Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So why did you drag me here?” Hitoshi asked him, gesturing around to the slowly filling classroom with an expression in his eyes that made it clear he wasn’t upset about being in class, but rather, being early. 

“You’ll see,” Shisui said with a sly grin. Ever since his doctor’s appointment, he'd kept wearing his blindfold except for when he was with All Might or Hitoshi, though he had yet to tell anyone why. Well, now that his second order of fake eyes had come in, Shisui was more than ready to take it off. 

“You keep saying that,” Hitoshi sighed, “except I’m not seeing it.”

“Maybe you need to check your sharingan,” Shisui mused, the quip slipping from his mouth right as Midoriya stepped into the classroom, speaking excitedly with Uraraka about a pro-hero fight that had gone down this morning. Something something, Edgeshot is cool, something something, you should see my hero collection that I have at home, quickly followed by incoherent mumbling as Midoriya backtracked on that last statement. Uraraka laughed good-naturedly and waved it off, saying that she’d love to see his hero merch one day. 

Bakugou entered the room next, huffing in annoyance the second he heard Midoriya’s ranting. 

Todoroki walked in after. He briefly stopped to stare directly at Hitoshi and Shisui before taking his seat and continuing to stare unabashedly at them.  

Hitoshi leaned in closer to him. “Does he still think you’re Endeavor’s secret love child?”

“I think so,” Shisui replied. He noticed Midoriya wave a quick goodbye to Uraraka and head to his own seat to sit down. 

Hitoshi snorted softly, muttering something about Sasuke being a better candidate, which Shisui chose to ignore in favor of approaching Midoriya, who’d taken to writing something down in his notebook.

“Hey,” he greeted, practically looming over Midoriya. 

“Shisui-kun! Hi!” Midoriya greeted, seeming a bit frazzled as to why Shisui was talking to him. “What’s up?” 

Shisui pointed up at his blindfold. “I realized that I never showed you exactly how my quirk works the other day. That was rude of me and I’m sorry; would you like to see it now?” 

Shisui still couldn’t see Midoriya’s face, but between the twists of chakra that outlined Midoriya’s baffled expression and the note of surprise that emitted from Midoriya’s throat, he was more than amused already. The way everyone else in the classroom perked up in interest only added to Shisui’s delight. 

“Uh—sure? It’s mangos… right?” Midoriya asked hesitantly, and his inquiry caused several people to cock their heads to the side in confusion. Shisui heard a light snort come from Hitoshi, who was the only other person in this room aware of the stunt Shisui had pulled on Midoriya a couple weeks ago. 

“It sure is,” Shisui confirmed, reaching up to pull the blindfold down over his nose to reveal his new, shiny, yellow-orange fake eyes that Snipe had personally confirmed were the perfect mango color. However, this was not the final extent that Shisui was taking this joke. He leaned in closer to Midoriya, letting him get a good view of the marbled colors in his eyes. Other students from around the classroom actively got out of their seats to get a better view of the sheer magnificence of Shisui’s fake eyes. 

Hitoshi had one hand covering his lower face, shoulders shaking marginally, though it was likely only noticeable through Shisui’s chakra-detection. 

“I don’t understand,” Midoriya breathed. “I thought your eyes were gone?” 

“It takes a few weeks for the mangos in my eye sockets to properly grow back,” Shisui bullshitted, and then raised his hand up to his eyes. He mimed pulling contacts out of his eyes while casting a genjutsu so absurd that Fugaku would probably banish him from the clan if he ever found out that he’d used a powerful shinobi technique to do this.

Shisui pulled his hand away and in his palm, there was a big, beautiful, and perfectly ripe mango. He held it out to Midoriya, who gingerly took it, staring at it in awe. Shisui reached up and pulled out another one.

And another. 

And another. 

And another. 

By the time he was done, Midoriya was surrounded by five whole mangos; his previous muttering had turned into silence as he stared at all the mangos around him. Not far away, Hitoshi was bent over his desk, shaking with silent laughter. 

“So that’s my quirk,” Shisui confirmed with a nod, taking the mangos up off the desk and popping them back into his eye sockets one by one until they were all gone. 

Midoriya continued to sit there in silence. 

“I thought Shinsou said your clan had a powerful optical quirk?” Yaoyorozu questioned slowly, scratching at her head as she tried to puzzle this one out. 

Shisui cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, I do. Mangos are powerful objects.” 

“You mean to tell me,” Jirou spoke up. “That your mango quirk is so prized in your family that it’s been passed down for generations and also is so valuable that others want to steal your eyes?” 

Shisui nodded seriously.

Jirou leaned over her desk and laid her head down on the surface in defeat. 

“But that makes no sense,” Todoroki spoke up, pointing at Shisui from his place at his desk. “You’re my half-brother. You have a fire quirk.” 

For the last time— “Actually, that’s the mangos too,” Shisui deflected. He cast another genjutsu, pulling another mango out and setting it aflame. “See? All mango power.” 

Todoroki sat there in puzzled silence. As did everyone else. The first person to break the silence was Bakugou, who did so with an eloquent: “What the fuck?” 

Shisui shrugged and put the flaming mango back into his eye socket. “Mangos,” he repeated. 

Todoroki pursed his lips. He opened his mouth. He closed his mouth. He opened it. “So can you see now?” 

Shisui hummed. It was neither a confirmation or a denial. He returned to his seat, slipping by a visibly quaking Hitoshi and settling in comfortably, leaving his blindfold down around his neck so that everyone could continue to see his beautiful mango eyes. 

Right at that moment, Aizawa walked into the room and caught sight of Shisui’s eyes, Hitoshi’s doubled over form, and Midoriya furiously scribbling notes into his notebook. He sighed heavily, looking up at the ceiling with an exasperated expression before collecting himself. 

Aizawa rapped his knuckles against the chalkboard sharply, which was enough to snap the entire class out of their shared state of processing Shisui’s quirk. Almost in unison, everyone’s chairs squeaked and tables scraped against the tiled floor as the students scrambled to properly sit in their seats. Elbows propped onto the desk, some with pencils in hand to take notes and others with hands clasped together, backs ramrod straight against their seat-backs. Now that they weren’t thinking about Shisui’s stunt, they were instead thinking about what today’s training would entail: 

Today was simulation day—the day they’d spent the majority of the last few months preparing for. Although their performance during the simulation would count towards a large portion of their grade, excitement prevailed over their anxiety and nervousness. 

“As you know, today we are conducting your simulation exam, an exercise we always run before the Sports Festival begins. The location for this exercise will be at the USJ.” 

The USJ was the training facility with the most complicated terrain. There were a total of six disaster zones, each with a different layout and specialized threat to take into consideration. By default, some quirks were more suitable to deal with certain terrains over others; however, Hitoshi knew the simulation wouldn’t be so simple as to assign each person to their most suitable terrain. Chances were, the teachers would do the opposite and assign them to terrains they were the least suited for, meaning that the only way to succeed would be teamwork. 

Hitoshi pinched the bridge of his nose. Hopefully he ended up with a good team this time, with someone who was calm and cooperative. Last time he got paired up with Bakugou for training, it had been a disaster from the start. 

“The class will be split into six teams. Each team will tackle the challenge designed at their designated disaster zone. You must successfully complete four of the six challenges to earn a passing grade.”  

Midoriya’s hand shot up into the air. “If we have six teams, then one team is going to only have three members instead of four. Won’t that team be at a disadvantage?” 

“They will,” Aizawa admitted. “However, in the real world, you have to work with what you have. Even if your quirks aren’t compatible or you don’t have enough people, those are all hurdles you will need to overcome when you become full-fledged heroes.” Midoriya nodded along as Aizawa spoke, furiously scribbling his words into his notebook as if those were actual lecture notes rather than common sense.

Hitoshi peered around the room, discreetly surveying his classmates. Mentally, he began cataloguing each of his classmates’ quirks and then ranking them based on how useful they were in each disaster zone. As expected, some quirks thrived in certain zones while they failed in others. A versatile quirk like Yaoyorozu’s creation would be ideal to have on his team since Hitoshi doubted that his brainwash quirk would be much use in this exercise.

Hmph. Maybe if he did end up on the same team as Bakugou again, he could brainwash him into staying quiet. Now that sounded like a plan. 

By the time Hitoshi tuned back into class, Aizawa had already announced the members of the first two teams. Iida and Yaoyorozu were the captains of the first two squads, respectively, and from the way neither of them glanced in his direction, Hitoshi deduced that his name hadn’t been announced. 

The third and fourth teams were announced. All four teams had four members to their group, leaving the chances of Hitoshi ending up on the three member squad extremely likely. Hitoshi didn’t really mind because that meant he didn’t have to interact with as many people, but at the same time, he recognized that his quirk wouldn’t be the key to passing this exam. 

Without the correct pieces, strategizing could only do so much. 

When the fifth team was announced, Hitoshi’s name wasn’t mentioned, so he was automatically assigned to the sixth team—himself, Shisui, and Kaminari. The good news was that Shisui was on the same team as him. The bad news was that their team consisted of a blind boy whose quirk was supposedly mangos, a mental quirk that would hardly do any good, and an electricity user who went stupid after excessive usage. 

