Chapter 6

In Izuku's eyes, Venality had been a striking success to gather four talented individuals under his leadership. Shoto, who refused to use his last name, son of the number two pro hero, a hatred to heroes and an extremely powerful and well trained quirk. Toru Hagakure, who had come quite a long way with her own quirk under Izuku's guidance and a better love for it thanks to Sensei's gift, made the perfect spy, especially if Giran could get her a suit that turned invisible with her like he requested, and resented hero society for leaving her to suffer. Hitoshi Shinso, who had somehow to make fast friends with Tomura thanks to their shared love of games, resented heroes for killing his father and couldn't wait to pay them back tenfold for their corrupt attitude. Finally, Mina Ashido, the partner an girlfriend to the increasingly notorious serial killer Himiko Toga, was happy to just have something to do with friends who treated her with a general level of respect. The site had even drawn in a few more powerful entities in Dabi and Himiko Toga, who were more than happy to help him, Tomura, Kurogiri and Sensei in their tasks. Even better than he had thought. When Sensei told him and Tomura they were moving forwards with their plans, Izuku was all too happy to put his name forwards for their next task.

UA Academy was a place where the next generation of top heroes gathered, trained and were sent out into the world as the new perfect soldiers of justice, ready to crush villainy at any level. It had many popular and notorious alumini, from top 10 heroes such as Endeavour and Ryukyu, to more minor heroes like Manual or Eraserhead. Even All Might graduated from those hallowed grounds. That knowledge just made Izuku want to crush it even more.

He got what he needed from those he could count on. Sensei granted him the quirks he needed and he'd trained them well. Izuku called the quirks together Tempest. He claimed he could control wind through his legs and use it in a variety of ways. In reality, this one quirk was a combination of three. First there was Bound, allowing him to jump far, far higher than a regular person. Then there was Air Walk, allowing him to propel himself through the air up to five steps at a time. Finally there was Air Shot, allowing him to fire wind projectiles from his legs with a strong kick. It took a while but, with some help from Kurogiri, Tomura and, later, Hitoshi and Shoto, he managed to finally master the quirks. HIS quirks. That felt so good to be able to say. He wasn't broken or useless. Not anymore.

He decided he also needed a decent disguise to get into UA. After all, his good friend Kacchan was also trying. He didn't want to get caught. So he dyed his hair. Or, moreover, he had Dabi do it. Dabi seemed to be well versed in dying hair. He did his own often enough. He dyed the red half of Shoto's hair at his brother's request. Izuku decided he wanted the same. He grew his hair out as well. By the time the UA entrance exams came around, his hair was beginning to cover one of his eyes, which took some time to get used to.

" So. How do I look?" Izuku asked his friends. It was the night before the Entrance exam. The gang had all gathered. A sort of party to mark the beginning of their plan. Even if it didn't work out in the end, at least they were having fun now. The Venality squad as Dabi had dubbed them were sitting together in their usual corner. Himiko and Dabi had taken to annoying Tomura by challenging him to various video games on the Bar's small TV. Kurogiri just watched, entertained by the chaos.

" How do you simultaneously look like an emo and a nerd?" Mina joked.

" It's a talent." Izuku joked, earning a laugh from the others.

" Hey, Izuku." Toru asked. " Why are you even disguising yourself so heavily anyway? I mean, the hair dye. The coloured contacts. I think those clothes are also a size too big." Izuku scratched the back of his head.

" Well, the clothes were the only uniform Giran could get at such short notice. But, I did run away from home to be here." Izuku reminded her. " Besides, there's someone I used to know who's absolutely going to be there." Izuku glared down at his hands. Shinso and Shoto frowned looking away.

" Who?" Mina asked, confused at the reaction. The three remained silent. Mina and Toru shared a confused look. Izuku grit his teeth.

" Katsuki Bakugo." He spat. " It's because of him…" Izuku growled.

" H-Hey. Don't worry about it. You don't have to explain." Toru said.

