This one is a little shorter chapter but it will hit Izuku on the face harder than any explosion Bakugo ever made.

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Comments:

Psy-Kick: They are pretty major part of his kit as a hero in the canon and since he gets to do lot more of that lot earlier in this story it felt right to speed up equipping him, also having this version of Izuku as a friend, well it helps.

Miqila: Uneven numbers. Also I am trying to impart some background logic on how and what is being tested and while adding one the ones Izuku would most like in his team might seem contradictory it is useful from Aizawa's point of view still. I mean what is the most efficient way of poking this Izuku and getting a reaction. It is not threatening Ojiro that's for sure.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom

Chapter 82: Red Smash

The entrance gate for the exam ground clattered shut behind Eijiro. It was go-time. He shook his arms to relax them and focused on looking at the testing area. One of Izuku's big lessons was to always be aware of his surroundings. Eijiro was already lying to him and everyone else. He would not disappoint them by messing this up.

Or by exposing his lies.

He couldn't only train with All Might, or help anyone without showing the power. Maybe if he asked All Might would let him tell at least to a small group he could trust. At least could trust more than they could him.

No, he had to focus. He could feel bad later. This was what he had trained for. If he couldn't deal with a single exam, how could he help anyone no matter what kind of power All Might handed to him from above. He had to show he was worth it, if he was.

Eijiro stretched his lips to a smile and looked at a nearby camera. He held his thumb up and hardened the arm. There was no doubt at least Izuku was watching and would let Eijiro hear about it if he messed up.

"Team Sato and Kirishima practical exam, ready? Go."

They started running through the exam ground to… do something. They never had any time to strategize and Eijiro didn't even really know Sato that well. He was bigger than Eijiro and had some level of super strength, but only when he ate sugar or something like that.

"So what do you think? We definitely get a higher score for capturing, not running. You agree?" Eijiro tried to plan while they ran. He really wanted a good grade.

Now they would just need a way to get it done. Eijiro thought they could just bust straight through to Cementos, especially with One For All, but he wasn't ready. He did not want to break his arm again.

"Yeah, that makes sense."

A wall of concrete rose out of the ground in front of them. Eijiro hardened his body ready to punch through it. He really should try to be smarter about this, but what options did he have? Sato already ate a bag of sugar.

"Well, let's bust through this and see what he can throw at us," Eijiro said, punching his fists together. Bot of them charged at the wall and punched it at the same time. The concrete caved in around their fists and shattered like the boulder on Izuku's yard weeks before.

More concrete walls rose up on their way. Eijiro charged at the next one with another concrete-shattering punch before even thinking; then another, and another. They broke easily, they could have punched through, but there was always a new wall.

If they kept coming they would not get anywhere in time. How long could Cementos keep this up? Probably longer than they could, especially without One For All. He was a pro and Eijiro's quirk always had trouble with endurance. Izuku had been able to knock him down more than once without his quirks, exploiting that weakness. The guy could keep going on like a machine even when everyone else had run out of steam.

There had to be a different way, a different path to victory.

"Use your head Eijiro," Eijiro told himself and forced his eyes to turn away from the next wall to look around. This place really was a whole city with all the buildings, streets and narrow alleys of a real one. If they were facing more than one opponent Eijiro would have been concerned someone was about to ambush them from every alley and window. He still wasn't completely confident it would not happen. Izuku had taught him to be more aware of his surroundings and trying to make Shoto feel safe had really hammered that vigilance in.

But if they could be ambushed that way so could Cementos, Eijiro glanced upwards, especially from above, away from the ground he manipulated.

"There is no end to them!" Sato shouted. "I can't keep this up for long."

"I got an idea," Eijiro said, "but he can't notice. You have to keep pushing for both of us, just for a moment."

"Okay," Sato responded in a strained voice. "I'll do my best, but hurry."

"Don't worry," Eijiro said and flashed a confident, if somewhat dishonest, smile. "I got this. Just don't let him notice I'm gone."

