Fanfic / old light still slants through

Izuku Midoriya is Quirkless, but has always had this strange, innate sense for danger, like a voice in the back of his head telling him when to watch out for cracks in the sidewalk or when rubble from a Villain attack was flying his way. But after a grievous argument with his former best friend and resident genius Katsuki Bakugou, he fails to heed this voice's warning just as a certain Sludge Villain attacks him underneath a shadowed underpass.

With sludge flowing into his stomach and lungs, Izuku realizes that he is going to die. He's going to die and no one is going to realize it. This Sludge Villain is going to continue killing people and getting away with his crimes and there's nothing he can do about it. He doesn't want this. Who would? Try and scream as he might, his sobs muffled by the liquid pouring in through his nose and mouth.

Finally, with the last of his consciousness he screams, "I don't want to die!"

"Why don’t you let me help you with that?" says a new, unfamiliar voice.

The next thing Izuku knows, he's in a hospital, with the police officers telling him that he has an ice Quirk that he used to freeze the Sludge Villain solid. Baffled by this and the vivid nightmares filled with fire he's had for as long as he can remember, Izuku's life only gets weirder when he meets a strange, departed soul named Tsuna in his dreams. This man then offers to teach him how to use a strange power known as "Dying Will Flames", setting the boy off on a path he could have never dreamed of.

old light still slants through is a Crossover Fanfic between My Hero Academia and Reborn! (2004) written by lunarctus. It imagines Izuku as the reincarnation of Tsunayoshi Sawada, who perished 200 years ago along with the rest of the Vongola Famiglia after the rise of Quirks led to uprisings against both law enforcement and the criminal underworld. Now wielding strange flames that predate the rise of Quirks and heroism, Izuku sets off on a different path than his past life as a mafia boss, using his newfound powers to follow his long repressed dream of becoming a Hero.

It can be read here. It was last updated on November 9th of 2018, leaving the fic presumed dead.

Beware of unmarked spoilers.

old light still slants through demonstrates examples of:

• 20 Minutes into the Future: The Vongola Famiglia fell over 200 years ago, but the uprisings and chaos that came with the advent of Quirks stunted technological development, making the technology present in the story greatly resemble the technology of today. The Vongola's own super-advanced technology as well as prospects of interstellar travel seemed to have been lost to time.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Izuku is somewhat more resentful and abrasive than in canon, reacting angrily when Toshinori asks Izuku to slow down after a coughing fit in the middle of training. He's also much colder to Katsuki and is perfectly fine with being alone after spending his entire life being picked on. The Ghost Memory he inherited from Tsuna doesn't help matters, since he's reminded of all the times Tsuna was called no good and worthless, much like how people look down on him for being Quirkless. That said, he's still ultimately very kindhearted, immediately changing his tone after realizing what he said and going to free the Sludge Villain even as the police officers told him that he didn't have to.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: Instead of becoming the inheritor of One For All, Izuku is packing Tsuna's Sky Flames, Hyper Intuition, and Hyper Dying Will Mode. He later manifests the ability to use Sun Flames.
• All of the Other Reindeer: After the Sludge Villain incident, Izuku just stops reacting to Katsuki's bullying, since nothing the explosive boy could do was as scary as being as close to death as Izuku was. Afterwards, Izuku just ends up getting avoided by everyone rather than picked on, and he's just fine with that.
• And I Must Scream: When Tsuna briefly takes over Izuku's body, he uses Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition to freeze the Sludge Villain solid, leaving the villain frozen and unmoving while the Heroes and police took him away. Since the ice is made of Negative Energy, it can only be melted by other Dying Will Flames, potentially leaving the villain trapped permanently since Izuku had no idea how to use his abilities for months and the fact that Dying Will Flames have fallen into obscurity. It takes several months for Izuku to remember the Sludge Villain's fate and go to free it out of his own Chronic Hero Syndrome and feelings of guilt, but Tsuna assures him that it wasn't Izuku's fault.
  • On the other hand, Officer Tsukauchi acknowledges the usefulness of having the ability to create ice that will never melt when it comes to subduing Villains and says that Izuku has a bright future ahead of him as a Hero.
• An Ice Person: Izuku possesses the ability to use Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition while Tsuna is controlling his body, but has yet to be able to do it on his own.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Tsuna is nothing but kind to Izuku, but admits that he would have had no problems killing the Sludge Villain if it meant protecting Izuku.
