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All For One grinned vindictively at the proof of his greatest victory yet. He wished that he could see the results of his labour, but he would settle for asking Kurogiri to read it whenever the need arose.
He had won — he had received a settlement from UA for reckless endangerment of his son!
Of course, he had been the one who had led to the attack on the “Unforeseen Simulation Joint,” but that was before Tomura had almost killed his own son. It was understandable for him to change his mind on the whole matter, and what better form of petty revenge than a slightly hypocritical lawsuit?
His somewhat wide grin turned to a look of disgust as he remembered that the blond oaf was the reason for Izuku being at UA in the first place — he had passed One For all on to his son — the son of the Demon King, Ruler Of The Underground, The Bogeyman of Japan!
All For One fumed as he thought about how best to snap All Might’s neck for what he had done, when a mad idea swam into the forefront of his mind.
Tomura was supposed to be the next Symbol of Evil, the one to succeed to All For One’s reign.
(And maybe a bit more, but that was neither here nor there.)
The thought of All Might’s greatest enemy training the son of his beloved master, Nana Shimura had seemed like the best way to crush his enemy’s will to the very last iota, and yet… This crazy idea… It would be an even more satisfying level of irony than even that!
After all, with One For All, imagine how far Izuku could shoot past All Might with the knowledge of Japan, if not the world’s greatest enemy? He could be the best hero in all the world — any memories of All Might would turn to ash as people beheld the might of his son!
Alas, his appearance would be a hindrance — he still had the quirk he used to create the identity of “Midoriya Hisashi,” but that wouldn’t make up for his lack of eyesight... No, that wouldn’t do.
Perhaps an intermediary then — send a message to Inko about a trusted set of colleagues to help train Izuku?
And move his son far away from that blond oaf — as far away in Japan, for as long as he could possibly manage—
No, that wouldn’t work. He hated to admit it, but UA was most likely aware of some heroics details that he hadn’t the reason to care about or remember, such as paperwork.
He had nothing against paperwork itself — it was important to keep proper documentation of one’s activities. No, he just did not want to stoop to helping his son learn to do paperwork for heroics. Professionals had standards .
That still left the problem of who he would choose to impart his vast collection of knowledge to Izuku. Kurogiri and the Doctor were right out. His son knew Kurogiri quite well from the USJ in a rather inconvenient manner, and the Doctor was… perhaps a bit much.
It was then that All For One had the second best idea for the day. He knew the perfect person for the job. Someone with similar drawbacks who could help teach his son — someone that he held the perfect motivation for…
(And smart enough not to breathe a word of it to anyone else. Disposing of individuals was honestly a waste, and generally slightly more trouble than it was worth. Efficiency goes a long way when one wants to run an empire of evil for multiple centuries.)
Kugo was quite surprised when a strange man approached him and Kiruka, a mask obscuring all but their eyes and mouth, giving a glimpse of a large scar. Before he could ask what the stranger wanted, a grin crossed their face that he was quite familiar with — intimidating, smug, self-assured.
A villain.
“You don’t know me,” the stranger said in a rough voice. “But we both have a mutual friend. He wants you for something.”
“Who’s he talking about, Kugo?” Kiruka asked, sounding unusually confused, her hair swaying dangerously as she eyed the stranger.
The man laughed at her question, a mocking twinkle in his eyes. “That’s on a need-to-know basis, girl. I’ve said my piece, goodbye, Nine.”
Memories rushed back to Kugo at the mention of the simple alias.
“Not now, and not here,” he replied simply, before muttering to himself, “I didn’t think I would be seeing Him this soon.”
It’s been so long, hasn’t it, Nine?” All For One greeted the young man — hardly that much older than Tomura.
Nine — or Kugo, as he had called himself — seemed to be in shock. Things certainly had changed since they had last seen each other, in retrospect.
“Hideous, isn’t it?” he sighed dramatically, gesturing to his face and support items. “The work of the vaulted ‘Symbol of Peace,’ but enough of me — I can tell there’s someone with you—”
“Who are you?” a feminine voice demanded, the heat signature of the figure taking a step forward. “What do you want with Kugo?”
