The Provisional License Exam is normally held twice a year during the summer, and I was scheduled to take part in the one happening at the beginning of September.
The remainder of summer was spent training lightning style and wind style. I managed to get a solid grip on the first and fully master the latter.
I'm still in the early stages of making the Chidori, but what I have now is more than enough to deal with anyone I may encounter.
After I defeated All Might in the practical exam, something that only happened because we weren't trying to kill each other, I was invited to I-Island to partake in the expo there. There really isn't much to say about it. The whole time I spent socializing with the other heroes, posing for the media and establishing relations with powerful people.
I did get to meet Endeavour though. He seemed to be scouting me for his agency.
Yeah, that's not happening in a thousand years, especially since All Might has this annoying habit of dumping more and more of his agencies' paperwork onto me. Honestly if I didn't know better, I'd say that All Might want to take me on as a sidekick.
That is not happening. I will never be someone else's sidekick, even if it looks that way to the media. After all what man that bears the name of the legendary Madara Uchiha while wielding the famed Sharingan would submit himself to such a lowly task. Ok, that's a bit much, but you get the point.
It was fun on the island, even if David Shield was sending me odd looks. I tried to get a meeting with him, but between my busy schedule and his we didn't have the time.
I hate all this politicking that comes along with being a hero. Honestly you would think that this career path would be at least somewhat sheltered from all the bullshit that is politics. Unfortunately, I know better than anyone my age just how much political power heroes have. Let's have a little thought experiment, shall we? If at the time of an election it gets leaked that one of the major heroes, this meaning the top 10 or so, dislikes or disagrees with a politician or party, then the fanbase of that hero will mostly vote against said party. It's not that much of a problem in Japan, where there is a clear rule against such things, but in other countries, having the popular heroes on your side is an almost guaranteed win against any political opposition.
That's not to say that there aren't factions in the hero circle, but they are mostly formed around agencies and leading those agencies are the top pro-heroes. This neatly leads me back to the political shitstorm I unknowingly inherited.
By this point it's clear that I am the successor to All Might. Someone saw the two of us duking it out during my exam, not that we were very subtle with all that destruction going around. The video is blurry, but it still went viral and thusly the world now knows that I am capable of going up against All Might and being able to hold my own, something that not even Endeavour can claim.
This coupled with All Might's increasing absence from the world stage and my increasing appearances on it on top of my connections with Might Tower has lead the hero community to believe that All Might is retiring and that he's been building me up as his successor.
It's something that we plan to confirm after I take my provisional license exam.
So, to sum it all up, I just got the proverbial keys to the most powerful faction in the hero community, All Might's. There is already a boom in Rikudou memorabilia and I'm slowly starting to gain my own fan base, and this is before I even managed to get my provisional license exam. I tailored my design to be that of a slightly edgier All Might, so that instead of bright spandex and big grin, I wear armor with intricate patterns in dark colors and instead of All Might's signature grin, I put on a smirk. It seems to have done wonders to attract the younger generation to my banner. That coupled with my easygoing nature when dealing with the media and the fans that accost me almost constantly and you have a recipe for success. Add to that a good deal of All Might's fan base and All Might himself on top of that and you have one of the most powerful factions in the hero community, at least PR wise.
Enough of that now.
I'm currently standing in front Takoba National Stadium in full battle gear. Usually each school would come with a busload of students to take the exam, but since l'm special, I get to take the exam alone, which is kinda shit.
By the looks the other hero students are sending me, I'm getting the feeling that I'll be their first target. Shit.
"You ok, problem child?" asked Aizawa
"Huh? Yeah, I'm ok, why are you asking?" I asked
"You seem to be thinking quite deeply, and I know you enough to know that means you're worried about something" said Aizawa
"Yeah, I am. The looks these other kids are sending me, it has me on edge" I said
"As it should" said Aizawa
"Huh?"
"There is somewhat of a tradition here. At the beginning of the exam the other schools band together to crush UA. It's called the Crushing of UA, and you especially are at a distinct disadvantage" said Aizawa
"Because of the Sports Festival, right?" I said
"That's partially correct, and because you place yourself in the spotlight as much as you do. The other students are bound to be particularly bitter about that. And on top of that you don't have any allies that you can rely on" said Aizawa
Inodded. This makes sense, I am alone here.
