10Chapter 3: The Strongest Revealed
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"You've got weird eyes."
The voice was young, rough, and matter of fact. A boy with spiky, explosive blonde hair and sharp, confident red eyes stepped through the Gojo family home front door. He wore a bright orange shirt a little too big for his frame and had one hand stuffed into the pocket of his black shorts. His gaze scanned the white-haired boy standing in front of him.
Trailing behind the boy was his mother, who promptly flicked him on the back of the head for the blunt "comment". She leaned down slightly, voice sharp and no-nonsense. "Is that any way to treat someone who's invited you into their home, Katsuki?"
The young boy "Katsuki" scratched the back of his head where she'd flicked him, grumbling under his breath, "Ow... What? It's not like I'm wrong."
Satoru had been the one to open the door, his mom nudging him to do so after the doorbell rang. If he hadn't known any better, he would say she was more excited for his apparent new "Friends" arrival then he was, as she was barely able to contain her child like Glee and excitement.
Now he stood in the doorway, blinking in mild confusion—first at the boy's remark, then at his mother's reaction—before his face cracked into a smirk. He tilted his head back, hands behind it casually running his fingers through his pristine white locks as he met Katsuki's stare.
Satoru: "Yeah? Well, your face ain't exactly doing you any favors either." he smiled at the boy in front of him matching his tone and bluntness.
"Gah—ow!" he yelped a second later, clutching the back of his head. He looked up to see his mother towering over him with a sharp scowl in her teal eyes. But it vanished in an instant, replaced with a bright smile as she turned toward the other woman.
"Hi, Mitsuki! So glad you could make it. Satoru's been dying to meet Katsuki! How was the walk over?" she said in an overly sugary tone.
She leaned her head out the door a bit, hands clasped in front of her, smiling warmly. "Oh! Looks like Inko and Izuku just got here too!"
Young Gojo tuned out the small talk between his mom and "Mitsuki"—he thought that was her name at least as his attention drifted past the blonde woman and her son to the newcomers.
The first thing he noticed was a gentle-looking woman with dark green hair, wearing a neatly coordinated outfit of blue and soft pink—very mom-core, he thought. Her features were kind and round, her eyes big and bright. Then, stepping out from behind her right leg, came what looked like her mini-clone: a boy around Satoru's age with messy curls of green hair, big innocent eyes, and freckles scattered across his cheeks.
As Satoru's six eyes took them in, he noticed not just their physical details, but something deeper—something... energetic. If he concentrated, he could see a kind of aura around people. His mother's was a warm, a sharp teal light that pulsed rhythmically and focused mostly around her head, especially her eyes.
He guessed this was the quirk-world equivalent of his Six Eyes function. A way to perceive not just energy, but the very mutation responsible for quirks. He could often tell the type of quirk a person had, just by watching how the energy flowed through them. Being cooped up in this house gave him plenty of time to observe strangers from the window—tracking patterns, figuring out which quirks were flashy, subtle, or incomplete simply at a glance.
Being cooped up at home had given him plenty of time to observe, catalog and guess in fact not to pat himself on the back but he had gotten pretty good at it.
The adjustment had been... weird to say the least. Cursed energy was "trickier"—more layered, more secretive—but it made more sense. Quirks? They were simpler once you got the hang of them, but clunkier somehow. More physical.
His eyes shifted back to the loud blonde boy—Katsuki. There was a crackling little kernel of energy nestled in his chest. No, not crackling... popping. Like a firecracker waiting to go off. It was small, though. Maybe his quirk hadn't fully awakened yet?
His mother had a similar energy—yellow and free-flowing, calm but present everywhere in her body. Inko's was softer, more muted, concentrated around her hands and palms and swaying like a soft breeze.
Then his eyes fell on the green-haired boy.
Huh.
His energy was... strange. Not quiet—just... dull. Dull in a way that didn't feel boring, but wrong. It didn't have a rhythm or even a proper place in the body. It was clumped, like a rock stuck in the kid's stomach.
"Weird… it's just sitting there. Like a hardened kidney stone…" Realization clicked.
Oh... damn.
The boy didn't have a quirk. That's why it looked like that. No wonder it felt so underwhelming.