" No. Hitoshi and Shoto know. It's only fair." Izuku raised his hand to his right shoulder. " You know how, in the story on Venality, that I mentioned being abused for being Quirkless. Well, I used to have this friend." The word friend was spoken with such venom it made Toru tense up. " Well, when we were kids, we made a promise that one day we'd be heroes together. But then he learned I was quirkless. And he went from a good friend to being the worst bully you could ever imagine. And no-one cared. Mom would never believe the son of her good friend could ever be a violent thug. And he was Aldera's star student thanks to his quirk, so no-one bothered him there either. No-one stopped him or his thugs. Even as he turned his quirk on me." Izuku pulled his sleeve down. Toru gasped as a deep red, hand shaped burn became visible across his shoulder. "It's not the only mark he left on me. That's Katsuki Bakugo. A symbol of a system that has failed so many."

" Oh my god…" Toru covered her mouth.

" Izu." Mina pulled her friend into a hug. " I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

" Don't worry, Mina. It's fine." Izuku patted Mina on the head. " I'm hoping I don't run into him on the day. But, if I get in, it's only a matter of time. As annoying as it is, with Katsuki's destructive quirk and personality, he's undoubtedly going to make it past the Hero Entrance Exam."

" So a thug like him is going to be a hero." Hitoshi sighed. " Heroes really are just villains with a badge, huh."

" You've seen what the bastard does on a regular basis." Shoto grumbled. " It's not exactly surprising."

" Yeah. That's why I'm happy to tear down everything this hero society has built." Izuku smirked. " Perhaps we can make something better from the ashes." Or maybe, Izuku thought, he'd just watch the world burn. It didn't deserve anything else.

At one time, seeing UA stretch out in front of him would have rendered him speechless, excited at the idea of the possibility he could eventually walk the halls as a student himself. Now though, he was smiling for a different reason. This was just step one in Sensei's plans after all. Getting in would make things run smoother. Even if he failed here, he'd also applied for the General Course. He just needed to do well enough in the written test and score adequately in the Hero entrance exam and he was in. From there, Stage two could begin. But he was getting ahead of himself.

" So, assuming the hero entrance exam is a simple thing, it should just be a few exams. No big deal." Izuku muttered. " Of course, this is a hero exam. The exam is something to do with fire power. I'm not exactly sure what but…"

" Excuse me?"

" Hmm?" Izuku looked up. Next to him, a sort of concerned look on her face, was a girl with brown hair and round cheeks.

" Sorry. It's just… well, I couldn't help but hear you talking is all."

" Oh. Was I mumbling? Sorry. I do that when I get nervous." Izuku made sure to disguise a lot more than just his outward appearance when he came to UA. He'd practised talking with a lower tone of voice to hide himself better in a crowd from people who knew what he sounded like. He tried doing a lot to try and stop him from muttering. He didn't do it as often now, but when he was nervous or things got heated, the habit would slip out. After coming to the League and meeting so many new people who were actually nice to him, Izuku's confidence had also rose. He didn't need to fake a new stance. While part of that had to do with him heavily damaging his left leg in training thanks to the down sides of the trio of quirks Izuku now had, it was mostly due to him keeping his eyes forwards instead constantly glaring at his feet. He had a new, confidant stride all of his own now.

" Ha ha. It's fine." The girl told him. " So, are you also taking the hero exam?"

" Yeah. I just hope I trained enough for it. I imagine they won't be pulling their punches. Need the best of the best, or so they say."

" I hope they're a little lenient. I dunno what I'll do if they make us start facing off against actual villains or something." Izuku laughed. " I'm Urakaka, by the way. Ochako Uraraka."

" Akitani. Mikumo Akitani."

" Well, good luck, Akitani. Maybe we can make it into the same class next year."

" Maybe. Good luck, Uraraka." With a gleeful grin, Uraraka nodded, heading inside. Izuku sighed. He really had to learn to curb his creepy habits.

He spotted Bakugo in the crowd when he headed into the meeting hall. He decided to give him a wide berth, sitting across the room and further down from him, taking a seat next a silver haired girl with her hands resting over the edge of the chair in front of her. They exchanged a nod of greeting before Izuku sat down. It took about 15 minutes for everyone to get settled and the man in charge of the event to arrive. With a sigh, Izuku already raised a hand to his ears.

