Izuku was so excited! President Mic--the President Mic was here! In person! Then it was revealed that the test was robots.

"psst" Came a voice from behind him.

"Huh?"

A silver-haired boy wearing round glasses was leaning forward, showing his own card. "We're both in B, do you want to team up?"

"What sort of fucking stupid weakling are you?" Kaachan hissed, "You're fucking trying to cheat on the fucking exam by teaming up with the most fucking useless Deku on the planet."

The boy smiled, and Izuku got the feeling that despite the friendly quirk of the lips, he was hiding sharp teeth. It might even make sense--if the boy had some sort of non physically-enhancing mutation quirk with a manifestation like sharp teeth, he might not be able to use it to its full potential against robots, but it could be effective against other opponents so it shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. Would Yuuei allow teamups? Technically, heroes should learn to work together and cover for each other's weaknesses while supporting each other's strengths, so it should be within the rules. On the other hand the exam was supposed to test your own strengths and weaknesses, so it would be against the spirit, if not the letter of the rules to team up. Yet your own strengths and weaknesses should include your ability to work well with others, but that looped back to--

"My name's Kabuto, and my quirk's biomanipulation." The boy offered. "Don't worry about the rules. As our hasty friend over there said, Yuuei is good enough that it wouldn't forget to forbid anything. The most that'll happen will be some problems over how we're assigned points, but if we do better together than apart, then I don't see why it wouldn't turn out well."

"Biomanipulation? That's a really versatile Quirk! Can you manipulate your own body? If you can, it'll work really well against the robots, you know! You can give yourself really good eyesight so that you can lock onto weak points, then make your nails grow into claws or make bone spurs so that you can destroy any weaknesses you see!"

Kabuto-san lit up, "You and I are going to have a wonderful friendship." He grinned, "But I've only mostly tr-experimented with healing with my quirk, and I don't want to try something new right before the exams, since it smacks of bad judgment. It'd be easier to deal with robots with one ambushing and the other distracting anyway, so I'd much rather team up with , if that's all right with you."

"Uh… Alright."

Kaachan let out a laugh. "You're going to be a team alright. Team Deku. The two most useless people in this exam."

"I wouldn't say that." Kabuto-san said lazily. "I might not be able to provide much physical support, but the exam hasn't changed for the last decade. I've compiled enough intel on the four robots to make this an equivalent change, Midoriya-san."

"What the hell." Kaachan grunted. "I don't need to know their weaknesses beforehand. Unlike you, I have a useful quirk."

Izuku steadied himself, "I'd like to team up with you, Kabuto-san."

Kabuto ran through the list of blind spots, mobility issues and design flaws as they walked, effortlessly reciting them without concern for who might overhear--in fact, he was very willing to share, not that many took him up on the offer. Urakara did though, so she joined their conversation. Kabuto asked if he could give him callused skin to protect his hands, and he agreed. According to Kabuto, it was safer to alter others rather than himself because then he could identify the parts he altered and reverse them if complications arose. The older boy also effortlessly calmed down the boy from earlier, raising his hands placatingly and defusing the situation, was Kabuto just good with people? Or was he assisted by a use of his quirk?

Anger was part mental, part physical, so could Kabuto have used his Biomanipulation to regulate the other boy's hormones? That might count as harming your fellow examinee though, since hormones like adrenaline were produced by the body to react to stressful situations like the exam, and the control needed to alter something as subtle as hormones might not be within Kabuto capabilities but on the other hand, the amount of hormones that needed to be altered before there was a discernible effect should be very low compared to, say, the cells in a single muscle, so maybe Kabuto-san was better--but he said something about healing, so maybe Kabuto was more practiced with muscles and skin and blood vessels, since they were usually the parts hurt? President Mic had shouted "START!"

He was frozen, but Kabuto-san moved immediately. Dragging him along by one arm, Kabuto went in first through the doors, and then immediately found a series of narrow alleys. "Come on, Izuku-san!" The boy encouraged him as they ran. "Focus on the present."

Right, he could do that. All Might believed in him! He couldn't let him or Kabuto down.

