had not mastered breathing and also lacks the experience. And I don't plan on making Izuku master breathing techniques so quickly, his current level is very low, it will be a long painful journey, most likely encountering many defeats along the way. Due to breathing he will stronger than Canon, not by much though. But as he continues to grow, the gap in power between this Izuku and the Canon one widens. Please give some reviews so I know how to improve my writing, also I have not decided on the pairing but I will think about it as I write. Thanks for the positive reviews, enjoy reading this chapter. Cheers
Izuku only clenched his uniform tighter as he continued to weep. "I always wanted someone to tell me those words. All might said those words to me." Warm Tears continued to roll down izuku's freckled cheeks before falling to the ground.
Suddenly All might held his arms out and announced to izuku, "you are worthy to inherit my power!"
Silence filled the air as Izuku got his sniffing under control. He then looked up in confusion. "Inherit your power?"
"Yes, my power was passed down to me like a sacred torch, it's name is One For All. I deem you worthy to inherit my power!" All might declared.
"I...I...", Izuku struggled to find the words to say. If Izuku had not met Tanjiro all those years ago and did not learn breathing, he was sure he would have instantly accepted All Might's offer. But he wasn't the same person as he was back then.
"I-I'm sorry but could you give some time to think about this, I really can't make a decision now."
"It's alright young man, take your time to decide, here's my number, contact me when you have made up your mind," All might replied.
Izuku then parted ways with All Might and went home. After dinner, he spent countless hours laying on his bed, if one him now, they could see the internal struggle as he tried to come to a decision.
"Ugh, why is it so difficult to choose!" He let out a long sigh before getting up from his bed. "Maybe a midnight run will help clear my mind..."
Within seconds, he changes into some sportswear and strapped on a weighted vest. He quietly made his way downstairs and snuck out through the front door.
As he began his run, he could feel to knots in his body slowly begin to unwind. He could feel his body slowly fall into a steady rhythm as he jogged numerous rounds around the neighbourhood.
His mind however was still dwelling on the same topic, "do I need the power? What if the people around me are in danger and I'm not strong enough? Am I even deserving of this power?"
Numerous questions flooded his mind, making Izuku question if he was truly ready for this. That was when he heard it. He wasn't even sure if it was a figment of his imagination, but he could hear Tanjiro's voice.
"You trained hard to reach where you are today and your heart is filled with kindness to help others. I know you will be a great hero with or without that power. But if you know you could become stronger and yet chose not to, this decision could lead to you not saving people you should have been able to save. So go forth and accept his offer, become Izuku Midoriya, the greatest hero."
As the voice disappeared from his mind, he felt clarity, he had finally decided. That was the push he needed. If he wanted to save as many people as he could, he just had to keep becoming stronger.
He finished his run right outside his house, drenched in sweat and exhausted. He probably should have showered first but he decided to call All Might first. "Hello? Young Midoriya, have you decided?"
"All Might, I-I'm accepting your power!"
"That's what I want to hear, meet me tomorrow at the beach at 6am, we need to train your body into a proper vessel to wield this power."
With that, All Might hung up, and Izuku went to sleep feeling a lot better that night.
Next day...
Izuku woke up at 5am, rushing into the bathroom to quickly brush his teeth and changing into a tracksuit. He toasted a few slices of bread, and gobbled them down so quickly one would have thought he had a quirk that allows him to swallow food almost instantly.
He jogged all the way down to the beach, where he saw a skeleton-like man in a large trench coat already waiting there. He stopped right next to the man before greeting him, "All might, m-morning."
"Morning young midoriya", All might returned his greeting, "are you ready to begin with your training?"
Izuku's answer came in that of a nod. Izuku began carrying and moving trash off the extremely polluted beach, this was to help build up izuku's strength while also returning the beach to it's former glory. Hero work isn't just rescuing people and fighting villains, it can even start from something like protecting the environment.
Izuku spent countless hours each day, 6 days a week for the next ten months, removing items that other people discarded on the beach, the trash varied from small old broken stools to heavy washing machines and refrigerators. It was not easy work, along with the 10km runs and number of laps he swam to build up stamina, it was understandable why he collapsed on his bed whenever he returned home. However, despite his busy schedule, he was still able to find time to practice his breathing techniques and improve on them.
Before he knew it, it was the day of the UA entrance exam. He had yet to test the power of One For All he had received a week prior. He still shivered as he recalled swallowing a strand of All Might's hair. He knows he is a vessel that can finally hold One For All but he was one that was made hastily, his body might not have adapted enough and if he wasn't careful he could destroy his limbs or in the wise words of All Might, "If the body isn't ready, your arms and legs will be blown off."
