Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Darkness of Gold

Chapter one: A boy destined to be one of the greats

Aldera Junior High wasn't the most quirkless student-friendly middle school in the country of Japan. Many of the teachers at the school were indifferent at best to the troubles that those unlucky students who lacked what made eighty percent of the world's population special went through on the day-to-day basis. As a matter of fact, some teachers only cared about students whose quirks made them stand out in particular, such as students with flashy powerful quirks such as Katsuki Bakugo, a student in Mr. Gonjin's homeroom.

The reason for this was because said students were highly likely to make it into the highly prestigious U.A. High School, the top hero high school in Japan. Many of the staff at Aldera Junior High hoped that by being affiliated with a top achieving potential U.A. student, then they themselves would get some notice, some renown. It was partly for this that quirked students like Bakugo were lauded, usually at the expense of students with weaker and/or impractical quirks, not to mention the few, unlucky one who were quirkless.

"You kids are all third years here at Aldera now," Mr. Gonjin said as he addressed his homeroom class. The teacher whipped out a stack of papers, waving them a bit as he addressed his students. "As such, you all ought to start thinking about your futures. Now normally, I'd be handing these forms out to the lot of you. However…" With an air of indifference, Mr. Gonjin tossed all of the papers he was holding, allowing them to scatter to the floor.

"I can pretty much tell the lot of you all want to be heroes!"

The students in the class went wild with cheers, with many of them using their quirks, mostly to show off. Very few of the students in the class weren't acting in such a manner, though. One of them, the aforementioned Bakugo, looked like he couldn't care less about most of his classmates. There was one other boy in the class, seated near the ashy-haired boy, who wasn't using a quirk in the middle of class either. This boy, whose hair was a messy mop of green, sat quietly.

Nodding as if he had seen this chaos coming, Mr. Gonjin said, "Yes, yes. You all have awesome quirks and yada, yada, yada. You kids do know that it's against the rules to use your quirks in the middle of class, right?" With their teacher's words, the students that were using their quirks all started to settle back down.

When the noise level dropped, a good number of the students could hear someone snort. "Yo Teach," Bakugo called out from where he sat at his desk, acting like everything revolved around him, "Don't go thinking I'm a discount shelf item like the rest of the losers in this class. As if I had anything weak like what most of the worthless extras in this class have." A lot of the others in the class started to boo at the ashy-haired boy, but he simply laughed them all off.

"Ah yes, Bakugo," Mr. Gonjin said as he looked over to where the full-of-himself boy sat in the classroom, "You're undoubtedly aiming to get into U.A. High School, are you not?" All that Bakugo did to confirm Mr. Gonjin's words was give him a simple nod. Upon seeing and hearing that the foul-attitude young teen was aiming to get into Japan's top hero high school, most of the rest of the class all started to jeer at him.

Bakugo, in response, got up to stand with his right foot on his seat and his left on top of his desk. "Oh you extras can all go bite it!" Bakugo exclaimed, "I totally made the mock exam my bitch! Like hell I'll be seeing any of the useless people here over at U.A.!" Pointing his right finger right up into the air, nearly touching the ceiling in the classroom in the process, Bakugo went on to say something that some of the students considered to be blasphemous.

"I'll be an even greater and stronger hero than All Might!" the ashy-haired teen declared, "I'll be leaving so many of you extras in the dust behind me, that you all will-" Bakugo's bragging little triad was cut off when Mr. Gonjin said something suddenly.

"Oh, it says here that Midoriya is also aiming to get into U.A."

Suddenly, everyone in the classroom turned to look at the boy with the messy mop of green hair, who looked up when the teacher referred to him by name. After a few seconds of rather tense silence, most of the students in the class burst out laughing, as if the mere idea of the green-haired boy, who was apparently called Midoriya, getting into Japan's top hero high school was the height of hilarity.

