The next day was like any other school day, with regular classes held throughout the morning and taught by different heroes. But that didn't mean there weren't any more surprises.
Shukaku yawned as he observed from Izuku's mindscape; when Aizawa said that U.A. allowed freestyle teaching, he got a little excited. However, the heroes that taught so far hadn't done anything unusual. It seemed like Aizawa was the only one who took advantage of that allowance. 'After this lunch is Heroics class; hopefully, that teacher will go freestyle.' If he had to be honest with himself, science was one of the only subjects he even bothered to learn from. It was mildly interesting.
To Shukaku's shock and surprise, the teacher who came in wasn't a hero but someone who was instantly recognizable to the tanuki, not by their physical appearance but by their distinct emotional aura. "(What the hell is Orochimaru doing here?!?)" He yelled.
Izuku was a bit surprised when he heard about Orochimaru. He was the one who scattered the tailed beast, but he imagined more of an ancient senior, not someone who looked to be no older than twenty-one, and he was the teen's science teacher. "Greetings, class. My name is Fujin Ashirogi, and I'll be your science teacher." He wasn't particularly tall and had fair skin, black hair tied in a low ponytail, and a pair of reading glasses hooked on the collar of his white button-up.
Shukaku knew something had to be up '(Why did he choose to teach at U.A? If I were to take a guess, he would probably be here for research purposes, possibly on quirks?)' He shook his head; quirks have been around for four hundred years. Orochimaru would've had plenty of time to study them '(maybe he's taken up a hobby of psychology and observing hero course students from a teacher's perspective?)' something had been bugging the tailed beast since the day of the entrance exams. It could've been that Izuku sensed Orochimaru. Still, that guess felt off to the tailed beast, like it was only partially correct.
While Izuku had his questions, they would have to wait since he was supposed to be learning. Once the bell rang, Izuku went to pack his notebook into his backpack. Still, when he opened the bag, he found an unexpected item: a rolled-up piece of paper that seemed slimy. Izuku took out the paper and unfurled it, reading its writing (The principal and I are excited to meet you after school, Jinchuriki of the One-Tail). Izuku looked back up at his science teacher, and even though Orochimaru, or Fujin Ashirogi, was turned around to prepare for the next class, the greenette couldn't help but feel like he was being watched.
"Midoriya, are you sure it's safe to let your quirk roam freely like that?" Iida was referring to the tanuki that was sitting on Izuku's lap. Shukaku responded confidently, "Hey, I ain't gonna do anything wrong. This is how we usually do it. Besides, he can't do anything about it."
Iida looked at Izuku, seeking clarification. The green-haired boy laughed nervously and explained, "Well, he's not kidding. I can't control when he comes out. He doesn't come out during class because he doesn't want to interrupt anything."
Shukaku interjected, "Yeah, and that's four hours of torture before lunch." Izuku, Uraraka, and Iida looked at Shukaku curiously. Uraraka asked the obvious question, "What do you mean torture?"
Shukaku grabbed Izuku's face with his paws, and a scowl appeared. He explained, "This kid's such a hero fanboy that his mindscape, where I reside, is nothing but All Might. That may sound odd to complain about, but seeing that same toothy grin everywhere you look makes you go insane, especially when you hear 'I AM HERE!' every hour or so."
As the human trio tried to imagine the environment, Izuku struggled to understand. However, they all could see why Shukaku preferred to stay out for as long as possible.
"Is this table full?" Uraraka jumped in surprise when Kohei unveiled his presence. Izuku slid himself and Shukaku over, giving the whiskered teen space to sit. "Excuse me if I come off as impolite, but do you often consume such a large portion of ramen?" Iida inquired, noticing the sizable bowl. Shukaku sniffed the air and commented, "And that ramen smells super salty, dude. That broth is really gonna fuck you up; it smells saltier than seawater." Kohei nonchalantly shrugged as he ate from the bowl, "Well, this is my usual meal, plus I had to spend extra time studying last night, so I missed breakfast." the four of them stared at the student in shock, that was what he usually ate "b-but the bowl's as big as your head." Uraraka said.
It was finally time, the first heroics class of Izuku's tenure as a U.A student, though a sudden headache struck the greenette. 'There it is again; it's like there are eight different people on top of each other, and they're moving closer,' Izuku thought. Normally, he would try to tone down his sensory abilities, but curiosity got the better this time; what did eight people with chakra look like together? Much to Izuku's surprise, the person who came through the door was the last person he'd ever expected. "I AM HERE!! GOING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!!" It was All Might, the Symbol of Peace and the No.1 hero, in his Silver Age costume, a red costume with white-and-yellow accents and an extravagant blue cape. "(Oh no, he's definitely giving off the vibes of an inexperienced teacher.)"
Izuku couldn't believe what Shukaku said "Inexperienced teacher, Shukaku, he's the number one hero; how could he be inexperienced at teaching? plus, didn't you say I was your first student?" From Izuku's point of view, All Might was the perfect teacher for U.A., especially in heroics "(Kid, the difference between him and I is age and experience. He's been a hero that's been in fights for about three or four decades, while I am an immortal being that's been around since 10 AD; I've seen every war that's happened since then, and I've personally talked to possibly hundreds of people, at this pointed in life teaching you became natural to me, All Might, on the other hand, seems aw- Oh my dad what the fuck is he doing!)" Izuku took himself out of the conversation. "Aw, hell yeah, fight training!" Bakugou yelled excitedly, though Izuku wasn't at all excited, instead nervous at the sound of combat training.
"And you can't do proper hero work without looking good!" The number one hero pointed a remote at the wall, and two shelves slid out of the wall, each with ten briefcases marked with a number, starting from one and going all the way up to twenty.
The class got hyped as they went to grab their respective suitcase. "Get dressed and meet me in Ground Beta." Izuku clutched his backpack as he got up. While he was up there on the shelf, he decided to wear something a bit more… personal.
"And there we go, that's the clothing registration done, now all that's needed is to turn this into City Hall." Izuku placed the paper on the table. He still couldn't believe he was a student of U.A., but the registration papers in front of him cemented that fact. Shukaku looked at the page in Izuku's hero notebook containing the details and diagram of the greenette's hero costume, eating a bag of potato chips as he did, the tanuki had spent a good chunk of last night making several changes from the original design, like toning down the apparent homages to All Might and adding in a detail to make it fire-proof since the teen forgot to.
The door opened, and they took notice of Inko coming through the door with a large bag. She looked excited as she placed the bag down and reached into it. "Tada!" She pulled out a beige jumpsuit with markings like Shukaku's that were black instead of blue. "I hope you don't mind, I went into your room last night to give you your dinner, but both of you were asleep, and I may have gotten a peek at your notebook." Izuku couldn't believe his mother had gone out of her way to buy his costume, but the feeling wasn't mutual between Jinchuriki and Tailed Beast 'I get that she's a good mother and all but…' Inko looked at the clothes with a sorrowful look in her eyes "I'm sorry for what I said on that day, but now I've got a second chance to support you, and I'm gonna support you with all I have." Izuku was glad he had a mother like her.
The feelings were immediately extinguished when Shukaku said, "He's not going to be wearing that." The tanuki stated as he crumbled the bag once full of chips. The two greenettes looked at him in surprise. "Look, Inko, I know you want to support his dreams and all, and I appreciate that you would go this far, but when it comes to the most important things, that suit falls short due to its materials." Shukaku slid off the couch and moved to the bag of clothing, sitting back down in front of the bag and pulling out the rest of the items, reading their tags: "Cotton... Polyester….. Yeah, these aren't gonna cut it; Izuku needs stronger and more durable materials that U.A can provide."
Shukaku's words seemed to have cut more profound than he had expected; both Izuku and Inko seemed depressed at that. 'Shit, I might have stepped over the line' Now the tanuki felt guilty, though not for what he said, just that he said it; Shukaku sighed, guess he'll have to compromise.
"(I can't believe I agreed to this)" Shukaku grumbled." well, you said it's only once then We go back to wearing our actual costume.". At the same time, that was the compromise; Shukaku still didn't like it. Once Izuku had put the gloves on, his homemade costume was primarily complete. It was a few sizes too big for the greenette, but considering his partial transformation, it would have to be, along with the beige jumpsuit, he wore white fingerless gloves. This mesh respirator is intended to resemble All Might's never-ending smile, his usual red shoes, and a pair of elbow and knee pads.
All that was needed was the finishing touch, Partial Transformation. The costume was still a little loose on the hybrid, but it fit much better now that his hero costume was complete. Izuku headed down the hall where the rest of his classmates went. Briefly blinded by the sunlight, the hybrid stepped out into Ground Beta, a sizeable fake city like the one at the entrance exam, with All Might and the rest of the class standing outside "Shall we begin my wards?! It's time for battle training!!!" All Might declared.
"Hey, Deku! Cool costume, it looks very practical and you're also transformed!" The hybrid looked down and saw Uraraka, wearing a pink-and-black costume made out of a spandex-like material that seemed a bit tight and large pink, wristbands, boots, belt, and visor, it was simple like Izuku's.
Something perturbed Shukaku, specifically about All Might, how did All Might not only have a chakra signature that could be detected by Izuku, but eight of them as well, thanks to Izuku currently being in his hybrid state, Shukaku could sense the chakra clear as day '(not only does he have chakra, but he also seems to be using it right now, but what for?)' his knowledge of the world might likely be outdated after all the last time he asked Orochimaru for knowledge on quirks was when quirks, or meta abilities at the time, were in their infant stage, after that, it was all from the news or the internet that he learned about quirks.
"Sir, this appears to be the same area as In the entrance exam, are we going to do the cityscape maneuvers again?" Iida asked, his costume seemed like a full set of white armor like a knight, with a set of exhaust pipes that wrapped around his ribs and stuck out the back. "Nope, we're moving onto the next step, Indoor Anti-personal Battle training!! Villain battles are most commonly seen outdoors, but statistically the most dastardly of villains are more likely to appear indoors, from black market deals to house arrest, the most clever of villains use the shadows for their operations! you'll all be split into hero and villain teams and face each other in 2v2 scenarios, Any questions?"
"So no basic training?"
"How is victory decided?"
"Can I blast anyone away?
"How will teams be decided."
"Isn't there 21 of us? and this feels like something for second-years."
"Isn't my cape fabulous?"
The questions came out like a freight train, and All Might struggled to catch up "All right one at a time, my quirk isn't super hearing!!" The number one hero pulled out a small stack of flashcards that seemed tiny in his hands "Listen up, somewhere in your assigned building the villain team has planted a bomb, it's up to the heroes to either capture the bomb or both villains, and it's up to the villains to either keep the heroes at bay until the time is up or capture the heroes, and the teams are decided by" three pedestals rose from the ground, each with their own box, the one in front of All Might was labeled 'Lots' while the two boxes next to him were labeled 'Heroes' and 'Villains' respectively "Lots!".
"(Inaki was right, this is a bit too advanced for first years.)" Izuku found it odd that Shukaku referred to Kohei by his first name, which was reserved for family members or people who are close to you. But he didn't want to pry any further, he was sure Shukaku would tell him at some point.
Once everyone had drawn their lot, the teams were formed, Izuku didn't know how many lucky stars he had left as he was fortunate enough to not be paired with Bakugou and was paired up with Uraraka instead, feeling sorry that Iida was paired with the explosive blonde, though there was a bit of a problem. "Hmm, it seems that Young Kohei is without a partner, this is troubling." Kohei simply shrugged "It's probably for the best, I'm pretty sure most of you would just slow me down, plus sometimes heroes would have to fight outnumbered, or the villain is powerful enough to 2v1 and still give a challenge." The black-haired teen's costume consists of a red leather jacket with orange sleeves and black trims, paired with black jeans with orange pockets, a yellow utility belt, and a pair of sunglasses.
Bakugou growled at Kohei's comment 'That bastard thinks he can stand above me just because he's thrown farther, I'll show him who's better.' All Might coughed into his hand, trying to bring the focus back onto him "Well, if you insist, then your scenario will be a rare case, now onto the first round!! The first Teams arrree…" All Might reached into the Hero and Villain boxes and pulled out a pair of white and black balls, on the white one was the letter A, and on the black one, was the letter D "Team A are the heroes, and Team D will play the role of Villains!! The rest of you head to the monitor room you passed!!" Izuku didn't think that his team would be up, but he would have to say that his luck finally ran out considering who he was up against.
"(Welp, guess it's time to see who's better, Mr. Resting Bitch Face and Iida or you and Uraraka, frankly I'm placing my bets on Bakugou and Iida, not that I don't believe in you two, it's just that Bakugou is seemingly more talented, by your standards, and Iida was definitely trained by pros.)" While the hybrid couldn't help but feel a little hurt that Shukaku didn't have full faith in him and Uraraka, he was a little curious about what the tailed beast said about Iida.
After the two teams and All Might arrived at the building, the hero handed the four students their micro-transceivers and blueprints of the building "All righty then, Villain team, you head in first, Hero Team, you've got five minutes before you can enter the building."
A few minutes later Bakugou and Iida arrived in the room containing the bomb, in the center of the fifth floor. Iida, holding his helmet in his arm, inspected the bomb "So this is the explosive we must protect, fake of course. It pains me that I will have to play the role of villainy, but if it's required to become a hero then I'll give my best."
Bakugou was silent, stuck in his own thoughts, 'that bastard Deku hid his quirk from me, if Hobo Teach won't let me get answers, then I'll get them here.' He grunted as he stormed off, the veins around his eyes bulging.
Meanwhile, Izuku and Uraraka mentally prepared for the challenge that awaited them "Man this is so nerve-wracking, how are you do- Ah, your fur is soaked!" The hybrid Izuku was in such a cold sweat that his fur was drenched in sweat, his tail tucked between his legs, "W-well we're up against I-Iida and K-K-Kacchan, and this is kinda my first fight so Shukaku is expecting a lot from me." Uraraka looked at the taller teen inquisitively "You mean Bakugou right he's the one that bullies you right?" Izuku nodded, though even though the blonde bullied Izuku, the teen always had a morbid admiration for his childhood friend "Yeah, but even with his… shortcomings, he's always been confident, strong, and talented. Kacchan's had ten years to train his quirk-" Before the hybrid could continue his sentence, All Might's voice buzzed through the micro-transceiver "Heroes, the test starts now!!"