Underneath his mask, the corner of his lips twitched in amusement. To be fair, this squad’s skill set wasn’t any worse than the hand that he had been dealt with when Team Seven was attacked by Zabuza. At least Shisui had been a jonin before he died and Kaminari… well, he was cooperative and had a decently strong quirk, even if it wasn’t particularly versatile. 

Oh well. Hitoshi was pretty sure Aizawa purposefully assigned Shisui and him to the same squad in order to test exactly what they could do. 

Game on. 

Their first disaster zone was the Flood Zone, the worst disaster zone for using Kaminari’s quirk. Any accidental leak of electricity and anyone in the water would immediately be electrified. Despite that, their task was simple. The civilian town located above the ledge, where the gigantic water slide began, was under attack. Their designated escape route was across the water to the neighboring island, except their ships had been destroyed in the attack. 

They needed to devise a path across the water for the civilians to reach the town safely. 

It would have been a lot easier had they had someone like Todoroki who could freeze the entire lake to serve as a makeshift bridge, or Yaoyorozu who could create parts needed to fix the broken ships. Hitoshi’s eyes flickered over to the wrecked ships, the wooden structure basically split into two. 

Repairing it wouldn’t be an easy task. 

While Shisui stood by the shore to familiarize himself with the surroundings, Hitoshi dragged Kaminari to the ships, instructing him to look for anything useful. Life vests. An emergency raft. Anything that could help them complete their task. 

Both of them came up empty-handed. 

“How many of the civilians can swim?” Shisui quietly asked when they returned from their search. Kaminari shrugged, eyes darting over to Hitoshi as if expecting him to know the answer. 

“We should assume that none of them can. A civilian town with over a hundred people; we need to design the most efficient and safest escape route.” No ships. No quirk to freeze or drain the water. Even if Hitoshi could still run across water, there were only two of them to carry the civilians to safety.

That wouldn’t meet the parameters of the exercise. 

While Hitoshi was deep in thought with planning, he suddenly felt his body jerk forward as an unknown weight rested on top of his shoulders. He jolted out of his stupor, glancing over to see Kaminari’s cheery smile eerily close to his face. 

“Guys, don’t look so serious! We still have plenty of time to figure this out.” When Kaminari said “we,” Hitoshi knew that meant Shisui and him because he doubted Kaminari had any good ideas. And as the veteran between the two of them, Hitoshi felt obligated to be the one to propose a plan, but currently his mind was drawing a blank. 

Shisui broke the silence. “Are those rocks on the slide?” 

“Yup!” Kaminari answered. “Do you have an idea how to use them?” 

Shisui slowly shook his head. “No, but the first thing we should do is clear the slide of rocks. That’s just a disaster waiting to happen if an unsuspecting civilian tries to go down it without any forewarning.” His eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. “Would you mind doing that Kaminari? You can stack the rocks somewhere just in case we need to use them later. I have a few ideas I want to discuss with Hitoshi.” 

Kaminari happily agreed, probably delighted that he was finally being useful. While Kaminari went to work on clearing the slide, Hitoshi stood closer to Shisui. 

“Are you thinking of using your chakra?” 

Shisui turned his head, allowing Hitoshi to get a full view of his empty, soulless fake eyes. They were kind of creepy in a way; Hitoshi preferred the blindfold. 

“What choice do we have? Both you and Kaminari’s quirks aren’t suitable for this challenge. I can create a bridge with an earth jutsu.” 

“How good are you with earth ninjutsu?” 

“Passable,” Shisui responded as his fingers ran through a sealing sequence that Hitoshi recognized as a basic earth wall jutsu. His movements were stiff and slow, almost like Shisui was still trying to get accustomed to using jutsu again after not using it for so long. Unfortunately, earth style wasn’t one of the jutsus he had mastered to the point of expertise.

The ground rumbled beneath their feet as the earth underneath the lake began to split. The sudden movement knocked both of them slightly off balance. Hitoshi caught himself in time before he fell, hand automatically shooting outward to catch Shisui by the shoulder. The other boy turned to give him a slight nod as his way of thanks, before continuing to focus on summoning the earth wall. In the distance, Hitoshi spotted a glimpse of blonde hair on the water slide. 

The lake wasn’t deep, so it wasn’t long until Hitoshi could see the silhouette of the earth wall below the water. Moments later, the rock broke through the surface, spraying droplets of water everywhere. Droplets of water landed in his hair, the beads of liquid dripping from the ends of his curly hair before harmlessly seeping into the soil. 

There it was—a makeshift bridge created by splitting a chunk of the bottom of the lake and making it rise to the surface. Undoubtedly, there would be a lot of questions, but Hitoshi hadn’t spent years giving bullshit excuses for his tardiness for no reason. 

Shisui was quickly picking up on that skill too. 

Kaminari had gotten himself down from the water slide and was currently running towards them while frantically waving his arm in the air to get their attention. Hitoshi shifted his body slightly to deliberately not have to see him, even though he still caught glimpses of him in his peripheral vision. Shisui was staring dead on in Kaminari’s direction, but he still had the excuse of being blind to work with. 

“Hey!” Kaminari shouted. “What the hell was that? Is that our bridge?” He jabbed a finger in the direction of the earth bridge, a mixture of awe and shock written all over his face. “That’s so cool! How did you do that? I thought your quirk was related to your eyes.” 

Kaminari’s eyes darted excitedly back and forth between the two of them, mind churning rapidly to draw his own conclusions as the two of them remained resolutely silent. Suddenly, his gaze fell onto Hitoshi, pointing an accusing finger towards him. 

“Wait, this is your quirk isn’t it? Figuring out people’s secrets, voice impressions, holding your breath underwater, those were all lies, right? This–” At this point, Kaminari shifted his finger to point in the direction of the lake. “This is your real quirk!” A gleeful smile stretched across his face, almost like he was delighted and proud of himself for figuring out his quirk before everyone else. Too bad that Kaminari was not only by far the first person to find out what his quirk was, but was also completely wrong. 

It was better this way. At least, they wouldn’t have to explain why Shisui could summon earth when it was documented that his quirk had to do with his eyes. Too bad that was the case, though. Hitoshi knew that an excuse was already prepared; Shisui couldn’t stop the way his lips twitched unconsciously when he attempted to hide his gremlin smirk. 

He’d probably been about to say that he’d made the bridge out of mangos. 

When Aizawa came to grade their attempt, their eyes met. Aizawa’s eyes were full of questions, but Hitoshi schooled his expression, remaining stoic as to not give anything away. Shisui was the only unknown in the group and from the way Aizawa’s gaze subtly shifted over to Shisui, Aizawa knew it too. 

“Aye aye aye, hot hot hot.” Kaminari’s complaints filled his ears, and despite his best efforts to tune him out, Shisui’s heightened sense of hearing wouldn’t allow him. It was practically impossible to focus on exploring the new terrain with his chakra with the way Kaminari kept shifting around Shisui, his yelps interrupting his focus every three seconds. 

This was good training, Shisui supposed, since he wouldn’t be afforded peace and quiet to map out his surroundings in a real life situation. Still, Shisui could do without Kaminari jumping around him every time a flame got close to licking him. From the way Hitoshi was shaking his head, Shisui imagined that Kaminari’s movements were an exaggeration. 

“This is the Conflagration Zone. Almost every building in this arena is on fire. There’s top secret intel contained in one of these buildings and it is our job to retrieve it before the file burns. The problem is that we have no idea which building those files are located in and what these files even look like.” 

Kaminari raised a finger. “Probably the most administrative-looking building.” 

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow as his hand gestured towards the burning buildings. “And how would you know which building that is when everything is on fire?” Kaminari conceded his point, and for the first time they entered the arena, stayed still enough for Shisui to concentrate. 

“The three of us should split up,” Shisui proposed. Although he had enough chakra reserves to blanket the entire arena with his chakra, it was almost impossible to search for the hidden documents when the flames distorted the shapes of the objects. For maximum efficiency, their only option was to split up so each of them could search on a much smaller scale. Hitoshi would be fine, the threat of fire meant nothing to him, but Kaminari on the other hand–

“We’re going to be alone?” Kaminari couldn’t hide the doubt and quivering in his voice. 

“The fire hasn’t spread to the west side of the arena yet,” Shisui commented, gesturing vaguely in that direction. “You can search that area. Hitoshi and I will split the eastern section.”

Although Kaminari was relieved that he wasn’t being volunteered to jump into the fire pit, he still had his reservations. “Are you sure?” 

What Kaminari really meant was if Shisui was sure he would be fine, considering he was blind. Unfortunately, there was no way of reassuring him that Hitoshi and him were more than prepared to handle these kinds of situations without opening up that whole can of worms. Shisui turned his head slightly, silently asking Hitoshi for help. 

“Don’t worry about us,” Hitoshi told him apathetically, as if that would do the trick to convince him. Shisui resisted the urge to facepalm; if he knew that was what he was getting from Hitoshi, he might as well have tried to reassure him himself. “I’ll stay with him the entire time.” 

A flat out lie. The moment Kaminari was out of their line of sight, the two of them would split faster than either of them could blink. 

