Training Shinso

Chapter 5: Breaking Free

Friday~

"As we seem to have explored all we can with the previous tasks, I think it's time we move onto the next 'level'."

"Ooh, exciting," Izuku grinned.

Aizawa continued, "Midoriya managed to break out of the brainwashing at the Sports Festival, so let's see if he can do it again. However.... last time you used your Quirk to break out of the trance by flicking your fingers, if I believe correctly?"

Izuku felt his chest tighten. He nodded a little nervously. No matter how much he wanted to help, he couldn't tell them the pre-successors of One For All had aided in him breaking free. Well, that's what he guessed had happened anyway. He still wasn't entirely sure what he had seen that day. All Might had said the successors had woken him from the trance, but he himself had managed to move his finger enough to use his Quirk and snap out of the brainwashing.

"It would be unethical to have Midoriya break his bones for the sake of this training, so we will see if he can do it out of pure will, with no Quirk. Also, we must bare in mind the internal variable that Midoriya will be mentally prepared to be brainwashed. A villain may not know of your Quirk beforehand if you manage to trick them into responding so their will power will not be as strong. This means that this current training will probably be more challenging, but it will help in the long run. Understand?"

The students nodded.

"Shinso, Midoriya, stand at opposite sides of the room. Shinso, take control of Midoriya and tell him to walk towards you. Midoriya, try to break out of his brainwashing before you reach him but do not use your Quirk," Aizawa instructed.

The boys did as they were told and positioned themselves in said areas.

Hitoshi asked loud enough for Midoriya to hear, "What's your favourite animal?" He would usually activate his Quirk whilst Izuku was in mid-response because it was lowkey amusing to observe him being caught off guard and his face turning blank, but this time he waited to hear Izuku's response as he was genuinely curious.

"Rabbits," Midoriya replied with ease.

Hitoshi grinned slightly before activating his Quirk. Of course he would fucking like rabbits. He wiped that from his thoughts and focused on the task at hand. He instructed, "Walk towards me."

Izuku felt his legs move against his will. He strained his mind as he tried to get his body to stop moving forwards; beads of sweat gathered on the side of his face. 'C'mon! I managed to do this before! But last time I used my Quirk to snap out of it. I have to do this without my Quirk.' In his peripheral vision, he saw a flash of the purest white light that he had only ever seen once before. He couldn't turn his head to look but he knew they were there: the successors. He could sense someone walking up to him but he couldn't see clearly as he neared Hitoshi. He felt a hand touch his arm and his head jolted back in shock, his whole body taking a few steps back. Izuku whipped his head to the side to try to see who had touched him but no one was there. His eyes widened as he turned to look back at Hitoshi who was gawking at him and then Aizawa who's poker face was too professional to see past, although his analytical eyes squinted in curiosity.

"How did you do that? You didn't even use your Quirk this time," Shinso inquired.

"I-I don't know." Izuku couldn't tell them that the successors had helped him. Was that technically cheating? Maybe it was only those who possessed One For All that could break out of the brainwashing. "I- I had to provoke a-a reaction like a twitch that knocked me out of it, or something like that." That was technically true as his head had snapped back. He rubbed the back of his neck a little as he realised that had actually kinda hurt.

"Ah, yes. That was another thing I wanted to work on," Shota said. "I've noticed that one can be released from the Quirk if they are knocked with enough force. We need to eradicate this weakness. We could practise that first and then come back to this later to see if it helps to strengthen Shinso's hold over your mind."

Izuku wished he could tell Hitoshi that most people wouldn't be able to break free of his brainwashing but he couldn't. He guessed the advantage was that it would make him strive to work harder on improving his Quirk.

They took their places at the opposite poles of the room again and Shinso used his Quirk, ordering Izuku to walk towards him.

This time, Aizawa walked past Midoriya and bumped into his shoulder, breaking him from the brainwashing.

"Again," Aizawa said.

It took eighteen more attempts before something finally occurred. Aizawa bumped into Midoriya but the boy proceeded to walk towards Hitoshi. Shinso released him before they bumped into each other and smiled proudly.

Izuku blinked as he regained control then exclaimed happily, "Great job!"

"Well done, kid," Aizawa praised. "Go back to your starting positions and we can try again without me bumping into Midoriya."

As Izuku turned to walk across the room, his mind wandered elsewhere. He wrapped his index finger around his chin as he squinted his eyes at the floor, muttering to himself, "It would be interesting to know that, now he's able to maintain control when his target is nudged, the level of impact it would take to break them out of it. Like a slap, punch, or even knocked unconscious. If he could maintain control, he could possibly brainwash people to fight, which could be used on groups of villains to get them to go against each other or use their Quirks on each other, depending on what their Quirks are, of course..." He paused and glanced up, finally realising that he'd been talking aloud. The Aizawas were both looking at him and he flushed, "S-sorry."

"That's a good point you made there, kid, and it would be interesting to find out," Aizawa remarked. "However we cannot test this as we do not want to cause harm to you so unfortunately this will be something that Shinso must figure out in the field. Now, let's try again without me bumping into you."

When Izuku felt his mind haze over when Shinso took control of him, he tried to keep a hold of his awareness and focus. He obeyed Hitoshi's order and began walking towards him. As he did so, he tried to will himself to snap out of it. He knew now that trying to regain control over a small part of his body to create a jolt wouldn't work to break him out of the brainwashing anymore, thanks to the training they'd just completed.

He felt a sudden presence, just like the previous two times. He noticed that the successors seemed to show up every time he began to mentally strain to break free. This time, however, no one came over to help him. Midoriya theorised that it was because he didn't want them to help him out this time. He didn't know how they knew this though. None of it made any sense.

Izuku felt himself grow tired as he couldn't fight the brainwashing anymore; Shinso had grown so strong. He had finally beaten him.

"Midoriya, stop," Shinso commanded.

Izuku's legs stilled as he stopped walking. The control over his mind was lifted and he now realised Shinso was standing less than a foot away from him, smirking down at him. Midoriya squeaked  at the close proximity and took a step back, flushing slightly. "Y-you did it, Shinso! I couldn't break free."

"I guess this training really is paying off," Hitoshi remarked, still smiling.

"Both of you worked hard today. Well done. Now you can go off and do whatever; I'm having a nap before class," Aizawa stated, already climbing inside his sleeping bag.

Author's note~
Aizawa is a mood, lol.
Anywaysss, I don't know whether or not to make ShinDeku a ship in this so please comment what you would prefer xoxo