Chapter 3: dealing with a overpowered problem child
Chapter 3
*Aizawa pov*
Dealing with the Overpowered Problem Child
Aizawa wasn't sure what god he offended in order to get stuck with the overpowered problem child as the single student in this year's class that had enough potential to be a hero. It just wasn't fair. The boy was quirkless, not that Aizawa had anything against them, but they were the people in most danger in this world. If even half of what Madara said was true, then any person in the world could theoretically use chakra. If one looks at it logically it was only a matter of time before someone like Madara came along and cracked open the floodgates to a whole new realm of undiscovered abilities. Furthermore, the sheer versatility of Chakra places it in a league of its own and its users in the same bracket of power as top pro heroes, maybe even surpassing it. Physical augmentations to the point that the punching power and durability of the user was enough to rival All Might and the best hardening quirk out there, perception augmentation to the level that a normal person would have no chance against a chakra wielder, maybe even requiring the likes of Sir Nighteye to beat it, and that is only with just basic chakra. If Madara managed to make his Eight Gates Formation technique work for him without killing him or inflicting self-harm, then that physical power would shoot up beyond what any other person bar another chakra wielder and maybe All Might could manage. And that's not even taking in consideration the problem of ninjutsu.
Being able to bend the elements to your will, nigh unparalleled three-dimensional mobility, insane burst speeds that make you appear as if you're teleporting, extremely powerful localized attacks and those are just the basics. Even a fraction of these abilities would make a hero powerful enough to take a spot in the top ten, having all of them on top of a genius mind that could devise ways in order to use them most effectively was a nightmarish combination.
For the villains that is.
Not for the first time, Aizawa thanked whatever god was out there for making one of Madara's goals to protect his naïve and self-preservation lacking hero worshiping brother. Now, Aizawa didn't really know if that was truly the case but given the fact that he was chosen to be All Might's apprentice by the man himself came with an almost certain guarantee that Izuku Midorya will be another problem child. Probably overpowered as well.
But for now, it was his older twin that Aizawa had to deal with. Aizawa yet again thanked whatever god there was that Madara seemed to not care about villains very much or at least was partial to the hero side and not the villain one.
"So, who here thinks that we just dodged a bullet on this kid?" asked Snipe
Aizawa raised his hand along with every other teacher in the room
"Yes, we dodged a most dangerous bullet. If Madara were to switch sides and become a villain, it could be the end of hero society as we know it" said Nezu
"We can't allow that to happen. If he can teach others to use chakra, we might be facing a crisis not seen since the first-time quirks appeared in the world" said Vlad
"Indeed. We can be thankful that Madara knows of this danger of doing so and has promised to not share chakra with anyone" said Nezu
"Anyone but his brother you mean" said Aizawa
The other teachers looked at him blankly
"Do you honestly think that he will let his brother loose in the hero industry without trying everything in his power to make him more powerful?" asked Aizawa
"You have a point, Eraser, but the kid told us himself that his brother was unable to use chakra" said Vlad
"He probably meant that he was unable to use chakra on his own, after all, even if chakra is a borderline supernatural ability, the presence of the Eight Gates suggests that it's rooted in biology. It may just be possible that Madara never thought or found a way to unlock the chakra of a person from the outside since he trained with his power in utmost secrecy before the entrance exam" said Nezu
"You're probably right but we should still call All Might and tell him about what the kid told us when concerning chakra. After all, the man is training his brother" said Midnight
"Agreed, I'll call All Might at once. I'll say this again, we must keep hidden what was discussed here today. It would be quite disastrous if the villains or the Hero Commission were to find out about our student" said Nezu
The teachers nodded. The political aspect of hero life coming to the forefront of their minds.
"More importantly, what are we going to do with the overpowered problem child?" asked Aizawa "Even if you don't add chakra to the mix, I can almost bet that he will blast through everything we have him study. This is the kid that regularly attends the nation's top science conferences for god's sake. Heck he came to UA just so he can say that he 'graduated' the best hero course in the country and gain a license to use his so-called quirk"
"You're most correct" said Nezu "Still, we can't overlook this opportunity to see how a genius will flourish under the direct tutoring of multiple pro heroes"
Aizawa groaned. It was just typical of the principal to turn a problematic situation into an experiment. Anyways there was a lot to get done in preparation for tomorrow's meeting with the problem child.
*Madara pov*
In another part of town, I was walking down the street towards Takoba beach. Even now, barely a month and a half into his training my brother has made visible progress. Though this is mostly because I took a personal interest in his fitness since he was 13. After all, a great mind must have a body to match. I have another three months until my summer break. I believe that my brother can finish cleaning this entire beach by January at the latest. That will give him another month and a half, depending on when he finishes it, before the exam.
I finally reach the parking lot and see All Might's car there. I look down to see my brother in the middle of dragging a very heavy piece of furniture across the sand and to the pile that I will most likely have to burry into the ground with my earth style. Looking at it I should probably do that now, before it becomes too big.
"Young Madara, what are you doing here?" asked the emaciated All Might from down where he was observing Izuku
"Oh, nothing. I just came to see how your training was going" I said
All Might accepted the answer with a nod
"So, should I do something to deal with that pile of trash?" I ask pointing at the mountain of trash my brother was currently building
"Can you?" asked All Might surprised
"In a way, yeah. I can sink it like I did the 10 pointers and crush it, or I can move it in to a container" I said
"Hm, I think I have some people I can call to arrange transport for the trash" said All Might
We fell into silence, but I could feel something tense about it
"I spoke with the principal of UA today" said All Might, finally breaking the silence
"Oh?" I asked somewhat surprised
"I never imagined that your power was something other than a quirk, or that it can be so versatile and powerful" said All Might looking somewhat pained "In a way I can say that I'm jealous of you. You see, I too was quirkless before I gained One for All"
I was so surprised, that I couldn't speak. All Might was quirkless? That sort of explains the attitude he had when he originally met Izuku and the sense of kindship I felt between the two.
"You managed to unlock the hidden potential of every human being, and at such a young age" said All Might
"I don't think that's the case" I said
This gained All Might's attention
"The only quirkless person I could study was my brother and he never managed to unlock his chakra. I never told anyone this, but to my eyes his eight gates shine brighter than other people. In fact, the greater the power of one's quirk the dimmer the eight gates are" I said
"You think that it's connected with why we haven't discovered chakra?" asked All Might
"In a way. I think that the quirk factor actively blocks a body from merging their yin and yang energies to form chakra and uses that energy to power itself. I think I can brute force this block, but I don't want to try anything that might hurt the chances my brother has for success in this world. I'm afraid that your quirk will have to be enough, at least until I learn more about chakra" I said
"From the lecture you gave the teachers on your power I think you now it pretty well" said All Might
"Not really. I don't know how I know of Izanami and Izanagi beyond the fact that I woke up one day and I just knew. In the same way I just know that there's more to chakra than what I have discovered" I said
Explanation was mostly bullshit wrapped with a layer of truth. After all I couldn't just say that I'm a reborn 20 something year old genius man from a world with no superpowers that gets to live with a power he's only read about in manga when he was young.
I saw All Might shiver. I can guess what he's thinking about
"You're worried I'll turn in another All For One" I say
All Might snaps his head to me so fast that worry for his neck
"How do you know that name?" asked All Might in a whisper
I looked him in the eye
"I theorized the possible existence of his quirk when I was seven and discovers elemental ninjutsu. It's one of the reasons I'm so secretive about my abilities. If it turned out that my chakra was a quirk, then how much more powerful do you think All For One could have become?" I ask
"Too powerful" whispered All Might
"I know that there's some connection between All of One and One for All. I hope you know what you're doing because I don't want my brother to have to inherit your war" I said
"He won't. I made sure of that" replied All Might with fire in his eyes
"Somehow, I'm not so sure. At any rate, if it does come down to a war between heroes and villains just so you know, I won't abide by society's no kill rule" I said coldly
"What?!" asked All Might surprised
"I'm sorry, All Might, but in war there is no place for mercy. That doesn't mean that I will kill every low life I encounter, but just know that I won't hold back my power just for the sake of not killing anyone" I said
I'm not a monster, but if a few happen to get incinerated by my great fireball or drowned by my water techniques, I won't bat an eye.
"Oh, I see. You had me worried for a moment there, young Madara" said All Might, looking strangely relieved "Do you believe we're headed for a war?"
Seriously? I just told him that I'm willing to kill villains which, while technically not against the law for a pro hero, it's usually avoided for the sake of their image and because you have to have a very good reason as to why you killed that person.
"I honestly don't know, but it never hurts to be ready, especially with the Symbol of Peace on his last legs" I said
"There is talk of pushing for an early graduation with your class" said All Might trying to change the subject.
I snorted "You mean with me. Is this the principal's attempt to test if it's better to have mentored students rather than full classes?" I asked
"Uh, maybe" said All Might, failing miserably to hide his nervousness
"Whatever, keep training Izuku. He has to get a handle of One of All before we send him the entrance exam" I said
I left the beach. I too needed to train and create some jutsu for water release and by the end of the school year it was a must to master all five elements and begin my work on Jinton, Dust Release. Having a technique that can disintegrate matter would be useful.
It's unfortunate, but this entire situation utterly destroyed my original plans for the future.
