Izuku gulped as he sat across from Nezu.
He and his mother had arrived a few minutes ago, and were escorted by the Pro Hero 'Midnight', who gushed over how 'cute' he was the whole way to Nezu's office. Both his mum and Midnight were sitting outside of the office, chatting.
Nezu hadn't said anything other than a greeting before he waved the boy over to the desk, motioning at a chessboard in front of him, Izuku given the white coloured pieces.
He gathered that Nezu wanted to play chess with him, and so reached out and moved his piece, noticing how intently Nezu was watching him.
When he had been told by Tsukauchi that Nezu, the world's smartest hero, if not living being, wanted to meet him, he had been both ecstatic and concerned. Had he done something wrong?
He moved his knight forward, taking one of Nezu's bishops, and Nezu beamed at the boy, sending chills down his spine. "Alright Nezu, you got what you wanted from this game? I told you about him so you could talk, not play chess."
Izuku startled as a voice spoke up from his right, and he whipped his head around to see a tired-looking man in a black jumpsuit sitting on the couch.
He activated his Quirk, asking it; 'Who is he?' He got the familiar pain in his head as the blue lines appeared in his eyes, and he nodded.
"Pro Hero Eraserhead, real name Aizawa Shouta, aged 26, Quirk: Erasure. Can stop emitter and Transformation quirks from functioning by looking at the target. Currently suffering from Insomnia and-"
He was about to continue when Aizawa's eyes flashed red, and the information left his mind, leaving him with a dull headache. "While that's impressive, it's also using your quirk in public without the authorisation of a pro hero or police officer. Nezu, just tell us what sort of batshit crazy plan you have for the kid so I can go back to sleep."
Nezu clapped his hands, placing his final piece in the perfect position to lead Izuku to a stalemate. While it was impossible for Nezu to get a checkmate in this situation, he didn't care, he was too excited by this boy's intelligence.
For someone so young to almost equal him in chess skills… that required intelligence, something Nezu had plenty of. He could recognise that even without |Human Archive|, Izuku Midoriya was incredibly intelligent.
He smiled. "Of course, Aizawa. Mr Midoriya, I just want to confirm something. Are you the consultant who has been helping Tsukauchi and the Police force over the last three years, using your Quirk to gather information?"
Izuku just nodded, worried he was about to be in trouble. "Yes sir, I am. When I was six, I saw a missings person report on TV and tried to use my Quirk on her, and it told me who had taken her and where she was."
Eraserhead nodded while Nezu smiled at the boy, motioning for him to continue. "After that, I contacted the Detective, and ever since then I have been dropping in to help out."
Nezu pulled a file out of his desk and read over it quickly. "I was quite surprised to discover how young Tsukauchi's prized consultant was, but with your Quirk and mental maturity in mind, It's not surprising."
Izuku flinched when Nezu said 'mental maturity', something that both Nezu and Eraserhead noticed. The former's eyebrow rose while the latter felt a pang of concern for the boy.
Nezu placed the file down onto the desk. "I see you're not very comfortable being called mature, I apologise. If you're willing, could you explain why it's an issue for you?"
Izuku sighed, looking down. "Only if you tell me why I'm here. Aizawa doesn't know, and I can't see your plans. I assume it's because you're not human."
Both Nezu and Aizawa filed away that information for later, while Nezu nodded towards him. "Of course my boy! You are here because I want to bring you in as a disciple of sorts."
Izuku was shocked and looked up, about to talk when Nezu held up his hand (paw?). "I am sure that you know that your Quirk, while incredibly helpful, is ill-suited to the flashy, combat-focused world of street heroics, correct?"
Izuku just nodded, mouth agape. Nezu continued. "That is why I am offering you this path. You see, it is a little known fact to the public, but the Hero industry actually has three different branches."
"You have the main one that people are aware of, Peacekeeper Heroes. Prime examples are heroes like All Might, Endeavour, or Edgeshot, as they focus on patrols and respond to requests."
Nezu motioned over to Aizawa, who just sighed and pulled out his wallet, handing over his Hero License for the boy to see. "You also have what are known as Underground Heroes. They avoid the spotlight and are not publicly credited for their work, allowing them to work quietly. The most notable example is Eraserhead here."
"While you would be an excellent fit into Underground heroics with a bit of training, the third path is the one I feel would suit you best. This third path is made up of what we call Analysis Heroes. Notable examples include myself, and Sir Nighteye, All Might's former sidekick."