There was only one problem though, since he was attending the UA entrance exam, he wasn't allowed to bring in any weapons or items that could aid him in the entrance exam unless it was a necessary support item for him to use his quirk. Since breathing was technically not a quirk, he could not bring his katana in...
While he was still thinking of a solution to his current problem, he did not notice bakugou coming up from behind him until bakugou knocked right into his shoulder, shoving Izuku to the side. "Out of the way Deku!"
Izuku let out a yelp, quickly apologising to bakugou, "s-s-sorry kacchan, I-I didn't notice you."
Bakugou only let out an irritated sound before walking off. Izuku couldn't help but sign in relief thinking, "whew, at least kacchan didn't start a fight." Izuku continued walking, smiling along the way. At that exact moment, he did not notice that the ground was slightly uneven, and tripped on a brick, causing him to lose balance and fall forwards. "Ahh fuck, time to make a fool of myself in front of everyone." He closed his eyes and prepared himself to fall face first, but the impact never came. He tentatively opened one eye and noticed he was floating.
"Are you alright?", a voice asked, it sounded female. A pair of hands righted him and put him on his feet again, before he felt gravity working on his body again. "It's my quirk, sorry for using it without asking first. But it would be bad luck if you fall right?" The girl had shoulder length brown hair with two slightly longer bangs framing her round face, she had brown eyes and a blush on her cheeks. But what stood out most to Izuku was her wide smile.
Izuku barely stuttered out a "uh...uh..t-t-thank you!"
The girl just continued to smile, "no problem, let's do our best for the exam! See ya!" She waved goodbye, leaving a blushing Izuku standing there like an idiot.
In his head, all he could think was, "I talked to a girl!" If you could call stuttering out a thank you as a conversation.
He gathered with the rest of the examinees in the giant hall, where they listened to one of the teachers explain the exam to them.
"WELCOME TO MY SHOW TODAY, I AM PRESENT MIC AND I SHALL EXPLAIN TO YOU WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING IN THE EXAM TODAY! EVERYBODY SAY HEY!" His voice was so energetic and loud that some people had to even cover their ears. His energetic shout was met with silence as most of the candidates stared at him awkwardly.
Present mic seemed to sulk for a moment, responding in a much softer voice "what a refined response. Then I'll quickly present to you the rundown on the practical exam!"
Izuku couldn't help but fanboy a little, exclaiming quietly to himself, "oh my god, it's the voice hero, present mic! I actually got to meet him, I should probably ask for an autograph later."
Present mic continued with his presentation with enthusiasm , "you examinees will be participating in a mock battle in urban areas, You will be split up and go to different battle centers where you will face faux villains."
Bakugou examined his card before looking over to izuku's, "in other words, they won't let you work with your friends, huh?"
Izuku examined both their cards, "y-you're right. Even though out examinee numbers are consecutive, we are assigned to different battle centers."
Bakugou only narrowed his eyes and said, "don't look or I'll kill you." Causing Izuku to give a small yelp, before smiling somewhat awkwardly.
"There are 3 different types of faux villains stationed at each battle center, each worth a different amount of points based on their level of difficulty. Your goal, dear candidates, is to utilise your quirk to earn points by immobilising the faux villains. And it goes without saying, attacking other examinees and other unheroic actions are prohibited!" Present mic continued to explain.
A hand immediately shot up, where a stern looking boy with blue hair and glasses spoke up, "may I ask a question?"
Present mic gave a thumbs up, leading to the boy to ask, "on the handout, there are four types of villains. If that is a misprint, then UA, the most prominent school in Japan, should be ashamed of that foolish mistake. We examinees are here in this place because we wish to be molded into exemplary heroes." His attention then shifted to izuku, pointing right at him, "and you there, the one with the long curly green hair, you've been muttering this whole time. It's distracting! If you aren't serious about this exam, you should leave immediately!"
Izuku could only cover his mouth and mutter out and apology, "I'm sorry...". Which caused several examinees to laugh at him.
Present mic then recaptured the crowd's attention, "alright, examinee number 7111, to answer your question, the fourth type of villain is worth 0 points. That guy is an obstacle, so to speak. He will rampage around in small areas, he isn't impossible to defeat, but there isn't a point to defeat it either. I recommend candidates to avoid it." Giving the crowd a wide smile, giving everyone a thumbs up.
People in the crowd started to Whisper to each other about the exam, with most going along the lines of how much it resembled a video game.
Present mic gave the examinees one last message and a huge smile, "All the best and as our school motto goes, go beyond, PLUS ULTRA!"
With that, all the examinees started to move out of the hall, and to their respective battle centers. Everyone was given sometime to change into an appropriate outfit for the practical part of the exam.
Outside battle center B with Izuku...