" You may want to cover your ears." He muttered.

" Huh? Why?" The girl asked.

" Pro Hero Present Mic. His quirk allows him to project his voice as powerful sound waves." Izuku glanced over to her. " He's really loud." The girl nodded, deciding to heed Izuku's advice. Just in too as Present Mic opened the assembly with his trade mark shout.

" YEAAAAAAAAH!!!!" He shouted, making the crowd of students flinch at the sudden volume. " WELCOME LISTENERS TO UA! CAN I GET A HEEEEEEEY!" No one said a thing. Mic coughed nervously. " Right. Refined responses." Present Mic wasted no time getting to work explaining the days events. The Hero Exam was a simple ten minute quirk showcase, fighting robots in a specified zone with other students. Izuku looked down at the card he had been given, showing a picture of him a few months ago when he was first getting his Mikumo disguise finalised.

Izuku agreed to this plan just over a month after he came to live with Tomura and Kurogiri, a few days before he posted Venality. Since then, he was given a few quirks that synergised well and was trained to fight, filling his once tiny frame out with some muscles. At the same time, Sensei had gotten to work creating an entire faked profile for Mikumo Akitani. He was born in Osaka but his parents were killed in a tragic accident when he was 5, forcing him to live with his uncle in Musutafa. He was home schooled but still met the required exam result threshold to attend UA. He had a faked medical history, with a broken leg when he was ten being the only notable feature on an otherwise clean bill of health which was done in part to excuse the slight limp his quirks gave him, no criminal record and even a fake, three year old passport.

" Ground B, eh?" Izuku muttered.

" F for me." The girl beside him said. He figured she was just being nice, not wanting to call him out on his habits. He focused back to Present Mic explaining the rules. There were four types of robots. The weakest was worth 1 point, the middle difficulty worth 2 and the strongest was 3 points. However one went unsaid.

" Excuse me!" Izuku looked over. " However, on the hand outs, there are four types of robots stated. Is this a misprint? If so, such a prestigious academy should be ashamed for such misinformation and wasting ink." Izuku sighed.

" Obviously, it's not." He spoke aloud. " It's likely some secret part of the test or a roaming obstacle that we're supposed to avoid or something. Present Mic was likely about to explain before you started complaining. Sit down and stop wasting everyone's time."

" What was that?" The boy shouted.

" Woah. Woah. Sorry, but Listener 2234 is right, Listener 7111. I appreciate the concern, however I was getting to that. No need to worry."

" I apologize for my outburst then, Sir." With a bow, the boy, 7111, sat down. Izuku sighed, shaking his head. Mic went about explaining about robot four. As Izuku had guessed, it was an obstacle worth 0 points. The idea was it was to be avoided. It wasn't invincible, but there was no point to taking it out. Izuku had to wonder if that was the truth. Maybe it was and the idea was to trick people into trying to take it out of some underlying promise they made up about an automatic pass. Maybe it was meant to open up some other way to get points.

" It's a bit like a video game." The girl beside him muttered. Izuku had to agree. The whole thing was set up like a game, collecting points with a goal of being the winner. But, if this were a game, there were likely a few hidden mechanics to it from being to easy. Izuku just had to figure out what that could be.

" Now then, as is the motto of our beloved school, Go Beyond! PLUS ULTRA!" Mic shouted. Izuku smirked. Let's see just how further beyond he could take this. This was going to be fun.

Izuku was happy to see neither hide nor hair of his old school bully when he got on the bus to Training Ground B. After getting changed into a PE kit and having his card checked to make sure he wasn't going to the wrong sector, he was allowed on and was taken over to the right area. The exam was described as an Urban Combat Simulator, so it wasn't exactly surprising to him when he saw the fake buildings peering at him from over the walls. He glance around, taking in his opponents. There was a few stand outs. A blond student with a strange looking belt. A girl with hair shaped like a mushroom. He also noticed the brown haired girl, Uraraka, from earlier. So he'd be going against her, huh? Izuku smirked. He wondered what she could do.