Surprisingly, Kaminari believed them. “Okay. How should we communicate if we find the documents?” 

“A bolt of lightning,” Hitoshi suggested. “Shisui and I will be able to see it.” 

That was all Kaminari needed before he took off towards the western side of the simulated city. The two of them split not long after he left, wordlessly agreeing that Shisui would start from the building furthest away from them while Hitoshi tackled the ones closer to their rendezvous spot. With a simple hand seal, Shisui found himself on the opposite side of the arena in less than two seconds. 

The first building Shisui pinpointed was practically engulfed in fire. A massive water jutsu could easily douse the fire, but the amount of chakra he would exhaust didn’t seem worth it for the slight possibility of that being the target building. Besides, the challenges were meant to be difficult, but not impossible. A building completely on fire didn’t seem likely. Knowing the teachers, the document was hidden in one of the semi-burning buildings. 

There were five of those in the area he was searching. The rest of the buildings were either completely up in flames or the structure had already crumbled. Latching his attention onto the nearest semi-burning building, Shisui darted through the unstable doorway, spreading out his chakra to quickly map out the structure of his surroundings. Four floors. Too many rooms to count. Probably an apartment complex of sorts. Forming a cross with his pointer fingers, Shisui summoned a handful of clones. When they poofed into existence, he instructed them to disperse after planting the objective of the mission into their minds. 

Shisui could only hope that if the proctors of the exams were watching, they weren’t watching too closely. Hitoshi would probably chide him for being reckless, but eh, Shisui didn’t want to stay here any longer than Kaminari did. 

The first, second, and third buildings turned up empty. Shisui entered the fourth, raising his arm and taking an instinctive step backwards when a wave of heat came crashing down onto him. Smoke filled his lungs. Shisui doubled over as a coughing fit racked him. 

By the time his coughing fit had subsided enough for him to focus on his surroundings, the flames had grown stronger, spanning to cover half of the lobby area. Beads of sweat trickled down from the sides of his face, tickling his skin. Damp hair clung to his forehead, a few stray strands brushing against his eyelids. Shisui resisted the urge to scratch at the itch, and instead focused on searching the building for the file. He was acutely aware time was winding down rapidly—this structure wouldn’t hold out for much longer. The creaks and groans of the wooden beams were telling of exactly how much time Shisui had left…

There!

In the chakra web that Shisui blanketed over the entire building, he could make out the shape of a thick file wrapped in a thick, plastic covering jammed between the slightly open window on the third floor. Without hesitation, Shisui nimbly darted through the lobby, easily avoiding the falling debris and piles of hot ashes. The flames twisted around him, stretching outward to lick his skin, but the intensity of the heat didn’t bother him. As he shunshinned up to the third floor, Shisui simultaneously summoned a small water jutsu to douse the flames that clung to the ends of his clothing. 

It worked. After spending the majority of his waking hours training to refine his chakra control, Shisui found himself able to use jutsu while keeping his chakra web activated. Good thing he mastered it, because if Shisui hadn’t, he would have sent himself teleporting straight into a wooden beam that was completely on fire. 

He was glad to dodge that bullet.

The sole of his foot kicked down the frail wooden door, sending it careening to the ground with a loud crash. Shisui stepped over it, crossing the room in milliseconds to snatch the file that was one light gust of wind from slipping out of the window. 

When Shisui turned to head back the way he had entered, a loud crash sounded in his ears. Now missing the door as support, the entirety of the door frame structure collapsed inward, folding like origami, and blocking his escape route. Sighing, Shisui tucked the file into the waistband of his pants before walking over to the window. Placing one hand on the window sill and the other on the ledge of the window, he pushed upwards. 

The window hardly budged. 

Shisui tried again, this time with the help of his chakra to enhance his strength. The window moved. A grating squeak pierced his ears, prevailing above the roar of the flames that danced higher and higher behind him. Punching out the mesh covering of the window, Shisui swung one leg out of the small opening, followed by his other leg. Once his lower half was completely outside, Shisui released his hold on the windowsill. Gravity took over, sending him tumbling towards the ground. 

He landed on the ground with a roll, using his chakra to alleviate some of the reverberating impact that thrummed through his bones. Nimble like a cat, Shisui sprung to his feet and took off running while the building began to collapse behind him. By the time the building was nothing more than a pile of hot ashes, Shisui was already long out of sight. 

Hitoshi wasn’t surprised by his sudden appearance. No questions were asked as Shisui latched onto his wrist, dragging him along as he shunshinned the two of them to the western side of the arena to where he had roughly pinpointed Kaminari’s location. Hitoshi stumbled a bit upon their landing, but took it in stride as he played off that stumble by heading towards the nearest building. 

“Kaminari!” Hitoshi shouted at a volume that Shisui wasn’t aware Hitoshi could reach. In both lives, Shisui had never heard him raise his voice, much less shout. Yelling didn’t seem to quite fit his quiet, but deadly persona, but Shisui wasn’t complaining if it saved them the effort of having to search for their teammate. 

Kaminari stumbled out of the building, hyper-focused on swatting the flames that clung to the ends of his shirt. When he came closer to them, he lifted his head to scan both of their hands. 

Empty. 

“No file?” Kaminari asked incredulously. “Is time up?” 

Right. Shisui lifted his shirt slightly to extract the file tucked into the waistband of his pants. He deposited the papers into Kaminari’s unsuspecting outstretched hands. His mouth parted open, eyes widening as Kaminari held up the file to inspect it from all angles. As Shisui brushed past him, his fingers shot out a tiny stream of water to snuff out the flames that clung to the fabric of his clothing. 

Unfortunately, Kaminari noticed. “Hey, why is the back of my shirt wet?” 

Before Shisui or Hitoshi could be coerced into explaining, Aizawa had shown up to take the file from Kaminari. Verbally, he complimented them on how well they had performed during this exercise, but Shisui didn’t miss the suspicious gazes that he shot in his direction. 

Had Aizawa seen his tricks? Had Aizawa witnessed him doing something that he wasn’t supposed to know how to do? Oh well, that was a problem for another time. Maybe it was something that Shisui could explain along with the long laundry list of other things that he and Hitoshi owed an explanation for. 

Yeah. What a fun conversation to look forward to. 

Their team completed the next three disaster zone challenges with ease, their teamwork getting better and better with each event. Hitoshi often provided their plan of attack, as the one with both experience and functioning eyes. Kaminari functioned as the brawn of their team whenever his electricity was useful, while Shisui had mastered sneaking in a jutsu or two whenever Kaminari wasn’t looking. 

However, during their last challenge in the Mountain Zone, Kaminari had overused his electricity quirk to demolish the falling boulders. Hitoshi didn’t know whether he was overcompensating for the lack of quirk contribution during the first four challenges or if he had simply lost control over his voltage. Either way, Kaminari was basically out of commission for the last challenge as he was reduced to a drooling idiot who flashed peace signs whenever he could. 

“Should we just leave him outside?” Shisui asked under his breath, while undoubtedly already feeling out the terrain. This zone was designed to resemble a city in the aftermath of an earthquake, with buildings in precarious situations. Most appeared to be highly unstable, as if one touch could topple the entire structure. 

Their task? To rescue the twenty civilians trapped inside of these buildings, all of them scattered in different locations. Most of these “civilians” were actually pro-heroes who could get themselves out of the jam if the students failed the simulation, which was a relief to know, but unlike the other disaster zones, these were real people. The most complicated terrain, the most difficult challenge. 

“Yeah, that would be for the best,” Hitoshi said, intending to set Kaminari down somewhere. Instead of obediently sitting down, Kaminari latched onto Hitoshi’s sleeve and refused to let go no matter how hard Hitoshi tugged. 

Shisui laughed. “Looks like we’re taking him with us? Even when he’s electrified, he knows that we’re supposed to be a team.” 

“Yeah, yeah you can come with us,” Hitoshi told the half-dazed Kaminari. That seemed to be enough for Kaminari to let go of Hitoshi’s sleeve, restoring full movement to him. He turned to address Shisui. “Have you located where the civilians are?” 

“Yup,” Shisui responded. “Ten of them are scattered in the smaller buildings around that tall one in the center, and that one has ten people in it.” The tall building was missing half of the fifth floor, and a quarter of the third floor, making the concrete structure appear lopsided. Cracks spread all over the face of the building, the dark lines deepening and widening by the second. 

The building was due to collapse at any moment, but the surrounding structures weren’t in a much better shape. 

“Kaminari and I will head to the main building,” Hitoshi announced. “Can you get the other ten civilians and then regroup with us there?” Although Hitoshi would have liked to tackle each building rescue as a team, it wasn’t feasible. Any building was due to collapse at any time, and that was a risk that Hitoshi didn’t want to take. The layout of the smaller buildings would be easier to navigate, and Shisui’s speed would aid him in quickly evacuating the civilians while Hitoshi rescued as many as he could from the main building. 

Shisui didn’t argue, just simply shunshinned out of his sight. Hitoshi took off running towards the main building, glancing over his shoulders every now and then to make sure Kaminari was keeping up. He was, which was surprising for someone who had electrocuted himself half an hour ago. 

