Hey guys, I've been experimenting with third and first person for this fic for a while now, but I think third works better, so I'm going to stick to that from now on. I might switch back depending on the situation but I think I'll stick to third for a little while. Plus I kinda forgot to write for a while so this chapter took longer than usual.
Also, I have this urge to write a JJK fic so badly, but I'm trying not to start any new fics for a while, and it's killing me.
[Insert Funny Gojo Gif Here]
—[Bang's Dojo]—
—[Izuku Midoriya]—
Izuku sprinted full speed through the forest behind Bang's dojo. His heartbeat raced like an engine fueled by determination, Gatorade, video games, and sheer willpower.
The breeze flowed through his emerald hair and branches broke beneath his feet. On his face, a black blindfold covered his vision, despite this, Izuku ran full speed on the optical course.
Never stopping. Never slowing. Only pushing himself as fast as he could go.
To his left as if manifesting from thin air a log swung into motion aiming directly for him.
Without the slightest hesitation, Izuku's haki activated and blared a silent warning to him. He jumped forward rolling to disperse the force of the landing. The log carried in, and hit nothing but air.
He moved forward, his pace slowing only for an instant as he steadied himself and jumped. Beneath him, two more logs slammed into each other with crunching force. Meanwhile, gravity dragged Midoriya down but instead of landing on the forest floor Izuku's feet rested on a thicker branch of an ironwood tree.
He kept moving, his pace rapid outpacing athletes who had trained far longer and yet still couldn't have the feet of sheer athleticism.
Jumping from tree to tree he dodged branches and various traps over and over again. Nets, swinging logs, and even a swarm of rocks were sent flying at him.
Each time, Izuku evaded or redirected the blow. Thanks to his improved prowess in both water stream and observation haki he has gone entirely untouched.
Hopping onto another branch, Izuku sensed he was getting close to the finish line and he was making far better time than usual. He smiled and his pace increased. He wasn't tired or out of breath; in fact, he felt lighter than usual.
But as he went to jump and land on another tree branch Naruto style, his haki flared. He sensed danger coming from his left. This time however it wasn't a random object instead this was a living being.
Unable to dodge mid-air like before Izuju decided his only option was to block the hit and reposition quickly. The blow landed, the limb crashing into him like a steel baton. It sent Izuku sailing down to the forest floor at high speed.
Luckily for Izuku, although it had taken far longer than he liked he'd gotten the hang of armament haki.
He hit the ground hard, Izuku rolled but as he did so he sensed another person being him. They rushed at hum throwing a punch of unusual speed and strength.
"Haah!" The person called out thrusting a massive fist towards the back of Izuku's head. Izuku ducked, before turning with the momentum of his fall and channeling his energy into a blow.
"Ack! Damn!" The second attacker, whom Izuku had now identified as Kendo, rolled backwards end over end in the woods before setting against a tree. Coughing, Itsuka quickly resolved to get back up only to see that Izuku had already turned around and focused on the first assailant.
Izuku dodged left avoiding another slam from his first opponent. Twisting to face his first attacker Izuku caught a left straight, ducked a right, and blocked a knee to the chest. After that, his opponent stepped back and spun around, swinging his tail at Izuku too fast for him to dodge.
He coated his arms in haji again and blocked the blow he slid back and didn't stumble. Izuku could have used haki to see who his opponent was but that felt cheap. So instead, he took the time to practice his deductive skills. Judging from the texture of the fist he caught it was covered by a fingerless gloves that and the combination of the mysterious extra limb the identity of his attacker was obvious.
Izuku smiled widely resetting back into a basic combat stance. "You know Ojiro it's rather rude to aim for my face, are you trying to ruin my good looks?"
Ojiro chuckled "Hey don't blame me Sensei set up the exercise."
"Oh really and what about you Kendo? Attacking from behind? Where's your pride as a martial artist?" He said tilting his head over his shoulder to look backwards his smile widening.
"It's called a surprise attack for a reason." She said standing up and recovering her stance completely. "And besides this is a test not a martial arts competition."She finished smiling, Izuku huffed, and turned back to Ojiro.