" Excuse me." Izuku glanced over. " I believe you are the one who correctly surmised the purpose of the fourth robot, correct? Standing before him in an ugly, skin tight, blue tracksuit was the student who had interrupted Mic, Student 7111. Izuku nodded, taking a moment to examine the boy. What immediately jumped out at him was the jets attached to the back of his legs. " I just wanted to wish you luck and apologize for my out burst earlier."

" It's cool. Don't worry about it." Izuku hummed. " So, are you related to Ingenium by chance?"

" Oh?" 7111 looked surprised. " I am. He is my elder brother. How did you guess?"

" You're quirk is similar to his. The jets on your legs. Just like he has in his arms." Izuku put his hands into his pockets. " I'm a big fan of heroes. I've done my research on a lot of them. My friends call me a miniature Quirk Analyst but I'm not sure I'm quite that good."

" Hmm. I see. How interesting." 7111 saluted. " My name is Tenya Iida. Once more, I wish you luck in this exam."

" Right. Mikumo Akitani . Pleasure to meet you, Iida."

" YOOOOOOOOO!" The groups attentions was caught by Present Mic all the way back at the main campus, screaming at them. Izuku assumed he was speaking to everyone at once using his quirk. Smart usage for a teacher. " THERE AIN'T ANY COUNTDOWNS IN HEROICS! GO GO GO!" Izuku raised an eyebrow and sighed. He watched as everyone else bolted.

" Well, so much for subtlety." Izuku stretched. He channelled Bound in his legs, feeling the cold wind swirl around him. He loved that feeling. The feeling of power from actually having something fate denied him all those years ago. He scoured it for a few seconds before launching off into the arena, taking to the skies and moving around the arena.

With the control over his trio of quirks, cleaning up robots from place to place was fairly simplistic. He spent most of the time in the air, hoping from roof to roof to recharge his usage of Air Walk. The main roads were a scrap heap with in a few minutes. Izuku hoped between there and the side paths, raining Air Shot after Air Shot down on robots from above. Before he knew it, he counted 57 points before he finally landed on a high building over looking much of the arena. His legs ached from the wind pressure Bound and Air Shot forced on his legs while he used them. 57 points. That was probably enough for the general course. He decided to watch for a while. Scout out the potential quirks the Hero Course would end up with this year.

He saw the people below desperately searching for more robots to take out for points. They were running out. Izuku judged the bots on the side path were meant to circle around in the latter half of the exam. Of course, most of them had been taken out en route, either by him or others. One of the roads had bots completely immobilized in a forest of Mushrooms, completely stopping anything from advancing down that lane. The boy with the belt seemed to be running out steam too, judging by the fact he could be seen slipping into a side alley clutching his stomach. On another roof, he noticed a large student with a number of arms, ears at the ends of some of them. Iida was giving no quarter, making the best of his quirk to bolt around the main roads, kicking apart the few robots that remained. Then there was Uraraka who seemed to be caught out in the chaos, looking around like a lost puppy. Some students had collapsed from over usage of their quirk. Others were just looking around, desperate for a few more points. It was honestly pathetic.

Then, all at once, everything got more interesting. The ground quaked, dust rising from the center of the city. Izuku made his way across to the opposite side of the building to get a closer look. A gigantic robotic hand smashed a building apart as it rounded the corner. Izuku suddenly understood Present Mic's warning. The 0 pointer robot, Robot Number 4, was easily larger than any of the buildings in the fake city. It towered above everything as it smashed effortlessly through the streets, creating a cloud of dust at its feet from debris. With a single swing of it's fist, the entire street became a ruin. Understandably, the examinees began sprinting away down side paths and the main road just to avoid the carnage. Izuku was close to moving away himself. But then he paused. He saw movement in the rubble. A single girl. A girl with brown hair.

