NO. 38 - A Hero In The Making

Midoriya Izuku pushed himself off the ground, determination written on his face as he embarked on his morning jog through the streets of Musutafu. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting a warm glow over the city, and he could feel the cool morning breeze against his skin. With each step, he focused on his breathing, body movements, and rhythm.

"Remember, Izuku. Controlling one's breathing can be the difference between losing and winning. If your breathing is wrong, then your body and mind will be too." Souta said from his spot on Izuku's back as the green-haired boy struggled to do push-ups.

As he ran, Izuku reflected on the training and teachings given to him by his friend/sensei, Shimizu Souta. Smiling at the special memories he and Souta had together caused Izuku to speed up. Despite being quite the sadistic teacher, Souta's training sure showed its results on his body.

After all, a twelve-kilometer run was a cakewalk for him now.

All his training would soon pay off when it helped him secure his spot at UA. Once he got there, his dreams of becoming a hero who saves everyone, just like All Might, would one day become a reality—Quirk or no Quirk. This thought motivated him as his feet pounded rhythmically against the pavement. He envisioned himself breaking through his current limits, reaching new heights, and rescuing those in need.

"Yes, Izuku. You can be a hero." Souta said as he placed a hand on Izuku's trembling shoulder.

"A hero? Of course, you can become a hero!" Keiko exclaimed with a fist pump from where they sat on the grass.

"That's right. I can be a hero. I just have to work twice-no! Four times harder than everyone else!" Izuku said as he was all but sprinting now. He wasn't even aware he left his own city.

Pushing himself even faster, Izuku finally began to feel his legs burning, but he embraced the discomfort. This was more than just a jog; it was a step toward his dreams. A demonstration of his relentless heroic spirit. He kept running, fueled by hope and determination, ready to face whatever obstacles awaited him on his path to heroism.

"...hah! Look how pathetic he is!"

"Right? A guy with a villainous Quirk like him wants to train to be a hero! What a joke!"

Izuku's legs slammed themselves on the ground, causing his shoes to skid along the sidewalk. Coming to a stop, the green-haired boy turned his head over to where he heard the voices. Suddenly, a loud thud followed by a cough echoed out from a nearby alleyway. Walking closer, Izuku leaned his head around the corner.

Standing over a downed purple-haired boy who seemed to be lacking some sleep were two boys around Izuku's age dressed in tracksuits. The boy on the left had combed back dark red hair, while the other had short teal-colored hair. Izuku felt his muscles twitch as the teal-haired boy reared his leg back, ready to strike the downed purple-haired boy.

"Stop that!" Izuku yelled, dashing into the alleyway. "Leave him alone!"

"What the hell? Get lost!" The dark red-haired boy, Azuma, growled out. His eyes glared at Izuku. "This doesn't have anything to do with you."

"What are you doing to him?" Izuku ignored Azuma's comment and stepped closer to the three.

The teal-haired boy, Itoh, raised a brow at Izuku and looked down at the boy, holding his stomach in pain. The purple-haired boy, Shinso Hitoshi, looked over at Izuku in confusion. The green-haired boy stopped a few feet away, his equally green eyes looking down at him with concern.

"This guy? He your friend or something?" Itoh asked while pointing at Hitoshi, who sat up against the brick wall behind him. His eyes stared at Izuku incredulously.

Izuku frowned and turned to Hitoshi, once again ignoring the two boys, further agitating them. Shinso frowned and turned to Izuku.

"Who the hell are you? I… I don't need your help." Hitoshi said as he tried to stand, but Itoh knocked him back down.

"Stay down where you belong, you villain."

"Stop that!" Izuku said, his body moving before his mind could think.

Itoh grinned at the challenge and swung his right leg to kick Izuku's side. Raising his leg, Izuku shin-checked Itoh, causing the teal-haired boy to wince. Stepping in, Izuku sent two open-palmed strikes onto Itoh's chest. Coughing, the teal-haired boy stumbled back before he received a front kick from Izuku. Knocking him on his back.

