With every step, worry flooded Izuku's mind. It was a dumb thought, him sword fighting? Not only would his mom never allow him to take a class like that, but the likelihood of them letting him even take the class was also slim… especially because his skin was now resistant to most forms of injury. It was sadly the life he lived in now. While he used to be turned away from most things for not having a quirk. He has now started to be turned away for having a mutation quirk.

It all started with an ad he had always considered looking into. The Nailmaster Sword Fighting Dojo was not new. But in comparison to some of the older dojo's it was. It was run by the triplet heros Sheo, Oro, and Mato, who ran both the dojo and their own hero agency. It was also the most cost-effective dojo he could find, essentially because as long as you graduate from their dojo, you never have to pay a cent… beyond medical fees, of course… And he still has not figured out what nail master meant.

He had also found out during his research that they had basically the same quirk! Unlike quirks that were similar on paper theirs was so close it was hard to tell who's quirk was being used! Which was a rare phenomenon that could only occur to identical siblings! Oro and Mato's quirks were the closest alike, only increasing the strength of an object they could consider a weapon while Sheo could cause anything to become a superior weapon.

Finally, seven months from the UA entrance Exam, Izuku found himself walking the busy streets of Musutafu. The crowds caused a spike of anxiety to fill him with every step… But thanks to some kind deity. All the teens that were even close to him were from a different school. He had even seen someone with pink skin! It was really fascinating! He could not help hypothesizing what their quirk was, mostly because pink skin was not a conventional mutation for most quirks to cause… He sadly had to end his thought process early because he had finally made it to the front door of the Nailmaster's Dojo.

He could not help but stand there for a long moment. He knew he was physically strong… That much was apparent from him accidentally cracking cement when he punched Bakugou into it. But he did not feel comfortable with punching things. It felt too much like the number one jackasses trademark. He at least knew the Nailmasters were better heroes. Their reputation had not been tarnished since their debut, and their popularity had remained relatively stable over the years.

So why did he want to learn sword fighting in the first place? To be honest, it was the powerful aura wielding a sword gave off. If he wanted to strike fear into villains, then what would be better than a sword? Well… a gun, but he did not like loud and obnoxious BANG's. So those were out of the question.

—

Learning the basics of sword fighting was not difficult per se. But It still took longer than Izuku thought it would… It also did not help that Master Sheo held mandatory art classes once a week. By the end of Izuku's first month in the sword fighting program, he had finally gotten a personalized Nail.

They were incredible! Sheo's husband made them in his forge, and with his quirk, he could bond a wielder's quirk to the metal with just a bit of DNA. Which could cause a plethora of things to happen. For the Nailmaster themselves, it caused their Nails to retain the energy their quirk's put into them, which let them do longer and cooler combos with their nail arts! He had even seen this one guy who had a porcupine quirk that caused his nail to be able to sprout quills!

However, so far, he had only been able to make his nail go black… Which was not all that bad, especially if he was fighting in a dark room. At least he could draw an okay circle now. And well, he had gotten a slightly stronger mask after he had fallen into the corner of the weapon rack.

As time went forward, he could not help that he was falling behind his goal. He wanted… needed to beat Bakugou. He needed to prove All Might and his teachers and all his classmates wrong. It was probably becoming an obsession as he continued to practice late into the night. But as long as he could keep near heat, he could go all night. He NEEDED to beat the best, which meant he needed to climb the Dojo's ladder. He needs to overcome all nail masters, even though they would likely be holding back. He needed to get into UA, he needed to finish first in the sports festival, and he needed to shove all his hard work into all those who doubted him in their faces.

But it would not be worth just beating them... he needed to obliterate them. If he wanted them honestly, regret the years of ostracisation, years of physical and mental abuse. Years of the worst people he had ever had the misfortune of meeting being horrible to him and all those who did not deserve it. Then he would need to be faster and more powerful than all of them. He would need to be better than all of them. Even if that meant he would have to start shooting explosions out of his hands to secure Bakugou's regret of it all.

—

After starting his training in swordsmanship, he began his newest training… Free Running, or parkour… Either way, he had recently beaten Mato in a fight… it was rigid because Mato did not even try! But that is unimportant. Izuku was two nail masters away from getting his support item card. The card only lets him use the nail as a support item. Which was vital to his plans.

But back to parkour, it first started as a way to get a bit more agile. He was covering his need to increase his strength by learning sword fighting and going to the gym. But he was not doing much but just running around town. Which definitely helped his endurance but, he still tripped over his own feet occasionally. So he decided to learn parkour… which was really just falling in style without getting hurt for the most part at the moment.

But he was getting better at climbing things. Izuku could now scale most fences without needing to stop and he was getting better at running while jumping across obstacles.

So far, these skills have only been good for watching hero fights from rooftops… and his newfound flexibility.

...

And he had also fallen off of a couple of buildings… But thankfully that only taught him that his quirk was great at saving him from death! When he had slipped off a building for the first time these climbing axe looking bones came out of his hands! Much like his mask they seemed to come out instinctually and they dug really deep in the cement slowing him just enough to not die!

—

Five months before the UA Entrance Exam, he had finally beaten Oro. It was a LOT harder than Mato, but it was also a lot alike. They had a number of the same tics in how they fought... they even favored the same side. It was also probably the most fun Izuku had had in months. The rush of adrenaline and blood in his veins, the danger of a sword swiping at him. It caused Izuku to find another new thing about his quirk!

As he got home from the Dojo he immediately went to test to see if he could do it again. It took a lot of concentration, but he could phase through people! It kinda felt like when he had to dash fifty meters at school… or when he needed to run away from Bakugou after school.

The dash would help immensely when it came to fights. The ability to just negate damage by going through it was an incredible ability to have. The only problem was the fact that Izuku did not know if he could beat Sheo before the next five months were up. He had been training harder than ever; he had discovered new things about his quirk he could not even imagine doing, and yet… It started to feel like it would all be taken away. It took nearly all of his younger years to become friends with Katsuki… and that was taken away in an afternoon. He spent months on his notebooks and TWELVE had been burnt. He has spent nearly ten years keeping the bullying a secret from his mom, ten years telling himself he was FINE… and it was all for nothing.

What if the months of hard work were for nothing? What if he lost all of it all because it was a dream... What if he stopped? Would it just be better if he stopped trying? If anything had ever withstood the test of time, it was people telling him to give up… But so had his resolve to not. He had fought through years of torment and abuse, years of unconstructive criticism and, if he gave up, then he would lose that too.

—

The soft pitter-pattering of cold rain blanketed the city. Most hurried to their homes, to their places of warmth and serenity. But Izuku had other plans. He had long since given up on heading to sleep early and started his regular rounds of endurance training. His quirk kept the burn of his legs and eyes to a minimum as he rounded the bend to his favorite convenience store.

He could not figure out why he was crying. Perhaps it was the rain. It used to make it hard to smile long before the abuse started… or maybe it was the worry? He had been practicing for the festival for months, but he still felt behind. Like his feet were encased in stone. But it was not all that bad Izuku no longer bothered because of his notebooks. He was given the same respect by his teachers… kinda. He had a quirk now… so why did he feel sad?

Was… was it the lack of friends? He had not had friends in years, yet he always had Bakugou. For better or for worse, he had the Nail Masters now. Which was a massive increase in socialization.

So why was he sad?