• Blatant Lies: Toshinori catches Izuku in Hyper Dying Will Mode and using his flames to try to clear the beach. When the former calls the latter out on this, Izuku says this as a "lie of omission", even though he had already met Toshinori while not in Hyper Dying Will Mode.
  Izuku: [blandly] This is how I always look.
• Boxing Lessons for Superman: After learning that he has Sun Flames, Izuku immediately starts taking first aid classes and reading up on human anatomy to help him better utilize its healing abilities once he gets the hang of them.
• By "No", I Mean "Yes":
  • Tsuna informs Izuku about the Vindice to convince him to not register his Dying Will Flames as a Quirk, but ultimately ends up giving the go ahead anyways after mulling over it.
  • While discussing how Izuku has access to both Sky and Sun Flames:
    Tsuna: They're Sun Flames. You have a dual affinity. Well — not dual. You're a Sky. You just happen to have a talent with Sun Flames, too.
    Izuku: Isn't that the definition of duality?
    Tsuna: Hush.
    Izuku: Tsuna.
• Calling Your Attacks: Tsuna recites the names of his techniques as he's using them in order to activate them, like Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition. Izuku plainly says the name of one particularly special technique when confronting the zero-pointer at the Entrance Exam. X-Burner.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Izuku can't bear the thought of leaving the Sludge Villain on ice even though the Sludge Villain tried to murder him and steal his body.
• Combo Platter Powers: Izuku is able to use both Sky and Sun Flames. He can use the flames to increase his strength enough to easily punch through the heads of the Entrance Exam's robots and toss them around, blast and scorch things with fire, freeze them with Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition, heal himself and others with his Sun Flames, and potentially fly (the author says that Tsuna is intentionally being a Troll by not telling Izuku about this last one until he absolutely needs it and to give Izuku an excuse to use the X-Burner).
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Subverted. Izuku expects this after he waited until the zero-point robot was just about to crush Uraraka to fire the X-Burner and save her, but she's far too grateful to complain.
• Cover-Blowing Superpower: While Izuku's Dying Will Flames are not inherently cover-blowing (not that he has a cover to blow), but Tsuna worries about Izuku accidentally breaking the laws of the mafia world and attracting the attention of Vindice, who are about the only people left on the planet who know about Dying Will Flames.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Tsuna's younger brother Lambo, who was only 19 at the time, died of his wounds in Tsuna's arms while trying to quell the uprisings caused by the rise of Quirks.
• Didn't Think This Through: Like All Might in canon, Tsuna has Izuku clear the trash off Dagobah Beach to prepare for the U.A. Entrance Exam. Unlike All Might, they didn't make arrangements to transport the trash to the landfill, leaving it in huge piles until Toshinori comes along to offer a pickup truck to help out (only to realize after offering that he doesn't have a pickup truck).
• Dissonant Serenity: Tsuna has been so thoroughly broken by his experiences that he's able to mention how Reborn used to shoot him with Dying Will Bullets to get him to enter Dying Will Mode with a laugh and a smile despite the terror he felt when it happened in his youth. Izuku is thoroughly unnerved by this, as it reminds him that Tsuna was a mafia boss.
• Eccentric Mentor: Tsuna is definitely off-kilter in this story, often getting on his protege's nerves for a quick laugh, joking about things that terrified him in the past (and freak out Izuku) and suffering from emotional breakdowns when he has a particularly painful flashback. The training he puts Izuku through is spartan-like and rigid, much like the regimen Reborn put him through, especially when Izuku is still feeling the effects of the pneumonia he suffered from the Sludge Villain attack. But in the end he cares for Izuku above all else and would like nothing more than for him to succeed and achieve his goals. Izuku might trust Tsuna with his life, but he still thinks the man is "absolutely insane".
• Forgot About His Powers: Izuku realizes that he could have passed off his Hyper Intuition as a Quirk if he had just realized that he had it, potentially sparing himself years upon years of torment, leaving him bitter and feeling quite stupid for not realizing this sooner. On the other hand, he may have never met Tsuna if he did.
  • He also frequently forgets to heed his Hyper Intuition when he's deep in thought, causing him to get ambushed by the Sludge Villain and later tripping on his way to the Entrance Exam even though his Intuition would have warned him about both hazards.
• For Want Of A Nail:
  • Since Izuku froze the Sludge Villain solid and was left bedridden for weeks after the incident, he never learns All Might's secret or that All Might and Toshinori Yagi are the same person.