He had never encountered anyone like this in this world before you'd assume that it was the "default" in this world to have some kind of uncanny ability even if it was kind of shitty but not having one at all…Even Satoru thought that was a bit unfair.
Satoru frowned briefly, pity flashing through his sharp features. Man... that must suck.
But just as fast as the thought came, his usual confident smirk returned. He stepped forward, extending a hand toward the freckled boy.
"Yo. I'm Satoru. Your mom called you Izuku, right? The grown-ups are stuck in boring mom-talk. You wanna come in?"
His tone was relaxed, casual, but genuine. He turned and walked further into the house, not exactly caring if the two followed. Katsuki didn't wait for an invitation.
"Hey! Don't ignore me, Weird Eyes! I'm not standin' in this boring doorway forever. What do you even do for fun around here?" He darted in behind Satoru, picking up his pace until he was walking beside him... and then ahead of him. a large confident smile plastered to his face as he locked eyes with young Satoru.
Inko gently nudged her son forward, giving his back a small pat. Izuku's face lit up, tension leaving his shoulders as he gave one last glance to his mom before running in after the other two boys, his oversized red sneakers clomping loudly behind him.
Izuku: "Hey, Satoru! Are you into any cool heroes?!" The question burst out of him, bright and eager. Satoru paused, thinking for a beat. His face scrunched, eyes narrowing like he was trying to remember something buried under cobwebs. "Hmm... I've heard people talk about them before. Dunno. I never really paid attention."
He shrugged like it wasn't a big deal, hands still lazily behind his head as he led them further down the hall. However, both Katsuki and Izuku stopped dead in their tracks, their jaws dropping in cartoonish shock.
Katsuki: "What kinda kid doesn't know about a SINGLE hero?! What—have you been locked in a cage your whole life or something?!" The boy spoke in a tone full of both curiosity and pity. Satoru's eyes bounced between the two of them, clearly surprised they had the exact same reaction. He placed a tiny hand on his chin, thoughtful.
"I didn't think it was that big of a deal... Okay, so who's like, the coolest hero then?"
The boys responded in perfect unison, practically shouting:
"ALL MIGHT!"
Before Satoru could even ask who or what that meant, the two boys erupted into a blur of motion, dashing around him in circles and sprinting across the living room like hypercharged hamsters. As they whirled around, they took turns rattling off All Might's accolades like two tiny superfans on a mission.
"He's the strongest hero!"
"He saves everyone and makes them feel safe!"
"His costume is so cool!"
"He's never lost a single fight in his entire career!"
Then together, as if they'd rehearsed it: "He's the Number One Hero who saves everyone with a smile!" The two striking a dramatic pose that Satoru had no reference for, though he assumed it was related to this "All Might" character.
The light in their eyes was unmistakable—pure, unfiltered hero worship. Gojo let out a soft laugh, intentionally letting his "cool guy" persona slip just a little as a genuine smile spread across his face.
"All right, tell me more about this guy," he said, his tone matching the boyish excitement his body already gave away. "Like, what's this dude's quirk? What kind of vibe does he give off? Does he have a ton of sidekicks or what?"
Caught in the whirlwind of their shared excitement, the three of them kept chattering until eventually they were plopped down in front of the TV. Their mothers had queued up an entire playlist of All Might's "Greatest Hits," starting with his iconic debut.
Satoru was actually genuinely excited. He knew this world had superpowers and heroes, sure—but he hadn't spent much time digging into the details since arriving. He knew that being a hero was a profession and as such seem to be the only one worth pursuing. If he was going to reclaim the title of "Strongest," in this world then it was time to study the competition.
And then... the young boy's attention was stolen.
What he saw on the TV mesmerized him. His expectations were sky-high for this so-called "Number One Hero," and at first—between the man's bizarre laughter and wide grin—Satoru felt skeptical.
But then the man moved.
Satoru blinked.
Satoru: "He's so…Damn… fast…"
From what Gojo could gather, the man's quirk seemed relatively simple—straightforward. The footage didn't let him perceive energy the way he could in person, but even so, the movement was undeniable.
His speed? Unreal. His power? Terrifying.
He tore through crowds of villains with ease, each blow landing before the eye could track it. The camera could barely keep up. He could barely keep up.
