Joint Training Arc

The Joint Training Arc (対抗戦編) is the fifteenth story arc in My Hero Academia, as well as the sixth story arc in the Rise of Villains Saga.

Class 1-A and 1-B compete against each other in a Joint Training Battle, joining them is Hitoshi Shinso who is eager to enter the Hero Course.

Enter: Hitoshi Shinso
Following a discussion on the vestiges, Izuku and All Might run into Hitoshi and Shota, wherein Izuku recalls Hitoshi meeting with his teacher at an earlier date, which is received with a rather ambiguous response, before the aforementioned teacher advises him to hurry along to the training ground.

Now dressed in their winter outfits, Class 1-A gather at the training ground and share the modifications made to their costumes, causing Ochaco to remember Izuku and Mei's encounter back when they were remodeling parts of their outfits together, resulting in a flushed outburst, much to Mashirao's surprise.

Suddenly, a voice interrupts the group, revealing Neito and the rest of Class 1-B, also clad in their hero outfits. Neito proclaims that 1-B have the upper hand in the ongoing rivalry between the two classes, as they prevailed victors (by two ballots) in his self-researched survey of which the favored performance was at the School Festival, attempting to continue for his prediction of the result during their training, however being cut off by Shota's Capturing Weapon.

The homeroom teachers of both classes announce the arrival of a potential hero candidate from another class, disclosing the student as being Hitoshi, creating an understanding for Izuku as to the meetings he and Shota engaged in.

Upon being requested by Shota to introduce himself, Hitoshi expresses his feelings bluntly, stating the other students as obstacles he must overcome due to being so far behind at current, also stating he has no intention of making friends here in his journey to becoming a hero. It is noted by Hanta that Hitoshi's current image resonates with that of Shoto's prior to the U.A. Sports Festival.

Ground Rules
Vlad King begins by explaining that the training will take place on Ground Gamma, where the two classes will go head-to-head in teams of four to battle it out, however Jurota notes that there are 41 of them in total, now that Hitoshi will be joining them. Vlad clears this up by stating that Hitoshi will participate in two battles, one on each side. Toru follows another misconception up, stating the team of 4 will have a disadvantage against the team of 5, causing Vlad to once again intervene and clear up the fact that integrating Hitoshi, who has had little to no battle experience, into the team will prove a magnanimous task in itself. He then explains how the winner will be decided: the team to capture 4 members of the opposing will win, irrespective of total numbers per side.

Teams
The two classes are divided into teams and Shinso draws two numbers to see what battles he will be participating in. Class 1-A consists of Team Asui, Team Yaoyorozu, Team Todoroki, Team Bakugo, and Team Midoriya and Class 1-B consists of Team Shiozaki, Team Kendo, Team Tetsutetsu, Team Tokage, and Team Monoma. Hitoshi draws the numbers of Team Asui and Team Monoma, exciting both teams who express their eagerness to working with him. Ochaco points out to Izuku that this training will be a rematch between him and Hitoshi with Izuku claiming he is excited to see Hitoshi's growth.

As the training is about to begin Midnight and All Might appear, eager to watch the Joint Training. Midnight asks All Might who he thinks will do better in the training. All Might responds, even though Class 1-A is strong and has overcome numerous crises, Class 1-B has been able to develop their skills and quirks more due to staying out of trouble. Vlad announces the beginning of the first round, Team Asui versus Team Shiozaki.

Round 1
Team Asui decides to stick together and overwhelm Team Shiozaki with their numbers. Tsuyu starts out camouflaging herself on the wall and Hitoshi comments how if you're aware of it, you can still see her. Denki offers to split up from the group and fire off his Quirk only for Eijiro to question what he'll do once he's all alone. Hitoshi offers to neutralize the ones who have the most troublesome Quirks, as it's probably what the other team is thinking.

Just then, Koji's birds return, to which he reveals that Ibara is to their left all alone yet she's heading their way while using her vines to probe all around her. Before they can act, Jurota comes charging in. He reveals that they knew Koji would locate them with his birds and that they'd be wary of Ibara's Quirk after the Sports Festival, so they had her act as a decoy and allow himself to get in close using his Beast to avoid leaving Denki to his own devices. Kosei, who was riding Jurota, uses his Quirk to imprison Koji in an air prison to prevent Denki from using his Quirk around his teammates. Kosei then comments on Jurota's accomplishment only for him to become still, as it's revealed Kosei never said anything, but the voice came from Hitoshi, using his Artificial Vocal Chords: Persona Chords.

Early before, Hitoshi explains how his Quirk works to his team, but also reveals that he can't make his brainwashed targets talk. to fix that problem, Hitoshi's Artificial Vocal Chords essentially alters his voice to mimic someone else's voice. As we catch up to the present, Kosei traps Hitoshi in another Air Prison and wakes Jurota up from his brainwashing. When Jurota charges to attack, Denki steps in the way with his own Quirk. He gets smacked aside but manages to shock Jurota. Kosei's efforts to escape electrocution by jumping off Jurota leaves him open to be grabbed by Tsuyu with her tongue. As she proceeds to carry him to their jail cell, Jurota proceeds to chase after her. Koji and Eijiro try to keep him back but he dodges them by changing back to normal, then transforms back into a beast and grabs the both of them. Jurota throws Eijiro high into the air and into Ibara's field of vision, stating that he's the only one who can withstand his power. Denki and Tsuyu, who delivered Kosei, try to save Koji but Jurota escapes for the time being, and both Eijiro and Koji are imprisoned, leaving the score as 2-1 Class B.

Tsuyu breaks Hitoshi free and the three of them regroup and try to come up with a plan. Back with Class 1-B, Ibara complains about how she was treated as a decoy only for Jurota to say it worked. Just then, Jurota picks up Tsuyu's scent, only to realize he's picking up three Tsuyu scents. Izuku and Minoru remember what Tsuyu said about how she could secrete her own mucus during the Attack on U.S.J, and that she applied her mucus to Denki and Hitoshi hoping to throw off Jurota's scent. Ibara attack with her 'Viva Dolorosa' Super Move while Jurota tells her their locations. Hiryu wonders how their locations were uncovered only to notice one of Denki's pointers on Jurota's body. Just then, Ibara captures Denki and brings him forward. Denki fires a pointer just as Ibara starts covering him in her vines, but it misses and is destroyed by Hiryu's scales. Just as Hiryu tells Ibara to respread her vines, she falls under Hitoshi's brainwashing, as it was revealed to be his voice sounding like Hiryu. It is then revealed that Denki offered to use himself as a decoy to give Tsuyu and Hitoshi an opening. Jurota goes wild trying to find Hitoshi and is unable to communicate effectively with Hiryu due to worrying about Hitoshi's Quirk. Hiryu tries to attack Tsuyu with his scales but fails. He tries again to communicate with Jurota but gets kicked by Tsuyu. Just as Jurota finds Hitoshi, Hitoshi uses his binding cloth to bring down several pipes onto Jurota's head. Tsuyu then throws Hiryu into Jurota, defeating the both of them. Tsuyu and Hitoshi carry a restrained Hiryu to the jail cell while a brainwashed Ibara carries Jurota. Round 1 ends with a 4-2 victory for Class 1-A.

Round 1 Aftermath
After the match Shota asks his students to reflect on the match. Eijiro states it's hard for him to make good use of his Quirk when he's not trying to fight, Koji states he needs to give better orders to insects, Denki states he was great, Tsuyu regrets losing two teammates, and Hitoshi laments not making good use of what he's learned. Shota tells Eijiro to work on developing set-ups to lure his enemies to close-combat, tells Koji to work on his weak points, scolds Denki for being too careless from the get-go, and tells Tsuyu to not dwell on her mistakes and to work on making up for them next time.