My Sharingan flashed as I looked back at All Might. The power within him was dimming and I doubt that it will last another 4 to 5 years for there to be a peaceful transition of power between him and Izuku.
Sigh.
The things I do for the sake of peace. I really hate that I'll have to play this role, but I'll play it none the less.
I'll become the Pillar of Strength that the world needs until you're ready to take that role from me, Izuku.
A/N: And done. A chapter showing the reactions of the UA staff and All Might to finding out some things about the potential of chakra. As you can guess, I'm having Madara try to replace All Might as the Pillar of Strength. All will be explained at the end of the next arc witch is should probably call 'Madara obliterates everyone'. Expect next chapter on Sunday.
*Sports Festival*
It was about a month later that Aizawa came into the room with a couple of folders in hand and told me to get ready for the UA sports festival. Honestly, I don't know what to think of it. In some ways I can understand why professional sports events like the Olympics banned the use of quirks in their events. Quirks were too varied, too wild and uncontrollable, but they were also a novelty and if humanity loves one thing it's a new shiny thing it can play with. Still, I have a few doubts as to why this event involves 15-year-old kids from the nation's top hero school. I mean, I get why the third years are in the sport festival, it helps with their brand and allows them to draw attention from the bigger hero agencies and other corporations that are willing to sponsor an aspiring hero. Heck, I can stretch it to second years as well, but fist years? Not everyone is me or even Bakugou, since I know that the kid has battle instincts that would be praiseworthy in any martial arts club, but the rest of the students? They barely have a month of training to use their quirks offensively. Heck, they even lack basic combat training, something that is especially difficult to surpass if you're in the General course since they don't get a heroics class and whatever PE that they do is standardized across all non-hero high schools.
Let me put this into perspective. I scored well over 300 points in the exam, and the majority of those were villain points. This was not very surprising since I trained my butt off and abused the hell out of my Sharingan for years to get to this level of martial ability. Not everyone began their training at six-years-old. In fact, the next score after I was a measly 67 points, out of which only about 40 were villain points. Heck, the lowest score that was admitted into heroics was 30 points out of which 22 were villain point and 8 were rescue points. Talk about being overpowered. And to be honest, their quirks would most likely get stronger with age, but so again will my chakra. Right now, I'm just entering puberty. In about two to three years, I would have expanded my reserves of chakra exponentially from their already relatively massive size and alongside quantity, the quality will also be improved, my chakra will be denser, making my jutsu that much more powerful.
Anyways, enough about my moaning. In this month I have managed to get the school to let me do my own thing. They really don't have anything other than hero law to teach me, and even that is most often than not something that I already know. I did train in PR and combat and otherwise I mostly develop new jutsu for my water style, fire style, and earth style. I also sparred with All Might once and managed to hold my own, though to be fair he was holding back quite a bit, while I was doing my very best to beat him. Still, I managed to push him in a way no one before All For One really did. That fills me with hope. I may not be on the level of monsters like All Might or All For One, but at least I'm capable enough to take down and beat several of the more high-ranking heroes and villains. At least that's what Aizawa-sensei and Nezu tell me and was confirmed by All Might. I swear, Izuku couldn't stop fanboying over me when I told him this, and judging by the smug looks he was sending Katsuki for the next few days, and Katsuki's brooding I figured that he was just happy to know that I'll be one of the great heroes of Japan.
The things I do for the sake of stability in this world.
First though, I must deal with this sports festival
Ugh
I was currently waiting for the festival to begin in class 1-A's lockers. It was kind of lonely, being the only one in my class. I didn't realize it before, but I was relying quite a lot on Izuku to keep me company. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy solitude more than I normally should, but I'm beginning to miss the arguments I used to have with my brother over even the most insignificant detail. There wasn't really any heat in those arguments, just two brilliant minds bouncing ideas off one another. Did I mention that Izuku was brilliant? Sure, he's not on my level, but he's still far above the rest of the commoners he calls classmates, even Katsuki. I suspect that's the reason he's so prickly with Izuku and I'm sure that were it not for my intervention and threat to kill him and his family should anything happen to Izuku, he would have bullied all of Izuku's self-confidence out of him.
"Hey, kid, you ready?" asked Aizawa from the doorway
"Yeah, let's get this over with" I said with mild disinterest
I walked down the tunnel to the arena while putting on my gloved forearm guards. A neat little thing to keep me from hurting myself too much in taijutsu and to keep my arms intact. Developing two handed hand seals was enough of a pain in the ass, one I have no desire in repeating with it's more difficult sibling in the form of one-handed seals.
As I entered the stadium, I was assaulted with the roar of the crowd in the stands
"And here we have, ladies and gentlemen, the only student to pass Eraserhead's tests. The current holder to the record of highest Entrance Exam score in UA history, a record that previously belonged to All Might. Here to deliver the athlete's oath is the genius child that makes even the best and brightest look like idiots, Madara Midorya!" yelled out Present Mic through the speakers
Thank you, free publicity.
The crowd cheered and I placed a smile on my face as I waved at them, making the cheer even louder. I sensed some animosity from class B, but I could see the support and management departments looking at me with hunger in their eyes. All Might was a nigh godly figure in this world. Comparing anyone to him is bound to draw attention. Something I was planning to take full advantage of today.
I walked up the podium steps where Midnight was waiting for me with the mic. I took my place and waited for the crowd to subside.
"Everyone you see before you today has earned their place in this school though their own hard work. I pledge this today. I, no we, will not stop until the work of our predecessors is done. We are the ones that carry forth their will when they themselves are no longer able. I cannot speak for everyone in every hero school but, I will not stop until every man woman and child on this world can stand at ease and without fear of what lurks in the dark corners of our society. I will give my all to this cause, I will become the Pillar of Strength that holds up our society. And when that's not enough, I will dig deeper and go beyond, PLUS ULTRA!" the crowd roared the words of UA along with me
This is my resolution, one that I will carry out with my dying will if needed.
This is what is necessary to safeguard peace in this society.
"What a rousing speech from the only student in class 1-A!" said Mic "Now, it's time for the first event of the day which is… A GAME OF THRONES!"
As the word appeared on the giant screen, I couldn't help but wonder if this 'game of thrones' involves murder and sex as well.
"Now, as for the rules. Your job is to retrieve the crown of one of the kings from each of the four thrones occupied by one of the teachers. You can do this alone or in teams of five. Other than that, nothing is forbidden" said Midnight
I nodded and looked over the displayed map of the four thrones. On each one there was a teacher.
There was Cementos, on a tall, cement mountain cliff with an almost vertical wall and a narrow path to reach the top.
Next was Ectoplasm standing in what appeared to be a small labyrinth with the throne at the center.
Following this was Midnight which was standing in a small valley and lastly was Snipe who was in the middle of a western town and on a mechanical horse as his 'throne'.
Once the horn sounded, I dashed to Cementos's location. With my Sharingan, I could see the stress lines in the rock as I began waving hand seals
"Fire Style: Plasma Bullet" I called out
I spat three orbs of yellow-white plasma which zoomed through the air and struck Cementos' tower, causing it to crack and being to shatter as Cementos tried to regain some semblance of control after my devastating attack.
"And Madara starts off the event with a devastating attack. Man, this kid sure isn't playing around today" said Present Mic
I could see that while my initial attack was successful, it only destabilized the structure and with Cementos there, it wouldn't collapse as it should. I could use a Fire Dragon Bullet, but I have no idea what is next in store for me, so I'll refrain from wasting chakra. I jumped on the cliff and began to run up the side of it.
"That's right folks, your eyes are not deceiving your, he really is walking on walls. After all, he's the current number one of his year's heroics department in everything from training to academics. Though, I'm not sure who's teaching who in those classes" said Mic
The crowd laughed at his joke. After all, I was reasonably well known as a prodigy genius, so it wasn't that surprising that I didn't have a problem in academics. Technically, I've already graduated high school.
I came to the top of the cliff that Cementos was using and I was instantly faced with a few walls of concrete. I broke through the first few, but I could see this was a losing battle, so I began forming hand seals
"Earth Style: Earth Destroyer" I called out as I slammed my palms on the ground
The cliff shook as it began to collapse. Cementos was trying to stop it, but it was useless. With a simple flash step, I was behind my teacher and swiftly knocked him out with a gentle fist strike while he was distracted and took his crown. A simple body flicker later and we were in the middle of the arena while the cliff crumbled behind us.
"And here we have it, the first to complete the first round of the sports festival and in such a flashy style, Madara Midorya!" yelled out Mic "Wait, what's this is he going after the other crown too? Is that even allowed? Eh, who cares, if he wants to go for more, I say we let him, don't you" asked Mic
The crowd roared in approval as I approached the valley where Midnight was positioned. I couldn't go in there since I had no way of dealing with her quirk, but I had a better idea. I sensed that there was only Midnight in the valley proper and that most teams were trying to circle around the ridge. Well screw that
"Water style: Waterfall" I yelled out
I spat out a gargantuan amount of water alongside that witch I had taken from the atmosphere to the point where I had filled the valley. Midnight was left powerless in the face of all this water and was knocked out when the wave hit her location. Thankfully I was on time to save her from drowning because that would have been embarrassing. I take her crown and deposit her with Cementos
"Unbelievable, did you see that? This kids on a roll. Already two crowns down and two teachers knocked out and no other team even managed to get close to their objectives" said Mic and the crowd cheered yet again
I can almost feel the interested stares of the crowd of pro heroes that are watching the sport festival
Next on my list was Ectoplasm. He would be tricky, but his clones are somewhat fragile. Not as fragile as my shadow clones, but not that far off either. I can see the other students from the heroic and general courses giving me the stink eye. I honestly don't very much care. They're week, very week if in the five minutes I've been running around taking down not one, but two objectives they haven't done anything. I began my hand seals and slapped my palm down on the ground
"Earth Style: Mobile Core!" I shouted
I pushed a lot more of my chakra in this technique than I normally do because I needed to sink the entire labyrinth. The ground lowered itself with a great tremor until I could see the top of the labyrinth clearly from there it was a relatively simple mission of jumping across the labyrinth until I reach the crown.