"W-what the hell?" Azuma muttered before he activated his Quirk in his panic.

Azuma's Quirk, Tongue Tape, allowed him to shoot out his tongue five meters at his target with around 200 newtons of force.

'It's so slow.' Izuku thought as he weaved under the tongue. 'Or am I… that fast?'

Due to the boy's open use of his Quirk, Izuku no longer had the need to hold back to just open-palmed strikes. Lifting his fists in front of his chin, Izuku dashed into Azuma's personal space and struck the boy with a solid right hook into the side of his head. Izuku watched Azuma fall headfirst to the floor before grabbing the boy's shirt, preventing him from falling headfirst onto the concrete.

"Ah! I didn't mean-" Izuku muttered and turned to look at Itoh, who quickly stood up and ran away.

"Y-you freak!"

"No, wait! What about your friend?!"

Izuku lowered Azuma onto the floor as Itoh left the alley. Scratching his head, Izuku looked over at Hitoshi, who was staring at Izuku wide-eyed. Smiling awkwardly, Izuku stepped forward and held a helpful hand out.

"Are you okay? They didn't hurt you too much, did they?"

"…no? I mean, yeah! I'm fine," Hitoshi said as he snapped out of his stupor, numbly accepting Izuku's help. "How did you do that? Do you have some sort of speed quirk or something?"

"Speed quirk?" Izuku asked with a tilt of his head. "No, nothing like that. I'm actually Quirkless. Ah! I'm Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you!"

Hitoshi stood in surprise at the apparently Quirkless kid who was capable of doing something so amazing. Something he couldn't do despite having a Quirk.

Sure, with his Quirk, Brainwashing, he could put someone in a state where they were forced to obey whatever he commands. Hitoshi could have easily stopped his attackers if he had activated his Quirk. But if he did do that, then he'd just be proving all those who called him a villain in the making correct.

"I'm Shinso Hitoshi… It's nice to meet you, too."

x x x

[General POV]

"What the hell…?"

Coming to a stop, a yellow-skinned police officer looked up at what could be called an impressive ice sculpture, were it not for the fact that it was a gruesome display of violence.

A man was propped up in mid-air by a long spike made of ice. The spike holding the man was skewered straight through his crotch area and extended all the way upwards through his midsection and exiting out of his mouth. Dozens of spikes of ice were jutting out of his body as if he were a human pincushion, each of which was covered with frozen blood.

"What... could have done this?" The yellow-skinned police officer muttered.

"A monster."

Jumping in fear, the officer spun to see Japan's number two hero, Todoroki Enji, otherwise known as Endeavor.

Endeavor is a tall, sturdily-built man with a very muscular physique. He has short crimson hair, which he wears spiked up around his head, and sharp turquoise eyes. His beard and mustache were made up of dancing flames, showing off his incredible control over his Quirk.

His hero costume is comprised of a tight, navy turquoise bodysuit, with flames streaming across his chest, upper torso, arms, and, most prominently, his shoulders. Flames danced around his eyes, working like a makeshift mask. He also wore tall boots that appeared to be either made of fire themselves or constantly left alight, as only their soles and laces were visible around the flames. He sports white bracers on his lower arms, styled in a cage pattern. Around his waist was a blue belt with a pouch on either side.

Scanning the area, Endeavor took in the sight of the large ruined mansion and all the blocks of ice covering the ground and destroyed structures. Dozens of officers and a few heroes moved around to try and render aid to the survivors, which seemed to be made up of several hired criminals and hired mercenaries.

Ignoring the officer, Endeavor walked up to the gruesome ice sculpture and placed a hand on its base. Gradually, the sculpture melted into a large puddle of water, causing the brutalized corpse to fall to the ground. Looking down at the body's face, the number two hero frowned.

"Can't say you didn't get what you deserved." Endeavor said.

"That's not a very heroic thing to say, now is it?"

Turning his head, Endeavor watched as a blonde-haired man with large red wings descended from the sky.

"…Hawks."

