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Arriving at the foot of Sagiri Mountain, the place Izuku was told to come to, he was surprised by how empty it was. He was used to the large neighborhoods to Mustafu and the hustle everyone seemed to be in. He shouldered his backpack and continued on up the mountain.

A bit after noon, or so he assumed was noon, he came across a small house with a small path leading to it. "Hello? Does anyone live here? I'm looking for an Urokodaki Sakonji. Hello?"

He walked up to the door, knocking. "Eh, who's there?" a man called out.

"Um my name is Midoriya Izuku, I'm looking for an Urokodaki Sakonji." The man opened the door, face obscured by a mask he couldn't recognize.

The man gave Izuku an up-and-down before asking, "What do you need with him?"

"Uh I was looking through my dad's stuff and his name was on a letter, I wanted to know if you knew him." Izuku knew he was stupid to ask this, he had left without really telling his mom where he was going, using the excuse of a camping trip with friends to leave.

The man paused, letting himself think what to do next. "You're looking for me because of your dad?"

"Yeah he died when I was little and... yeah." Izuku looked down, now slightly embarrassed by how little he had thought this through. What random man who knew his dad would just let him stay with him?

"Who's your dad?"

"Midoriya Hisashi." When he said Hisashi the man leaned forward, briefly sniffing Midoriya.

"I don't know him."

Izuku whipped his head up to the man fast enough he saw spots for a second before blubbering, "He wasn't a Midoriya, that's mom's name... I don't remember- oh, Kamado. Kamado Hisashi."

The man now uncrossed his arms, "He's your dad?"

"Yeah?"

After that, the man with the mask invited Izuku in the small abode, introducing himself as Urokodaki. He asked Midoriya what he liked to do for fun, what his favorite food is, polite, non intrusive questions while making some tea for the two of them.

Midoriya paused when he was asked what he wanted to do. "I... don't know what I want to do. I mean, I have to finish middle school, but I don't know about after that."

"Don't kids want to be" The man snapped his fingers as if that would help him remember, "heroes or whatever they're called?"

"Well... I guess, I just don't really want to be a hero. I want to... do something else." The man gave Izuku a cup of tea.

"Why's that?"

Midoriya paused, wondering if he should tell the man about his run in with All Might. "Well um... I actually met the number one hero on my way here. He saved me from a villain, but after I asked if I could be a hero." He left out the part where he saw the man's true form, deciding the man shouldn't know that.

"And it didn't go over very well?" The man sat down across from the small boy.

"He told me to be a police officer because I'm quirkless."

--

Somehow, the conversation that day traveled to Midoriya's father, and he was told about breathing forms and Demon Slayers. He was told about how no matter what he tried, Hisashi couldn't figure out how to use the breathing techniques. Urokodaki offered to teach Midoriya for one year and give him the opportunity to try for himself.

And the funny thing is that he accepted. Urokodaki took him to town and called his mother, explaining everything, and soon it was just them and the forest.

For almost six months Midoriya woke up at the crack of dawn to run up and down the mountain. He was taught how to hold a sword and how to use it. Never, since the first day of this cycle did the man mention breathing.

Just before the six-month mark of Midoriya living on a mountain to basically experiment, Urokodaki coughed. Yes, people cough from time to time, but then he started to cough more often. When Midoriya, now dubbed "My Boy" by the older man since he was basically taking care of him, brought it up he mentioned that Midoriya might have to train himself while he rests, so he was taken up further than he had been before, given a boulder and the promise Urokodaki would get better, and then quiet. For six more months he was basically alone, every time he would go back down to eat and rest the man would be sleeping.

Then one day something changed. It was February, Midoryia was ahead of his usual grade level already so he hadn't worried about his studies, but it was cold . He was huddled tight in the haori, looking at the boulder he was supposed to slice before he left.

"Looking at it isn't helping anyone." Izuku looked up, seeing a masked figure perched on the boulder.

From his time with Urokodaki he picked up on the man's manners and over time had copied them himself. Usually he knew what to say, but this time he had no idea how to approach the conversation.

"We're going to show you how to use water breathing, so hopefully you can actually do it. Your father's quirk prevented us from helping, and prevented him from learning. Pull out your sword, let's spar."

Before he knew it, he was sparring the boy... man? Person. He lost, a lot. Soon a younger girl came and showed him how to fall, pausing the spar every so often to correct him or suggest what he does next.

Over time, this became routine, Izuku coming up to the boulder, sparring with the boy he now knew as Sabito, Makomo coming after about an hour, and then after lunch Sabito would leave for a bit while she would (occasionally) beat the new technique into him.

Soon he learned that the new technique was a water breathing form and he would be able to see the water flow.

She would congratulate him each time, Sabito giving him a small nod the next time he saw the boy. He didn't know where they came from, or why they were helping him, but he accepted their help each day.

One day they didn't come, instead a girl in a pink kimono came.

She didn't say anything at first, just taking his arms and placing them in a defensive position. She stood across from him, in the same position.

"Just copy me, and try to put as much power into each movement as you can."

She did different moves for another hour, going over some if he fell or did something wrong.

The next day none of the three people came, instead a boy in a checkered haori coming.

"Hello! I'm Kamado Tanjiro!" Tanjiro, as he introduced himself, evidently was once for conversation so Izuku replied.

"Kamado?" Izuku had been too distracted to notice the boy's family name before his brain processed it.

The boy confirmed his earlier fact, "Yeah. Kamado Tanjiro."

"Do you know a Kamado Hisashi?" Izuku asked, hope bubbling in him.

"I don't think so. Kamado is an old name, do you know how long it's been in your family?"

"I think my dad had said it was always in the family."

"Well in that case, we're gonna do something different."

That day, and for the rest for the week, Tanjiro showed him 12 new forms, but Izuku could never make anything happen. It was just him swinging a sword around.

On the last day he would ever see the four people, it was the one and a half year mark of him living on the mountain. Sabito, Makomo, Tanjiro and Nezuko all awaited him by the boulder.

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