Izuku just listened, eyes wide in glee. Never in his life would he have thought that something like this would be offered to him. Nezu took Aizawa's licence back off of Izuku and handed it back to Aizawa.
"You would officially be an intern, allowed to use your Quirk at my discretion to assist with cases. If you choose to accept this offer, we will have to give you a temporary codename to allow your work to be officially recognised, as well as setting up a bank account for your payment to go into."
Nezu wrote down his phone number on a piece of paper and handed it to Izuku, who pocketed it. I will give your mother a call later, and we can discuss this matter then."
Nezu clapped. "Now! You promised me a story, Izuku Midoriya. Why is your maturity something that affects you so?"
Izuku flinched again but nodded to the chimera.
"It started at my quirk's awakening…"
Izuku sat in class listening to his teacher talk.
While they were only four years old, the human brain had evolved a bit over the 200 years since Quirks appeared, and the baseline intelligence was a little higher for all ages now.
That was why his teacher was currently talking about the second world war. Before, it was something Year 3's and up would cover, but now it was baseline knowledge.
Izuku shook his head as the weird feeling came back to him as if something was pushing on the back of his head. He snapped out of it when his teacher called his name.
"Midoriya, could you tell me what year this war began?"
Izuku scrunched his eyes as he thought about the question, the pressure on his head swelling up again as he thought; World War 2.
The effect was instant. Pictures, words and information started flowing into his brain, and he clutched his head in pain, barely holding in a scream as he fell to the floor.
He could vaguely hear talking around him as the teacher rushed to his side, but all he could focus on right now were the flashes of American scientists working on new weapons to arm the soldiers, the cries for help from the Jewish population that Adolf Hitler sent to death.
He could feel the memory of every soldier killed in the war and could see exactly where the bullets entered most of their bodies. He could see the grieving families, the shouting soldiers, the emotions of the boys just over a decade older than him as they died in an unknown land for a cause they barely believed in.
He eventually blacked out from the pain, as well as the shock of what he was being shown. Apparently the teacher had taken him to the sickbay, where an ambulance came and took him to a hospital.
Nezu's eyes glinted with both pity and a new feeling of protectiveness towards the boy in front of him.
Aizawa's eyes were wide open as Izuku recounted the first time he had used his Quirk, albeit accidentally. 'For someone so young to be subjected to that sort of imagery, in that detail… It's a surprise he's not broken.'
Nezu sighed. "That's… quite a story my boy. And I thank you for sharing it with me. I know it mustn't have been easy going back to that moment, and I apologise for pushing you to talk about it."
Izuku just shook his head. "Don't worry sir! I got over that a long time ago, and using my Quirk doesn't hurt as much now as it did then. I've gotten better control of it, but the doctor says my brain just needs to mature enough to handle the stress."
Nezu nodded. "Whether you have gotten over it or not, I still apologise. Now, I think it's time you and your mother head home, is it not? I'm sure you have lots to talk about with her."
Izuku nodded, dashing towards the door, before turning and bowing to the two heroes. "Thank you for this opportunity Nezu, sir! I won't let you down! It was very nice meeting you both!"
He scurried out the door opening it and heading outside, gushing to his mum and midnight about what Nezu had said.
When the door closed again, Nezu chuckled, looking at his chessboard. Aizawa noticed it for the first time, eyebrow-raising as he saw the stalemate.
"A stalemate, sir? Going easy on the kid? What happened to being the undisputed king of chess?" He was expecting a snarky comment back from the rat, banter being one of his favourite things, but instead got a chuckle.
"Oh no Aizawa, I was playing as hard as I could. That boy has a mind like no other I have seen before. I'm sure that one day he might even surpass me as a tactician..."
Aizawa would never admit it, but at that statement, his blood froze and chills went up and down his spine. 'Nezu thinks that boy could outsmart him when he's older?'
He looked to the door where the small boy had run out and shuddered.
'Holy shit kid.'
Inko, of course, had her concerns.
Like if they had ways of reducing how much pain Izuku was in when using his Quirk, or if they could 100% guarantee that he would be safe, etc.
Nezu told her all about the precautions they would have concerning Izuku's internship, including the requirement of a codename, and the fact that his Quirk will also be kept out of public knowledge
This, along with the fact that he would essentially be working out of Nezu's office at UA, one of the most secure places in Japan, calmed Inko down enough for her to consider the offer.
What pushed her over the edge was Izuku's puppy dog eyes, vibrant green with lines of blue as Izuku listed the things he could do to convince her, all taken from things she was thinking about wanting done.