If this was the old world, with his old body and the old rules, then this man probably wouldn't have been able to breach Infinity. That much was true. But even with just these brief clips… Satoru questioned whether he could even see the man's movements. The gap between them in speed was that wide.
Gojo wasn't the type to underestimate himself—or to hype up an opponent—but damn.
At his best, Satoru could level buildings. Maybe even an entire city if he felt spicy. He could overthrow a small government with a weekend of prep time. He earned the special grade title for a reason after all.
But this... this goofy, smiling old man?
"His power is insane… The way he just blew away those clouds like it was nothing... I'm having trouble even keeping up with what he's doing… How does someone like this exist?"
Satoru's face twisted into a strange blend of resentment, joy, and something else—excitement. In his past life, he was the "Number One Hero." He was the pinnacle. The strongest. He'd never once been jealous. There was nothing left to reach for. But now? For young Satoru something had clicked and sparked to life even. He'd enjoyed his time in this world so far, but things were…dull.
But this man…
A wide, almost unhinged grin spread across his young face. His normally soft, beautiful eyes now wide with wild excitement.
Satoru: "So this is All Might, huh?... This is the strongest?"
He said it to no one in particular both boys however responded with a definite "Yes" the message was clear. Satoru had a goal now. A mountain to climb. Finally, someone to surpass!
Over the next few months, things carried on as usual—well, mostly. With one major change:
Gojo Satoru was motivated.
His mother often invited over his new "friends." And to Satoru's surprise… he didn't hate it. Over time, the three boys grew closer, their afternoons filled with talks of heroes, dreams, and futures. Apparently, they all had the same goal they were all reaching for the top they were all reaching for All Might—which worked just fine for Satoru he saw it as "bonus motivation". He just didn't have the heart to tell young Izuku that his dream might be… unlikely.
Still, the boys clicked. A dynamic formed.
Satoru and Katsuki constantly butted heads, trading barbs and insults like it was a sport. Izuku often played the flustered referee, trying to keep the peace. Katsuki, despite being brash and loudmouthed, had a fiery drive Satoru could easily respect. Honestly? It was kind of refreshing. A little grating, sure—but pleasantly familiar.
Izuku, on the other hand, was kind, soft-spoken, and observant. He didn't speak as often, but when he did—especially about heroes—his passion lit up the room. And when he found out about Satoru's ability to "read" quirk energy?
Oh boy.
The kid was glued to him for a solid week. The two would spend hours staring out the window as Izuku pointed out every passing stranger desperately tugging on Satoru constantly asking him "What's their quirk!? How does it work?! What does it do?!"
Satoru, grinning behind his new shades, did his best to play along and it didn't hurt that he got to show off a bit, since reincarnating he had missed that feeling.
(Oh yeah, he finally got those sunglasses. A promise fulfilled by his mom—nothing fancy, just a cheap pair of all-black lenses from the local mall. But they were his. And they were a gift so, he wore them. Every. Day.)
A new ritual for him soon formed.
Learn as much as he could—not just about quirks, but about hero society as a whole. He constantly begged his dad to use the laptop, digging through articles, videos, anything that could give him an edge.
And every day, like clockwork, he tested himself.
Sitting cross-legged in his room, focusing with all his might, trying to tap into the Limitless. Trying to manipulate space. Trying to apply old techniques to this new, young body.
It didn't amount to much. Not yet.
No signs of a quirk. Nothing concrete.
But he never stopped trying. until one day…
The morning sun filtered lazily through the kitchen blinds, painting slats of golden light across the counter. Five-year-old Gojo Satoru stood on a chair in fuzzy socks and a scowl that could curdle milk.
Gojo: "Okay. Listen. I know they're up there." He squinted at the top shelf of the pantry—Mom's forbidden snack zone. Somewhere behind the wall of canned soup and passive-aggressive healthy granola sat the holy grail: sour cream and onion chips.
He wobbled slightly on the chair that he had used to boost himself he then reached up, and just barely grazed the edge of the shelf. Too far. He tried jumping. Bonked his head on the cabinet.
Gojo: "...Ah. Damn. But ..."