All For One would forever ponder where in the dark recesses of his mind his next words came from — some meme from his youth? Tomura’s ‘gamer lingo’? The dreaded ‘dad syndrome’? Whatever the answer, he would look upon the result with a mixture of pride, humour and ‘cringe.’
“Always two, there are. No more, no less. A master and an apprentice.”
Nine and his companion looked on in confusion. All For one may have as well, but no one needed to notice. What with the scarred face, missing eyes and his generally unsettling aura to play interference.
Clearing his throat, the symbol of fear continued on as if nothing had happened, clasping his hands behind his back. “I have known ‘Kugo’ for quite some time. Our relationship is of no matter to you.”
‘Though I wonder just what your relationship with him is,’ All For One thought internally.
The red-haired woman seemed to bristle at the comment, but Nine whispered something that All For One opted to ignore that seemed to calm her somewhat, before the young man addressed All For One.
“I was told that you wanted me, Sensei?” Nine asked in a tone neither submissive, nor challenging. His white hair and attitude gave All For One a sense of nostalgia — Tomura had ended up as the perfect candidate to aid his goals, but he knew the pawn before him would serve his own purpose as well. One that he was about to share.
“I want you to impart the knowledge I share to aid my son in becoming the world’s greatest hero.”
Izuku stared confusedly at the man who had introduced himself as Kugo.
“So you work with my Dad?” he asked, not sure what else to say.
Kugo nodded. “He wanted me to help you.”
Suddenly a figure pushed out from behind the man — her red hair so long she had it pinned up behind her. “Hey, introduce me too, huh?” she said in a hurt tone, though her face wore a smirk that seemed to betray her true feelings. “Hey, I’m Kiruka! You ready for training like you’ve never had before?”
“Are you friends of Mr. Yagi?” Izuku asked curiously. The woman shrugged, though the man made a strange face and then quickly schooled his expression to the same disinterest he’d introduced himself with.
“Young Midoriya, you’ve been improving even faster than I had anticipated — have you been overdoing it?”
The boy looked like he was about to start muttering, but Toshinori interrupted the beginnings of the mumbled words. “My boy, no need to overthink it.”
“I-I’m sorry!” Midoriya apologized hastily. “My dad asked some people he works with to help me train — they’re making sure I don’t overdo it!”
“Oh really — perhaps you could introduce me?”
“Oh, uh, they kinda want to keep to themselves… I’ll see what I can do though!”
“Introduce yourself to the world — let them know who you are.”
Izuku almost did a double-take at how similar the statement was to All Might’s — it was almost unnerving — though he had a faint feeling that the intended meaning was different. His musings were interrupted by Kiruka clapping a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t overthink it — dark and broody over here just likes hearing himself talk. You can win this, so do it!”
“I am sorry, Sensei,” Nine apologized as he watched the Sports Festival. More specifically, Izuku, who had just broken every one of his fingers and lost .
“Do not worry, Nine — I have a feeling he was doing something… heroic.”
Internally All For One was starting to realize just what lengths those idiotic, licensed vigilantes sometimes put themselves through. It was almost inspiring!
Save for the utter stupidity in risking oneself in such a fashion.
Still, he knew the payoff would be worth it, and it had the bonus of not needing to take time to bend Izuku to his will — efficiency was a virtue.
Even then, he hoped someone would tell his son how incredibly short-sighted his methods were.
—
Recovery Girl was quite confused when she found a bouquet of flowers and a large box of medical supplies on her doorstep.
“He’s interning under who !?”
“Gran Torino,” Nine said again.
“I heard you the first time,” All For One groused. “I just… Gran Torino. That man is still active?”
“Do you wish me to dissuade your son from—”
“No, no,” All For One said before Nine even finished speaking. “He’s made his bed — now he can lie in it.”
Izuku had hoped his training under Kugo would help him with learning under Gran Torino.