A large crowd gathered outside, everyone wearing tracksuits of various colours. At the back of the crowd was Izuku wearing his cyan coloured track suit, tying his long hair into a ponytail in case it got into his eyes. He was shivering in excitement and nervousness. "All the training has led up to this, it's time to give it my all and become a hero!"
As he looked around, he saw the girl who helped him earlier. "I should probably thank her again for earlier and wish her all the best."
Just as he walked towards her, he felt a hand grab his shoulder. Turning around, he instantly recognised the boy who called him out at the hall earlier. "He looks even more serious up close!"
"That girl appears to be trying to focus. What are you doing here? Are you taking the entrance exam to interfere with everyone else?" He questioned.
Izuku tried to defend himself, panicking a bit, "n-n-no, of course not..."
He could already hear other examinees whispering from all around him, "he's the guy who nearly tripped at the school gates right?" "The one who winced after being called out." "At the very least, that's one less person we have to worry about right?" Causing many others to smile or give a small laugh.
Izuku could not help but feel his low self-esteem making itself known again.
He was snapped out of his depressed state by present mic shouting, "okay, START!" Everyone looked up at him in confusion. "What's wrong? There are no countdowns in real fights!"
By the time Izuku registered his words, everyone else has already begun running into the battle center. "Shit, the exam started and I'm already behind!"
Izuku rushes to catch up to the examinees in front of him. "All that running and being physically fit wasn't for nothing, I can do it!" He caught up to the others as the first few robots were destroyed. That was when he noticed something on the ground from the broken robots. Then it occured to him, making Izuku smile as he finally found a solution.
The one pointer had this gatling gun attached to it's arm which it doesn't use because shooting students isn't a good idea. But that dismantled one pointer which was taken out earlier had been broken into several parts, and thankfully one of the barrels of the gatling gun is still intact but separated from the main body. It was far from a katana, the length was also slightly off, but it was all he had for now.
Picking up the metal rod, he rushed to find more robots. That was when he ran into a two pointer. "Well time to test out my idea..." Izuku concentrated on his breathing, "Total concentration breathing, breath of water, fourth form:striking tide!" In a blink of an eye, he dashed forward, twisting his body as he slashed away at the two pointer. Due to the blunt surface of the rod, he had trouble cutting through the robot. It didn't help that his technique was slightly inaccurate due to the fact it was not a katana. Instead of slashing at the neck, right arm, waist, he ended up hitting the head once and the chest two times, but it got the job done.
"If my techniques are going to be inaccurate, I should use a technique that has a good range and numerous consecutive attacks so that I will hit it no matter what." Izuku summarised as he observed the now destroyed two pointer.
Rushing off to find more robots, he was surprised to come across a group of undestroyed robots, it had 1 three pointer, 3 two pointers and 1 one pointer. He focused on his breathing once again, "Total concentration breathing, breath of the moon, fourteenth form:catastrophe - Tenman crescent moon", he swung the rod a few times, creating waves of small crescent shape moons varying in size and speed, making it seem like a vortex of sorts. The attack radius was large enough that all 5 robots were caught up in the strike zone, pummelled from all directions. Despite the lacking accuracy and power from izuku's attack, the sheer number of attacks hacking away at the robots made up for it.
Unfortunately, breath of the moon was one of the forms he was less proficient in, and it consumed a lot of stamina and energy to be able to pull some of the techniques off. But Izuku didn't have time to dwell on the matter, if he wanted to get into UA, he has to give it his all and don't hold back. He then recalled the words of Tanjiro, "set your heart ablaze." Gathering all of his strength he released technique after technique, fighting any robot that entered his line of sight.
"Breath of flames, fifth form:flame tiger. Breath of serpent, first form:winding serpent slash. Breath of thunder, fourth form:distant thunder." With a few minutes remaining, Izuku has gathered about 25 points so far, not exactly as well as he had hoped, but it was all he could manage for now. His breathing was ragged, he was struggling to get air in his lungs, switching between forms was not easy and now he was paying the price for it. "I can't stop now, I can collapse after the exam but I need to keep pushing forward!"
At that very moment, with very little time remaining in the exam, there was a huge rumble. The ground started shaking as if there was an earthquake and windows in the buildings started cracking. About 40 meters away, the ground split open, concrete giving way to the giant robot that has emerged from beneath it.
Izuku just stared at the robot in shock, "aren't they going a bit too far with that thing, IT'S HUGE!"
The giant robot which was much larger than the buildings looked down at the candidates, it's seven red eyes locked onto the crowd beneath it. It began to smash apart buildings, causing debris to fall everywhere. Examinees in their panic, dashed in the other direction, trying to escape the giant robot. Izuku was about to make his escape as well when he heard it, "h-help me!". He looked back, pinned under that that debris, was the kind girl who helped him before the exam. Looking around, it seems no one else has noticed, everyone else was so busting running away, no one went to aid her.