Unfortunately, Ectoplasm sent out some of his clones to stop me. Not that it worked. I am on par with some of the best in martial arts and while Ectoplasm is very good, his clones are inherently week against damage, especially damage from my take of the Gentle Fist. Eventually I reached the original and engaged him is a brutal display of martial prowess before shooting his crown off with a Water Style: Pistol and getting the hell out of doge. I'm not yet good enough to go up against someone as experienced as Ectoplasm in simple hand to hand without using Gentle Fist or Strong Fist to their full offensive potential and I don't want to hurt him.
"There he goes again folks, this is three for three, can he make it four for four?" said Mic
I turned my attention to the shooting gallery that was Snipe's corner of the arena and vanished in a body flicker only to reappear on the roof of one of the houses directly behind Snipe. I once again sped through hand seals
"Fire style: Explosive Mist" I called out
I took a deep breath and spewed out an ash cloud that enveloped the square where he was fighting. I moved to take his crown when my danger sense went off and I used a quick seal less replacement with a nearby barrel, only for the barrel to be shredded with rubber bullets
"Don't get cocky, kid. I can see you even through this ash cloud" called out Snipe
I raised an eyebrow and held half a hand seal
"Explode" I say, and the cloud lights up in a reasonable explosion
"Holy crap, did you see that! He just blew Snipe right up. Man am I glad I only have to teach him English" said Mic
A slight push of my chakra and the dust cleared to show a mildly smoking Snipe who was still twitching on the ground. I calmly walked forward and took hic crown and placed it on my belt alongside the other crowns.
"And there you have its folks, the undisputed winner of the first event, Madara Midorya!" yelled Mic "We will now take a small break to prepare the arena for the next event"
I walked out the arena and into the 1-A waiting room. There I saw Aizawa-sensei waiting for me
"So, did I do good?" I ask
He huffed "I knew that you would pull something like this you overpowered problem child, but do you think you could let the others take the spotlight for a bit?"
"No, not really" I replied with a slight smirk
He sighed
"Why am I not surprised. Honestly, if it were anyone but you, the fact that three of the four teachers we had participate in this event are knocked out would have had serious repercussions against our school" said Aizawa
My face turned grim. I have not thought about that.
"Is there a problem? Should I hold back in the next events?" I asked
Aizawa shook his head "The hero commission already know that you're a prodigy unlike any since Hawks himself. They don't know about your 'quirk' if that's what your worried about. Nezu made it quite clear that you only came to UA because you want a hero license and hinted at the fact that you'll rival All Might when you grow up. They won't risk losing such a talent, and it's not like it's not without precedent, All Might withholds information about his quirk too"
I nod
"Madara" called out Aizawa
"Huh?" I ask, somewhat surprised that he used my name
"This festival is a way to show your strength to the world. Don't worry about the others, focus only on winning. After all, this year's crop is lacking compared to you and once you go pro, you'll gather enough popularity that petty school squabbles won't matter. Especially given the speech you gave at the start" said Aizawa
"Ok, I'll do my best" I said
With that he left me to prep for the next event
"The next event of the sports festival is… TEAM BATTLE!" yelled Mic "In this event, the teams-sorry, team with the crowns will face against the other teams without crowns. The teams that end up with one of the four crowns at the end of the 20-minute event will go on to the final round"
I nodded to myself. For ease of use, the crowns have been replaced with headbands and because of the stunt I pulled in the last event, I will have to go up against some 80 students from the heroics and general education departments and another 120 from support and management.
This will be my ultimate test
"On one side we have Madara Midorya, the genius whose power know no bounds and on the other side, the rest of his year in UA. Who will win and who will lose?" said Mic
Across the nation people stopped what they were doing and looked at their TV screens, smartphones and tablets. This year's sport festival had attracted a lot more attention than usual. Even the villains were watching with care.
In one house, a mother and son pair were watching the TV. For Izuku, this was one of the most exciting days of his life, second only to that one when he met All Might. Finally, after so many years he would see his brother's full power unleashed.
Meanwhile, on the stadium, I was standing on one end of it with the rest of the students waiting for me in the other.
I closed my eyes as I began to tune my breathing. All around me I could sense the chakra flowing through every human being and creature in the world. I could sense its mystical connection through all of us. I delved deeper into myself, into that pool of chakra that was normally so calm. All it took was one thought, one nudge and the chains that held my power bound broke loose.
There was a gasp from the audience as chakra exploded from my being, cracking the very ground itself. The entire stadium could feel the level of my power
"Man, what presence, just looking at him gives me the chills" said Mic
I cared not for useless talk.
I reigned my chakra back, feeding it into my very muscles in a way I have done only in practice. I could sense the growing unease of my opponents and the excitement of the audience.
"START!" yelled Mic
My eyes snapped open showing a glowing blood red Sharingan to the world.
I began walking towards the other group as they let out battle cries and ran towards me. I too took to running.
At the middle of the stadium we met in combat. I jumped over the first few lines. I had no wish to confront the brawlers just now. I landed in the middle of a pack of gen ed students. Two well placed kicks and they were out.
I twisted in midair as I vanished in a flash step only to reappear a moment later next to one big looking student that was preparing to ambush me. I instantly charged a rasengan and used it to launch him clear across the stadium.
In the next instant I vanished again in a flash step and reappeared in the midst of a group of gen ed students that I took out in a brutal display of martial prowess.
From the corners of my eye I could see a mass of students approaching and so I vanished again.
I reappeared in the middle of the mass of approaching students. Before they could react, I grabbed two of them and flung them out at the group. My makeshift bat managed to clip a few students, but I quickly began to engage them in traditional hand to hand combat. Not that any of them had anything that could even faze me.
Sharingan plus chakra enhanced speed and reflexes are an absolutely deadly combination that ensured no one could beat me.
Punch
Kick
Doge
Jump
Repeat
This was the dance I wove as I mowed down the ranks of children that were against me. Most couldn't even use their quirks in the chaos that ensued, and some were already running for the exit.
Dodging another pitiful attempt at a punch from a 1-B student I saw a couple of students further back preparing to unleash their quirks. My Sharingan sought them out and they made the mistake of looking into my eyes
"Sharingan: Genjutsu" I whispered as they froze
I needed space. I already took out a good chunk of the students, now I needed to break them up before they can regroup
"EARTH STYLE: SEISMIC QUAKE!" I roared over the sounds of battle
The entire stadium shook as a seismic pulse expanded from my location, making all the students in the arena fell to the ground.
Time to end this farce of a battle
"Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld" I called out
The ground liquified as a good number of students sank into the mud, though a few managed to survive. I cut off the jutsu and jumped back to assess the situation.
Most of the students were out of commission, either by way of my taijutsu attacks or by being stuck in the now hardened ground. I need to develop more Earth style jutsu. They are unexpectedly useful when dealing with many opponents.
Only 8 remained from what was once 200 students
"Amazing, did you see that! He just blew the others right away like they weren't even there!" yelled Mic
This sentiment was shared all over the country as they watched one child take down a veritable army of what was supposed to be the elite of the next generation.
I watched as the 6 students of class B and the other 2 from Gen Ed pulled themselves to their feet, obviously shaken from what they witnessed
"Do you still wish to dance with me?" I asked loudly
Consider this my homage to my namesake
The stadium grew quiet
The 8 boys gritted their teeth and while I couldn't hear them, I saw the curses they muttered under their breaths
"Is this truly what the world can expect from the next generation? Was I wrong?" I ask in a mildly condescending tone
I see one snap. Ah, there you go
"You bastard, what kind of monster are you?" asked one of the gens ed students
"I am a hero. A pillar of strength against the evil that nests in the darkness. I am what you must strive to beat if you wish to protect all as a hero should" I say in a loud voice that carried all over the stadium
I see them falter
"Is this all you have? Do you think you can run away every time you have to face against someone so far above you that you have no hope of defeating? You are now all that stands between your classmates, and me whom you so eloquently called a monster" I say strongly, crossing my arms against my chest, peering down at them with the Sharingan
They did not respond. But I saw most of them nervously looking at each other, except for a buff student at the back of the group who was not looking at them. I saw him move and push to the front of the group. I raised an eyebrow.
"So, will you stand and fight or will you run?" I ask at last
"I don't care about your power. I won't let you get away with this. I'll get one of those crowns if it's the last thing I do" he yelled and activated his quirk
Crystals began sprouting from his hands and every exposed surface as he hardened his skin, likely in preparation for combat with me.
"I see, you still wish to dance with me, but you lack the strength to do so" I said
"He won't be alone" yelled another boy as he too activated his quirk, making some marbles appear near him
Soon after, all eight had their quirks powered and aimed at me, even if only 3 of them had the necessary long-range combat capability. Understandable since my previous actions was meant to dispose of those exact same people.
With a battle cry, they launched themselves at me, the long-range quirk users, firing away. I dodged; their projectiles were too slow. In a flash step I closed the distance. I punched the crystal user in the gut, breaking his armor and making him vomit. With a leap I pressed another into the ground while I kicked out with my legs hitting the two that rushed to aid him in the face and dazing them. Following this I parried what seemed to be bone blades from another while I restrained him and then used him as a bat to take out the other three that were approaching.
With another Flash Step, I was at a far enough distance from them to allow them to regroup.
The stadium was quiet. Many not being able to believe their eyes about what happened today.
I saw the kids stand up leaning on one another for support
"Do you still wish to fight?" I ask
They did not reply. And when they were close enough the crystal guy broke into a sloppy run as he cocked his fist back
"PLUS ULTRAAAa- "he yelled
He tried to punch me in the face, but I caught his punch with one hand, centimeters from hitting my face
"I think it's time you slept Sharingan: Genjutsu" I spoke
My eyes contacted his and he crumbled to the ground, asleep.
I looked at his other comrades
"Do you wish to continue?" I asked
They shook their heads and sank to the ground
"The winner of the second round is MADARA MIDORYA!" yelled Present Mic
The crowd went wild as they rose to their feet, kicking and screaming at my victory.
"MA-DA-RA! MA-DA-RA! MA-DA-RA!" they chanted
I raised my fist in victory and they roared back in response, even the heroes were fired up from what they witnessed. Honestly, I felt like some kind of gladiator that managed to slay the lion that was supposed to eat him.
Still, it doesn't matter.
Because there was almost no one left in a good enough condition to fight and the ones that were didn't even want to be in the same room as me, it was decided to forgo the third round and I was given the medal for first place with the crystal guy coming in second.
I had some preparations to make for when I will be assaulted tonight by my brother and mother with questions.
Katsuki had always known that Madara was one of the most powerful people he would ever meet. It wasn't conscious knowledge; it was a form of intuition he's always had. The same intuition that made him yell at Deku because Katsuki knew that if he didn't do something the Deku will surpass him. It was already difficult enough to bear his habit of looking down on him, always asking if he needed help and always helping the other extras like hero.
Deku wasn't a hero, he was quirkless.
He would have put Deku in his place physically, but he knew that Madara would kill him if he did that, one way or another. The guy wasn't a villain, but he wasn't a hero either. Heck he's probably going through the hero course only to get a hero license to use his quirk.
Speaking of quirks, what the hell was his? Katsuki knew that there were strength enhancers, speed enhancers, elemental quirks, but the amount of power Madara showed was fucking unbelievable. He was able to manipulate earth, water and some strange combination of fire and explosion and that was on top of being able to stick to a vertical surface and enhanced physical prowess.
What the fuck?
That was like five quirks worth of power at the very least. And that's not even considering the slaughter of the rest of his year. One student against 200 ended with the last 7 students still conscious and able to move surrendering while Madara looked like he didn't even sweat after the event.
Katsuki respected him for this. He had always had a great deal of respect for Madara's strength, but looking at him now, Katsuki couldn't help but compare himself to him and found himself lacking.
That made him angry. There were less than 10 months until the entrance exam, and he would be dammed if he didn't try his best to close the gap with Madara.
In all his years as a hero All Might, or as we were now known in his emaciated state, Yagi Toshinori, couldn't have predicted that a child could have such power. He had of course watched the sport festival for first years to see how young Madara was doing. He was of course expecting him to do great, after all, in their little spar All Might recognized that it was the first time since his fight with All For One that he had faced such a versatile power.
All Might was not expecting what happened, to happen.
Never in the history of UA had the sport festival been cut short because all the students had been defeated. It was unthinkable for a student to even do such a thing.
Madara did it.
Madara with a self-discovered power that he still didn't fully understand took on 200 students and won. And on national TV no less.
All Might was seriously beginning to rethink his initial opinion of chakra. He had always thought that somehow One For All could surpass it. And while it was true that young Madara did have combat training and had rigorously trained since he was very young, but to reach this level? And so soon? The kid wasn't even 15 yet and he was already shaping up to be the kind powerhouse that wouldn't be out of place in the same power bracket as All Might himself. Chakra had already proven itself versatile enough that even with full knowledge of what it can do All Might was going at more than 80% of his current power and he only won because young Madara surrendered because he was suffering from what he called chakra exhaustion, which was similar to quirk exhaustion, after flinging almost his entire arsenal of jutsu at All Might.
No, that spar shouldn't be used as a benchmark. It was only a way for young Madara to have a chance to use his full destructive abilities against someone who could take it and even then, All Might knew he held back least he somehow kill him.
Something that was looking like it was not out of the realm of possibility anymore.
Back on topic, though. What was less concerning was young Madara's speech at the beginning of the tournament.
"The Pillar of Strength, huh?" asked All Might seemingly to himself
Dammit, the kid was reminding him too much of how he was back in his youth, before he got One For All. Well, maybe not his casual disregard for life but his stated wish to stand against evil.
"All Might! We're here" yelled out young Izuku with a grin on his face as he jogged towards him
Next to him his brother was walking along with a content and amused smile on his face as he watched his brother take off running. All Might would be lying if he said that the kids hadn't grown on him in this last month.
"Young Izuku, Young Madara, thank you for coming" said All Might
"It's no problem All Might. So why did you call us?" asked young Madara, though by the knowing glint in his eyes All Might suspected he knew why he called them here
"I wanted to talk about the sport festival" said All Might
"What about it, All Might?" asked Izuku
"Is it true, what you said in the beginning young Madara. About being a Pillar of Strength?" asked All Might
Izuku turned to look at his brother.
Madara had closed his eyes and was leaning a bit backwards.
"It's true" said Madara
"So, you wish to be the one to replace me?" asked All Might
It was a valid question. After all, he had Young Izuku as a successor of One For All. It was still unclear if the boy could take his place as the Symbol of Peace. If he even wanted it.
"What do you mean All Might? How will he replace you?" asked Izuku looking hurt
Before All Might could answer, Madara spoke
"It's not like that, little brother. He's asking if I want to replace him as the Symbol of Peace" said Madara
Something akin to relief washed across young Izuku's face and All Might felt awful. Did he really think he was offering his brother One For All because of a simple speech after he had already selected him to be the ninth bearer of the quirk?
"Oh, I see" said Izuku
Madara sighed and closed his eyes again, falling silent
"So, will you?" asked All Might
"No" replied Madara simply
This answer stunned bought Izuku and All Might.
"I'm sorry All Might, but I can't be the Symbol of Peace. There is too much darkness in my heart for that" said Madara
All Might was bewildered. Sure, young Madara was a bit antisocial, but then again so was he. He had very few close friends and the rest was just a mask he put on to entertain the media and assure the people that everything was all right. This being said, in all the time All Might had spent with him, Madara had never struck him as an evil person. He might me more morally questionable than him but then again Endeavour was number two in the hero rankings and there were rumors.
"Oh, come on, you can't really believe in that 'curse of hatred' crap, right?" said Izuku, though it sounded more like a pleaded question
"What is this 'curse of hatred'?" asked All Might
Young Madara looked at him with those blood red eyes that never failed to make All Might shiver.
"The 'curse of hatred' is the price of the Sharinagn's power. These eyes of mine see all and record all. Nothing is ever truly hidden from them and in the process, it takes away one's ability to deny the darkens in society and the darkness in one's own soul. Also, I don't really know this, but I have a feeling that the greater the darkness within me grows, the greater the Sharinagn's powers become" said Young Madara
That was truly something terrifying. If young Madara ever slipped, or his sanity was compromised, All Might was not sure that the Hero Society could survive his fall to villainy.
"Then what did you mean when you said that you wanted to be the Pillar of Strength?" asked All Might
"I want to be someone who can stand against the darkness. Someone who society could rely on in their darkest moments until a new light emerges and when that light finally shines bright, I want to be the pillar that helps support society" said Madara
He then turned his head and gave his brother a smile and ruffled his hair, making the other boy whine
"I already have my light right here. If I've got Izuku I don't fear the darkness within me, nor the Sharinagn's curse of hatred" said Madara
"Nii-san" said Young Izuku who was blushing but had tears in his eyes
"I won't be the Symbol of Peace because my brother is the one that will inherit that title. Instead I will be the Pillar of Strength that will help the world transition between eras" said Madara "And once that is done I will remain as a failsafe just in case a new threat emerges and someone is needed to eliminate it"
All Might stared at the boy and couldn't help but marvel at his convictions.
All Might knew what he had to do.
"Young Madara, will you accept an internship with me at my agency?" asked All Might
Young Izuku stopped crying as they bought turned to him with equally confused faces
"Normally after the sport festival, the students receive internship offers from different hero agencies, and you are right. It really is the end of my era as Symbol of Peace" said All Might
"Don't say that, All Might. I- "began Izuku
"No, young Izuku, this must be said and you as my successor to my quirk and title must know. My body is already failing me, as you both know and soon enough it won't even be able to support my quirk. After I pass it to you, Young Izuku, all that I will have left are some embers of One For All and when those are gone, I will remain quirkless" said All Might
"It will be the death of All Might" said young Madara
"What? All Might's going to die!" said Izuku looking worried, but he was calmed by his brother
"No, it will be the death of All Might, the Symbol of Peace, not Yagi Toshinori, and it will throw society in chaos" said Madara
"Unfortunately, you are correct young Madara. That is why I wish to formally take you under my wing and help you become the Pillar of Strength so that you will be able to keep the torch alive until the next Symbol of Peace is able to take it back up again" said All Might
The boys stayed silent as they absorbed this new information. After a few minutes of silence All Might broke it
"Ok, I think that's enough for today. Go home and think it over. Don't forget, young Izuku to be on time tomorrow" said All Might
"Ok, I will!" said Izuku as he dragged his brother off the beach
"Hey, nii-san?" asked Izuku
I turned my head to look at my little brother
"Hm?"
"Did you really mean what you said, about me being the Symbol of Peace?" asked Izuku in a small voice looking at the ground, not even trying to meet my eyes.
"Of course, Izuku. I meant every single word. You were always there to pull me back from the edge and I know that you always will be, whether I want you too or not" I said
Izuku was crying again. I hugged him and he hugged me in return
"I believe in you, Izuku. Never forget that I will never leave your side, after all, I'm your brother and that's what brothers do" I said softly
Izuku just cried harder.
My dear brother is a crybaby, but I wouldn't trade him for the world.
Now I just have to figure out how to move on from here, now that the very thing I wanted has fallen, quite literally, into my lap.
A/N: So, ends the 'sport festival' arc. I know it's short, but I want to get over this first year relatively quickly and get into the good stuff. I know that many of you will be wondering about this 'symbol of peace'/ 'symbol of strength' talk. I'm not planning to have Madara take up Izuku's spot, or at least not for very long, but given the fragile state of the world in MHA at that point in time, I believe that anyone with half a brain would make sure that All Might has a ready heir in the makes in case something bad happens (*spoiler alert* something very bad will happen). And as for Madara and Izuku's relationship I have to point out that despite what some claim in the comments, Madara isn't the one bending over backwards to accommodate Izuku, in fact it's quite the opposite. I believe that in this situation, Izuku would latch on strongly onto anyone that provides even a shred of support for his dream. In cannon that spot goes to his mother, somewhat, and his idolization of All Might. In here, it goes to Madara and honestly, if you were to ever have your brother bullied to the extremes Izuku was, you would pamper him.
Unfortunately, I have some bad news. Exam season is approaching, and coronavirus decided to bend my med school over the table and give it a good fucking. I have a few chapters already written and ready for uploading, but they'll be more spread out. This chapter was originally supposed to be two, but I decided nit to do it like that, so next time I post would probably be around June 1st.
*Aftermath of the Sport Festival*
I must admit, I wasn't expecting this. I mean, yes, I was expecting headlines in newspapers and the occasional reporter trying to accost me on my way to school, but I wasn't expecting to see the literal horde of people standing in front of my apartment block.
"Shit" I said
"Nii-san, what's happening?" asked Izuku as he came out of his room in his workout clothes. We usually woke up together two hours before school started to go for a jog in the morning.
It looks like that won't be happening today
"Wow, what's with all these reporters here?" asked Izuku as he pulled back the curtain a bit to get a better look outside
"No, don't!" I said as I yanked him back by his shirt. He yelped and crashed into me, but thankfully I was ready, and we didn't fall
"Those are reporters, also known as land sharks. Stay here and get breakfast going. I must make a few phone calls" I said
"Ok, so what do you want?" asked Izuku
"Just the usual. And try not to burn the kitchen down this time" I said
Izuku blushed at that. I may love him to bits, but he's still useless in the kitchen and has an unusual propensity for turning his food into science experiments, and not the good kind, but the kind that will probably make even rats' vomit.
I first called my mom
"Hi, darling what do you need? Did something happen?" asked Inko
"Yeah, it seems that my stunt yesterday got me more attention than usual. Can you not come home today? You'll probably get mobbed by reporters" I said
"Oh, dear is it that bad?" she asked
"Yeah, I'm calling Aizawa-sensei now. Hopefully I can get him to take me and Izuku to school or something" I said
"Ok, honey. I'll talk to Mitsuki. Stay safe!" said Inko
"We will. By mom" I said
I immediately called up Aizawa afterwards. He picked up after a few rings
"What do you want?" asked Aizawa
I cringed a bit. From the sound of his voice I could tell that he was wishing me to be gone so he could go back to sleep
"Sorry to bother you, sensei, but I have the paparazzi on my front doorstep, and I don't think that confronting them would be a good idea" I said
I heard some shuffling before I heard his voice again
"Run that by me again. You have what on your doorstep?" asked Aizawa sounding more awake
"The media" I replied
He groaned
"Shit. How bad is it kid?" asked Aizawa
"Bad. I can't see a normal exit route and there are some media vans parked in the street that belong to some major news agencies and talk shows" I said
"Can't you ninja your way around them?" asked Aizawa
"I can, Izuku can't" I said
There was silence from the other end of the line
"Ok. Stay put I'll come to get you" said Aizawa
"OK, thanks teach" I said and ended the call
I came back to the kitchen to find my brother on his phone. I looked over his shoulders to see a news site and the front page.
It was a picture of me from the sport festival in a battle stance and grinning while looking over at someone off camera with narrowed Sharingan eyes while behind me was a pile of unconscious students. The photo was taken slightly from the side. Next to it was a picture of All Might in an almost exact stance with a pile of villains at his back and looking off screen at another villain with his trademark smile on his face. Honestly the similarities between the two pictures were eerie. What was worse was the title 'The Next All Might'.
In a way, this was exactly what I wanted to happen, but somehow, I felt oddly uncomfortable calling myself All Might's heir.
"Izuku, I- "I began, but was cut off
"Don't worry, nii-san. I know that this is just a face for the media" said Izuku with a smile
I sighed and hugged him all the while messing up his hair, making him whine
"What did I do to get such an understanding little brother. In a way I still feel like I'm robbing you of your rightful place" I said
"Don't say that, nii-san. I always knew that I will be compared to you if we went into heroics. I must make my own path. I don't care if they compare us, in fact I'll be proud to measure up to you" said Izuku
"Izuku, no one should be comparing you to me. You are your own person with your own ideals, strength and will. You don't need to measure up to me, because I'm not the goal you should set for yourself" I said
"What do you mean, nii-san?" asked Izuku confused
I sighed and moved to sit down at my own chair looking over the breakfast laid before me
"You, Izuku are one of a kind. You have such strong convictions and morals while I am all too willing to bend mine to get what I want" I said
"That's not true, nii-san" said Izuku
"Yes, it is. Have you ever wondered why it is that Katsuki doesn't physically bully you?" I asked
Izuku was silent. He knew his maybe friends' attitude against the week and when he was younger, he was week. But Katsuki only beat him up once.
"Remember the time he was sick for a month?" I asked
"Uh, not really. Why?" asked Izuku
"After he beat you up, I cornered him after school and did enough damage to him to put him in the hospital for a month" I said bluntly
Izuku blinked and was surprised. He knew that I had beaten a bully bad enough to send him to the hospital. It was after that fight that he told me to stop.
"I didn't know" said Izuku
"And I threatened him that I would do worse if he ever touched you again" I confessed
Izuku looked down at his phone and the picture on it and said a soft 'oh'
"That's what I mean, Izuku. I can't be All Might's true heir. It would be a perversion of everything he stands for" I said
"Don't worry about it, nii-san" said Izuku
I looked at him, not understanding what he was going on about
"I know what you mean, but I trust you to know when too far is too far. And besides, All Might needs a successor fast and I can't give him that. But maybe I could be yours" said Izuku with a shy smile
I looked at him and smiled
"Ok"
We ate our breakfast while chatting about what the media was saying about me. So far, their opinions were divided. Some said that I was the next great hero, like All Might and some said that I was too violent. Still, the overall feedback from the people was that of happiness to have another symbol. Still, there were conspiracy websites that said that All Might was retiring, and I was his son or some other relation.
It made me worried for Izuku's safety
"Izuku, do you think you could take an early exam and test out of middle school?" I asked
"Sure, I already know all they teach there. Why do you need me to?" asked Izuku confused
We were in the living room and I watched while he did strength exercises for his arms. I have to say that Izuku bulked up quite a bit in these past two months since meeting All Might, but then again, he had the base I helped him build for a whole year before they met.
"I don't think it's safe for you right now. If the media found our house, I'm willing to bet that they found your school and the villains won't be far behind" I said
"But what about mom?" asked Izuku
"She won't be that much of a target except for reporters and I think aunt Mitsuki wouldn't mind having mom over for a few days until the media forgets about our home, which I bet will happen as soon as I announce my internship with All Might" I said
"Ok, I get it, but why am I in danger. I'm quirkless" said Izuku
"True, but you're my twin and studies have shown that there is a tiny chance that you might develop a quirk later on in life, after all the toe joint test isn't as foolproof as we'd want it to be and you never had your genome tested. The possibility is there that the doctor could have simply misread your x-ray"
"Ok, but I still don't get why you're so worried" said Izuku
"You're my brother, Izuku and you technically have a quirk named 'hyperpower'. You have also shown a desire and will to get into heroics. To the villains that matter, the smart ones, know that I'm out of their reach. You on the other hand aren't Izuku and I bet that they don't want another powerhouse to rival me and All Might out there. They may think that it's best to get rid of you now, while you're still vulnerable. Sometime later we will have to give a public statement of how you activated your powerful quirk after the sludge incident if we want to keep the secret of One For All safe" I said
"I understand, nii-san" said Izuku
"I'll speak with All Might today and come pick you up from school. I don't think anyone will make a move on you today" I said
"Ok" said Izuku
He looked at the clock and went to get dressed.
After we dressed for school, I got a text from Aizawa to be on the lookout for his car. A few minutes later, his car along with a couple of police cars arrived and the police made a corridor to the entrance. I walked out; head held high as I was assaulted with flashes. I smiled and waved. Looking back, I saw my brother frozen with a deer in the headlight's expression on his face. I put an arm around his shoulders and guided him to the car, all the while Izuku was doing his best to hide himself in his uniform's collar.
We met Aizawa-sensei at his car as the man was leaning on it
"Hi, Aizawa-sensei, sorry for the trouble" I said
"Problem child, get in. Who's the clone?" asked Aizawa in a bored tone
I knew he knew, but was asking for politeness sake
"This is my brother, Izuku. Izuku, this is Eraserhead aka Aizawa Shota" I said
"H-Hi, mister Eraserhead, sir" said Izuku shily
"Enough talk, get in" said Aizawa curtly
Man is he still grumpy about being waken up?
We got in and Aizawa got in the driver's seat and drove off in the direction of Izuku's school. After a while of silence, Izuku began asking questions about Aizawa's work as Eraserhead with that fanboy expression on his face. I could see him begging me in the rear-view mirror to make Izuku shut up.
I decided to take pity on him and snaked a hand behind Izuku's head and covered his mouth making his speech muffled
"Now, now, little brother I think that Aizawa-sensei had enough questions, don't you?" I asked
Izuku looked at me and then at Aizawa's relieved expression and blushed something fierce.
"An on that note, we've arrived…shit" said Aizawa
I looked out the window and saw a smaller horde of reporters at the entrance of Izuku's school along with a good deal of the students of the school.
"Nii-san, what's going to happen?" asked Izuku looking somewhat worried
"I'm not sending you out to deal with that mess. Aizawa-sensei, can Izuku come with me to UA until this mess gets sorted out?" I asked, though it came out more like a demand
"I suppose. I'll call the principal to let him know" said Aizawa with a tired sigh
And just like that we were off again. Honestly, I expected a greater deal of resistance from Aizawa, but I think that even he had enough of a heart as to not send middle school children to face the media.
I turned to Izuku and saw him with the biggest grin I've ever seen on his face and his fist stuffed inside his mouth to keep himself from screaming. I honestly haven't seen him this excited since I told him about chakra.
Sometime later we arrived at UA and were let inside. Izuku got a visitator card and I took him to class 1-A and let him in. A few moments later Aizawa followed carrying the mother of all paper stacks.
"Sensei, you need any help with that?" I asked
Normally it was Izuku who was jumping in to help people, but I think I broke him today.
I looked behind me and, yep totally broken and drooling. Must fix that before it becomes gross
"No need" said Aizawa as he plopped them on my desk
"So, what are those?" I asked warily, like it was about to attack me
"These are your internship offers. We usually don't have this many internship offers for first years, but you're a special case, as always", he said
"I kind of figured, but why are there so many?" I asked
Honestly, I was not expecting this. Aizawa looked at me like I was stupid witch I admit hurt a bit.
"There is an internship offer from almost every hero with a teaching license in Japan including All Might" said Aizawa
I took a small glace behind me. Izuku was still in lala land and non-responsive so his reaction won't give anything away.
"I'll take All Might's offer" I said with a grin
Aizawa huffed "I figured. Now this part is usually done by Midnight but considering that you already know your way around public relations, at least somewhat, I'll say this. It's time to choose your hero name"
I blinked. I was seriously not expecting this to happen so soon. I mean, what would I choose as my hero name anyways? My own name is somewhat of a rip-off from a supposedly fictional character in my old life and I always thought that monikers and hero names had to be earned. Still, he had a point, I couldn't parade around the streets without a hero name, especially if I was going to be interning with All Might of all people. Still my name had to be something of great significance to tie into the image of the Pillar of Strength.
"Rikudou" I said in a whisper
"Nii-san?" asked Izuku
I looked back at him and saw him looking at me strangely. In all these years he had gone through hundreds of hero names, almost all some variation of All Might's. I never spoke about what mine will be.
"The New Titan: Rikudou. The hero that holds the word from falling" I said determined as I looked into Aizawa's eyes
He kept my gaze for a few moments and smiled and nodded.
Sometime later, I found myself in the support department. I wanted to get a weapon that could act like a shield if needed and be strong enough to channel my chakra though it. In the end I chose to recreate the war fan that Obito and Madara used in the 4th ninja war simply because of practical reasons. Ok I admit that some fanboying did happen when I designed it and I may or may not have also designed an exact copy of Madara's red armor from Naruto, but I didn't send the specks for it to the support department. I like my own armor and I feel that it's something unique to me. I'm not changing that. Maybe tweak it a little.
Afterwards I went to the principal's office to discuss my brother's situation. Thankfully Nezu was there with All Might in his skeleton form.
"When did you get here, All Might?" I blurted out
The man gave me a slight smile
"I live in this town now. It's the easiest way for me to train Young Izuku" said All Might
I looked at the principal who was calmly sipping his tea
"I take it you know about One For All, Mr. Principal" I said
"Please, call me Nezu, and yes, I do know about All Might's power. It's such a fascinating quirk, don't you say" said Nezu
"Indeed. I wanted to discuss something with you, and All Might about the security of my family" I said bluntly
This caused All Might to straighten his pose and Nezu to set down his cup and look at me intensely.
"Did something happen, young Madara? Are you in danger?" asked All Might
I shook my head
"It's not me I'm worried about, but my brother and mother that I've inadvertently placed in the firing line of the villains" I said
"Has a threat been issued to you?" asked Nezu
I shook my head
"It's something else. I'm already well known in the scientific community as a genius child and that made me a target for villains to kidnap, but I was always careful about just how much information I dispensed, and I trusted the universities to keep my personal data secure. However, I still woke up to find a horde of reporters in front of my house and Izuku's school and if reporters can find where I live, then I have no doubt that villains would too" I said
"I can arrange for a police protection detail for them" said All Might
"You can do that?" I asked surprised
"I have a good friend in the police force" said All Might
"It won't work that way" said Izuku
Where did he come from?
I looked back and I saw him with his hand on his chin and eyebrows scrunched up in his usual thinking pose. Good, he's learning. I'm just thankful that he's not completely ignorant to the darker aspects of being a hero and how it affects those around them. Especially if one aims for the top.
"Oh, please go on, Midorya" said Nezu looking anxious to see what he did next
"Well, I'm planning to go into heroics and everyone who knows me even just a bit knows this. Also, nii-san said that villains may want to target me and take me out now before I get All Might's quirk so that I'm not that big of a threat later down the line. Also, they might use me and mom to get to nii-san" said Izuku
All Might looked stunned
"I never considered that, but why do you think that they will consider you a threat?" asked All Might
I pulled out my phone and opened the page with the headline I saw this morning
"Why do you think?" I asked
All Might's eyes widened, and he coughed some blood as he looked between me and the picture
"Weren't expecting that, were you?" I asked
"No, this is too fast, even I didn't get this popular until well after I became a pro hero" said All Might
"It's not that surprising, All Might" said Izuku "With what nii-san said at the sports festival and his unprecedented feat of wining the entire sports festival by himself one event early added to your precedent, many think that he's working to become the next you"
I nodded
"If you still want me as an intern, all the theories that are floating around now a days about you taking me under your wing to train me us as a successor will be all but confirmed" I said
"It's a perfect cover for you to retire from active duty All Might and a perfect screen for young Midorya" said Nezu
"What about you, young Izuku, what do you have to say about this?" asked All Might
Izuku fidgeted a bit
"Well, I may be your successor to One For All, but I can't be your successor to the title of the symbol of peace yet. I'm not even ready to receive your quirk, All Might and even if I do, I still have almost another year before I enter UA. Also, I don't think I can do what nii-san plans on doing and graduate in a single year so I have at least another 4 years before I become a pro hero and who knows how much time I will need to climb the ranks to number one. By that time, you would already be retired, All Might, and I can't see the world keeping itself stable without a symbol to protect it" said Izuku, looking at me as he said the last part
"So, you want me to build up Young Madara to be my successor in the public eye?" asked All Might
Izuku nodded
"We talked about it a bit more this morning and bought me and nii-san think it's the best way to go about it. I wouldn't mind not being your successor, All Might. I'm happy being nii-san's" said Izuku with a slight smile
"And I'll be glad for it" I said
"Oh, do tell" said Nezu
I looked at the hybrid
"Well, originally being a hero was supposed to be a side job for me. A way to get a hero license and be able to help Izuku while I focus on my science and further insight into chakra. It wouldn't have hurt to have the prestige that comes with being a hero, or the money one can get from beating up villains" I said
"Huh? What do you mean nii-san" asked Izuku looking confused
"Well, I originally planned to be an underground hero, for the first part of my career" I said
All Might choked on his own blood in surprise. I smiled a bit
"Yeah, I know. Surprising, isn't it? I intended this plan to come about if I couldn't teach Izuku Chakra" I said
"What plan was that?" asked Nezu
"Well, I planned to enroll early, obviously, but I wouldn't have told you about chakra and restricted myself to only taijutsu and earth manipulation along with fire manipulation claiming it to be a dual elemental quirk. I probably would have toned it down a bit for the sports festival and kept a reasonable high rank for all three years. After the first year it all depends on Izuku. If I managed to teach him chakra well enough to enter UA hero course, I would have probably told you about chakra, but if not then I intended to help him get into either support or general courses and make his way into the hero course through the sports festival" I said
"You can do that?" asked Izuku surprised
"Of course, that's how Eraserhead became a hero. And it's the reason why I had you take that course on engineering" I said
"You can build support items, young Izuku?" asked All Might surprised
Izuku blushed
"Well, I won't say that they're support items, but yeah, I can invent stuff. Though from where nii-san gets the parts I never found out" said Izuku
They looked at me
"I'm getting to that. Anyways after I graduated, I planned to open my own hero agency. I've been using underground brokers since I was 12 to build up a small side business to fund my monetary needs and that money would have gone into the agency and as a starter fund for my fully legitimate business side once I graduated and not the murky grey area that I'm in now" I said
All Might and Izuku looked at me bewildered while Nezu had a slight grin on his face and his eyes were twinkling something unholy
"After Izuku graduated I planned to leave most of the agency stuff to him and depending on whether or not he had chakra I'd figured we'd either decide to either stay underground or go mainstream. Either way I would have retired after 5 years and gone off to continue my research" I said
There was silence.
