A/N: Hey everyone, welcome back to The Crow's Atonement, because Chapter 25 is here. I apologise for the long wait, but I'd lost interest in continuing this story due to personal events and it was an struggle to even find the motivation to finish this chapter, a whole year and then some later. However, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read through this story, but I have to let you know that my participation ends here, so I apologise if this chapter seems like a bunch of nonsense. It's going nowhere after here. Thank you for all the follows, favourites and reviews.

Disclaimer: Like everybody else on fanfiction, I own nothing.

"Standard" - Normal Speaking

'Italics' - Thoughts

"Bold" - Super Moves

"Alright, folks, gear up for the fourth round," Present Mic's voice boomed throughout the stadium, though most of the crowd was still shell-shocked by the sheer overwhelming power they'd bore witness to no less than twenty minutes earlier that nearly brought the third round to instant end.

As Shoto returned to the waiting rooms within the stadium - not bothering to return and sit with his class - Itachi had been informed by Kyoka that many of the pro heroes in the crowd were talking in hushed voice, torn over wanting such a powerful student as a sidekick and being afraid that they would be upstaged by a sidekick during patrols, something he dismissed as the egos of adults who were coming to the realization that the upcoming generation of heroes would have no problem upstaging them.

"To your right is Yaoyorozu Momo. She's got intelligence and elegance in spades. Let me tell you something cool. She turned down getting into U.A. through recommendations and swept the Entrance Exam, coming in first place after decimating the competition. And to your left is Sato Rikido. He's a nice guy and is a great cook! Trust me, you should try his cookies."

Itachi heard Kyoka snort.

"You should listen to them both. Yaomomo and Sato are too humble for their own good," the rocker girl smirked as Itachi turned to her, "being modest in-front of a massive crowd. She's saying she didn't decimate the competition and Sato's saying his cooking isn't that good."

Itachi hummed. His sister did steamroll her way through the Entrance Exam, and nearly endangered her own life in the process, much to his great concern. And even if he wouldn't do it personally, nearly setting an all-time record for the U.A. Entrance Exam was worth bragging about.

Unsurprisingly, Momo was like him. Bragging wasn't in their blood.

Still-

"You've tried Sato-kun's cooking?" He carefully raised an eyebrow, expecting Kyoka to blush or scowl at him.

She did neither, instead opting to shrug.

"Sato's always going on about how he loves cooking and baking, so I took him up on it and asked him to make me some cinnamon rolls and pretzels."

"Readyyyy!"

"Were they any good?" Itachi inquired.

She nodded, "The best I've ever heard. If we all become professional heroes after graduating U.A., I wouldn't be surprised if he created an agency that was half hero business, half bakery."

"I see."

"START!"

Itachi turned back to the arena and his onyx eyes flitted to Rikido who pulled out a container full of sugar from his right pocket.

He had faith that his sister could handle the larger student, regardless of whether he managed to activate his Sugar Rush quirk. Her best chance was to deprive him of his sugar and then take him out, but if he managed to consume his sugar, then it'd be better for her to lay so many traps that, even dumbed down, he had no choice but to move careful, running down the timer on his quirk.

After that, it became a game of cat and mouse.

He watched as something black bounced against the ground and came to a stop at Rikido's feet, prompting the burly student to pause in his uncapping of the container and look down at the item curiously. Less than a second later, Itachi realized the small object was a flashbang, which suddenly went off at Rikido's feet.

Rikido opened his mouth in a cry that had Kyoka wincing for him, and no doubt blind, deaf and disorientated, he staggered back and dropped the container as his hands flew up to his eyes which were shut tight.

The container hit the ground and the cap popped off, spilling the sugar all over the floor.

Less than a second later, the flashbang went off with eight additional blasts, no doubt prolonging the effect it was having on Rikido as he staggered about like a drunken giant, flailing his arms about like a drunkard.

Looking back at his sister, Itachi noticed that she was now wearing a gas mask as she pulled the pins of two additional grenades and then tossed them; they bounced off the floor a couple of times before rolling the rest of the way, one coming to a stop by Rikido's left foot and the other rolling between his legs and coming to a halt a few feet behind him.