The one problem was that the man took one look at him, managing to use One For All without breaking his bones like toothpicks right off the bat, and decided to “make things harder.”
He didn’t ask where the elder hero had obtained what could be compared to items one might find in a dungeon crawler, but luckily his better judgement won out, and he focused on avoiding both the strange contraptions and the blur that was Gran Torino.
“But I thought I was the MC!” Tomura exclaimed angrily. “Why am I getting put on a side-quest?”
“Tomura,” All For One said, the commanding presence causing the already pale young man to grow a shade lighter. “Surely you should know that a rigid strategy is of little use — the plan has changed. Be glad that I still deem you a part of it.”
Tomura grumbled, but did as instructed, walking into a warp gate before Kurogiri too disappeared, no doubt finding the Hero Killer on the other side.
All For One didn’t like the idea of a man like Stain walking free — he was too fickle and unpredictable to be left alone. All For One would not gamble on him deeming Izuku ‘worthy.’
Izuku looked at the last sent message — it still hadn’t been read. He had been worried about Iida…
His thoughts came to a grinding halt as a large humanoid broke right through the train, the impact knocking several passengers to the ground. The exposed brain and strange appearance brought back memories of the ‘Noumu’ at the USJ.
He heard Gran Torino say something about “staying put,” but ignored it — he couldn’t just sit by while someone could be hurt!
Izuku started quickly looking around, trying to find anyone who may need help, but one thought kept trying to force itself to the forefront — Iida — Hosu was where the Hero Killer had attacked Ingenium… Iida’s brother…
“Where could he be ?”
Tenya had been walking around Hosu with Manual when suddenly a creature not unlike the Noumu from the USJ appeared. The commotion had been the perfect distraction, allowing him to slip away to find the Hero Killer.
Unfortunately he had yet to even catch a glimpse of the man. Suddenly he stopped, ducking behind an alley as he saw the pro-hero Native following Endeavor — that was close— too close .
After a few tense minutes of waiting, Tenya let out the breath he’d been holding and resumed his increasingly erratic search — he wasn’t even stopping before crossing streets anymore!
Still, even in his frantic state, he hadn’t failed to wonder if perhaps the Hero Killer had moved on — now would be a perfect time for him to strike in the pandemonium and yet there was still no sign of the man.
“Tch, typical low-level mobs not following commands,” Tomura grumbled. Despite his childish phrasing, the young man was on full alert, staring down the Hero Killer.
Unfortunately the NPC had used a stealth attack on Kurogiri, leaving Tomura and the three Noumu they had been provided with to face the masked man. To make it worse, the Noumu hadn’t followed his orders very well, trying to attack Stain for just twenty seconds before they ran off to different parts of Hosu like a pack of overgrown rats.
Jumping backward, Tomura was forced to dodge another strike, trying unsuccessfully to grasp the blade and delete it.
The NPC was unusually quiet, which Tomura could appreciate — long-winded speeches not being said by him just slowed down the game’s pace. Not having to mash skip was a small comfort in this irritating mess of an encounter.
Well, at least he wasn’t anywhere near Master’s… son . He was not ready to face the man if that brat got hurt because of the rampaging noumu he had been given.
“Hah, I have found you, Hero Kill— Midoriya ?!”
Izuku was standing confusedly in front of the bound form of The Hero Killer — Stain. The man seemed to be unconscious.
Izuku looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “I swear I didn’t know he was here — I just heard a noise, and… well… He was here.”
Tenya stared unblinkingly.
Midoriya waved a hand in front of his face, bringing him back to reality.
“I’m sorry, I just… How ?”
“ I don’t know !” Izuku declared in pure confusion. “There-there’s even a…” Tenya’s classmate stopped, the look on his face twisting even more in confusion.
“What, there’s… what?” Tenya asked cautiously.
“There’s… a card.”
As Tenya looked more closely, there was indeed a card hanging off Stain’s jacket, unopened.
“Do you… want to…”
“No! I mean, er… if you want to take a look…”
Tenya gingerly pulled the card off the still-sleeping Hero Killer, opening it to find a printed message.