The entrance to the largest building was blocked by a fallen beam. While Kaminari crawled underneath the concrete structure, Hitoshi clambered over it, using his hands and momentum to catapult himself over in one fluid movement. He landed deftly on his feet, body turning to extend a helping hand to Kaminari. He took it; his gratitude coming out as incoherent nonsense. 

By the time Kaminari had gained his footing, Hitoshi was already streaking across the foyer to reach the nearest set of stairs. This building had ten floors—seven above ground and three below. One “civilian” trapped on each floor. Mentally, Hitoshi was already calculating the risk factor for each floor based on his basic understanding of the building structure and the laws of physics. Floors six and seven were in immediate danger as half of its support was taken out. The civilian on the fifth floor was in equal danger, if six and seven collapsed, he would be buried underneath the rubble. 

Brief flashes of falling boulders accompanied by a terrified scream zipped through his mind. 

Fingers curling around Kaminari’s wrist, Hitoshi dragged him up five floors in a record time, at a speed that left his disorientated classmate completely out of breath. Leaving Kaminari near the staircase, who immediately hunched over to catch his breath, Hitoshi took off to begin his search for the civilian. Opening door after door in quick succession turned up nothing, until Hitoshi reached the last door on the left of what remained of the hallway. 

His hand curled around the metal door handle and pushed downwards. The door didn’t budge. Hitoshi tried again; this time with a bit more force. The door still didn’t budge. Taking a step backwards, Hitoshi attempted to kick the door open with as much force as he could muster. The wood splintered from the impact. A jagged hole formed, wide enough for Hitoshi to peer into the room for any signs of life. 

Snipe was curled up in the corner of the room, doing his best to play his part of an unconscious civilian, yet failed when Hitoshi noticed him shifting his head every few seconds to see what he was up to. His arm snaked through the small opening, fingers quick at work to twist open the lock. When the door cracked open with a loud groan, Hitoshi shouldered the door to open the rest of the way before he rushed to kneel by Snipe’s side. 

During their practice simulations, every student was taught to check basic vital signs to confirm whether or not the civilian was still alive, and to be able to spot major injuries to provide basic first aid before moving them. Having lived a life where Hitoshi had suffered everything from the simple scrapes and bruises to an assortment of life threatening injuries including multiple broken ribs, punctured lungs, and deadly poison coursing through his veins, Hitoshi knew enough medical knowledge to diagnose most common injuries. However, it was quite difficult to diagnose a pretend injury…Snipe’s only symptom was unconsciousness. 

Oh well, if their team lost points for this, then so be it. Hitoshi lifted Snipe’s arm and rested it across his shoulders. He slowly stood up, arms wrapped around his waist to pull Snipe into a standing position. A grunt escaped from his lips as Snipe’s entire body weight crashed onto him. 

“You’re really taking your role pretty seriously, aren’t you?” Hitoshi grumbled underneath his breath as he slowly dragged Snipe out of the room. Although Hitoshi was tall for his age, his limbs were quite lanky. Training had developed the muscles in his forearms and legs, but attempting to carry someone who was much taller and heavier than he was proved to be quite a task. 

Imagine having to carry All Might…Hitoshi hoped that wasn’t the case. If it was, he might have to fight him first to get him to deflate to his weakened form–

When Hitoshi finally reached the staircase where Kaminari was just stupidly standing there, he maneuvered himself out from underneath Snipe and weaseled Kaminari into replacing his spot. Kaminari let out a breathless wheeze as Snipe’s weight bore onto him. The sight was almost comical, the way that his eyes practically bulged out of his eye sockets while his hand raised to form a sloppy thumbs up. 

“Get Snipe out of the building, alright?” Hitoshi didn’t wait for a verbal confirmation, knowing that he wasn’t going to get one, before he took off towards the sixth floor. Whether or not Kaminari understood his instructions, Hitoshi didn’t know and wasn’t eager to hang around to find out, not when the structure was starting to bend at a precarious angle. Patches of cement kept the building afloat as long as it did, likely Cemontoss’ handiwork, but cracks were starting to stretch all across the patches. 

It wouldn’t hold much longer and Hitoshi wasn’t keen on sticking around until it gave out. 

The heroes on the sixth and seventh floors were faces that Hitoshi didn’t recognize. Luckily, one was still in a decent shape to limp his way down the stairs, while the other only needed a bit of support to move. Hitoshi took the two of them down the stairs and out of the building, where Kaminari was waiting. 

Where a now-coherent Kaminari was waiting. Fucking finally. 

Between the two of them, they rescued three more civilians from floors two through four without much of a hitch. While they were outside, herding the three new rescues to join the other group, Shisui had shown up. 

“You got all of them?” Hitoshi asked, more for Snipe’s benefit, who was clearly interested in knowing what Shisui had been up to this entire time. Hitoshi already knew the answer to his own question. 

“Yup,” Shisui responded. “Ushered all of them to open land so they should be safe and sound. Are you sure it’s a good idea to leave them this close to a building that could collapse?” 

Hitoshi shrugged. “We haven’t had time. Building is due to collapse any second so we prioritized getting them out first.” 

“Dude! You’re so fast,” Kaminari gushed, clearly in awe at how Shisui had rescued ten people in the time it took them to rescue six. “Like lightning speed.” Hitoshi bit his lip, refraining himself from correcting him. Technically Shisui was faster than the speed of lightning, but Kaminari didn’t need to know that. 

“Thanks!” Shisui responded with equal fervor, undoubtedly putting on a show for the not-conscious-but-actually-conscious Snipe. “Let’s get in there and rescue the other four people, shall we?” 

When they re-entered the building, Hitoshi’s first instinct was for the three of them to split up. Divide and conquer seemed to have worked best for their team, allowing them to rescue with maximum efficiency, but Shisui stopped him. 

“Wait. The civilian on this floor is All Might. One person won’t be able to carry him.” 

Ah of course, the thing that Hitoshi feared most, having to attempt to carry someone who was three times his size, if not more, and built entirely of muscle mass. Shisui would have chakra to enhance his strength, but for him and Kaminari, it was all pure strength. 

“We should probably get him first,” Shisui continued. “The ceiling near him doesn’t feel very stable.” Before Kaminari could begin gushing how cool it was that Shisui could see so well, like he had done during the other exercises, Shisui had already taken off. Hitoshi was quick to follow him, keeping his steps in tandem with his, while Kaminari shouted for them to wait for him. 

His protests were promptly ignored. 

Shisui easily guided their team to the room where All Might was located. Just as Shisui said. Hitoshi eyed the drooping ceiling warily as he deftly dodged the stray pieces of rubble that broke from the ceiling. Both of them were kneeling by All Might’s side by the time Kaminari reached the doorway, already conducting their examination of All Might’s condition. 

“Still alive,” Hitoshi murmured when his fingers felt his pulse thump. “Pulse is strong.” 

“Broken leg and possibly some broken ribs,” Shisui contributed. “Leg is currently trapped underneath a rock. We’ll have to remove that first.” Between the three of them, they were able to easily lift the rock off of All Might’s leg and deposit it to the side. Rolling the rock off had been Kaminari’s first suggestion, which was immediately shot down by Hitoshi, who claimed that would only make the injury worse. 

Now, how were they supposed to carry him? Now would have been a really good time for All Might to deflate, but he wouldn’t—not in front of them. 

While Hitoshi was in the middle of analyzing the best way to carry All Might, the ground suddenly rocked beneath their feet with enough force that sent all three of them careening towards the ground. Shisui stumbled twice before his arm shot outward to catch the wall. Hitoshi fell backwards, unable to grab a hold of anything to stabilize himself in time. Kaminari toppled over, going down with a loud squeak of confusion. 

All Might sprung to his feet, dropping his act as an injured civilian, to demolish the piece of ceiling that had finally given out. Bits of concrete flew in all directions around the room, forcing all three of them to raise their arms to shield themselves. 

Just as Hitoshi feared, the building was collapsing thirty minutes into their simulation. From the serious expression etched on All Might’s features, Hitoshi doubted this was just a function of the examination. 

“Go!” All Might ordered. “Get outside to safety!” 

“But there’s three more civilians to rescue,” Kaminari pointed out. “We haven’t finished our task–” 

“Your only task is to get to safety,” All Might instructed firmly. “The building is unstable. The environment is no longer controlled, so it is not safe for you to continue your exam. I will go help the other pro-heroes that are still in the building. Where are they?” 

“On the three floors below this one,” Hitoshi answered at the same time that Shisui spoke up. “We’re not leaving until we finish the exam.” 

All Might’s expression hardened. “You don’t understand how dangerous this is, young Shisui. If you are worried about your examination results, then rest assured that you will have a chance to redo this section under more controlled circumstances–”

“I’m not,” Shisui interrupted him. “Like I said before, I’m not one to idly stand by when danger comes. Controlled environments are nice for simulation purposes, but at some point, we also need to learn to adapt to changing circumstances. If heroes are supposed to be the city’s line of defense, then retreating isn’t an option. No matter how dire circumstances become.” 

Kaminari’s eyes darted furiously between All Might and Shisui, undoubtedly confused as to who he was supposed to listen to. Hitoshi had no trouble moving to stand next to Shisui, silently taking his side. 