The three friends grinned at each other and charged. Despite the time Izuku didn't rush, in fact, the three of them didn't move for about a minute. During this time Izuku began to realize a little over the time they'd been training together.
Over the course of the new year, Izuku's close acquaintances had become far more involved in his training. When Bang had said he'd push Izuku farther and harder than ever he'd meant it. As a result, Ojiro, Izumi, Toga, and Kendo had all been introduced into his private sessions, which had doubled to nearly every day with only two days a week for rest and recovery.
At first, most of them couldn't keep up however the group had all expressed the desire to become heroes together. As a result, Bang had pushed them all to their limits and told them that going beyond their limit was what being a hero required.
As such, Izuku had gone through greater difficulty than he'd hoped, but he ultimately gained armament haki and mastered full concentration breathing, making it a skill. In addition to that, all of his other skills had been leveled up to either three or four.
But Izuku was not the only one who grew stronger. Itsuka and Ojiro both had also unlocked their own haki after an in-depth explanation from Bang and training for a few months. While Izumi had managed to unlock observation relatively quickly, as he had, she'd also seen a large boost in her quirks' strength. Meanwhile, Toga had gained a massive boost in her speed and stamina and had learned to use full concentration breathing for short bursts of time.
Initially, it had slightly disheartened Izuku that they had all managed to start catching up so fast despite him training far harder than they had for longer. Bang had pointed out that although by comparison Izuku had less talent for armament haki his talent for observation was far higher. In fact, only he and Izumi had managed to unlock observation so quickly.
But the main factor was the simple fact that unlike Izuku they all had bodies made to accommodate far higher levels of power than he did. Sure he had more talent, but at the end of the day, they just had higher upward ceilings. Although his quality might be far higher they had more quantity and that was just a biological fact of life.
Indeed, not all men were born equal in this world. But Izuku hadn't fallen into despair at this; instead, he'd confronted it straight on and decided to achieve the highest level of quality he could.
At present Izuku was undergoing an assessment of Bang's own design. He hadn't been fully informed of the details. Instead, he'd been told to come to the dojo alone at a certain time. Then he's been handed a fresh blindfold by his silver-haired mentor and a yellow sash to wear across his chest.
Then he'd been told to run full speed to the other side of the forest and avoid all of the traps in the obstacle course. If his headband came off he failed. If his sash got taken he failed. And of course, if he didn't make it to the other side within twenty minutes, he would fail as well. Lastly, Izuku also needed to identify the identity of and the order in which his attackers appeared. Because of course he did.
So here he was running through the forest being attacked by his own friends and running out of time. Sure he'd had to run through the forest on a time limit while evading traps before however, he didn't have to also deal with unknown attackers. And judging from how the first two were his friends he imagined that his sister and Himiko were also here as well.
'In hindsight, that's probably where all the flying rocks are coming from.' Izuku hummed as his focus returned to the present. Just in time as well, as the tension between the three of them built to its peak.
Izuku suddenly activated his observation haki again waiting for the moment of attack. Seemingly taking this as a sign, in front of him, Ojiro summoned armament haki to coat his tail, while behind him Itsuka gathered her armament around her fist.
Despite the pace of the two learning arms being quick Izuku agreed with Bang when he had mentioned their quality being lower. Sure they had unlocked it, but Itsuku could only use it to coat her fists and only in the normal-sized form, while Ojiro could only use it to coat his tail so far. Although, Izuku assumed he'd be able to coat his hands as well soon. However, that didn't matter right now as Izuku waited for the two of them to make the first move.
Then he remembered 'Oh yeah I'm on a time limit.' and so he struck first. He ran at Ojiro first, coating an arm in haki and slamming it at him in a straight line. Ojiro blocked the blow and prepared to counter but Izuku didn't give him the chance. Instead, Izuku aimed a left roundhouse at his head also coated in haki. The tailed boy ducked and swung his extra limb coated in black energy, attempting to slam it into Izuku's side. The emerald boy blocked and bounced back, followed by another left straight.
The two exchanged combos but Izuku already came up with a plan. His haki flares again and after adjusting his pace a little and waited for Ojiro to aim for another haki-boosted tail swing.