“Hello Izuku, I’m sorry for not being available — take this as a gift to make up for it.”
Before Tenya could stop himself, his utter disbelief rolled off his tongue. “Whattheheck?”
“I’m sorry, Master—”
“Sorry? Oh, I only wanted you to keep a low profile. And then three noumu ended up rampaging through Hosu. You are quite lucky that Izuku was unharmed.”
The voice over the monitor was clipped and firm — Tomura let out a sigh of relief at finding out that while the brat had somehow shown up in Hosu, he had come out fine. That meant he only had to sit on edge to see if there would be some sort of consequence for his failure to catch the Hero Killer.
“I do have a way that you may prove yourself,” Master finally said. “Consider your remembering to leave my letter as one of the few reasons I am even entertaining the idea. UA will be having their summer training camp in a few months — perform well and I will be most pleased.”
Before Tomura could voice any questions, the feed cut off, leaving him alone with his thoughts and Kurogiri.
He was going to need some proper companions this time — no more Noumu or cannon-fodder as his main force.
“Kurogiri, Tell Giran we need some higher-level party members — the USJ pawns and Noumu didn’t cut it.”
“What exactly are you saying, Gran Torino?”
“The kid’s been training,” Gran replied. “And not just by you — he’s too crafty — too familiar.”
“What do you mean?” All Might asked, not sure what his old teacher was getting at.
“I don’t know, but I’d keep an eye on him.”
“I’m ready to rumble—I wanna see some action!”
“Quiet, you violence-seeking thug,” a gas mask-wearing teen chastized before being interrupted.
“ Ugh , his stuff is so not cute — I wanna see ‘Izuku’ — he looked so pretty at the Sports Festival!”
“Make sure you don’t hurt him,” a fourth figure stated, donning a black mask that covered most of his face before stopping below his piercing grey eyes. “That goes for all of you except Muscular.”
“Tch, wish we could do more to these excuses for heroes, but at least we get to knock them around a little — maybe give them a wake-up call,” the last figure drawled, coat catching the wind as he looked over the sprawling forest with his blue eyes ablaze.
“Watch what you do, heroes — one wrong step and your friend here gets to taste lead.”
Magne lifted up her magnetic weapon threateningly while that Mustard kid continued to keep his gun trained on the hero they had caught.
The stand-off continued until suddenly the magnet-wielding villain was surprised by the arrival of that kid.
“Mustard, quick, let’s get—”
Taking advantage of her moment of distraction, Tiger leapt into battle, trying to hit Magne while another of the Pussycats fought Mustard.
“Mandalay, I know where Kouta is!”
And the boy disappeared right in front of their eyes — heading deeper into the burning forest.
“Kugo, are you insane!?” Kiruka exclaimed, only receiving a quick glance in return before her companion looked straight ahead. “I know ‘Sensei’ thought it would help that kid get stronger, but seriously—”
“We both helped train him,” Kugo replied, the mask he was wearing hiding much of his expression. “It’s time to see whether he will sink or swim.
Kiruka growled, but followed Kugo — they still had a part to play.
Izuku pushed back with every ounce of strength he had — slowly rising up with a determined expression. “One For All — One Million Percent!”
With one mighty swing, he sent Muscular careening into the side of the mountain, the impact knocking the villain out cold.
Just as he went to check on Kouta, red filled his vision — literally — Kiruka was suddenly standing right in front of him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his words slurring slightly from what he assumed to be his adrenaline fading.
“To take you somewhere safe — congrats on beating the big oaf there!” she replied, pointing toward where Muscular had fallen.
“But I gotta get Kouta to safety—”
“No. You are coming. Now.”
Suddenly Izuku realized Kiruka wasn’t the only one with him — recognizing the voice of Kugo.
Before he could protest, the green-haired teen slumped over, only stopped from falling to the ground by Kugo roughly grabbing him as he lost consciousness.