Eventually, her arguments were systematically broken down by both Izuku and Nezu, leaving her with nothing to say but yes.
And the next chapter of Izuku's life started the week after.
Hirayama Genjo shuddered, her bindings creaking as the man entered the room.
She had been out with her friends partying because she got a promotion at her job after she got her licence that allowed her to use her shock absorption Quirk for her job, meaning higher pay and being in the boss's good books.
She had thought the night would have been full of celebrations and drinks, but when she blacked out at the bar and woke up strapped to this table, she panicked.
Her quirk wasn't able to help her escape, and her brain was still fuzzy from whatever this guy had drugged her with. He smiled at her, but it was wrong.
"Now now darling, you wouldn't want to hurt yourself straining those bindings now, would you? Especially since my boss needs you in one piece for his little experiment…"
Her eyes widened and her breathing increased as she started thrashing at her bindings, mentally begging for someone, hero, vigilante, police, anyone, to swoop in and rescue her from this freak.
And she must have a 2nd Quirk that let her make wishes, as the door that the man had come out of was slammed open, knocking him to the ground as four people ran into the room, two heroes and two police officers.
The older looking of the two heroes stepped in front of everyone else, grabbing onto the white scarf around his neck as it somehow floated, wrapping up the man on the ground, pinning his arms. "Sentinel, you're up."
The shorter of the two heroes nodded, then spoke up. "Banno Yukichi, Quirk: Stasis Field. Wanted for three counts of assault, kidnapping, and human trafficking. You are under arrest, please do not resist." He looked over to the older one, who nodded at the boy, giving a discreet thumbs-up.
The man thrashed around for a few minutes before eventually stilling when one of the police officers sedated him. While they were taking the man to the police car for transport to the station, the short hero came over to Hirayama.
"It's ok now Ms Genjo. You're safe now, alright?" He pointed at the other hero in the room. "My partner and I are going to get you out of here alright? Then the police will need to ask you some questions."
Hirayama just nodded while the boy undid her restraints. And it was very clear that this was just a boy, probably no older than seventeen. She rubbed her wrists as the two heroes led her out of the building, and to the police to the police station for her statement.
She wanted to thank the two heroes after her interview with the detective, but they had already left…
"Ah, Izuku, Aizawa! How did your mission go!"
Izuku took off the plain helmet he wore when out in the field with Eraserhead and smiled at Nezu. "It was awesome, Nezu! Aizawa even let me be the one to kick down the door!"
Nezu just smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. Technically, Izuku shouldn't be going out into the field to fight villains and assist the police yet, as he was still Nezu's intern, but as he had gotten to the point in his training where Eraserhead was confident in his skills, Nezu was willing to look the other way.
The boy had shot up in the eight years he had known him. From a small boy with a big heart, using his painful Quirk to help people, to a strong young man, acting as one of the Hero Commission's best assets.
And it wasn't just for his Quirk. While he could get Nezu all the information he needed on villains or criminals, his mind was something Nezu had fostered, and what a marvellous mind it was.
Analytical, intelligent, and able to think outside of any box you threw at him, Izuku's inputs into cases had earned 'Sentinel' both a large amount of respect, and a great deal of money.
Nezu smiled as he watched Izuku gush to Eraserhead about the patrol. Izuku had come a long way. The UA Entrance Exam was in two months, and Izuku had taken Nezu's offer of entrance through recommendation.
The other staff would have suggested it was nepotism if it wasn't for that fact that they all loved Izuku, even if some, i.e. Aizawa, would never admit it.
Nezu clapped to get the others attention. "Well Eraserhead, Sentinel, you are free to go for the night. Please give my best to Inko would you Izuku? And remind her that it's no trouble for her to visit me! I do so love our chats!"
Izuku nodded as he ran out of the room chuckling, before throwing out a; "I will, bye dads!" In a teasing voice.
Aizawa froze while Nezu just laughed, waving to the boy. He turned to Aizawa. "I see you didn't even try to deny it?"
Aizawa just pouted and crossed his arms. "Well, neither did you, sir."
Nezu just continued laughing. "And why would I!? I think that anyone would be proud to call that boy their son. Or at least, they should be!"
AN: Big ol' Timeskip this chapter! Didn't want to spend too long focusing on the pre-UA part of the story, so we will be moving onto Izuku's recommendation exam next chapter! (Accuse Nezu of Nepotism, I dare you :P)
See you guys next chapter!