Hero v Ninja
Chapter 7
Naruto stood in front of one his proclaimed rivals for the tournament, Todoroki Shota. Both of them were ready to fight after two battles had passed between them. Ashido was defeated easily by Fumikage and dark shadow hardly putting up a fight. Bakugo defeated Kirishima after taking most of the oxygen away from the boy with the hardened quirk and making him powerless against blond. This setup the semifinals between Todoroki against Naruto and Bakugo versus Fumikage.
Prior to the match, Naruto ran into Endeavor, the number two hero, behind All-Might, and Todoroki's father. The tall man glanced at the ninja before proclaiming that Naruto was just a stepping stone for his son now that he has accepted his flames. The negative energy around that man caused Naruto frown.
"He is nothing compared to Dad. Even though I only saw him brief, I could sense his pride he had for me, yet Endeavor for his son is nothing like that. It was as if he is using him for something else."
Don't think about it too hard Naruto, focus on the match ahead. That is your priority, Kurama spoke and made Naruto nod.
His thoughts came back thanks to the noise the crowd was making as Lady Midnight began the match. He saw at the corner Endeavor's muscular figure and flames watching it with a lot of ambition. Todoroki took noticed of this before he began his opening attack trying to freeze the stadium once again. As the ice began to collect and build, Naruto formed a rasengan and destroyed the ice that was aimed at him with lightning speed.
Both teens stared at one another before Naruto spoke, "That is not going to work on me, Todoroki."
"I suppose not," replied the silver haired ninja before forming a blunt object that was very massive and began gliding towards him.
The blond was able to dodge a swing from the ice maker before being pushed back once again by another ice wall, this time forming a clone to throw him in the air dodging the attack. Naruto landed on his feet before applying chakra to them and began sprinting towards the hero in the making. He tried to send him flying with a kick but was blocked by an ice shield.
Todoroki took this time to attempt to freeze Naruto's legs only to miss by inches as Naruto pushed of the ice shield Todoroki held. The floor was soon covered by ice, Naruto was still applying chakra to his feet to counter the slippery surface. The ice maker began to get close to Naruto for another attempt to freeze him only to be dropkicked back by the ninja.
As Todoroki fell back and Naruto was landing from his dropkick, the ice maker began to form an ice ceiling connected to a thin pillar on top of the ninja catching the blond off guard and curious at his attack. With a swift ice punch, Todoroki broke the pillar and made the ceiling unstable and falling to pieces on top of the ninja. From left to right, Naruto began dodging his attack taking his focus off Todoroki he had grasped his right arm freezing it. He punched the silver haired teen back before jumping back to safety.
"Shit," the blond cursed feeling the ice reach his bone, "That's going to take while to thaw out."
I'm already on it kit, just keep dodging that boy. I have severely underestimated his combat battle, Kurama complimented.
Naruto looked up to see Todoroki's face began covering in frost. Curious at the ice maker, he questioned, "Where are your flames?"
He made the ice maker flinch, "I'm still uncertain whether I should use them or not."
"They'd make you stronger. With you fire and ice, you would be unstoppable. You already used it once against Deku, why not use it now?"
"He made me feel different." Todoroki looked at Deku in the stands. He was watching intensely at both of them keeping notes. His attention switched to his father looking at him with a small grin.
"These flames have brought nothing but pain. Deku made me feel different, in a way that it was okay to use them because they were my flames. Not his."
Naruto stared at the teen in front of him with frost on his face and then to the stands where Endeavor was.
"So that's what he meant," Naruto whispered before looking back at Todoroki who had a lost face in his look.
"Oi! Todoroki!" Naruto yelled startling the ice maker. He picked up his frozen arm and pointed at Todoroki, before the ice broke revealing a taunting gesture, bending his hand back and forwards, "Come and get me."
