A/N

Hello dear readers! The beginning of MHA starts here, and the action is only going to increase from here on! The story will mainly follow the events of MHA with a few minor details being changed due to Katsuo's presence, but I also have a few arcs in my head to add even more chapters, things like scenarios and different things that happen at UA. Without further ado, please enjoy!

Chapter Five: The Secret of Peace

"Do not be afraid! Why? Because I am here!"

No, seriously, who is this guy?

The 7 '3 blonde mountain of muscle seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, despite Katsuo's perception. Even though he flew under the radar, the man's presence was large, the way an ant looks at a human. I sure do have a long way to go, don't I? Confused by the unknown man's appearance, Katsuo turns to gauge Midoriya's reaction, only to discover that Midoriya was in fanboy mode all over again. If he thought Midoriya was fan-boying before, then he was wrong. Midoriya pulled a notebook (titled Hero Analysis for The Future: Vol. 1) out of thin air and practically begged All Might (Katsuo deduced his name through Midoriya's ramblings) to sign one of its pages.

Getting a glimpse of it, Katsuo saw that all of the pages were filled to the brim with hero drawings and analyses of the hero's quirks. Looks like it could be useful for getting stronger! (And also learning a thing or two about the world). After happily signing Midoriya's notebook for him, the No. 1 hero began addressing the both of them. "Now then, which one of you defeated the sludge villain?"

"That would be me, sir." Katsuo raised his hand, ready to analyze what kind of hero All Might was based on his reaction. He explained what had happened, from seeing Midoriya being attacked by the villain to easily dispatching it with his "quirk", all while the pro hero nodded along. "I understand now. Because young Midoriya's life was in danger and there were no heroes to save him, I'll say you acted in defense of his life. You have my sincere gratitude."

To Katsuo's surprise, the rather large man bowed his head deeply, nearly hitting Katsuo on the way down. He simply waved it off, saying it was nothing. After hearing Katsuo's sincere words, his smile widened, and he went to collect the villain. Katsuo and Midoriya were stupefied by what they saw. All Might, the No. 1 pro hero in the world, put the sludge villain in a plastic soda bottle and put it in one of his cargo pants' pockets. What the hell. After this ridiculous display, All Might waved goodbye, much to Midoriya's dismay. As Katsuo turns around to walk home, he goes to ask Midoriya a favor. "Hey Mido, you think I could borrow that book someti-" Realizing Midoriya was no longer there, Katsuo looked around before spotting him in the air. "That crazy bastard grabbed onto All Might's leg!" Katsuo looked up at his new friend with a smile before laughing to himself and making his way back home…

The evening news was a blast. Ms. Hiroki wasn't home yet, so Katsuo had the whole house to himself while he laughed at Orochi's stupid-looking mugshot. He must have tried to attack something because he was being held down in the photo. And it only got better from there. Orochi wasn't just busted for illegal use of his quirk, he got busted for quirk-violence, domestic abuse, bribery, and a few other "shady things" (the news anchor's words, not his). The joy radiating from Katsuo was immeasurable, every new charge causing him to laugh even harder until his stomach hurt. He could practically see Orochi's face when the judge informed him of the life sentence he was gonna get. As the news began to move on to other topics Katsuo turned off the TV and sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking about all the work he had to do tomorrow.

School will be a breeze for now, and I can just keep leveling up and then memorize more and more of the material we're learning. As for the system, I need to figure out this damn shop function and why I didn't have access to it before. And that penalty mission… what the hell was that? If the system is meant to promote my growth, why would it nearly kill me for not killing Orochi? I need answers, and yet the only thing I can rely on for answers is the system. Dammit. Maybe I-

Katsuo's thoughts were cut short by a gasp and the sound of groceries landing on the floor. He turned around to see his mother crying, then put a hand up to his face. Dammit again, I forgot about my wounds! Ms. Hiroki took Katsuo in her warm embrace, smothering him while still crying. Between the breaths for air and sniffles of the nose, Katsuo could make out that she was asking him if he was okay. Before, Katsuo wouldn't have been able to respond truthfully, but now he was certain (or at least kind of certain). "Yeah Mom, I'll be fine. Besides, you should see the other guy!" He and his mom had a quick laugh before they went to cook another yummy dinner for the two of them.

Afterward, Katsuo's body couldn't last much longer, so he found himself dragging his body into the bed to get some much-deserved shut-eye. And yet, Katsuo couldn't take that extra step to fall asleep. His eyes, still half closed from the drowsiness of exhaustion, couldn't close as he thought about everything he had been through. Every time he thought of the system, he felt a sense of unease or unrest. Eventually, though, all of those thoughts melted away as he finally shut his eyes for the night.