Izuku realised something as he propelled himself forwards. He was right. The robot was meant to facilitate something. For middle school students, 10 minutes of continuous Quirk Usage, especially those with overly physical quirks, was dangerous. Certain quirks harmed their users with over usage. That's why the time limit was as it was. Not long enough for students to get hurt to majorly but long enough for certain quirk users to feel winded. That was why the 0 pointer showed up at 7 minutes. In certain research papers, that was the limit those who hadn't trained their quirks could last using them continuously. As such, the exam then reached its second phase. If students noticed or not wasn't important. This was a test of cooperation.

After all, what was a hero if they couldn't rescue people.

Quickly judging the weight and size of the robot, Izuku charged wind into his left leg and released it as a powerful shot, knocking the robot back slightly. Not enough to destroy it, but enough to give him enough space. He used Air Walk to land safely next to the rubble. " Hello again."

" You're-" Uraraka began but Izuku shook his head. He grabbed the large chunk of rock the girl was trapped under and began to pull it up.

" Later. Right now, Crawl." Uraraka nodded, moving herself free as Izuku held it up. Once she was out of the way, he dropped it, grabbed her and leapt forwards with Bound, just in time for the robot to smash it's hand down on their position. At a safe distance, he let Uraka down and looked back, smiling lightly. All Might was definitely wrong. He could have been a hero if he put his mind to it.

" TIIIIIIME'S UP!" Present Mic's voice echoed around the arena. The 0 pointer ground to a halt. Izuku let himself breathe. Game Over. He'd probably done enough to pass. 57 points plus a possible bonus multiplier for saving people. That was the theory anyway. He looked back to Uraraka.

" Hey? You alright?"

" Yeah. Thanks to you." Uraraka gave him a pained smile. " But my leg. I think it's twisted."

" They really need to work on the safety procedures with that giant robot." Izuku grumbled. " Someone could have died."

" I'll agree with you there." Izuku and Uraraka looked down, spotting a small, old woman at their side. " It really was reckless for them to put the Mark Four's back into the exams. Last time they showed up, 16 students were nearly hospitalised. Luckily, it would seem it was just you this year, young lady." It took a few moments for Izuku to realise who was speaking. Then it clicked.

" Are you Recovery Girl?" He asked.

" Why that I am, dear. It was a good thing you did saving this young girl." Recovery Girl smiled. She moved next to Uraraka. " Let me see your leg, Dear."

" Alright." Izuku let Uraraka down, letting Recovery Girl work her magic. Recovery Girl's kiss immediately did away with the red bruises all over Uraraka's legs. She handed out a sweet to the tow before moving on to those less injured. " Can you walk?"

" I think so, yeah. Just a bit tired."

" If I remember right, that's the draw back to Recovery Girl's quirk. She can heal any injury with a kiss, but her target is left tired. The worse the injury…"

"...The more tired I'll be. Right." Uraraka stood up, stumbling slightly and stifling a yawn.

" Well, if you're fine, I'm going to head back to the bus to change." Uraraka nodded letting Izuku go on his way. He figured that might be the last he saw of her.

At least until she caught back up with him as he was about to leave. She offered him another massive thank you and the two traded numbers. Izuku wondered after she ran off. He never saw her quirk and never asked what it had been. He was curious. He wondered how many of the people he had taken note of had passed the exams. He had already written down the quirks of the people he assumed had graduated from the group, at from the ones he had seen. Mushrooms. Lasers. Leg Engines. But he hadn't seen hers. He hummed. Maybe he'd follow up with her after all.

A week passed between the exams and him getting his results. At Kurogiri's suggestion, he waited to open them until later that evening, when everyone had a chance to gather. They all sat around the bar, staring at the small, metal projector Izuku had fished from the envelope. Tomura had dispatched the thing it came in. Said it felt good to dust something from the top hero school even if it was something so minor. Izuku promised to let him have the projector after he was done with it.

" So. How do you turn this doohickey on?" Toga asked.

" Probably some button or something." Dabi said, shrugging. " Try pressing the side things in."

" Think you got in, Izuku?" Toru asked.

" If I judged it right." Izuku shrugged.

" Better hope your math isn't off." Shoto snarked.