  • This also means that Katsuki was never attacked by the Sludge Villain. But Izuku's two-week long absence made Katsuki assume that Izuku had actually taken his advice to go jump off a roof, wracking Katsuki with guilt after Izuku returns to school. Katsuki then leaves Izuku alone from then on while internally wishing he could say how sorry he felt for saying such a thing.
• Generation Xerox:
  • Tsuna and Izuku are incredibly alike, having both experienced extensive bullying all throughout their lives, were derided as worthless and no-good, are relatively short compared to some of their peers, have Messy Hair, as well as surprising potential to exceed in the roles given to them willingly or unwillingly.
  • Tsuna also mused that danger and violence seemed to be how he, Xanxus and Giotto obtain their own Rain Guardians moments after Izuku accidentally bonds with Uraraka. Izuku saved Uraraka for the bond to happen in the same way Tsuna saved Yamamoto once.
• Glowing Eyes: Izuku's eyes glow molten orange while in Hyper Dying Will Mode the way Tsuna's did.
• Ghost Memory: Izuku gets flashes of Tsuna's life in his dreams, between the end of the Vongola to Tsuna's battle with Xanxus and everything in between. Tsuna can recreate places from his memory while talking to Izuku, such as the cliff overlooking Namimori as well as Namimori Middle School.
• Grand Theft Me: Izuku speculates that Tsuna could have overtaken Izuku's personality at any time, preventing "Izuku" from ever existing while Tsuna lived his life. But ultimately, Tsuna is too grief stricken and cares for Izuku too much to even consider the possibility.
• Happy Ending Override: The Vongola Famiglia is wiped out and everyone Tsuna loves and cares about is dead, in stark contrast to the lighthearted tone of his home series' ending.
• Harmless Freezing: Subverted. Like in its home series, Zero Point Breakthrough: First Edition can cause frostbite, leaving scars all over Xanxus' body from being trapped in ice for nearly a decade and leaving Izuku's hands with minor damage despite being encased in ice for less than a minute when All Might arrived. The Sludge Villain's unique body composition saved him from a worse fate when Izuku finally remembered to unfreeze him a few months after the incident.
• Hates Being Touched: Years of physical abuse from Katsuki have taken their toll on Izuku here. He doesn't let anyone except for his mom and Tsuna touch him without his express permission, but he ultimately just lets Toshinori ruffle his hair after he successfully cleared Dagobah Beach because of how close they've become over the past few months. His embarrassment and gratitude towards Uraraka for saving him from a nasty fall also cause Izuku to lower his guard as she pulls him inside.
• Heal It With Fire: Izuku learns about his ability to access Sun Flames while training for the Entrance Exam. They have the ability to improve the functionality of anything they touch, including one's natural healing ability in a manner similar to Recovery Girl's Quirk. Izuku uses this to cut down on his recovery time between training sessions and boost his strength and speed enough to manhandle the two-point and three-point robots at the Entrance Exam. He also tries to use it on Uraraka's broken ankle, but his inexperience makes it significantly less effective than a dedicated healing Quirk like Recovery Girl's, and he only uses it for immediate first aid before getting Uraraka to a licensed professional. Unfortunately, they can't heal All Might's wounds and Tsuna speculates that even the Mist Arcobaleno wouldn't be able to replace All Might's organs because of the severity of his injuries and how long he's had them.
• Heroic RRoD: Not quite as severe as his canon counterpart's, but Izuku's use of Dying Will Flames does do him harm if he's not careful, giving himself frostbite after Tsuna possessed him to freeze the Sludge Villain. He also gets second-degree burns on his right hand after using the X-Burner for the first time, but luckily Recovery Girl was on site.
• He Who Fights Monsters: After spending his entire life fighting murderers and other criminals to try and make the world a better place, Tsuna became so jaded after the loss of his Famiglia that he just wanted every single person who hurt him and his loved ones to die.
  Tsuna: I was the last one left. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. It was never supposed to be like that. I don’t care if they wanted me to live instead of them, I was supposed to protect them. I was their Sky. They were mine, and those bastards took them from me— So I was going to try to kill them all. Damn the world. Damn fixing things. They took my family from me.
• Hope Is Scary: Izuku is torn between shock, hope, and fear after learning that he had supposedly used an ice Quirk to save himself from the Sludge Villain. On one hand, he should be ecstatic that he has a Quirk. On the other hand, he's left with countless questions about why it only manifested now and why he can't remember using it, fearing that it was a fluke and would never happen again.
  Narration: It hurts so much to hope. He doesn’t want to.
  He doesn’t want to hope, in case it turns out that he’s wrong, that they’re all wrong.
  It hurts.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Even after awakening his Dying Will Flames, Izuku struggles to get them to manifest. Tsuna decides to help him out by acting as a crutch whenever needed, helping Izuku enter Hyper Dying Will Mode and use his fire at will until Izuku no longer needs it.
• Hyper-Awareness: Like Tsuna, Izuku has this while in Hyper Dying Will Mode, as demonstrated while speaking to his mom about his new "Quirk". It also manifests as part of his natural Hyper Intuition, since the narration describes him as "good at paying attention" when it comes to analyzing people and their Quirks.
  Inko: What is it you want to talk about?
  Izuku: It might be easier to show you.
  Narration: ...he reaches down and Tsuna pushes up at the same moment and between one blink and the next, the world is— Clear. Uncomplicated. So easy to understand and react to, because it’s not that the world has slowed down any, it’s that Izuku’s processing has become faster, the streams of information he can take in has increased, and everything is there for him to take in.
  • This is also what lets Izuku realize that Toshinori's condition is because of some massive injury he had in the past, giving him flashbacks to an instance of Chrome's illusionary organs giving out.
• Hypocrite: After bumping into a jogging and wheezing Izuku after the Sludge Villain incident, All Might, as Toshinori Yagi, tries to get our hero to slow down and take care of himself. Says the skeletal man who continues to be a hero despite losing half his vital organs. Lampshaded by the author in the post-chapter notes.
  Author: TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF YOU STUPID SELF-SACRIFICING SKELETON MAN.
  Yagi Toshinori you goddamn hypocrite, take your own advice.
• In Spite of a Nail: Despite having completely different powers and a radically different mentor, Izuku still ends up cleaning Dagobah Beach as part of his training and trips on his way to the U.A. Entrance Exam, letting him meet Uraraka in the process.
• It's All My Fault:
  • Izuku blames himself for putting the Sludge Villain on ice even though it was Tsuna in control, forcing both Officer Tsukauchi and Tsuna to console him about it and explain that it wasn't his fault and that he shouldn't feel bad about it to help Izuku forgive himself for his mistakes.
  • Bakugou, in his realization that Izuku's near death awakens his quirk after confronting him after the quirk assessment test. Internally repeats this in his mind.
  Bakugou: It's my fault, it's my fault, it's all my fucking fault.
• Kamehame Hadouken: Izuku uses the X-Burner to save Ochako from the zero-pointer robot.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Izuku and his mom care for stray cats near their apartment, taking them to the local shelters after giving them some first aid and food. One of them ends up staying with the Midoriyas, with Izuku naming this cat Natsu, a Call-Back to the name of his previous life's Box Weapon, not that Izuku is aware of this.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Izuku is still very much a Hero Otaku here, clamping his hands (which were still on fire) over his mouth in excitement while meeting Recovery Girl even when Hyper Dying Will Mode should have kept him calm.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Izuku can't remember anything that transpired after losing consciousness while being attacked by the Sludge Villain, reacting with complete shock and surprise when law enforcement told him that he had used an ice Quirk to freeze the Sludge Villain. It's even more puzzling to All Might, who had a short conversation with a calm and confident "Izuku" shortly after the event, unaware that Tsuna had taken the reins during that time.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Izuku and Tsuna are this to each other (except in Tsuna's case, he's not exactly alive). Tsuna relies heavily on Izuku for a sense of normalcy and fulfillment after losing everything, while Izuku relies on Tsuna to ever have a chance of achieving his dream to become a Hero. This goes so far that Izuku promises not to bond with anyone else if it means making sure Tsuna is alright.
• Mama Bear: When Izuku yelps in surprise after realizing that he left the Sludge Villain frozen, Inko initially believes that something is wrong and uses her Quirk to pull a frying pan from the kitchen as a weapon.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After hearing that Izuku ended up in the hospital, Bakugou initially fears that Izuku actually took his advice and tried to kill himself. He doesn't bother him until the very end of the day, when Izuku is just so tired of their daily routine that he refuses to give Bakugou any more information about what happened, leaving him feeling somewhere between anger and guilt as he doesn't know what actually happened. He doesn't bother Izuku after that, refusing to even make eye contact with him due to his enduring belief that he almost got someone killed. He later earns some actual rescue points during the Entrance Exam, showing that his lingering guilt made him a somewhat more altruistic person.
