Chapter 23: Chapter 23 one shall rise/ one shall fall
With the first two stages of the Sports festival over, now came a small reprieve for the students and the public. This was, of course, filled with meaningless games and activities just so they could justify the existence of the other course's participation in this event. After all, not many business or support students are actually interested in the chance to join the hero course and only a few have ever made it from general studies into the hero course. The only one in recent history being Aizawa.
The activities were boring for the most part and I left my seat to go and mingle with the other pro-heroes. Such an act was extremely important. I held a great deal of political power and influence in the Japan and my status as a boy genius and a nearly unrivaled powerhouse has made waves across the world. My revolutionary work in advancing science and technology alongside the innovations my company is churning out made me a very rich person and that was besides my work as a hero and the massive amounts of money I was getting from merchandise deals and the various talk shows and news programs that I've been invited to over the past two years. I wasn't living like a rich person, though. In fact, I haven't even moved out from the small three room apartment that my family was given after they were taken into the Commission's protection program. wasn't worried about the Commission holding my mother hostage to put a leash on me since any such acts, even from a third party would prove either incompetence or corruption at the highest levels of the Commission.
"Here we go again, folks! The third act of this sports festival, the one vone tournament! First off, we have the electrifying Denki Kaminari against the winner of both the previous events, the fledgling Symbol of Hope, Izuku Midoriya!"
The rowd roared as Izuku stepped onto the stage.
I couldn't help but grin as I looked down with my Sharingan.
"Start!"
In a split second, Izuku vanished into a body flicker and emerged high above the arena just as his opponent discharged his entire electrical stock on Izuku. This resulted in Kaminari being reduced to a bumbling moron and Izuku quite easily kicked him out of the arena
"The first match is over, Izuku Midoriya moves forward! Next up the heroic legacy of Endeavour, Shoto Todoroki! Against him stands the kid with the tape coming out of his elbows, Sero Hanta!"
The match was over in seconds. Sero did a good job, but Todoroki threw an iceberg at him... yeah, that's not really fair, is it? Honestly the kid was lucky the iceberg came in my direction as I was able to put up a three layered Rho Aias over the stands that was able to tank the iceberg and shatter it as it crashed against the shield. I may have shattered the ground where I stood, but to be honest, that kid packed a serious punch. Probably not as much as Izuku, but enough to give my brother serious issues, especially unarmed.
I, of course, helped with the cleanup of the arena. I simply spat out a Fire Style: Flamethrower big enough to engulf the whole glacier and melted it.
"Next up we have someone from class 1-B, the girl with vines for hair, Ibara Shiozaki and against her stands 1-A's Ashido Mina!"
Lame people, lame fight. Ashido was warped up like a bun and thrown out of the arena before her acid could really take effect. I have to admit that Ashido was athletic, but Ibara's defenses were too tough for Ashido's acid.
"The next contestants are 1-B's Yosetsu Awase and
1-C's Shinso Hitoshi!"
Is it just me, or did Mic run out of things to say about these people? At any rate, the fight began, Shinso said something and Yosetsu replied and suddenly Yosetsu turned around and forfeited the match.
What?
l've got to speak with Izuku about this guy
"The entrance exam is irrational. It's heavily biased against those with flashy quirks and those like Shinso Hitoshi's Brainwash are left behind and slip through the cracks"
I sat back down as I heard Aizawa's voice.
Brainwash, huh? An interesting quirk and if what I saw is right, it's activated by a reply from the target. Its effects are quite similar to my Sharingan's hypnotic abilities and who knows, maybe with enough practice it may even rival the power of a Mangekyou Sharingan's
Kotoamatsukami. That is a terrifying thought and it makes my heart beat with excitement.
I'II be sure to give this guy an internship, though that still depends on how he does in the next few rounds.
"Now, let's great our next contestants class 1-A's Fumikage Tokoyami and 1-B Honenuki Juzo!"
The battle was somewhat long lasting but in the end it was just a bore. Tokoyami used Dark Shadow to keep himself from sinking and he threw out his opponent from the arena.
"And now we have Hatsume Mei from the Support
Department against 1-A's Tenya Ida!"
This fight was a disaster. A cringe worthy disaster.
For Ida at least. Well, that will teach him not to be too trusting in the future.
The next fight was between two hardening quirk users in Kirishima and Testetsu. They beat each other senseless and knocked one another unconscious. It looked nice, but to my trained eyes I could see that this was no better than a bar brawl.
In the end I dismissed them. Next up was a fight that I was interested in Katsuki vs the Yayorozou heiress.
