Izuku Midoriya - The Defiant Blade

The Defiant's Dance

Summary: This chapter contains a short flashback of Izuku's past where he has been training himself in the northern mountains of Japan called The Temple of Lasting Altar located in the province of Hirana. He is keeping himself so busy, trying to push his limits until he gets exhausted, unable to hit nor take down his targets. Soon, his mother witnessed his training, shows up, and shares her experience to his son: that too much hard work will physically and mentally drain you.

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Time: 5:30 PM

Location: Remote forest, 100 meters away from Temple of Lasting Altar

Two months ago before attending Shiketsu High...

"Haaargh...! Hiiyah!"

Izuku quickly dashed to his target dummy with his array of blades. His lethal move calling it bladesurge, one of his most used abilities he created that cut the dummy in half.

Panting with sweats dripping from his face as he looked around the dummies he has taken down on the ground.

"Huh....only 23 out of 30 metal and wooden dummies today? Tch...How quaint..." He sighed, wanting to finish the remaining targets around him.

"Guess I'd better sharpen my blades quickly. I'm not leaving until I take down the remaining dummies around me—"

"Izuku, my dear~! What are you still doing here in the woods? It's getting dark and you have to return to the temple for dinner!"

He was interrupted when his mother Inko appeared in the woods with a worried look.

"O-Oh. Hi there mom..."

"Have you been at this all day? Surely, the monks and I are letting you have a break after training whenever you want."

Holding a body towel from her hand, Inko threw it directly at her son. Izuku caught the towel with his right hand before wiping his face.

"N-No. Not until I'm satisfied with my performance...Wait, wouldn't you suppose to help the maidens preparing dinner. Why do you care anyway?"

Inko crossed her arms with a pout. "Two reasons: First, training too hard will actually worsen your skills. Second, I'm your mother, silly!"

"Of course I'm your son geez..." Izuku jokingly rolled his eyes. "Well, that's easy for you to say. You've already mastered your quirk. But for me? I don't have luxury and time for rest—"

His mother laughed and walked closer to him. "Haha! The luxury of rest, huh? Izuku, please listen well..."

"When I was around your age, I trained much like you do....to excess."

He glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. "Eh? Is that so?"

She nodded with a smile. Placing her index finger on her cheek before looking up at the dark skies. "Oh yes, I often trained until I could no longer levitate myself or even lift a single object using both of my hand and head. I was proud of my efforts until I realized I was, in fact, setting myself back. I spent almost as much time bedridden from exhaustion and headache as I did actual training which made your dad worry for a few days."

Izuku tilted his head, not that satisfied at what his mother was telling about her experience.

"I-I uhh...I still have a hard time seeing you fail at anything though..."

"That was not my only folly, dear. Another time before you were born I wandered off to fight a big creature alone in the deep dark woods of Hirana. I lost sight of the trail back home. I wandered lost for almost a week. When I finally returned, I was parched, feeling light and thin and near death. When I lost my balance and about to pass out, Hisashi caught me with his arms."