A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourites and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.
(12 years ago)
Uzumaki Naruto was, at the time, three years old when she realized just how different she was from the other children in her orphanage.
It was a memory she barely remembers, considering how young she was. When a child turned three, they should be able to freely show their emotions. Are you happy? Are you sad? Those were questions a child should freely express their answers. The importance of showing a person's real emotion was important in the development of a child.
The room she and another five girls stayed in had been the smallest room in the orphanage had to offer. Asami, Emica, Koharu, Kokoro and Nozomi. Those were their names. Only those five girls and the matron because Naruto couldn't remember anything else in that small, cold room in that little world she knew.
There was only one thing that set her a part from the other girls. All six of them had been born in the same year, with different months in between them but Naruto had been the only one born on October 10. Naruto never fully comprehend what was the significance of her birth the moment Asami announced the rules of her newly adopted parents.
The six of them had been seated on Asami's bed. It had been one of the bigger beds that could fit two of the girls and sometimes when the matron was asleep, they would eat chocolate. It was their little secret because the Matron never liked it whenever they ate Chocolate. Especially Naruto.
"My new Mommy says I can't hang out with you," Asami said softly, eyes setting on Naruto. At the tender age of three, Naruto doesn't fully understand what it means. She was just merely upset her friend was getting adopted, leaving her alone with the other girls. The other girls blinked, eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"All of us?" Emica asked.
Asami shook her head, eyes fixated on the teary-eyed Naruto. "Only her. She says as soon as I'm in her house then I can't ever play with her."
Naruto's eyes widened, lips trembling as she found the usual warm eyes of her friend turning so icy-cold. The other girls were frowning, their eyes darting at her and then to their friend, asking for the oldest girl to explain—explain what? Mi-chan you're making the other girls sad. Naruto rubbed her eyes and met Asami's cold eyes gazing back at her.
"She is a monster and the reason all of you can't get new parents."
Her friends swirled their heads at her, eyes looking at her like it was really her fault that none of them could be adopted. Monster? But I'm not a monster. She defended Asami whenever one of the boys pulled her hair. Maybe she shouldn't punch him but he deserve it. He made her cry. That didn't make her a monster.
"I'm not a monster!" She yells again and again. Tears spilled out of her eyes and Naruto wanted one of her friends to comfort her. But children believed the words of an adult and the desire to be adopted was greater than any desire to protect their friends.
"You're a monster!"
"Monster!"
They circled around her, jeering and calling her the name Monster as Asami tells them of how they could be adopted. My name isn't Monster. Grandma called me her little Naru-chan, her maelstorm. Tears pooled out of her blue eyes and Naruto yanks the girls by the hair. She punches and kicks them, ignoring their cries for her to stop.
They didn't stop with the name calling and Naruto would get even.
The door to their room slammed open after the fifth scream and the matron stormed in. The screams and cries stopped and Naruto let go of Asami's ponytail. Cold eyes locked onto her but Naruto didn't understand why she looked at her like that. Why does she look at me like I'm a monster? They started it. She feels even more tears pouring out of her eyes.
"What happened?" Matron asked. She never looked at Naruto, only locking eyes on Asami. The Matron never really looked at Naruto. She never called her by her name and never paid much attention to her.
Koharu smoothed her hair, smiled innocently and pointed at Naruto. "She started a fight with Mi-chan! She started the whole stupid fight!"
Blue eyes widened and Naruto balled her hands into a fist. "She said that my name from now on is Monster! My name is Naruto! I'm Naru-chan!"
She waits for a hug like the matron used to give to the other kids whenever someone feels hurt from the name-calling. The matron hugged Haruto after one of the older boys called him buck-tooth. She will tell them that they are mean. She waited for her to scold them because that was what an adult should do.
Those cold eyes turned even colder as they locked onto her. "Why do you look at me like that? You are a monster and monsters like you don't deserve to cry."
Granny would have comforted me. She cried harder, hoping the matron would take back those words and comfort her. It did not. The old lady just scowled at her and smacked her hard on the face, screaming and yelling at her that she didn't deserve to cry.
"Monsters like you don't deserve to get comfort or cry."
None of the children came to rescue her.
That day Naruto learnt that her tears and feelings didn't matter to anyone.
There are several ways for them to enter.
Naruto examined the map calmly. She ignored the leering looks from Mineta and the furrowed eyebrows from Yaoyorozu as several plans formed in her head. Blue eyes darted at all the possible entrances that their classmates could take. The back entrance was a terrible place to enter in an ordinary scenario since they needed to break the locked window.
These people would need to go from the front entrance. The less sound they could make, the better when it came to infiltration. Any rookie could tell you that but it was also very dangerous.
"Kaminari can use lightening, right?" Naruto asked.
Yaoyorozu nodded. "And Jirou's Quirk works like a headphone cable."
Headphone cable? So she could listen to things? Would that make her ears more susceptible to sound? She flickered her eyes to her classmate. The girl looked a little bit creeped out as Mineta fixated his perverse eyes on the rather large breasts of her fellow female. The boy leaned closer, his hand reaching forward…
Naruto slapped his hands and blue eyes narrowed dangerously. "You get your head out of the gutter and focus on the job ahead. You got a brain, don't you? Start helping us of thinking of a way to win this battle and not how you can sneak a feel."
"Y-Yes, ma'am." Mineta stuttered.
Yaoyorozu smiled and relaxed her shoulders as the purple-haired boy fixed his eyes on the map. He tilted his head, eyebrows scrunched together and flickered between the two girls. Naruto ignored his questioning look and just stared at the map. Several plans formed in her head but the blonde was torn on which plan to go with.
"Uzumaki, thank you." Yaoyorozu said quietly.
Naruto kept her eyes fixated on the map. "When it comes to perverts, you ignore those shits and act like you are the Head Bitch in Charge. You don't act like a wallflower."
"His eyes are…"
"He won't be the first boy to look at you like that and he definitely won't be the last if you choose to stick with that costume. So own that costume and show the pervert that you run the show, not him." Her classmate looked put off by her comment. Naruto didn't care what the girl thought of her comment. Mineta was a pervert, a terrible pervert but he didn't try to hide it.
All boys were perverts in their own ways but some boys hid it better than others. Naruto released a sigh and observed her female teammate. Her eyes lingered on her scrunched eyebrows and the hunched back as those dainty fingers traced the map.
Mineta poked Naruto on the shoulder and the blond-haired girl swirled her head around. "Can't we use your clones to fight them? You can just overpower them with those clones and we will win."
Naruto regarded the boy and mulled over his suggestion. There was nothing wrong about it and it made sense with what he knew about her Chakra. But it was just too boring. A good villain would never be this predictable. Booby traps would be set, someone would be kidnapped and all kind of shit.
"But Uzumaki will be doing all the work and we wouldn't learn anything," Yaoyorozu pointed out. "It isn't fair for us."
"We have to capture them and Kaminari's Quirk is really powerful."
Capture them? Our goal is to capture them. Naruto turned the map around and closed her eyes. Yaoyorozu could make anything if the Quirk Assessment Test were of any indication. Mineta had a terrible, weak Quirk but it would be useful in a situation like theirs.
"We just have to capture them," Naruto muttered. The teens swirled their heads and glanced at each other with furrowed eyebrows. "We don't have to fight them."
"It is a battle trial," Yaoyorozu frowned. "That implies we have to fight the Heroes at some point."
She shook her head. "All Might never mentioned that we must fight them. If we were to think like Villains then would we really want to waste our time to fight them? Would we allow anyone to come in so easily? Only a stupid Villain would do something like this."
"You want to set a trap, don't you?" Mineta asked.
Naruto nodded and flickered her eyes to the window. The blond-haired girl turned off her earpiece, channelled her chakra to her ear and then pressed it against the wall. A good prankster always knew to observe and learn about their targets or else the prank would just go terribly wrong.
Pranks were the best way to test a person's intelligence if you asked her.
She could hear the conversation between Kaminari and Jirou. The front entrance was decided on. No one would think they would come from there was the reason the kids decided on. Naruto poked her tongue against her cheek, flickered her eyes to her teammates.
"Yaoyorozu, can you make wires? And spray paint? And maybe a couple of ping pong balls?" Her classmate nodded and Naruto flickered her eyes to her perverted classmate. "Mineta, is it possible for me to do…"
Mineta's eyes grew large at her plans while her other female classmate tilted her head at her, eyebrows inching higher and higher as the girl explained her plans. This might be the longest conversation that Naruto spoke in a while, but the art of trap making should never be taken lightly.
It was an art that one should worship if you asked her. The best kind of revenge was always those traps that no one ever thought about. The kind that lurked right underneath their noses and took people by surprise.
"Do you guys have anything to add? Do you think we should change my idea?" The two students shook their heads as the blond-haired girl poked her head to the window. The timer would go off to tell them that the battle had started and considering she spent most of the time, explaining her plan.
Well she might need speed up on making those clones to finish the job quickly.
"Rational judgement is a key component in battle. While the previous team were too quick to act with their emotions, it seems that Team C and Team J are showing better control over their emotions. Can anyone tell me where they can improve on?"
All Might scanned his curious students. His blue eyes lingered on the shadowed lines belonging to Bakugou. The boy had been very quiet since he lost to young Midoriya and seemed to have grown even quieter when it was declared that the next match was Uzumaki.
It did not escape his notice how much Uzumaki looked eerily similar to the missing boy from nearly 33 years ago. The girl had the same bright blond hair and blue eyes with the only difference was that Uzumaki had straight hair. The missing boy had spiky blond hair.
Tsuyu raised her hand. "They aren't preparing themselves properly? Uzumaki seemed to have made all the decisions and the others are going ahead with her plans."
He shook his head and locked his eyes on Uzumaki. The girl seemed intent on sitting between Mineta and Yaoyorozu, acting as the barrier between them. It had been his concern when it revealed that there were two girls with the perverted boy.
However Uzumaki cleared his worries when she promptly put Mineta in his place.
"Uzumaki did discuss with them about the plans," All Might reminded them. "She had put all of their Quirks into consideration and made a very elaborate plan. All of you just should have paid closer…"
"Whiskers planned to trap them," Bakugou interjected. Everyone swirled their heads at the boy, raising their eyebrows at what made the hot-headed boy come to the conclusion. He grunted and jerked his finger to the monitor that showed the front entrance. "But her plan requires her to presume that those extras are going from the front entrance."
"Why the hell do you call us, Extras?" Kirishima grumbled.
Bakugou ignored the complaint and focused on the monitor. "If you look carefully on the floor then you could clearly see that Grape Boy's balls are there; they just spray painted it."
That is one observation. All Might could point out another one, but he would wait for the other students to realize what Team C planned. Those wires and ping-pong balls were not things he expected from them. The level of planning shown was not one he expected from them. All Might never suspected one of them would use a loop-hole.
It was a dirty tactic but Team C were acting as villains. All Might could count the number of times when a Villain didn't try to act sneaky. The villains who planned ahead and created traps like the one Uzumaki did, were the ones to watch out for. You could never be certain about what their next steps were or what their morals might be.
All Might always felt the most weariest whenever he fought those villains.
"When did they put wires?" Kirishima yelled as Kaminari tripped over the wire in front of the front entrance. A cluster of ping-pong balls shot and smoke erupted from them, enveloping the monitor screen. Nothing could be seen and the only sounds All Might could hear was Jirou screaming and yelling while Kaminari released lightening.
Laughter echoed from the monitor.
"Don't underestimate a master prankster like Boss!" A voice crackled. If All Might had to judge from the sound, he presumed Uzumaki's clone stood just right behind Kaminari. He winced as the boy screamed to Jirou about how he was stuck and how he seemed to have somehow managed to stick himself to the floor.
Uzumaki was giving everyone the unintentional lesson of keeping an eye on their surroundings, because All Might doubt that he wold have considered of making it a lesson.
Then again no one would expect her to do this. All Might stared at the fading smoke on the monitor and sighed when it revealed the tied up bodies of Jirou and Kaminari. Right beside them were the copies of Uzumaki. He let out a laugh when the clones high-fived each other, grinning wildly and poking their tongues out at the scene.
"They really fought dirty," Tsuyu commented, tilting her head at them.
"Yeah! They didn't even give them a chance to fight! It's unmanly!"
Todoroki frowned. "It's unfair but when you consider the roles that they were given then it would be expected for them to do something like this."
"What kind of Villains gives them a chance to attack?" Bakugou added on. "It is a better idea for them to make a trap then give them an opportunity to attack."
Kirishima frowned and innocently asked. "If you knew that then why didn't you do that?"
Bakugou growled. "You wanna die, Spikey?"
All Might felt his lips twitched as the two boys argued over what Bakugou did in his match. The boy made an astute judgement on the actions done by Uzumaki. He flickered his eyes at Uzumaki, pressing his lips into a subtle frown when the golden rays from the sun hit her blond-hair.
When the girl didn't smile and the sun hit her in that position, All Might could almost see the missing sad boy from 33 years ago standing right before him. Except the boy had been a six-year-old child without a Quirk, while Uzumaki had a very powerful Quirk that seemed to have very little drawbacks.
"What can all of you take from this?" All Might questioned them, breaking up the argument that was bound to take place. The students quiet down, tilted their heads and mulled over the fight that had taken place.
Iida raised his hand up. "That Villains could prepare traps from the very beginning and so we must fully consider all the parameters before entering their lair?"
"Correct."
Also that maybe I should word my sceneries where the students can't do traps like these. I doubt even a professional would have expected a bunch of kids to make a plan like this.
Kaminari and Jirou would have stood a better chance against the three students if All Might made it clear that he expected them to fight with a plan. He should never presume those kids would never find a loophole in his announcement.
Next time, he would make things fair for them.
A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter. What do you think of the interactions between the characters?