The match started well enough, with Katsuki throwing out explosions like confetti. I could see that he was weary of Yayorozou. That girl most certainly had the knowledge necessary to create a neutralizing agent against Katsuki's nitroglycerin sweat. Even so, I could see Yayorozou loosing. She was unable to keep up with the pace Katsuki had set and that was her first mistake. She allowed Katsuki to gain control of the battle and thusly sealed her fate. Five minutes later, Katsuki came out the winner and was moving forward.
Now came an exciting battle. Izuku vs Shoto
Izuku stepped up to the arena. He was angry, especially after his little run in with Endeavour.
Shoto was waiting for him as he walked up the steps of the arena.
"You came" said Shoto
"Of course I did. I still have to beat your sorry ass and break your stupid dad's pride" said Izuku
All this talk about politics was grating and Izuku never really had the best control over his rage. Oh sure, he had thick skin, that was a prerequisite for any quirkless hoping to survive past his tenth birthday with their mental health intact and he had a long fuse, otherwise Katsuki would have been long dead by now, but he tended to explode quite violently when he was at his limit. Again, normally that wasn't that much of a problem. A good spar with Madara usually took care of all the pent-up emotion he had accumulated during the day and if needed Izuku could last quite a while without releasing his frustrations.
Unfortunately, his brother spent the past two weeks at Might Tower trying to dig up more info on his inherited archnemesis, All For One, and his pets. This wouldn't have been such an issue, if not for what he learned about the Todoroki family situation and the conspiracy to hide it all. Izuku had always considered himself a peaceful person.
He never struck back, never tried to get anyone into trouble. He'd been a model student all his life, but he couldn't help but feel a burning desire to rip out Endeavour's intestines and strangle the man with them. The same went for the higher ups of the Hero Commission. Was this society all a lie?
Was everything the people saw just a well-crafted lie to keep them in line? He would get his answers, that Izuku swore, but first he had to help his classmate, his friend, to overcome his demons.
"Are you ready?" asked Midnight
Shoto took a stance
"One more thing before we start" said Izuku "How about we change the rules of this game a bit?"
The stadium fell silent as people whispered to one another 'What is that kid doing?' they were asking
"What do you have in mind?" asked Shoto
"No loses on technicalities. This is a fight between you and me and the first one knocked unconscious loses. No disqualification for stepping out of bounds, no height limit and no restriction on support equipment" said Izuku
"That's a bold move, but I like it! Todoroki Shoto, do you accept these changes?" said Midnight
"Just one question. What support equipment do you use?" asked Shoto
"Nothing much, just this" said Izuku as he withdrew from his pocket a small device that looked like it was meant to fit on someone's forearm
Shoto nodded his acceptance
Meanwhile in the stands
"What the fuck?" I yelled as I jumped to my feet
How? How in the name of all the gods real or not did Izuku manage to get his hands on a scientific ninja tool? I mean, it's probably not the same thing, but dam it all is that what my brother has been cooking up in his lab for the past two weeks.
"Something the mater Madara?" asked Nezu
"Yes, is something wrong young Madara? I mean, understand that this isn't really traditional, but-" began All Might
"It's not that" I cut him off "That device that Izuku asked to be able to use, I know of it. I just didn't think that Izuku would have made his own version"
"Why is that Madara? Do you not approve?" asked
Nezu
"Oh, don't get me wrong, I approve of him thinking outside the box, it's just that this feels a bit too much like cheating" I said
"In what way?" asked All Might
"That device, you could call it a shortcut to jutsu" I said
This made them blink. The staff of UA was well aware of just how powerful my jutsu were but they also knew that each one was the result of tens of hours of research and experimentation built upon years of basic chakra training and discoveries.
"I thought that he couldn't use jutsu, if you knew of this shortcut why didn't you take it?" asked Snipe
I glared at him "Because, at that time, I hadn't discovered fuinjutsu yet and it would have made me dependent on support equipment to bring out my full potential"
"What is fuiniutsu?" asked All Might
I closed my eyes and sighed. They don't know of this, after all fuinjutsu is one of my most powerful tools and it's not like I wanted to tell them in the first place
"Think of it as a computer program. A set of instructions that make the computer behave a certain way. It's the same deal with fuinjutsu. A set of written instructions that make chakra behave in certain ways and produce certain effects, like jutsu for that matter. In fact, my barrier, Rho Aias, is a fuinjutsu"
"So that was what those pieces of paper were, fuinjutsu seals" said Nezu
Inodded
"Correct. To use juts one must have control over his chakra, knowledge on how to shape it and on it's various nature transformations and enough power to pull off the effects desired. Fuinjutsu makes it so that the first four criteria are waived away and as long as you pour enough power into the array, the effect you desire would come out in the exact same way every single time. You may not know this but Izuku is a prodigy with seals and he's more proficient in their use then I am. I should have expected that he would create such a device" I said
"Both contestants ready?" asked Midnight
Izuku got into a fighting stance, his fuinjutsu tool that contained his relatively small arsenal strapped comfortably to his right forearm
"Start!"
