Fanfic / Turning a New Leaf

When Bakugo is held hostage by the Sludge Villain, Izuku Midoriya rushes in to save him. In one universe, he's just a quirkless kid fruitlessly clawing at the Sludge Villain.

This is not that universe.

Here, Izuku suddenly manifests a Quirk: a mutation that gives him the characteristics of a Tanuki. Not only does he get cute ears and a tail, but he can stretch his arms and make himself look like anyone, and it seems that's just the tip of the iceberg. He also has a group of animal-themed heroes tailing him and are very interested in what he can do.

What could happen?

Turning A New Leaf is an My Hero Academia fanfic by Mad_Nimrod that can be read on Archive of Our Own here.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Flint Ironstag roars out laughing when he sees what Izuku did while disguised as him.
• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: Eri was saved from Overhaul much earlier than in canon, resulting in her having a happier childhood.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • The Hero Public Safety Commission is a much more unambiguous force for good in this story than in canon, where the organization engages in all kinds of shady moves behind the scenes. Here, however:
    • The HPSC carefully monitors heroes to make sure they are behaving appropriately and has elite agents to bring in Pros who stray from their responsibilities. In addition, they pick up the slack where teachers have failed and provide support to the UA students to help them be better heroes, while keeping their mental welfare in mind.
    • The Chairwoman, Kannazuki Shizuka, has a parental relationship with Hawks and Lady Nagant, including greatly caring for their welfare. She is also the one who freed Nedzu from captivity and mentored him on heroism. Eri is also her adoptive granddaughter. With Endeavour, she also makes clear her disdain for killing people, even if it is clear she is capable of pulling it off if necessary.
  • While already a Pro Hero, Mt. Lady is portrayed as being more active about it here. A few comments Izuku let slip when she took him to the hospital led her to make her own independent investigation into Aldera and bring her evidence to the cops. Downplayed as she did it on the same day two other sources stepped forward.
  • Downplayed with Dabi, who doesn't join the League of Villains and instead shows up to help his sister arrest Endeavour, although he still mentions having burned things down.
• Adaptational Name Change:
  • Mina gets to call herself Alien Queen instead of Pinky.
  • Shouto calls himself Himura's Warmth.
  • Izuku goes with Stornic instead of Deku.
  • Sen goes with Drill Of Heaven instead of Spiral.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Aizawa's Quirk Apprehension Test is presented differently in a way that comes off as fairer. Instead of saying he will expel whoever comes in last place, he instead says he will expel anyone who does not do good enough. When everybody does, he does not lie about making up his threat and instead encourages them to not slack off.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Aizawa is made to take therapy and get actual proper sleep during his suspension. This makes him more upbeat and less grumpish, to the shock of his homeroom.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: Instead of being a Quirkless kid who gains "One For All", Izuku instead manifests his own quirk that gives him Tanuki characteristics and powers.
• Age-Gap Romance: There is a seven-year age gap between Izuku and Amaterasu and yet both are attracted to each other, with one of Amaterasu's colleagues commenting he makes her happier than she has ever seen her before. Amaterasu for her part is worried that her mentorship might be seen as grooming if they do get together even if they wait for the age gap to not be considered an issue.
• Animorphism: Izuku starts to favor transforming into dinosaurs with his powers due to their large size and power.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Izuku points out to Stain that all the reasons he killed heroes applies to the one hero that Stain holds in high regard, All Might, and asks him why it's okay when All Might do it and not the other heroes? Stain's struggles to answer results in Izuku calling him out as a murderer who tried to hide his vile actions behind noble-sounding reasons.
• Ascended Extra: Sen Kaibara becomes friends with Izuku as well as the next bearer of One for All.
• Asian Fox Spirit: Chairwoman Kannazuki Shizuka has fox-like characteristics that evoke the kitsune.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Thanks to his shapeshifting abilities, Izuku has the ability to turn into All Might, powers and all. But due to All Might's sheer power, Izuku can only hold his form for a few minutes before transforming back, making it impractical to rely on it. Slightly downplayed as Izuku still uses it sometimes with very good results, either by not using All Might's power, relying just on the Number One Hero's looks and reputation for the task at hand, or as a last resort in combat, as he did against the Nomu.
