AN: SwordOfTheGods - there's gonna be butterflies starting… now.

Flashyyyyyy - there may be hints of that ship, yes.

InfinityMask - Iida will join the Dekusquad, just not until UA, sorry for any confusion!

Animeguy1101 - Ochako will probably also change her name, yes. New timeline with new context and all.

GotTheMovesLikeYaegar - While the name Deku itself isn't inherently insulting, it was still a term used as an insult by a bully for 10 years. While there's something to be said about rehabilitating language, the context for that is gone thanks to the timeline reset.

Everyone else - thanks for the comments and support!

Waking up at 5:30 in the morning, Izuku already knew this school year was going to be better than his last year at Aldera.

Throwing on his gym clothes, Izuku snuck out for his morning run. With school here and a larger crowd, his training routine had changed. Now, the schedule was to continue his morning runs with Ochako, but then he would return home, change, and head to school for the day. After school, the group of five students would head to Takoba beach to continue their cleanup efforts for two hours before they finally called it a day.

When he reached their meeting spot, Ochako smiled and waved at him as they synched up for the second half of their run.

"Ready for school today?"

"Yeah!" she exclaimed. "It's going to be exciting, sharing classes with everyone!"

"It'll almost feel like we're back in UA in a way." Izuku noticed Ochako abruptly halt, and he stopped alongside her. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Tsu…" Ochako turned towards Izuku. "We'll see them again, right? Our friends from 1-A?"

"Of course! Tsu, and Iida, and Todoroki, and the rest… they all made it in twice before. Nothing we do is going to change that."

Ochako smiled at Izuku. "Thanks, I think I just needed to hear that."

"Anytime." Izuku returned the smile. "In the meantime, we've got so much to do that high school will be here before we know it."

"You're right!" Fire filled Ochako's eyes as she pumped her fist in the air.

Ochako took off at a faster pace, and after a moment to recover, Izuku caught up. And the two pushed themselves with a renewed vigor to finish their jog.

After their morning exercise, Izuku and Ochako parted ways, heading home to have breakfast and get ready for school. Less than an hour later, they reunited at the same spot, now with the addition of Himiko to their group.

"Everyone ready?" Ochako called out as she approached.

"Yep!" Izuku called back.

Himiko swallowed. "Y-yeah."

Izuku and Ochako looked at each other in silent understanding before Izuku turned to Himiko. "What's wrong?"

"I just… don't have good memories of school," Himiko admitted. "I thought I was getting better, but now that we're actually heading to school…"

Izuku gently touched Himiko's arm. "Do you remember what I told you about my time at Aldera?" He waited for Himiko to nod before he continued. "Well, Montross was a completely different experience after I transferred. I'm sure things will be better for you as well!"

"Yeah, but your situation is different. It's not like you were held back," Himiko grumbled.

"There was a reason for that!" Ochako pointed out. "And I'm sure the teachers here will understand. You don't have to tell your classmates if you don't want to, right?"

Himiko paused, looking down at her hands for a moment as if deep in thought. "I just - I don't want to lie to people anymore. I want them to accept me for me."

Izuku put a hand on Himiko's shoulder. "Well, you've got us, right? And Jiro, Sunako and Shizu too."

"Yeah! Even if your classmates are jerks, you've got people supporting you!"

Himiko's eyes misted up as she gave the two a toothy smile. "You're right! And Mama Inko already told me that if any of the teachers are bad, let her know!"

Izuku gave her a reassuring grin. "See? It'll be different this year!"

Seemingly feeling better, Himiko rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. "Alright. I can do this. Lead the way!"

After saying his goodbyes to the two girls, Izuku made his way to his homeroom, where he met up with his friends.

"Yo, Midoriya!" Jiro greeted.

Izuku waved as he walked back to his friends. "Long time no see."

"Midoriya, we saw you yesterday for training," Aika replied.

That caused Hikari to laugh. "Midoriya's joking with you."

"I-I knew that!" Aika crossed her arms with a small pout.

Jiro poked her in the shoulder with an ear jack. "Sure you did." Turning back to Izuku, she gave him a questioning glance. "So any hints on where the other two ended up?"

Izuku shook his head. "Nope."

That wasn't quite true. While he didn't know where Ochako ended up, he knew Himiko was in a different class. Between the abuse she dealt with affecting her education and the fact that she was held back, she was definitely enrolled in a different homeroom from Izuku. There, she would receive remedial education as well as additional lessons to help her catch up to where her education should be.

Izuku chatted with his friends for a few minutes until it was time for homeroom to start. Everyone immediately split up to get to their desks just in time for the teacher's arrival. Hearing the door open, everyone looked towards it, watching their homeroom teacher enter with Ochako following behind.