The crowd roared as Shoto let loose a wave of ice.
In response Izuku pulled back his fist and charged it with sage chakra. Swinging it forward, Izuku broke through Shoto's ice. Two quick movements of his fingers activated the device under his arm and let loose a jutsu
Fuiniutsu Wind Style: Air Cannon
High velocity winds swooped through the area as they shoved Shoto off the platform.
"Man this is crazy! With one attack Izuku Midoriya sends Shoto Todoroki out of bonds. If not for the changed rules of this match, this would surely mark the end of Shoto Todoroki's chances in this sport festival. What do you think, Eraser?"
There was silence after that.
"Right... back to the show!"
Down in the arena, Shoto was picking himself off the ground. If one were to see his expression, one would see quite clear disbelief on his face
"One move" Shoto mumbled to himself
Suddenly he snapped his eyes upwards only for his gaze to meet that of Izuku. Heterochromatic grey and blue met electric green and Shoto saw a terrible resolve in those green eyes.
"You bastard!" screamed Shoto as he launched another glacier at Izuku
Izuku jumped out of the way and with a few quick motions of his right hand's fingers he thrust his arm forward ad a stream of fire intercepted the ice meant for him, burning a path through witch Izuku shot out of the iceberg. The remaining ice impacted the outer layer of a Rho Aias put up by Madara.
As Shoto looked around, he couldn't help but notice the seven shields with seven layers that were now protecting the stands from the debris of the fight.
Shoto threw more ice at Izuku. His advantage was at range, or so he thought, but every shot of his was either intercepted by a super punch or dodged and melted with fire. Shoto knew he couldn't contend with him for long. His body was already suffering from frostbite.
"You're slipping, Shoto" said Izuku
"What!"
"That ice of yours it takes a toll on your body. Your last attack was weak and I can see frost beginning to form on your body. Are you really going to lose out of a petty grudge?"
"Shut up!"
Shoto threw a massive wave of ice at Izuku. With two swift movements of his fingers a giant wall of earth rose up to defend him. Shoto's attack was stopped dead in it's tracks and Izuku retaliated by letting loose a bolt of green lightning that Shoto barely managed to shield himself from.
"You know nothing!" screamed Shoto "I will never use my right side. I won't give him the satisfaction of using his quirk"
Izuky had quite enough and burst into a flash step, closing the distance and punching Shoto so hard that he flew across the grounds to the other side of the stadium
"IT'S YOURS! YOUR POWER NOT HIS! You decide what to do with it, and it's not like you're bound to him!" shouted Izuku back
Shoto rose from the ground and in that moment the moments with his mother flashed through his mind and fire began to flicker on his right side. As he looked up though, he couldn't help but look at Endeavour
"Where are you looking, you bastard!" yelled zuku as he closed in and punched Shoto again "I'm right here, I'm your opponent. Stop being such a little bitch always looking for his daddy and take control of your own life, your own destiny! Everyone's giving their best and if you think I'm going to let you even approach victory with only half your strength then your clearly mistaken!"
It was then that Shoto exploded in an inferno of ice and fire and Izuku couldn't stop the grin that came onto his face.
"You're insane, you know that? Trying to help your enemy when you could have simply shoved me aside, what kind of maniac does that?"
Izuku laughed
"I'm going to be a hero. How could I not help someone in need? Now enough talk! Come at me with everything you've got!" yelled Izuku
"Ok, you asked for it!"
Shoto's flame and ice began to grow as Izuku activated Full Cowl, his body becoming engulfed in green sparks of lightning as Sage Chakra flooded every cell in his body. With a flick of his wrist a small pellet like scroll shot into his palm.
The two boys rushed to meet one another at the center of the arena as they launched their attacks at one another. Shoto threw flame and ice as Izuku responded by activating his final move. Drawing the full 100% power from One For All, Izuku shunted this power through his reinforced coils, down his arm and into his fist where it activated the seal within the pellet. At the last moment Izuku opened his fist and prepared himself for the recoil.
From his palm shot out a white beam of energy that struck Shoto's attack head on and not only stopped it, but it also punched through, reaching Shot and exploding with enough force to knock him unconscious and embed him into the stadium's wall.
The crowd was silent as the smoke and dust cleared out, but when they did they saw Izuku standing, his uniform top ripped to shreds and breathing hard, but there was not a scratch on him.