Then at the key moment, Izuku ducked the blow then swung his leg around behind him. His leg swept back and hit Itsuka who'd been aiming for a haki-enhanced blow to the back of his head, tripped.
Her vision seemed to slow in that moment as she realized her mistake. The haki-coated tail of her friend aimed directly for her face as she fell towards it. The blow landed and before she could even really process the pain her vision went black and she once again went sailing backwards end over end like some sort of backward Ginger Sonic doing a spin dash.
Woop!" Izuku said and he couldn't help the grin that crossed his face as his plan came together. But as much as Izuku would have loved to continue fighting he had a timer to worry about.
So instead of attacking properly he simply rose back up to meet Ojiro's eyeliner. Those same eyes widened with shock at his mistake and Izuku took advantage of just that.
"Pocket Sand!" Izuku called out with joy as he threw a handful of forest floor at Ojiro's surprised face. A moment later the tail boy rolled around on the ground and called out in pain.
"Gotta blast!" Izuku shouted as he spun around and ran full speed in the direction of the finish line. Using observation haki to avoid slamming face-first into a tree, Izuku attempted to make up for lost time by activating his sprint skill.
[Active Skill: Sprint]
[Level: 3]
[Description: Doubles the user's sprinting speed for ten minutes. Cool-down time is fifteen minutes. Warning don't trip like an idiot or I will laugh at you!]
Izuku feeling even lighter than before seemed to dance across the forest floor. Meanwhile, his next opponent readied their attack.
Izuku however focused on controlling his enhanced speed and guiding himself between the trees. A few traps were activated by his high-speed running but none of them managed to strike Izuku. Plus his speed burned through his stamina twice as quickly during this skill's duration but his stamina skill and concentration breathing allowed him to keep it up. Even so, he knew another trial was yet to come and he was right when his haki warned him all over again.
In a few moments, a net was going to come up from underneath a pile of leaves in his path and catch him out of nowhere.
Izuku's eyes narrowed but instead of hesitating or dodging to the side, Izuku pressed forward. With a jump, he flipped mid-air, below him green energy coated the next as it shot up and caught nothing but air.
Izuku landed behind it and kept going not bartering to slow down and look for who he could only assume was Izumi. In his head, he went over her abilities quickly as she ran. She had a hard time moving objects attached to or on people's bodies so he didn't have to worry about her grabbing it from a distance.
That being said he also realized that she had a tactical mind and her ability to analyze and strategize was just as great if not greater than his own. However, he also had a firm grasp of her quirks' current parameters.
1: She can't grasp any object heavier than her own body weight currently.
2: She can only effectively move objects in straight lines.
3: She doesn't need to see and object to move it however she does need to be within a 30-meter radius which is about 100 feet. But that range can be boosted to about 150 feet with the use of observation haki.
4: She can grab more than one object however all those objects will act as one when grabbed.
Those were all the hard limits Izuku could remember off the top of his head but he also knew there would probably be a more in-depth explanation in one of her hero notebooks. Judging from these parameters however, Izuku deduced that she was not only nearby but also more than likely using her observation haki to extend her range. He boosted his observation to full output and decided to keep going.
As he suspected another attack was coming this time from above. He looked up and despite the blind fold he saw a swarm of rocks falling towards him.
He decided he'd need to get a bit more serious about facing them and stopped running. He took a deep breath changed his stance and waited for the rocks to drop. Then when they hit he diverted all the blows using a water stream.
Seeing the rocks fall in slow motion using his observation he barely needed any force to divert them, but he also noticed that at this point Izumi had already let the rocks go and was letting gravity do all the work. That meant she had something else planned and didn't let his guard down.
When the rain of tiny meteors finally ended Izuku's observation flared again as half a wooden log came charging at him through the air and nearly hit him only for him to dodge right. Jumping back he just found the other half of the log coming at him.
He ducked and rolled and then turned to keep running when his eyes caught a hint of someone hiding in a nearby bush. Izuku assumed from that Izumi was using the bush as cover for her green hair and she was most likely spying on him from there.
