"Again!" Izuku's master, Naoto, barked out for the nth time today.

Izuku, for his part, gave a low groan as he struggled to comply with his master's command. Today, like every other day for the past two years, he was tempering his body. As his master had explained it, on his first day of training, beyond enabling him to use his bodies full physical capabilities he'd be training his body to survive it. Improving muscle and tendon elasticity and endurance, strengthening his bones and getting his body accustomed to the massive increase of chemicals released, such as adrenaline, during the 'burst time'.

What it all boiled down to was destroying his body and building it again, and again, and again. His master was right, his training was hell and no normal or 'sane' individual would want this training. Good thing Izuku didn't believe he was normal otherwise he'd be questioning his sanity by now, well more than usual. Which was why, despite his body's protests, he was getting up to run another lap.

Naoto was an incredibly strict taskmaster who you either listened to or suffered the consequences. He also never handed out praise or encouragement during training as he was a strong believer that if someone required outside motivation to accomplish something they didn't really want it in the first place. All though he was more than happy to give his thoughts on his disciple's accomplishments after the fact, though that was centered around his fighting ability and the like more than his other training personal achievements.

Beyond the extreme exercises Izuku does every day in order to temper and refine his body they sparred as well. There was no formal martial arts taught, Naoto believed them to be more for sport than actual combat and thus dismissed them from his training regime (despite Izuku's protests). Instead Naoto had cherry picked certain moves and stances from a wide range of martial arts, chief among them Muay Thai and Combat Sambo.

Naoto called it Combat Brawling or 'The Distilled Art of Killing' when he was feeling particularly poetic (though he only said that last one once in the presence of Izuku's mother before he wisely refrained from doing so again). Izuku had been bluntly told he had no talent for his personal brand of the 'style' and as such wouldn't teach him it. When asked, Naoto had told him that it was because he lacked a killer instinct, which makes sense for a child but Naoto wasn't one for traditional logic.

Usually that would mean he couldn't learn Combat Brawling as it was heavily reliant on the ability of the practitioner to be ruthless to their opponent. However Izuku, much to Naoto's pleasure, had refused to be deterred by the news and loudly proclaimed that he'd create his own style if he had to. Apparently this was the right, or wrong depending on your point of view, answer as Naoto had laughed happily at the declaration before proceeding to pound him into the ground the rest of the day.

The good news was that since he was basically learning how to brawl sophisticatedly creating his own "style" was relatively easy. Izuku's style focused heavily on grappling type moves and debilitating blows in order to incapacitate his opponent, after all heroes catch bad guys not kill them. It was also heavily reliant on predicting his opponent's moves and using the environment to the fullest. Izuku modeled it after a Sherlock Holmes movie he had watched recently, he thought being able to predict a fight several moves in advanced was pretty neat. Of course that was fictional and not really possible but he was still a child (despite his intellect and maturity) and was quite stubborn.

As for his studies well he's gotten to the point where he wants to start experimenting and building things by himself, after all book knowledge only gets you so far. The problem was quite simply a lack of money. His family, while not poor, does not have much in the way of excess cash.

Izuku was brought out of his reverie as he finally heard the sweetest words in the world from his master.

"Well, you didn't completely suck today and you'll probably die if we continue so…go away."

Naoto…had a really strange personality. Sometimes it even seems like he has many strange personalities, still he did care about him…sort of. Speaking of his master Izuku decided that he should ask him if he had a way to get the money for the parts he needed (a decision he decided to blame on exhaustion).

"Hey master, do you know a way for me to get some extra money?"

Naoto grew an unholy gleam in his eyes at the question, before quickly growing sad as if he remembered something bad.

"Well in the past I would have sent you to an underground fight ring but well…they're all gone now." He said with a slight sniffle. Izuku just grew a sweat drop in response.

"Right….well thanks anyways."

"What'cha need money for anyways kid?"

"I want to buy some random mechanical and electrical parts so I can tinker with them; I've already gone as far as I can go with pure book knowledge. The higher level books are just a bit too confusing without practical experience."

"Then why not just go to that dump near town? Pretty sure I saw five separate intact washing machines there, there's probably other stuff too."

"…Why did you go to the dump and why did you count the number of washing machines master?"

Naoto just picked Izuku up by the back of his shirt and threw him out of his house without responding. Still it was not a bad suggestion; the only thing that he needed in that case was to get some tools and a place he could work at. The tools were easy as they were relatively cheap (at least the basic ones) and his birthday was coming up, and for space maybe he could just work in the dump. With that settled, Izuku slowly sat up as he waited for his mother to come pick him up.