"Winner: Izuku Midoriya!" yelled Midnight
This seemed to rouse the crowds as they began to cheer. Those cheers only intensified as Izuku raised a fist in the air as a sign of victory.
"I have to say, little brother you impressed me" I said unable to keep the smirk from my face
We were currently in recovery girl's office where I was running a check on Izuku's arm. It was a quite easy to notice what he did with One For All, especially with my Sharingan
"Really?" asked Izuku
"Yes, really" I said with a smile "You found a way to use jutsu and more than that, you found a work around to use 100% of your power without damaging your body"
Izuku ducked his head and blushed. It astounds me how he can switch from a confident, insult spouting teenager to this shy kid before me. I reached out to ruffle his hair but stopped. Izuku noticed this
"Nil-san?" he asked
"I shouldn't be doing that, not anymore"
"Why?"
"You've grown, Izuku"
Izuku looked at me with wide eyes. I never truly realized this, but Izuku truly has grown. I can't keep treating him like the kid he used to be. I felt arms around me and as I returned to reality I saw Izuk hugging me and crying softly. I hugged him back.
Such a needy kid
"I'm proud of you, Izuku, Toshinori to. We're both proud of you. Now dry your tears and let me give you a check up, ok?"
Izuku let go of me and sniffed a bit
"Yeah, ok, thanks nii-san"
I checked his arm with my now semi-perfected diagnostic jutsu and frowned
"What is it?" asked Izuku
"Well, you aren't injured, but the coils in your hand are stressed. You probably won't feel it today, but don't exert yourself too much. Chakra coils are not something that Recovery Girl can fix. I expect that your arm will be quite sore after this" I said
Izuku nodded. It was nothing truly bad, per se, but he should really only use this move as a last resort.
I returned to my seat to watch the rest of the matches.
The next match between Shinso and Ibara. Like Izuku's match, Shinso requested that he be allowed to use support items and the girl agreed.
Such a stupid thing to do. Once he got his utility belt Shinso threw a flashbang and a smoke grenade. Ibara made a vine dome to protect herself but that got cut to shreds by a sword wielded by Shinso. Honestly, from the style of combat he was using, I could see that he was a novice at fighting. He couldn't have more than two months of experience using that blade under his belt. Juts enough to wield it correctly and not kill himself or anyone else with it. Ibara screamed and was caught by Shinso's quirk. She was quickly made to forfeit after that.
With my advanced hearing I could hear the other pro-heroes mutter about wasted talent and I couldn't help but smirk. Come next semester Shinso will be in 1-A, no doubt about it.
Next up was Ida and Tokoyami. Ida tried but lost since all Dark Shadow had to do was keep Tokoyami in the field until Ida's recipro burst wore off and then literally throw the immobile boy out of the arena.
Katsuki vs Kirishima came next and Katsuki won. It was a hard fought battle, for both of them and it left Katsuki tired and his hands were shaking.
Clear signs of quirk fatigue.
Round three kicked off with Izuku vs Shinso. A much expected fight, even if everyone knew what the end result will me. It did surprise however, how they reached said result. There were no quirks or chakra used. Shinso with a blade and Izuku bare handed fought quirkless in an impressive display of martial prowess. In the end Shinso yielded after Izuku caught his blade and broke it. The crowd was a bit displeased, but I wasn't and likely most top heroes were not. Shinso will be a fine underground hero and I've made up my mind about recruiting him. Even as he was defeated, the general course cheered for their champion.
Next up was the fight between Katsuki and Tokoyami. Katsuki won after he figured out Dark Shadow's weakness to light.
"And now, the fight you've all been waiting for, the fated battle between two childhood friends who took the number one and two spots at the Entrance Exam and have so far dominated the competition. One shall rise and one shall fall, ladies and gentlemen I give you Izuku Midoriya versus Katsuki Bakugou! Let the final match begin!"
Katsuki and Izuku both stood at opposite ends of the field. You could feel the tension between them.
"Are the contestants ready?" asked Midnight
The two remained silent for a moment after witch Katsuki spoke
"What's with the silence you bastard? Aren't you going to give me the same fight as half-n-half?"
"Why should I?" replied Izuku
"Are you looking down on me?!" yelled Katsuki
Izuku scoffed "Hardly, you're not even worth looking down on"
Katsuki's eyes widened for a moment before they narrowed viciously. Small explosions began popping from palms as anger filled his entire
being.
"Ready? Start!" yelled Midnight
In a grand explosion Katsuki flew at Izuku who responded by powering up with Sage Chakra and intercepting him in midflight. Izuku was far faster than what a normal person could see or react.