Kabuto called out the positions of robots relative to them--was it Kabuto being naturally observant? Or was it a secondary mutation of his biomanipulation, to make it easier to use?

He managed to distract a three-pointer for a second, and Kabuto ducked in to to tear out a handful of wires. The robot dropped.

"Izuku-san?"

"Yes Kabuto?"

"I may have forgotten to mention that the Zero-pointer is the size of the buildings."

"WHAT?!?"

"Go for this three-pointer, Izuku-san!" The bespectacled boy replied cheerfully, and darted straight at the robot in question.

It moved, and he could see how the trajectory of its fist would hit Kabuto-san and he wouldn't be able to dodge.

Kabuto had offered to team up with him, and hadn't abandoned him even though he hadn't done anything Kabuto-san couldn't do, hadn't even cared about his quirk or lack thereof. He was one of the first friends he made in the recent years--he couldn't let the boy die!

He ran. In that moment, something changed. His surroundings blurred past and he cocked back a fist, strength flowing through him. SMASH!

In the cloud that followed, he could feel a hand on his arm.

Kabuto was healing the fractured bones, the red reverting to a healthy skin tone at a touch. "I can see why you haven't been using your quirk." The boy muttered. "I can deal with that. If we stay close, I'll be able to heal you even if we don't touch."

Kabuto bit down on his own finger and drew a streak of blood on both of his arms. "There," the older boy said with satisfaction, "It'll make it easier."

Izuku opened his mouth to ask-- "--You can ask later." Kabuto cut him off cheerfully.

They worked well, he hit robots straight on without bothering to aim for weaknesses while Kabuto's strange, tingling Quirk flowed through his limbs, undoing the damage almost simultaneously.

Meanwhile, with the teachers...

"Who's the silver-haired boy with the Quirk that beats Recovery Girl's? And more importantly, is teaming up even allowed?"

"Yakushi Kabuto." Nedzu said, "His quirk is listed as biomanipulation. He's the only survivor of the Hyotan Labs Massacre, and a clone of his guardian, Orochimaru. As to teaming up--it's not forbidden, but there though there are students who get rescue points in every exam, there has been no precedent of an examinee showing so little concern for his own success as to match another for the duration of the whole exam. Kabuto is quite unique in his decision."

"Orochimaru?ThatOrochimaru?"

"For those of you who haven't met him," Vlad King said darkly, "Orochimaru's the head of Oto, a relatively low-profile organization that reaches out to assist victims of Quirk-based discrimination. He might've been able to count as a philanthropist if it weren't for the fact that he definitely has ties to the underworld, wields influence over the founders of most of the successful start-ups in the past decade and far too many high ranked employees in major organizations, and has emphatically stated his 'annoyance' with heroes. That isn't an uncommon opinion with Oto's people. One of them tried to prosecute Endeavor. They would've succeeded if the Commission hadn't gotten in the way."

"But young Kabuto is not his guardian." All Might pointed out. "And he has chosen to enter Yuuei."

It was possible that the man was predisposed towards Yakushi since the boy had befriended his protégé and was currently the only reason Midoriya still had arms. Unfortunately, on-screen, Yakushi was continuously enabling Midoriya's self-destructive style. That needed to be stopped before it became habit.

"His quirk is invaluable." Midnight observed. "Recovery Girl isn't getting any younger, and someone with that sort of healing ability could be her successor."

"Correct." Replied Nedzu. "The boy's been trained, and he's highly intelligent. Look at how he moves, and how he uses his quirk--that sort of precision comes from practice. His surprise at Midoriya's quirk was genuine--he wasn't targeting Midoriya specifically. He could be doing better, but he's willing to let Midoriya take the lead while he stays to the sidelines--he knows exactly what he's doing, and it's been that way from the moment he struck up a conversation with Midoriya, calculating correctly that his partnership with Midoriya will earn him extra points, something no student has ever done before, meaning that it wasn't just the result of research. He's doesn't hesitate--he's not just trained to fight in close quarters, he's trained to fight with the intent to harm, perhaps kill."