• Bait-and-Switch: When Iida goes to confront Stain, it looks like he's going to fight him like in canon... only to get Native out of the way and pull out a gun... a flare gun he uses to mark Stain's position.
• Banana Peel: Izuku actually gets Bakugo to slip on one while chasing him.
  Bakugo: YOU DID NOT JUST BANANA PEEL ME, YOU FUCKER!
• Benevolent Conspiracy: The reveal that the HPSC is actually run by supernatural beings no longer forced to hide in the era of Quirks. In fact, this is the case for most nations. As they are running an actually functional and beneficial organization, this is perfectly fine.
• Berserk Button: Of all things, what really sets Endeavour off is the idea of Shouto riding a unicycle.
• Big Damn Heroes: Izuku pulls this off twice during the Hosu fight. First as Carnotaurus to rip apart one of the Nomus, and then as All Might to save Iida from Stain.
• Black Comedy Burst: During the lighthearted, cartoony, and occasionally dramatic Sports Festival, wherein the most disturbing things prior were probably the various dinosaurs Izuku transformed into that were largely Played for Laughs, Todoroki is knocked unconscious and wakes up in the Nurse's office with Izuku nearby. He asks Izuku what he missed, and Izuku replies by casually beginning to talk about Momo's and Uraraka's fight. Cue a flashback of the audience's horrified reactions as the narrative plays Take Our Word for It with the incredible offscreen violence, including a cut to an equally horrified Shigaraki and All For One, both of whom decide that if All Might chose either of those girls as his successor, his choice was "fucking insane." Then cut back to Izuku cheerfully ending his summation in the nurse's office by mentioning that the ring so was thoroughly obliterated Nedzu had to have it fully removed and airlifted in a new one.
• Broken Pedestal: Mirio believing Nighteye was only interested in him as a potential second All Might causes a rift between him and his former mentor.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Endeavor's idea of a Quirk Marriage between Amaterasu and Shoto would be this, though he isn't aware of that fact. This is one of many reasons why Amaterasu avoids Endeavor whenever possible.
• Canon Character All Along: Amaterasu turns out to be Fuyumi Todoroki, Shoto's sister. Which gives a whole new dimension to Endeavor's actions...
• Character Development:
  • With some prompting by 'All Might,' Bakugo reaches his Heel Realization on his own.
  • Exposure to Izuku helps Iida become more mentally flexible. At least to the point his reaction to Stain is far less of essentially suicide.
• Cliffhanger: Chapter 45 ends with Shouto telling Izuku he was instructed by his father to invite him and his mother to a family dinner, and given how Endeavor has been acting so far, this is clearly yet another attempt for him to get to Amaterasu through Izuku.
• The Conspiracy: It is public knowledge that the MLA is not entirely gone, and there was large-scale fighting even in the early days of Endeavour's career against them. These days the government continues to ruthlessly hunt for them across Japan, with Re-Destro struggling to keep his organization and their machinations intact.
• Control Freak: Endeavour, to the point that he forces Shouto to wear a tracking bracelet when he's not at U.A.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Nezu's punishments for Iida and Aizawa for the debacle at Hosu.
  • Iida: two weeks' suspension from practical Hero Course exercises. He'll have to spend that time at U.A.'s library. And he won't be allowed to do schoolwork, which is torture for someone as studious as he is.
  • Aizawa: half-paid suspension until the Finals. This means he won't know who he's fighting in said exams - meaning he'll have the same time to prepare he's given to his students during his exercises (that is, zero). Also, the man has no real life outside of being a teacher or hero, so nothing to do except get the rest he keeps claiming as an excuse to not do his teachings.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Ochako vs Gorogoro. The moment he charges her, she dodges and touches him, causing him to fly out of the ring because of his speed.
• Damned by Faint Praise: The day the students return from their internships.
  Aizawa: Alright, welcome back to school. The staff is still sorting through the reports of your behavior this past week. Now, some of us stood out more than others, but from what I’ve heard, most of you weren’t disappointing.