Some of the students in the class, like one boy who can make his teeth really big and pointy and another boy who could make himself really buff and muscular, started jeering at Midoriya. "Oh come on, Izuku!" the chomper boy laughed at the green-haired boy, "Do you really think that someone who only has good grades to ride on can get into U.A.?"

"Hoshi's got a point, you wimp," the buff boy said to Midoriya, whose first name was identified as Izuku, with a jeering sneer, "Do you really think that U.A., who has an all-quirked student population, would really accept a quirkless doofus like-"

*BOOOM*

The buff boy was cut off when an explosion sounded off in the classroom. Everyone, even the teacher, was silent as all eyes fell to Bakugo, whose upheld hand was obscured by a cloud of smoke that had come from an explosion. Seeing that he had everyone's attention just like what he wanted, Bakugo lowered his offending arm.

"…Izuku is not quirkless, you stupid extra," Bakugo declared firmly at the buff boy, "I've seen his quirk in action before. It's insanely powerful, more than enough to guarantee getting Izuku admitted into U.A." Crossing his arms over his chest, Bakugo continued, "That being said, it makes total sense that Izuku's trying to get into there."

Gesturing to where Izuku sat in class, the chomper boy said to the explosive teen, "Well if he's got such an amazing quirk, how come we haven't seen him use it yet?"

"Because if he did, then he would emasculate you extras so badly that you'd need to start carrying your stuff in purses," Bakugo replied simply, giving a single nod. "Trust me, Izuku here is doing you all a favor by not showing what he can do."

Everyone still had their eyes on Izuku, giving him suspicious looks. Many of them thought that the green-haired boy was quirkless, as not once in all of his time at Aldera Junior High did he ever show any manner of quirk usage. But with Bakugo, the top dog of the school, telling others off and keeping Izuku under his umbrella, there was not too much that any of them could do to grill Izuku for his (apparent) quirklessness.

Later after schools all over had let out for the day, Izuku was making his way home when he stopped upon hearing a commotion a ways away. Looking over, the green-haired boy saw a giant villain whose head looked somewhat shark-like, what with how it was angled, on a train track as he was yelling as a pro hero who wore a full-head helmet that looked to be made of wood.

"Illegal use of your powers during rush hour, as well as robbery and assault?" the hero said in a deathly serious tone to the large villain, "I cannot think of anything more evil."

The large villain, sputtering a bit, snapped, "How is using my quirk during fucking rush hour as evil as robbery and assault?!"

As the hero and the villain engaged one another, one of the people in the crowd of onlookers who was watching the fight remarked, "You know, that villain has a point. Also, robbery and assault, while still serious crimes don't get me wrong, aren't the most evil acts out there."

The hero, as he reached his right arm forward towards the giant villain, said as large thick branches of wood came out, "I, the pro hero Kamui Woods, shall be the one who will-"

"Canyon Cannon!" a female voice called out, cutting Kamui Woods off as a giant woman flew in and kicked the giant villain away, sending him reeling back as she landed on her feet. The giant villain was defeated, and the giant lady turned to face the now cheering crowd of onlookers. Seeing the adoring populace, the giant lady waved to them. "The name's Mt. Lady, and today is my official debut as a pro hero!" the giant lady declared, "Pleased to meet you all!"

Izuku, who had stopped to watch the fight, was impressed with Mt. Lady's work in defeating the giant villain. Even more, he was surprised to see Mt. Lady shrank back down to a normal human size. Whipping out a notebook, Izuku began to quickly take notes about the gigantification quirk that the new pro hero had. A man next to Izuku said, "Wow, you must really like heroes if you're taking notes!" Izuku turned to look at the man when said man continued, "You're probably going to want to be a hero yourself, then! Good luck with that, kid."

Nodding once in acknowledgement to the man, Izuku said, "Thanks. I will."

Later, Izuku was walking back home, after he had stopped to watch the fight between heroes and that giant villain. As he walked, Izuku heard a sort of gurgling sound, coming from a nearby manhole cover. To his shock, the green-haired boy saw slime ooze out of the holes, slowly form into a giant blob, and then eyes and a mouth appeared. Alarmed by the sudden appearance of this blob of slime, Izuku took a cautious few steps back.

Wisps of black, shadowy energy laced heavily with an aura that had a brilliant golden coloration flared out from Izuku's hands, not that the blob noticed.

"Ooh ho, what do I have here?" the blob man said, "A medium-sized body to hide in? Well then, don't mind if I-" The talking slime was cut off when he was punched from behind by an incredibly powerful punch, one that splattered him all over the place. Izuku, willing the wisps of golden shadows to dissipate, took pause when he saw that the trouble had ended about as soon as it had even started up.

Izuku looked confused by what had just happened, but he perked up to attention upon hearing a mighty and noble-sounding voice declare, "Sorry if I gave you a scare just now, kid, but there is no longer any need to worry about that sludge villain. Why, you may ask?" Suddenly, a tall and very buff man, with yellow blonde hair that had two shoots stand straight up, and he wore only a white t-shirt that clung tightly to his muscled chest, a pair of green cargo pants, and a dark pair of shoes, appeared in front of Izuku.

"Because I am here!"

Izuku stood stunned in total disbelief. He couldn't believe his eyes as that hero was the one who came in to defeat the sludge villain. Standing right before Izuku as the top hero in Japan, if not all the world; the current number one hero according to the Hero Billboard Chart Jp.

All Might.

The top hero took a bit of time to quickly collect the splattered bits of the sludge villain, stuff it all in an empty plastic soda bottle, and then pocket said bottle. "Sorry about getting you caught up in my villain hunt, young man!" All Might said to the flustered Izuku. The green-haired boy truly was taken by sheer surprise. After all, he was in the presence of All Might, the greatest hero there ever was.

A good number of quirked children all over Japan hoped to use their quirks to one day become awesome heroes. Izuku himself was no exception; in his youth, he would add countless views to the view totals of videos featuring All Might that were submitted to online video websites. In fact, it was All Might specifically that inspired Izuku into wanting to be a hero. Just being a hero at all would be enough for Izuku, just so long as he would be able to save others with a smile, just like All Might. There was no need for Izuku to have to go to the top.

…Although with power like what Izuku had, he may just end up going to the top anyway.

"Anyway, I need to get this fellow to the authorities," All Might said as he gave the bottle holding the sludge villain a gentle shake, "Thanks again for your assistance in helping me to capture this fellow!" Seeing the top hero turn to leave, Izuku began to panic somewhat, as he didn't even get All Might's autograph. Izuku found his notebook laying on the ground, and went to pick it up in the hopes he could get All Might's autograph there.

Opening the notebook, Izuku saw that All Might had already autographed it. Deciding that he would make this notebook of his a family heirloom, Izuku proceeded to thank All Might, but saw that the hero was still turning to leave. Izuku was spurred on by wanting to ask All Might something, so he rushed over to ask the top hero what he had on his mind. However, right when he reached All Might, the hero leapt up into the air with a mighty jump.

…

Long story short, Izuku ended up being carried away with All Might when the top hero took to the air with his mighty jump, they landed on a roof somewhere, and at one point, All Might deflated down to a skinny, bony form that he explained was his true form, a fact that was never made public. He told Izuku that a terrible fight from years ago had done a number to him, and that his work as a hero was limited to a few hours per day. After this, Izuku, who had secretly been putting up a certain act ever since he was four asked the top hero a certain question.

"Even without a quirk, can I still be a hero?"

All Might, in his skinny form, said with a hint of regret in his tone that it was simply not possible for someone who was quirkless like Izuku (ha) to be a hero, that it was dangerous work even for those as tough as him. All Might suggested that Izuku could try looking into being a villain custody officer, a career choice that, although mocked by some, was still necessary and a rather admirable line of work, all things considered.