Eijiro punched one more wall in their way, then jumped to the side between two of them and ran into the alley. There were no entrances to the building he needed, but that was okay. He had already done this in an earlier lesson. He jumped straight at a wall and his hardened hand sunk into the surface, creating its own handholds. He pulled himself quickly upwards. It was a real strain even to him, but not that much different from smashing unending walls. At least now he could climb faster than in the rescue training.

Meanwhile in the viewing room Izuku was smiling, looking at the large screen.

"What is he doing?" Uraraka asked, ignorant to the intent of the test.

"Using his brain," Izuku responded. "He tends to be straightforward and reckless, but he can be pretty smart, especially in a fight. Someone just needed to make him slow down and think. Remember how he pretended to have his quirk failing at the sports festival?"

"Oh right. He did. But why did he climb on the roof? If his endurance is his biggest weakness wouldn't that make it worse?"

"Because staying on the ground Cementos controls would have been better? Also, people don't look up that often."

A notebook appeared in Izuku's hands and he started taking down notes to add on his record of Eijiro's progress.

By the time Eijiro pulled himself onto the roof, the sound of walls cracking below had already slowed down. Sato was giving it his all but his endurance too had limits. Eijiro ran across the roof towards where Cementos appeared to be attacking from. He was quickly approaching the edge of the roof, but was not worried. Jumping off a roof had been part of his training before and his hardening had already gotten stronger with One For All even when he wasn't using the quirk itself.

His feet pushed up and left the roof as he leaped to the next one. He had to reach. People needed help in difficult places. As a hero he should be able to make it.

He landed on the next roof and kept going, moving to the edge to see what was going on. He spotted Cementos quickly. The hero was crouched a bit ahead of him, hands on the ground to use his quirk.

Eijiro glanced in the other direction to make sure Sato was okay.

He wasn't.

Sato was struggling to get through the walls and was now rather trying to evade them when he could. It would not take long for Cementos to notice Eijiro was missing if he hadn't already. The walls started bending around Sato and even the ground under his feet bulged. He stumbled and fell down the slope in a gap between two growing walls, two growing and moving walls that kept moving closer.

Eijiro waited for a few seconds for Sato to bust out or Cementos to stop. They did not. The walls kept closing around the space the hero thought Sato was in.

Sato was going to get crushed.

Eijiro bounced on the edge of the roof. Small red lightning sparked around his legs as they crouched, then pushed of the edge hard enough to break the concrete. He got back to where Sato was trapped with a single leap, flying straight through one of the walls, crushing it, like a canon ball as Izuku had once described.

He overshot Sato, embedding himself in the concrete bulge, but he dug himself up almost as fast, breaking and pushing away concrete chunks like they were sand, ignoring the pain radiating from his legs.

"Sato!"

"Hermmmmh."

The voice was coming from somewhere below, but the gap in front of the closing wall was already closed. Eijiro couldn't even see let alone reach Sato. He had to stop this quick, no matter how. Red lines and sparks of lightning moved up his right arm as it hardened harder and more jagged and stone like than ever before. He swung forward, delivering a giant smash.

It was too quick to see, but the approaching wall of concrete started shattering from the air pressure before his fist even made contact and when it did the entire wall disappeared and so did those behind it. A giant gust of tornado-like wind blew through the fake street, blowing away anything that stood up from the ground, even carving some concrete and asphalt off the ground and the buildings, mixing it with a city's worth of shattered window glass.

Enormous pain, the kind Eijiro had never experienced before trying to use OFA, radiated from the arm and made Eijiro fall on his knees on legs that weren't feeling too good either, but he bit his teeth together and looked down where Sato had fallen. There was a cavern left between the somewhat intact bulge and other side that had been completely wiped clean. Even with his right arm hanging broken Eijiro laid on the broken concrete, extending his left arm, just low enough for Sato to grab it and get pulled enough to get out of the hole.

"They…" The announcer even was stunned. "Cementos has been knocked out. Sato and Kirishima… win?"

A notebook fell on the floor in the otherwise quiet monitoring room. Izuku stood, mouth agape, staring at the screen, grabbing his head.

No.

No…

No no no nonononono.