The extra grenades went off moments later, spilling their contents in the form of a white cloud of smoke that rapidly swallowed by Rikido like some kind of hungry ghost which was taking its time to devour its victim.

Moments later, Itachi could hear Rikido's horrible, choked coughing and wheezing, which sounded like someone was choking on food after it had become lodged in their throat, and the increasingly panicked movements of his silhouette, an outline scrambling across the floor as one hand desperately clutched at the throat as it tried to find an escape from the cloud of smoke which slowly expanded as tips curled up into the air and dissipated into nothing.

Momo was stood at the edge of the white cloud, head tilted as if she was listening for something.

Suddenly, like there was a swarm of angry, murderous hornets hot on her heels, she ran into the cloud - which parted dramatically as she passed into it and vanished - and after a few tense moments where absolutely nothing could be seen within fluffy cloud of gas, Momo burst out of it the way she came, pulling Rikido along by one arm and dumping him on the floor where he continued to cough and splutter.

Narrowing his eyes - he had already guessed his sister had employed tear gas - Itachi watched as she gestured to Midnight who hurried over and knelt next to Rikido - tears and snot streaming down his face in what would probably be the most undignified sight of the tournament - whose mouth parted as he uttered something into her ear.

The pro hero nodded and then stood to her full height as the concrete that made up the arena shifted and moved - it was quite a sight seeing concrete move about as if it had the viscosity of water - thinning out the tear gas so much that it quickly dispersed, before returning it its previous state.

Midnight raised her flag, her voice echoing through the stadium in a similar manner to Present Mic thanks to the headset she wore.

"Sato Rikido has been incapacitated and has forfeited. Yaoyorozu Momo advances to the second round!"

Much of Class 1-A started cheering and hollering.

Itachi allowed himself a small smirk as Momo pulled the gas mask off of her face, allowing him to see the satisfied smile that adorned her face as medical robots quickly removed Rikido, the flashbang and the tear gas grenades from the arena.

He tried to ignore the nagging thought that kept telling him she was going to lose horribly in the next match when she went up against Shoto, assuming he opened the match with the colossal ice wall that'd engulfed Setsuna.

"Well, looks like your sister is through. Better not let us down, Yaoyorozu."

Itachi turned to see Denki smirking at him.

Taking a moment to consider his response, Itachi glanced at Ochaco and noticed that she was pointedly looking away from him - despite her determined demeanour from earlier - and then turned back to Denki who was still waiting for a reply.

"Who knows. Your high expectations and the pressure of passing alongside my sister might just get to me." Itachi deadpanned.

Kyoka snickered at that horrified expression on Denki's face.

Ochaco squirmed comfortably in her seat, while Izuku and Tenya conversed amongst themselves, discussing the latter's involvement in the next match

"Regardless, let's congratulate my sister on her win and then we can see how Iida-kun fares before the spotlights falls upon me." Itachi continued.

"Stepping out of the darkness and into the light." Fumikage muttered ominously.

Tenya vs Mei was not what anybody expected.

In-fact, Tenya had been utterly humiliated in-front of everyone.

Support student Mei Hatsume of Class 1-H had gone into the arena equipped with a variety of support items, and after a lot of coaxing, she managed to convince Tenya to put on a similar array of support items, delaying their match by a good ten minutes.

When the match finally got around to starting - the longer the delay, the more jeers and boos they got from an increasingly impatient and eager crowd - the bespectacled student rushed towards Mei, intending to push her out of the arena and finish their bout in less than four seconds, but she activated a motion sensor and evasion system integrated into her support gear and allowed her to effortlessly avoid him.

For the next hour, Tenya was thrown around the arena and launched into the air as Mei used their match as a glorified advertising commercial, her magnifying gaze unflinching fixed upon a group of prominent businessmen who watched her equipment demonstration with interest; talking amongst each other, making phone calls and writing down notes every now and then, while Tenya, thoroughly used and abused with his pride and honour having taken a heavy beating, almost collapsed as the rapid, high-speed movements that were executed against his consent quickly ripped away his stamina.

Needless to say, everyone was laughing at Tenya's expense.

Even Itachi found himself working to stop a smile from forming on his face, whilst giggles slipped past the hand Momo had over her mouth; failing to hide the mortified expression she wore as her eyes shone with mirth.

The icing on the cake came when Tenya, who had been absolutely steamrolled in what had been nothing more than a high-profile support gear demonstration for Japan's top pro hero support gear investors, was handed out a free win by Mei, who after spending an hour demonstrating how many functions her support 'baby' had, simply grinned, bowed to the audience and then forfeited as he support gear released Tenya who threw a fit over being Mei's advertising dummy.

Realising the everyone was still watching him, Tenya returned to Class 1-A, silent as a mouse with his head bowed in shame.

"Didya have fun, Iida?" Denki asked, unable to wipe the stupid grin off his face even as Kyoka, whose mouth was twitching as she tried to fight back a smirk, slapped him upside the head.

"Dude..." Mina trailed off, her big, dark eyes full of glee.

Experiencing second-hand embarrassment for her friend, Ochaco's face was a pink as her cheeks, while Izuku uttered a quiet, "Iida-kun."

Quietly, Tenya took his seat and said nothing as he stared at the floor, wallowing in the shame of a victory he no doubt felt was unearned.

"Iida-kun?"

"I think," Itachi started softly, drawing everyone's attention to himself, "that Iida-kun may need some time to... think on his victory. Given its unorthodox nature, and the fact that someone as traditional as Iida-kun would've preferred a straightforward and honourable victory, I don't think he needs all of you asking him questions at the moment. Give him space."

"...Thank you, Yaoyorozu-kun."

Tenya was so quiet that Itachi almost didn't hear him, but he reciprocated the comment with a nod.

"Can the next contestants please come down."

Itachi spared a glance at Ochaco, who was busy discussing a strategy of some sorts of Izuku - made blatantly obvious by the fact that the green-haired boy kept glancing over at him - and then looked over to his sister who smiled and mouthed 'good luck'.

Itachi didn't need it, but he'd take it.

"Alright, get ready for the sixth round. Let's hope it goes better than the last one, eh?"

The crowd laughed, drowning out the sigh that came from Aizawa's microphone.

Itachi and Ochaco were stood opposite each other down in the arena. The former was as composed as ever, a blank expression of his face and his arms hanging loosely by his sides, but the latter seemed to be extremely tense; bunched fists, the gnawing of her lower lip and the slight tremble of her entire body. She was so determined to fight and make it to the next round, but to an outsider, it'd appear that she was extremely nervous.

"To your left is Yaoyorozu Itachi. Yeah, you heard that right, another Yaoyorozu; twin brother of the previous contestant. He got in through recommendations. His quirk, truthfully, might not do much, but you'll want to look out for this kid. Nothing fazes him, he's as cool as a cucumber, and he's a beast in hand-to-hand combat." Present Mic announced.

Itachi wasn't going to dignify the comments with a response. Even if barely anybody knew about the illusionary capabilities of a fully matured Sharingan, save for his sister, Mirio and Sir Nighteye, just the ability to predict an opponent's moves by a full second based on muscle movements was anything but 'not much'.

"And to your right is Uraraka Ocahco. Don't let her short stature and rosy cheeks fool you. With her quirk, she'll send you floating off into space where no one can hear you scream, hehehehe. Now, let's not waste any more time on technicalities, I'm sure most of you are here for the fighting. Are you readyyyyy?"

Red bled into the onyx of Itachi's eyes. He wouldn't need the Sharingan to take on somebody like Ochaco, but he'd be a fool to not be cautious. After all, it would only take one touch from her to take him out of the fight.

(Yaoyorozu Manor)

Hanzo was almost vibrating out of his seat as he watched his son through the TV. He'd already watched his daughter effectively manhandle a boy so much bigger than her and he couldn't have been prouder. Despite being told not to message her during her working hours, Hanzo couldn't help but send along a couple of messages to his wife to see if she might catch Itachi's match.

(Tartarus - Undisclosed Location)

"Ma'am, ma'am!"

Stood before a wall of live feeds, Maeko turned away to see one of the Tartarus officers under her command stood behind her, his eyes flickering from her to the screens and back, while he fidgeted, interlocking and running his fingers amongst each other.

"What is it? Is there a problem?"

The officer shook his head, "No, ma'am. It's just... um, the Sports Festival is currently underway and your son, Yaoyorozu Itachi, is about to be fighting. I thought you might want to see him in action."

Maeko clicked her tongue in annoyance. She had a job to do and would prefer not to take her eyes off of any of the prisoners, but her lieutenant was a competent man with eyes like a hawk, and despite her long-running paranoia, Maeko doubted an escape attempt would occur if she wasn't watching.

The prisoners at Tartaros were under such heavy watch, especially the ones who'd recently come in after the attack on U.A's Unforeseen Simulation Joint, that they wouldn't even be able to think a single rebellious thought without getting caught.

She turned to her second-in-command, Shishikura Satoru, who hadn't even turned away from the screens, even after the junior officer had addressed her.

"Shishikura-san, I trust you'll be able to oversee the prisoners while I watch my son's match?"

Satoru nodded, briefly looking away from the live feeds to look at Maeko, "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." Leaving the room, but not before making one last glance to the live feeds, Maeko made her way to her private office where she switched on the television and flicked through the channels until she found the one broadcasting the Sports Festival, and then checked her phone when it buzzed.

It had two messages from her husband.

Hanzo - Message 1: I know you say not to message you whilst you're working, but our daughter is about to fight. Hope you can watch it

Hanzo - Message 2: I'll probably get an earful for messaging you twice while you're working, but our son is about to fight. You probably missed Momo's fight, and if you did, hopefully you can catch this one.

Maeko smirked, marked the messages as read and then replied.

Maeko: I did miss Momo's match unfortunately, though I should be able to watch it on playback, but I'll be certain to catch Itachi's match. And don't worry, I'll let you off from interrupting my work this time.

(Sports Festival Stadium)

Class 1-A was trying their best to focus on the fight that was about to start, but the growing white noise that was Izuku's rapid-fire muttering made it impossible to focus on anything but his voice.

"Midoriya?"

Words fell on deaf ears and the muttering continued.

"Midoriya... hey, hey, Midoriya!"

"Ow, Jiro-san?" Izuku cowered, cradling his face as one of Kyoka's jacks retreated from where it had stabbed him in the cheek and thundered a single heartbeat through his skull.

"Sorry," the rocker girl apologized, though she looked completely bored out of her mind, "you were doing your thing and none of us were sure how to snap you out of it."

"Oh... oh, my bad."

"What were you muttering about, Midoriya?" Mina inquired, getting into the green-haired boy's personal space, with her face way too close to his, prompting him to yelp and lean away from her as his cheeks developed a pink tint.

"R-Right! I was just thinking about how one-sided this match should be but isn't going to be."

"Huh," Denki looked like he'd been asked to solve one of the world's greatest, unsolved scientific mysteries, "what are you talking about Midoriya?"

"Yaoyorozu-san, Yaoyorozu-kun's Sharingan allows him to... well, analyse the movements of whomever he's looking at. Almost like precognition?" Izuku inquired, managing to look past Mina to Momo.

'Amongst other things." Momo thought as she nodded, "That's correct. Each tomoe his Sharingan developed would greatly increase his visual prowess. I presume you're asking because against anyone else, to use Zero Gravity, Uraraka-san simply has to touch someone, something that could easily be done in a close-quarters fight."

"Ooooooh." Hanta was grinning widely as he pointed down at Ochaco, "you're saying that against anyone except Bakugo, Tokoyami, Iida and Todoroki, Uraraka should theoretically have an easy win. But against Yaoyorozu, she can't move faster than the processing speed of his eyes and his reaction time, and she won't win unless he practically stands there and lets her touch him."

Izuku nodded.

"That's right, but this fight is also very personal to Uraraka-san in a strange roundabout way."

"Huh."

"Midoriya-kun." Tenya cut in, looking away from the brunette about to fight to fix his bespectacled gaze upon his green-haired classmate.

The very intimate detail about Ochaco life gave Izuku some pause, but his momentary silence only served to grow the curiosity of everyone around him. Only Tenya knew what he might be about to spill, and it seemed the taller boy didn't appreciate a private detail being revealed without permission.

"Midoriya?"

He blanched and waved his arms in-front of his face, finding himself descending into his panic.

"Ah, I, u-uh, went too f-far. Forget a-about that last b-bit, it wasn't a-anything important. L-Let's just concentrate o-on Uraraka-san's and Yaoyorozu-kun's f-fight." He stuttered, his panic fortunately managing to defuse Class 1-A's curiosity.

"Sixth match... START!"

Itachi didn't move. After all, he didn't need to. The workings behind Ochaco's quirk meant that she made no choice but to approach him, and unless she had developed some sort of technique that allowed her to move faster than he could, he could decide the progression of their fight.

"Backing down isn't an option for me here," she announced, running towards him with her left hand balled into a fist and her right hand splayed open.

'Is that because you want to be noticed?'

As Ochaco got close to him, Itachi shifted as she reached out towards him, angling his body so he now stood sideways as he grabbed her forearm. He was going to pull and stick his foot out; make her stumble to the floor, but as if anticipating his move, the brunette seem to lock herself in position and twisted her body, crossing her left arm over her right and reaching for his face.

Itachi jerked back, feeling one of her fingers brush against his nose, and as she tried to press on, pivoted on his left foot and launched his right leg into her head, knocking her to the floor.

"Would you look at that! After nearly falling for a masterful feint, Yaoyorozu Itachi gets the first hit in."

Ochaco huffed and scrambled to her feet, rubbing the side of her head as she squinted at him.

"I just need one touch."

"You do," Itachi replied, carefully observing her, "but do you really think I'd give you that opportunity? You cannot move faster than my eyes."

"I know that!"

Ochaco ran towards him again and reached out with her left hand this time, but Itachi just grabbed her wrist and when she reached to reach towards him with her right hand, she grabbed the other wrist, and this newest setback had her glowering at him in frustration.

"And how do you plan to amend this mistake?"

"Stop-"

Itachi pulled her in and smashed his knee into Ochaco's chest. He released her as she groaned and stumbled back, then closed in and launched a kick right into abdomen, knocking the wind out of her and leaving her coughing as she clutched at her stomach.

He watched as wiped spittle from her mouth as she hunched over, taking short, laboured breaths.

"Stuff like this won't take me down. Don't underestimate me." She grumbled, wincing at him.

Itachi deadpanned.

"I'm not."

Still, he'd entertained her long enough. It was time to end this. The longer this went on, the more Ochaco ended up embarrassing herself in-front of everyone, and although he'd never admit it, the more he felt bad knocking down someone who didn't stand a chance against him.

"I must apologise Uraraka-san, but this fight ends now."

"Huh, who are you to decide when this fight is finished."

She charged towards for what for what felt like the millionth time since their match started and Itachi was almost disappointed by the lack of battle strategy from his opponent. How many times did she expect she could charge towards him before she eventually succeed in tagging him?

Ochaco reached towards him with her left hand.

Seizing her wrist in an iron grip, Itachi pivoted so they were almost back-to-back and then wrenched her arm down against his shoulder and he blinked as he heard the bones in her forearm snap, which was followed by an agonized scream of pain as he released her.

Turning back towards Ochaco, he saw her gently cradling her left arm with her right hand, but the fire in her eyes hadn't gone away. Despite having a broken arm, she was still determined to beat him.

He quickly got within her guard before she could even think about defend herself, slapped her right hand as she brought it up to touch him, grabbed her shoulders and pulled her down, crashing his knee into her chest, but he wasn't going to give her time to breath as he released her and slammed his foot into her throat, prompting her to let out a horrible wheezing noise, and then spun and delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of her head.

Ochaco went down and let out a cry as she landed on top of her broken arm.

Shaking his head, he moved he could stand by her side as she whimpered and shook on the ground.

"I must ask that you-"

Her uninjured hand suddenly lashed out at him.

Itachi sharply raised the leg closest to her, allowing the hand to harmlessly hit the ground, and then brought his foot down onto her outstretched fingers, braking at least two before he quickly backed off as she cried, holding her hand close to her body.

Staring down at her for a moment, Itachi turned his gaze to Midnight and gave her a pointed look.

The dominatrix-themed hero cracked her whip and then jogged over to take a look at the downed brunette. She crouched by her side for a few seconds, exchanged a few words between herself and Ochaco that Itachi couldn't hear, nodded and then stood up again and turned towards him.

"You sure know how to dominate a woman, don't you, Yaoyorozu-kun." She purred, winking at him.

"Does she insist on continuing?" Itachi asked, uninterested in playing along with the woman's usual antics.

"No, you really had your way with her." Midnight's smile grew lecherous as she holstered her whip and raised her flag, no doubt having unspeakable thoughts, "Uraraka Ochaco has forfeited. Yaoyorozu Itachi advances to the second round!"

"I should've came up with something. I just kept rushing forwards with no plan. No hero will take me under their wing after that performance."

Itachi had originally planned to return straight back to his classmates after his match with Ochaco ended, but he'd seen that the brunette had been close to tears throughout the journey to the stadium's medical wing and resolved to find out what the issue was when she lied through her teeth to Recovery Girl, claiming she was crying because of her injures.

He didn't have to wait long. She spoke about three minutes after Recovery Girl left them alone.

"I apologise, Uraraka-san," Itachi apologised sincerely, "is... something the matter?"

She took one look at him, sniffed and then rolled over on the bed to face away from him.

"You wouldn't understand." He barely heard her mutter.

Itachi furrowed his brow, "What wouldn't I understand?"

"...Nothing."

"I'm not leaving until you explain."

"Like I said, you wouldn't understand. You and your sister have it all already." She muttered again.

"Have it all alre- Uraraka-san, are you talking about money?" Itachi asked, having a sinking feeling that he knew why Ochaco was so upset with him.

"Hm."

Itachi looked at the floor as he heard Ochaco shift on the bed in-front of him. Waiting a few seconds, he looked up and found her facing him.

"Is that why you want to become a hero? For money?"

It would've been very easy to judge her reason for entering one of the world's leading heroics courses right then and there, but Itachi would withhold judgement until he'd heard her out.

Ochaco downed a glass of water and then sighed.

"My parents... they don't have much," Ochaco started sombrely "they co-own a construction company and when you consider the damage caused by villain attacks, they should be drowning in money, right? They aren't. The bigger construction companies tend to snatch up the work, long before my parents even hear it. They provide for me as best as they can, but I can see the strain their struggles are putting on them. I want to become and a hero so I can provide for them and make their lives easier."

"That's very admirable, Uraraka-san." Itachi said, finding himself smiling.

"You think?"

Itachi nodded, his face returning to its usual neutral expression, "100%. You think heroes are going to overlook you for your performance, but some of them with gladly look past skill and look for determination and passion. Even if you didn't display skill, you certainly displayed the other two. Don't lose hope, and if you ever need anything, please, just ask."

"I- really?"

Itachi nodded.

Ochaco smiled, "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

With that brief issue between them settled, Itachi got up from his chair and made his way to the door. He opened the door and was about to walk out of the room when Ochaco called out to him.

"Yaoyorozu-san."

"Hm?" He glanced over his shoulder.

"Why do you want to become a hero?"

Itachi didn't even need to think about his answer, "So I can help people and bring a smile into their lives. A world without smiles isn't one worth living in. Don't ever lose your smile, Uraraka-san."

Her face suddenly brightened up as she smiled at him, beaming from cheek to cheek and with that, Itachi left the room and shut the door behind him.

Itachi went to one of the adjacent rooms and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Opening the door, Itachi found Eijiro sitting up on the bed to the right, holding a pack of ice to his nose and Itsuka stood next to the the bed on the left, giving him a small wave as she flexed her previous broken hand.

"Kirishima-kun, Itsuka-san." He greeted.

"Hey, Yaoyorozu! I take it you beat Uraraka?" Eijiro asked.

"Of course. How are you the two of you feeling?"

"Still feeling like one big bruise." Eijiro chuckled.

"A lot of better," Itsuka replied, moving from the behind to stand by Itachi's side, "and assuming the next matches don't pass too quickly, my hand should be healed up enough thanks to Recovery Girl. You'll be alright on your own, Kirishima-san."

"Of course!"

He gave them a toothy grin and a thumbs up, "Don't you worry about me. Get out there and kick some ass."

Walking in pace with Itsuka, Itachi made his way back to where Class 1-A were seated as Katsuki Bakugo and Jurota Shishida were called down for round 7.

His long-time friend made her way to where Class 1-B was seated, and as he'd been about to take his seat, he heard, "Wow, Yaoyorozu, you're one of those guys, huh?"

Itachi paused for a moment, then turned to face the culprit which was none other than Minoru Mineta who'd, unfortunately, recovered from his earlier Brainwashing.

"I don't think I heard you quite right," Itachi started, his voice cold, "would you like to repeat and expand on what you said?"

The shortest member of Class 1-A looked left and right, and then his face paled significantly when he realised nobody was coming to his aid. His fellow schemer-in-crime, Denki Kaminari, was highly interested in his fingernails, Kyoka Jiro and Tsuyu Asui, the two who usually had a hand in shutting him up whenever he was running his mouth or being a pervert seemed content to leave him to his fate, though it was impossible to tell with the latter as her face was constantly blank, and Izuku wasn't there to try and back him up.

Minoru looked back at him, his expression perfectly resembling that of a deer caught in headlights, and Itachi's Sharingan spun to life as he glared down at the smaller boy who quickly clammed up and tried to make himself as small as he could.

A hellish ride within Tsukuyomi would be fitting for the disrespectful, perverted rat, but the technique was beyond his reach.

Katsuki Bakugo had been so arrogant just coming out in the arena, strutting his stuff and looking so impossibly relaxed, no doubt thinking very little of his opponent, that Itachi almost wanted him to lose and see Jurota rub his victory into his face.

Almost.

"Alright! To your left is Shishida Jurota. Don't let his appearance scare you. He might look like Bigfoot, but he's actually a very well-mannered and gentle young man. If you were paying attention, you would've seen him during the Cavalry Round. You couldn't miss him! Let's see if he can put on a show against the raging bull of Class 1-A! YEEEAAAHHH!"

As Present Mic began hyping up the crowd, Itachi got up and moved to Class 1-B's seating area and sat next to Setsuna, who was busy huddling underneath a couple of blankets to warm herself up as she was still shivering from being encased in Shoto's ice.

"Hey," she greeted, "what brings you over here?"

"Jurota Shishida. Was he that large, furry beast who carried his team around in the Cavalry Battle earlier?"

Setsuna squinted up at him, "Yeah, why'd you ask? Want to know how well Bakugo will do against him?"

"And to you left is the angry American bulldog of U.A. High School, Bakugo Katsuki. He might look relaxed right now, but there's a volcano brewing inside him at all times and he'll blow up at your for the slightest reason. Steer clear. This boy's quirk is as explosive as his already legendary temper. Let's see if he can keep a level head, eh?"

Itachi nodded, "Pretty much. You've already seen Bakugo-kun's quirk. Does Shishida-kun have a chance of beating him."

"Bakugo's best hope of winning is going all out against Shishida at the start," Setsuna's lips curled up into a smirk even as she shivered, "because anything less than that and Shishida could shrug it off. He's damn fast, even when he's big, and strong as hell. If he manages to get his hands on Bakugo, it's all over for blondie.

Itachi glanced down at the arena as Present Mic was about to start the match, then looked back up at Setsuna.

"All of the fights before this one were done relatively quickly," Itachi stated, "Bakugo-kun cannot stand being shown up by other people, which is why he has grievances with Midoriya-kun and my sister. My sister trashed his score in the Entrance Exam, leaving him to come second, and Midoriya-kun has a quirk vastly more powerful than his. Also, Midoriya-kun had the fastest match at, what, 30 seconds?

Setsuna's eyes lit up.

"I get it. Bakugo wants to be seen as the best, right? It'll wound his pride if his match takes even longer than anyone else's, so he'll likely come out all guns blazing against Shishida." She summarized.

Itachi grunted in the affirmative.

"Seventh match... START!"

Jurota had barely settled into a sprint when Bakugo, who had already cleared the distance between himself and the Class 1-B student, thrust his arms out and unleashed a monumental explosion at point-blank range. For a moment, nothing could be seen, and then an enlarged Jurota, who looked more like a giant, hairy man, flew out past the arena lines and slammed into the stadium wall.

He rebounded to his feet and was about charge back in, but noticed where he was, huffed in annoyance, shrunk back to his regular size and crossed his arms.

"Well that was quick, what have you been feeding your kids, Eraser? That was the fastest match of the day. Uh, can the final contestants of the first round please come down." Present Mic's voice cut through the stunned silence.

The sound of Midnight's whip cracked through the air.

"Shishida Jurota has been knocked out of bounds. Bakugo Katsuki advances to the second round."

Class 1-B immediately started grumbling to themselves, with the exception of Ibara Shiozaki who began making her way towards the stadium floor, and Neito was immediately silenced by Itsuka with a single strike to the back of the head before he could go on one of his psychotic rants that would be doubt be aimed at stirring up tensions between Class 1-A and 1-B.

"Yaoyorozu, your classmate is a prick." Togaru sneered, though there was little malice behind it.

"Man, he did Shishida in so quick," Tetsutetsu punched the air with great enthusiasm, "I wanna fight him."

Setsuna sniggered, "Woooow, I sure hope the rest of Class 1-A doesn't take after Bakugo, eh, Yaoyorozu."

Itachi gave her a deadpanned look, "He's quite the exception. However, you may want to start cheering Shiozaki-san on."

"Oh? And your quirk is active by the way" Setsuna's grin reminded him way too much of a certain snake-like man.

"She's going up against Tokoyami-kun. He relies entirely on his quirk, Dark Shadow, to fight," Itachi said, deactivating his Sharingan, "I admit that I haven't seen Tokoyami-kun fight much, but Dark Shadow is a formidable quirk. I believe Shiozaki-san may have to pull out all the stops if she wants to win this bout."

Waking up from Itsuka's earlier assault, Neito leapt to his feet and started cackling like he'd lost his mind as he gestured wildly at Itachi.

"Oh, would you look at this, classmates! This Class 1-A scum is looking down on our sweet, little Shiozaki. Do you see this? Do you see it. This is what Class 1-A really thinks of us. Save for a few, they don't know how any of our quirks work. Watch as Shiozaki humbles your fiendish friend!"

Itachi blinked, unimpressed. This fool didn't know how to put on a dramatic show like Shisui or even Deidara did.

"Are you finished?"

"Monoma-san, really/" Itsuka facepalmed, experiencing second-hand embarrassment.

Neito stuttered for a moment, clearly having expected a bigger reaction from Itachi, and then Present Mic was his saving grace, since Itsuka had been about to knock his lights out again.

"OKAY," Present Mic cheered, "To your left is Shiozaki Ibara. Class 1-B's lady of faith, but don't let those serene face fool you for a second. This girl's quirk is no joke. I'm sure you'll see what I mean when the match starts. And to your right is Tokoyami Fumikage of Class 1-A. This guy was born in the dark, moulded by it and by-"

"Stop quoting The Dark Knight Rises and get on with it." Shota's voice cut in, laced with irritation.

"Alright, alright, such a killjoy. Either way, this kid is not the sort you want to meet by bumping into him in a dark alleyway. Anyway, are we ready! Eighth match... START!"

A/N: And that's Chapter 25 for you guys. Hope you enjoyed. Like I said before, this story ends here. Thanks for reading!