  [at the Entrance Exam] If Katsuki were going to say something, it would be, What the hell do you think you’re doing?
  It would be, You don’t have a goddamn Quirk, Deku, why are you here?
  It would be, Do you still have a fucking death wish? You’re going to get yourself killed out there! Goddammit, Deku, you’re going to die—)
  (Katsuki would say, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry.
  • Tsuna has one of these when he realizes that he's been missing for five days, criticizing himself for not being there for Izuku.
• Nerves of Steel: Izuku's Nervous Wreck tendencies are suppressed by Hyper Dying Will Mode, allowing him remain completely calm even in the most stressful situations. He bolts the moment it ends, oftentimes losing his lunch in the nearest trashcan out of nervousness and fright. They also dull his feelings of pain and exhaustion. So when he ends up with second-degree burns after overusing his Dying Will Flames, he doesn't actually notice until after he leaves Hyper Dying Will Mode.
• Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: Tsuna insists on Izuku practicing his Dying Will Flames by using them to clear trash off the beach, but Izuku balks, saying that it's illegal and that they'd be in serious trouble if they got caught. Tsuna's response amounts to this, calling it a chance to practice Izuku's Hyper Intuition. Unfortunately for the both of them, Toshinori, who Izuku subconsciously trusts enough to bypass his Hyper Intuition, happens to frequent the area and catches them in the act.
  • Izuku does manage to practice his flames discreetly by using them to recover from his exhaustion faster and increase his strength somewhat without entering Hyper Dying Will Mode while carting around trash.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Before the "Heroes vs Villains" exercise, Ochako begins mentally declaring she will not let anyone take away the happiness she now has, and that she will kill anyone who tries. The implication is that as the future Rain Guardian, she is subconsciously angered at the idea of anything happening to her Sky, Izuku.
  • Also during the exercise, when Bakugou confronts Izuku, he calmly states he wants to talk, breaks Midoriya's earpiece, then refers to Izuku by his name. He then starts bawling Berserker Tears, apologizing to Izuku! He'd been racked with guilt over thinking Izuku had tried to commit suicide when he told him too, and had been looking for the chance to apologize as the guilt built up.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: For all intents and purposes, Tsuna is a ghost living inside Izuku's head, mentoring him and helping him use his Dying Will Flames. He can also change his form, normally appearing in his 30s as he did before his death but unintentionally reverts back to his 14-year old self after going missing for five days. When Izuku is about to fall unconscious, Tsuna can also possess him temporarily to get him out of danger.
• Parental Substitute: Tsuna is almost a surrogate father to Izuku, gently guiding him along while also providing encouragement when necessary but keeping Izuku to a strict training regimen so he can achieve his dreams. All Might is also this for being a guiding and moderating influence in Izuku's life as Toshinori Yagi, being the first to expect Izuku to attend U.A. and reining him in when he's being reckless. The author outright calls him Dad Might for a reason.
• Playing with Fire: Izuku has inherited Tsuna's Sky Flames and later develops the ability to use Sun Flames.
• Power-Strain Blackout: Aside from the obvious stress of being nearly murdered and having copious amounts of sludge shoved down his throat, Izuku blacks out after Tsuna freezes the villain due to the exertion required to directly enter Hyper Dying Will Mode for the first time.
• Reincarnation: The central premise of the story is that Izuku is Tsuna's reincarnation, but Tsuna's consciousness is still around to mentor Izuku. However, similar to how Tsuna's guardians bore resemblance to the Primo Vongola's guardians, Izuku's own guardians bare great similarities to Tsuna's, if not being outright reincarnations themselves.
  • Ochako, Midoriya's future Rain Guardian, is very light hearted and easy going like Takeshi Yamamoto. Just like him however, she is fiercely protective of her sky, Izuku, and won't let anyone hurt him. Tsuna himself notes that her flame reminds him greatly of Yamamoto. She subconciously hear Yamamoto's thoughts, and she is at least aware of Izuku being a sky without being told what dying will flames actually are.
  Ochako (Thinking): STAY AWAY FROM HIM, STAY AWAY FROM MY SKY!
• Redemption Rejection: Played with. When Bakugou breaks down crying, begging Izuku to forgive him for telling Izuku to kill himself, Izuku acknowledged that he's too angry and scared to forgive Bakugou, but at the least, accepts that this is a start to mending their relationship.