  Kaminari: Gee, thanks.
• Deadpan Snarker: After his Quirk manifests, Izuku suddenly develops an attitude that even he didn't know he had.
  Bakugo: I didn't need your fucking help that day! You didn't do any fucking good, and were nothing but the useless deku you've always been!
  Izuku: Big talk coming from someone who was drowning in shit.
• Death by Adaptation: Overhaul got himself a bullet through the skull at least a few years before the start of the story.
• Detrimental Determination: By the time of the Sports Festival, Sir Nighteye still insists All Might's successor should be Mirio in spite of Mirio in no uncertain terms rejecting it over a year prior. At best, it just annoys All Might, and at worst it further alienates him.
• Didn't See That Coming: In the aftermath of Endeavour's arrest, Kizuki Chitose of the Meta Liberation Army expects to see the HPSC Chairwoman to flail about in an attempt to cover the seriousness of the event or protect Endeavour. She's thrown off her balance by the Chairwoman immediately admitting that the HPSC had been investigating the crimes that led to this event, and that throws her and rest of the MLA reporters for a loop.
• Didn't Think This Through: Endeavor sends an internship offer to Izuku, thinking that his agreement will be a done deal and that then he will be able to learn more about Amaterasu through Izuku. He never considered the possibility that Amaterasu would also send an offer or that Izuku would accept it. In fact, Izuku never knew he even got Endeavour's application, as Nedzu already knew which one Izuku would want, so only forwarded that one; not that Izuku would have worked for Endeavour regardless.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Nighteye keeps dragging himself down on his wrong assumption that Ochako has One for All, to the point he tries to kidnap her and try to force her to hand over a quirk she doesn't even have even after getting reported by Miriko, Ochako's mentor on the experience week, getting into even more problems.
• Dirty Cop: One of the reasons why the abuse happening in Aldera went on for so long is because some of the local law enforcement are either members of the Meta Liberation Army or were paid off to look the other way.
• Dramatic High Perching: The Musutafu Police Department has balconies on its rooftop specifically for heroes to make dramatic landings on.
• Dramatic Irony: In order to meet Izuku and find information about Amaterasu from him, Endeavor thinks of using his daughter Fuyumi as a Honey Trap. The irony being, of course, that Fuyumi is Amaterasu.
• Entertainingly Wrong:
  • All for One figures that Izuku would have turned into a hero during the Sports Festival if he could, so he must be limited to animals.
  • Shoto comes to the incorrect conclusion that Endeavor is interested in Izuku for a Quirk Marriage with Fuyumi because of his powerful shapeshifting. His interest really comes from Izuku's connection to a powerful pro-heroine Endeavor wants Shoto to marry.
  • Nighteye thinks Ochako is All Might's chosen successor because she managed to get to second place in the Sports Festival, but it's actually Kaibara.
• Exact Words: The story is tagged as "Tododeku", the Portmanteau Couple Name for Todoroki Shoto and Midoriya Izuku. However, as the author points out, there's more than one Todoroki - such as Todoroki Fuyumi...
• Fights Like a Normal: When they face each other during the final part of the Sports Festival, Izuku and Bakugo decide to fight without their Quirks.
• Foreshadowing: Many things hinted at Amaterasu's true identity as Fuyumi Todoroki. Chapter 3 states she has a particular hatred of a certain man, which turns out to be Endeavor, implying Amaterasu has personal reasons to hate him. In wolf-woman form, Amaterasu has white fur with red streaks, just like how Fuyumi has white hair with red streaks. Amaterasu has powerful ice and fire abilities, just like Fuyumi's brother Shouto. She desires to save Shouto from Endeavor, implying she somehow knows about what Shouto's suffering through.
• The Gadfly: Due to his nature as a Tanuki, Izuku loves to cause funny events, and if they humiliate someone who really needs it, all the better. For example, when Endeavor harasses Todoroki about him finally using his fire, Izuku interrupts, takes Todoroki away while closing the door on Endeavor's face, and gets Nezu to "glitch" the fire detectors in that corridor - leaving Endeavor covered in fire suppression foam.