Hawks or Takami Keigo's hero costume resembled that of an aviator's uniform; he wears a black shirt with a wavy golden pattern, over which he has a modified tan jacket with a high collar and slits over his shoulders to accommodate his wings; the insides and cuffs of the sleeves are lined with white fur and black gloves. He has a red square-shaped lobe piercing in each ear. A rounded, yellow-tinted visor sat over his eyes to protect them from the harsh winds or dust whenever he took flight.

"Endeavor," Hawks smiled slightly before a frown grew on his face at the sight of the body. "It is him. Kobashigawa."

Endeavor said nothing to the young hero, only responding with a slight nod of his head. Looking over to a nearby group of medics, Endeavor waved them over.

The four medics rushed in but froze in fear, disgust, and shock at the sight of the mangled man below. Wordlessly, they got to work at gathering the corpses to place on the designated pile near the entrance of the mansion where several other bodies lay.

"So, any ideas on who could have done this?" Hawks asked as he followed after Endeavor.

"I think you already know."

"…yeah. I talked to a few of the survivors, well, at least the ones who weren't scared into silence. This was all the work of our good friend Sukuna." Hawks frowned as he rubbed the side of his head. "It seems we need to change his quirk description to some sort of ice quirk. A powerful ice Quirk."

"Mirko said Sukuna's Quirk was some sort of telekinesis ability. This contradicts that." Endeavor kneeled down and pressed a hand on the ground. With careful control, he began to melt the ice all around the mansion. Allowing the police, medics, and heroes to work unimpeded. "I'm starting to think that Sukuna has more than one Quirk."

"More than one Quirk?" Hawks frowned. "That can't be. Some of the witnesses said that Sukuna didn't come alone; he brought help this time. But even so… they didn't mention anything about Sukuna's allies using any ice Quirk. If Sukuna does indeed have more than one meta ability, this could only mean one thing…"

"I'm surprised." Endeavor stood up and turned to Hawks with a careful and suspicious expression. "For someone your age, you seem to know about that man."

Hawks nodded and looked around at the ruined mansion. Walls were toppled over, furniture was crushed and torn to shreds, the roof was nowhere to be seen, and the floors were burnt and smashed.

"I do," Hawks admitted. "Call it a… job requirement."

"I see," Endeavor replied, not too interested. "Regardless, the possibility that Sukuna could have more than one Quirk places him on a completely new level of danger. He needs to be taken down. Immediately. He can't be allowed to do as he pleases any longer."

"Does that mean you're joining the task force?" Hawks questioned.

"No, I will be leading my own task force comprised of myself and my sidekicks. If Sukuna is as strong as I suspect he is, I should be the only one capable of taking him down." Endeavor said before he began walking off. "There's nothing more to do here. I'll leave the rest to you."

Hawks smiled awkwardly at his idol and waved goodbye. As he watched Endeavor finally leave the premises, Hawks looked around with a sigh. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone and dialed a very familiar contact.

The Hero Public Safety Commission Chairman.

"...report, Hawks." A low, calm voice spoke from the other line.

"The situation regarding Sukuna has changed." Hawks spoke into his phone, and his once lax expression turned serious. "He's much stronger than we initially thought. I believe he might be connected to that man."

"…very well. We'll proceed with plan C then."

"So you'll be sending in my Senpai?" Hawks asked as he used his feathers to help the first responders. A long silence was shared between him and the Chairman.

"Yes, we can't risk Sukuna's existence reaching the public and disturbing the peace… we're sending in Nagant."

-

AN:

As I was about to post Chapter 38, it seemed that I accidentally deleted the last three chapters by mistake! <(x_x) > I thought I was on the drafts tab and accidentally nuked them. My bad. They're back up now, tho!

While I'm not too sure when exactly Nagant got arrested for killing the HPSC Chairman in the original timeline, I don't think it was that long from the start of canon going off how long her hair was when she escaped Tartarus. So, hopefully my inclusion of her makes sense.

Anyways, let me know what you thought of this chapter! 

Until next time!