Then, in a moment of mild irritation and completely unearned confidence, he extended a hand and focused. Not on the chips. Not on the shelf. On the space in between. Something shifted. There was no sound, no flash of light—just a subtle, unsettling folding. Like the kitchen "hiccuped".
And suddenly... the shelf was at eye level.
Gojo (blinking): "...Well. That's new. and about time..."
He plucked the bag like a divine offering. But before he could even pop it open, the warped space behind him snapped back like a rubber band.
The pantry door imploded, crunching inward like an aluminum can. A broom launched itself into the ceiling with a loud THUNK, embedding like a budget Excalibur stuck to its stone. A banana peeled itself midair. The cereal boxes spun in place like they'd been caught in a mini tornado of broken physics.
Gojo stood there, mid-chew. Gojo: "Okay… so I broke the laws of Euclidean geometry, which means… hehe..."
For a brief, smug moment, his little face twisted into the expression of a boy who knew he was special. He'd feared that when he awakened his quirk, it wouldn't be his—not the Limitless But now? Now he knew. He crunched down aggressively on another chip, holding it up like a trophy of victory.
Cue the sound of rapid footsteps—
His mom burst in, apron fluttering behind her like a superhero cape mid-rescue.
Mom (panicking): "SATORU, WHAT DID YOU—?!"
Gojo turned slowly, chip bag in one hand, a piece of ceiling tile stuck in his hair. His face was perfectly deadpan.
Gojo: "Hey Mom. Good news—I found the chips… also, I got my quirk."
Mom: "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KITCHEN?!"
Gojo looked around, then reached into the bag again. Gojo (chewing): "…Physics."
Gojo was then promptly taken to the Hospital by his exacerbated mother
And brought to a pristine white examination room. The walls were plastered with cheerful posters about Quirk Safety and smiling cartoon children with wildly impractical abilities ("Koda can sneeze bricks! And that's okay!") one ran off with a poorly cropped picture of a young boy quite literally "sneezing bricks".
Gojo sat cross-legged on the exam table in a baby blue baggy hoodie, swinging his feet like he hadn't just folded his kitchen like a fitted sheet no less than 45 minutes ago.
The doctor—a wiry older man with glasses too large for his face and the tired expression of someone who'd seen one too many combustion quirks that day—reviewed a tablet.
Doctor: "Alright, Satoru. You said it just… happened?"
Gojo (nodding): "Yeah. I got mad I couldn't reach the chips, and then I folded space like it was a pizza box." The doctor slowly turned to look at the young boy.
Doctor: "…A pizza box?"
Gojo: "Or like… a burrito. If the tortilla was made of reality." He shrugged, eyes drifting to a poster of a smiling girl covered in flames titled "Stop, Drop, and Don't Panic!"
The nurse—a tall, unnervingly lanky woman—with arms too long and teeth too sharp, snorted and coughed to hide a laugh. The doctor sighed in response.
Doctor: "Okay. Demonstrate." He stepped to the far end of the room and held his clipboard protectively, just in case. Gojo scanned the room, spotted a spare clipboard on a counter.
Gojo: "Gimme a sec."
He extended his hand. The air shimmered—like heat off pavement—and the space between him and the clipboard collapsed. With a soft fwip, the clipboard blinked out of existence and reappeared in his hand.
The nurse screamed. The doctor didn't flinch—but his eyebrow twitched. Gojo (grinning): "Still working on my aim! Sorry!" The clipboard was now singed around the edges. The doctor's glasses slid a fraction down his nose.
Doctor: "...Well. That's not terrifying."
Several chaotic tests later, the room looked like a mild crime scene. Papers. Splinters. Broken pens. The nurse had gone on a very long "lunch." Gojo lay upside down on the exam table, flipping the clipboard into the air and catching it with lazy precision.
Gojo: "So does this mean I'm, like… gifted? Or just spatially sassy?" The doctor pinched the bridge of his nose.
Doctor: "This "means" you're going to need a specialized handler. And maybe a physicist."
Gojo: "Cool. Soooo… do I get a sticker now?"
Gojo's mom, Meiko, was finally ushered into the wrecked office. The doctor sat stiffly in a chair that was bent and half-shredded from one of Gojo's "tests."
