Momo cannot quite hide her grin as the weight disappears from her hands, Hatake's relaxed form replaced by the ball of cloth he'd thrown right at the start. His quirk is utterly ridiculous but, having listened to his strategy during their fifteen minutes prep time, she cannot believe she'd ever doubted him in the past. She can see the slight smirk to Todoroki's face, even from this awkward angle. Hatake had crossed the space between them and Midoriya's team ridiculously fast, having 'substituted' with the cloth-wrapped rock, the latter of which she'd provided. Now, he's in the air, hand snapping out to snatch up the headband from Midoriya's skull. Another flash of those strange hand formations and he's back among them, rock dropping before the former Ten Million's team.

"Hatake," Todoroki snaps and their rider chuckles, ruffling the boy's hair with his free hand.

"Maa, chill, Shouto-kun. I've got this."

Now, Momo has never actually seen this part of Hatake's quirk in action. In fact, she'd been unaware he was capable of it, given that they'd been separated so thoroughly during the USJ incident. It's fascinating to see the swirl appear in the air, like a plughole sucking away water. Only, it's the ten million headband that's disappearing instead, right into a dimension that only Hatake can access.

Perfect.

"Woah woah woah! Is that even allowed?!" It's Present Mic, bellowing it out as audience bursts into confused murmurs. Yaoyorozu hadn't been too sure herself; she's watched plenty of UA sports festivals in preparation for this, but there had never been a contestant with a warp quirk before. They're exceedingly rare; it's stunning that Hatake's capable of it, even if he can only use it on others, not himself. Or so he says. At the moment, she's taking everything he says with a pinch of salt.

"Well, Hatake's using his quirk. As long as he can make the headband reappear by the end of the match, I'll allow it!" The ruling is followed up by the sharp crack of a whip, Midnight shifting her weight to one side as she declares her verdict.

"Well, I do suppose that is our place for the next round secured then?" Iida murmurs, looking remarkably underwhelmed. Momo can sort of relate; it's exactly how she'd felt upon learning of the method behind Hatake's victory against Todoroki back in their first hero class. Though, it does seem the other isn't holding too big a grudge, given they'd paired up almost right away. It is good to see the cold boy from her recommendation group reaching out.

"YOU SHITTY MASKED BASTARD! SPIT UP THAT FUCKING HEADBAND!" It's Bakugo. How uncultured.

Above her, Hatake huffs, hands flashing between more of those strange hand gestures (is that something relevant to his quirk? She should be watching him closely, given there's a solid chance they will be facing off against each other now).

"Hold strong, Shouto-kun." Hatake swings around Todoroki like a fireman's pole, one hand slamming down onto the ground and then, there's an earthquake. No, not an earthquake, but walls of earth rising up, thicker than a car and four times as tall. Once they stop rising, Momo notices the series of holes along the bottom six feet, her lips pursing into a frown for it doesn't seem like Hatake to make such a rookie mistake. She catches on the moment Todoroki lifts his hand and then there's thick sheets of ice there, filling the gaps but leaving them as viewing windows with which to peer though. The only thing they need is a roof and then they'd be untouchable. Astounding.

"Well, I think we're just about set now, right?"

Shota is going to ring Hatake's neck when this is all over.

The brat'd showcased absolutely nothing in the first round other than his own athletic ability. Now… now there's some kind of super-speed teleport/switch technique, earth manipulation and, of course, that warp quirk. Not to mention the lightning and sticking to the walls thing. It's a given that Hatake's team will go through, as they not only retain their own headbands, but that of the hastily stolen ten million. And they're not letting anyone get even remotely near.

So far, only Bakugo has gotten close to blasting through the earth wall, all the other sensible teams having given up after the headband had been warped, stored in Hatake's own pocket dimension. No, Bakugo had continued blasting away, Ashido melting stone with her acid. It'd lasted all of fifteen seconds before their combined attacks, but the opening had been swiftly closed. Not before Hatake had launched a jet-powered spray of water out from the hole, blasting Team Bakugo to the edge of ring as Todoroki plugged the gap.

They're showing brilliant teamwork and now it's Hatake that's really shining. Todoroki too. Neither Yaoyorozu or Iida are standing idle either, the former creating the multitude of weapons Hatake had been barred from bringing along, Iida watching for cracks to direct Todoroki to. There's only two minutes left on the clock and no one has come close to touching Hatake's team.

"Yo yo yo! Though he was slow out of the box, Hatake seems to have fortified himself for the sake of his team. Man, what is this kid's quirk?! We can't see his face, we've no idea of what he's truly capable of, argh! Nothing makes sense!"

Well, at least he's frustrating everyone else. That's a comfort.

Shinso Hitoshi swallows, heart hammering in his chest as the last few seconds tick away. He's got enough headbands; the mouthy 1B asshole that's acting as his front horse was the only one he hadn't needed to brainwash. Not after Hitoshi had explained his plan. He'd been banking on the other's hatred of 1A but it was almost too much for him to handle. He hates it, hates proving those assholes from Middle School right. But, to have a hope in hell of actually getting through, he'd had to. Being dealt the cards he has, he's got no other option.

And speaking of being dealt a good hand-

Hitoshi's eyes flick towards the verifiable fortress that's dominating the centre of their playing field.

Hatake Kakashi. The one that'd stood beside Bakugo and stated he wouldn't be giving them any quarter. Though he'd done fuck all other than pass in the first round, well… now it's a bit different, isn't it?

Now that's what society would dub a 'hero' quirk. Whatever the fuck kind of quirk it is. Is there even a quirk that's so versatile? Something must be wrong with that one. An alien? No, can't be. Government experiment gone wrong? Government experiment gone right?

Whatever the fuck he is, this bastard has just dominated the second event, leaving the rest of them to scrape by. The green haired one, one he hadn't actually seen use a quirk yet, has enough to pass. As does the explosive bastard that'd tried breaching that fortress at the start. So, it'll be the members of their teams against each other in the finally tournament. That… that's less in line with what Hitoshi wants, given that once they've seen him use his quirk, it won't take much to figure out how it's activated. He's got one potential win secure, but anything after that, well, it depends how smart his competition is.

And if he can get a word in edges ways, given how fast some of these hero students move.

Especially Hatake.

.

The bell goes. The show's over, the second round is done and, despite doubts from all corners of his life (even the one Hitoshi himself occupies), he finds himself with a place in the final round. His legs feel weak with the relief of it all; he barely pays any attention when the fortress comes down and Hatake pops out, summoning up the winning headband without a care in the world. Lucky bastard. The hell kind of quirk does he have, anyway? It doesn't make any sense; there's too many different elements and he hates it.

Hatake's still waving the headband back and forth, clearly not listening to his tallest teammate and the rant the glasses wearing male is on. It's strange, the shortest of the group is perhaps the biggest threat in this entire competition.

Even stranger is his attitude; the kid jams a single pinkie in his ear, wiggling it back and forth before he looks to Engine-Legs. Hitoshi isn't sure what he says, but he can guess it's along the lines of 'did you say something' given how Glasses reacts. He'd almost find it funny, if it were for the fact Hatake so clearly has a 'heroic' quirk. Hell, it might as well be an 'everything' quirk given what he's seen the other do. It's not fair but then life's not known for being fair, is it?

"Well, that was easy," Kakashi muses, summoning the headband back into existence now that the bell has rung. They've won easily given Kamui. Blatant cheating? Perhaps. But that way, there hadn't been any need for his team to overwork themselves and Kakashi is all about teamwork, isn't he?

The hot glower that Spark-Boom-Boom is sending his way promises an explosive match if he doesn't end up getting himself kicked out of the competition for aggressive behaviour; Kakashi offers him a cute little wave, smiling in order to watch the kid rev up that little bit more. It really is like early days Naruto. The buttons are just so obvious and oh so easy to push, almost like they're flashing and flaring, begging him to press away.

"That element of your quirk does not tire you, Hatake?" It's Iida, his head tilting to a side as he observes him, having cooled his jets from the rant Kakashi really hadn't been listening to.

Ah, yeah. 'Warp quirks' aren't common here, are they? It's a shame, they're so incredibly useful. There's that one kid in Third Year with a quirk almost similar to Obito's, but it doesn't transport him into another dimension. Just make shift to 'untouchable'… Kakashi could still probably take him. He'd… he'd managed with Obito, hadn't he? And this Third Year won't have any ninja tricks like him.

"Nah, not for the small stuff." Though he probably shouldn't use it again today.

Kakashi whips their winning headband back and forth, blatantly ignoring how it almost slaps Sparky in the face as he storms by, biting a snarling threat to him that Kakashi only eye-smiles in response to. He waves Momo and Iida away, throwing one arm over Todoroki's shoulders (the height thing isn't looking too promising here; a lot of people are tall and Kakashi's getting a terribly feeling he's going to end up like Keigo, being on the shorter side of things. The thought is… distressing. He's having to stretch from his usual slouch to keep his arm over Todoroki's shoulders as it is.

"Maa, Shouto-kun, should we get some food?" Kakashi asks, following his little kohai's line of sight to find Endeavour watching them, flaming beard and all, from the stands. Well, he can't let that imposing asshole put his cute little kohai off like that, can he?

Standing on his tiptoes, Kakashi stretches his arm high and waves towards the Number Two Hero (he's not incompetent, he knows the big players. But it's so much more fun if people don't know that).

"Hello, Endermic-san!" Shouto's shoulder shake ever so slightly under his weight for a moment before Kakashi finds himself being almost hustled off of the field. Naw, is Shouto really trying to ruin his fun like this? It would appear so.

"I want cold soba," Shouto grunts, but he's no longer focused on his old man, so Kakashi will count it as a win.