He started towards it only to get another warning as he passed another tree. He jumped and flipped forward, and as he searched behind him mid-air only to see a grinning Toga reaching for where he was.
He landed the flip and kept going as he realized that the bush had nearly been a distraction his sister used to grab his attention. But if she wasn't there the question became where she was?
'Above?' Izuku's eyes widened and he looked up to see Izumi crouching on a tree branch arms outstretched and focused. They loved eyes and her focus broke, the green energy on her hands dispersed and she stepped back slightly.
Then she dodged as a rock came sailing up at her. She jumped to another branch as another rock quickly shot past her head. Izuku had rocks between each of his fingers her three like ninja stars at his little sister. But he didn't let her take all of his focus as he turned back around to face Toga.
"Gimmi the hat sash Izuku~kun!" She shouted eyes wild and a giant grin splitting her face.
"Nah I'm good" He said dodging her attempts to grab the sash. He dodged her over and over again the problem was that he couldn't get enough space to get away from her and whenever he found an opening to run Izumi inter feared. It was a solid strategy and at this pace, they would probably buy enough time for Ojiro and Itsuka to catch up.
He couldn't find an option to win and keep his time intact, so Izuku did what he always did in such a situation.
He adapted.
He couldn't find a solution to his problem so he made his own. Izuku threw another rock at Toga's face and immediately turned to do the same at Izumi who was still up in the trees.
Toga ducked while Izumi caught the water stream-enhanced rock with her quirk. Then Izuku using the opportune moment, coated his foot in haki and kicked up dust all around him to blind Toga.
Toga, haki-less, couldn't see through the sudden dust cloud and coughed while closing her eyes. Then a sudden series of water stream-enhanced blows hit her in the stomach and sent her flying back.
Immediately after Izuku turned and ran throwing up more dust at Izumi, who thanks to her observation, saw the rock coming at her through the cloud and dodged it.
What she didn't notice was the second rack smashing into the tree branch below her and unsteadying her footing causing her to trip and fall from the tree.
Isumi called out in surprise as she fell but plummeted towards the earth Izuku leaped up and caught her mid-air before landing with her in his arms. Izuku held her there in a princess carry for a moment before asking her if she was okay.
"Uh yeah, I'm fine Oni~chan just startled."
"That's good I'm glad you're alright, and remember to watch your footing next time even if I did make you fall on purpose your could have hit your head or broken something," Izuku said, blindfold, yet still looking to where her eyes should be. Then noticing Izumi slyly try to take the sash with one of her hands Izuku sighed and caught her forearm.
"Uh… sorry?" Izumi said shyly and before she could do anything else Izuku covered his forehead in haki and head-butted her hard enough to knock her out. He caught her again before she could fall to the ground. Softly setting her down in a bridal carry, Izuku stood back up and quickly started running.
He needed to gain some more distance before Toga caught back up. He knew Toga was faster than him, in fact her gain in speed had actually been unusual enough for him to ask Bang about it. He mentioned that her speed was due not only to her having a body suited for a quirk but she was also something called a speed type.
Mainly she had the potential to become a speed specialist. Even so, he needed to keep going while he thought of a solution. Sure he could just knock her out but he didn't want to waste any more time which meant running full speed. Luckily the end wasn't too far away and after about two more minutes he was nearly there.
Then, his haki flared more violently than ever but he wasn't sure what direction it was coming from until the last moment.
BOOM!!!
He leaped back with a flip. Meanwhile, an enraged voice came from the now-smoking crater in front of him.
"DIE!"
Izuku sighed at the roaring silhouette. One thought crossed his mind.
'God damn it, Izumi.'
Particularly Izuku guessed that somehow Izumi managed to recruit this little menace to society. In truth, this was in fact her idea as she told Bang they would probably need some extra help with defeating Izuku after analyzing his current combat ability, and so, Izumi decided to nervously offer the explosive the opportunity she had been waiting for.
Katsumi Bakugo was angry, a shock I know, but it was true. Katsumi had been waiting to run the hands with Izuku again ever since her embarrassing defeat at the hands of the quirkless boy.