His friends shot him knowing glances, especially Jiro who smirked at him, and Izuku sheepishly smiled back.

Of course, they didn't know that Nezu had an interest in the school and probably had a hand in helping make sure that they were in the same class.

The teacher introduced themself before introducing the new student to the class. As Izuku watched, Ochako wrote her name on the board before turning to face the whole class.

"Hi, I'm Ochako Uraraka! It's nice to meet you all. Let's do our best this year!"

Aizawa sat in the teacher's lounge, preparing his lessons for his students. One of the more interesting pieces of information he learned from Izuku and Ochako was that his incoming class was going to be trouble and that he had expelled them almost immediately, only to re-enroll half of them by the end of the first semester.

Learning this ahead of time was both good and bad for Aizawa. Good, because now he knew his class would be trouble. Bad, because now that they were aware of it. Nezu would prefer that he be more selective in weeding out the troublemakers. After all, it didn't do well to put an entire hero class a semester behind, if he could help it, Not to mention the associated damage to UA's reputation and the students in class 1-B.

And so he was sitting here, planning exercises to help him weed out the troublemakers before they brought the whole class down with them. It wasn't the first time, and it certainly wouldn't be the last, but he found himself cursing his other selves and All Might for not sharing more details with the kids.

Knowing that time travel quirks existed now, he wondered how Nezu would plan to handle information sharing in the future to account for this. But that was a problem above his pay grade.

Hearing his phone go off, Aizawa annoyedly looked at his phone to see it was Nezu. Sighing, he grabbed his phone and made his way to the principal's office.

"Ah, Aizawa, right on time!"

"I hope this is important."

"It is, unfortunately. You see, I would like you to visit Aldera Middle School today and interview the principal and young Bakugo." Nezu slid a file folder across his desk.

Warily, Aizawa picked up the folder and flipped through it. "Midoriya's old school bully? Why the sudden interest?"

"As much as I am loath to admit it," Nezu warily began with a sigh, "the information we have received from Mr. Midoriya and Miss Uraraka is woefully incomplete. So it's time to begin supplementing the information more directly."

"And why the interest in this school? Why this kid in particular and not the other 17 members of their class?"

"Well, three reasons. First, is its proximity to UA. Despite Aldera Middle School being the closest school to UA, it has never had a student successfully pass UA's entrance exam. Second, is the attitude displayed by the teachers. There is clearly a blatant quirkism bias running through the system. The third is young Bakugo. While both of our guests insist that he is on his way to becoming a hero, that doesn't change the fact that there were red flags displayed in his attitude. The three facts together paint an interesting picture, and I want to make sure we avoid any future headaches."

Aizawa frowned. "And I suppose you want me to do this as soon as possible?"

"Indeed. I have already called ahead and explained that you will be departing UA soon to visit them."

Irritation crossed Aizawa's face as he entered the gates of the school, a raccoon mutant in a suit waiting for him.

"Ah, Mr. Aizawa! What brings you to my lovely school today?"

Aizawa could already tell he was going to despise the principal. "I heard there were a couple of promising students here and was sent to scout them."

The principal seemed to be thrown off-balance by his statement. "T-two students? May I inquire who?"

Aizawa casually pulled out his phone as if he was checking his notes. "Katsuki Bakugo and Izuku Midoriya."

The principal let out some inhuman sound. "While young Bakugo is our most promising student, I don't know who recommended young Midoriya. For two reasons: first, he no longer attends this school, and second, he is quirkless! He is definitely not hero material."

Aizawa raised his eyebrow in suspicion. "Well, it appears my sources may have been wrong then. I guess you can have a good day."

Aizawa casually began to turn away when he heard the principal shout in protest. "Wait no! What about young Bakugo?"

"Well, if my source was partially wrong, doesn't that throw everything into doubt?"

The principal seemed to pale. "P-please! You should at least see his record! I promise he is going to be a wonderful future hero!"

Aizawa seemed to consider it. "And you said Midoriya used to attend here?"

The principal nodded his head vigorously. "Y-yes. His mother had him transfer to a different school for the previous semester, but he had attended Aldera until that point."

"Then maybe they weren't entirely wrong. I would like to see both of their records."

"Of course, please, come this way! If there's anything you need to see, we can provide it."

The principal ushered him inside, and Aizawa allowed himself a satisfied smile.

Gotcha.

After several hours of going through the school, Aizawa was ready to call this a failure. The school was utterly unremarkable. The teachers were ordinary, almost all of the students had minor quirks, and the textbooks he saw were old.

No wonder UA didn't have any students from Aldera, Aizawa mused as he entered the security office. This school looks like it's barely holding on as it is.

Sitting down at an old desk, Aizawa began pulling up old records. Nominally, it was to see what kind of skills these two students demonstrated during PE class, but Aizawa had an entirely different goal in mind.

Finding the first video he was looking for, Aizawa watched, fast-forwarding until he found what he wanted.

There.

Pausing the video, Aizawa frowned as he looked down at the two files. He clearly saw Katsuki being the aggressor in the video, but he then found the incident - in Izuku's file. A citation for disruption during sports class.

Meanwhile, Katsuki's file was spotless.

Something didn't add up. Frowning, Aizawa continued through the videos.

Finally, during the last period of the day, Aizawa was able to interview Katsuki directly.

"Now remember, let me do the talking…"

"Yeah yeah, I get it," an annoyed-sounding voice of a student could be heard approaching the door. Aizawa just sat there and waited.

He watched as the principal came in with a young blonde-haired student who wore a scowl on his face, which surprised Aizawa. Normally, he expected students to be excited about a hero visiting their school, but not this one.

"Now then, Eraserhead. Here is the prized student from our school, Katsuki Bakugo."

"Thanks, now can I speak with him alone?"

The principal looked at the hero in shock. "B-but-"

Aizawa cut him off. "You're recording this anyways, right? You can always watch it later. I just want to talk to him directly."

"Hmph." The student's scowl shifted into a smirk. "Don't worry, I can impress some no-name hero all on my own."

"I-if you two are in agreement, then I will be on my way." The principal walked to the door. "Let me know when you are done."

"I will," Aizawa promised to the retreating principal.

"Finally! The old man was a pain in the ass," Bakugo declared as the door closed, turning to Aizawa. "So UA's interested in me already, huh? I'm glad to see they can recognize greatness."

"Actually, we have been warned you may not be cut out to be a hero," Aizawa sharply said, direct and to the point. After years of living with Emi, he knew how to get under someone's skin.

"What was that?" Bakugo slammed his hands onto the table. "What kind of no-name hero do you think you are?!"

"The kind that has a fifty-fifty chance of teaching you next year," Aizawa continued to stare at him with an uncaring expression.

That seemed to have gotten Katsuki's attention. "Wait, you're telling me someone like you is teaching at UA?"

"That's right."

"Then how come I've never heard of you before?" Katsuki sourly demanded.

"Because I work as an Underground Hero, kid. That means I stay out of the spotlight."

"Underground huh? I've heard of those. A bunch of people with unimpressive quirks who can't cut it as big-time heroes."

"More like I don't have time to deal with the annoyance of the press and media," Aizawa scoffed, "while people like you are too focused on the charts, I'm out there doing my job."

"What was that?" Katsuki menacingly stared at Aizawa, but the hero didn't seem to care.

"I'm saying you're perfect for the top ten. You've got the ego for it."

"I'm not just going to be in the top ten! I'm going to be number one! And nobody's going to stop me, least of all some hobo with a weak quirk."

"Oh? So you're saying you're ok if I get you barred from UA then?"

That seemed to do the trick as Katsuki stood still, the small explosions popping off of his hands instantly stopping.

"W-what the hell?"

Aizawa's eyes were wide now, his hair standing on its end, but otherwise, he hadn't moved from his chair. "I face villains with your attitude all the time. My supposedly 'weak' quirk turns off theirs, and suddenly they realize how much they've been relying on their quirk to get their way."

"Tch, some quirk. Just because you can bring them down to your level." Katsuki glared at Aizawa. "And what if you run into a mutant, huh? I bet your quirk can't turn them off."

"And how do you think you'd do without your quirk?" Aizawa asked pointedly.

Bakugo growled in anger. "Screw you! I could take you with or without a quirk!"

"Are you really going to threaten a hero? You know that would get you labeled a villain right?"

"Like hell it would. Nobody would side with you."

Aizawa smirked. "So that's how it is. This school has gotten into your head and made you think you're invincible. You're not." Katsuki merely growled in frustration, while Aizawa continued, "This school has made you think there're no consequences, that you can do whatever you want and you're the best. When the truth is you're just a big fish in a small pond."

"How dare you! I'm on a whole other level."

"Don't make me laugh. Do you know what the acceptance rate for UA is? 0.5 percent. Do you really think that the forty students we accept into the hero course every year are anything less than the best Japan has to offer?"

Katsuki glowered at Aizawa. But he couldn't help but feel doubt creeping in at his words. "It doesn't matter. I'm still better."

