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Samsara
Chapter Four

Izuku knew from past interviews how Ectoplasm's Quirk worked. He created a viscous material from his mouth that became one-to-one clones of himself, while he tended to stay out of the fighting. His clones also didn't need to breathe, so he should be able to tell the original from the fakes with his superior vision. Lucky, considering he had already eviscerated two clones in the seven seconds since the signal was given.

He twisted around an arm that attempted to grab him, his tail wrapping around the offending appendage and quickly slamming the clone into the ground, breaking it up into a globby ooze. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cerberus being occupied with three clones, which left another nine for him to deal with before he could safely single out Ectoplasm.

Or so he thought.

His momentary distraction to check on his summon had given the Pro an opportunity to recreate the three clones that he'd destroyed. He cursed under his breath. 'Bad planning to go after the clones. I need to go after the original!'

Another pulse of his chakra laid itself over the gym and his cheeks puffed up. 'Lightning Bullet!'

A thin spark, like a miniature lightning bolt, shot from his mouth and arced through a few of the clones, just barely missing the original, but forcing him to move from behind his wall of clones. Izuku dashed forward, his bladed forearms closing before bulking up in a sparky shower with a piston coming from his elbows. Closing in, he landed a solid hit, only for it to collapse into ooze. His surprise left him open just long enough for three pairs of arms to grab him, one wrapping around his legs, another around his upper chest and into a full nelson, while the third pair grabbed his tail, flinging him back and into his oncoming summon with the two clones holding onto him bursting into ooze on contact.

Cerberus yelped and rolled along the ground before disappearing in a cloud of smoke while Izuku rolled up to his feet, shaking his head in confusion. 'Was I wrong? He wasn't the original?'

Ectoplasm's clones all huddled together, with him now unsure of the original. All of them had their chests making motions like they were breathing. Their voices all echoed together in a cacophony. "As I said before, surprises can turn a battle, young man. You clearly wield an overwhelming power, but with so much versatility, you lack the proper focused training to use it all properly. Not only that, but you've allowed yourself to be distracted, and at that moment my strategy changed. A Pro must always be able and ready to adapt."

He grimaced and let his piston arms click back to normal. 'Adapt, huh? I can always adapt!'

Izuku's tail swept out, lengthening and trying to trip up the gathered group of clones, but they all moved away. Four of the clones dashed in while the others attempted to encircle him. 'Path of the Animal: Cerberus!'

He felt a partial dip to his chakra and with another pulse and a burst of smoke, his three-headed wolf was back and growling at the Pro. There was something of a link between them, and when Izuku dashed left, disengaging from the approaching clones while Cerberus went right with the Rinnegan user hoping his plan would work to stagger the clones just long enough for Cerberus to get in and take a few out while he tried to speed blitz the ones remaining.

"Almighty Push!"

While he hadn't trained for a wide area push like this to do as much damage as his normally focused pushes, it served the purpose of sending every clone flying a few feet and forcing them to spend crucial time recovering. Cerberus did as planned and was already working on taking down two of the clones. Ready to go for his attack he tried to run in, only for a strong cloth to wrap around his upper torso, binding his arms to his sides. Cerberus was once again left on his own to fight the horde and Izuku had to divide his attention towards the newcomer. 'Eraser Head! What! WHY?!'

Looking at the teacher closing in, he spied Nezu behind him near his parents, waving happily while Katsuki was clearly grumbling under his breath. He grunted in irritation and focused. 'Path of the Asura: Boundless Form!'

Every inch of his upper body became segmented, and blades sprang forth, slicing through the capture tape like cardboard. The blades receded and he tried to grab the length of cloth but was too slow and Aizawa had pulled it back. He cursed when he heard Cerberus yelp again and disappear. 'Dammit! I'm already having a tough time with Ectoplasm, now Eraser Head's in the mix? Why?!'

Footsteps from both sides, he felt overwhelmed and pumped more chakra into his next attack. "Almighty Push!"

The force that hit Ectoplasm and his clones was enough to actually destroy his clones and send him flying to the other side of the gym. Aizawa, having nothing to brace against, was sent flying in the other direction with a grunt. Izuku's mind ran a million miles a minute, trying to formulate a plan. 'This is hardly fair, sending two Pro's against me! What would happen if Eraser Head took my Quirk while I'm using my Path of the Asura? I don't want to find out…'

At that thought, his tail slinked back into his body and his segmented chest closed up with a *Clink*. He saw he had only seconds before the two Pro's recovered and were on him. Without a plan, he was going down now. 'Maybe…if I can just touch one of their heads, I can use Path of the Human and knock one of them out. The biggest threat is definitely Eraser Head…catch him by surprise, Universal Pull into Path of the Human and hopefully that shocks him enough that he can't counter. Risky, but viable. Then we deal with Ectoplasm.'