All Might opened his mouth, probably to order Shisui to stand down, but before he could, Shisui had already teleported past him. Hitoshi was quick to follow. Kaminari whirled around on his feet, sprinting after them while shouting out his concerns towards disobeying All Might’s orders. 

“Are you sure this is okay?” Kaminari followed up the question with a yelp as a large chunk of concrete came crashing down towards him. Hitoshi managed to yank him out of harm’s way just in time. 

“It’s good practice for the future,” was all Hitoshi offered him before he dragged Kaminari along to keep up with Shisui’s insane speed. As he descended every floor, Shisui made no secret about summoning multiple earth pillars to somewhat stabilize the structure. Kaminari watched in awe, questions bubbling to the tip of his tongue, but one harsh look from Hitoshi made him keep quiet. 

“Take this floor,” Hitoshi instructed him, shoving him in the direction of the falling concrete. “Find the pro-hero. We’ll regroup on the first floor.” He ignored Kaminari’s indignant shouts in favor of jumping down an entire flight of stairs. 

Shisui and Hitoshi split. After summoning a few earth pillars for the second ground floor, Shisui headed towards the lowest level while Hitoshi traversed the dark for any signs of the pro-hero. By now, the pro-hero likely realized something was wrong, and probably already escaped, but their team still needed to conduct their due diligence. All Might would call their actions reckless and foolish but Hitoshi preferred to call it practice for the future because as much as the adults liked to keep the students wrapped tightly in bubble wrap, reality was much crueler and harsher than they can ever imagine. If the students continued to be coddled, then graduation would become a rude awakening for them, just like the mission at Kannabi Bridge had been for him. 

Hitoshi ran into Kayama, who was attempting to navigate the hallway in pitch darkness, in the midst of the shaking, volatile environment. He grabbed her wrist, tugging her towards the staircase as the structure began to crumble behind them. 

“Stairs!” Hitoshi shouted above the noise of rocks tumbling onto each other. He shoved Kayama up the stairs before he turned to head downstairs. If his floor was already collapsing the way it was, then Shisui’s floor was in imminent danger of a cave-in. Chakra sensing web or not, the turbulent environment would be difficult for him to navigate. 

Against Kayama’s protests, Hitoshi disappeared into the darkness. 

When Hitoshi regrouped with Shisui, the roles were reversed. Instead of Shisui rescuing the pro-hero, Hound Dog was doing his best to keep the falling chunks of concrete from bashing Shisui’s head by swatting them aside with pure strength. Even in the dim lighting, Hitoshi could make out the blood dripping down Hound Dog’s forearms, likely from the scrapes against the concrete. 

“This way!” Hitoshi yelled, hoping the sound of his voice would help to guide them much easier. Shisui perked at the sound of his voice, and in one step, teleported to his side. Hound Dog quickly followed, his long strides helping him keep up with Shisui’s insane speed. 

“You two shouldn’t be down here,” Hound Dog lectured, but the worry in his tone drowned out the anger, making the lecture quite ineffective. The two of them ignored his comment in favor of clambering up the stairs, which was already half-wrecked by this point. 

Kaminari’s blonde hair served as a beacon in the darkness. “Hey guys! The entrance is blocked. All Might is on the other side trying to clear the wreckage to make a path for us, but…”

“But there’s not enough time,” Hitoshi filled in as the world seemed to spin around him, taking him back to that cave. The cave where the ground rumbled so forcefully that he was constantly tripping over his own two feet. The cave where he had become disoriented after a smaller rock bashed the back of his head. The cave where his friendship and camaraderie with Obito began and ended. 

Obito’s body wasn’t the only thing buried that day; Hitoshi’s soul and sense of self went along with it. 

His left eye snapped open, the crimson red shining menacingly in the dark. The three tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly, the ink bleeding together to form a three-pronged shuriken pattern. 

“Shisui!” Hitoshi called out. It was the only warning he gave, that one word encompassing his entire plan. Shisui picked up on what he wanted to do quickly, even though they had never discussed the power of his Mangekyo Sharingan. The air bent and twisted around them, an invisible vacuum sucking away at the edge of the piece of concrete that blocked their way out. Just as quickly as the vacuum was formed, it closed, taking the rubble with it. 

Now that the large piece of concrete was no longer blocking the entrance, gravity took hold of the smaller chunks of rubble, sending them crashing through the entrance—crashing into them. Hound Dog shot out his arm, instinctively trying to push the three students behind him, but Shisui ducked underneath his arm and stepped in the center of it all. 

A strong gust of wind blasted from the palm of his hands, the force strong enough that it even forced Hound Dog to take a step backwards. The wind blew the rubble out of harm’s way, sending it crashing harmlessly against the wall. 

“Kaminari, now!” Kaminari sputtered for a split second in confusion before yellow lightning extended from his fingertips to disintegrate the large boulder that fell through the entrance into tiny pieces for Shisui to whisk away with another wind jutsu. 

Light streamed through the entrance. Hitoshi glanced up, ignoring the wave of nausea that washed over him as he did so. There, a tiny gap between the rubble for Hitoshi to catch glimpses of All Might working hard to remove the debris. It would take him a while to do, considering All Might was just blindly removing whatever he could in hopes that he could reach them. 

“How do we feel about busting our way out?” Hitoshi murmured, swaying slightly as the usage of his left eye began to catch up to him. Luckily, Shisui was there to subtly catch him in a way that didn’t raise any alarm from their teachers. The last thing Hitoshi needed was for them to fret over his condition. 

Kayama’s quirk would be no help. Hound Dog’s too, except he had the advantage of possessing a lot of raw strength. The third pro-hero was someone Hitoshi didn’t recognize, and based on his first impression, he assumed his quirk wouldn’t be of much assistance either. Kaminari was one lightning bolt away from electrocuting himself into idiocy, and Hitoshi needed some time before he could use Kamui again. 

Hitoshi attempted to catalog the jutsus that Shisui had in his arsenal, before he realized he didn’t know anything about Shisui’s techniques. Shisui was famed for his Body Flicker jutsu, and probably knew his clan’s fireball jutsu, but what else? Hitoshi had seen him use earth, water, and wind earlier, but…that barely scratched the surface of everything that he could do. 

“If Kaminari uses his lightning to make an opening for us, I can teleport everyone out of here,” Shisui murmured underneath his breath. “Can you find the weakest point?” 

“Are you certain you can take all of us?” Unlike his sensei’s Hiraishin technique, the Body Flicker was a form of teleportation more known for leaving mirages of himself behind due to the way Shisui traveled at the speed of light. Hiraishin was more adept at carrying passengers, while Body Flicker was a one person teleportation type jutsu. 

“I’m sure,” Shisui answered. “Hurry. The rest of the structure above All Might is going to collapse soon.” 

While Hitoshi pinpointed the weakest point of the rubble that trapped them and filled in Kaminari on their plan, Shisui made the three pro-heroes link their hands together. Hitoshi took Hound Dog’s outstretched hand. Shisui stood in between Hitoshi and Kaminari, hand wrapped around Hitoshi’s wrist but refrained from touching Kaminari. With his free hand, Shisui was already creating an invisible barrier to protect them from the deadly voltage. Kaminari stood at the front of their formation, hand raised to activate his quirk at any time. 

“Don’t miss,” Shisui whispered in Kaminari’s ears before he gave him the go ahead sign. A bolt of yellow lightning, worth over a million volts shot from his fingers. Despite his best efforts of maintaining his aim, electricity sputtered from his body in every direction, the zips of lightning clashing against Shisui’s barrier. 

An opening was successfully created, but at the same time, the missing support caused the rubble to begin caving in again. In a split second, Shisui dropped the barrier, grabbed Kaminari and then yanked all of them to the surface. 

They tumbled haphazardly to the ground, releasing their hold on each other as they landed in awkward angles. A tingling sensation zipped through Hitoshi’s nerves, a feeling reminiscent of when Hitoshi used his lightning jutsus. The three pro-heroes didn’t fare as well as Hitoshi did, being somewhat electrified was not a painless experience. Shisui’s expression was contorted in pain, but he endured it like a shinobi. 

“Yey!” Kaminari said before he collapsed to the ground. Snipe was there to catch him before he fell. 

When All Might exited the building to regroup with the rest of the squad, the remnants collapsed for good, reducing itself to nothing more than a gigantic pile of rubble. A wistful smile stretched across Shisui’s features. 

The smile never slipped, not even when All Might began lecturing the three of them for being so reckless. None of them cared. Kaminari’s brain was too fried to even process a single word of All Might’s lecture. As for Hitoshi and Shisui, the wave of nostalgia that washed over them was enough to drown out his words. 

For a brief moment, Hitoshi felt like he was back at home, fighting side by side with his comrades. It wasn’t exactly the same, since Hitoshi no longer had any chakra to rely on, but…

Since the moment he was reborn, this had been the closest that Hitoshi had gotten to home. 