- Four months later -

Turns out Naoto had something useful to say for once (outside of training) as the dump turned into a gold mind of random parts, he had also been right about the number of washing machines too. Once he got his set of tools on his birthday he had taken to spending all of his (very limited) free time during the day there. He was glad that he had been able convince his mother to give him "homeschooling" all those years ago, otherwise he wouldn't even be able to do his physical training let alone have "free" time. It pays to be a genius sometimes, probably the only reason his mother let him do so was the fact that he was so far ahead in his studies.

Izuku had also never been happier about human wastefulness as otherwise he would never be able to find enough parts in order to create his own computer. He of course had his own computer bought from a store, and it will likely be better than this one, but he was doing this to learn, at least for now. Eventually he hoped to be able to not only create his own computer from scratch but create his own Operating System as well. Of course he was a long way off but still, science! Or rather engineering!

Putting the finishing touches on his "new" computer Izuku readies it for to start-up with baited breath. This turned out to be a good thing as, if he was breathing, he would have gotten a lung full of smoke when his computer melted down. Thankfully his mother had insisted he keep a fire extinguisher by his side whenever he did an "experiment". Dousing the smoking computer with foam (it wasn't really on fire despite the smoke but Izuku had just been waiting for an excuse) Izuku mind was already going over what might have caused it. Still, if he ever wanted to melt a computer he now knew how.

- Three Years Later-

In the past few years Izuku's life has changed quite a bit. A year and a half ago he had managed to sell the patent for his personal OS for a large amount of money and while they he still lived in the same home it had been remodeled to include a large basement full of high tech machines and tools he can use for his tinkering. He felt a lot like Tony Stark down there, though he doesn't think he has the ability to make an Ironman suit, nor would he really want to even if he could.

Thanks to the many years of intense training with Naoto he has developed a lot of pride in both his body and his ability to fight. Speaking of his master made Izuku sad, neither the doctors nor Naoto himself believe he will live past the next few months. He would have had a few more years but the large amount of fighting he had done the past few years, along with showing the 100% burst mode to Izuku numerous times, had cut deeply into his remaining vitality. He had of course felt guilty up until Naoto had cursed up a storm and berated him for it. It still hurt to know he was dying though.

The good news, not that he really considered it as such, was that his style and training were at the point that he could easily be considered down with his training. He would of course need to change some things when he hit puberty and when he finally became fully grown but those changes had already been written down and explained to him. All that was left was to ensure that he did his daily exercises without fail.

Naoto was like a grandfather to Izuku, something he doesn't have, and despite his rather odd personality they had a very close relationship. So close in fact that he was the main inheritor listed on his will, something that had shocked him when he had been told. Naoto didn't have any close living family members anymore nor did have much in the way of possessions besides his home. But it still brought tears to his eyes and even his mother, who was always critical of him, gave him a hug and acknowledged him as family. While Izuku and his mother wouldn't move in to the home, Izuku planned on using it has his hero lair and eventually his own home once he was old enough.

Naoto's only regret was not being able to live long enough to see Izuku accomplish his dream and become a hero. He wasn't planning on quietly dying or giving up (he would fight tooth and nail for every extra second of life he could) but he was also realistic, hence the regret. Izuku had included him on his costume designs and his equipment planning however, and for him that was good enough.

Izuku's first costume idea had been one heavily based off his favorite hero All Might. Naoto had stopped that with his usual attitude. Basically he stated that it looked stupid and he was stupid for not wanting to be his own self. Harsh? Yes. Effective? Also yes. Still Naoto was also helpful when he wasn't been critical of Izuku's choices. He helped him come up with some gadgets or tools that would be practical to carry around. Of course the vast majority of his equipment is going to have to be made by himself but that's where the fun is right?

Izuku had never been more thankful for Quirks as he had when he started making his own creations. Those people with Intelligence Quirks have really come up with some useful things, like extremely efficient batteries and power sources for example, without which many of his ideas wouldn't work without him coming up with them on his own.

- Two Years Later -

Izuku was now 14 and only had one more year left till he could enter the exams for U.A High, since unlike other high schools there was a minimum age to even take it. In the past two years nothing has really changed much for Izuku besides his physical appearance. His master had died last year, the stubborn old man managing to almost triple his remaining time, but he had made his peace with that long ago. He still tinkered with machines and created new things (especially equipment for his hero costume); he still trained his body every day and he still continued to expand his knowledge.

Right now however Izuku was walking around town hoping to satisfy his secret hobby. He had only told Naoto on his death bed about his hobby, and as expected he had laughed long and hard. Today he was hoping to get some autographs in his hero notebook and as luck would have it that appears to be a giant butt blocking the sun, looks like today is going to be a good day.

AN: I'm alive and writing again. Been extremely busy with work the past few months but now that I'm going to school soon I have enough energy and free time to write. Expect updates to come in more frequently than this previous large gap.