Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Warnings: Izuku/Tsukauchi Naomasa, soulmates, soul parents, Tsukauchi is 12 years older than Izuku!

All men are not created equal. This was the reality he learned about society at a young age. Quirks were what made or broke you in this world.

The first incident was in Qing Qing City. An extraordinary child was born who radiated light. After that, reports of people with superpowers popped up all across the globe, No one knew what was causing these quirks. Before long, the supernatural became totally normal. Dreams became the

reality. 

The world became a superhuman society with about 80% of the population possessing some uncanny ability. The streets look like scenes from comic books, a city swirled with chaos and confusion, a new profession dominated our collective consciousness. It was the age of heroes.

With the rise of superpowers, came an explosive increase in criminal activity. While governments were stuck trying to figure out how to reform law with quirks in mind, courageous people started performing heroic acts to keep our cities safe. Protecting us against villains who abuse their power for evil. With overwhelming public support, heroes found an official place as peacekeepers, overseen by the government. Those who perform the best will be paid the most and get all the fame and glory. Their career is dependent on their ability to stay in the spotlight.

Unfortunately for Izuku he wasn't part of this 80%. When he was 4 he was officially diagnosed as quirkless. A double jointed toe essentially declared him a useless person in society. It did not take long for word to get around either. 

By the time he was five, his mom and dad had separated. His dad went to America for work officially. His mother however made sure that he knew she blamed him for her husband abandoning them. Not long after this they were forced to move to a different apartment. Their current landlord didn't want a quirkless freak in their building. 

It wasn't just the loss of his father and their home that caused his mother to turn against him. It was the three marks that lay on his body. A soulmate mark of a black jaguar with onyx eyes lay curled around his heart. In their world this was normal. More than 99% of the world had a fated. 

Soulparent marks were more controversial than soulmates. For most children soulparent marks were that of one or both of their parents. Only about 30% of children had a soulparent mark that wasn't related to them. 

Both of his soulparent marks were not his parents. One was a black cat with a white tape-like object around its neck. This mark was across the right side of his neck and unless he wore a scarf it was impossible to hide. The second mark was a blond wolf with light green eyes. That mark was on his right inner forearm. Whenever he looked at them he wondered if they would want him. Due to his parents and bullies words he highly doubted it. 

School barely tolerated him. Izuku learned early on that he couldn't do exceptionally well otherwise he would be accused of cheating. Such accusations would earn him detentions and beating from Bakugo. His once best friend was now his bully. 

Like the rest of their world Bakugo Katsuki did not believe he could be a hero. In fact he did not believe Izuku was worthy of quirked individuals time at all. He did all he could to ensure the greenette was excluded from all events. 

With his school and home life being hell for things that were not his fault, he rarely spent time at home. Most of his time was spent in the library. In the beginning he worked on his analysis skills as well as talk on the chats for quirkless and those with "villain" quirks. 

The group was extremely supportive of each other. They had to be. No one else would give a damn about what happened to them. 

Izuku worked on helping those with "villainous" quirks to find other uses for them. He provided new and unusual insights that could only be done by a third party. In exchange they kept him up to date on rumors. 

There were specific rumors that he was interested it. The dark period after World War II and when quirks arrived interested him. In that time period there was thought to be a separate emergence of powers. According to the rumors there was something uncovered in the last months of the war by German and Japanese scientists. 

What this was, no one knew. What they did know was an object weighing nearly 2000 pounds and it was shipped to Tokyo. It was then taken to an unknown building. From that point on everything was just speculation. Men and women who came in with supposed elemental powers. There were only pieces of proof that something like it might have happened was two craters. 

One called the Kagutsu Crater. While mostly filled in with time there was still a depression where it had been before. Buildings only recently were constructed there. 

The second was formerly a High School off the coast. It had a similar crater but one that had not been filled back in. The school was abandoned sometime in the early 2000s. Records for that time were missing and very few survived as it was the same time that quirks started appearing. At least that's what he hoped was the reason. 

It seemed he had run into a dead end after that. There was nothing concrete to go on or even rumors that he could follow. 200 years between their time and Izuku's made it almost impossible to track anything down. Until a message came onto his forum. 

...

For all not just the many 

Unknown user: If you seek the truth of the past go to this location. If there is a strong wish in your heart you may just find it. 

Unknown user: location.ping

Hewhoseeksthetruth: Who is this? How did you even get in here?

Unknown user: I am who I am. How I got in your server is of no concern. The only concern is if you truly wish to find the truth. 

Hewhoseeksthetruth: What do you mean?  

There were no more messages from the mysterious user. Izuku felt a well of frustration build up in his chest. Someone should not have been able to just place themselves into their chat. They had security for this exact reason. 

Eggplantinsomniac: You're not really going to the location? It could be a trap for the quirkless you know?

Hewhoseeksthetruth: I don't think it's a trap. If the person behind this wanted me dead I doubt they would do something so obvious. 

Eggplantinsomniac: So you're going? Alone?

Hewhoseeksthetruth: Not right away. I'm going to try and research the area first. 

Blue's Clues: You want someone to come with you kid? I could be in Musutafu this evening. 

Vampire: I want to come too! @Blue's Clues.

Blue's Clues: Absolutely not. You'd scare the kid. 

Hewhoseeksthetruth: No. 

Vampire: Awww but why?

Hewhoseeksthetruth: Because we haven't ever met in public much less alone. Besides that is on the harbor. An abandoned warehouse from a bygone era. I doubt there is going to be anything there. 

Eggplantinsomniac: You're still going. 

Hewhoseeksthetruth: Yeah I'm still going. I'll tell you tomorrow if there was anything of interest.  

With that Izuku signed off of the computer and headed towards the location he was sent. Despite his natural suspicion towards anyone he didn't know something told him he had to go. That if he didn't he would regret it for the rest of his life. 

Despite what his mother and teachers thought, Izuku was smart for his age. He was 11 and knew if this was a trap he was walking right into it. Being cautious was the name of the game at this point. 

When he found the particular warehouse he felt something in him pulling him towards it. Carefully he checked for anyone who could be staking it out. Within an hour he was sure that he had not been followed and there wasn't anyone watching it. 

Then he entered the warehouse and stopped just inside. He didn't know what he was expecting but a part of him felt disappointed. Dust was everywhere and it looked like it hadn't been touched in years. Nothing jumped out at him even as his heart pulled him towards a part of the building. 

Cautiously he followed the tug towards the back of the warehouse. In the shadows of the far back wall was a desk. It was rickety and barely holding together. The closer he got to the desk the more persistent the tug became. 

There was nothing on the ancient desk but he did find a phone when he pulled open one of the ancient drawers. It was very similar to the ones that he had seen at school. For the life of him however he couldn't figure out how it would be charged. There wasn't a charge port anywhere on it. 

A few more minutes of searching proved fruitless. Despite the tugging at his heart there was nothing to find here. He was about to step away and declare it a prank when his eye caught the briefest flash of silver under the desk. Bending down to a knee he looked at it more carefully. 

A silver etching was made into the wood. It almost looked as if something was hiding in there. Before sense could take over he reached and touched it. This in turn released the latch and two things happened. 

First, a stack of papers written both in German and Japanese fell out. He didn't get much of a chance to look at them as the second soon followed. A small stone-like object fell out hitting him on the wrist. The moment it connected with his skin a green light encased him. 

A soft voice almost like a whisper on the edge of his hearing, "As before is again. A wish made. A wish heard. Seven to rise. Seven to fall. The Kings have returned. Will you fall as they did? Or will you thrive?"

Unbeknownst to Izuku a sight not seen in 200 years was appearing above his head. A green sword in the shape of a rapier was forming. It had three jewels implanted on the hilt. It's size was incomparable to anything else in their world. The Green Sword of Damocles symbolizing that its King had returned. 

Green lightning had encased Izuku. Its power was warm as it ran through his body. Strong yet kind. Unnoticed by the child was the way the phone lit up. A tree-like icon began to form using the green lightning as its power. Jungle had returned.

Chapter Text

...

It was only when the lightning died down leaving him feelijg exhausted did he pick up the phone. The moment his hand touched it the battery showed full charge. It showed a symbol of a tree and underneath it said. JUNGLE welcomes it's new King.

Unsure of what else to do Izuku gathered up all the items including the stone and papers in German and left. The tugging that had brought him here was gone. As tired as he was he could not risk staying any longer. If someone wanted to hurt him this would be the perfect opportunity.

Fortunately he was able to make it back to his apartment without difficulty. There he collapsed onto his bed still dressed. It was late the next morning when he woke. Usually nightmares kept him awake so it was unusual for him to sleep for so long. Though when he realized he had missed the first several periods for school. Not going to school it seemed was his best option. Not like they cared.

Izuku went into the kitchen finding it practically empty. There was a small box of crackers in the cupboard. It was better than nothing so he took the box back into his room.

There he began to search through the phone curious. Messages had been emptied before he got ahold of it. Same with the search history within different browsers. It was only after several long moments he entered the only app that wasn't factory set.

JUNGLE app brought up a radar that showed a map of the city. At first there was nothing special about the map. Then suddenly little pins began to appear on it. Within moments hundreds had appeared on the map.

Touching one it brought up a picture of the person who owned the phone. It brought up a file showing that they had not logged into JUNGLE yet. Even without logging it there was a sheet showing stats much like that of that of a game.

Izuku returned to the map then began checking over the app. After a moment he was able to find his own profile. Unlike the others his did not come with a picture. In fact it was of a rank that did not match with the name. His was K rank which would give him administrative privileges. Like the others he also had a stats page and was not surprise by what he found. At least in terms of the numbers.

Strength: 1

Constitution: 7

Dexterity: 4

Intelligence: 15

Wisdom: 2

Charisma: 1

He didn't understand why the profiles would show this. Or how it was able to know that much about him. It didn't make an sense.

A frown escaped him as he put the phone down and gathered the papers. He separated them based on the language they were written in. When he was done he noticed there was less in Japanese than in German. Whoever had been translating them never finished. In the bottom corner of the last page had dark stains. A few choice words came to mind at seeing them. There was no way that it could mean anything good.

Slowly Izuku began reading through it. The first papers explained the app to a new King. What a King was he still didn't know. Still it explained that the app connected every phone in Japan. It would automatically download itself onto phones when a new Green King was named. A King encased in green lightning.

That was when he remembered why he had been so tired the night before. Green lightning had encased him the night before. Was he the King?

The papers continued on telling him that the ranks had been set up by the previous King. First rank was E and all even those who had not opened the app was ranked this. They had no special powers or abilities. It went through all the letters of JUNGLE. J ranks could only be chosen by the King. A select few who were completely trusted.

The other ranks were given by how many points someone gained. Points could be given based on missions they took for the King. In exchange they would give them a rank and they could exchange the points for items or if high enough ranked powers. Powers shared by with the King but not to the same degree that he currently held.

Izuku frowned deep as he set those particular papers aside. Then he began checking the others. Some were research about something called the Slate. His mind trailed to the stone that had hit his wrist. The stone that sat on the edge of his desk but had done nothing since he touched it.

Slate was what gave a King their power. A symbol of said power was a sword of their color. When a King chose to flex his power out it would appear high above their heads. A Sword of Damocles is what the papers called it.

Izuku flexed his fingers things about the supposed power. To his surprise green lightning jumped across his fingers. It didn't hurt but it came with a tingling sensation and the sensation of power. A natural feeling as if it had always been apart of him.

This power could be mistaken for a quirk he realized. He would need to be careful about how he used it. If he used it too freely someone might get the wrong idea. Especially at school.

Then his real phone buzzed with a message causing him to jump. Glaring at it he opened the message.

For all not just the many

Vampire: Hewhoseeksthetruth did you find anything interesting last night? Do you know anything about this new app that decided to download itself onto my phone? Apparently Blue's Clues had the same problem and he can't get rid of it.

Hewhoseeksthetruth: Yeah that maybe my fault. I came across something interesting.

Blue's Clues: Heya brat. What are you doing on right now? Don't you have school?

Hewhoseeksthetruth: I woke up late after the events of last night. So I'm taking a day off. I don't know much about the app itself.

Vampire: Tell us about the app!

Blue's Clues: Might as well tell us. At least what you know.

Izuku hesitated briefly. Then he explained what he knew. There was a long pause after he finished. Fear pulsed through him as he considered their lack of response. Did they believe him? Or did they think him a liar?

Purpleinsomniac: Dude what the fuck?

Hewhoseeksthetruth: When did you get here?

Purpleinsomniac: About half way through the explanation. I was curious about why my phone was blowing up. But dude why the fuck are you so calm about this?

Hewhoseeksthetruth: I don't think it's really sunk in yet. What am I to do with this power?

Blue's Clues: I think it's time for us to meet. Choose the place and time. Vampire and I will be there.

Hewhoseeksthetruth: What?! Why?!

Blue's Clues: I'll explain there. Ignoring this opportunity wouldn't be beneficial to you. I have an idea but better not talk about such things here.

Chapter Text

...

Izuku arranged a meeting with Blues Clues and Vampire in an internet cafe. They would be meeting at 8 that evening. The cafe was open 24/7. Their rules didn't allow for fighting within the cafe. Any quarrels had to be settled outside. Speaking of going on inside the cafe to anyone without express permission would get you banned permanently. He frequented the cafe on a regular basis making it his hideout.

School dragged on that morning. He didn't pay any attention to his classes. Not that it was a problem for him. He surpassed his fellow students long ago. Now he just pretended to listen and do the work he was given. Though he had to keep his grades low so that they wouldn't draw attention. Otherwise, he would be accused of cheating because a quirkless person couldn't be that smart.

During lunch, he logged back into JUNGLE and noticed that some of the kids in his school had logged on. Some had even started playing the games to earn points. He would have to make missions to keep people interested.

What kind of missions they would be was still the question. He knew his predecessor had used them to gather information. Maybe he could do the same? By the time lunch ended he had set up an identity in case any of his fellow students asked. Quirkless outcast or not he would need to keep a front up. If JUNGLE returned to its previous popularity then he would be expected to join.

There he made the name Deku knowing the others would insist. His presence would be active but not taking one side or another. As it should be given he was truthfully King.

After school, he went straight home to change. A grey jacket over a black t-shirt that said pants on it and jeans was chosen. Nondescript and nothing that would draw attention. Nothing that would mark him as anything more than a curious child.

At the internet cafe, he set up basic information gathering missions. These would earn points for anyone joining JUNGLE. He was setting up the clan for success. There was so much he could do with the app.

No one was really paying any attention to him. They were going about their own lives doing what they needed on the internet. Time waiting for the two internet allies was spent productively.

When it was time the door opened and the bell dinged. Izuku looked up to find a man who had ugly purple scars all across his face and arms. His dark messy hair fell into his ice-blue eyes. He wore a black t-shirt and jeans. Over the shirt was a thin-looking jacket that did not look as it warmed him any. That had to be Blues Clues.

Next to him was a girl with light blond hair and amber eyes. She wore a seifuku school uniform coupled with a red scarf as well as a dark blue skirt. She smiled widely at him and he could see the sharpness of the smile. This had to be Vampire.

Without hesitation, Izuku stood to greet them, "Vampire and Blues Clues I presume? Nice to meet you, I am Izuku Midoriya aka Hewhoseeksthetruth."

Blues Clues said with a frown, "You are smaller than I thought you'd be. What are you five?"

Izuku glared as he declared, "I am 11 thank you very much. Besides size doesn't mean much."

Vampire happily said coming way too close to him, "It's so nice to meet you, Izuku! I am Toga Himiko and this is Dabi. I think we will be great friends."

Dabi looked him up and down for another moment before he said, "Yeah we can be friends kid. Just call me, Dabi. You don't need to know anything else about me."

Well if that wasn't suspicious he didn't know what was. Still, he understood the need not to have someone look into their past. Izuku didn't want them to look into his "quirk". It was widely accepted in their chat that he had an analysis quirk. He never corrected them either.

Izuku gestured for them both to sit and they did so. The owner shot him a questioning look. It obviously asked if he was okay or she needed to step in. Izuku shook his head. No, he was fine.

Then he pulled out the folders that held the information on Kings and the Slate. He informed them, "I found these at the warehouse when I arrived. Along with a phone that at first didn't work."

He explained how he found the phone, files, and a stone. When the stone hit his wrist he had been encased in lighting. As proof, he called the lightning back allowing it to run over his body for about a minute. Then he released it.

This was followed by an explanation of the JUNGLE app. The more he explained the more contemplative Dabi seemed to get. It seemed he was actually interested in the uses that they could find for the app.

Dabi said bringing up his app, "I thought it was a joke at first. That somehow someone knew what you were doing and decided to mess with us. Yet if what say is true then things are set to change significantly."

"Honestly I don't know that much about it," replied Izuku, "Information is in these notes but the issue is half of it is German. I'm far from fluent in German and translation apps would likely end in us missing crucial information."

Toga said with a strange look in her eyes, "I know someone who knows some German but if he will accept my call I don't know. I didn't leave on good terms when I left home."

Curiosity got to Izuku before he could stop his mouth, "What do you mean? With a tag like Vampire, I have to assume that you have a blood-related quirk. I know a lot of people dislike blood quirks and see it as villainous. But I don't care."

Toga hesitated before she said. "My quirk requires me to drink blood. If I go too long without blood I will attack people to get at blood. It is why I ran away from home. My parents wouldn't get me blood and I attacked them. With the blood, I can transform into someone. The more blood I have the longer I can transform into them. It is better if I'm naked when transforming otherwise the other person's clothes will try to be on top of my own."

Izuku had begun taking notes on his phone so he could analyze it later. Then he said, "That's so cool. You would make a good underground hero. You could go undercover and gain information that would save lives."

This continued into a mumbling session as he tried to work through how it could be used. Ways he could test different ideas such as if blood types also could affect the quirk. The two shared a look of shock that made him pause.

He asked blushing, "What?"

Dabi said with a grin, "It's just interesting to see you act when you come across a new quirk. I thought it was just how you acted online."

The blush deepened causing the two to laugh even harder. Dabi was the first to sober up as he said, "We can try to meet with this friend. If they don't agree to help us we can ask around. Do you want to keep the originals and send us off with copies?"

After a moment of consideration, he agreed. It was unlikely that he would find anyone who could help. So he asked the owner of the cafe to make copies. Then they left with their copies.