Chapter 4

"A Quirk Assessment Test?!"

Aizawa nodded. "Yup, get ready."

"W-wait!" Uraraka stammered. "What about the introduction ceremony or the counselor meetings or the orientation?!" she asked, thoroughly justified in her outburst.

"If you're going to become a hero, then you don't have time for such leisurely events." Aizawa answered, not even bothering to turn and acknowledge the students. "U.A is so successful partly because of the great freedom it allows on campus. The freedom extends to us teachers as well." he finally turned to give them a mere glance, but that single look all but screamed at them how he could care less. "You kids have been doing this stuff since junior high too, right?" he rose a device containing a list of different exercises. Long jump, sprint, softball pitch, and the like. "The physical tests where you weren't allowed to use your Quirks. The country still hasn't gotten around to standardizing those sort of things. It's illogical."

It didn't take long for the students to understand where this was going.

"Bakugou," Aizawa called out as he turned to the teen. "How far could you pitch a softball in middle school?"

The teen let out a snort of pride. "67 meters."

"Try using your Quirk this time around." Aizawa instructed as he tossed a ball to Bakugou. "As long as you don't exit the circle, anything you do is fine. Just give it your all."

A manic grin worked its way across Bakugou's face. "You got it." with movement fit for a professional baseball player, he bent his body back and swung his entire body forward-

A wild murderous look enveloped his visage.

"DIE!"

-and an explosion encompassed his being, blasting the surprisingly intact baseball high into the air, soaring above the low clouds and drifting in the sky only to impact down to Earth like a mini meteor.

"Know your own maximum first." Aizawa muttered loudly, taking a glance at the machine in his hand when it beeped. "That is the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero." he turned the machine so the students could see the result.

705.2 meters

"705.2 meters?! That's unreal!"

"Awesome! That looks fun!"

"We can really use our Quirks now?! That's the Department of Heroics for you!"

Aizawa shifted slightly. "'It looks fun', huh?" the man suddenly looked a lot more serious as he glared at them from behind thos dark locks of hair covering his face. "Were you planning on having a good time during these three years here? If that's how you feel, then lets change things up. Whoever comes in last place in these eight tests will be judged to have no potential and will be punished with expulsion."

Quite a few of the students blanched, but none more than Izuku. 'Wait, seriously?! That's not funny! How am I gonna get through this?!'

Aizawa grinned, brushing his bangs up with one hand to sneer at them. "In this school, teachers can use their freedom to expel students as we chose. Welcome to U.A's Hero Course brats."

Izuku was internally panicking. He was still in All or Nothing mode! 'I still can't adjust my power to prevent backlash!'

Then he felt it. He was so focused on his own dilemma that he failed to even notice it at first. The dark aura that seemed to radiate from right next to him. Izuku snapped his head to the side to see what it was, but he was greeted by the sight of the ever-smiling Kumagawa, and the darkness was nowhere to be found.

'Was it... just my imagination?'

"The kid who gets ranked last... gets expelled?!" cried Uraraka in disbelief. "This is our first day! No, even if it wasn't, that's just too unreasonable!"

"That's the life of a hero." Aizawa replied, completely unfazed by the outburst. "Natural disasters, massive accidents, rampaging villains... All these kinds of calamities and more can happen when we least expect them. The job of a hero is to reverse all that insanity and restore reason. If you were thinking that you could just have a good time out here everyday, then allow me to burst that bubble right now. From here on out, for the next three years, U.A is going to throw more hardships at you than you can count. Don't you know the school motto? Plus Ultra." he finished with a taunting tone. "I expect you to overcome these trials and climb to the top."

[Oh, but Aizawa-sensei, isn't the whole idea of basing our potential on our physical abilities more than a little bit illogical?]

All heads whipped to the foolish teen who had all but signed his notice of expulsion by talking back to their intimidating teacher.