Shisui didn’t regret what he had done today, but he recognized that disobeying orders was wrong and therefore, he owed All Might an apology. While the rest of the class circled around Kaminari, who was animatedly retelling the story of Shisui and Hitoshi’s mysterious powers in a way that was so exaggerated, there was no way anyone would believe him, Shisui quietly slipped from the rambunctious group to hunt down the hero in question. 

Finding him had taken a bit more time than Shisui anticipated, mainly because All Might’s form was different from what he was used to. If he hadn’t recognized the sound of his voice, there was no way Shisui would have been able to tell that the skinny, lanky man was him. 

What happened to him? 

All Might waved off the other pro-hero he had been speaking with to turn to address him. “Hello young Shisui. What can I do for you?” 

Instead of the apology, his curiosity had gotten the better of him. “What happened to your form?” The words slipped from his mouth before his mind could process what he was saying. Shisui immediately clamped his mouth shut. “Sorry, I don’t mean to pry.” 

All Might laughed, as if to reassure him that it wasn’t that serious. If it was anyone else, they might have bought into All Might’s act, but Shisui knew better. 

“That’s what old age does to you,” All Might light-heartedly explained. “You’ll see when you get older.” If age had the capability of reducing the strongest man in the country to nothing more than stick and bones, then age was the most powerful villain of all. Shisui didn’t believe it, but he didn’t press any further, knowing that he was never going to get a real answer out of All Might. 

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for disobeying your orders. I know you wanted to protect us by not letting us jump into danger, but I believe that even a hero-to-be shouldn’t run away from danger. Heroes shouldn’t run.” 

“You aren’t a full-fledged hero yet. Don’t hold yourself to the same standards yet. You still have many years of training ahead of you before you can become a hero.” 

Shisui simply shrugged because everything he wanted to say would surely lead to another lecture from All Might. The two of them didn’t agree on many things, but at least Shisui could commend him for wanting to look out for the next generation. 

The king of Konoha: the next generation. 

The backbone of hero society: the students. 

The corner of his lips tilted upwards into a small smile. “Thanks for looking out for us.” 

“You’re welcome.” There was a pause, and then, “Tell me one thing, young Shisui. When you were trapped down there, was there ever a moment when you regretted your decision?” 

“No, there wasn’t.” 

Seemingly, the only thing on Kaminari’s mind when he regained consciousness, was to brag to the rest of the class the techniques he witnessed Hitoshi and Shisui using during the exam. He couldn’t stop gushing about the way a piece of concrete literally disappeared into mid-air or how Shisui could blast wind out of the palms of his hands or how Hitoshi supposedly could summon an earth wall. These stories were accompanied with dramatic hand movements in the air and relentless pacing in the small circle of open space. 

“Our team is so cool, bro! You thought we would be at a disadvantage with three people, but dude, I have two of the strongest people in our class on my team! All the challenges were a piece of cake, even the last one when an accident happened.” 

Midoriya’s eyes shone brightly as he frantically scribbled Kaminari’s descriptions into his notebook, excited at the prospect of finally being able to fill in the blanks on two of his classmates’ quirks with “accurate” information. Not that it was really any more accurate than a blank slate considering how Kaminari assumed half of the things Shisui did was Hitoshi’s doing and never even witnessed his actual, registered quirk: brainwash. 

It was better that way. No one really needed to know exactly what the two of them could do. 

Unfortunately, Kaminari’s ramblings could only keep his classmates’ attention on him for so long. Once they grew bored of listening to him rehash the same story for the third time, their attention shifted onto Hitoshi. Unwilling, he was dragged into their circular formation, getting tossed questions left and right at rapid fire speed. 

Even if Hitoshi was inclined to answer some of their questions, he didn’t even know which one to begin with.

“Wow, your quirk is so amazing Shinsou-san!” Hitoshi snorted. Amazing was the last thing he would call his quirk, the one that made him be treated like a monster for the first decade of his life. Yeah, if Midoriya actually knew what his quirk did, he’d be running as far away from him as possible. 

Luckily, Hitoshi was saved from the interrogation when Shisui returned from wherever he had gone off too. The moment he was within earshot range, he was accosted with the same barrage of questions that Hitoshi had to endure. 

“Uchiha-san, your quirk is so cool!” Midoriya gushed, pen and notebook ready to take notes. “So exactly how does your quirk work? Were the mangos from earlier fake? I mean there’s no way you could do all of that—You have so many powers. Are they all part of one quirk or do you have multiple quirks like Todoroki?” 

“The answer is really simple,” Shisui drawled. He flashed Midoriya a thumbs up, reminding Hitoshi of Gai’s signature pose. 

“It’s the power of mangos.” 

“How peculiar,” Nedzu commented as he swiveled around in his seat to face Toshinori. “Uchiha-san has such unique abilities, doesn’t he?” 

While Nedzu was able to maintain his composure, Toshinori felt extremely unnerved by everything he had seen the Uchiha boy do: summon clones like Ectoplasm, split the earth with a clasp of his hands, summon water out of nowhere to douse the flames. According to the pro-heroes trapped underneath the rubble with him, Uchiha also exhibited the ability to shoot wind from the palm of his hands. 

Not to mention the eye-catching ability to travel to his destination at the speed of light, too fast for the human eye to follow. One moment he was trapped beneath the rubble, and then in the next, the six of them had been pulled to safety. The sudden jerk of movement had been disorienting to everyone, except for Uchiha and Shinsou, who appeared to be used to it. 

While Uchiha’s mysterious abilities raised questions, Shinsou’s performance did too, even if his movements were subtle. The strange disappearance of the slab of concrete, in the same manner as when Thirteen used their quirk. His ability to keep up with Uchiha’s speed, even if he was not as fast as he was. The way the two of them flawlessly worked in tandem with the ability to communicate silently…maybe Aizawa had a point when he suggested the possibility of Shinsou being a child soldier. Now it seemed like Uchiha was one too. 

“Peculiar is all you have to say about it?” Toshinori questioned, unable to fathom exactly what went on in that high IQ brain of his. Maybe his thoughts weren’t meant to be understood.

“Multiple quirks,” Nedzu said, as if that elaborated anything. “Quite peculiar. There aren’t many known heroes with multiple quirks, but it’s not impossible. Todoroki-san is a very good example.” 

“Todoroki-san has two quirks and we have documentation on where his quirk came from. Uchiha-san claims that his quirk is an ocular one, yet today he was able to use all sorts of techniques. More than two quirks…that is very rare.” 

“Rare indeed,” Nedzu agreed. “Have you ever thought maybe that he is able to accomplish all of these things with only one quirk? Perhaps everything we saw today is merely an illusion. Or perhaps…” Nedzu trailed off, clearly reluctant to complete his train of thought. He switched gears. “Uchiha-san hasn’t done anything illegal, so we have no authority to question him. It is best if you kept what you saw today to yourself.” 

Nedzu was acting too calm for someone who thought of the second possibility of why Uchiha could wield so many different kinds of quirks. He didn’t need to finish his train of thought for Toshinori to pick up the pieces; it was a possibility that his mind drifted to even before he even had this conversation with Nedzu. As much as he wanted to remain optimistic, the nagging feeling in the back of his mind never went away. 

Could Uchiha Shisui be…a descendant of All For One?

Toshinori did his best to push the thought from his mind as he bowed and left Nedzu alone to his theorizing.

Hitoshi sat with Shisui outside, both of them laying down on their backs in the dead of night, watching the stars above them like shinobi often did back in Konoha. Back when the weight of his mistakes and many losses weighed down on his shoulders and his conscience, taking a moment to look at the night sky had always helped him back then, and it was no different now. He was unable to push the implications of Kaminari spreading rumors about Shisui’s strange abilities out of his mind. The thought sat there with a heavy presence, making him more and more aware by the minute that he and Shisui would need to explain everything soon. 

Except, Hitoshi didn’t know how much he was willing to share. He preferred his secrets over having his heart laid out for everyone to trample over. Shisui’s presence was putting a massive wrench in Hitoshi’s self-contained bubble of safety and yet, Hitoshi wouldn’t change anything about it. Shisui being here meant that a can of worms that Hitoshi didn’t want opened was being pried apart, but at the same time, he also brought back feelings that Hitoshi had long since buried. Nights spent alongside other shinobi staring up at the glittering sky, the sensation of the hum of chakra in the air, the memories of massive trees that towered above them, filtering clean oxygen into the atmosphere and making every breath feel like it was giving them all life. Shisui was a reminder of his first home, the only place he’d ever truly known before this world. He was a reminder of the people, of the food, of the customs that Hitoshi had been completely immersed in once upon a time. 

Having Shisui here, having a companion that understood, someone he could talk to about it all… it made Hitoshi happy. No longer did the homesickness plague his heart like it did just a few short weeks before. Instead, the memories took to his body like a warm hug, enveloping him in a feeling of comfort and safety. It wasn’t often that he felt like this in this world… but it wasn’t like it had never happened. 

Hitoshi had felt safe before. He’d felt cared for and understood before. Aizawa had wrapped his arms around him tightly once and for the first time since reincarnating into this world, Hitoshi was at home. Hitoshi had told Shisui more about his life—both past and current—than he had to anyone else, but Shisui had the benefit of being a connecting force to Hitoshi’s past life. He had ingrained trust. But Aizawa and Yamada?

They were two people that had stuck around. That had put up with all of Hitoshi’s bullshit—and even Shisui’s bullshit at this point—and still promised him that they loved him. That they’d always be there. It wasn’t the sort of promise Hitoshi had ever gotten before. 

Maybe that was why he struggled with believing it. 

“We’re going to have to tell Aizawa and Yamada,” Hitoshi said slowly, not rushing his words as they pierced the silence that had settled between Shisui and Hitoshi while they both watched the stars above them. After the way Shisui had been forced to use his chakra combined with Hitoshi’s own sharingan usage, they couldn’t keep delaying the inevitable.

Shisui hummed, but didn’t answer for a moment. Hitoshi let him figure out his words while he thought about ways to explain all of… this. 

“Aizawa spoke to me the other night,” Shisui started. “He’s putting himself out there for you. He wants to understand you and he wants you to be happy, and as much as he doesn’t like me, he’s willing to accept me because I apparently fulfill that desire.” 

“Yeah,” Hitoshi agreed. He didn’t know if the way Shisui’s presence affected him was obvious, but Hitoshi had always been bad at masking his happiness. In a lifetime full of loneliness, sadness, and grief all getting mashed together into a dull void of emotion, Hitoshi struggled with feeling happy in the first place. So, when that emotion did find him, he couldn’t always contain it. With Shisui though, with someone to play along with his stupid jokes and deliver passionate rants regarding Todoroki’s conspiracy theories, it was nigh impossible. 

“What are you comfortable with saying?” Shisui inquired.

And that was the question, wasn’t it? How much could Hitoshi tell Aizawa and Yamada? They claimed to want to know everything about him and his past, to understand him entirely, and they promised to stay despite it all… but Hitoshi knew better than that. What parents would want a child with a fucked up set of memories, someone who’s lived an entire life separate from this one, an adult in a child’s body? What would they do if they found out about what Hitoshi had done in that life—his kill count numbering in the thousands, his two best friends on that list amongst the hundreds of cold-blooded assassinations he’d performed? They were both heroes, and maybe they could overlook an act of self-defense as a seven year old, but could they really look past the fact that he’d killed so many people, well aware of what he was doing and feeling no remorse while doing so? Would they look past the fact that, for the most part, that lifestyle hadn’t bothered him? Would they be able to accept the truth that the instinct of a killer was so ingrained in him that he still killed to this day?

He didn’t think so. 

“I don’t think I want to tell them the full truth. Our lifestyle isn’t something they’re ready to handle—not while they still see us as kids, at least. I want them to understand us, but not have to know all of the darkest details.” 

Shisui hummed in contemplation. “Alright, I can work with that. You got any ideas?” 

Hitoshi thought about it for a while, before a sly smirk crossed his face at the memory of a conversation he’d overheard. “Yeah, I got something.” 

A knock came at Hitoshi’s door only a few minutes after he’d come home from gazing up at the stars with Shisui. He wasn’t surprised to open the door to find Aizawa standing there, still dressed in his hero costume, undoubtedly having gotten home not long before Hitoshi had. He was tense, just like he had been last time he’d come to Hitoshi’s door to talk to him, but it seemed to be more from nerves than anger. 

Hitoshi nodded in greeting and opened the door without Aizawa needing to prompt it. He knew what Aizawa was here for, and for the first time since their argument, Hitoshi was ready for the conversation they needed to have. He sat down on his futon, this time leaving room for Aizawa to sit next to him, and waited. 

Aizawa’s eyes widened in surprise, but didn’t question it beyond that. He took his seat next to Hitoshi and fiddled with his fingers before speaking up. “How was your night? Did you and Shisui have fun?” 

“We didn’t do much,” Hitoshi shrugged. “Just stargazed and talked some.”

Aizawa nodded. “That sounds nice.” 

“It was,” Hitoshi confirmed. As much as this conversation was just small talk to fill the time both of them were taking to get to the real conversation, it wasn’t pointless. Aizawa was reaching out, asking him about the time he spent with Shisui, asking him if he was happy. And for once, Hitoshi wasn’t lying when he told him what he’d been doing. No deflections, no ‘a black cat crossed my path’ or nonsense about the hours of the flower shop conflating with his schedule. He didn’t need to lie about this. 

However, as much as Hitoshi liked this safe conversation topic, he wanted to move on into the part he’d been wanting to say ever since he’d realized just how much effort Aizawa was putting into taking care of him. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, taking Aizawa by surprise. “For saying that I’m just a charity-case to you and Yamada.” 

A soft smile crossed Aizawa’s face, and Hitoshi knew that despite how many times he’d tried to convince himself that he didn’t need to apologize for lashing out at him when he’d been so stressed already, he’d been wrong. He needed to apologize. He didn’t want to lose anyone else, to push away the people that stuck around when literally anyone else would’ve left him.

“Thank you,” Aizawa said, his words thick with emotion. “I know you didn’t mean it, and I know I’ve told you this before, but you’ve never been a charity-case to us. You’re our kid.” 

Hitoshi nodded his understanding. “I was just stressed over Shisui showing up,” he explained slowly, not sure how to word this in a way that wouldn’t throw a wrench in his and Shisui’s plan. “It’s like… if that friend you lost, Shirakumo, just suddenly showed up in your life and started dredging up all those memories you’ve tried so hard to bury. You’d obviously be happy about it eventually, but until then, you’re just… vulnerable.”

The analogy seemed to click for Aizawa, his lips pursing as he thought about what it would be like. “I thought you and Shisui weren’t close?” He questioned hesitantly. 

“We weren’t,” Hitoshi confirmed. “I only ever spoke to him a few times. I knew a few of his cousins, and one of those cousins was the friend…” The words caught in his throat as he thought once again of the eye residing in his left eye socket. The image of Obito’s body crushed under the rocks at Kannabi Bridge. “Obito Uchiha was his name. The one I lost.” 

Understanding flickered across Aizawa’s gaze. “Obito?” He questioned, head turning to the side to look at the closet where Hitoshi kept his homemade memorial stone. On that stone, Obito’s name was carved, as was Rin, Minato, Sakumo, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and as many terms pertaining to home as he could fit on the surface. He’d always assumed that Aizawa knew about it—he and Yamada gave Hitoshi as much privacy as they could given that they were parenting a former vigilante, however they did have to look through his things on occasion for safety reasons—but this was proof. 

“Yeah, his name’s on there too.” 

“Are all the names of people you’ve lost?” Aizawa asked. 

Hitoshi shook his head. “Some of them are… places. Home, I guess.” 

Aizawa swallowed thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he licked his lips, trying to form his next words. “I’m sorry you’ve lost that many people.” 

“It was… a long time ago,” Hitoshi deflected. “I left them all behind.” 

Hitoshi could tell that his word choice hadn’t escaped Aizawa’s notice, but he shook his head to signal that this was one topic he wasn’t willing to discuss further, and Aizawa took it at face value, closing his mouth to stop the next question he’d been about to ask. 

“So Shisui grew up like you did,” Aizawa prompted instead. Upon Hitoshi’s nod of confirmation, he added a follow up question. “Are there others out there?” 

Hitoshi’s lips quirked up into a smile. “Ah, probably not. I’m sure you’d love having more problem children show up though, right?” 

Aizawa paused in consideration before shuddering at the idea. Hitoshi huffed a quick laugh at his face upon considering the prospect of having five more Hitoshi’s running around the apartment, telling him that they’re late because they got lost on the road of life and hiding knives in the mattresses. 

“But to be honest,” Hitoshi started up again, thinking back to Shisui’s mysterious appearance at the USJ. “I’m surprised Shisui got here in the first place. Neither of us are sure how he ended up at the USJ, but we think a quirk may have been involved. It probably won’t happen again.” 

Aizawa frowned, mentally formulating a slew of questions, but settling on saying, “I see.” 

Hitoshi shrugged as if to say ‘that’s just how it is,’ before he moved the conversation on. “Of all the people I left behind, Shisui’s not even in my top ten list of people I’d like to see again,” he sighed, thumbing the hem of his mask as he thought about what it would be like to see Sakumo again. Obito. Minato. Sasuke. Naruto. Sakura. Gai. “But he’s a good person. A bit of a pacifist, actually, which was rare back then.” 

“Shisui’s what you consider a pacifist?” Aizawa asked incredulously, and Hitoshi snorted at his tone. 

“In comparison to me,” he amended, letting the reminder of his past as a vigilante hang heavy in the air. Aizawa nodded his understanding at the clarification, the look on his face growing darker at the memory of Hitoshi’s criminal history despite his young age. 

“If Shisui is a pacifist, what do you consider yourself?” 

Hitoshi thought about his answer for a long time before letting the words leave his lips slowly, heavy like syrup. “A survivor. Or maybe… maybe I’m more of a wanderer.” 

Aizawa gulped. “What do you mean?”

Hitoshi shrugged and picked at the futon beneath him, pulling out little pieces of fuzz. “I’m studying to be a hero, but it’s not because I actually want to be one. I don’t know what I want. I’m just… wandering around on the path of life, looking for a purpose that isn’t there. It’s all I’ve ever done. I can be a hero and protect the people I care about, I can get my license and use my quirk as much or as little as I want, but what’s the point? I’m not the kind of person that’s good at saving people.” 

Aizawa watched him with a gaze so intense that Hitoshi felt it boring down on him the entire time he spoke. The pressure was the only thing keeping him from saying that the only thing he was good at was killing. 

“I don’t think any of us really have a path,” Aizawa said after a moment, his hand inching closer to Hitoshi’s leg but not actually coming close enough to touch. “I knew when I was a kid that I wanted to be a hero, and sure, I got that part, but that’s not the only path I’ve followed. Saving people was never my only purpose. Look at me.” He gestured to himself with the hand that wasn’t on the futon. “I never would’ve expected when I was younger that I’d be a teacher too. That I’d be married. That I’d foster a child who used to be a vigilante running around the streets and causing me more headaches than the weather. Those things are all part of my path, but I didn’t know about them until I stumbled across them.” 

Hitoshi considered the words. Admittedly, he could relate. After losing everyone in the war, he’d traveled aimlessly down the road of life, doing missions and following the Hokage’s orders as necessary. However, in the process, he had found things that were important to him. Gai, Tenzo, Team 7… he’d died protecting his village. He didn’t know if it had worked out, but he’d sacrificed his life for that cause. However, he’d still had a point to life, something that had always been defined for him. 

He was a shinobi of Konoha. He would live to protect and serve it, and he would die the same way. 

Here, though, he wasn’t any of that. 

Perhaps that was what was tripping him up so much. Not having a purpose to dedicate his life to. 

He hummed, nodding slowly to confirm that he was thinking and accepting Aizawa’s words, but didn’t comment further. He didn’t know what his path was, and chances were, he never would truly figure it out. 

“What about Shisui?” Aizawa asked, the question bringing Hitoshi pause. At his quizzical stare, Aizawa clarified, “What do you think Shisui’s path is? Does he actually want to be a hero, or is he only enrolled in the hero course because you are?” 

Hitoshi bit his lip. “Shisui would appreciate the physical component of being a hero, but I don’t think he wants to be one. He’s even more lost than I am.” 

“Well, us UA teachers are here to help you kids figure out what you want to do with your futures. There’s more than one branch to heroism—I’m sure Shisui can find something that will suit him if he asks one of us for help.” 

Hitoshi doubted that there was a branch of heroism dedicated to doing what Shisui did back in Konoha, but he nodded along regardless. However, speaking about Shisui again reminded Hitoshi that he had something to ask. 

“Would it be alright if Shisui came over for dinner again sometime soon?” Hitoshi inquired. He didn’t address why they wanted to do that, figuring that Aizawa would find out soon enough. 

“Sure,” Aizawa agreed. “Would tomorrow work?” 

“That would be great, I’ll let him know,” Hitoshi said, and after a grunt of acknowledgement from Aizawa, the conversation proceeded to go absolutely nowhere. Aizawa, sensing that their bonding session was over, stood to leave. 

“Wait,” Hitoshi spoke up before the man could get back to the door. He rose from his futon, remembering that there was still something he wanted to do. Aizawa turned to look at him quizzically. 

Hitoshi cleared his throat and awkwardly held out his arms. Aizawa’s eyes widened. 

Hitoshi should have asked like Aizawa had that one time—“You can say no, but would it be alright if I gave you a hug? Feels like we could both use one right now.”—but he was hoping that the gesture he was doing was enough. 

He wanted Aizawa to know that he wasn’t upset with him anymore. That everything was okay between them. That he could still feel safe in Aizawa’s arms. 

The man took two steps forward and enveloped Hitoshi in his hold, the embrace feeling just like last time except for one difference: Hitoshi returned it. His palms came up to rest on Aizawa’s back and he tucked his head into the crook of Aizawa’s neck, feeling the man rest his chin on top of his head. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the sense of security he hadn’t let Aizawa’s presence bring him ever since Shisui’s appearance wash over him. 

No more words were needed. They both knew. Everything was okay. They were okay. 

Hitoshi pulled away from the hug with a smile curling his eyelids into crescents. Aizawa returned the smile, and bid him goodnight. 

“Goodnight,” Hitoshi said back to him, and the door closed between them. Hitoshi leaned against the wood and breathed a heavy sigh. The phantom feeling of his hold on Aizawa felt so much like the sort of hug he hadn’t experienced in decades. The kind that only Sakumo had given him. 

He didn’t think he’d ever feel that again. But here he was. Feeling safe. Feeling loved. 

“Thank you for having me over,” Shisui said politely after Aizawa and Yamada had taken their seats on the other side of the table. While Shisui planted an amicable smile on his face, underneath the table, he was furiously signing in their ANBU code to express his nervousness. Although they had discussed extensively how they would explain their backstory to Hitoshi’s guardians and recited their answers dozens of times, Shisui couldn’t curb the slight bounce of his leg. 

Shisui promised to give Aizawa a satisfactory explanation. Hitoshi had too, even if not explicitly. The explanation was long overdue to the point where his guardian’s patience was beginning to run low. Their display of skills during the simulation exam hadn’t helped matters either; it only raised more questions and amplified their curiosity and innate need to know the truth. 

But the truth…was it one that they could believe? 

“Itadakimasu,” the four of them murmured in unison before Yamada was the first to dig in. Aizawa was quick to follow suit, while Hitoshi and Shisui hung back. Hitoshi hesitantly lifted his chopsticks, the ends swirling his rice around in his bowl, while Shisui continued to wring his hands nervously in his lap. 

Yamada noticed. “What’s wrong? Is the food not to your tastes?” 

Shisui forced another smile onto his face. “No, of course not. It smells great.” It seemed to exhaust an unreasonable amount of energy for Shisui to pull his hands apart and move to grab his chopsticks. In the split second that Yamada and Aizawa both had their heads down to eat, Hitoshi yanked down his mask, shoved a mouthful of rice, and then lifted his mask back into place like nothing had happened. If not for the dent in his rice, there wasn’t a single trace of evidence that Hitoshi had moved at all. 

Overall, dinner was an awkward affair. The only noise that pierced the silence was the clinks of their chopsticks against the porcelain bowls. There was the occasional murmur, politely asking another person to pass something over to them, but other than that, stilted silence hung above them. 

Shisui unconsciously fidgeted underneath the table. Hitoshi’s gaze fell everywhere but on his guardians. When Hitoshi asked out of nowhere if Shisui could have dinner with them the following night, Aizawa had agreed, mind racing at the thought of what would happen. He’d shared his thoughts with Yamada not long after. 

 Everyone that sat at the table knew what this dinner was about, but no one wanted to be the first to broach the subject. 

Even Hitoshi, who had no qualms with insulting people directly to their faces, swallowed thickly before he opened his mouth to say something. Only to play off that movement by taking a swig of water. 

Dinner continued silently. 

At least Hitoshi could give everyone the courtesy of having finished their dinner before he broached the subject, right? That way, Aizawa’s mouth wouldn’t be full of food while he tried to ask him questions and Yamada wouldn’t have any rice to choke on—yeah okay, this was all excuses to postpone the inevitable and difficult conversation. 

It was the first time he truly felt like a child since he’d been reborn, as though he were a kid reluctant to confess to his parents that he’d broken an expensive vase.

Dinner ended too quickly. While Yamada was taking their empty bowls and plates to the sink to rinse, Hitoshi mumbled quietly, “Shisui and I want to talk to you about something.” 

Aizawa lifted an eyebrow, turning in his seat to motion Yamada to leave the dishes to come sit down. Yamada grabbed the nearest towel, drying his hands before he returned to the kitchen table. The chair scraped noisily against the kitchen floor as he pulled out his seat, the noise causing Shisui to grimace. 

“Hitoshi and I are ready to answer your questions about our past. Where we come from, how we know each other, and why we know the things that we do.” Yamada’s eyes widened as he attempted to discreetly tug on Aizawa’s sleeve underneath the table. The movement didn’t go unnoticed. 

“Yeah,” Hitoshi agreed, propping his elbows onto the kitchen table. ”We’ll explain, but you have to promise not to freak out.” 

Hitoshi stared at Aizawa for a few seconds, before his eyes swung to meet Yamada’s gaze. Back and forth Hitoshi went until he saw the tiniest of head nods from Aizawa. Hitoshi took that as agreement from both of his parents. 

“It’s a long story, so I’ll have to start from the beginning.” 

Aizawa nodded, gesturing for him to carry on with his explanation. Hitoshi sucked in a deep breath before launching into the beginning of his long-winded explanation. 

“Shisui and I grew up in a place where there were a lot of trees. The village even prided themselves for having so much greenery, but really, every time they planted one tree, three more were destroyed during training. I’d say at the rate they were going, the village was going to suffer a deforestation problem pretty soon. Anyways, after our brutal training sessions, Shisui and I would lie under the trees, basking in the comfort of the shade. We would stay there for an hour or two, talking about inconsequential things. You know, stuff like our likes, dislikes, hobbies, plans for the future–” 

Aizawa rolled his eyes. “Get to the point.” 

Hitoshi inhaled sharply. “Okay. Shisui and I were child soldiers.”