Chapter 2

Kenichi sat in the back of a limo with blacked out windows and looked at the entrance to U.A. where prospective students were streaming in constantly. It'd been a little over ten months since he'd awoken his full mind and begun changing himself with his Quirk. Today was the day of the open U.A. exam and he was here to participate and earn his spot in the school.

"I still don't understand why you didn't take the recommendation exam with me onii-chan."

He turned to the other person sitting in the back of the limo, his lovely sister. Though she currently looked rather mulish with her arms crossed under her still growing bust and an adorable pout on her face. Her little temper tantrum was made even more adorable by her inability to decide if she was going to look away from him and pout, or try to give him an angry glare. Going back and forth between both made them completely ineffective.

Kenichi smiled warmly at his upset sister. He knew she was only afraid that he wouldn't get a high enough score and not make it into the school. The odds of that happening were zero but it didn't matter when it came to irrational fear. He reached out and gently gripped her shoulder, "Momo, you know why I couldn't take the recommendation. Until last year everyone thought my Quirk was only good in certain situations, like infiltration or impersonation. Everyone wants to see big flashy Quirks, not some guy that can make himself look like a woman."

Momo gave him an outrageous pout, "I know! But that was a year ago! Now you're so much stronger! I've watched you work yourself to the bone to get where you are. You earned that recommendation!"

Kenichi shook his head. His middle school had offered a recommendation for him just as it had for Momo. However, while he felt hers was well deserved and that she'd worked on it and earned it. He hadn't. At least, not as far as the school was concerned. Once the changes to his Quirk had been explored for a bit, the family had decided to keep quiet on what he was capable of. That meant the school believed he was nothing more than a shapeshifter. They offered the recommendation on his name alone and not on his actual worth. Some people might have taken the easy recommendation regardless, he just wasn't that type of person. He planned to take first place and show everyone who had doubted him.

"Momo, it'll be fine. I'm going to go in there and blow them all away. Thanks to the combined effort of everyone in the family, I'm now strong enough to stand with the best trying to get into U.A." He smiled brightly, "Just root for me, okay?"

Momo continued to pout in her worry but nodded anyway, "Of course. Do your best!"

The two of them exchanged one last hug before he exited the limo. His appearance drew some attention as there weren't many handsome young men stepping out of expensive limos in front of the school. Kenichi ignored them all as he straightened his clothing and picked up the bag the driver had set out for him. It contained his change of clothing for the practical.

With his bag hefted on his shoulder, Kenichi walked into the school and followed the directions to his testing area. The first portion was the written exam, something he wasn't the least worried about. While he wasn't anywhere near as brilliant as his little sister, he was no slouch. The pair of them were almost always tied for first in their exams, the difference was Momo studied ahead into subjects he had no interest in or need to understand. Physics and mechanical engineering, among others, held no uses for him. On the other hand, he'd been diving headfirst into anything to do with genetics, animals, and Quirk theory like his life depended on it. In his quest he'd visited every zoo of any description in the country and, once the exams were over, the whole family was heading overseas to visit more and meet some of the top heroes in other countries. His parents were going to network and he was going to copy some powerful Quirks! A win for the whole family.

He'd already collected dozens of them. However, there was a limit to how many he could have at any one time. Any more than a handful of fully active Quirks and his body would start to break down. It took him a bit, but he found a work around for it. Instead of taking an exact copy of a Quirk, he focused on the secondary aspects of the Quirk to enhance himself without limit.

For example, he could have easily copied Momo's Quirk and used it exactly like she did. Except, he would never steal his sisters thunder like that. Instead, he took bits and pieces of her Quirk and used them to enhance his capabilities. Since they both stored energy in their fat cells, having the code for how her body did it let him enhance his own storage abilities by around twenty-five percent. Additionally, he kept part of her ability to turn fat cells into any element. With that he could make things like steel inside of his body and use it to line the edges of any flesh-weapons he created. Among other things. It basically gave him access to any possible element he might need for anything he plans to do in the future.

As another example, he'd met the pro hero Death Arms once. The mans Quirk was mediocre and just granted him super strong arms. Kenichi was able to take the portion of his Quirk Code that enhanced the muscles to such an insane degree and apply it to his entire body. His muscles were now far more powerful than they had been. But it went further than that. For Death Arm's Quirk to not destroy his body when he used it, his entire body had to be enhanced to some degree. What good was super strong arms if your legs were crushed when you lifted something heavy into the air? Enhanced bones, ligaments, and more were included in the Quirk. It's just they were rather minor enhancements when compared to the strength of his arms. Kenichi applied all of that to his body and gave his entire body the strength and durability of Death Arm's arms.

And that was just one of the dozen pro heroes that he'd met and shook hands with! Almost every single one he'd met let him add at least a little something to himself. Kamui Woods let him drastically enhance his regeneration by mimicking how he grew wood but using it for cell growth. Mount Lady gave him the ability to expand, and compress, parts or all of his body. Them, students in class, all the others, and all the animals had given him an extreme amount of power. He'd spent more time getting used to his strength than actually acquiring it. His power was no joke and he'd done some serious damage to the house when he first started getting it all.

It got so bad that he hadn't made any major changes in the last month just to spend the time to get used to where he was at currently. It might be funny to see someone with super strength accidentally rip a door off of its hinges, the first time, but after that it's just plain inconvenient! It got so bad he'd stopped replacing the doorknob to his bedroom after he crushed it for the tenth time.

All of it really just boiled down to Kenichi knowing he was prepared for this test. It would show everyone what he could really do and he was looking forward to seeing their faces when he got his results.

Kenichi trundled into the auditorium with the rest of the students who'd just finished the written exam. It had been as brutal as he expected it to be. Thankfully, he had his adorable sister to help him study and prep so the test was mostly just long and annoying versus difficult. The only portion he was even remotely worried about was the essay. Thank god it hadn't been something lame like 'Why do you want to be a Hero?'.

Once he found his assigned seat in the auditorium, it wasn't long before Present Mic stepped on the stage to explain the practical exam. Kenichi started to look around to see if he could spot anyone from the main cast of the show. The auditorium was pretty dark but he had a modification for that, thank you multiple vision modes! Though in this case he just used low-light vision so he could continue to see in color. Seeing things like a snake, or other animals, could be pretty confusing. He eventually spotted three distinct heads of hair. One blue, one pale blonde, and one bushy green. Ida Tenya, Bakugo Katsuki, and Midoriya Izuku.

Of course, they were much easier to spot since Ida had stood up to not only berate Present Mic for a falsely perceived mistake but also Midoriya for his mumbling. Kenichi hadn't actually heard anything from Midoriya's direction but he had his hearing set to human normal, so whatever. Maybe Ida was just overly sensitive. Whatever the case was, it was clear that Ida was definitely tightly wound. Sadly, if things went the way he expected, he'd be in class with all three of those clowns.

Kenichi had to fight not to sneer at either Midoriya or Bakugo. He despised both of them, for very different reasons. Hating Bakugo was easy. Frankly, the little psychopath should have been in jail for years already. No matter how much Bakugo improved, no matter how much he changed in the show as time passed, he never should have had the chance. The moment he told Midoriya to kill himself was the moment he became an attempted murderer, manslaughter at the least. That alone made him a villain as far as Kenichi was concerned. Then there were the likely hundreds of times that Bakugo broke the Quirk usage, assault, bullying, and property damage laws. Seriously, if his school and parents weren't so shit at their jobs, Bakugo would have likely been in a detention center before he was a teenager!

His dislike for Midoriya was for something else entirely. Midoriya was a decent guy, a good guy even and someone he honestly would have liked to be friends with growing up. However, he was an abject failure in Kenichi's eyes and no, it wasn't because he was previously Quirkless. It was Midoriya's complete lack of effort. He was always talking about wanting to be a hero but never once put his money where his mouth was. The closest he came were his little notebooks. Kenichi would happily say those notebooks were amazing and had a lot of potential for use as a hero. However! Midoriya did nothing else!

Seriously! The guy didn't even take up something as simple as jogging to work on his stamina! There were tons of things he could have done to help himself out on his path to being a hero! Frankly, Kenichi thought that the over-reliance on Quirks would have given Midorya quite the loophole to work with. Take someone like Eraser Head. The guy had a Quirk, sure, but all his Quirk did was stop Emitter and Transformation type Quirks from working. It did nothing to Mutant types. Yet the dude could still kick the crap out of most of his opponents just using his body and skills. Take away his Quirk and he could still take down villains with just effort and his training! Sure, he'd never be number one or anything, but he'd still be a goddamn hero!

But did Midoriya put forth any real effort in the decade after he was declared Quirkless? No, no he did not. And yet, all it took was for him to do one selfless act and all of a sudden he's the 'chosen one' to inherit the ridiculous power of One For All. It just reminded him too much of the problem with most Millenials back in his last life. Given garbage like participation trophies and growing up expecting things to just be handed to them. Yeah, running out to help Bakugo was a bravely stupid, even heroic, action but it hardly justified the complete one eighty in All Might's attitude.

Kenichi felt all of that spit on the efforts of everyone else that worked themselves to the bone for years to get where they were. His precious sister had spent days to learn how to make just one complex chemical formula with her Quirk. She'd forced herself to eat copious amounts of food just to have the energy to practice. Only he knew how that felt. It was disgusting and demoralizing to have to sit down and eat enough food for ten people just to practice for a few hours.

Hell, even before his Quirk was fully awoken by his reincarnation, he'd worked his ass off to eek out any possible advantage his original Shapeshifting had given him. He'd literally suffered as he ripped his body apart on the cellular level and rearranged his limbs into forms that could be used in combat. Near instantaneous shapeshifting fucking hurt!

Kenichi shook his head and followed the rest of the students as they began to leave the auditorium for the fleet of buses taking them to their exam grounds, after a brief stop at a changing room with lockers. As he stepped onto his designated bus a very distinct hairstyle caught his attention. It was long, spikey, and purple. It was also attached to a depressed looking guy. The sight of him brought a wicked grin to Kenichi's face. His first chance to mess with the canon story. If this worked he just might be able to get Shinso Hitoshi into the hero course! The dudes Quirk, Brainwash, was unbelievably useful and a complete waste rotting away in General Studies.

Kenichi had to suppress a shudder of excitement as he pictured Shinso brainwashing a Nomu into being his minion. Imagine the shock on Shigaraki Tomura's face just before his own Nomu punches it in. He quickly took the seat next to the depressed looking Shinso and offered his hand for a quick shake, "You look a little worried there. Quirk not quite as combat oriented as others?"

The grimace Shinso gave at the accurate 'guess' would have been proof enough for anyone. Shinso eyed the hand in front of him for a moment before good manners kicked in and he accepted it, "Something like that."

Kenichi didn't even have to pretend as his eyes widened in surprise at the information he suddenly had on Shinso's Quirk. He quickly spoke in a low voice so only the two of them, and anyone with enhanced hearing, could hear, "Dude, the hell are you worried about? Your Quirk is epic!"

Shinso's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing in suspicion, "What could you possibly know about my Quirk?"

Kenichi made a 'calm down' gesture, "Sorry sorry, it's an aspect of my Quirk. It gives me information on the Quirk of anyone I touch. Useful but not the main purpose of it. I don't know how you experience your Quirk but I see the 'core' of it in your DNA. It's all overly complicated and scientific but the skinny is, I know what your Quirk is and how it works."

Shinso eyed the strange person talking to him with a fair amount of suspicion, "And yet you're still talking to me?"

Kenichi scoffed, "Dude, you want to be a hero. 'Nuff said." He looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to them before speaking in a conspiratorial tone, "Look, I can guess what some narrow minded jerks might've said about your Quirk. Screw them. If you used your Quirk to it's full potential by say, using it on yourself to change your attitude and free yourself from the shackles your body places on itself, you could easily give yourself an edge."

Shinso's eyes widened in shock at the suggestion of using his Brainnwashing on himself. He'd never even considered the possibility before. Even if he just used it as a motivational tool to amp himself up or get through anything boring, it would give him a distinct advantage. He hated math but he could Brainwash himself into getting through it.

Kenichi grinned as he watched the gears turning in Shinso's mind, "Just remember man, we're here to be heroes. Use your Quirk to amp yourself up. If you wanna help some folks out, ask to use your Quirk on them to amp them up so they put in more effort! Sneak around the bots and look for weak points to exploit. I'm sure they took into account that not everyone has a heavily combat oriented Quirk."

He was thinking of folks like Hagakure Toru. Her invisibility didn't do shit for her physically. Though having invisible fists was one hell of an advantage. He totally planned to copy her Quirk and see if he could combine it with his Chameleon genes. So many combos and experiments to look into! Right now he had Shinso's Quirk to dissect and he very much intended to use it for self hypnosis tricks, once he had time to practice with it.

The rest of the bus ride was silent as Shinso's mind went into overdrive and he tried to think of new and interesting ways to use his Quirk. As they arrived at their designated gate and departed the bus, Kenichi looked at the other participants. He wanted to see if he could find anyone else he really wanted to meet. He recognized one or two people in passing but couldn't recall exactly who they were. He was pretty sure the black guy with white hair had been in class 1-B. He wasn't being racist when he thought black either. The guy was literally pitch black, like a living shadow. Didn't his Quirk have something to do with shadows? Something to keep in mind.

The last person he recognized by name was Shishida Jurota, the 'Beast' of U.A. High. Seriously, the character was a clear homage to the big blue mutant from his last life. How could he not at least like the character a little bit just for that?

Kenichi stopped looking around like a tourist and focused on himself and his plans for this exam. He wouldn't settle for anything less than first place with a large number of villain and hero points. He also fully intended to wreck the zero pointer. With a grin, he checked over his outfit to make sure it was ready. Honestly, his outfit was nothing special. It looked like a simple track suit, however the material making up the arms of the jacket top was significantly thinner and weaker than the rest of the outfit. It was meant to rip and tear apart easily so he could easily shapeshift his arms into whatever he wanted. He was already deadening his nerves in preparation of the shifting to come. Lastly, the whole outfit was slightly large on him, currently.

"BEGIN!"

As Present Mic shouted that the exam had begun, Kenichi released his hold on his strength. It took forever for him to learn how to keep his immense physical speed and strength in check at all times. Now though? The moment he released those restraints them with an audible and visible 'THUMP' as his muscles and body expanded slightly. He'd looked fit beforehand, but now his muscles had muscles making him look like a professional lifter.

A moment later there was a loud thunder crack that sent a shock wave through the air. Where Kenichi had been standing there were now two small craters where his feet had been.

"What are you all waiting for?! There's no countdown in real life! Go go go!"

Kenichi grinned wickedly as he blasted through the air faster than the speed of sound. He quickly spotted his first villain robot and charged directly toward it. Oh yes, this was going to be a ton of fun!

AN

And here we are with chapter 2. This story has grabbed my brain and wont let it go. Not that I mind. It's been a while since I've been so heavily inspired to write non-stop. I hope you're all enjoying it so far and are looking forward to more.

Not a whole lot happening in this chapter, but we did get to see the first flap of the butterflies wings as Kenichi gives Shinso Hitoshi an early push in the right direction. Might be a bit before we see the results, but it should be interesting. Next chapter will be the exam battle and should be a lot of fun. If you don't feel like waiting, head over to pat-reon slash thomasdarkrose and read up to chapter 7.

Reviews please! Seeing that review counter go up and reading that people are enjoying my work gives me that little bit of positive reinfocement I need to write more. That's how this economy works, you pay me in reviews and I write more!

Until next time!

Oh oh oh! I almost forgot. I need to be completely one hundred percent clear about this. Momo is NOT a potential love interest. She is on the MC's 'not even to save humanity' list. So please, don't get your hopes up for any twincest or anything else along those lines. And NO I do not know who the potential love interest is just yet. It will be as much a surprise to me as it is to you lovely readers.

Okay, I'm done for real this time.