The next was relatively simple. Katsuo excelled in classes now due to his increased intelligence, so he spent the time in the classroom looking through the shop while his mind automatically absorbed the lecture like a sponge. Only the occasional glare took his focus off of the system, but only for a moment. He had nothing to worry about from these sorry excuses for hero candidates. The shop was relatively simple. A few info boxes from the system informed him of a few categories of items he could buy (armor, weapons, potions, etc.), as well as how to get the gold coins the shop ran on. Apparently, every time he killed any monster in the scenarios, he was rewarded a certain amount of gold coins based on how strong they were.

That meant that the more he risked his life, the more money he would earn. Can't be too simple I suppose. Even if that weren't the case though, Katsuo was all in on pushing himself to his limits as much as possible. Any chance to get stronger is another chance to change the future, so every opportunity needs to be taken. With that said, Katsuo was excited by what he found in the shop. He tried on some of the simple lightweight armor. It didn't raise his defense all that much, but it was better than nothing. Even better, the armor was both invisible and untouchable. When Katsuo touched his chest where the chestplate was, all he felt was his own shirt. Must only block hostile attacks then?

Aside from armor, there was also a weapons tab. Katsuo liked the feel of the dagger, so he decided to keep it for now, but some of the daggers in the shop just looked downright awesome. Not only were they all stylish, but they increased his damage by massive amounts, some of them even dealing 10x the base damage! Katsuo, who was still in class, had to contain his excitement at the thought of buying one of these things. Looking at the price, he found a modest price point of 500,000 SYSTEM COINS. Katsuo wasn't as excited anymore. He only had 7,000 after buying the lightweight armor set, which cost 3,000. Katsuo estimated the amount of zombie kills under his build to be 125, meaning each zombie was only worth 56 coins, and the prices of these items jacked up quickly.

However, something interesting caught his eye. The potions tab. Health potions, stamina potions, mana potions, they were all there. The effects were obvious, it was in the name, but after trying out a healing potion that morning, all of Katsuo's cuts and bruises healed instantly. It wasn't a cure-all by any means, a few of the deeper cuts were still there and would probably leave scars, but everything else was fair game. Ms. Hiroki cried (again), this time out of happiness. In order to get out of telling her about the system (he didn't want to worry her any more than she already was), Katsuo lied and told her that it was a part of his quirk, as much as he hated to do it. I know she won't like it, but I'll tell her about the system once I become the strongest and can protect her smile.

Once class was finally out of the way, It was time to enact his plan. Needing all of the available time he could get, Katsuo used his noggin to come up with a plan to get out of having to go to school: study like hell. The plan was for him to use his increased intelligence to memorize a bunch of math, science, history, etc., and then use those memories to skip the last grade of middle school. It would require a lot of work (finding and looking at every page in all those books), but it would be worth it if Katsuo could find more time to level up. So after class ended and everyone was going home for the day, Katsuo found himself outside of the vice-principal's office. Authority always intimidated him when he was younger, but now with the system, he might as well be walking into an empty room.

The room was not empty. The vice principal was sitting at his desk doing something on the computer when Katsuo walked in, panicking before quickly closing something and facing toward him with a serious look on his face like Katsuo didn't just see him playing Tetris in the reflection of the window behind him. "Hello son, what can I do for you today?" The man looked at Katsuo with a dead face. He must've REALLY liked playing Tetris when he was supposed to be working. "I would like to take the test to skip the rest of the 8th grade, sir."

"Huh?"

After he wiped that agitating look off of his face, the vice-principal agreed to Katsuo's proposition, and the time for the test was set to the next morning before school started. After leaving school and walking back home, Katsuo found himself lost in thought about what to do next. "I could return to the World of The Dead to level up a few more times. Only four more levels and I unlock the next scenario at Lv. 30." Slipping into thoughts like this had become a bad habit for Katsuo, who failed to realize he was lost until It was too late. When he finally snapped out of it, he was staring at some landfill he had never seen before. Looking at a nearby sign, Katsuo realized it wasn't a landfill, but Takoba Municipal Beach Park. Jeez, this place is supposed to be a beach?

Looking at the destroyed beach, Katsuo felt saddened by how it had turned out. Piles of junk were scattered everywhere, some as high as 12 feet in the air.

Hmm… Somebody should certainly do something about this. Katsuo began pondering a thought in his mind, the gears beginning to spin as he formulated a theory. Maybe… maybe a hero isn't just someone who saves lives, anyone can do that. I think a hero is someone who brings smiles to people's faces, no matter what they do. I think I heard an interview with a hero in the future that said "Medling where you don't need to is the essence of being a hero". Words to live by I suppose. Katsuo looked back at the beach, and then back to his scarred hands and arms. Then, he smiled, before going down to the beach. "Okay, If no one else will, then I will clean the-"

"Keep going young Midoriya!" Katsuo stopped at the sound of a man's voice. It caught him off guard so he didn't clearly hear what he said, but did he say Midoriya? Then, as clear as day, Midoriya's voice sounded out above the junk piles. "Yes sir, All Might!" All Might? But that didn't sound like All Might? Katsuo began to creep forward, careful to not step on anything and alert the two to his presence. From behind one of the trash towers, Katsuo spotted Midoriya and a frail man, probably in his 40s, who was encouraging Midoriya as he pulled a fridge along the sand. Just as Katsuo was about to save Midoriya from the obvious scammer, Katsuo stopped once again.

He felt the same feeling from before when All Might appeared behind the two boys under the bridge. It lacked the same power, but the same feeling of good and justice was emanating from the man. And then right on queue, the frail old man let out a cloud of steam, emerging as the 7 '3 monstrosity Katsuo had seen before. The transformation only lasted long enough for him to say something encouraging before he transformed back, but that was all Katsuo needed. He backed up, content on just getting out of there before they realized he was spying, but in his confused and stupefied state, Katsuo forgot he was on the dirtiest beach on earth, accidentally breaking a bottle beneath his feet.

"Who goes there?!" All Might yelled, Midoriya yelping in surprise. Katsuo stuck his head out, waving his hand a bit as a greeting and stepping forward from behind the trash. "Hello… guys." His nervous smile betrayed him, showcasing his fear that All Might would silence him. "Aw dammit."

Katsuo wasn't sure why Midoriya trusted him so much. When All Might was thinking of how to proceed now that I knew his secret, Midoriya stepped up and assured him I wasn't bad. Again, it confused Katsuo, seeming as how they were only friends for around 24 hours at this point. Still, It was nice, having a friend who would go out of their way for him like that. It was a nice change of pace from getting beaten up every day. All Might sighed, knowing he couldn't (and shouldn't) threaten a child into silence, and then spoke up. "Well, if young Midoriya here thinks you're trustworthy, then I suppose I should explain what's going on here. Katsuo, seeing All Might take a deep breath before speaking, knew he was in for a long ride and sat down where there weren't shards of glass.

The story was wrong, but entertaining nonetheless. It almost felt like some kind of childhood bedtime story. The story of a man who stood up to his evil older brother by passing on his quirk to the next generation of heroes, the power getting stronger and stronger until It eventually ended up in… Midoriya. Don't get me wrong, Mido's nice, but he's too afraid to fight someone like All For One. But if All Might believes in him, and Midoriya believes in me, then I guess I have to believe in him as well. Katsuo fully grasped the story and what it meant to be the wielder of One For All, but only had one question for All Might. Always thinking about the future and protecting everyone's smiles, Katsuo asked: "So how are you training Mido here to inherit your power?"

Once again, dumbfounded. All Might had essentially just told him that he was training Midoriya by making him drag trash around all day. While it would strengthen his body, It didn't help him at all when it came to actually using the power. And what about fighting techniques? All Might may have been the No. 1 hero, but his teaching skills sucked at best. Rubbing his eyes, Katsuo continued.

"You're a terrible mentor, sir."

"Well, then how am I supposed to make him stronger?!"

"I don't know, MUSCLE MILK?!"

Frustrated by the lack of intelligence demonstrated by the man before him, Katsuo had an idea. "What if both of us trained him? You can train his body to get stronger, and I'll teach him some of the techniques I learned?" This piqued All Might's interest. He seemed to think Katsuo was just going to complain, but him actually helping was a welcome idea. "That's a great idea! What do you say young Midoriya?" Midoriya nodded his head excitedly, the prospect of both his friend and favorite hero training him the best thing he ever heard.

"Well then, with that settled, lets train you to become a formidable combatant!"

System Alert, New Quest Activated!

A/N

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! More action in the scenarios will be mixed with training Midoriya next chapter, so I hope you all are willing to wait a bit longer. To the reader who gave some constructive criticism on the action, thank you so much for leaving a review! The point of that sludge villain attack was to show that low-level villains were already too weak to stand up to Katsuo, but I will make sure to be more detail-oriented in the coming chapters. And the system dishing out cruel and unusual punishment for not killing Orochi? There's a purpose, so keep it in the back of your mind for now. That's all I have to say, thank you so much for reading, and enjoy the rest of your day! (3006 words!)