"Why? Because some teachers tell you that? News flash, kid. The other kids who make it to UA are told the same thing. What makes you so special?"

Katsuki felt alarms going off in his head as his insecurities threatened to break out. Was he really just like other kids?

"Now you're getting it." Aizawa read the look of fear on Katsuki's face. "You really did think you were on a pedestal. But you're not."

Aizawa stood up. "I've seen all I need to see. If you really want a shot at UA, maybe you should start training yourself, instead of just letting this school tell you how great you are. Be more like Midoriya."

Katsuki whipped his head around impossibly fast to see Aizawa approaching the door. "What the hell does Deku have to do with all of this?"

Aizawa smirked. "I've run into the kid a couple of times the last few months. He's putting himself through hell to prepare for the UA entrance exam."

Seeing his point driven home, Aizawa didn't bother waiting for Katsuki's reaction. He had a principal to tear into.

After interviewing Katsuki, Aizawa returned to the principal's office.

"So, what do you think?" he nervously asked.

"I was supposed to see if there was anything interesting happening at this school, but fortunately for you all I found is disappointment," Aizawa stated matter-of-factly.

"D-disappointment!?" the principal squeaked out.

Aizawa dropped the two folders onto the desk. "I had spoken to Midoriya earlier today. After speaking to him, and then speaking to Bakugo now, I don't believe a word of these transcripts."

"B-but!"

"No buts." Aizawa glowered at the principal. "While marks on a student's record aren't enough to disqualify someone from UA, you should be aware that altered records, if discovered, do disqualify someone, no matter what their grades are on the entrance exam."

"Please! Our school is small and overlooked! We don't have any notable graduates! Bakugo is our best chance to have notable alumni!"

"Not my problem," Aizawa retorted, "if you are so concerned about him getting into UA, perhaps you should see that his record doesn't raise any red flags."

Aizawa turned to leave and opened the door, before smirking. "Oh, and one last thing. About Midoriya: have you ever heard the term 'late bloomer?'"

"Of course! Someone whose quirk is so powerful that their body can't handle it, and so it doesn't develop until later in life."

"We had Midoriya tested. Turns out, he is showing signs of being a late bloomer."

"But that's impossible! The latest recorded instance of someone developing a quirk is when they were 12! Midoriya's 14 now!"

"Do you remember the other facet of being a late bloomer? The part where the older they are, the stronger their quirk? Think about what that means for Midoriya."

Aizawa found himself deeply satisfied as he heard the principal's wailing behind him as he slipped out of the office.

When he reached the entrance of the building, Aizawa heard his phone buzzing. Pulling it out, he noticed it was from All Might. With a weary sigh, he picked up the call.

"Aizawa here."

On the other end of the line, All Might sounded shameful. "Do you remember that sludge villain I was supposed to chase today?"

Aizawa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What happened?"

"Well, it fled into the sewers to escape, and it didn't come up where we were expecting it to. So I may have lost it?"

Aizawa made sure All Might heard his groan over the phone. "Alright, I'm on my way."

Hanging up the phone, Aizawa scowled as he pulled up another number and dialed. "Midoriya, this is Aizawa. I need some details on the sludge villain attack."

Aizawa knew his suspicions were right when he heard explosions in the shopping district. As he approached, he saw the helpless local heroes keeping the crowd away, while in the alleyway, he spotted what he was afraid of: Katsuki being attacked by the sludge villain and firing off his explosions carelessly.

Tugging on his capture weapon, Aizawa released it as he put on his goggles before walking up to Backdraft. "Let me handle this."

"But your quirk!" Backdraft tried to protest before Aizawa glared at him.

"You call yourselves heroes, and you're just going to let a kid die? If you rely too much on your quirk, someone like me is going to eat you alive."

Pushing past Backdraft, Aizawa surveyed the scene. Bakugo appeared to still be conscious, but fading quickly, firing explosions randomly in an attempt to fight against his attacker. The sludge villain recognized this and kept his main body away from his victim's hands while trying to suffocate him.

From talking to Izuku, even though his body is mostly gelatinous, his eyes and mouth are solid, which gave him something to target. But first things first - rescuing the kid.

With a swift motion, Aizawa launched his capture scarf, wrapping it around one of the villain's eyes and pulling.

With a scream, the sludge villain had to adjust to keep his eye from being pulled out completely, loosening his grip on his victim. Sensing an opening, Aizawa withdrew his scarf before launching it again, wrapping it around Katsuki's exposed arm and torso, and pulling, wrenching him free from the villain.