" I trust him. Izuku's better at analysis stuff than I'll ever be." Hitoshi folded his arms, leaning back in his chair.

" Come on. The excitement is killing me." Mina beamed.

" Get on with it already." Tomura grumbled, taking a large gulp of his soda.

" Well, Midoriya?" Kurogiri asked. Izuku nodded, pressing down on the projector. Immediately, it sprung to life, firing a blue beam into the air. The man on the screen made most in the room tense up and Tomura to spit take. In a big, yellow suit and tie, that ridiculous grin on his face, stood All Might. Izuku fought the urge to smash the projector. His face brought back bad memories of that day. A hollow grin and a message about being realistic. Now what? Did he recognise him? Probably not. He'd likely wiped the moment from his memory, replacing it with his daring act of saving his bully.

" Greeting, Young Akitani I AM HERE!" He shouted. " It is a pleasure to announce the results from your Hero Examination in person! Er, Projection!"

"All Might?" Shoto raised an eyebrow. " What's he doing?"

"As the new Heroics teacher in UA, it was decided that I would be here to do it. As exhausting a process as recording all of these may be. Ah ha ha." Tomura groaned. "Now then, without further a do, you're results! In the Written exam, you scored exceptionally well, with a near perfect 94 points. In the Practical Exam, you also did well, with a score of 57." Izuku nodded. As expected. " Usually, this would be enough for you to pass, however there is more to this exam that must be explained!"

" More?" Mina asked.

" He's probably going to say that there's extra points for saving people." Izuku shrugged.

" Psh. Really?" Dabi laughed.

" Hey. It's a hero school." Toga grinned darkly. " Wouldn't be one if they didn't teach you how to look good on camera saving idiots, would it?"

" Ha. You have a point, Miko." Mina laughed, resting her head on her girlfriends shoulder. All Might continued.

" For you see, the Entrance Exam was not graded on Villain Points alone. A secondary point system, not told to you all, was implemented into the ranking, acting as a way to measure Virtuous acts in the exam venue. These points we called rescue points."

" Called it." Izuku said, laughing.

" And you, Young Akitani, gained 25 Rescue Points for your daring deed in rescuing Young Uraraka. This brings your points to 82. Congratulation, my boy! And Welcome to your Hero Academia!" The video stopped. Everyone paused. Then Izuku started laughing. There was a resounding cheer. The celebration begun. Part 1 of the plan was completed. And better yet, enemy number one was in a place they could easily keep tabs on him. Everything was better than expected. Izuku couldn't wait for Sensei to hear this.

" Congratulations, Young Bakugo, and Welcome to Your Hero Academia!" Katsuki replayed the message again. He looked down at a picture. Two boys playing when they were much, much younger. Katsuki, blond hair still spiky as ever, grinning like an idiot holding a bug net. Beside him, smiling a bit less enthusiastically, green haired and freckled face, stood Deku. Izuku. His missing friend. Katsuki closed his eyes.

" I did it Deku. I made it in. Just like I said I would. I'll become a hero. And I promise you. I will find you. I know I was an idiot before, but I promise I'll make it up to you. I'll be your hero again. Just wait for me."

In an apartment in mid town, a young girl sat in the corner of her room, clutching a letter in her hands crying. " This wasn't how this was supposed to be." She sobbed. " I'm sorry everyone. I'm a failure."

" Well done, Midoriya." All For One said with a grin. He thought back to that fateful moment 8 months ago when Kurogiri brought a poor, quirkless boy before him. A Quirkless boy who was questioning everything about how society worked. A boy who had seen All Might's true face. He decided to take him under his wing. Only know, with this news, could he finally shut up the nagging thought he was wasting resources. Izuku Midoriya was a worthy investment. He'd brought powerful personnel under his cause, was a positive influence on Tenko Shimura, had quirk profiles on a number of heroes and had managed to breeze into UA with quirks he acquired less than a year before. The boy was extremely talented. To think society itself pushed such a boy to his arms. He'd have to thank All Might for that next time they met. But there was time to wait. He was excited to see where the boy would go next. What a joy it would be to watch.