There are no allies to watch my back this time around. Not that there ever were. Ever since I was born into this world, I walked this path alone and the only support I ever had is what I built myself.
Izuku is the one that helped me the most by introducing me to All Might and then I built myself as someone worthy to be his successor.
I hope that I can live up to the expectations the world has placed on me.
"Well, no time to think about it" I muttered to myself as I began to walk towards the entrance
"Kid" called out Aizawa
Iturned to look at him
"Good luck"
I smirked and gave him the thumbs up.
We were led in a big room. It was somewhat crowded as more than a thousand hero course students from different hero schools were in the room. I was the only one from UA and I could see the others singling me out. My suit was almost instantly recognizable to anyone that has watched the news in the last few months, and whomever happened to not recognize me would surely see me as a target by the wide berth the ones that did recognize me gave me.
Soon enough a man that looked like he could use some rest came up to the podium
"Welcome students to the Provisional Hero License
Exams. I will be one of your evaluators. My name is Yokumiru Mera and I will be explaining this exam to you. The exam will be in three parts. Firstly, you will have to reach the safehouse we have set up on the other side of the stadium while caring this tag.
Whomever loses it, is out of the race. To enter the safehouse you need two tags. There are enough tags scattered across the stadium for two thirds of you. You can also take tags from your fellow examinees. After all, the hero business is a competition. Information on the other challenges will be provided to those that finish the first task" said the man
The room began to shake a little as the walls and roof fell away revealing that we were in an arena with four different zones. A city zone, an industrial zone, a mountain zone and a forest zone. Our safehouse's location was currently unknown
"And start!" said the man
The room began to shake a little as the walls and roof fell away revealing that we were in an arena with four different zones. A city zone, an industrial zone, a mountain zone and a forest zone. Our safehouse's location was currently unknown
"And start!" said the man
A horn sounded and I immediate put some distance between me and the rest of the students via a body flicker. It proved to be the right thing to do as the position I was in was instantly assaulted by students. Still, the majority of these students were a good two to three years older than me and had much more experience than I did. I may be able to go toe to toe with All Might in a controlled and known environment, but this was something different. Quantity had a quality of its own.
The vast majority of the student turned towards me, seemingly ignoring all their rivalries that I'm sure schools have.
"Well, well, if it isn't the star of UA" said one of the students that, by the look of their uniform came from Shiketsu
"Oh, and what about it?" I asked back
My Sharingan was already searching for targets among the mass in front of me. I could sense that they were trying to surround me. I flooded my body with lightning natured chakra. I wasn't quite yet ready to use the famed Lightning Chakra Armor of the Raikages and honestly I still had a ways to go before could even reconstruct it, but even this relatively small action brought me from contending with All Might's speed to beating it, even if just barely. Still it won't be long until I'm running along at light speed like the Raikages.
"I wonder what the media would say when the vaunted genius disciple of All Might fails to gain his provisional license" said the same guy
"So sure, are you? Of your success?" I asked
He laughed
"Look around you! You may have beaten the others of your year at the sports festival, but you're in the big leagues now, kid. Everyone here could have done the same" he bragged
Of that I have my doubts. Even first years weren't quite so defenseless as to be unable to take on a single quirked individual, even if they are more powerful and have more experience than them. Of course there are exceptions to this, but those only apply to people with truly exotic quirks.
remained silent and the guy's smirk fell
"so that's how it is, no matter. Attack!" he yelled
Almost at once the entirety of the students attacked. I managed to doge the first wave of long-range attacks and I made a few hand seals and spat out a dozen beach ball sized balls of flame at the incoming mass of what I assumed were close quarters specialists. The attack had the desired effect of dispersing them and allowed me to close the distance and take out a couple and snag myself the second tag that I needed to complete this task.
Still, the attack didn't let up and as I tried to escape my escape routes were constantly cut off by pillars of earth and an annoying bastard with a mutation that allowed him to reach my speed level in short bursts. It was clear that I was getting hemmed in as the others seemed reluctant to directly attack me. Probably in an attempt to wear me down. A shame that my chakra reserves have reached kage level in these last few months of training. They'll run out of stamina long before I do, but their number is a problem. Let's see if I can scatter them and forge a path.
With a few hand seals several plasma balls were sent racing towards the front lines when their trajectory was seemingly diverted by the guy from Shiketsu that was taunting me earlier. They were rendered ineffective, and I need a plan to deal with that guy.
Earth Style: Bedrock Shunt
Theground rumbled as it moved away from me. A lot of the students lost their footing, making them sitting ducks for my next attack
Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet
I held the last seal as I kneaded my chakra to draw water from the nearby lake and form it into its supposed dragon shape. Once it was done, the dragon let out a ferocious roar and then dived for the battlefield, overpowering the other elemental quirk users and cutting a swath of destruction through their ranks and inundating the area.
"Lighting style: Lighting Bolt" I yelled
I moved my lightning chakra coated palms and let loose two streams of electricity from them and directed it to strike the area previously hit by the water dragon. The result was the instant paralysis of some couple hundred students. These people can take the punishment, so I don't have to hold back as much.
I quickly moved to take advantage of the confusion and disappear into the city. Once there I searched for an office building and laid low. I then created a shadow clone and had it transom into a bird.
Apparently shadow clones can fully transform since they are only a bubble of chakra held together by their creator's will. All in all, it made for an excellent scout when in trouble and best of all, pigeons were quite common in cities so nobody will give it a second glance.
And now for the tricky bit.
I powered up my computer and the holographic screen popped up in front of me on my arm. On it was displayed a map of the terrain that I managed to snag via hacking a military satellite.
What? Did you expect me to go I this blind?
Honestly if you ever fight fair, then you're doing something wrong.
On the map were a few moving dots that indicated the people l've tagged while we were moving to enter the testing area.
My head snapped up. The shadow clone sent me a packet of memories that showed a pretty consistent group heading for my location and not fighting amongst themselves. What's more they seemed organized. I don't know enough about the other schools to recognize their uniform, but they were clearly led by someone well versed in strategy. was obvious from their formation that they were wary of an attack, but they seemed to be headed straight for my building.
I frowned. With a simple body flicker, I was on the roof of the building next to the one I was previously occupying. My sharp Sharingan saw one of the guys that looked like a wolf turn his head to my new location.
So that's how they were tracking me.
Earth style: Earth Destroyer
I slapped my hands down on the building and manipulated my chakra in such a way that it will cause the collapse of the surrounding structures thus trapping the poor sods in and with all that dust in the air, wolf boy won't be able to smell me.
Time to go anyways, my shadow clone has located the safehouse.
I flooded my body with chakra and vanished in a body flicker only to reappear in front of what was supposedly a bunker. I inserted the two tags into their required slots and stepped in.
There were a few students inside. All commotion stopped when I walked in. I never think that I'll get used to being gawked at.
It was two hours later that the same guy from the beginning of the exam appeared at the podium that was placed in the room.
"Now that you're all here, I'll tell you about the second stage of the exam. In this part you will have to rescue some hostages from a team of villains. The hostages are actors from the Help Us Company and they, along with the substitute villains that belong to several hero agencies will evaluate your actions and score you based on your effectiveness and minimalization of collateral damage. The final test is a surprise that will be sprung on you during the exam. Your task for now is to bring the hostages safely to the designated area" said Mera
I see, so this is a rescue operation with an unknown element to it. Possibly to test our adaptability and reactions to an unknown threat while on a rescue mission. The hostage situation is probably so that they can see that we're not the rash types since any wrong moves can spell disaster for the hostages.
I should probably make a team, but I don't really know how to go about approaching anyone about this. I was socially awkward in my previous life and while putting up a fake front for the media and fans is something I rehearsed, making friends is not something that I can do easily. No, it's probably for the best to go at this alone, anyone else might slow me down.
I body flickered out of the room and back on a tall building. Using my sensing skill, I pinpointed an area of high target concentration and went for it.
Returning to normal speed I allowed my Sharingan to fully drink in the sight before me and break it down. The hostages were held up in an office building, at around the middle. From what I could sense there were three of them and four bad guys.
Easy enough to handle. There were two bad guys next to the hostages and the others were patrolling near the stairways and entry points to the floor. I jumped onto the glass and stuck to it via chakra. Using precise wind style chakra, I cut a hole in the glass and I went inside.
From there on it was easy going. I have a good deal more mobility and stealth than any of these people, so it was easy to take down the two on patrol. After that it was a straight shot to the room where the hostages were held.
The hostages appeared to be a couple with a child.
I breached the door with a flash step. The 'villains' didn't even have time to react as I crashed into them and knocked them unconscious.
Iturned to the family and smiled
"It's ok, you're safe now. Are any of you injured?" I asked
My Sharingan was deactivated because it scared people. I learned this while on my internship, these eyes are good for looking cool, but not so good for trying to calm down civilians, unless I want to put them into a genjutsu.
"No, thank you" replied the guy
The response was somewhat clipped.
Before I could say anything else, I heard a siren wail through the stadium
"Attention participants, the third phase is now beginning. Villains have infiltrated the arena in forde and are moving to take hold of the designated area for hostages. Your task is to get the hostages to safety by any means necessary"
Shit
Iturned back to the couple.
"Can you walk? We need to get going" I said
"We're ok" said the woman as she took the child by the had
Honestly, I have no idea of it is a child or a midget, but whatever.
I looked out the window and saw the street swarming with villains. Ok, new plan
"Are any of you afraid of heights?" I asked
They looked at each other in bewilderment and shook their heads. I formed the iconic cross sign and three shadow clones popped up, each one picking up one member of the family.
"Hang on tight"
I dived though the window and crashed into the middle of the mob of villains
Water style: Waterfall
The torrent of water washed over the street and the still confused villain substitutes, granting my clones the time needed to jump and disappear into body flickers towards the area with the other hostages. After I dealt with some of the stragglers, I too headed there, and I arrived just in time to see Endeavour land at the head of the mass of villains.
His appearance shocked the exam takers
"As you can see, the pro-hero Endeavour has graciously accepted out offer to test this new format of the exam. Your task remains the same, and don't worry. He won't be going hard on your" said Mera
landed between Endeavour and the other exam takers.
"GO! GET THE CIVILIANS OUT OF HERE!" I yelled
That seemed to do the trick as the other students all formed up began evacuating the hostages, while leaving me to deal with the number two
hero.
This will be difficult. Endeavour is a whole other kettle of fish than All Might and I'm already down a bit of my reserves. I can't afford a prolonged ninjutsu slugfest with Endeavour because who know what's waiting for me going forwards.
Hodefully my water style is enough to deal with
him.
"Huh, so you're All Might's brat" said Endeavour
Man, I wish I had my Gunbai right about now.
I did not answer and dropped in a combat stance, chakra swirling though me and augmenting me the best it could. Endeavour seemed to take this as an invitation to attack and he let out a torrent of flame from his fist. My hands flashed though the necessary seals
Water style: Water Wall
Water from the ground rose up to counter the flame and they left behind only steam and smoke.
It was fortunate that my Sharingan detected movement in the smoke and that I managed to doge Endeavour's flaming fist.
I jumped back. I'm not making this a close-range fight unless I have to.
Earth style: Earth Wall
I slammed my hands on the ground and behind me a tall wall of earth emerged from the ground, blocking access for the rest of the villains to the other students and civilians that were escaping.
Endeavour looked surprised at my action.
"So, you are willing to sacrifice your life for the others" he rumbled somewhat unsurprised
" I wouldn't call it sacrifice. After all, I have no intention of losing" I said
He huffed and I ran through a handful of hand seals, bringing the final one to my mouth and inhaling a lot of air
"Fire Style: Majestic Flame Destroyer" I roared
Fire bloomed from my mouth and spread in a blanket across half of the stadium. The fire was so hot that it melted the ground and buildings that stood in its way. Endeavour tried to counter it but was blown out by the sheer force of the jutsu. The rest of the 'villains' were somewhat protected by their suits and because most were fire users themselves, they had some immunity to the flame but they too had to scamper off lest they be turned into charred meat. Still there were casualties. Fortunately, no one died, but quite a lot of people got burned.
I kept my technique up for a bit and when I stopped, the area in front of me was turned to a lava filled trench and half of the industrial zone was molten and deformed and some trees were still on fire.
Just my luck that the announcer ended the exam then and there.
Judging by the looks of shock on the examiner's faces I can quite confidently say that I may have overdone it. Still, the socked-angry-constipated expression on Endeavour's face as he saw the aftermath of my jutsu was worth it.