For over a year now Izuku had been finding every single excuse he could to avoid fighting her, but Katsumi had had enough. After all, sure she had technically never won a fight against him. However, she excused her losses simply because all those fights were when they were little kids. In addition to that, Izuku had only beaten her a year ago because he caught her off guard.
And then the irritating little wretch had dared to brag about having a 100% win rate against her. It was infuriating! So when that stupid little nerd of a sister he had offered her a chance to destroy her stupid worthless brother in a fight, she'd taken the opportunity without hesitation.
At first, she had wanted to be the first to go up against him however, the brat had planned for her to be last in order to surprise the Quirkless loser. She was going to beat the little loser's ass for the suggestion alone, but the loser had insisted on her being the final boss so she agreed, if only to get the loser to shut up.
So here she was ready to blast the stupid quirkless nerd's stupid handsome face of his stupid handsome body.
And so, she was going to enjoy doing just that. Not giving the nerd any time to breathe she charged, hands crackling with unspent energy and waiting to explode like an atomic bomb, she threw her first blast straight at Izuku's head.
"Come here and die you damn nerd!"
He ducked the left cross, but she didn't care instead, she just charged out of the smoke screaming with rage like an exploding banshee. She threw a series of small explosions right at his head.
But he just! Kept! On! Dodging!
"Sit still and die! You damn nerd!"
She growled with the fury of a thousand angry sons and threw another attack. He dodged again but this time she used the explosion to block his vision and grab his wrists. She didn't know how the stupid nerd could see through the blindfold but that didn't stop her from grabbing and slamming him down into the ground before attempting to blast off that stupid handsome face of his.
Even so, the moment she tried he pulled on her arm and ruined her balance. She was going to fall on her face, there was no avoiding it but at least she could blast the nerd away with the hand he was holding. She paused for a moment, he was holding her hand… HOW DARE HE!
And so before she even touched the floor, she let off an explosion strong enough to knock them both away. She dropped, bounced, and rolled across the forest floor. She didn't care, standing up as quickly as she could she ran back in the direction he had fallen in.
Izuku coughed and stood up. Getting blown up hurt, who knew? It was a surprise to see her here but of course, Izumi had gone and invited his little rival to come and fight him during his little test.
Katsumi Bakugo was strong, there was no question about that, and her ferocious mentality only heightened that strength. She was already coming at him again and that was a problem he just couldn't afford right now.
He didn't have time to fully put her down yet. He knew her well enough to know she wouldn't go down with one good hit, as all the others had. Plus she wasn't his only problem.
Thanks to his observation he notices that Toga had already caught up to him. But she hadn't attacked him yet, instead, she hid behind a tree watching him like some sort of cute little yandere stalked. In truth, she was more than likely not waiting for the perfect opportunity to take the sash or his blindfold.
But he couldn't afford to split his focus right now. Katsumi was getting back up and charging already. He knew he didn't have time to knock her out within the remaining limit. So he made a decision, he turned and ran away.
"Oi GET BACK HERE AND DIE LIKE A MAN!"
She shouted before running after him. That's when Toga took her chance strike. A wild smile on her face, she ran and jumped onto his back attempt to take off his blindfold.
Izuku stumbled forward but he didn't fall instead he grabbed the blindfold and sash before spinning hard like a Beyblade and tossing her off.
She nearly managed to untie it but in the end, she just loosened it. Tightening the black cloth and straightening his gi, Izuku ran forward again. He was in the last stretch it shouldn't take him but a minute or two more to reach the end.
BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!!
Katsumi rushed after him sparks and explosions surrounding her. Her anger propelling her forward towards the green-haired nerd. She roared lifting her hand to hit him with another explosion. He evaded leaping and partcoring from tree to tree.
"GET BACK HERE!" She roared up at him but he didn't stop moving.
"No thanks you explosive pomeranian!" He called back a cheeky grin crossing his face. He knew for a fact she didn't have the physical ability to follow him. Sure she was aesthetic but not nearly enough to jump between tree trunks. He also knew that she didn't know how to fly yet and as a result he assumed that this was a perfect solution.
However, he had underestimated the natural talent that is Katsumi Bakugo.