“What a convenient quirk,” Kugo said dryly as he looked Izuku over. “No backlash, either, the Doctor did well,” he observed, looking at his hand intensely. “I take it you can keep an eye on Muscular to make sure his failure doesn’t go unpunished.”
Just as Kiruka was about to answer, a small boy spoke up in a timid voice.
“Who-who are you?”
Kugo glanced at Kiruka again. “Can you… take care of the child as well? I doubt Sensei’s son would appreciate him getting hurt.”
Kiruka sighed dramatically. “I suppose so — It would be such a shame if I had to disfigure Muscular’s cocky face, though.”
“It would.”
“Too bad. I want to.”
Toshinori was scowling so hard his jaw felt it would break as Tsukauchi relayed what they had learned from the children and teachers during the attack on the training camp.
—
“There was this girl—she was looking for Deku.”
Young Uraraka shivered as she recounted her encounter with one of the attacking villains.
“She said something a-about how she thought Deku was… ‘pretty’ at the Sports Festival — about his fight with Todoroki.”
The girl paused for a moment, confusion spreading across her face once she continued.
“This—this lady showed up — red hair, had a mask on. The same one they found with that muscle villain. I… I think she was working with them.”
“And why would that be?” Tsukauchi had asked curiously.
“Well… She just… told the girl — Toga I think? To ‘go meet up with the others.’”
“Okay, thank you for the information. What else?”
“Well, then we…”
—
“I believe the only target was Midoriya.”
Todoroki Shouto opened up bluntly, leading into the conversation with all the subtlety of a brick through a window.
Before Tuskuachi had been able to ask the boy to elaborate, he had continued.
“I just ran into Bakugou and Tokoyami trying to get to the main building when a blonde-haired girl appeared. She started talking about how she appreciated my fight with Midoriya during the Sports Festival, and Bakugou tried to attack her, though he was limited in using his quirk due to the trees.”
The teen stopped to take a breath. Tsukaichu then realized that it was only the second one the boy had taken during his recounting of events.
“The girl seemed to take an interest in Bakugou as the fight continued. We eventually ended up in a small clearing with a number of unknown individuals who disappeared through a portal identical to the one at the USJ.
—
The stories all told the same thing — the target was Izuku — and it didn’t seem to be hostile.
At first he had thought that All For One (there was no way the man wasn’t behind this — it held his stench) had deciphered the boy’s connection to Toshinori, and had some nefarious plan in mind, but on a hunch, Tsukauchi looked into the Midoriya family.
Midoriya Hisashi didn’t truly exist — records eventually lead to nowhere —
Or to organizations that sounded like Him .
One of which had been involved in the lawsuit that had been levied against UA so many months ago about the endangerment of young Midoriya— right after the USJ incident.
Toshinori refused to believe that the young, naive boy he had met over a year ago was a purposeful pawn in some sort of grand plan — it just… didn’t feel right.
When Izuku woke back up, he found himself inside what looked like an office warehouse.
“Good morning, Izuku. It’s been so long.”
Izuku blinked confusedly — he recognized the voice! But when he saw the source, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was a strange dream—
“Ah yes, you aren’t used to this appearance—quite a mess, isn’t it? I can assure you that this is no dream.”
“What—who are you?” Izuku asked the figure confusedly.
The man continued — the voice sounded just like the recordings Mom had of his dad — but the pictures looked quite different — first of all, ‘Midoriya Hisashi’ wasn’t nearly as tall as this man, and secondly, he would have remembered if his Dad’s face looked like a potato.
“I hope you enjoyed your test — from what Nine told me, you passed with flying colours,” the figure continued.
“I—what?”
“Your test — I had Tomura and some followers of his attack your training camp as a live exercise of your heroic abilities. I must admit that even I am pleased with your brutal take-down of Muscular. He truly squandered his power — so strong, and yet he behaved as a battle-thirsty dog.”
Izuku’s head was swirling around, not sure what to think. “You-you know that-that villain from the USJ—from the training camp?”