• Replacement Goldfish: It's heavily implied that Tsuna's motivation for helping Izuku is to fill the void left behind by the loss of his family and Guardians, being especially protective of Izuku and berating himself when he isn't there for him.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Tsuna is still reeling from the loss of everyone he holds dear. While he puts up a facade of calmness and serenity, it's very clear that their deaths haunt him, leading him to beg Izuku to not go down the same path he did to protect the young boy from the same fate.
• Spider-Sense: Izuku has inherited Tsuna's Hyper Intuition, giving him an innate sixth sense for danger and how to dodge it, with the Sludge Villain attack happening while Izuku was too hung up over his fight with Katsuki to heed his intuition's warnings. Izuku is also baffled about how Toshinori Yagi, a stranger Izuku barely knows, is able to avoid triggering it, unaware of the fact that the skeletal man is actually the hero he looks up to the most, All Might.
• Spirit Advisor: Tsuna is this for Izuku, teaching him how to use his Dying Will Flames as well as acting as Mr. Exposition, informing the aspiring hero about the Mafia underworld and the history of the powers Izuku now wields. He also acts as a crutch for the young aspiring hero, helping him manifest his Dying Will Flames until Izuku no longer needs his help to do so.
• Sole Survivor: In contrast to what happened during the Future Arc of his home series, Tsuna is heavily implied to have been the last of the Vongola to fall, having watched his little brother (Lambo), who was only 19 at the time, die in his arms.
• Stepford Smiler: Tsuna may laugh and joke about the mafia world, but he's seriously broken by the loss of the Vongola Famiglia, having numerous mental breakdowns over the course of the story. Izuku himself also admits to being one, hiding his pain behind a fake smile so that his mom wouldn't have to worry about him.
• Stunned Silence: Izuku can only stare at Toshinori Yagi when the man expressed his confidence that Izuku will end up at the Sports Festival next year. No one had ever shown that level of faith in his ability, not even his own mom. Izuku has to force himself to not cry as he bows in gratitude. This also leads Izuku's Hyper Intuition to fail against Toshinori, since this chance meeting made Izuku subconsciously trust him despite barely knowing him. He has the same reaction when Uraraka offers to be friends, only with a smile instead of Tears of Joy.
  • He has this reaction yet again after learning that he earned the highest score on the U.A. Entrance Exam with 44 Villain points and 70 Rescue Points, beating out even Bakugou by 14 points.
• Succession Crisis: Tsuna is pushing Izuku to find a new set of Guardians even though they have no plans of reentering the mafia world. Izuku also flatly refuses to bond with anyone until he knows Tsuna won't be hurt by it. Tsuna also doesn't tell Izuku when he accidentally bonds with Uraraka as his first Guardian.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: The story focuses far more heavily on the lasting psychological effects of being bullied all of his life, nearly dying, suffering from pneumonia, and inheriting Tsuna's Ghost Memory and all the trauma that comes with it. Because of this, Izuku's personality is closer to this than his status as an overwhelming Nice Guy in canon. If you're close to him or show him kindness, he'll be a little more demure and reserved, but is basically as sweet as his canon counterpart. If you aren't, he'll treat you with indifference at best and irritation at worst. He also Hates Being Touched and snaps at people when they're in the way of his dream to become a Hero.
• Superior Successor: Tsuna mentions that Izuku is taking to using Hyper Dying Will Mode far more easily than he ever did, since Izuku can potentially enter it of his volition while Tsuna needed Dying Will Pills to achieve the same result. Izuku is also learning how to use his flames without the aid of a Box Weapon.
  • Then Izuku learns that he actually has a hybrid flame like Xanxus', only with Sun Flames instead of Storm Flames.
• Take a Third Option: Without One For All, Izuku had two options for dealing with the zero-point robot. The first was to simply run away, letting Uraraka get crushed underneath (which was obviously ruled out). The second was to try and rush in and pull her out while outrunning the robot (again, implausible). So Tsuna presents Izuku with a third option: Wait until the robot raises its foot into the air, throwing off its center of balance before blasting it with a full power X-Burner to total it and knock it backward so it doesn't fall on her. Aizawa was extremely impressed by this level of forethought.
• Taking You with Me: Tsuna was so lost and angry after the lost of his Famiglia that he went on a killing spree to wipe out everyone he believed responsible before going down himself. Also counts as a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Talking in Your Dreams: How Izuku contacts Tsuna most of the time.