• Gaslighting: The culmination of Izuku’s grand prank against Aizawa has a third-year management student pose as a horse in the office, instead of Izuku, throwing off Aizawa, who expected the horse to be a transformed Izuku. To further the prank, Izuku and Kaibara, who’s also present, both pretend that they cannot see the horse, which makes it seem like Aizawa is hallucinating.
• Guile Hero: Izuku manages to both elicit Bakugo's Heel–Face Turn and have Aldera investigated by the Hero Commission — outing them as a secret recruiting tool for the Meta Liberation Army — by shapeshifting into All Might and using his influence to manipulate both.
• Heel Realization: After his encounter with "All Might" (a disguised Izuku), Bakugo does some research and realizes how badly he's fallen, resolving to atone for his mistakes - beginning by blowing the whistle on Aldera. The fact that Bakugo did so despite how much he was benefiting from the toxic atmosphere of Aldera, played a large role in why his later punishment was so comparably mild. Later he realizes the truth but continues to accept that it was the right thing to do.
• Hidden Depths: Bakugo, of all people, is a fan of a soap opera.
• Hypocritical Humor: Aizawa, who regularly forces his students to handle their exercises without being previously informed, and told them that life wasn't fair, mentally complains that being punished by not learning which students he'll be fighting until the day of the exams isn't fair.
• Irony:
  • Nighteye believes that Ochako is the one who was given One for All because she made it to the finals, but he is also certain she is unworthy because she didn't win.
  • Endeavor attempts to convince Amaterasu to a marriage contract with Shoto by mentioning she'll have access to the family's fortune. As it turns out, she already has access... because she's his daughter Fuyumi.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: When Kaibara calls Mineta a perverted gnome, Mineta angrily corrects him by calling himself a dwarf.
• In Spite of a Nail: Tenya is allowed to intern at Hosu with Manual in spite of Nezu spotting the red flag that he's where his brother was attacked by Stain because of Aizawa's reasoning that Tenya would never break the rules. Nezu does warn Aizawa that if there is an incident with Tenya, Aizawa would be punished alongside him.
• Internal Reveal: Shouto learns his sister is Amaterasu, Izuku's mentor, and that she and Izuku are collaborating to bring down Endeavor in Chapter 51.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Miruko was willing to let Nighteye's week-long stalking of her intern slide, but when he breaks into her apartment to kidnap Ochako, even bringing chloroform, Miruko decides enough is enough and calls the authorities on him.
• Loophole Abuse: For the second event, Izuku is told that he can't just transform into a dinosaur and curl up around his vest to protect it from the paintballs. Instead, he turns into a dinosaur and teams up with Yaoyorozu and Hatsume, wearing his vest in a position that is very difficult to reach while the girls cover him.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Are Ochako and Momo just normal quirk users that are just really powerful or is something else going on with them? At first glance, their violent fight in the Sports Festival seemed like a fun little aside but they beat their Term Exam against All Might via incapacitating him.
• Megaton Punch: When Monoma becomes too grating after Momo defeats Setsuna, Jiro just goes and punches him. Unfortunately for Monoma, she hits him at the same time as Kendo was giving him a Dope Slap, knocking him out for the count.
• Mistakes Are Not the End of the World: Kaibara is upset he couldn't make it past the second round of the Sports Festival after promising All Might he'd show the world he was here, but All Might assures him that it's not his fault and that even he fell for tricks in the past. Besides, Nighteye is still being an ass about his choice of successor and if he had made it to the third round and showed off One for All, Nighteye would know who All Might picked and start harassing Kaibara. Nighteye stalking, and later, attempting to kidnap Ochako on the wrong assumption that All Might picked her as his successor validates this belief.
• The Mole: Lady Nagant once infiltrated the Shie Hassakai and was so good at keeping her cover that even after the mission ended, they are none the wiser years later.