"Not only will we gain access to the boy's quirk during his enrollment in UA, and make no mistake, Yakushi will have emerged with one of the highest scores even without his teamwork, we'll be gaining insight into Oto's secrets, as well as influencing the boy to turn to a lighter path." Aizawa summarized from the corner. "However, Nedzu, is this compassion for someone who has a similar past to yours?"

"He's genuinely good-hearted, and will make a great hero." The Number One Hero stated firmly, supporting Nedzu.

"I'll keep an eye on him." Aizawa said flatly. "If he doesn't get expelled."

Kabuto was beginning to regret befriending Izuku-san. On one hand, Izuku-san had a pleasant personality and an excellent taste in hobbies. On the other hand, Izuku-san would have fit in quite well in Konoha, with its "no man gets left behind" policy. While they had been doing quite well as a team, Izuku-san destroying robots (how impractical could these tests gets? At least there were killer tiger summons out of the Forest of Death, and trees, unlike robots, did grow on trees, which went to show the superiority of biology over mechanics) while he finished off the ones that Izuku-san only damaged, the release of the Zero-pointer had brought out the Konohan side of the green-haired boy. Ochako-chan had become trapped by the rubble from the Zero-pointer, and Izuku-san had taken off to save her. He, excellent teammate that he was, followed, keeping his speed at human baseline. He couldn't wait until he had a few "revelations" and could slip a bit of chakra past people's notice.

At least he had a challenge this time. The Yin Healing Wound Destruction on Izuku-san's arms had worn off, so he needed to finish the jutsu's work. Oh, and his teammate was falling from the sky, so he might need to react swiftly prevent his untimely demise. He readied himself to intervene, but Ochako-chan beat him to it, nullifying Izuku-san's gravity and momentum (the laws of the universe were committing seppuku out of shame).

He slapped a hand on each of them, absent-mindedly repairing Izuku-san's bones while focusing slightly more attention on combating Ochako-chan's nausea, a finicky procedure. Mother was better at neurology than he was.

He checked his watch, another luxury of civilianhood. Time was passing offensively slowly. When would the exam end? The thought reminded him that as Yakushi Kabuto, young Yuuei hopeful, he should be utterly exhausted at the moment, he took a step forward, then stumbled. "Sorry, Izuku-san." He winced, "I don't think I can go on anymore."

The newly destroyed metal was comfortably warm. "You know, I think that I'm going to take a nap, so please refrain from destroying your limbs until I wake up."

Back with the teachers...

"Can we deduct points for lack of motivation?"

"Sadly, no. And even if we did, he'd still be in the top ten."

"Damn. Rescue points? Also, Shouta, Yakushi's a kid after your own heart."

"Urakara, Midoriya, Midoriya, Midoriya, Midoriya, Midoriya, Midoriya, Midoriya--I'm quartering the Midoriya points for being obviously done out of self interest. Even with that gone, he still has a list of healings: puncture wounds, skid wounds, burns, some sort of energy boost, he's showing off on purpose at this rate, no wonder he's tuckered out, which means that we might have to add points for accurate self assessment if that's the case."

"Midoriya and Urakara've internalized Yakushi's spirit of friendship and teamed up for the final minutes. Midoriya can apparently run using his quirk without destroying his limbs, so he's acting as a taxi while Urakara touches them. I'd call it good teamwork if they weren't basically flouting the rules without knowing it. I'll give them an eight in rescue points."

"Why are the good ones all rule-breakers?"

"Iida isn't."

"No, he's worse. He's so stiff and proper that he's overdue for a worldview overhaul."

No Kabuto, these aren't Konohan Chuunin exams, you aren't supposed to be tested on your teamwork, stop overthinking things. Also, obfuscating your actual abilities is a good thing, but why did you have to bite your thumb? Summoning has done strange things to your definitions of self harm.It's rather ironic that a village of mercenaries and child soldiers emphasize teamwork and cooperation more than heroes do.And, note the capitalizations. Kabuto says "quirk", not "Quirk". Nedzu and Kabuto say "biomanipulation", Izuku thinks "Biomanipulation". Neither of the two white-haired/furred people think Kabuto actually is just a biomanipulator.