It only took Izuku another moment to quell his fear, and dash towards the girl. He couldn't just leave her behind to be crushed, that's not something a person should ever do. In just a few seconds, he made it to that girl's side, focussing on his breathing, he sped up his heart rate and blood circulation, going past his limit he lifted the rather large piece of debris pinning down the girl's leg, freeing her. But just as she was about to stand, her leg gave out from underneath her and she collapsed back onto the ground. She let out a yelp of pain as she continuously tried to get up. "Crap, she has a sprained ankle!"
There wasn't any time to waste, without a moment to lose, he picked her up and started running. But with her added weight and his fatigue, his speed was much slower than he thought, "fuck that robot is going to catch up to us, we can't get away from that thing. I don't have a choice, I got to face that thing."
Then he noticed that dude who called him out earlier, Izuku quickly ran over to him, passing the girl to him, "take her and get her out of here, I can't run fast enough, you got to do it."
The guy could only nod in response, accepting the girl into his arms before sprinting away at top speed. Izuku took a quick note of the guy's quirk, recording it in his mind. "I really got to stop analysing quirks at a time like this."
Turning around, he channeled One For All into his legs, propelling himself into the air, creating a huge dust cloud from where he jumped from. He pulled his right arm back, charging up One For All, preparing to throw a punch right at the robots face.
As he flew right past the robot's arm, he prepared himself, the sleeve around his right arm ripping apart from the power gathered there. Nearing the robot's head, he threw his fist right at the red eye at the center, screaming as loudly as he could, "SMASH!!!" The face of the robot caved in under the impact, and it was blown away, exploding along the way.
Izuku then plummeted back towards the ground, and it was then he finally noticed his arm and legs were broken. "Shit I was right, there are physical repercussions! I still got my left arm, as long as I time it right, I can land on the ground with minimal injuries."
But before he could unleash One For All, he was slapped right in the face, causing him to float right above the ground. He heard a "release" before he fell those last few inches back to the ground. He turned his head to the side, looking at the girl who helped him once again.
He could barely get the words out, "t-t-thank y-you for s-saving me..."
That was when present mic bellowed, "Time's up!"
An old lady made her presence known as she walked around, "good work, here have some gummy bears." She made her way over to Izuku before giving him a kiss on the head, causing izuku's arm and legs to heal and return to their normal state. But the exhaustion was too great, causing Izuku to pass out there and then.
The crowd was in confusion at what just happened, leading to a guy with blond hair to explain, "UA's certified nurse, the youthful heroine : Recovery girl. Her quirk is the Super-activation of healing ability. UA can only have such reckless exams because of her."
The guy with blue hair and glasses seemed to realise something as his eyes widened, muttering to himself, "I see! If this exam is set up like that..."
When Izuku woke up, he found himself in the hospital bed in UA. He was quickly discharged by the nurse and made his way home. He didn't feel like calling All Might and telling him how he did. How could he? The greatest hero gave him his quirk and he wasted it on some zero pointer robot. Even if he did well for the written exam, his points from the practical probably weren't enough to get him into the hero course. He couldn't face All Might like this.
And so far the next week, Izuku spent his time sulking at home, curling weights aimlessly as he waited for the results to be released. He sat there on the couch feeling more depressed than ever as he curled a dumbbell with his left arm thinking, "All Might, I'm sorry that I wasn't able to live up to your expectations, but I did what I felt was right and even if I fail, I don't regret my decision."
He was snapped out of his train of thought by the sound of his mother coming through the door, "Izu-Izuku...! It's here! It came!" Holding out a letter with the UA wax seal on it.
Izuku hesitantly took the letter to his room to watch it. He ripped open the letter to find a small metal disk. Giving him the shock of his life, as a hologram emerged from the disk with All Might shouting, "I AM HERE AS A HOLOGRAM!"
"I actually came to this town to work at UA. I don't have enough time to tell you more, so I shall just announce the results first. While your villain points were not sufficient to pass...", All Might announced, causing Izuku's eye to leak tears. "... if that was all there was to it!" Causing Izuku to look up in shock.
A video began to play, showing that nice girl who saved him during the exam. "Umm, excuse me but could you give some of my points to that person with curly hair and freckles... he saved me during the exam and that was time he could have used to get more points..."
All might continued to explain, "your actions have spurred on others. The exam the other day was not graded on villain points alone, there are also rescue points! They are given by a table of judges, and you, Young midoriya, have been awarded 40 rescue points! Both you and that girl have passed this exam, welcome to your hero academia!"
Izuku could not stop the tears of joy that flowed from his eyes as he heard those words. This was the start of his journey.
Once again sry for the long wait, this is a pretty short chapter but I hope you guys enjoy it! Leave some reviews so I know what I can improve on!