"Madara, how would you like to work as an intern for my agency?" asked Nezu
I blinked
"Sorry, but I need the public exposure that comes from being All Might's intern" I said
"Well there's always the work study program" said Nezu
I raise an eyebrow. Why is he trying to get me to work for him so hard?
"We'll see. Anyways I wanted to ask if there's any way to provide security for Izuku that would withstand villain attacks" I said
"There is, but there is the matter of his school" said All Might
"Don't worry, All Might. I'm taking a test to graduate early" said Izuku
All Might blinked
"That's actually a very good idea. I'll come back to you with an updated schedule. If we keep it low key, I think I should be able to act as your bodyguard until the year stars" said All Might
"Really!" said Izuku
I could see the stars in his eyes.
I rolled my eyes
"Dow, boy. We still need to discuss my internship details" I said
"That can wait until tomorrow. For now, do you have anywhere where to stay for the night?" asked Nezu
"I have a few safe houses" I said
They all looked at me weirdly
"What?" I asked
"Most 14-year-olds don't have safehouses" said All Might
"Most 14-year-olds aren't me" I said back
He nodded, as if conceding the point
"Regardless, I have more than enough space in my apartment for the two of you. We could go later to buy you some clothes" said All Might
"I don't think we need to. All we need to do is show our faces on the other side of town in full hero gear and pose for a few pictures while announcing my internship. That'll have every reporter in a 10 km radius on us faster than a hungry shark" I said
All Might shuddered and looked at me in what seemed to be awe and pity before he bowed
"You truly are courageous, Young Madara. To purposely draw the hordes to you is a most noble sacrifice" said All Might
In the background I could hear Izuku laughing. Brat.
A/N: And here it is, the aftermath of Madara's curb stomp of the other students. Don't worry this event will have far reaching consequences for Madara. At last, I've returned, and I managed to complete all the way up to chapter 14, which is Madara's provisional license exam arc. I'll be moving a bit faster with the chapters, but I'm not yet returning to a weekly update schedule. A chapter every 1 and a half weeks for now because of time constraints on my part. What I wanted with this story, besides the awesome fights, is to show the greyer aspects of the hero society.
Furthermore, I've decided to end the story after I finish the Hideout ark. The reason for this is the amount of lore we're getting from both MHA and from the Boruto Manga and before you ask anything, yes, there will be an Otsutsuki ark later on in the sequel to this story that will probably come out around about the time that season 6 of MHA will end. Honestly even with All For One Shigaraki I really don't see Madara ever needing the Rinnegan except to deal with the Otsutsuki that he will have to face.
*Internship with All Might*
We didn't end up playing bait for the reporters since the police thankfully removed the media from the street because they were blocking traffic, so we managed to return home without much trouble. Still, I had Izuku pack up and I prepared a change of clothes for mom as well. Apparently Mitsuki was delighted to have her friend live with her. It took a bit of tears to make mom let Izuku go, at least until this entire mess with relocating our home is sorted out, but I had the secret weapon called All Might.
That night Izuku, me and All Might went to the Bakugou household to meet with mom. Thankfully, Katsuki was out training so I didn't have to deal with that situation. I then explained the whole situation to mom, sort of. I told her that All Might's time as the Symbol of Peace was up and that he needed to retire soon. All Might even showed her his injury and I doubled down of the fact that the world needs a symbol and that I was the only one who could do it.
A bit pretentious, but she only knew that Izuku's 'quirk' hurts him since we told her he developed it during the sludge incident and that he was currently training with All Might in his spare time in order to harness it. In a way, it was true. I was the only one strong enough to compete with All Might and that made me the only one capable of taking on the likes of All For One and Izuku was chosen by All Might to be the next bearer of One for All.
No matter what All Might says, I don't believe that All For One's dead. They never did recover the body and a man that lived for over 100 years must have some sort of contingency plan, otherwise he wouldn't have survived this long.
In the end, I gained my independence and was emancipated as a child, a necessity for implementing my contingency plans and establishing a sufficient financial reserve. Izuku went with me and All Might while mom remained with Mitsuki and a police detachment would watch over them.
After that it was relatively easy to pull Izuku out of school since he had to go into one of the hero association's protection service programs. Those were ways for the family members of high-ranking heroes to be hidden and protected from villains, something that was very much needed in the days when All For One still reigned over the underworld and was out and about prowling for powerful quirks to steal. Normally this wouldn't have been done for a UA student, but since All Might himself decided to take me up on my plan to succeed him it was deemed a necessity.
That's another thing I'm not so sure about. It seemed to me that All Might was all too willing to help me ascend to the title of Pillar of Strength. I honestly thought that he would be more reluctant, but instead All Might himself offered me this opportunity. Though this only means that the situation is even more serious than I originally thought. All Might needs to retire soon, and I need to build up my reputation so that whatever transition of power there is between us is done as smoothly as possible to prevent mass panic.
It's been two days since that day and I'm finishing putting on my suit and mentally preparing myself for the first hero patrol of my life. I never imagined that it would happen like this. Whenever I imagined myself as a hero I would always have in mind the image of Batman. Now I must take up the image of Superman.
Heh, I just realized that All Might could be called discount Japanese Superman.
That's sad.
I'll stop now.
I had to do a few adjustments to my hero suit. My original designed had a bit too much black and dark colors. If I add to that the planned hood and mask it would be a bit too scary to the usual citizen. I added a few pieces of white cloth to make me look less like an overly dark Batman and more like a normal hero.
"Young Madara, are you ready?" asked All Might
I nodded
"Well then, let's go" he said
All Might buffed up and shot up in the air. I followed him by jumping from rooftop to rooftop with the aid of Chakra.
I really need to find a way to fly with chakra.
It was early morning in Minato, the place where All Might had his agency, Might Tower. For the duration of this week I roped Aizawa-sensei into teaching Izuku hand to hand combat. Aizawa did put up some resistance at first, but I managed to convince him of the necessity of my request. I did teach Izuku some things, but I didn't push it that much. I thought that I had the time to take it easy and teach Izuku properly.
I no longer have that luxury. Because of my actions and statements, I have placed my family in the path of villains and while it's relatively easy for my mom to go into hiding and vanish, Izuku is a heck of a lot more stubborn. He would have stood out one way or another with that hero complex of his and just like I didn't tell him that he couldn't be a hero before he got his chance with All Might, I most certainly couldn't do so now. It would be the height of hypocrisy to prevent Izuku from following his dream just because it's too dangerous.
That's the sort of thinking that mom would have.
I knew from the beginning that I might one day come home to a dead brother if he went into heroics. But I couldn't fault him for that, especially since his death would have at least served some meager purpose. He would have died doing what he loved and not in a meaningless way.
Not like I did.
"Young Madara! Are you paying attention?" asked All Might
I snapped out of my thoughts and nodded. We were on the roof of a building and down below a few thugs were holding a bank hostage. The media and the police were already there.
"Yeah, I sense 6 hostiles and 10 hostages. Three are in the front and two are in the back presumably loading up on money. The last one is on the last floor. All the hostages are aligned in front of the windows" I said
My Sharingan was already on and busy dissecting the target environment.
"So, how do you wish to get on with your debut?" asked All Might not taking his eyes off the situation for a moment
"I'll go fist and use Earth Style: Underground Walk to infiltrate the back of the bank and take out those two and the one on top. Wait a few minutes and drop down" I said
All Might nodded. Earth Style: Underground Walk was a jutsu I developed as an infiltration technique. It allows me to pass through earth and concrete with relative ease and is especially useful for ambushes. Sadly, it's useless against high grade steel or other metals.
I body flickered to the roof of the bank. If these robbers were smart, then they would have taken over the security system and CCTV network. They didn't seem smart, but it's best to not underestimate them. I flashed through hand signs and fell through the rooftop like it was liquid. Using chakra, I stuck myself inside the ceiling and crawled over to the secondary power generator. The robbers were smart enough to post a guard next to it. Thankfully the white fabric I had to add to my suit to cover up the armor beneath it came with a neat color shifting function. It wasn't anything fancy since it just shifted the color from white to black. Still, it was more than enough for me.
I landed silently behind the guard
"Hey" I said in my most raspy voice
He turned around surprised, but he made a mistake as my blood red Sharingan eyes locked on to his and the tomoe begun to spin. The guy went slack and dropped his gun. Suddenly his radio crackled.
"Hey, what's going on up there?" asked a voice over the radio
Well, time to test this out. Sharingan: Hypnosis
The guy brought the radio to his mouth with vacant eyes
"Nothing boss, just dropped something" said the guy
Apparently, that was enough for his boss and I saw no reason to keep him awake.
Sharingan: Genjutsu: Sleep
I caught the crumpling body and set him down gently on the floor. I tied him up and removed his weapons. A shame that I won't be able to disable the generator without giving away my position. Stealth is paramount in my situation. Still, there is something I can do.
I reached into one of my pouches and removed a small EMP device I've built, or more specifically I designed. I had Power Loader build it, since only he had the necessary authorization to build support equipment, something that I hope to get for myself. I could remote trigger the EMP and I don't have to worry about damaging anything other than the generator and maybe the camera in the hallway. My equipment was EMP proofed anyways.
Running through hand seals again I disappeared in the floor. Thankfully this time it was thick enough for me to move through it relatively easily. I quickly arrived in the vault at the back of the bank and exited the roof. I could see the two crooks in their stuffing duffle bags with money. They were far enough apart that I couldn't take them down simultaneously. I dropped down near one of them and waited for a moment before triggering the EMP making the light in the room flicker and die.
"Huh? What's going on?" asked one of the guys.
I quickly ducked out of cover and snatched him by the throat while muffling his voice. He still managed to let out a muffled yelp of surprise but a quick look tightening of my arms around his throat and he was out like a light.
This is surprisingly easy
"Hey, man are you ok?" asked the other on
He was shaking a bit. I let my clothes rustle as I ran around to get behind his back. He tried to train his gun on me, but he wasn't effective in doing it.
I can see why Batman liked doing this. This is surprisingly fun.
Now's not the time.
Focus
"Is anyone there?" he asked "Come out and I won't shoot you"
He activated his quirk, making his hand glow with what appeared to be fire
"I'm here" I rasped
The guy jumped up and crashed into a table trying to turn around and shoot me. He didn't manage to do that since he had the unfortunate luck of looking into my eyes, allowing me to cast Genjutsu on him.
I really need to up my genjutsu training. I never really understood just how limiting using only visual genjutsu really is, especially for taking down large numbers of people.
I tied the two thugs up and went to the door only to find it locked. Lovely.
Suddenly there was a tremor outside, and a booming voice proclaimed
"Have no fear. Because I AM HERE!"
"All Might!"
"We're saved!"
Other such exclamations rose from the hostages. Dam it, All Might. I really didn't want to bulldoze though this situation.
Charging chakra through my leg I kicked out the steel door sending it flying and smacking into the three thugs that had clustered in front of the entrance with enough force to send them flying though one of the windows and into the street. I quickly body flickered on the window seal and locked down on then with my arms crossed and Sharingan blazing wile manipulating chakra just enough to give the edges of the white over armor robe covering my legs a slight sway in the nonexistent wind.
What? This s my debut I had to look cool doing it.
The entire street was looking at me, or I should say that they were also looking at me. All Might still took the spotlight.
"Who the heck are you?" asked one of the thugs
"You can call me Rikudou and I'm the guy that captured your three friends" I said
This surprised them. I saw that only one of them looked human. The other ones were a wolf-human hybrid and a pink ball of something. Honestly, I can't even say he looked human anymore. He was bipedal. But that's about all I could say as far as him looking human.
"So are you going to surrender, or do we need to take more drastic actions" I said
I flashed my Sharingan with chakra, making my eyes illuminate an eerie red I preparation to cast genjutsu on them.
"Speak up, villains!" said All Might
They flinched as they finally recognized their situation and wisely surrendered. After they've been cuffed by the police the media swarmed.
"All Might, is there any relation between you and Madara Mydoria?"
"Is Rikudou, Madara?"
"Is there any truth to the rumors about you?"
The same happened to me and while intellectually I was prepared for this, and I have had previous experience with the media I did not expect them to swarm like they did. Thankfully All Might took pity on my situation and placed a hand on my shoulder while asking for the media to quiet down.
"This is my new intern, Rikudou whom you might have known from the UA Sports festival as Madara Midorya. Excuse us, there is still much to do today" said All Might
It was a bit degrading being picked up like a sack of potatoes and having to deal with the air pressure that All Might was creating as he leaped out of the crowd of reporters.
Thank god that I decided to leave the Gunbai at home. Speaking of which, I really need to up my training. I may be powerful, but this situation showed that I lacked true finesse in using that power. Sometimes, stealth isn't an option and all my techniques have so far proven to be highly destructive to the point that I never actually used them outside of training. I can't roast people alive like Endeavor because even with All Might endorsing me that would turn popular opinion against me and that is very much needed if I want to offer the world a stable alternative to the Symbol Of Peace.
We ended up on the rooftop of another building and to my eternal shame I had to sit down
"Are you ok young Madara?" asked All Might
"Yeah, just give me a moment" I said panting "Jesus, I never expected the media to act like this. I honestly thought that they would attack me if I even so much as spoke a single thing"
All Might looked at me with sympathy in his eyes
"It's the price you pay for being famous, you'll get used to it" said All Might "So what did you think of your first case?"
"It was interesting" I said "I just realized that I have very few non-lethal techniques at my disposal and those that can be made non-lethal are just too damaging to the surroundings"
All Might nodded and I continued
"I have to work more on my Genjutsu. Being able to cast illusions with eye contact is all well and good but I could have knocked out all the villains in one go if I had other types of genjutsu. Besides, using Fire, Earth or Water styles in a confined environment is dangerous for the other people and especially the civilians and they would have been out to a much greater risk if I had engaged the villains in hand to hand combat, to say nothing of the fact that I don't know what their quirks are" I finished
"Don't beat yourself up too much, Young Madara. Nobody expects you to be perfect in every situation with barely a month of training" said All Might
True, but few had the expectations placed on them that I had, even if I could bear it was still frustrating. I've had chakra for close to 11 years now and I still haven't managed to get all five nature transformations under my belt. True, this was an impressive skill even by Naruto world standard, but then again, I don't have repositories of jutsu and weapons to use. I don't have the almost 1000 years of knowledge that the shinobi of the Narutoverse had. I also don't have access to fuinjutsu or even the slightest idea on how to recreate it and that makes my overall battle efficiency decrease even further. Especially given the delicate situations that I would more than likely find myself in since I doubt there will be any big battles between heroes and villains any time soon that can help me fine tune my techniques.
In the end all I had was my wit, a somewhat secondhand knowledge of chakra and stubbornness. But then again there were people with less that have become great.
"Ok, let's continue with the patrol" I said
We patrolled the streets for another two hours. I solved some more cases, even if they were mostly purse snatchers, and the occasional robber. All Might did nothing most of the time and just sat there looking proud and cheering me on. The media ate it all up and I tried to keep a happy-go-lucky front on the entire time and not brood like an edge lord (*cough*Sasuke*cough*). Being faced with all that media, using the Uchiha Secret Art of Brooding was very tempting.
After those two hours were up All Might and I went back to his agency which was by now swarmed with reporters. I had training to do and All Might had paperwork and PR.
I must get Wind style down in a month or so and create some jutsu for it until the final exams this semester. If I'm lucky I should be able to make some progress with lightning style by the time the Provisional License exam rolls around.
One more week of this. Hopefully nothing bad happens.
…
I just jinxed myself, haven't I.
Fuck.
A/N: This chapter is more of a transitioning period into the next arc and a way to show that for all of Madara's OP-ness he's still a rookie hero that's liable to get things fucked up if he messes with something he doesn't understand. I also wanted to show that raw power doesn't always solve every problem. Now, question time. I originally said that I won't be messing with the timeline of the original story very much, but I think that I should give Izuku a bit more power and skill early on. I somewhat disliked the first few chapters of MHA mostly because of Izuku's wimpy character, so I think that I should change that. Also, I think that I should review my previous statement when I said that no one's getting chakra. Now that I had time to think about it a bit more, I've come up with this.
Everyone has chakra. Chakra is the power source for their quirk factor and because of that no one can use it like those in the Narutoverse. I'm tempted to have Izuku learn the eight gates and then later on have him deal with a karma seal, but that's way off in the future and I need the Boruto manga to get to explaining how to deal with one before I mark Izuku with it, if that ever ends up happening.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone