A Ranma is reborn as Izuku fic. Enjoy!
In retrospect, perhaps jumping into the strange vortex that was almost certain to get him reincarnated was a bit...overkill. Then again after all the chaos he experienced in his life, that level of overkill was not only expected, but was more or less a necessity to escape the prison his life had become.
Did he have any regrets? Sure.
He was certain his mother and a few others would be unhappy that he was basically ditching a rather large number of females who would be more than happy to bear his children. Some were rather enthusiastic about the idea and made no bones how eager they were to perform the required deed for that to happen.
Others, namely Akane, felt more like a burden that had been around so long that he almost forgot what it was like to be free of it. She had become just as resigned as he was at this point that they were stuck together, and whatever fledgling emotions that had been between them had become mired in resentment and misunderstandings long before things reached this point.
Besides, Ranma had come to the hard realization that he preferred his freedom and the ability to wander around as he pleased, whereas Akane thrived best in a stable environment.
He at least had done the dignified thing and left a note explaining what he was doing and why.
He was sick and tired of the nonsense caused by his father and th people around him. Their expectations of him were entirely too cloying and he wanted to find out for himself who he was.
(He just left out the part he would likely be reincarnated in the process. Best not to give them too many leads to track him down and force him back.)
In another world, a green haired child began bawling as it came out of the womb. The boys eyes briefly turned a dark blue, before settling into a verdant green that matched his hair.
His mother proudly held him as she named her newborn son...Izuku.
On the plus side, Ranma figured out pretty damn quick that he wasn't in his old world anymore. Perhaps he'd have some fun before Ryoga somehow managed to track him down through his shitty sense of direction.
Then again, he wasn't going to spoil that surprise until he got his new body into a decent enough shape that he could survive Ryoga's payback for leaving like he had.
Some time later...
Ranma, now Izuku, watched the video of the number one hero All Might save the civilians with rapt attention and no little amount of awe.
Something inside him clicked into place as he heard his mother explain about what pro heroes were. He had already figured out there were no martial artists at the level he had come to expect from living in Nerima for so long...most people were obsessed with quirks these days.
Seeing All Might protect the innocent and beat up bad guys that might have given his old self a hard time, Izuku's eyes gleamed.
It wasn't that hard to shift his mindset from "martial artist" to "pro hero". From what he could tell, the job wasn't that dissimilar to what a true martial artist did regularly anyway.
Now he just had to awaken whatever power he got from the genetic lottery so he had a baseline to work with. There wasn't much point training until he knew what sort of weird ability he had.
So when the doctor brought down what most would have considered the Sword of Damocles by telling him he would never awaken a quirk, his mother was devastated.
"I'm so sorry Izuku!" she wailed, upset beyond belief her son was quirkless. She knew how much being a pro hero meant to him.
Izuku, rather than be distraught over the news, had a gleam in his eyes that many would have recognized in his old world.
So he was born without any fancy ability?
He could work with that. It just meant that when he became the next number one pro hero, that he could honestly claim he earned it through hard work and no little amount of stubborn determination.
He refused to let something as ridiculous as not having some fancy ability like Kaachan's keep him from becoming the Best.
Kaachan's reaction pissed him off. The second he found out Izuku didn't have a fancy ability, he decided that was all the reason he needed to "put the worthless Deku in his place".
Perhaps it was nostalgia, or just the sheer amount of dark amusement he got from dissuading the brat of that notion. Either way Bakugo clearly needed a proper rival to keep his ego in check before his mouth wrote a check his fancy power couldn't cash.
Doctor Ishikawa looked at the file he had been given by the teachers. After a rather awkward incident involving a cat...specifically his soon-to-be patient's reaction to one in his vicinity... the school had all but forced the mother to send her son to a therapist to hopefully dissuade the child from becoming a pro hero before things got out of hand. Not that the teachers admitted that was what they were doing.
Letting a quirkless child become a hero was a disaster waiting to happen, and would almost certainly lead to an early grave if they didn't nip it in the bud. Never mind the boy's odd and slightly insane training regimen. The nurse and the gym teacher were both more than a little alarmed at the extremes the eight year old was putting himself through to insure he was accepted into UA in seven years.
Honestly, where did Midoriya get his training ideas from, pre-quirk manga?
The boy walked in, and he could already tell this was going to be a bit of a challenge. Something in the child's eyes practically screamed defiance and stubbornness.
Inko looked a tad nervous about the whole thing, but to be fair this was partially her fault for not correcting this before things got this out of hand.
Izuku POV
The doctor was a total quack and he knew from the very start he wasn't going to like him in the least. Izuku wasn't oblivious to the fact the teachers were less than happy about him choosing to be a hero, since he didn't have a fancy trick.
They were all about praising Bakugo to the point his ego would only grow out of hand once puberty started and encouraging him to go on the pro hero path, but the second the 'quirkless' kid wanted to do the same they threw up all sorts of roadblocks and excuses.
Hypocrites.
His ma hadn't believed him, but playing back a recording he made with a borrowed tape recorder had changed that rather quickly.
The only reason they were there was because the stupid teachers threatened to call social services if she didn't send him to a therapist over the 'cat incident'.
Stupid furry devils.
His ma looked even less impressed with the doctor they were made to see on the recommendation of the school. The only reason Izuku kept going there was because Inko had made it clear the best hero schools had a firm grade point average and that half-assing his education was not going to cut it.
It gave him headaches, but he was starting to figure out the best way to study without his brain crashing.
By the end of the session, his ma was rather irritated and Izuku was all too ready to perform a Saotome-special.
The teachers wanted him to see this therapist to 'convince' him not to become a hero? Fine by him. He'd made the guy dread their meetings until he snapped.
(The name "Midoriya" would soon be spoken as a hushed warning to psychiatrists in Japan, as the boy seemed to have an uncanny ability to piss off the ones attempting to treat him to the point they snapped and inevitably lost their license.)
Third POV...
Bakugo looked at his best friend/rival.
"Those shitty teachers still trying to send you to the doctors?" he asked.
Izuku looked a cross between smug and irritated.
"They have to look really far outside our prefecture because the ones here apparently heard about my ability to piss them off to the point they snap," said Izuku.
Bakugo snorted. He had come with Izuku once to "act as support", according to Inko. In reality he was having trouble believing Izuku kept pissing off the adults and wanted to see the master in action.
Izuku had that man frothing in the mouth before fifteen minutes had even passed, and by the end of the session the man had made it vehemently clear that he wasn't to 'darken his office' again.
The only reason Izuku didn't do the same to the teachers was because he was firmly a mama's boy and didn't want to upset her.
Therapists were fair game as far as Inko was concerned.
"What's their deal anyway?" asked Bakugo.
After a rather awkward month of trying to put Izuku in his place for not having a quirk, Bakugo had settled on a rather odd sort of respect for the verdant-haired boy because he didn't take shit from anyone and was able to kick Bakugo's ass without a quirk.
Izuku rolled his eyes.
"Apparently the idea of a quirkless hero who managed to get a license through actual hard work instead of a fancy trick is too hard for their adult minds to comprehend."
"Adults are stupid," scoffed Bakugo. "So did you send in the letter yet?"
There was a contest going in all the prefectures to meet All Might in person for about an hour, no interruptions. Needless to say all the kids in their class had already sent off their letter, save for Izuku and Bakugo.
Izuku made a face.
"Ma keeps making me rewrite it. She said it would be silly to send a letter if All Might can't even read it because the handwriting is so bad."
Bakugo howled with laughter. Out of the entire class, Izuku had the absolute worst handwriting. He had little doubt his mother was using the chance to get her son to actually improve so that it was legible from now on.
A month later, Izuku got a notice in the mail.
"Izuku-kun! You won the contest!" said Inko happily.
The subject of the contest was rather simple.
What did being a pro hero mean to them?
Izuku still couldn't believe he won the contest. He had a lot of respect for All Might, who had earned the title of Number one hero and maintained it for decades since his initial debut.
If there was one thing Ranma knew, it was how difficult it was to earn the title of the "best" and keep it. The sheer amount of rivals and crazies were a nightmare and were part of the reason he had left his old life behind.
Well, that and it seemed that the only people willing to challenge him anymore were those screwed over by Genma in regards to his hand in marriage. Seriously, how many people did he try to marry his son (and later his 'daughter') to just to fill his fat belly?
Meeting All Might was both exciting and interesting. The man had a larger than life personality, but at the same time he was nothing like that flaming asshat Endeavor.
Izuku had only met the second best hero once, from a distance. That had been enough to get a decent gauge on his personality and known he wanted nothing to do with the creep. Anyone who could care less about giving an innocent civilian second degree burns because they couldn't be bothered to reign in their quirk didn't deserve the title of the best.
There was also an odd warmth that seemed to radiate off All Might. It was soothing and reminded him rather strongly of Chi.
Izuku knew instinctively All Might was a good person down to his bones. It only made his respect for the man increase.
They made a bit of small talk before All Might broached the topic of heroes. Specifically Izuku's essay.
There was a fire in his eyes that seemed to mimic the one burning in All Might.
"Heroes are like martial artists from before quirks came out. They didn't need fancy tricks to protect the innocent and help people. They used their hard won ability and skills to defend the weak and give people hope. That's why I want to be a hero, since if I tried to just be a martial artist I'd likely just get arrested for vigilantism," said Izuku enthusiastically.
All Might definitely approved of his attitude.
"Well said! So many people become pro heroes for the fame or the glory...very few remember our job is to protect people from harm," said All Might.
If his hearing were any less sharp, he would have missed his mother thank All Might for actually encouraging his dream rather than dismiss it like every other adult when they learned he was quirkless.
When the one on one time with All Might was about to end, the hero handed him something. It wasn't an autograph, but rather a pair of names along with general contact information.
"If you are truly serious about the pro hero path, I recommend training under one of these two. Gran Torino is the one who trained me, and Eraserhead's fighting style is similar enough to what I've heard of yours from your mother that he might be able to give you some useful advice or exercises," said All Might.
You couldn't sand blast the smile off Izuku's face. Finally, an adult who truly understood his drive!
Gran Torino lived a bit far away, but Eraserhead worked in his prefecture and the contact information was close enough that he could track the hero down and hopefully get some real training done.
He had been hitting a dead end for months now, since most of the things he wanted to do were too risky or too damaging for his still developing body.
(Eraserhead was mildly annoyed with All Might for pointing the kid in his direction. However he still agreed to train the brat since he was genuinely serious and had the right motivation for pro hero work.)