Before Katsuki could even comprehend what had happened, Izuku's fist was buried in his stomach, making him vomit what little fluid there was in his stomach and simultaneously halting his advance and emptying the air from Katsuki's lungs. It all led to an unceremonious fall to the ground for Katsuki all the while Izuku was casually standing by his side, fist in a slightly outstretched position. The crowd fell silent at what happened as Katsuki struggled to stand.
"Is this it?" asked Izuku
Looking up, Katsuki found the sight that had haunted his dreams since he could remember.
Izuku was looking down at him with pitying eyes.
"Stop it. Don't look at me like that, you fucker!"
"Then how would you like me to look at you? Have you seen yourself lately? Ever so desperate to prove you superiority over others that you take to bullying those beneath you. It sickens me to think that I once called you my friend!" said Izuku as he delivered a kick to Katsuki just as he was getting up
Katsuki was sent flying, but he managed to keep himself from going out of bounds. One could see the pure rage beginning to form on Katsuki's face
'This isn't happening, this isn't how it's supposed to go down! I'm the next number one, I'm the one meant for the top, so how can a small fry like him have this much power? He's cheating, he has to be!'
"What are you thinking about you moron? Still trying to justify your existence?" asked Izuku with a smirk
'This isn't like me' Izuku thought 'but it feels so good to rub it in like this'. As he was thinking this, Izuku also thought back to all the times his brother had helped him when he was still a depressed wreck. He couldn't help but think that without Madara, Katsuki would have been his image of victory. Without Madara, Izuku wouldn't be even half the hero and warrior he is now 'I'm truly blessed. Now all I have to do is rip out this rotten shard of my past'
"Dam it, you bastard small fry!" yelled Katsuki as he launched himself back at Izuku
As he approached, he became a literal whirlwind of explosion and destruction in the vain hope that it would work as an attack and also prevent Izuku from getting a hit on him.
"What are you doing, idiot?" said a voice from his side
"Huh?"
In an instant Katsuki found himself on the ground with his arm twisted behind his back in a painful position and Izuku sitting on top of him.
"Is that really your plan? Throw enough explosions out there and hope to beat me? Honestly, I don't even know why I'm humoring you; you haven't had a day of formal training in your life. Any fight that you can put up is whole dependent on your quirk.
Surrender and I won't embarrass you any further" said Izuku
Katsuki could not believe what he was hearing.
Him, surrendering? Impossible. He will fight to his last breath if he had to. Katsuki strained against the bonds to get his palm facing upwards. Just as he began, he was lifted up by his shirt and thrown out of the arena.
The horn sounded
"We have a winner! Izuku Midoriya is the winner for the first year's sport festival!"
The crowd cheered as Izuku rose his had and waved at them.
Back on the ground, Katsuki could only watch as the one whom he had mocked for years and who was supposed to be a simple pebble in his road suddenly transformed into an insurmountable mountain whose summit he could not even see.
The sport festival ended somewhat
anticlimactically. Oh, the fight was great, but it was evident that Izuku was toying with his opponent from the moment the match began. I expected it to happen like this. Katsuki had been an open wound in Izuku's heart since he failed to gain a quirk. This being said, I have seen the beginnings of something of an anti-quirk mentality in Izuku. It most likely stems from how he was treated as worthless by society for not having powers and the suddenly getting not only the most OP quirk but also the use of Chakra. In his match with Katsuki, Izuku did not use Full Cowl at all. Just sage mode enhancement was enough to get him to outperform Katsuki in every field possible. Add to that that Izuku has been tirelessly training his fighting skills for over a year while Katsuki relied on his quirk and you get a recipe for disaster. Even without chakra, Katsuki couldn't have stood his ground against a well-trained quirkless fighter.
The actual award ceremony went on without much fanfare. Both myself and All Might arrived in style to congratulate the winners and we even posed for a photo. Even now, I'm seeing people on the web in awe of us. Still, to me this picture is far more valuable than propaganda. All Might and I are standing next to Izuku who has the first-place medal around his neck. I'm at his side, with an arm around his shoulders throwing up a peace sign and All Might is standing behind us with a hand on each of our shoulders looking very proud. Izuku, of course is grinning like a loon.
All that's missing is our mother and it would be a family photo.
Let's not dwell on that too much. Today is a day of celebration. A new Symbol has been born into the world and he is yet to prove himself.
A/N i know double upload crazy right I only really did this because I did a double upload on UA's ghoul but forget about that a crazy fight is coming up soon y'all might cry y'all might get excited but one thing I can tell y'all all this fight coming up in 6 more chapters
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone