Chapter Text
Kakashi dismissed Sakumo with a grateful nod and then set about checking in on the other members of Class 1-A that had been involved in the last portion of the fight. Ojiro and Bakugou were on their feet and back inside the building where the others were, and Kakashi could already hear an argument.
“I can’t believe you let yourself get taken out so easily! How the hell are you supposed to beat me if you can’t even kick Eyepatch’s ass?”
“I think Kakashi is a little bit of an outlier in this situation, Kacchan—“
“Like hell I care! I had a broken arm that entire fight and still fucked him up! The least you could’ve done was restrain him with that stupid second quirk of yours.”
“You think I didn’t try?!”
Kakashi made eye contact with a weary, but no less entertained Kaminari, who had been stuck listening to Bakugou and Midoriya’s bickering, having not yet been freed from his confines. In fact, the only one who had been freed so far was Kirishima, who looked torn between letting them continue to argue and breaking them up. Kaminari, Ashido, and Midoriya were still bound to the ground by a thick band of concrete.
Kaminari brightened. “Kakashi,” he greeted. He looked happy, but he sounded hesitant, as though he wasn’t sure he should be glad to see him. Bakugou and Midoriya stopped arguing long enough to glance at Kakashi.
“Hey Kaminari,” Kakashi greeted, walking up to him and eyeing the ground. “Sakumo didn’t free you?”
Kaminari shook his head. “Nah, he found Hagakure and then came straight to you. I think he got worried about all of the explosions.” He shot a cheeky grin in Bakugou’s direction, who preened.
“Damn straight.”
“Okay, Bakugou we get it, you had a great plan and kicked ass,” Ashido deadpanned. “Now can someone please break us out of here?”
“Tch.”
“You know, you only succeeded as well as you did because of Hagakure—“ Kaminari started, only to get a boot poised threateningly in front of his face.
“Also, I helped.” Ojiro raised a hand.
“Fuck off!”
Kirishima laughed, with Kaminari and Ashido joining in soon after they saw the affronted look on Bakugou’s face. Kirishima stepped forward and activated his quirk, making quick work of the cement restraints, freeing the remainder of the group. Midoriya looked over at Hagakure the second he was free.
“I didn’t know you’d figured out how to use your quirk like that!” For someone who’d been fighting relentlessly for the past hour and had several injuries, he didn’t seem particularly tired. “When did you do it?”
Hagakure straightened. She’d relaxed the usage of her quirk already and now presented as just a white, opalescent bodysuit, but even with only that, her excitement was clear. “During my work study! I’ve had the idea since summer break, but I wasn’t able to control my quirk enough to pull it off until recently.” She turned towards Kakashi, raising a hand to scratch at the back of her head. “Actually, training with you gave me the idea. You taught me how to use my invisibility to my advantage during a fight, and I thought that it would be way more effective if someone more powerful were the one cloaked.”
“It was pretty weird though,” Ojiro added on. “I couldn’t see Bakugou or any of the rest of the team. I kept worrying that I was going to accidentally hit one of you.”
“Yeah, that was a problem,” Kirishima said. “Ashido sprayed me with some of her acid earlier. Obviously it didn’t hurt me, but had she been paired with anyone else, it could’ve been a major problem.”
“Well,” Kakashi spoke up and their attention turned towards him, “for what it’s worth, the idea worked. That invisible Howitzer Impact was terrifying.”
“Hah!”
“Kacchan used Howitzer Impact?” Midoriya asked, concerned. “With a broken arm?”
“Yeah, it hurt like a bitch. I’m turning into you now.”
“Hey—“ Midoriya squeaked. “I didn’t—I didn’t break any bones this time!”
“Yeah, this time.”
“He has a point Midoriya,” Kirishima interrupted sympathetically. “You do have a bad tendency of breaking your entire body.”
“I—that was—this is—“ Midoriya stuttered, trying and failing to find a decent excuse for his extensive medical record. There wasn’t one. “This is slander.”
“No, slander implies we aren’t telling the truth,” Kaminari raised a knowing finger. “This is called brutal honesty.”
