Chapter 4: Training

Withdrawing the giant arm, I looked back to Aizawa, waiting for his comment.

Aizawa seems to be deep in thought, before he asked, "How much of those can you make, and control, at a time?"

I almost said all of it, before I restrained my tongue. I doubt Aizawa can appreciate jokes. But I too do not know exactly how much, so I shrugged and replied, "Lemme see."

Raising both of my hands, I imagined the image that I want. This time, I imagined the hands to be slender but longer, all around the beach. Focusing on my sand sense, I imagined hands coming out from between the trash mountains as I don't want to disturb them. Once it's done, I took a look around the beach.

Lo and behold, hands. Thousands of hands reaching for the sky. Through my sand sense, I know the exact number is 6543, though it seems Aizawa is not really in the right mind to pay attention to me.

That's not a bad thing though, cause I'm dead tired as well. I try to manifest them at my utmost distance limit and reached 1.89km away. A bit short from my max limit of 2km, but it's good progress compared to 0.57km when I first tried it at 6yo.

Once the shock settles down, Aizawa turned to me. I can feel that All Might and Izuku has stopped in their track and gawks at the surrounding "view" just like Aizawa, though it's not that surprising. A 14yo with this much power is mad, dude. And what's with your gaze, Deku? You jelly? Git gud.

Feeling giddy from the attention, I decided to surprise them a little bit more. I changed all the hands into trees, though there's no leaf, and I summon my sand avatars on each. The avatars start climbing to a higher branch and with different poses, all of them stare back at us (they don't have eyes, though).

Thinking that's this is enough; I snapped my fingers. All of the sand constructs crumble at once, before flowing down like an ice-cream melting. All Might's scrutiny, Aizawa's thoughtful stare, and Deku's shining eyes all focused on me.

Deciding that this is a good moment, I opened my mouth. "Those are my limits, and the sand-people are the sand avatars that I've told you before," I said, mixed with a bit of lie.

The sand people just now were fully sand-colored with no facial features. But if I want to, my sand avatars can turn to real, living people. I mean, I specifically wished for that when I was in the devil's office. They consumed a good deal of my rewards, you know?

Aizawa, still reeling from shock, just blankly nodded his head.

To be honest, other than getting some attention, my purpose in that show is to shock him, so that that he won't ask too many details. Especially about my sand avatars. One of my plans is ongoing, and my sand avatars play a very crucial role. Or roles.

I heard Aizawa breathed out a sigh, before asking me, "And there's also the sand sense you mentioned to me. Just explain that one and we should be done testing your quirk." He said with a hint of fatigue.

"With my sand sense, I can 'feel' whatever touched the sands within a range around me," I said. Then I noticed he is still staring at me. What, you wanna fight?

Noticing that I've finished my explanation, Aizawa raised his eyebrow. "After looking at your sand control, I'm prepared for something more," Aizawa said. After hesitating, he continued, "How should I say, I don't expect it to be that… rational."

Rude. Well, he's right though. I didn't' explain to what extent I can 'feel'. Within 2km around me, I can feel everything that comes in contact with sand, or dust; as clear as someone pressing on my skin. I'll know the size, speed, shape, and the exact location of what's touching the sand. If it is landbound, I'll know the approximate weight as well.

As you might expect, even with brain enhancement, it's kinda hard to process at first. When I awakened my quirk at 4yo, I bleed from my orifices before losing consciousness for 2 days. But when I woke up there's no sense of discomfort. It just feels… natural. Like I was born with it, like moving my fingers and blinking my eyes. Still, it doesn't provide vision and hearing.

"Then," Aizawa said, "you said you want to test your unarmed combat capability, right?" To that question, I nodded. I need to test a pro Hero power, and Aizawa is a good choice because he doesn't rely on his quirk for offensive, unlike other pro Heroes.

Aizawa took a stance, before gesturing 'Come' with his hand. He doesn't use his scarf, which he should. He really should.

Oh well, he will learn eventually.