This angered the silver haired teen, "Are you taunting my ice? I will become the strongest without using his power! I will become the hero he never was!" All this time Todoroki was flailing ice wall after ice wall towards the ninja, he was braking them as fast as he could.
"I will inspire young heroes unlike him! I will beat you and establish myself without his flames! Only my mother's ICE!" With this last one he gave it all he had not giving Naruto time to react taking him full under the ice wall.
The crowd stood stun and half frozen by the cold emitted from all the ice. Todoroki panted as he was out of breath and half of his face covered in frost, the left side still remained visible. Heroes were looking at the young teen with awe, the raw strength at half his power blew them away.
Endeavor frowned angrily, Shota had rejected his flames once again. He then looked at the spot where the blond ninja laid frozen and cursed before leaving the arena in disgust.
The students were shocked to see Naruto frozen solid before them and then at Todoroki. Bakugo looked with a small surprised look before brushing it the one that was worried the most was Momo. She looked at the frozen spot as well. She remembered Naruto trying to cheer her up only for her to brush him away. She looked down with regret and tears.
"T-Todoroki has frozen Naruto completely!" shouted Mic from the commentator's booth, "Such raw power! He froze the promising Naruto in a blink of an eye!"
Lady Midnight stared at the Todoroki, "You can remove the ice correct?"
Todoroki nodded, "I only froze the areas around him. I just didn't want to see his face right now."
Midnight nodded and was stepping towards the middle of the arena, "Uzumaki Naruto has been-"
The ice began to tremble. Midnight looked at the spot where Naruto was. Todoroki froze and turned to look in disbelief. He faintly saw an orange light getting bigger and bigger. The crowd began to whisper in disbelief as well.
The ice began to crack slowly from the top. A small crack began to get bigger spreading like a spider web before being blown away with a tremendous heat radiating from a blinding orange light. Naruto stood in his spot calmy without any features in his face.
The crowed began to cheer and roar, while some stayed in awe at the beautiful light emanating from the stage. The Heroes were blown back again at how he broke from the ice. The students cheered and Bakugo opened his eyes as he felt the power radiating from Naruto.
"It's that same light!"
Momo looked at her friend in awe, "How is he doing that?" Before her shock turned into a smile, "Naruto you idiot! You had me worried."
Back in the stage both teens were how they began staring at each other. Naruto's Kyubi mode glowed in all its glory. Todoroki began to notice the ice around them melting away along with his frost, this warmth?
"Just what are you, Uzumaki Naruto?" spoke Todoroki in disbelief.
"I am my father and mother's son!" he spoke proudly shocking the teen in front of him, "The day I was born my mom and dad died protecting me. My village was under attacked by a maniac and set loose a demon to wreck the Hidden Leaf. It was the same demon that was inside my mom, for she had to bear the burden of carrying the village's most powerful weapon, a tailed beast."
Todoroki just kept listening along with the crowd, "While giving birth to me, they were found by the maniac who figured out that during birth, the seals placed on jinchurikis weakened allowing him to extract the nine-tailed fox."
He looked at where Endeavor stood, "My parents sacrificed themselves to save me and the village from the nine tails by putting the beast inside me with a seal making me a jinchuriki in the process."
The gasps in the arena echoed in shock, "As I grew up, I was labeled a demon child thanks to being a jinchuriki. I had no friends growing up. I had no immediate family members. I barely had a placed to live. My only source of food was instant ramen," he chuckled.
"That would indicate why loves ramen," Momo whispered to herself.
"Only a handful of people, befriended me at that time. The hokage, the people who gave me ramen, and my homeroom teacher; even though he was a bore I deserved most of the punishment," Naruto smiled. "My dream is to become the Hokage like my hero, my dad."
"What is the point to all this?" Todoroki spoke
"This power came from the same beast who killed my mom and dad." Naruto stated proudly and shocked the whole arena.
"The same one who labeled me a demon child and denied me a proper life. This power came from accepting the hate inside my tailed beast and using it to protect the ones I care about, a life lesson I learned early in life. I befriended Kurama and together we defeated gods in the ninja world."
"Todoroki, the ice and fire quirk you have don't belong to your parents. It belongs to you!" Naruto claimed with a smile, "The same way this power is mine now. However, it is up to me to how I use it. I can easily level this place to the ground but that is not who I am. I am a ninja from the hidden leaf we protect our comrades. My dream is still to become Hokage and protect everyone."
Naruto shifted back to a fighting stance, "This is my full power Todoroki! Show me yours!"
Todoroki smiled and remembered his mom in better times, "You are right Naruto. These are my quirks not my parents. Thank you for making me realize it!"
The flame on his left began to emerge, while ice covered his right. Before he could do anything, Naruto was already next to him with a miniature rasengan on the ice part of his body. Naruto whispered on his ear, "Train hard and there will be no one who could stop you. You are amazing, Todoroki, already a better man than your father." He proceeded to send him away with the rasengan sending him out of bounds.
"Todoroki Shota is out of bounds! Winner Uzumaki Naruto!" Lady Midnight proclaimed. The crowd slowly began to clap before a roar filled the arena. Naruto turned off his Kyubi Mode and walked towards Todoroki who still layed on the floor in disbelief. Naruto smiled and offering him a hand.
Todoroki smiled and reached for it, "You are already a hero, Naruto. Thank you for an amzing match. I will take your words to heart and train to become a great hero."
"That is more like it!" Naruto grinned as both of them walked of the stage. As they reached the tunnel, they were met by Momo. Todoroki looked at Naruto and smiled before bowing himself away leaving the pair alone.
"Momo-chan I…" Naruto began to start before being enveloped by a bone crushing hug.
"You baka! You had me worried there. I thought you were frozen solid."
Naruto smiled before hugging her back, "It takes more than ice to get rid of me. Sorry for making you worry."
"Was everything you said true? About your parents and the demon?" she asked looking up at him.
"Yeah maybe one day you'll meet him. He has been impressed by you." He grinned making her blush.
"About a while ago, I want to apologize. I know you were trying to cheer me up but I was more disappointed by myself. Seeing you compliment Uraraka-san made me think you wouldn't be proud of me for how fast I was defeated."
"I would never be disappointed at you Momo-chan. I am always proud of you no matter what you do." He smiled cheering her up, "but it was just luck that wasn't on your side. Fumikage is a strong opponent. He also beat Ashido really fast. Now you just have to train to be faster with your quirk and I'll help you no matter what!"
They heard footsteps behind them. They both broke the embrace but their hands stayed together as another blond approached them with a displeased look. He only stared at Naruto and nothing else.
"I'll see you at the finals. Bring that power of yours too," Bakugo said and continued walking out the tunnel.
The pair stared at the teen who walked passed them before shrugging it off.
"Let's go back shall we." She said before leading the way neither daring to break their hands apart.
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In a café, sat a man listening to a radio. He had a hood on and dark glasses covering his eyes. He was hearing the festival through the radio taking sips of the tea in front of him. He felt the familiar chakra of the nine tailed beast. He heard the story Naruto said to Todoroki.
"So you are Kushina-san and Yondaime-sama's son, the nine tailed Jinchuirki of Konohagakure. How interesting. I wonder how he got here. No matter it is my way back."
A waitress approached the man, "Would you like to have more tea sir?"
The man with a smile, nicely declined and paid the waitress with a large bill, "okay let me get you your change."
As the waitress turned she heard a small crack before turning to see a note on the table,:
"Keep the Change
-U.S."
Well there you have it folks, I know it is a small chapter for a long wait but I have been very busy with finals in school and work. I just wanted to give you something before the holidays and for waiting for so long. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the fight and review on how you feel about it.
Lastly many said not to introduce ultra-instinct, which I was really hyped about. Bummed…
Anyways review and review!