Doctor (exasperated): "Subject appears to have an emitter/mutation hybrid quirk. Early signs of advanced spatial manipulation—folding, contracting, warping physical space. Unknown limit. Disturbingly casual about it."
Meiko blinked, still trying to process it.
Meiko: "Honestly, I thought he had my quirk—enhanced vision. I can see down to the atomic level when I focus. He even has my eyes!"
She hesitated, brow furrowing.
Meiko: "But this? His father has a spatial manipulation quirk too, but he can only pull small objects to himself— Satoru folded my entire kitchen."
Doctor: "It's likely your quirks were genetically compatible. Combined, they amplified each other. You could say he inherited… the "best of both worlds." He gave Gojo a long, dead-eyed stare.
Doctor: "You could say he's just… lucky." Gojo beamed, waved at the doctor like they were best friends, and winked.
The doctor finally turned to his clipboard.
Doctor: "We'll need to name the quirk. Something utility-based, preferably, with clear references to its—"
Gojo (interrupting): "The Limitless."
The doctor paused mid-sentence. Doctor: "We usually use a technical—sigh... whatever."
He scribbled it down and gestured toward the door. Finally admitting to defeat and frankly just wanting to move on to the next kid.
Doctor: "Please leave my office."
The family had to make several adjustments after the "kitchen incident," starting with a complete kitchen remodel. They also laid down new ground rules for Satoru—chief among them: no using Limitless inside the house until he got a "better grasp" on it.
This, of course, mattered very little to Gojo, who was currently riding an ego high the size of Mount Fuji. He lay sprawled out in his room, lazily using Blue to pull random objects toward him—starting with a pencil, then a baseball, then a shoe from under his bed—as he mused aloud to himself:
"Ahh... the good ol' Limitless, right where it belongs. So happy to have Blue back in my hands. Soon I'll have Red, Infinity, Purple, even my Domain—"
His confident train of thought screeched to a halt.
"Wait. This world doesn't have Cursed Energy... which means no Reverse Cursed Technique. And if I can't reverse my technique, then I can't use Red—much less Purple…"
He sat up, eyes narrowing as the horrifying truth hit him. "Am I stuck with just... Blue?"
Gojo paused, stared blankly at the ceiling, then let out a frustrated groan and flopped backward onto his bed dramatically kicking his arms and legs outwards. Sometimes he hated being so damn smart. If he were just a little slower on the uptake, he could've lived in blissful ignorance for at least a day or two.
"Gaaaaaah…" he groaned, voice muffled by a pillow. "Whatever. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. At least I've got Blue. And I should still be able to use neutral Infinity—though without RCT, it's gonna be waaaaay crappier… by comparison not to mention now that meant his busted healing factor was also gone..."
He abruptly set up hopping to the edge of his bed as he stood peering out his window. He looked down at his clenched fist, then thrust it out dramatically, a grin spreading across his face.
"You know what none of that matters now, at least now... I can finally get started!"
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And there you have it the end of chapter Three, I wrote all of these chapters at once as one big group and planned on dropping them all at once and I'm super proud of myself for managing to get it done. Between the drops of the chapters, I've also seen a few people already reading and even giving a comment. I plan on updating regularly so stay tuned.
So, from the bottom of my heart thank you all for reading. You made the time and effort it took to write this more than worth it.
Now most of the building blocks have been laid and so for the next few chapters we can finally start getting into the main story. And for those of you that are wondering yes, I do plan on changing how the limitless works a little bit, not just because the ability is absurdly busted
(That's half the fun of writing for Gojo I mean it's one of the reasons everyone loves him, although it does make it easier writing for him when he's a bit nerfed)
But I want him to play by the rules of the MHA universe and as such his ability has been changed to fit the world a bit better in my opinion obviously the story of MHA is one about growth and development so you can probably assume that he'll improve as the storing progresses any predictions you may have for which direction I might take it I am more than happy to hear!
I also had a ton of fun writing for the three boys in their general dynamic That wasn't a ton that I got to do this go around especially since they're younger than what they are in the main story but I enjoyed it much more than I expected and can't wait to do more in the future!
Anyways thanks for reading but that's all for now.
Until next time take it easy!