*****

(Aizawa's POV)

I gestured with my hand, telling him to start. To be honest, I don't know what to expect. Kyoya's strong enough to best Kayama in quirkless and all-out combat. His sand can rotate and blew away Kayama's sleeping gas, so it's a logical conclusion.

But bested Kayama at hand-to-hand combat? Kayama's not that weak. She's a pro Hero, for all I know. I need to find out more. Looking at the boy, I noticed he's starting to move.

A high-speed frontal rush, with his hands in front of his chest. I extend my right hand to grab his left arm, but he flicked his finger at my wrist, numbing it, before he hit a spot at my elbow, effectively disabling my right arm.

Still with the momentum of his rush, he threw a sharp right jab at my solar plexus, which marks the end of the battle.

If it hit, that is. I jumped back, creating some distance between us. Kyoya… is not chasing me. He looks at me, his face serious.

"You might want to use that, Aizawa-san," he said, gesturing to my scarf, "I can handle it."

As much as I don't want to admit, he's right. While I can fight barehanded, it's way too unrefined. I don't even remember when is the last time I fight without my scarf. Taking a deep breath, I calm my breathing.

'Ugh, this boy is more trouble than I thought,' while thinking that, I unfurled my scarf. 'Here I thought Kayama's just rusty.'

Shaking my numbed hand, I motioned to him, "Come."

*****

(All Might's POV)

"Take a break and cool down your body, young Midoriya" I said to the young boy. "You still need to go to school after this."

The boy nodded and flopped down on his butt. Then, both of us turn our eyes behind, towards the other two behind us. That boy, Kyoya Kayama, can contend with Aizawa on even term even when Aizawa's using his weapon.

"That scarf, that goggle, that fighting style…. ERASERHEAD?!" the hero fanboy seems to have come to a realization. Too loud. I just nod when he looks at me for confirmation.

"Shota Aizawa, Erasure Hero: Eraserhead. He's also a teacher at UA High, which means he'll be my colleague this year." I said. Glancing to the boy, I continued, "And might be your teacher as well."

"My teacher…" he mumbled, before clenching his hand. With a determined look, he said to me, "Yes, he'll be my teacher!" Then, he noticed something from my words. "Eh. EHH!? You'll be teaching at UA?!"

Too loud, boy. Too loud. But I nod in agreement, before saying, "Why do you think I'm in town? I've come to teach at UA," to find a successor, though I didn't voice out the last part. Now that I think about it, Nighteye, as well as some UA teachers, recommend a boy named Mirio Togata. But I don't think this boy is inferior in any way.

Young Midoriya mumbled to himself, which I largely ignore. Now, I want to watch the fight between Aizawa and Kyoya.

Kyoya is strong. Unnaturally so. When Aizawa just started to use his scarf, the boy got caught a few times, but he slowly grasps their workings as the fight goes on.

No, slowly is not the right word. The third time he got caught, he used it to close the gap and counter-attacked, though it failed. After that... there's no after that. The boy only get caught 3 times, though he can't attack as freely as before.

And there's his last name as well. Is he related to Midnight in some way? I'm not that close to Aizawa, so asking him is rather impolite. But he said he will share with me later, so probably there's something that I need to know as well.

Then, I noticed that the mumblings from below have stopped, though I'm not sure when. When I glanced at Izuku, he, too, is entranced by the fight going on between the two. Probably sensing my gaze, he turns to me.

"Um, All Might," he said, hesitating. "Are all UA students like… that?" he asked, pointing at the boy.

I know right? Youngsters these days are scary. I shook my head at the question. "All? Nah. Even among the third years, not much can compare to that boy in terms of pure martial arts." Or rather, there's almost none, even among pro Heroes. But saying the truth might too heavy of a blow to this kid's confidence.

But it's true. Even then, martial arts can only take you so far. A gigantification quirk renders it useless. And their offensive capabilities are mostly against 'normal' humans. There're too many quirks that can invalidate martial arts. Regeneration, hardening, and flight are some examples.

Should I tell this to young Midoriya? When I looked at him, I see no despair nor anxiety. Just that burning passion.

Guess I underestimated my successor, huh? I let out a grin.