“Of course I do!” the man exclaimed theatrically with raised hands. “He was to be my successor, until you came onto my radar.”
“You-you’re a villain?!” Izuku exclaimed loudly. “I won’t follow in your footsteps - you aren’t my father—”
“Oh please,” the man interrupted him with a tone of mock-hurt. “If I had wanted that, I would have stuck with Tomura. No, you shall be the world’s greatest hero — even All Might himself will fail to compare to you! Everyone will forget the name of that horrid blond buffoon!”
As he continued, the man’s voice continued to rise in excitement—
Wait, the greatest hero ? The man behind the villain who had attacked the USJ wanted him to become the world’s greatest hero ?
“But-but you can't be my dad — he’s just been working overseas! There’s no way he’s actually—”
“How long?”
“Wh—”
“Humour me,” the man said, clasping his hands. “How long has it been since you last heard from your father?”
“About five years ago,” Izuku replied quizzically. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Hmph, All Might most definitely picked someone who reminded him of himself,” the man muttered before addressing Izuku. “Five. Years. The exact same amount of years have passed since I crippled the ‘Symbol of Peace.’
Izuku’s mind whirred as he started to realize how conveniently the pieces all fit. As he puzzled over it, he suddenly realized he wasn’t the only one disturbed, the relaxed body language of his… supposed relative gone in the blink of an eye. Suddenly the left wall was gone, what seemed to be a compressed shot of air tearing through the building.
“Come now, Izuku. It seems the welcoming committee has made their appearance, and I have a final show to perform.”
Suddenly the man — All For One Izuku finally realized — exited through the gaping hole, standing on the air as if it were solid ground. He couldn’t hear quite what was said, but he did make out the forms of Best Jeanist, Tiger, of the Wild Wild Pussycats and Mount Lady.
Seemingly as soon as All For One appeared, the heroes were immediately defeated — a single blast of air knocking them all to the ground ruthlessly. Best Jeanist struggled to launch a desperate attack but was stopped by an unseen quirk — suddenly falling back to the ground.
“Hmmm, I almost admire your tenacity. I would give you a fitting end, but I don’t think Izuku would approve,” All For One remarked, activating Commander and watching the hero immediately fall unconscious under the pressure.
‘Three. Two. One,’ All For One counted internally — He really had slowed — it was still a matter of seconds before All Might arrived, a scowl on his face that filled All For One with a sense of pride — not just anybody could inspire such hate in the ‘Symbol of Peace.’
“All For One — where is my student!?”
“How the mighty have fallen, All Might,” All For One said mockingly. “Surely you would know how to share!”
All Might snarled, blasting forward with a punch that created shockwaves.
“Then again,” All For One continued as he took the blow. “You have gotten weaker—perhaps you are too feeble to be part of his training.”
All Might roared defiantly, trying to catch All For One with a One For All-enhanced uppercut.
All For One took a moment to summon Izuku, along with Tomura and his “League of Villains.” Perhaps it could serve as some sort of training for his son and Tomura.
“Unhand young Midoriya!” All Might shouted angrily as he once again punched All For One with enough force to create impressive shockwaves.
All For One smirked, disappointed that the expression was hidden under his mask. “And why would I yield my own son to you, oh great ‘Symbol of Peace?’” he asked, gleefully waiting for All Might’s response, and a response he did get — just not near the one he was hoping for.
“He’s out of your hands now — even Nedzu and Sir Nighteye agreed that you should not be his father!”
Had he not been through such hell as the early quirk era, All For One would have lost control over a good number of his quirks in that instant — was that… a joke… surely that blond oaf hadn’t just… no. No. There was no way—
“It’s true! I found out your connection to the boy! I will not allow you to corrupt him!”
“I’m afraid that isn’t your choice All Might,” All For One growled. “My Izuku will surpass you, one way or another! The attacks until now have been to wear you down — now I’m ready! It’s time to end this!”
All for One started pulling upon quirks, calling out their activation. “Air Cannon, Springlike Limbs, Spearlike Bones, Kinetic Booster…”