• Morton's Fork: Before his internship with Endeavor, Shoto informs him that, per U.A.'s rules, Endeavor must only refer to him by his Hero name, Himura's Warmth... and Endeavor reviles anything to do with Himura, Rei Todoroki's maiden name. So, either Endeavor uses it all the time, or Shoto does his internship week with someone else. Whichever choice he makes, Endeavor will hate it.
• My Fist Forgives You: After he discovers that it was actually Izuku, and not All Might, that gave him the talk leading to his Heel Realization, Bakugo invokes the trope, since while he understands why Izuku did it, it still was manipulation. Izuku answers by offering One Free Hit when they'll eventually spar in an exercise, on the condition it's without the Quirk. Said free hit is "paid" when they face off during the Sports Festival.
• No-Sell: Izuku completely ignores Shinso's Quirk when in animal form. Notably, he answers Shinso's taunt with an animal's bellow rather than human language.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Whatever prank Izuku pulled on his teacher in Chapter 4, it took hours to dislodge the plunger from his head.
  • One of the pranks Izuku pulls on Bakugo and his minions involves a lot of goats and dunking them in glitter.
  • Parts of the unseen battle between Ochako and Momo in the semi-finals. Momo used a howitzer and pipe bomb at points, while Ochako apparently used a quarter of the arena as a club.
• Not Me This Time: Variation in Izuku's prank on Aizawa after the internships. Izuku has pranked Aizawa once or twice by transforming into a horse while in the teacher's office. When Aizawa sees a horse in his office after being suspended, he tells Izuku to stop it - but Izuku's right outside his office, and acts as if there's nothing in the office to make Aizawa think he's going mad. The horse is actually a Management Course student who can transform into a horse thanks to his Quirk.
• Not So Similar: Aizawa sees a bit of himself in Hitoshi, but Nezu points out the similarities are only on the surface level. During their respective entrance exams, Aizawa managed to get a few Villain points with Improvised Weapons, Hitoshi just plain gave up. Aizawa was genuinely beaten down because of his Quirk, Hitoshi's claims of bullying are an overreaction from a few people saying he would make a scary Villain if he decided to be one. Finally, Aizawa has good motivations for being a hero. Hitoshi only has spite.
• Oh, Crap!: Shinso's reaction when he realizes that his brainwashing Quirk does not work on Izuku when he's transformed into an animal.
• Parental Neglect: Endeavour does not care much for Fuyumi and pays little attention to her as a result. Because of this, he hasn't noticed Fuyumi is moonlighting as the Underground Hero Amaterasu.
• Point of Divergence: After Izuku's Quirk manifests, he is taken to a doctor by Mt. Lady. Because of this, All Might doesn't get the chance to offer him One for All.
• Power Copying: When Izuku learns how to take other people's forms, he inadvertently discovers that he can copy their Quirks too. If the Quirk is strong enough, it eats through his stamina and he transforms back in a few minutes.
• Power Misidentification: Aizawa using Erasure on Izuku and realising it is not working reveals that his Tanuki powers isn't a Quirk at all like so many believe.
• Readings Are Off the Scale: Izuku transforms into All Might and throws the ball so far in the assessment that it reads infinity.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Izuku (in his disguise as Flint Ironstag) gets to lay one on Rikiya Yotsubashi for how his company refuses to make products for Quirkless people. Yotsubashi then mocks "Flint"'s appearance, and Izuku unleashes his inner tanuki and returns the favor.
  • Izuku disguised as All Might calls Stain out as a blood-thirsty murderer instead of an ally of justice, pointing out to him that he is killing heroes who did the same things as All Might, so why is it okay when All Might does it but not when other people try to copy him?
• Refusal of the Call: Mirio firmly rejects receiving One for All and becoming All Might's successor, wanting to be himself instead of just a copy of All Might.
• Resign in Protest: Mirio quits working for Nighteye in protest of the latter trying to mold the former into another All Might without any regard for what Mirio himself wants.
• The Reveal: Chapter 35 reveals that Amaterasu is actually Fuyumi Todoroki.
  • The very next chapter reveals the true nature of her and Izuku’s Quirks, namely that the two of them are now actually youkai, and no longer entirely human.