• These Hands Have Killed: While Tsuna admits that if it were purely up to him, he probably would have killed the Sludge Villain to keep Izuku safe, but he doesn't want that blood on Izuku's hands since it's his life, not Tsuna's, and he doesn't want to destroy Izuku's idealism or his chances of becoming a Hero.
  Tsuna: When someone tried to kill me, I got used to killing them right back. I don’t use Zero Point to torture them. This was a mistake. I messed up. I didn’t want to kill him in your body, Izuku, but if it had been fully up to me, that’s what I might have done. You, though? You’re still so innocent, and this is not my life. It is yours, and you were fighting to defend it. How could I not help you?
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Subverted. While acting as the Vongola's boss, Tsuna tried to return it to its roots as a vigilante organization working for the public good, but they still ended up killing some particularly dangerous individuals. But after losing his Famiglia to the uprisings brought about by the rise of Quirks, Tsuna became The Unfettered out of rage and grief and wiped out as many of the people he held responsible as he could before falling himself. Even now he would have no qualms with killing people if it meant keeping Izuku safe.
  • Both Izuku and Tsuna breath a sigh of relief after the Entrance Exam, since no one got killed and Izuku managed to save Uraraka from the zero-pointer.
  It’s all over now. He either made it into Yuuei, or he didn’t. And…despite his thoughts at the beginning of the test, if he doesn’t make it into Yuuei, if he only does one worthwhile thing in his life — at least he saved Uraraka.
  Izuku: No one’s going to die in front of me.
  Tsuna: (They aren’t going to die in front of me again.)
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Izuku only awakens his Dying Will Flames after nearly dying to the Sludge Villain, since their power is proportional to his will to keep on living.
• Useless Useful Spell: Tsuna's signature Zero Point Breakthrough: Revised Edition was handy while battling other Dying Will Flame users, but it's all but worthless in a society where the usage of Dying Will Flames has been lost to time.
• We Used to Be Friends: Years of bad history isn't going away just because Bakugou is regretful and Izuku isn't willing to take his abuse anymore. Bakugou is torn between guilt, jealousy, and anger, and Izuku is torn between hating him and wishing he were gone and forgiving him and trying to be his friend again, because Bakugou meant that much to him. The apology Bakugou makes during the Battle Trial is a start, but it's made clear by the author that it will be a long time before they're okay again, if they ever will be.
• Wrong Context Magic: Izuku hides his newly manifested Dying Will Flames by registering them as a Flame Quirk taking after his father's fire-breathing Quirk. This is meant to hide Izuku from the Vindice as well as avert lingering suspicions about his sudden new powers.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Izuku manages to give this to Tsuna after the latter has an emotional breakdown over not being there for him and his fears of hurting Izuku in the long run.
  Tsuna: We failed. We fell. I lost myself. Please, Izuku, I don’t ever want you to be like me. Hold onto yourself. Don’t become a monster. You want to be a hero. Please, god, don’t ever become what I was. I want to teach you, but I’m afraid. I don’t want you to get hurt, or to ruin your chances, because of what I’ve done.
  Izuku: [firmly after a deep breath] You’re not going to hurt me.
  Tsuna: [snarling] You don’t know that. What do you call abandoning you like that? What do you call the secrets I’ve kept? What do you call—
  Izuku: I call it helping me. I call it you doing the best you can, even when you’ve suffered so much. Tsuna, you’re helping me. Please. You don’t want me to lose myself, but I don’t want to lose you either. I don’t think I could stand to lose you. Please, Tsuna. I can’t lose you.
  • Then it's Izuku's turn to get one after he's wracked with guilt over leaving the Sludge Villain frozen and forgetting about it, but Officer Tsukauchi has seen this same self-sacrificing and self-destructive mindset with All Might, speaking to the boy to make him feel better and to stop the problem before it gets worse.
    Tsukauchi: It was self-defense. You don’t remember it, and you can be excused for not ever wanting to think of it again. When you recalled what we told you about the villain and had a handle on your Quirk, you came here immediately to fix it. Doesn’t seem like a problem to me.
    Izuku: I want to be a hero. [looks up with a fierce expression] I have to be better than this. I have to—
    Tsukauchi: Do the best you can. You did your best here, Midoriya. If you feel you didn’t do enough, then try to be a little better next time, but don’t blame yourself when you’re a civilian. Become a hero, and try to forgive yourself for any of your mistakes.