With his piece said, All Might took his leave, leaving Izuku on that roof alone. Izuku felt a bit crushed that the number one hero and Symbol of Peace would shoot down a dream like that, that it would be impossible for Izuku to become a hero without a quirk. Two facts, however, kept the green-haired boy from going down in the dumps; one, All Might had, with all due respect, made a very good point on how heroes really needed power to effectively do their hero work.

Two, the speech that All Might gave saying that it wasn't possible for Izuku to become a hero without a quirk would really only have had teeth if Izuku was actually quirkless, which the green-haired boy was most certainly not.

As Izuku walked away after getting down from the roof of the building that he and All Might landed on, he decided to head straight home. As he contemplated what the Symbol of Peace told him, he heard an explosion from the other side of the street he was on. Looking over, Izuku saw a large crowd of onlookers gathered as they watched was surly had to be a hero versus villain fight. Making his way over, Izuku managed to work his way through the crowd and see what was going on. What the green-haired boy ended up seeing shocked him, as well as set a mild degree of fear into his heart.

The sludge villain that All Might had defeated earlier somehow had escaped and was now on the rampage. Izuku, thinking back to when he grabbed ahold of All Might before the top hero jumped off into the air, thought that it must have been his (Izuku's) fault that the sludge villain had escaped, as the bottle carrying him must have fallen out of All Might's pocket when he was struggling with Izuku in the air.

To make matters more shocking for Izuku, he saw that the sludge villain had captured, of all people, his friend Bakugo. The explosive teen was struggling in vain to escape from the grasp of the sludge villain. The various pro heroes that were on scene were standing around doing nothing, as if they were shocked into total inaction. Izuku wondered why the heroes weren't trying to do anything to save Bakugo from the sludge villain. With fear and worry overriding his thought process, Izuku did something that no one else looked like they were going to do.

He ran in to save Bakugo.

"It's that kid from earlier," the sludge villain thought as he spotted Izuku run towards him. The sludge villain smirked both internally and externally as another potential victim ran towards him. Bakugo, from the points where he was able to see, was alarmed to see someone run in at first, but the moment he saw that the person running in to bail him out of that trouble he was in was Izuku, the ashy-haired boy was instantly flooded with feelings of relief.

The sludge villain, sensing the relief that Bakugo felt as well as feel the explosive teen relax and cease struggling, took pause to ask his hostage about the sudden shift in tone. "Hey, kid," the sludge villain demanded, "Why did you stop struggling so suddenly?" In response, Bakugo only gave a chuckle and an amused smirk, especially when the explosive teen saw a shroud of gold aura-laced shadowy energy envelop Izuku's right arm, with the right hand clenched in a manner to suggest that the green-haired boy was going to claw at someone.

"…Because Izuku is going to kick your ass."

The sludge villain, confused and mildly surprised by such bravado, both from his hostage and the boy running up to him, proceeded to ask what the hell Bakugo meant exactly. However, the sludge villain barely got one syllable out before he was cut off by Izuku, who shouted something as he made a swiping, clawing motion in the air between him and the villain.

"Yami Rend!"

Crescent-shaped projectiles of golden shadowy energy flew from Izuku's hand and right at the sludge villain, slamming right into his form with such force that it forced him to let go of Bakugo fully. The sludge villain couldn't believe that this wimpy-looking, unassuming middle schooler was packing so much power. Hell, the boy's attack was leagues more painful to the sludge villain than the shockwave-generating punch that All Might threw at him earlier.

…Speaking of All Might, the moment that Izuku's attack flew out, a large and sudden force rushed out from the crowd. Right when the green-haired boy's attack made contact with the sludge villain and slammed Bakugo out of him, the sludge villain was struck by another powerful punch from the top hero. This act that All Might, back in his muscular form, took was so quick and so sudden that it perfectly distracted everyone who witnessed the fight, so none of them was able to really see what Izuku had done when he rushed in in an effort to try and save the explosive teen from the villain.