Katsuki landed with a dull thud at his feet, pushing himself up with his arms as he coughed. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Your quirk doesn't work on mutants like him!"

"Just shut up and watch. Or are you so self-important that you didn't listen to a thing I said an hour ago?"

Bakugo was about to protest, but the glare Aizawa shot at him shut him up until he felt Kamui Wood's branches wrap around him and pull him to safety.

Free to engage, Aizawa jumped up a fire escape, quickly dodging the villain's attacks as he scrambled to the roof of a building.

Launching his capture scarf again, he managed to capture the villain's mouth this time and yanked it. He heard a muffled scream coming from the villain, letting him know that he could feel pain, and smiled with grim satisfaction. This fight wasn't going to be pretty, but he was going to win, and hopefully teach a lesson to the other heroes watching in the meantime.

The villain finally pulled himself free, and launched tendrils at the wall, pulling himself towards Aizawa. Aizawa responded by reeling in his scarf before throwing it out again, wrapping it around one of the villain's eyes, and jumping to the ground.

Unable to free himself, the villain let himself go from the building, landing in a wet splat as pieces of him scattered throughout the alleyway. Getting up, Aizawa charged the villain, landing a solid punch in one of his exposed eyes.

The villain screamed and contracted within himself, and Aizawa was ready to continue when Kamui Woods finally decided to help, wrapping the main body of the villain in his lacquered chain prison.

"Nice of you to finally join me," Aizawa deadpanned.

"My apologies, but with the explosions, I couldn't easily assist."

"Hmph, maybe you should see about some way to fireproof yourself. The right support gear does wonders." As if to emphasize his point, Aizawa collected his capture scarf and wrapped it around his neck.

Kamui Woods gave him an incredulous stare before bowing his head. "You're right, I'll look into that."

Aizawa walked over to the paramedics, wanting to check on Katsuki. As much as the kid needed to be taken down a peg, Aizawa didn't want him to be seriously hurt.

"You ok, kid?"

"Of course," Katsuki snapped out, but judging from his eyes, Aizawa could tell it was an act.

"Good. Let this be a lesson to you. There's still ten months until the entrance exam."

"Yeah yeah. I'm going to take first place on that stupid exam, and you'll be begging me to attend your school. Just you wait!"

Aizawa gave the kid a menacing smile. "I'd like to see you try."

As Katsuki sat there while the paramedics supplied him with oxygen and watched Aizawa's retreating form, he suddenly realized why he was so scared of Izuku.

Despite all of his handicaps, Izuku never gave up. No matter how much Katsuki beat him down, trying to get him to break, he never broke. He didn't give up when he was four, he didn't give up when he was nine, and he certainly didn't give up when he saw him with that round-faced girl two weeks ago.

With that drive, and with what he had just witnessed from Aizawa...

Katsuki, on the other hand, had been told how great he was for years, and he had internalized that. Sure, he trained himself, but he never pushed himself in the ways Izuku did.

And Izuku has been pushing himself for ten years.

Katsuki growled. How dare Aldera do this to him! He was supposed to be the best, dammit! The school played him like a damned fiddle, and like a fool he bought it. They made him think he was already good enough, but their standards were so low that he impressed them without even trying.

He absolutely refused to let a quirkless loser like Izuku get ahead of him! If Izuku could push himself this far, then Katsuki would just have to push himself even harder.

His scowl turned into a feral grin. Yes, imagine how powerful he would be if he combined his awesome quirk with the type of training that quirkless loser was doing.

He would be unstoppable! UA would be begging him to join them, no matter what that creepy hobo of a teacher said.

In the back of his mind, he told himself that his renewed training would be enough to strangle the seeds of doubt that had been planted by Aizawa and blossomed from that villain attack.

It had been almost forty years since he last set foot in school as a student, Toshinori reflected as he strolled through the University of Mustafu campus.

Making his way to the education department, he easily found the classroom for the first of the evening's courses: fundamentals of teaching. Looking around, he noticed several heroes, like himself, sitting in the classroom dressed in their civilian attire. It warmed his heart to see young heroes already preparing to train the next generation.

A pointed cough behind him reminded him that he was standing in the doorway and staring.

"Oh, excuse me," Toshinori apologized before moving to a seat in the front row and sitting down.

As Toshinori watched, the room filled with his fellow students, most decades younger than him. Distracting himself, he sheepishly opened his notebook and stared at the blank pages, until the teacher, a silver-haired lady entered the room and walked to the podium.

"Good evening class, and welcome to your first steps into the noble profession of teaching…"

AN: Well, we've officially caught up to the start of canon. Things are looking a little different right now, though!