A/N: I want to thank everyone that added this story to their favourites and follows.
The sky was blue and decorated with white, fluffy clouds scattered around the skyline with the morning sun peaking over the sky. If Naruto was a morning person, she would say that it was a perfect day and that today was going to be the perfect day.
Naruto scowled at the sight of the smiling Mina and Kaminari. The two teens had been chipper from the moment they entered the meeting area—eyes shining with excitement for what was about to come. She closed her eyes and attempted to tune out their excitement, hoping to get a few more minutes of shut eye.
"You stayed up the whole night." Shouto observed. The blonde snapped her eyes wide open at the sight of her friend standing beside her. He stood in front of her, eyebrows knitted together, with his blue duffle bag over his shoulder. "You should have slept earlier."
"I tried to sleep but I was too excited for today," She paused and flickered her eyes at their excited classmates. "Well maybe not as excited as them. I don't know how the hell they can be so happy this early in the morning."
"They slept properly."
I should have drunk milk last night to get some sleep instead of just laying in bed. Naruto rubbed the back of her neck. She pressed the back of her neck, searching for the tension areas of her neck. Taking a deep breath, she twisted her neck and felt herself relax at the clear crack sound produced. Mental note for her not to lie her head against the headboard.
She picked up her duffle bag from the floor and made her way to the back of the bus. Several staff members were tossing the bags to the back of the bus, organizing it to a point where all twenty-one bags could be fitted into. Naruto handed the orange duffle bag to the staff worker, who placed it at the top of the pile.
"Everybody line up!" Aizawa ordered. "Summer vacations may have started but none of you will be receiving days off."
Naruto shuffled to the front of the bus, taking her spot next to Shouto. To her left were Izuku and Ochako who beamed at her. The blonde forced herself to smile and wave at them. How could people be so cheerful this early in the morning? Was it really that important for her to sleep properly? It probably did not matter. As soon as they stepped into the bus, she was going to get a well-deserved nap.
"At this summer camp, we'll have you aiming for even greater heights—for Plus Ultra!"
"Yes, sir!"
"It's finally time for the training camp in the woods, huh?" Ochako swirled towards them, putting her hands behind her back and leaned close to Izuku.
"Y-Yeah! That's right! Uraraka!" Izuku waved his hands wildly as his cheeks grew to a bright shade of red at the proximity between them. Naruto smiled and wondered if she made the exact shade of red whenever she babbled her thoughts out loud to Shouto. She glanced at Shouto who knitted his eyebrows at the sight of their two classmates.
She smiled even wider.
"What's the matter, Deku-kun?" Ochako tilted her head to the side curiously and Izuku looked wildly at them.
"I-It's just the heat! The heat is a problem right, Naurto?"
"Sure we can say heat is the problem," Naruto said, blue eyes twinkling with mischief. The prankster part of her wanted to tease the hell out of the two teens but she felt like being merciful towards them. She linked her left arm around the right arm of Shouto. The boy raised his eyebrow but the blonde just smiled tightly at him. "That is why I am sticking close to Shouto."
Ochako's mouth parted for a moment. Something flashed through her eyes and she recoiled, stumbling back and stuttering nervously before she began to clap her hands together. "It's time for training camp! Training camp! Training camp!"
Kaminari and Mina leapt to join their classmate, clapping their hands and chanting with her to the same unknown beat. Naruto smiled even wider and covered her mouth, trying to stop herself from laughing at the silliness of the situation. She was just so glad not to join in with this strange dance, not when she had no sense of rhythm.
"Is she alright?" Shouto asked; his eyes flashed with both concern and confusion.
Naruto smiled. "She is just excited."
Actually I think she really likes Izuku. She glanced at Izuku and then back to her dancing classmate, who still had some redness in her cheeks. Naruto nodded. Yeah she definitely likes Izuku. It was nice to see someone having a crush for a change. Now Mina could tease Ochako about her crush and she could relish the joy of seeing someone else being flustered by the comments.
"What? There are people in Class A taking extra classes?" Naruto twisted her head and scowled at the sight of Monoma standing behind them. Monoma shoved his hair back with vigour, eyes shining viciously as he grinned. "Does that mean you had people who failed the finals? What? Isn't that weird? Isn't that weird? Even though they are supposed to be way better than Class B?"
Naruto gritted her teeth and unlinked her arm from Shouto. She marched over to her fellow blonde, who gulped at the sight of her. If you are so scared of me then why the hell are you acting like a little shit? She smiled tightly at the boy and swung her fist at him, earning winces from his classmates.
"If you are going to pick on us then you better be prepared for the consequence." The blonde turned her heel and stared at the other students of Class B. Naruto raised her eyebrow, waiting for another student to make one more comment about her friends' misfortune for not passing their practical exam.
Itsuka strolled over to her and picked up the unconscious boy. "Sorry about Monoma, Naru-chan."