Vlad King calls his students out on that no one was really acting as a leader, and had they did pick one, they would've won. All the other teams work to prepare effective strategies while Shota and Vlad King ask about Hitoshi's performance, as the training is going to be his exam for entering the hero course. Round 2 then begins between Team Yaoyorozu and Team Kendo.

Story Impact

 * Fumikage's internship with Hawks is shown.
 * Hitoshi is revealed to have been trained personally by Shota in private.
 * Class 1-A and 1-B are planned to have joint training sessions.
 * Hitoshi Shinso of Class 1-C is joining them in the hopes of eventually transferring to the Hero Course.
 * Shota says this training session is an entrance exam for Hitoshi to see if he has the potential to be in the Hero Course.
 * Izuku notes that every time the previous One For All users activate his Quirk, Hitoshi just happens to be in close proximity.
 * The first time happened during the U.A. Sports Festival in Izuku's fight with Hitoshi. The vestiges activated his Quirk through his fingers, releasing him from Hitoshi's Quirk.
 * Katsuki works together as a team for the first time without trying to do things on his own like he usually does.
 * Tenya has upgraded his mufflers.
 * Shoto has learned to use both of sides of his quirk to achieve a flame temperature hot enough to melt iron while cooling his body with his ice, a feat that shows him circumventing the weaknesses of the fire-based quirk that plagued his father.
 * A flashback that revealed that one of Shoto's siblings had a fire quirk that was stronger than their father's but had a weak body.
 * Ochaco's feelings for Izuku resurfaces as she saves him from being absorbed into the Blackwhip.
 * Izuku meets a previous user of One For All during the fifth round.
 * The previous user informs him about how One For All has now begun to grow inside Izuku to the point that he is now able to awaken previous Quirks that were passed on from each user of One For All.
 * Because of this, Izuku awakens the Quirk, Blackwhip.
 * There are 5 more Quirks inside One For All that Izuku will be able to use after learning more about it.
 * All For One has some ability to be able to hear his brothers voice inside of One For All.
 * A meeting is arranged between Neito and Eri. Shota intended for Neito to copy Eri's Quirk to help her control it, but it failed due to the conditions of Neito's Copy.

Characters Introduced
No new characters have been introduced this arc.

Quirks Introduced

 * Beast: Jurota's Quirk allows him to become a gigantic beast, gaining an enhanced physique and enhanced senses, but he enters a state of exhilaration.
 * Scales: Hiryu's Quirk allows him to grow hard scales all over his body which he can wear as armor or shoot as projectile weapons.
 * Black: Shihai's Quirk allows him to merge with and move freely throughout anything black in color. If the black object is capable of movement, Shihai may also move the object at will.
 * Mushroom: Kinoko's Quirk allows her to grow mushrooms from various surfaces including her surroundings, her own body and even her opponent's body.
 * Comic: Manga's Quirk allows him to turn onomatopoeias into attacks.
 * Gyrate: Sen's Quirk allows him to rotate any part of his body, replicating that of a drill.
 * Horn Cannon: Pony's Quirk allows her to send her horns flying and remotely control them at will. She is able to control up to four horns that are sent flying.
 * Lizard Tail Splitter: Setsuna's Quirk allows her to split her body into several pieces and control them telekinetically. She is currently able to divide her body into 50 different parts depending on the length.
 * Razor Sharp: Togaru's Quirk allows him to produce large blades from his body.
 * Poltergeist: Reiko's Quirk allows her to telekinetically control objects from a distance.
 * Size: Yui's Quirk allows her to change the size of non-living things that she touches.
 * Twin Impact: Nirengeki's Quirk allows him to cause any object he has punched to experience a second impact with many times the force of the original hit.
 * Blackwhip: A previous successor of One For All's Quirk allows him to create tendrils of dark energy that can grab objects from a distance.

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