"DAMN YOU FUCKING NERD!" In that moment Katsumi's mind worked harder than it had in quite a while. She would be damned if she allowed her prey to escape her and so in that very moment she had the idea. Her forearms flexed and her red eyes glared as she bared her teeth.
"YOU WONT ESCAPE ME YOU DAMN NERD!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Her legs were in a squat, her hands glowed with light as her sweat glistened and sparked, and then the air screeched as she let off her biggest explosion yet, maybe the biggest one in her entire life, and fired herself up into the air.
KAAAABOOOOOM!!!
Izuku had the finish line in sight when Katsumi came for him again. She shot past him but timed it just well enough to grab his sash. There was no way in hell he was getting this far just to fail, but there was also no way in hell Katsumi was going to allow him to beat her again. He gripped the sash tightly not allowing her to take it with her momentum.
He'd seen the move coming through haki but it was a moment too late for him to avoid it. Plus he was mid-air so he couldn't properly dodge fast enough to react. However, that didn't matter he wasn't going to give up and neither was she.
"JUST GIVE UP YOU FUCKING NERD!" She gripped the sash tighter and placed a palm on his chest readying another explosion.
"Nah fuck off bomb bitch!" He yelled using a water stream to grab her arm and redirect it before she could let off the bomb.
KABLOW!!
The explosion rocked them both the angle of Katsumi's hand combined with force reacting violently between them. They separated mid-air launching in separate directions. Both of them crashed to the floor and rolled bouncing off the now sandy turf of a separate training area surrounded by bamboo.
Izuku coughed and sat up on his elbows looking over to where Katsumi had landed. Sheath in the sand sideways, hand smoking and groaning slightly. Izuku leaned up further wincing at the slight pain all over his side.
'Yep definitely bruised something.'
Then his eyes landed over on her other hand. In it a torn part of his yellow sash in her hand. Izuku cursed and looked down. The sash was still tied to him but part of it was torn off. Meanwhile, Katsumi sat up with a growl and glared over at Izuku.
"Ha, I finally got you! You damn nerd!" She shouted pointing at his face. The blindfolded boy grimaced, he was so close, and yet she still managed to get him.
"Guess I'm not ready yet." She sighed quietly before his ears picked up the sound of chips crunching in the background. He turned around to see Bang standing fairly close behind him. Izuku stood up and bowed to him.
"I'm sorry, Sensei, I failed, even after all my training I'm still not ready to be a hero," Izuku said shame filling him for failing. Bang just huffed and ate another chip, chewing it thoroughly before speaking.
"Of course your not ready to be a hero yet kid. Why else do you think there's a whole school dedicated to teaching it and a bunch of other things? Besides what do you mean by failed?" He said lifting an eyebrow in confusion. Izuku stood up straight a shocked look on his face.
"What? But she got the sash from me right? So that means I lost doesn't it?" Izuku questioned glancing back at Katsumi who had stood up and was walking over now. She took a moment to shake the sand out of her ash blonde hair and wipe off he body.
"Yeah, old man I totally kicked this nerd's ass when I took this stupid sash right?!" Katsumi asked cocking one hip to the side and placing her smoking hand on her waist. She rolled the torn piece of sash in her other hand.
"I was watching the whole time remember? Even if we do count that as her taking the sash from you, you were already over the line when it happened. Which means you passed the test, good job kid." Bang said nonchalantly bringing another chip up to his mouth.
Katsumi gaped and growled, Izuku's lips parted in a smile, and Toga who finally caught up to the two of them giggled and grinned in the background.
"Congrats kid your one step closer to your dream."
[Chapter image here]
XXX
So that was the chapter after this skipping forward a little but I'm not sure if I want to go straight to the end of the school year or if I want to include one or two more things before we get there.
Anyways drop a comment on the chapter and let me know what you guys think of this one. It feels a little incomplete to me but I think this is all I'll write for this and skip forward for now.
So how might Katsumi react to her losing again and what do you all think about the boosts in strength given to Izuku's little group here?
Anyway, see you guys soon, and remember to drop some power stones so more people can come read the fic and drop some pictures.