• Rubber Man: Apart from the animalistic qualities, the first aspect of Izuku's quirk that he learns of is elongating his limbs. He can use them to slingshot himself or others and they have the strength to launch Tetsutetsu. By the Quirk assessment, he can extend them 15 meters and is told to stop by Aizawa before reaching his limit.
• Sadist Teacher: Aldera's teachers tend to fall into the same Quirkist bullying as the students, Izuku's teacher telling him that "even a pathetic quirk like that is better than no quirk" after his quirk manifests. The school being a means of indoctrinating kids for the Meta Liberation Army makes a lot of sense with this in mind.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Izuku's pranks have culminated in the student body believing that Aldera is haunted.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Endeavor wants Amaterasu to agree to a Quirk marriage with his son once he comes of age, in the hopes that any children they produce would have very powerful Quirks, and tries to entice her with access to the family fortune should she agree. She very quickly makes it clear what he can do with his offer.
• Secret-Keeper: Nighteye's actions results in Ochako learning about One for All and she promises Kaibara she will keep it a secret.
• Shapeshifter: Izuku's powerset includes the ability to shapeshift into other people. He later expands it to include animals.
• Shout-Out:
  • Izuku's reaction to finding out he became fuzzy is simmilar to daxter's reaction to becoming a octisl from jak and Daxter.
  • While Izuku is running through theories about why he suddenly manifested a Quirk, one of the reject theories is being bitten by a radioactive raccoon.
  • Bakugo refers to Izuku's Quirk manifesting as him turning into a Furby.
  • Amaterasu is based on the Player Character from Ōkami.
  • After Izuku knocks out Mina "Alien Queen" Ashido during the Battle Training class, he pulls out a pretzel stick and says “Now that’s what I call a close encounter.”
  • Some of the General Studies students that show up in the Sports Festival are also characters from Type-2 Hero.
  • Tokage interns with the Divine Fist Hero, North Star.
  • The Olympus Hero hospital from prior stories by the author makes an appearance in this story as well.
• Signature Move: Izuku loves to use his shapeshifting to become dinosaurs. Shoto briefly forgets that Izuku can turn into other things during the Sports Festival.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: Izuku and Aizawa have this relationship. Izuku retaliates against Aizawa’s “logical ruses” with pranks that leave him coated with glitter and doing things like jump-scaring Aizawa by waiting in the faculty office...transformed into a horse. Aizawa retaliates by not telling Izuku he’s expected to make a speech before the Sports Festival, to which Izuku retaliates during the speech by promising to have so much fun that he’ll make Aizawa facepalm at least seven times before the day is over.
• Something Only They Would Say: When Izuku (disguised as an American CEO) meets Yotsubashi Rikiya, he quickly realizes he's a member of the Meta Liberation Army due to his comments about Quirkless people - which were the same as the ones his teachers at Aldera made before he became a tanuki.
• Spanner in the Works: Shinso's use of mind control, against the rules at that, on Kaibara was this. Both All For One and Sir Nighteye were expecting All Might's successor to be participating in the Sports Festival, and certainly making it to the finals. However, Kaibara was taken by surprise and eliminated early without ever demonstrating what he was capable of keeping him beneath their attention.
• Stalker without a Crush: Sir Nighteye stalks Uraraka as part of his plot to force her to pass One for All to Mirio - not knowing that Uraraka isn't the one who received it. When he goes so far as to try to kidnap Uraraka, Miruko kicks him unconscious and calls the HPSC.
• Stunned Silence: Uraraka's and Yaoyorozu's match during the Sports Festival is so brutal all viewers, including the Villains, are speechless.
• Supernatural Fear Inducer: Miroku Kuki, a HPSC agent who temporarily replaces Aizawa as teacher, has this Quirk (or rather, this yokai ability as a Kuchisake-Onna.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Played with. After learning about One for All and how Nighteye considers him perfect for it, a furious Mirio demands to know if all Nighteye wanted from him was another All Might. All Might himself wonders if he had subconsciously considered Mirio a good candidate because of their similarities.
• Take Our Word for It: The Momo v. Uraraka Sports Festival fight horrifies everyone, even the villains, into Stunned Silence. During the fight Bakugou incredulously identifies something in the ring as a pipe bomb and afterwards Izuku claims the ring was so unsalvegable that Nedzu had to airlift a spare in to take its place, while the narration states that Monoma would have pissed himself at the sight had he not been unconscious. Other than Uraraka later mentioning the involvement of a Howitzer and Ectoplasm implying the involvement of explosives, no further details are given about the match. Shigaraki, watching on TV, declares that if All Might made one of those girls his successor, his choice was "fucking insane"... and All For One agrees.
• Tanuki: Izuku's Quirk is a mutation Quirk that manifests as a pair of animal ears and a raccoon tail. He also capable of shapeshifting, being able to transform into other people and even animals using a leaf. Izuku learns later that he is the genuine article.
• This Cannot Be!: Sir Nighteye has this reaction upon using his quirk on All Might and seeing that his fate has changed, and that a girl is involved in such change.
• Too Dumb to Live: The moment Aizawa walked into Principal Ozeru's office, he identifies him as a member of the Meta Liberation Army and correctly presumes that the rest of the staff is in on it. How? He had a copy of Meta Manifesto on display on his bookshelf.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Normally a person's Quirk kicks in around the age of four. Here, Izuku's Quirk doesn't kick in until his early teens when he sees Bakugo being held hostage by the Sludge Villain.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 51, which ends with Endeavour's arrest.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Aizawa indirectly calls out Shouto for not using his fire at all during the Quirk Apprehension Tests.
  • Sir Nighteye is called out on several separate occasions:
    • Mirio is furious with Nighteye for taking him on only to turn him into another All Might instead of letting Mirio be the hero he wants to be.
    • Nezu calls out Nighteye for being a control freak who can't understand that All Might's Quirk is All Might's Quirk, not Sir Nighteye's, and that it is his choice and his choice alone to decide who becomes the next bearer of One for All.
• Willfully Weak: Izuku deliberately avoids using his transformation ability to transform into heroes during the Sports Festival. However, this is not out of a desire to hold back, but instead out of an awareness that people all over the country are watching the broadcast, including villains, in particular the League of Villains. And the last thing that Izuku wants them to realize is that the “All Might” they faced at USJ was not, in fact, All Might.
• Wolf Man: Amaterasu is an underground heroine with wolf-like characteristics.
• Worth It: After Aizawa mentions that previous students left the Hero Course due to the intensity of the Summer Camp, Izuku makes a sarcastic remark about someone leaving the Hero Course without being expelled by Aizawa. After Aizawa punishes him, Izuku says it was worth it.
• Wrong Context Magic: Whatever Izuku's Quirk is, Quirk science and associated medical machinery can't seem to pinpoint what exactly it is. As the fic goes on, there are various interested parties — all of which have animal-based Quirks — who are keeping a close eye on him, implying that there is more to Izuku's quirk than what it seems. Aizawa uses his Erasure on Izuku and it did not work at all. Even if Izuku's heteromorphic traits cannot be negated, if his Tanuki powers were a Quirk at all, all his emitter and transformation powers should still have stopped working.
  The boy was an enigma. A mutation-type quirk forming a few years after the standard mark was almost nonexistent. A quirk of any variety manifesting a good decade after the standard mark is unheard of. He had asked contemporaries in America, China, and Europe and none of them had ever heard of such a case, let alone one with such drastic results. On top of that, Kuwabara's quirk couldn't figure anything out. It was like the boy's quirk factor was a bowl of stew caught in a storm, only solid enough to know it's there but not enough to find out what sorta quirk it was.
  • In Chapter 36, we learn that this is because, rather than gaining a Quirk, Izuku has somehow transformed into a youkai, and is using a different set of supernatural powers entirely.
  • And Fuyumi is implied to be the actual incarnation of Amaterasu.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: For years, Bakugo called his mother "hag". So when he calls her "mom", it's clear to Mitsuki and the reader that the Heel Realization is hitting him hard.

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