Chapter 5: A Change of Plans

Three days. It had only been three days, and already I felt like I was going to die.

How the actual fuck did Izuku do this for ten months? Even inheriting his unyielding will, I can still barely get myself out of bed. On the bright side, I won't have to worry about messing up my own development by overworking myself like he did. I can barely keep up with All Might's program, let alone go beyond it.

Taking another gulp from my water bottle, I emptied the last of it over my head, shaking the droplets out of my hair as I stretched under the morning sun.

" You've started out well, young Midoriya! I wasn't sure how you'd acclimate to my Aim to Pass, American Dream plan, but you seem to be off to a great start! " All Might praised as he stood beside me in his muscle form.

I smiled as best I could through my exhaustion as the number one hero let out a booming laugh at my pitiful state. I may not have been crying and whimpering like Izuku had his first few days, but I was still scrawny. The lack of strength had honestly taken more getting used to since I came to this world than the height issue.

Sliding off the hood of the truck All Might used to ferry garbage I dragged over from the beach to the dump, I addressed my mentor as I started with cooldown stretches. "So I've been thinking, All Might, about my role as your successor, but more importantly, about your role as my mentor."

That seemed to catch All Might off guard, as he blinked in surprise. " Is there something wrong with my approach, young Midoriya? I admit I am quite new to teaching. I haven't had many sidekicks over the years, and the few I have had were already strong heroes in their own right when they joined me. So if you have any concerns or suggestions, I will gladly hear you out."

Hurrying to assuage All Might's concern, I continued my line of thought. "No, that's not it at all, All Might! You're doing an amazing job, especially since I'm your first actual student. I just had some questions for you, as well as some potential changes to our plan going forward."

Relaxing at the reassurance that he hadn't made any mistakes in his teaching, All Might gestured for me to continue.

"Well, first things first, you moved into the area from your usual proving grounds in Tokyo. That in itself isn't too strange, but you mentioned that you had been searching for a successor when you came here." I ignored All Might's muttered curse at his own slip up and continued. "I trust it's no coincidence that you moved your base of operations to the region surrounding UA right as you were searching for a successor."

All Might hesitated briefly before confirming. " Yes, I came to Shizuoka Prefecture so that I could scout the promising young heroes at UA for a potential successor."

Alright, time to secure the true game changing information that will allow me to alter the fate of this world forever.

I looked All Might dead in the eye for several long moments, waiting until he began to squirm slightly under my scrutinizing gaze before going in for the kill. "You're going to be an advisor at UA next year, aren't you, All Might?"

A deliberately incorrect guess, but close enough to the truth that he'll give me the correct information anyway.

All Might sighed before shifting back into his skinny form. He stared off into the distance for a moment before turning to me and answering. "I was supposed to keep this a secret until the school announced it, and I had hoped to surprise you, but I should have known that you would manage to figure it out, at least in part. I will be at UA this coming year, but not as an advisor. I'll be teaching the Heroics classes. Some of them at least."

Feigning surprise, I blinked and then cracked a wide grin. "That's amazing! It will be awesome to learn about heroics directly from you, All Might!"

The sentiment is real, even if the surprise isn't.

All Might smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, but like I mentioned earlier, I haven't taught anyone before. I'm a bit nervous to suddenly be teaching so many aspiring heroes, especially at my alma mater."

"Don't worry about it, All Might. The important thing is that you stress the values of heroism to the next generation. Many of the students will no doubt be there with aspirations of fame or fortune, and that's fine, but it's your job to impress upon them that while riches may be the end goal, getting there will require them to give their all to save as many lives as possible. You are an inspiration to everyone, not just the idealists of the world. You'll be a great teacher, just make sure to be yourself. Don't try to be something you're not."

All Might blinked in surprise before replying. "You don't really act your age, you know that?"

You have no idea.

Resisting the urge to smirk at how accurate his comment really was, I merely shrugged my shoulders. "Well, all that sentimental stuff aside, you should think about taking some teaching classes for the non-heroics related aspects of the job. While most of your time will be spent teaching us about fighting villains and saving bystanders, there will also be times where you have to help a student who is struggling, not just physically, but mentally. You'll also need to manage conflicting personalities in your classes. It's important that students learn that they may have to work with other heroes they don't like in order to save innocents or to defeat a villain. They need to understand that petty rivalries can get themselves and others hurt, or even killed."

All Might was listening to my words with rapt attention, and I suddenly became all too aware of the irony inherent in me giving my mentor teaching lessons.

"Obviously, you're really busy, but during your recovery time, or when you're supervising my training, it couldn't hurt to read some teaching books or listen to some seminars on YouTube. Not to mention the heroes at UA. I'm sure principal Nedzu and the others would be more than happy to help make sure you're as ready as you can be before school starts next year." I suggested.

I hadn't really given much thought to All Might's teaching since I arrived in this world, but he had definitely experienced some growing pains when he first started out in canon, only coming into his own after he had lost his quirk, ironically enough.

All Might had been listening studiously, and when I finished, he drifted into deep contemplation for several minutes, only emerging from his thoughts as I finished my stretches.

"Thank you for your advice, young Midoriya. You are truly wise beyond your years. I see it every day, and yet it still surprises me." All Might said.

I nodded in appreciation. Unfortunately, all that comes from experience garnered through the mistakes I made in my previous life. Not to mention that I've seen the results of All Might's canonical failures, and therefore know how to prevent them in the first place. Still, it's always nice to get a compliment from the number one hero.

"Anyway, I'm glad you told me that you're going to be a teacher next year. That actually makes what I wanted to talk to you about even more important." I began again.

"Oh? What is it, young Midoriya?" All Might asked curiously.

"Well, there's a couple pieces to this, so hear me out. First, I'm planning to drop out of middle school." I began.

As expected, All Might's eyes nearly bugged out of his head, but I hurriedly continued before he could interject. "I don't mean entirely, of course, just out of Aldera. I rank top five in the school academically, and if I'm being honest, I could learn the necessary material far faster outside of that environment. Besides, UA doesn't have any rules against admitting home schooled students. As long as I pass the written and the practical, where I went to school previously is irrelevant."

"Well yeah, but what about-" All Might began imploringly.

"All Might, I don't have friends. Most of the students either ignore or outright bully me. The teachers don't exactly foster what I would call a nurturing environment. If I drop out, that's seven hours per day I have to work with. Of course a good chunk of that will just be spent doing schoolwork at home, but an extra three or four hours, as well as the ability to exercise during my study time, could make a massive difference." I argued.

All Might became downcast at the mention of my school relationships, but nodded despondently before looking at me with renewed vigor. "It saddens me that you feel your education will be more beneficial at home than around your fellow students. I promise you, young Midoriya, I will speak to principal Nedzu and see what we can do about keeping something like that from happening to anyone else."

I smiled in appreciation. It was unlikely they would be able to make much headway given the setup of Japan's hero centric society, but if anyone could figure out how to make things at least a little bit better, it would be Nedzu.

"Thank you, All Might." I said sincerely.

"Of course, young Midoriya. But there was more you wanted to talk to me about, right?" All Might asked.

Nodding, I continued to present my plan to my mentor. "I will be miraculously acquiring a quirk at fifteen years old. That is exceptionally rare. Late bloomers aren't common, but there's still thousands every year. Unfortunately, almost all of them awaken their quirk when they hit puberty. Midnight's quirk awakened when she was twelve for example. My quirk would be awakening at fourteen if you passed it on to me today. We will need a reason to explain why that is the case. We could always just say I'm a really late bloomer, but that would draw significantly more suspicion, especially from people who know me well." I began, struggling to constrain Izuku's instinct to start a mumble storm.

All Might nodded sagely and replied. "That's a good point. I'm sure you have a plan in mind?"

"I do, but it goes hand in hand with the other half of this process. You, All Might." I declared with a pointed look at my mentor.

"Me? Young Midoriya, it would be prudent for us to keep a professional distance between us, so that no one grows suspicious." All Might countered, having realized where I was headed.

I held up a hand to stop All Might before he could continue. "Just hear me out, All Might. People are going to notice the similarities between our quirks, especially as I get stronger and begin to approach, then eventually surpass, your own power. We can't avoid the rumors that are going to erupt, and especially if our goal is for me to succeed you not only as the wielder of One for All, but as the Symbol of Peace, it is better for us to face them head on. It will be even more obvious with you teaching at UA, because let's be honest with ourselves, there's no way you are going to be able to avoid watching my progress in particular. I trust you to do everything you can to help the other students, but it will be obvious from a mile away that I'm your favorite."

All Might looked pensive for a moment before tentatively nodding for me to continue.

"Both halves of this plan are crucial. If you just take me on as your protege, officially or unofficially, out of nowhere, we're just asking for the secret of One for All to be discovered. The absolute best case scenario there is that people assume I'm your bastard son or something." I remarked with a dismissive wave of my hand.

All Might spluttered a bloody cough in surprise. "Right, and we would prefer to avoid both of those outcomes." He said after wiping his mouth with a handkerchief.

I nodded in agreement. "So we need there to be a reason why you would take some random kid on as your protege. You've never had an intern or a work study student, so the circumstances need to be extraordinary. Luckily, the foundation of those circumstances has already established itself."

All Might's eyes lit up and he interjected before I could finish. "The sludge villain."

Honestly, All Might will probably realize where I'm going with this before I even make it half way. The series would've ended in like season four if they had had this All Might.

"Exactly. Now, I propose this. The story we tell the world is that I was born with a dormant super strength quirk. Because of the sheer power contained within, my quirk has an inbuilt self preservation mechanism that prevented it from activating until I was strong enough for it to not instantly kill me." I continued.

"So you want to use the sludge villain's attack as the catalyst for your awakening? Because I've already met you via the sludge villain attack, I can take notice of the similarities between our quirks." All Might extrapolated, tapping his chin as he thought through the potential outcomes.

I tilted my head and gave a 'so-so' gesture with my hand. "Sort of, but I don't think that will be enough to dispel suspicion entirely. Since we won't be able to hide our relationship once school starts, it's best for it to be out in the open from the beginning. That said, it won't be fully public information at first, especially before the school year starts. I have a plan that will hopefully throw anyone off the trail, and make a plausible scenario that everyone will believe."

All Might gave me an expectant look, and I took a deep breath before continuing. He isn't going to like this part one bit.

Steeling my resolve, I looked All Might dead in the eye and told him his part in this scheme. "I need you to shatter my arm."

Silence reigned for several long moments as All Might gaped at me. For a second, I thought I may have crashed his operating system, but then as if a switch had been flipped, my mentor coughed up a disconcerting amount of blood.

"You want me to do what?!" All Might cried in alarm.

Yeah, that's about what I was expecting.

Waving my arms placatingly, I attempted to get All Might to calm down. "I know, I know, just hear me out for a second!"

After about a minute of him freaking out, All Might finally settled enough for me to continue. "I know how bad it sounds, and don't get me wrong, it will suck for both of us, especially me, but it's crucial for this plan to work. I can't wield One for All at even a fraction of its power right now, but the world has to believe I have an amazing super strength quirk if our cover story is going to work."

All Might was still looking at me like I was crazy, but after another minute of his disapproving glare, he finally spoke. "I'm listening."