He looked at Aizawa and tried something new. Without raising his hand, he envisioned him as the target and quietly muttered, "Universal Pull."

With no time to react, The Underground Hero felt his body lurch forward against his will towards Izuku at high speeds. He readied his capture scarf midflight and prepared to use his Quirk. With Ectoplasm not being the fastest Hero out there, he was on his own for a few seconds.

He activated Erasure the moment he got close and Izuku's palm touched his head, his glowing eyes staring directly into the Rinnegan, though it didn't fade from his determined eyes. "Path of the Human: Thoughtless Lullaby!"

Before he blacked out, shock and disbelief tore through Aizawa's mind. 'What kind of Quirk…'

Not a sound was made as the tired teacher fell to the ground, light snores coming from him. Izuku took a shaky breath, and his brain pounded in his skull. 'His memories…I can't get through them all!'

He clutched his head in pain, making Inko and Naomasa gasp as Ectoplasm closed in from behind, five clones in tow. He heard the approaching footsteps and tried to move but found himself still frozen from the pain. He knew it was over the moment Ectoplasm got his clones to hold him down. He simply couldn't focus through the headache he'd given himself. The original spoke to him. "It's impressive you were able to take down Aizawa before he could erase your Quirk, but there seems to be a drawback. A debilitating one, at that."

He let Izuku go, and he stayed down breathing heavily, slowly getting the pain under control and purging the foreign memories with his Path of the Human. It was a slow process, but it was coming along. Everyone approached him with varying levels of worry, with Recovery Girl giving him a kiss, helping with the residual head pain. Naomasa patted his shoulder. "You never told us you could make animals. Recent find?"

Izuku nodded, scrunching his face to blink away an ache in his eyes. "Y-yeah…about a week and a half ago at the gym, while Kaachan and I were sparring. It was supposed to be a Quirkless Spar and he was winning and I thought I needed backup. Well…backup showed up. Scared us both half to death."

His parents accepted the answer and Recovery Girl looked over Aizawa. "Is there anything I should know about what you did to him? Is he going to be ok?"

Another nod. "I used Path of the Human. It lets me connect with a person's…mind? I'm not really sure, because I see other things than just thoughts when I practiced with Kaachan and we both theorized it was actually connecting me to the soul, but that was kinda out there, so we dumped the theory. Anyways, I just tugged at his consciousness and let go. The shock from the tug knocks people out, but he's only the third person I've tried it on, so it's not a good baseline. And this time there was actually backlash for some reason…"

That shocked everyone to silence, staring at him. Inko cleared her throat. "That's not at all what you told us it did, Izuku. You told us that it gave you tactile telepathy." Naomasa looked nonplussed as well, crossing his arms. Mitsuki and Masaru weren't happy either, with neither of the teenagers. Katsuki shrugged and huffed. "It's not like he lied, it does that. What's the big deal, anyways? It's not like we weren't safe about it. We only practiced at the gym and our trainer was with us the entire time."

Mitsuki looked ready to lay into him until Recovery Girl spoke up. "With the rise of Quirks, biology has changed quite a bit, with the body becoming much sturdier than it used to be to handle potential Quirk recoil. Normal concussive trauma doesn't lead to nearly as much brain damage for humans as it used to. But what he just described was tugging at the consciousness of his target. Now, maybe that tug is more of a metaphor for forcing someone into this state and it's completely harmless, but he can also apparently read your mind. That would mean he's connected to your brain, but we have no way of knowing any of that for sure without scans and active monitoring. For all we know, he could be tugging at your neurons and doing all sorts of things inside your head to force you unconscious."

Now Izuku was scared and looked at Katsuki. The ash-blonde didn't seem worried at all, though. "Ahhh I'm fine. I'm not so weak that my brain can be messed with like that."

He was immediately slapped in the back of the head.

While he and his mom went at it again, All Might put a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "I understand that this is part of your Quirk, Young Midoriya, but please refrain from using it until we have a chance to understand it better. The last thing any of us wants is for you to use it and tug to hard and put someone into a coma."

Izuku really wanted to cry now. He'd never thought about the potential dangers. He was careful with his Asura forms, careful with his pushes and pulls, careful with everything! Yet this had slipped his mind.

His parents saw his eyes watering and Naomasa pulled him in close, with Inko carefully standing to get in on the hug. The Bakugo's didn't have it in them to hold a grudge for something that didn't seem to have any adverse effect, they were just happy to nip this in the bud before an accident did happen. "It's ok, bud. Just…you need to hold off on it for a bit."

Izuku nodded into his chest, sniffling and mumbling. "Cn I hv' m' shrt…"

His dad pulled back. "Huh?"

He rubbed his eyes. "Can I have my shirt…"

Naomasa chuckled, patting him on the back before he pulled it from the back of the wheelchair, and while Izuku got dressed, Nezu cleared his throat. "Well, I'd say these were both very successful mock battles, and Young Bakugo has potentially learned something new about his Quirk. Despite this little setback, you both handled yourselves well, and I'd say your recommendations are well deserved."

Katsuki clenched his fists with a savage grin and Izuku smiled, still processing everything. He kept talking, all while Vlad carried Aizawa out with the other staff in tow. "Now, while I'm sure this need not be said, that is not a pass to rest on your laurels. The Recommendation Exams are no cake walk, and I expect both of you to take them seriously. I want to see both of you in the Top Five."

Both nodded and All Might moved to stand beside him. "And as for your other surprise…Mr. and Mrs. Midoriya, Mr. and Mrs. Bakugo. I would like to see your sons in private, if that's ok with you all."

Now, Naomasa knew what this was about. But when phrased like that, he completely understood the concerned looks from his wife and Katsuki's parents. Nezu, thankfully, caught this and pinched the bridge of his nose. "All Might…please. In the future think about your phrasing! I do apologize, it's nothing untoward. It's just private interviews for the recommendations and the final surprise is a gift bag of UA merchandise."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief and they all happily agreed, making Nezu smile. "Thank you. Now, if you all would please follow me, we'll leave the three of them here and I'll show you all the teachers' lounge. We have food and drinks!"

They followed the Bear-Dog out of the gym, all chatting lightheartedly with one another. Once the doors to the gym closed, the boys looked at the Number One Hero. "Now, what I'm about to show you boys must remain a secret. Few have seen what you're about to see."

Katsuki grimaced slightly. "Fluff wasn't kidding, you really need to work on your phrasing."

All Might stuttered for a second before groaning in defeat. "Just…don't tell anyone, please? I need your word, right here, right now."

They agreed and in a puff of smoke, before them stood a shadow of a man, his piercing blue eyes staring practically into their souls. "My name is, Toshinori Yagi, and this, is what I've been reduced to."

The teens were too stunned to speak. Katsuki looked like he wanted to call the man out and Izuku was simply silent, eyes wide in shock. Toshinori held up his hand. "Before either of you asks me anything; no, I'm not an imposter. Everyone who's learned about this has asked the same thing. Best to get it out of the way now."

"How…"

The almost silent word came from Izuku. In his almost hypnotic eyes, Toshi saw worry and pain. "Best to get it out of your heads now. Being the strongest, it doesn't mean you're invincible. One battle with the wrong villain…it can tear you up."

Katsuki scowled at that answer. "As if! I ain't gonna be taken out by some bottom-of-the-barrel chump!"

The seasoned Pro's eyes hardened and made Katsuki flinch slightly. "Not all villains are "bottom-of-the-barrel". Plenty of them are smarter, stronger, faster and just all around better than us. Some will do things just to get under your skin and get at you personally. I let my emotions get the better of me and I ended up paying the price for it."

He lifted up his shirt and they witnessed a gruesome sight. Swirls of scarred flesh from what looked like a massive chunk of flesh being torn out. "I killed the villain that did this to me in that same fight, but I've never been the same since. My stomach is gone, so I can't eat like a normal person, and over a quarter of my respiratory system is destroyed. There are a bunch of smaller things going wrong inside me, and my time as a Hero is shortening, but this is the price I paid for hubris and not controlling myself in the heat of the moment." Letting his shirt cover the wound back up, he sighed and gave a tired smile.

"Luckily, we have plenty of time to pound that into your heads."

The tone and delivery of those words caught Izuku's attention. Toshinori's smile got even bigger. "After watching you both today, it's decided that I will be training you for the Recommendation Exams! And one of you shall inherit my Quirk!"

…

Perhaps All Might had expected more fanfare to his announcement, but all he got in return were silent stares of confusion. Then the flurry of questions came.

"Inherit your Quirk? That makes no sense!"

"What's really going on here? Why all the effort for two kids you never knew until a few days ago?"

"Like, REALLY! It makes no sense. You can't just transfer a Quirk Factor from person to person."

"Come to think of it, Nezu kind of implied he knew I was hiding things about my Quirk. How'd he know?"

The questions kept coming all at once, prompting the Pro to hush them both. "One at a time, please! I get it's very confusing, but I can't answer everything at once!" He coughed slightly, a dribble of blood spilling from his mouth, alarming the both of them. Before they could go back to questions, he held up another hand. "It happens, don't worry! Comes with the territory when you're missing most of your organs…"

Izuku wanted to help, but even with all the power he had, he couldn't just miraculously heal someone like that. "I'm sorry…I wish I could do something…"

All Might shrugged. "Who knows, maybe one day you could."

Even more confusion. "What do you mean?"

He pointed at his eyes. "It's the power of the Rinnegan, kid. Those eyes are one of the reasons you're here, not just to test you guys early for a UA Recommendation."

Katsuki eyed his friend and then All Might. "So his Quirk is ridiculously overpowered. That's nothing new to us."

The deflated Pro shook his head. "They're more than just an overpowered Quirk Mutation. The Rinnegan are an ancient legend. You'd have to do some pretty serious digging on them to find pretty much anything, but if you look hard enough, you find references of them going back thousands of years, long before Quirks. And thankfully, being the Number One Hero means I have some serious connections. Those eyes are honestly more than legends, kid, they're a myth. And you just proved to us that they're right here, in Japan. I don't know the how and I certainly don't know the why, but I can tell you this much from what I've been able to find, you haven't even scratched the surface of what you can really do."

Izuku was stunned to silence, his hand idly coming up to touch his face right beneath his eye. "That's why…is that why Nezu knew?"

He nodded. "I let him in on my suspicions when I first saw them, and we set this up. Don't get it wrong! We aren't doing this just because of your eyes! At least...not anymore. I'm ashamed to admit, but at first it kind of was on my end, because of what the legends said about the Rinnegan, but Nezu put me back on the right track. He genuinely wanted to see what you both were capable of when I told him you'd stopped the sludge villain by yourselves."

Katsuki grumbled under his breath, knowing he barely had anything to do with it while Izuku still looked skeptical. For once people weren't giving him a hard time because he was overpowered in their eyes, but the last thing he wanted was to be put up on a pedestal for what legends said he should be capable of. And he certainly didn't want to somehow potentially inherit All Might's power just because he won the Quirk lottery. He shook his head and gave the man a questioning gaze. His eyes, plus overwhelming strength, speed and stamina? He wasn't sure he wanted that much power…and God only knew what would happen with his eyes if he had that. "What…what if I said I didn't want your power? You said one of either of us were candidates to inherit your Quirk. What if I said Kaachan should get it? Would you still help me train? You seem to know more about the Rinnegan than I do, and it'd really be a great help…"

Toshinori scratched his chin. "Of course I'd still help, but I can't say I wouldn't be disappointed. Not gonna lie, I'm curious to see what you could do if you had my Quirk. But should Young Bakugo prove himself worthy of it, I'd have no problem choosing him as my successor."

"Hey, don't go making me your backup! I ain't taking Rings' sloppy seconds! You!"

The explosive teen rounded on his friend. "We'll train every day! No stopping, no bitching! We'll get stronger! At the end of it all we fight. No holds barred. Winner becomes his successor!"

The man put both of his hands up. "Hold on a second, I didn-…" He was silenced when Katsuki pointed at him.

"You brought us here, put all this together and gave us the goal! We're hashing out the details so hang on!"

He went back to Izuku while the Pro looked a little dejected. "I feel like we've gone way off track…"

"So, Rings? We got a deal? And don't give me some bullshit about 'absolute power corrupts!' or some other whiny nerd shit. You're a fucking capybara with bullshit powers, so nut the fuck up, get in on this and lose to me fair and square!"

Izuku was taken aback from what felt like a compliment, but also a dig? He wasn't sure, but it did do the trick. 'I'm getting too caught up in little things. What matters right now is I'm here. We have recommendations to UA and All Might wants to pick one of us as his successor and train both of us. This is a dream come true for both of us, for anyone really! We both win no matter how it turns out in the end. And I get the chance to learn even more about my Quirk!' A grin crept up onto his face, making Katsuki grin back. A solid fist bump between them and they turned to All Might with Izuku addressing him.

"We're in."

Toshinori sighed and shrugged. 'I guess this is the best outcome. If they want to turn this into a contest, then so be it. Oh well, at least this means I'll get the best out of them in training. And we can just gloss over the DNA thing for now. So gross…'

"I do still want to know, how's the winner going to inherit your Quirk? I've never heard of anyone able to do that…"

'Dammit!'

X-X-X

Once again, I hope everyone enjoyed the read because I enjoyed the writing. PM's are open to requests.

Until next time.