"I feel more sorry for you, Itsuka-chan," Naruto jerked her head at the unconscious boy. "You have to deal with that piece of shit every day."
"He should have learnt his lesson not to provoke you guys." Itsuka said, sighing at the unconscious boy. She curled her fingers around Monoma's limp legs and proceeded to drag the unconscious boy to the bus, not bothering to even lift him up from the cold hard ground. Naruto winced as the boy's head kept hitting the pebbles on the ground.
I almost feel sorry for him. Naruto twisted her head and returned to take her spot beside Todoroki. Her friend raised his eyebrow at her as if asking her if it was really necessary for her to punch the guy for his stupid comments.
She nodded.
"I made it clear to him that I wasn't going to deal with his bullshit," she shrugged. "Not my fault the bastard forgot the consequence."
Shouto regarded her for a moment before nodding his head. He flickered his eyes to the other members of Class B, who seemed to be fixated at the sight of them. Naruto turned to look at the classmate he was staring at. She tilted her head when one of the boys flushed a pretty shade of pink at her gaze.
Boys were strange.
"I almost forgot," Mineta panted. "The added addition of the 1-B girls on this trip…It's just like a baby buffet…"
Naruto chopped the boy on the back of his while Kirishima shook his head, not bothering to scold her about how it was unmanly for her to do this. Todoroki picked up the unconscious boy and tossed him over the shoulder, bicoloured eyes not showing any emotions.
If she was already having a headache from Mineta then she feared the migraine that was going to form when Mineta and Jiraiya were together in the camp.
"I was waiting for you people for the last hour!"
Naruto stepped off the bus, squinting against the brightness of the sun for a second until Kirishima tapped her by the shoulder. He pointed to their classmates who stood in the middle of the rest area. She nodded, placing her hands over the back of her head and made her way to the others.
Thick miles of forest and trees stretched out at the cliff beneath them. Everyone piled off, stretching their arms and legs with groans of relief and only to stop their groans at the sight of a white-haired man in front of them. Mineta zipped around them, searching everywhere for a rest room.
"Who is this?" Kirishima wondered as Jiraiya folded his arms against his chest.
The students glanced at their teacher, who did not seem one bit bother about the Toad Sannin annoyance about the lateness of the group. Aizawa strolled towards the man, clicked his heels together and turned towards the confused group of students.
"This is one of the people that is going to assist us with your training," Aizawa said as Jiraiya flickered his eyes towards her. The blonde felt her eyebrows twitched when her godfather locked his eyes on Shouto, whose shoulders barely touched hers. The annoyance in his eyes was not because of their lateness, it was because she was standing next to Shouto. "This is Jiraiya."
"Is he a pro-hero?" Kirishima asked, knitting his eyebrows.
"I never heard of him," Izuku muttered.
Mineta stopped running and twisted his head to look at the white-haired man. The joy lighting up in her classmate's eyes made Naruto shudder and she could feel a headache coming; it seemed like she was not the only one. Aizawa rubbed the sides of his head and glared at the two males, no doubt warning them about their future behaviour.
"How can you have not heard of Jiraiya-sama? He wrote the greatest book series of all time: Icha-Icha!" Mineta said, squeezing his legs together. He bowed slightly to the grinning white-haired man before resuming his cries for the bathroom.
"Icha-Icha… Naruto doesn't that mean he is your godfather?" Kirishima asked.
Several heads turned towards her, eyes flashing with disbelief and confusion at this information. She took a deep breath and nodded at her classmates, who twisted their heads to gawk at the man. They glanced at her and than back to Jiraiya, trying to make sense on how the man came to the trip. In their eyes, the man was nothing but a perverted writer.
How could he assist them?
"How can an erotic writer helper us become better heroes?" Iida asked, pushing his glasses up his nose. Several students nodded, looking deeply confused at their teacher.
Jiraiya flickered his eyes at her and looked almost deeply unimpressed at her lack of admittance about her previous occupation. Naruto chewed on her bottom lip. At one point during their trainings, her godfather pointed out she could not keep her past hidden from her friends. They deserved to know the truth and he asked her if she ever planned to them the truth.
'Soon'
She never exactly told him that soon meant maybe in two years when they graduated.
"Jiraiya-san may have some highly inappropriate hobbies," Aizawa said, locking his tired red eyes on the white-haired man. Her godfather did not even bother to act ashamed for his work. "But let me reassure you that Jiriaya-san will be the one training you in the physical aspects of being a pro-hero and give you ideas on what to do with your quirks."
Naruto tuned her teacher out as he went on to explain what her godfather would be doing with them. Ero-Sennin already gave her a brief run down about what they were going to do in her training camp, warning her that he was not going to take it easy on her during the training camp. What he put me through for the last two months was him going easy on me. She shuddered to think what would be him going to the extreme.
She blinked her eyes at the sight of a black car being parked at the same area as them. Was everyone taking a break here? Naruto chewed on her bottom lip and stared at her classmates. Her classmates seemed to be more enthralled with learning about their training regime then to notice the fact there was another car with them.
"Why is your godfather glaring at me?" Shouto asked; his eyebrows knitted together at the glare that Jiraiya had directed towards him.
She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows at Ero-Sennin, who tried and failed miserably to act innocent. What is it with every male guardian and their constant desire to glare at Shouto? Naruto could only give a weak shrug at her crush. "I don't know."
"Your godfather doesn't look like he is anything special, Whiskers," Bakugou commented from beside her.
The blonde regarded her classmate; blue eyes faded as she recalled her very first meeting with Jiraiya. If her godfather was not able to knock out Ebisu then she probably would have thought like Bakugou. The Toad Sage always had a goofy smile playing on his lips and his habits never gave the impression he took his work seriously.
'That Icha-Icha was really exciting, cool and interesting.'
Her desire to be trained by one of the strongest shinobi in the world made her sing praises for a book series she detested.
"If you can land a punch against Ero-Sennin during our training then you can say that," Bakugou blinked his eyes and Naruto fixed her eyes on her godfather. "I still hadn't landed a solid punch against him."
A pair of cloth launched at the two students, wrapping around their necks and forcing them to look at Aizawa. He folded his arms against his chest and looked deeply annoyed at the fact they were not focusing on him. Naruto widened her eyes and smiled sheepishly, hoping and praying her large eyes would be enough for him to look the other way.
Her teacher only faltered a little before glaring at them.
"Bakugou! Uzumaki! Pay attention! This is not the time for chitchat!" Aizawa barked, tightening the cloth's hold on them. The two students nodded and let out a sigh of relief when the man loosened the cloth's grip around their necks. "As I was saying there is no point for us to stop here without any reason."
"Where's the bathroom?" Mineta whimpered.
The doors to the car clicked open. Bright, fur lined boots hit the ground in succession with two sneakered feet dropping to the floor behind them. Naruto felt her eyes widened in horror when the sun's glint was cut off by bright, weirdly shaped head pieces—
"Yo, Eraser!" A sweet voice called out, bobbed brown hair came into view while bright blond hair flashed around the light.
"Long time no see," Aizawa bowed slightly at the two women.
"Lock on with these sparkling gazes!"
"Stingingly cute and catlike!'
"Wild, wild—"
"Pussycats!"
The two women beamed. Massive pawed gloves held their formation while a young boy stood off to the side, hands shoved into his pockets and a red horned hat tipped low over his eyes. Pain. I can really feel the amount of pain inside of him. Naruto fixed her eyes on the sullen boy, ignoring the whispers coming from her classmates. He reminded her of Inari with those sorrow filled eyes.
'…You don't know a thing about suffering or loneliness or what my life is like!'
The two boys did not look anything alike but Naruto knew from those angry eyes that the boy was like Inari. He was a child filled with so much grief and pain. A child who hated the world around him for taking one of the most precious people to him. Naruto just focused her eyes on him, drinking in those angry eyes directed at her.
"Why is he glaring at us?" Shouto asked.
Blue eyes softened. "He is not glaring at us or angry with us. He is just angry with the world and decided to take it out on us."
Shouto did not ask her what made her certain about the boy's feelings; he only stared at the boy as if trying to figure out what gave away the source of his anger. Naruto shook her head. I knew the source of his anger because of Inari. I would have never known otherwise. There were slight timbers of regret for her actions towards Inari. She might have helped Inari get over his anger and fear but there were things she should have never said to him.
Some of her words had just been too cruel to him because not everyone grew up in a place where no one gave a shit about her sadness.
"These are the pro-heroes who will be working with us during the camp, the Pussycats." Aizawa explained, keeping his eyes locked on the students.
"They are a four-person hero team who set up a joint agency," Izuku spluttered, eyes growing round in excitement. "They are a veteran team that specializes in mountain rescues. This year will be their twelfth working—"
The blond woman's paw slammed into Izuku's face, effectively cutting him out. Her face twisted, a little bit furious and Naruto grimaced, taking another step closer to Shouto's side. "I'm eighteen at heart!"
Someone doesn't want to admit they are in their thirties. Naruto stared at the furious hero who made it a point to remind her classmate that she was eighteen in spirit. She flickered her eyes to Jiraiya who seemed to stare at the scene with sadness and amusement. Was her godfather remembering his own genin team? Did her own father make a silly mistake and insulted a woman by her age? Jiraiya told her stories about her father but he never told her about these small things in his missions.
He just reminded her of how cool her father was and how in love her parents were with each other.
"Greet them, everyone."
"Nice to meet you!" Everyone chorused.
The young boy that had came with the Pussycats kept his hands tight in his pockets, silent as he glared at them. What happened to him? Who made him become so angry and hurt with the world around him? He glanced at her, finally locking his eyes on her and Naruto just gave him a large smile.
He balked for a moment, eyes narrowing and then he jerked his head to the side, pulling his hat down. Naruto curled her lips as she recalled of Inari. Sweet Inari who hated her because of how much she was willing to go the distance to protect the home he clearly loved. Inari did not understand her actions until she saved him from those thugs. She wondered how the boy was. He must be eleven now? Or was he twelve?
It felt so long ago since her mission in the Land of Waves.
"We own this whole stretch of land here," The brown-haired hero pointed towards the valley in front of them. "All of you will be staying at the foot of that mountain."
"So far!"
Naruto tilted her head and looked at the area the hero pointed at. If our lodge is over there then why the hell are we here? Aizawa-sensei said there is no point to stop here without any reason. Her eyes widened and she jerked her head at Ero-Sennin. The man kept his expression blank but the clear joy in his eyes confirmed her suspicions. She swore under her breath while her classmates looked at each other with horror, clearly understanding what was going to take place.
"Let's go back to the bus," Sero suggested, sweating nervously. The boy tried to make a break for the bus but Jiraiya grabbed him by the shirt, effectively halting the plan. Everyone sweated and looked at her godfather with wide eyes. They gulped and took another step back, hoping and praying they would be able to get away from here.
"I placed a seal on the bus that would stop anyone of you from entering," her godfather declared, dropping Sero to the ground.
Her classmates gulped, looking at the man like he was a monster. Aizawa looked almost mildly impressed at the fact her godfather had enough foresight to put a lock against the students.
"Right now," Mandalay purred. "It's 9:30 a.m. If you are fast…maybe around noon?"
"The first one will come at 10:30am," Jiraiya input, fixing his eyes on Naruto.
"If the first kitty get here by that time then the kitty will get a reward, but the kitties who don't make it by 12:30 won't get any lunch."
Do you really have that little faith in me? Naruto grumbled as she launched herself to the top of the railing while her classmates sweated at their words. The blond hero grinned viciously, claws sliding out as she placed her hands against the ground beside the bus. Naruto crackled when her classmates let out screeches of terror.
Swinging her head around, Naruto gave Jiraiya a thumbs up and allowed herself to be swept by the tidal wave
I will get there by 10:00am
"Naruto…can you get off me?"
"Sorry!"
Todoroki felt his lips twitched upwards when the blonde jumped off his chest. Redness decorated her cheeks as she tried to explain herself to him and Shouto wondered why his friend was trying to explain when he already knew the reason. He shook his head at her and pushed himself up before dusting the dirt off his pants.
He scanned the area as his classmates pushed themselves off the ground, rubbing their heads as they did so.
The forest looked harmless at first glance with how lush the trees looked but Shouto felt slightly weary. The trees loomed over them and the fact they gave them such a time limit informed him about the plans to make things more difficult.
"Wanna bet they are going to make our lives more difficult?" Naruto asked; blue eyes fixated on the trees.
Shouto shook his head. "It is a losing bet."
"No fun."
He opened his mouth to explain himself only to close it when he saw the twinkle in his friend's eyes. Of course she is messing with me. Whenever Naruto's eyes twinkled with mischief then it meant that the girl was joking with him.
"Since it is private land, you can use your Quirks as you wish!" The heroine called out from above them. "You have three hours! Come to the facility on your own two feet! After getting through…The Beast's Forest!"
Everyone twisted their bodies to look at the forest.
"The Beast's Forest?" Midoriya repeated.
"That name sounds like it came right out of Dragon Quest!" Kaminari groaned. Shouto grimaced and stole a glance at the blond-haired girl. His friend crackled her fist, rubbed the back of her neck and stared at the forest with weariness.
"It could be worse," Naruto pointed out, helping Jirou up. "It could be called the Forest of Death."
Several of her classmates balked at her words but Shouto just eyed his friend, noticing the slight nostalgia in her eyes. Is she remembering her first home? Being a former kunoichi must have meant his friend had done missions in a dangerous forest before. It meant out of everyone here, she was the best prepared for what was about to come.
"Now you just want to scare us, Naruto," Kirishima grumbled. "There is no use complaining. We just have to go."
Naruto shrugged her shoulders and grinned. "Since we have to go…why don't we see who is going to be the first person to get out of here? Loser has to do whatever the winner says!"
"You are on, Naruto!" Kaminari called out.
Shouto sighed and sprinted to the forest, ignoring the cries of his classmates.
Even though he knew Naruto could easily beat them, there was no way he could take the chance that one of the perverts would win. He did not want to see his friend getting harassed by either Mineta or even Kaminari; all because the girl just wanted to prove herself to everyone.
A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter.