Provisional Hero License Exam

The Provisional Hero License Exam is a biannual test organized by the Hero Public Safety Commission that grants capable students who pass each of its phases a Provisional Hero License.

Overview
The Provisional Hero Licensing Exam is held twice a year during each June and September, coinciding with the start of the usual Japanese semester period. The exam is held in three different locations across the country all at the same time. Various hero academics from across the country enter their students in the exam, but they separate classes among the different locations in order to avoid their students from fighting one another.

Very few first years attempt getting their provisional licenses. However, students in hero courses like U.A. and Shiketsu accelerate the process of getting them. The contents of the exam change from year to year.

Prologue
On the day of Class 1-A's specific licensing exam, students from various schools gather at Takoba National Stadium. Participating school's include U.A. High, Shiketsu High, Ketsubutsu Academy and several other schools. Inside the stadium, all students are placed in a crowded room where Yokumiru Mera from the Public Safety Commission explains the rules of the first test.

There are about 1,540 students in attendance for orientation. The exam used to hold a 50% passing rate for participants. Due to recent events like Stain's arrest and All Might's retirement, the exam was modified to be much more exclusive in its vetting processes and now less than 10% of students can pass. The exam has a new focus on speed while encouraging teamwork and communication between participants. The new version of the exam hopes to only entitle the best students available in order to fill the gap left behind by All Might.

The Police requested that the exam's focus be on students ability to cooperate with each other. Both phases of the exam are meant to test the students' ability to work together. The first phase emphasizes teamwork and combat ability. The final phase focuses more on decision making and how students adjust to their role in disaster situations.

Initial Phase
Examinees must place three targets or "weak points" on their body in any exposed area. The targets recognize the balls and can tell who hit whom based on distance, movement and other factors. Students also receive a box with six orange balls. The targets light up if they're hit by one of the balls. If all three targets are hit by a ball, that student is eliminated. The competitor that lights up another student's third target is credited with their eliminations. Students must eliminate two other competitors to pass the first phase, and only the first 100 applicants to pass will advance to the final phase.

The cramped room where all the participants are opens up to reveal the massive interior of the stadium that is made up of various different terrains. The targets and balls are handed out to the students and they all spread out to their desired area. The first test begins only a minute afterward.

There is a tradition in the provisional licensing exam called "Crushing of U.A." where students from other schools target U.A. because their Quirks have been made public via the U.A. Sports Festival. At the start of this exam, Ketsubutsu Academy students immediately attack students from Class 1-A. The U.A. students defend themselves using their new Super Moves. Their defenses prove to be too strong and Yo Shindo is forced to split them up by breaking the terrain using his Tremoring Earth special move.

Inasa Yoarashi is the first to pass when he eliminates 120 students using his Whirlwind Quirk. Izuku Midoriya is separated from his classmates and is confronted by another Shiketsu student: Camie Utsushimi. Izuku and Camie fight until Ketsubutsu students ambush them. Ochaco Uraraka and Hanta Sero eventually regroup with Izuku and rescue him; by this point over thirty people have passed the exam.

Shoto Todoroki is ambushed by several students from Seijin High School. He defeats ten of them and becomes the 56th person to pass the exam. Momo Yaoyorozu, Tsuyu Asui, Kyoka Jiro, and Mezo Shoji face students from Seiai Academy and defeat them to pass as well. Denki Kaminari and Eijiro Kirishima follow Katsuki Bakugo to the city district where they are confronted by Seiji Shishikura. Izuku, Hanta, and Ochaco realize that the best way to pass is to restrain their opponents rather than trying to hit moving targets with their balls. The trio fights with other students in the area in an attempt to pass.

Katsuki, Eijiro, and Denki manage to defeat Seiji. They fight other students he had previously turned into meatballs and pass the exam by eliminating them. At the same time, Izuku's group manages to restrain a few students and eliminate them to pass as well. Because Yo destroyed the middle of the stage, many students fight desperately in a rush to pass the exam. The Ketsubutsu students wait and take advantage of tired students to pass the exam themselves.

Nine students from Class 1-A remain while only ten spots are available. The U.A. students are separated and in a desperate situation. They come together thanks to a beacon of light from Yuga Aoyama that helps them rally together and defeat the other students rushing to pass. All nine of them manage to make an astounding comeback and fill the last ten spots along with Camie.

Final Phase
The many sections of the stadium are detonated and transformed into disaster zones as the students watch from the anteroom. Yokumiru instructs the examinees to act as heroes and conduct rescue operations for the second and final phase of the licensing exam.

Professional rescuees from the Help Us Company act as civilians who have been caught up in a villain terrorist attack. Students are tasked with rescuing them and the H.U.C. employees analyze the students rescuing methods and reduce points in the case of perceived mistakes and a lack of efficiency. They are assisted by public safety workers monitoring the exam from the stands. They also watch the students and deduct points based on their actions. A student begins the second phase with 100 points and will fail if their score drops below the 50 points benchmark.

At the start of the test, Class 1-A sticks together and Izuku finds a young man injured and crying. He says that his grandfather is in trouble and Izuku replies that the situation is terrible. The boy exits his character and yells at Izuku for being negative. He deducts points and explains that heroes need to comfort those in need and act accordingly to the situation. The second-year students from other schools set up first aid areas and clear the way for when emergency services need to arrive. The hypothetical situation is all students must help rescue people and secure the situation so that it can be handed over to authorities in a smooth manner when they arrive.

Inasa uses his wind to clear some rubble and float victims into the air. Although one of the H.U.C employees is impressed by Inasa's control over his Quirk, he deducts points for sloppiness. Nagamasa explains to Inasa that he needs to check on civilians conditions before moving them. Class 1-A finds more victims trapped beneath rubble and Ochaco rushes to rescue them. Momo stops her and tells her they need to secure the rubble first. The students decide they need to split up and work with other schools to rescue as many people as possible.

Katsuki, Eijiro, and Denki find two low priority civilians in the mountains. They ask for help but Katsuki yells at them to save themselves. Eijiro and Denki take them back to safety themselves. Just as everyone begins to get into the groove of rescuing people, Gang Orca and his men arrive in the stadium. They blast through one of the walls close to the first aid area and invade. Gang Orca and his men simulate the villain terrorist attack and students must juggle between rescuing efforts and fighting this new threat.

The villains enter the arena close to the first aid station and make it their target. The majority of the students work on evacuating the injured away from the dangerous area. Yo, Shoto, and Inasa rush to the front lines. Gang Orca makes short work of Yo. The proctors say it's good Shoto and Inasa were brought to the front line because of their offensive Quirks. Gang Orca is able to defend against Shoto's first attack, but then Shoto and Inasa proceed to get into an argument right in front of the villains.

Gang Orca and the proctors are unimpressed and the duo is immobilized by the No. 10 hero's hypersonic waves. Gang Orca's Sidekicks try to destroy the rescue station but Izuku heads them off. Yo Shindo shakes the ground beneath the villains and breaks it apart to stop their advance. He was planning on using his natural resistance to vibrations against Gang Orca but the first years got in the way.

Shoto and Inasa put their differences aside and trap Gang Orca inside a spiraling flame prison using a unison blast from both their Quirks while paralyzed. The villains turn around to help their captain and students returning from the evacuation attack. Mashirao Ojiro, Fumikage Tokoyami, and Mina Ashido work with Izuku to take advantage of the situation. Tsuyu and Nagamasa Mora also arrive to take down several more villains with their special moves.

Gang Orca knows Shoto and Inasa's teamwork won't make up for their mistakes, but he states their unison attack was a very good one. At this point, there are only a few more citizens left to be rescued before the test concludes. The No. 10 Hero is forced to rehydrate and says a normal villain would likely give up in this situation but heroes need to be prepared for when they don't. The head villain makes a sudden escape from the hot wind prison by blasting it apart with hypersonic waves. He tries to finish off Shoto and Inasa but Izuku stops him with a powerful kick. The other students rescue the last of the injured and the exam comes to an abrupt end.

Aftermath
Yokumiru displays the results of the exam after announcing students were scored based on how few mistakes they made throughout the second phase. The names of those who passed populate a large board in front of all the students. 89 of the 100 students pass the exam, including most of Class 1-A. However, because of their noncooperation and recklessness during the villain attack, Shoto and Inasa both fail the exam. Katsuki also fails because he didn't put any effort into rescuing people.

Inasa apologizes to Shoto for making him fail and Shoto concedes that he is to blame for the situation as well. Katsuki is irate over having failed the exam. Many students in Class 1-A are very surprised that their two strongest students failed to get their licenses. Yokumiru has the proctors hand out sheets containing each student's individual evaluations. The sheets explain which actions of the students received demerits. Izuku wonders why the scoring system didn't allow for students to recover points and why it didn't eliminate students after they fell below the benchmark.

Yokumiru explains that the students who passed will receive their provisional licenses so they can act as heroes in emergency situations. He expresses his hopes that these future heroes will fill the void left behind by All Might. Then he addresses those who failed the exam and announces there will be a training course they can participate in. If they were to pass, they will receive their provisional licenses as well. The first phase was meant to thin the heard, so the commission wishes to nurture the 100 students who made it to the second phase. This was why disqualified students were not removed: to provide more information to correct for their problems in the upcoming course.

The provisional licenses are handed out to the students and many of them go their separate ways. Ms. Joke says goodbye to Shota and asks if their classes can do some joint training in the future. Inasa tells Shoto he still doesn't like him but looks forward to taking the Remedial Course together.

Izuku asks Nagamasa about Camie's disappearing technique but he appears clueless. He says that Camie hasn't been acting herself and she left early. Somewhere away from the stadium, Camie's disguise falls away, revealing who was really taking the exam in her place: Himiko Toga, who has managed to obtain a sample of Izuku's blood.