Several people started laughing, only to be cut off by an announcement playing over the loudspeaker.
“All students please return to the examination room for your scores and medical treatment.”
“Oh, finally,” Ashido said with relief, rolling her neck around. “I’ve been in so much pain ever since Naruto slingshotted me across the arena.”
They all chimed in varying notes of agreement, except for Bakugou, who simply turned to Kakashi, glared at him, and then pointed at his broken arm. Kakashi got the message.
He held out his arm for Hagakure, who was still hovering next to him, a silent offering. She took it gratefully and their troop of heroes began making their way back to the examination room.
When they reached the room, they found everyone else there already, including, but not limited to: an exhausted Todoroki who was being aggressively given water by Iida, a shaky-looking Uraraka who was swaddled in a blanket, and Shoji hand-feeding food to both Sato and Yaoyorozu. Recovery Girl was already there, tending to Tokoyami’s bruised ribs and arms. The second she turned to look at them all, her gaze went hard and she stomped up to Kakashi, cane held threateningly in front of her.
Before she could berate him, or god forbid heal him, Kakashi took that as his cue to find Aizawa. He split off from the group of first years and beelined it for the homeroom teacher, who was leaning against a desk with his arms folded, watching the room.
“You look terrible,” Aizawa deadpanned. There was a slight curve to his lips.
“Thanks.”
Aizawa unfolded his arms to gesture behind him at a stack of papers. “Add whatever notes you need to. We’ll give them their final scores in a half-hour.”
Kakashi hummed and side-stepped around Aizawa to take a seat at the desk in order to review the scores given so far. His ribs screamed in pain the entire time, and his pounding headache plus overall exhaustion wasn’t making him feel much better either. He wanted a nap.
He flipped open the first student’s file and got to work.
Class 1-A stood in front of them in perfect rows, their arms at their sides, heads held high, each one of them visibly nervous for the results of their exam. Kakashi was not so formal, still lounging in the chair, his body far too tired to think about getting up. Halfway through his grading, Cementoss had walked up to him with an ice pack, which he was currently holding to his ribs. The biggest downside of his quirk was that he couldn’t be healed by Recovery Girl like the others could; her quirk drained stamina and Kakashi didn’t have any extra to give towards trivial things like speed-healing. Thus, ice packs and bandaids it was, at least until he could catch a nap.
“You all know the routine by now,” Aizawa said, starting off the conversation of their final scores. “Performances will be reviewed publicly as a learning experience for the entire class, however they are not meant to humiliate you. If you want a more detailed review of what you did right and wrong during the exam, you’ll be able to find those inside your exam packets. Are there any questions before I begin?”
Several heads shook in response. Kakashi tipped his chin back and yawned, resisting the urge to stretch his arms above his head, if only because it would hurt.
When no one had any questions, Aizawa picked up the first packet from the alphabetical pile of students’ scores. “Ashido Mina.”
Ashido gulped. Aizawa opened the file and read off the summary of her performance, his tone matter-of-fact. “Points subtracted for rushing into the fight without considering your opponents’ strengths and skillsets. This occurred twice, against Naruto as well as Sakumo. Your injury from the first incident took you out of the fighting for a large portion of the exam; had you hung back, you would have been of more use to the team. Additionally, had you been paired with anyone else other than Kirishima in the final portion of the exam, you could have seriously injured your teammate with your blatant recklessness.”
Ashido hung her head, ashamed.
“However, this exam wasn’t entirely graded on combat skill or teamwork. The teachers were also looking for improvement from your midterm exams, in which you have taken leaps and bounds. Your ability to handle stressful situations, your control over your quirk, and your communication skills have proven that, despite the setbacks you faced during the exam, you have learned. You pass.”
Ashido’s head shot up, a bright smile crossing her face. Aizawa, unfazed, held out her exam packet, which she bounded forward to take from him. As she bowed, the rest of the class broke out into applause.
Aizawa didn’t miss a beat, picking up the second packet. “Asui Tsuyu.”
The girl shifted on her feet, nervous. Kakashi had taken her out early in the fighting, so there wasn’t much to grade her on.
“Asui, you were removed from the fight quickly. You need to work on your reflexes and how you respond to attackers that are significantly faster and stronger than you—you were taken out by Hound himself, not one of his summons. If you can’t fight a regular man, then you have no place on the battlefield.”
Kakashi was a little offended by Aizawa calling him a regular person, but didn’t dispute it. In comparison to his summons or other people’s quirks, when he was alone and unassisted by his summons, he was working on base human stats alone. Still, the shinobi training had to count for something, right?
“However, the way you handled your situation despite being injured was impressive. You helped calm panicked civilians and direct your classmates around the first-aid station, as well as assisted in the rescue efforts once you were able to. Knowing your limits as well as your personal strengths is important for a hero, especially in a disaster situation like this one. You pass.”
“Woo!” Uraraka cheered. Several other people pumped their fists in celebration.
Kakashi tilted his head back right against the chair, looking up at the ceiling and closing his eyes. He started thinking of what he’d do after this—his initial plan had been to hang around UA with the students and celebrate the end of their first year, but that had been a dream banking on him not being exhausted and injured by the end of the fight. Seeing as he was, his bed back at Hawks’ agency was looking enticing.
Aizawa continued on through Iida, Uraraka, and Ojiro’s grades. Pass, pass, and pass. Not that any of those grades were surprising. Iida had been a part of the final strike team, had gotten the civilians out, and gotten himself out without being captured by Sakumo. Uraraka had done an amazing job rescuing civilians and taking charge of her team after Naruto and Kakashi had taken out the original leader. Ojiro had worked alongside Bakugou in kicking Kakashi’s ass.
“Kaminari Denki,” Aizawa said, picking up the blond’s file. Kakashi could practically feel the other vibrating from here. “You had a rocky start—you participated very little in the planning or initial fighting stages, and actually got taken hostage by Hound. Had he been a real villain, he would have killed you there. As it was, towards the end of the exam, you pulled yourself together.” Aizawa flipped forward a page in the packet and gestured vaguely to what it said. “Hound notes immense improvement in your quirk, and I quote, ‘mastery of a technique that, even among my summons, few can perform.’ With that in mind, you pass.”
“YES!” Kaminari cheered, pumping his fist into the air and doing a spinning dance over to Aizawa to pick up his packet. He gave Kakashi a victory set of finger guns, which Kakashi half-heartedly returned. Kaminari beamed.
“Next,” Aizawa said, pointedly urging Kaminari back into his position so he could proceed with the grades. Kaminari went, smiling the entire way.
It felt good to see him smile so brightly again.
Aizawa continued on through the students. Each one was criticized and praised, and each one passed their exam, not that the results were surprising. Class 1-A were amazing hero students. Both Aizawa and Kakashi knew that each and every single one of them deserved to continue on to their second year.
“Hagakure Tooru,” Aizawa said, and Kakashi bothered to actually open his eyes for this one, tilting his head up off the back of the chair to see her reaction. “You pass. Good job.”
Kakashi blinked. That was it? He’d written a lot of notes, not all of them good, and all Aizawa had to summarize from that was good job?
Hagakure hesitated, just as confused as Kakashi, before stepping forward and taking her packet from Aizawa with a grateful bow. She stepped back into line, clutching her exam results to her chest.
“Bakugou Katsuki,” Aizawa started, his harsh gaze finding the blond’s. Then, he proceeded to absolutely tear into Bakugou. The flaws in Bakugou’s initial plan, how quickly he was taken out, the time he spent down and how his absence put more pressure onto Tokoyami, Todoroki, and Midoriya, the damage he caused to his surroundings. It was the most thorough criticism given yet. Kakashi raised his brows as, after several minutes and Bakugou looking nearly to the point of tears, Aizawa finally stopped. “However, you pulled it together at the end. You should be proud, you will make a fine hero one day. You pass.”
Bakugou didn’t look particularly happy about that. The blond stuttered several times before protesting, “That’s it? That’s all you have to say about what I did right? I was the one who led the strike team! I fought Eyepatch with several broken bones. I made it all—“
“Bakugou,” Kakashi cut in, and Bakugou turned on him.
“What, Eyepatch? You want to add something?”
Kakashi tilted his head to one side. “Yeah, I do. You want to listen?”
Bakugou pursed his lips, then jerked his chin upwards in challenge.
Kakashi shifted the ice pack on his ribs to a different place. “Read your packet.”
Bakugou opened his mouth to protest again, but then slowly shut it, nodding and stepping forward to take his packet. Unlike the others, he immediately opened it. Kakashi knew what would be on the page—glowing reviews from Aizawa, Nedzu, All Might, and Kakashi himself. Eraserhead’s verbal summary had been scathing, and his written one was probably worse, but that was only because Aizawa saw the boy’s potential and wanted him to succeed. He was the sort of teacher that forced the students he liked the most to work the hardest.
Bakugou looked up from the packet after his initial skim. All anger had left his demeanor, replaced instead with an intense, bubbling pride. He closed his booklet and bowed.
“Hm,” Aizawa said, then turned to the next student. “Midoriya Izuku. Your performance on the exam was exemplary—between the notes you shared with your classmates prior to the start of the test as well as how you handled the fight. However, your situational awareness needs work—damage done to the surroundings from the force of your punches was significant, as well as all of the damage done every time you dodged a blow from Naruto. In a real-world fight, this would accrue millions in property damage. Additionally, you need to perfect your quirk control. While you’ve improved a lot since the beginning of the year, you still have a very long way to go. That will need to be your focus in your upcoming years at UA. You pass.”
Midoriya beamed, then hurried up to take his packet, bowing no less than three times—once before grabbing it, once while grabbing it, and another time after. Kakashi chuckled at his expense.
Aizawa finished off the reviews, going over Mineta and Yaoyorozu’s scores, then stepped back. Kakashi groaned, realizing that was his cue. He still did not want to get up.
He set the ice pack aside and pulled himself out of the chair with no lack of effort, wishing for his bed the entire way. He limped until he was standing next to Aizawa.
Class 1-A was spread out in front of him. They looked so different from how they did when he last saw them; they’d stepped into their own as heroes, had grown when he wasn’t looking, and he was so suddenly reminded of his own Team Seven that it nearly took his breath away.
“Those were your individual assessments.” Kakashi gestured to the monitor screens behind him, which had been changed to show the damage and casualty reports from the exam as though the event had been a real incident. “While you each did well individually, and you all passed the exam, there is still a lesson to be learned here. Out of the three-hundred civilians that were present during the incident, only one-hundred and six survived. Of these survivors, half were severely injured. Additionally, damage done to the surrounding city was extensive. Several buildings collapsed and dozens more were severely damaged.
“If this had been a real fight, you would be the ones facing the backlash of your carelessness. Funds for rebuilding efforts would come out of your paycheck, families of the deceased would be blaming you for their lost loved ones, and it would be your fault that those who lived or worked in the damaged buildings no longer had a home or job.
“These are things you must consider when serving as a hero. It’s not just about the fight, it’s about what comes after. Money, fame, the desire to win, those might be the reasons why so many of you decided to become heroes, but at the end of the day, heroes exist to save lives. If this exam were graded on that, then you all would have failed.”
Kakashi’s speech quickly dropped the mood in the room. Midoriya’s fists were clenched, Uraraka was wiping away tears, and even Tokoyami refused to look at him, ashamed.
Kakashi decided to take pity on them. “Good news for you, is that you’re not heroes yet. You still have the time to learn, and I hope that this exam serves as the stepping-off point for your growth. As Eraserhead said, you’ll all be fine heroes one day.”
If there was one thing Class 1-A had going for them, it was determination. Kakashi watched as one by one, each member of the class pulled themselves together, raising their chins, a gleam in their eyes that promised improvement. It promised that one day, they’d have a total victory.
Kakashi couldn’t wait to see it.