When things were being cleaned up, the pro heroes who were being nothing more than gawking statues during the sludge villain's rampage were quick to praise Bakugo for being brave even in the face of being attacked by a villain. Some of the pros on scene, like Death Arms, tried to scold Izuku for rushing in. After all, none of them had seen Izuku use his quirk, so they all assumed that he was a quirkless civilian.

But All Might, who did indeed see the green-haired boy's quirk, quickly smoothed the appropriate feathers, spinning some spiel that got Izuku off the hook from any scoldings. The top hero never said anything about Izuku's quirk, and in fact didn't even confirm if the boy had a quirk or not. As some medics on scene tended to Bakugo and Izuku was allowed to leave, All Might looked in the direction that Izuku walked off in.

The Symbol of Peace had a serious look of consideration on his face.

…

When Izuku reached the neighborhood where he and Bakugo lived, he was met up by Bakugo himself, who had been released by the on-scene medics. "Oi, Izuku," the ashy blonde boy called out, making Izuku turn to see him. Bakugo, with a casual look, gave Izuku a single nod. "Thanks for the save, Izuku," Bakguo said, "Although All Might showing up suddenly like that did kind of take away some of your spotlight."

With a bit of a nervous chuckle, Izuku nodded once in acknowledgement. "Heh, heh…yeah. You got a point there, Kacchan."

Turning around to head in the direction of his place, Bakugo said, "Seriously though, I can't believe it. All Might himself actually showed up. Can you believe it? That guy's not the top hero for nothing! His showing up will totally make the evening news tonight, mark my words, dude." With his piece said, Bakugo walked away, intent for home.

Izuku relaxed a bit, although he was still a bit nervous. He had no doubt that Bakugo would be very jealous if he were to learn that Izuku actually got to talk to the Symbol of Peace privately; after all, All Might, due to his status as the top hero and his overall charisma, had many fans all over. Bakugo, as naturally as anyone else, was one of said fans. Bakguo might even flip if he were to learn that Izuku got-

"I AM HERE!"

All of Izuku's thought processes stopped short when All Might, in his buff form, came rushing out from a side street, cutting Izuku's path off fully. "Shaking off the media was no challenge for me!" All Might declared, "After all, I am All Mi-ACK!" With a cough that sputtered some blood, All Might's strong form poofed away, leaving him in his skinny, bony form that Izuku had seen earlier on that rooftop.

Izuku was beyond shocked that All Might, for the second time today, appeared in front of him. The green-haired boy considered this day to be the best day of his life for that reason and that reason alone. Once his coughing settled down and he regained some of his bearings, All Might gave his full attention to Izuku, giving him a serious look. Izuku, noticing the look, was about to ask what was wrong, but he was interrupted before he got one word out when All Might asked him something.

"Of all the people at the scene of that attack…" All Might began, "…It was you, and you alone, who acted to save that kid from the sludge villain. Your actions today spurred a fire within me, reminded me of who I really am, who I am suppose to be. You reminded me of what it truly means to be a hero. You have my thanks for that, young man." Izuku was beyond shocked that he was being praised by All Might, of all people. The green-haired boy, having idolized and looked up to All Might all his life, was near to the point of crying due to how all of this meant to him.

Straitening himself up a bit, All Might said, "Now, I actually have a proposition for you, but before I say what it is, I have a few questions that I want to ask you." Instantly, Izuku perked up when he heard that All Might wanted to ask him something. Nodding once in affirmation, Izuku proceeded to give his full attention to the Symbol of Peace, who began asking his question. "The first thing I would like to ask you is what you were thinking when you rushed in to save that kid from the sludge villain."

Izuku, wincing slightly out of embarrassment, shrunk down a bit out of shame. "…The truth is, All Might," Izuku began, "Was that I wasn't thinking. I saw that Kacchan, who is a friend of mine from school, was in danger since that sludge villain had him. All I could think about was getting him out of there and out of danger." Izuku was worried about what the top hero would say to this, but he was surprised when he heard clapping.

Looking up, Izuku saw that All Might was actually applauding him. "…That is one of the first signs of a true hero, young man," All Might said, "Most of the top heroes first showed signs of greatness when they claimed that their bodies moved without them even thinking about it upon seeing someone in peril. I had a feeling, when I saw you rush in to save your friend from that villain, that this was the case."

Gesturing to Izuku, All Might went on, "Now, I have one more question that I have to ask." The green-haired boy wondered what else it was that the Symbol of Peace had to ask, but what All Might said caught Izuku by surprise.

"Why did you lie to me earlier when you claimed you didn't have a quirk?"

Surprised and confused, Izuku looked over to All Might, who held his hand out in a gesturing motion to him. "During our talk on the roof of that building, you said that you lacked a quirk," All Might said, "But when you rushed in to save your friend from the sludge villain, you did indeed use a quirk. Not only that, but the quirk that I saw you use was beyond a doubt one of that level of quirks. I saw the signs for what they were, so I have no doubt in my mind." The top hero put his hands on his hips as he addressed Izuku.

"You have a Sacred Heritage quirk."

Izuku, with the guilty look on his face, had the decency to look ashamed for having to deceive the Symbol of Peace. "…I'm very sorry for having lied to you earlier, All Might," Izuku said, "But the very important lady that a lot of heroes in Japan all listen to says that I have to keep my quirk a secret. She says that I'm an extremely valuable future asset to the hero community, and that I'm not allowed to tell anyone about my quirk, Yomi, for security reasons. I can name the number of those who do know about it with just the digits on my hands, even when I have to take you into account."

"Very important lady…" All Might said, "…Oh! You mean the president of the Public Hero Safety Commission?" Izuku nodded once in confirmation, bringing a look of understanding to the top hero's eyes. "Yes, I can see why you'd have to listen to her," All Might remarked, "As the head of the Commission, Lady President is essentially the boss of all pro heroes in Japan. And I can very much see why she would assign so high a degree of value to you." Gesturing to Izuku, All Might went on, "After all, you have a Sacred Heritage quirk. A quirk among quirks. There is no doubt that you're destined to become one of the greats. In fact, I can very easily see you becoming a greater hero than me."

"No way!" All Might's interest was piqued when he heard Izuku speak up suddenly. "You're the greatest hero ever, All Might!" Izuku declared firmly, "I don't think it's possible for anyone to ever surpass you as a hero!" The green-haired boy relented a bit, a look of mild shame on his face. "…Still, ever since as long as I could remember, all I ever wanted was to be a hero like you. I don't have to be the top hero, just being a hero at all would be enough." Looking up at the Symbol of Peace, Izuku said something that banished any doubts that All Might might have had.

"I just want to be able to save people with a smile, just like what you do."

END, CHAPTER ONE

Author's notes;

Well, this is the first chapter of one of the AU story ideas that's been swimming around in my mind as I was working on 'A couple that will go down in legend'. In this case, this AU is my take on some of the OP!Izuku fics that I've seen floating around, although this particular one is respectful to the concept that is Sacred Heritage quirks that I've established in some of my other BNHA works.

The next chapter will see more progress in this AU, specifically in regards to Izuku inheriting One For All from All Might. Yes, Izuku is still getting All Might's quirk; it's wouldn't be a very faithful AU retelling without Izuku becoming the ninth inheritor. However, the OP-ness of One For All is being added to the OP-ness of Yomi, the darkness attribute Japanese Sacred Heritage quirk that Izuku already has in this story.

…Oh, before I forget, I'm probably going to have to write a prelude story for this story, to cover the events in Izuku's life where he has Yomi, starting from the day he got the news that he does indeed have a quirk to…pfft…I guess about a week before he first met All Might? I don't know the exact timings for things. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.