A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourite and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.
(Two weeks ago)
How do you split a leaf in half with just wind chakra?
Naruto twirled her leaf around her fingers. Blond eyebrows knitted together as Jiraiya chatted with Midoriya about something. Her lips pressed into a thin line as sweat began to build around her forehead. She curled her lips and focused all of her attention on the small green leaf. Chakra was channeled to the leaf, only to make it stick to the tip of her finger.
Wind cuts.
That had been the only clue Jiraiya gave her when he began the exercise for her chakra nature. How does that help? It barely gave her any hint of what to do. She tried making her chakra split in half but it just didn't happen. She tugged her ponytail, wishing not for the first time that Jiraiya was just a little bit more helpful. How does splitting and cutting work together? No, how does she get her chakra to split?
A sigh escaped from her lips and looked up at the sky. The clouds floated, lazing around like they had nothing better to do and it made her long to be like them. Why couldn't he say make it float? Maybe it would be easier for her to picture it floating then splitting around. Naruto furiously shook her head and blue eyes returned back to the innocent leaf lying on her finger tips.
Cut this leaf using only your chakra.
Naruto nibbled her bottom lip and took a deep breath. Two hints: wind cuts and she could cut the leaf with her chakra. Maybe she should try to imagine it like a pair of scissors? They cut things. Naruto knitted her eyebrows together as her eyes focused on the leaf in her fingers. The leaf felt soft, almost like the paper that they forced them to cut for projects.
Scissors had two sharp, thin blades and that allowed them to cut. Knives needed extra help when it came to cutting thing, a support as well. Blue eyes widened and a smile played on her lips. Closing her eyes, Naruto tried to picture her chakra as scissors. She split them in half, grinding them close to the leaf and slowly the leaf began to tear.
"Finally! I did it! " Naruto pumped her fist in the air and the leaf stopped tearing. She puffed her cheeks but blue eyes sparkled with joy at the slight tearing of the leaf. She just needed to keep her focus and make sure that the blades were just constantly touching each other and then everything would be fine.
"Since you figure out what to do, come here!" Jiraiya barked. He nodded at the slight tearing of her leaf, before focusing his attention on Midoriya. The green-haired boy had his eyebrows knitted together as if he still had no understanding of what Jiraiya had just told him.
Naruto raised her eyebrow. "I'm still working on tearing the damn leaf in half!"
"And we need you to improve on your sparing," Jiraiya reminded her. "I want you to spar against me."
Blue eyes widened at his words. "I thought you want me to focus for the next two days on the leaf exercise! Why do you want to focus on my taijutsu suddenly?"
"Midoriya explained to me about his fighting style and how his Quirk just increases his natural strength," Jiraiya pressed his lips into a thin line. "From the way he describe how he use his Quirk…well I want him to see what he has been doing wrong for the last couple of times. So we need to spar."
Midoriya blinked and stared wide-eyed at them.
"Well I want a punching bag," Jiraiya pulled a face as Naruto dropped her leaf. Taking a deep breath, the blond-haired girl began to stretch. "Is there any rules?"
Jiraiya bobbed his head, walked over to her and whispered. "Please don't try and use the Sexy Jutsu."
Naruto rolled her eyes and put her fingers together into a familiar hand sign. White Clouds of smoke appeared as several clones of herself appeared. Each one of them bounced and grinned while Midoriya blinked, eyebrows knitted together as he pulled out a familiar notebook.
Her clones charged straight in and Jiraiya sighed. The white-haired man ducked and dodged her clones attacks, before grabbing a clone. The clone beamed and made a familiar hand sign, which made the man's lips twitched. He tossed the clone away as a white cloud surrounded the clone. The cloud dispersed, revealing that it was a log.
"So Uzumaki can also do that." Izuku muttered.
Jiraiya dodged a kick. "I'm telling you to watch and learn! Not to make notes, kid. You can analyze Naruto's battle tactics and her abilities later."
Naruto channeled her chakra straight to her leg, blue eyes glinting with mischief as she hurled her hands back like a spring and then released it. Jiraiya's eyes widened slightly before he took a side step. Naruto stumbled and her fist made contact to the floor, cracking the floor in half and Jiraiya grabbed her by the hair and swung his leg at her.
She wasn't fast enough to dodge.
Blood erupted from her mouth as Jiraiya's leg made contract with her stomach, forcing her to fly several feet away. She clutched her stomach with one hand, while the other hand rubbed the blood stains off of her face and sighing at Jiraiya.
Here she was thinking that she could actually land a punch against him.
"Do you see how we fight, Midoriya? We don't just use one part of our body." Jiraiya lectured as Naruto rubbed her stomach. "You only focus on your hands when you use your Quirk. That doesn't work. Look at what Naruto does: she uses all parts of her body to fight. No one can win if they just use and focus just one part of their body."
Blue eyes widened as Midoriya blinked, looking at the Toad Sannin with new found understanding. Green eyes looked down at his hands before glancing at the two of them with new found respect.
Jiraiya turned to Naruto. "And we need to work on your tactics, Naruto. Once we are back in your apartment, we are going to play a game of Go."
"Why did you have to say that, Uzumaki?"
Naruto kept her eyes fixated on the stunned crowds and ignored the glares being thrown her way. Several of her classmates looked horrified at her declaration of her desire to win the Sports Festival with only Bakugou looking at her like he wanted to challenge her claim. She curled her lips into a smile before flickering her eyes to the various cameras focused on her.
She flickered her eyes to Kendou and the green-eyed girl chewed on her bottom lip. The girl held her hand up, grabbing one of her classmates that seemed ready to charge straight at her. Naruto slipped her hands into her gym pants, closing her eyes as another set of green eyes flashed before her eyes.
"How overconfident can you get? For a moment there, I thought you weren't all that bad."
"Just because you defeated one villain, doesn't mean that you are better than us."
"Screw you!"
"We are going to win!"
Naruto swirled her head back and forced herself to smile. Todoroki glanced at her, lips pressed into a thin line and seemed like he wanted to confront her but she looked away from him. Anger bubbled up as her mind replayed the words that he spoke to her. Once this thing was done, she was going to rip him apart for making her believe in him.
Assholes always broke trust and like a fool, Naruto always consider those assholes to be her friend.
"I was just telling the whole world about my intentions and making a promise to a precious friend." Naruto looked straight at the crowds, her eyes passing away from the various unfamiliar faces and focused on the Toad Sannin. A smile decorated his face but his eyes shone with slight hints of concern as if he knew exactly why she decided to call out to her best friend.
Kendou stepped forward. "But couldn't you have call her? You didn't have to go that far."
Everyone bobbed their heads, arms folded against their chest and the blue-eyed girl just smiled. The smile stretched her whole face as her heart ached like it always did whenever she recalled her actions to Hinata. Small gestures such as sending a toad would never be enough to vocalize how regretful she was to Hinata. Beside, it was never her style.
She always preferred to make the flashiest gestures.
"Now!" Midnight declared and the screen behind her flashed. "Let's begin the first round! Every year, many students are left behind in tears here—the fateful first game!"
The screen before them erupted into colour as a slot machine appeared on the screen. It rolled quickly as colours and words began to flash across the screen. The words and colours were too quick for her to catch but Naruto could guess it was probably the regular games that lined up. She didn't have much problem with any of the regular games, not when she liked being active.
In the Academy, she ranked second for taijutsu and ranked first in any activity that required movement. Not from her trying but because most of the girls didn't seem to focus all that match on their taijutsu or any of the physical aspects.
"This year it is…" The slot machine began to slow down and bright words flashed across the screen. Naruto smiled and Midnight gestured with an extravagant hand. "An obstacle race! All of the classes will participate. The course will be outer circumference of the stadium. As long as you stay on the course—"
Midnight cast all of them a side glance, licking her lips and Naruto plastered a smile on her lips. "—it doesn't matter what you do! Now to your places!"
Everyone around her began to move. The crowds of students seemed to be quickly making their way over to the starting point of the gates. Two pairs of green eyes stared at her with concern while another pair of mismatch eyes seemed focus on the stadium, his eyes narrowing. Naruto nibbled her bottom lip and followed his eyes, only to frown when she saw Endeavour staring at them.
More importantly at her.
Naruto shook her head and made her way straight to the line, pushing and squeezing against the students. She could always just stand in the back and keep some distance away from them, but Naruto wanted to win. The desire to win was greater than anything.
Her eyes landed to the top of the archway, where three lights blinked brightly above them. Anything goes and there were no rules that it was wrong for her to play dirty. This would be a great way to get ahead and play a prank on everyone.
'Knock 'em dead.'
Naruto curled her lips into a mischievous smile and everything grew quiet as the second light flickered off.
'Naru-chan, if you keep using that jutsu then I might just make it an S-rank jutsu.'
'Not my fault that you are pervert, Old Man!"
The final light flickered.
"Start!"
Everyone exploded into action.
Naruto jumped and surged towards the entryway, using her fellow competitors as stepping stones. Students quickly began to shout at her, telling her that she needed to be careful with their heads, while others began to shove into each other as their bodies pressed tightly. Everyone rushed forward to break through the tunnel. She kicked the final head and landed on the empty ground.
Blue eyes glinted with mischief as she waved her goodbyes.
Cold air brushed against her cheeks and Naruto swirled her head back as ice raced towards her. Mismatch eyes flared with determination and a large smile decorated her face as her hands came together into a familiar hand sign. Todoroki faltered slightly as white smoke erupted around the track.
Her clones appeared and placed their hands together into a familiar hand seal that hadn't been used since she begged Jiraiya to train her. White smoke erupted again and it slowly disappeared to reveal several sexier versions of herself standing, giggling and giving everyone winks.
Silence reined as several boys fainted at the sight and blood seemed to seep out of Todoroki's nose, earning a laugh from Naruto. The blond-haired girl charged straight ahead as the other girls took this as their opportunity to charge straight ahead, shaking their heads at the reactions of their male competitors.
"You know this works every single time!" Naruto declared, whipping her head back and poking her tongue out at everyone.
"We need to change Midnight's wording," Aizawa-sensei declared through the microphone. Naruto laughed as the crowds watched the event with stunned silent. "Rules will need to be revisited on what should be considered appropriate because apparently Uzumaki took Midnight's words to heart."
"It feels almost like a repeat of when Midnight was doing the Sports Festival."
Naruto pouted and charged straight through the tracks, not bothering to look back to see if her classmates and fellow competitors were following behind her. She channeled more chakra into her legs, surging straight ahead and eyes focused on the track ahead of her.
A rumble shook the ground from beneath her and Naruto forced herself to slow down. Her lips tugged downwards as metal robots charged her way. All of them looked similar in design to the ones in the Entrance Exam with a couple of massive ones looming above her.
"And the first obstacle has appeared!" Present Mic cheered, voice booming throughout the stadium. Naruto curled her hands into a fist as two massive robots loomed over her. In the corner of her eye, she could make out a flash of green hair. "A robot from the entrance exam!"
She was going to leave the second robot for Midoriya.
Naruto inhaled and channeled her chakra into her hands before launching herself at the robot. Her fist smashed against the robot's face, tearing it half as Midoriya's green eyes flashed with determination. The boy launched himself, grabbed hold of the robot's leg and tear it in half.
He grinned in triumph.
"Eraserhead, what exactly is Uzumaki's Quirk?"
If only they knew that this was not the result of a Kekkai Genkai, but the result of training and chakra.
Hawks wasn't the type of person to watch the Sports Festival in person. He always preferred just to catch up on it when he had free time or in his office, but this was the first time Uzushiokage decided to take part of the festival. If his fellow hero could take some time off to see the festival then he should just do the same. Beside, this was the year that Endeavour's kid was going to compete.
But it wasn't Endeavour's kid that stood out today, it was the girl that seemed to have decided to act like another version of Midnight. The girl, who seemed to have a very similar Quirk to the hero right beside him.
"Uzumaki's Quirk seems very similar to your Quirk," Hawks flickered his eyes to the red-haired man. "Can you also use your Quirk to make a sexy female version of yourself?"
The hero flushed a bright shade of red and avoided his questioning eyes, finding more interest in watching the blond-haired girl smashing through the various robots that seemed to be heading her way. Despite the fact the green-haired boy seemed to have caught up to her, the girl seemed to be buzzing past him and heading straight to the second part of the obstacle race.
Her speed echoed the man right beside him.
Hawks shook his head and let out a laugh. "So you can do the same thing, can't you?"
"I cannot do it!" Uzushiokage declared, folding his arms against his broad chest. Hawks shook his head, letting out another laugh and took a deep breath before focusing his attention on the young Uzumaki. Fire seemed to be shining through her eyes as the large screen changed onto her. The girl made several clones, who seemed ready to help her tear the last of the machines apart.
Hawks flickered his eyes to Uzushiokage and raised his eyebrow at the excitement flashing through those green eyes.
"She is really something, isn't she?" Hawks declared.
Uzushiokage snorted and nodded. "She seems like my type of girl."
"You know she isn't legal."
The red-haired hero laughed and shook his head. "I walked right into that, didn't I? She looks like the type of kid that I want to intern."
Hawks blinked and leaned forward, raising one wing to cover the sunlight shining from above them. At first glance, he would presume Uzushiokage wanted to intern the girl because of her looks. But looks weren't everything. Hawks rubbed his chin as his eyes focused on the determination shining through her eyes.
Hawks liked kids with ambition and a desire to prove themselves, which was probably why he liked hanging out with Uzushiokage.
"She has got impressive strength even though her body type implies that she shouldn't carry that much strength," Hawks rubbed his chin. "But the same can be said for that Midoriya kid. Why are you more interested in her then that kid?"
"I thought you of all people would understand," Uzushiokage curled his lips into a smile and pointed to his eyes. "Do you see those blue eyes? Or hear her words? That kid has something to prove to the world and has a fire inside of her that is just ready to be lit up."
The winged hero nodded and flickered his eyes to the screen, where Uzumaki seemed to be approaching to the second obstacle of the obstacle course. Uzushiokage never told anyone about his reason for choosing his hero name, always avoiding the topic but Hawks knew what his last name was. He folded his arms against his neck, looked up at the sky and then flickered his eyes to the hero.
"Is it that? Or is it because you know of her background?" Uzushiokage kept quiet and Hawks flickered his eyes at him. "Everyone knows what type of interns you pick but Uzumaki doesn't seem like your usual type. Is it because of her determination? Or is it because she shares your last name…Eisuke?"
Eisuke focused his eyes on the girl that now stood in front of the rocks. "My last name has nothing to do with my decision, but something tells me that she will be something amazing."
Really? Tightropes? Naruto shook her head and stared down at the ropes and platforms laid below her as she leapt from one platform to the next. It would have been a terrible idea for her to use Chakra on the tightropes, not when her chakra control was still not in the level where she could do things unconsciously.
Naruto landed on the second last platform and whirled her head back to see who was following behind her. The last time she checked, it had been Midoriya but it might have changed for all she knew. Todoroki had been catching up to them, but it was not a big issue for her. In fact, she was actually happy that Midoriya came this far with using his Quirk.
She landed on the final platform and sprinted straight ahead, forcing herself never to look back at her fellow competitors. Blood and adrenaline rushed all over her body as her hair flew against the sky. Just one more obstacle and she was going to be coming in first place like she promised.
What do I have to prove today? Everyone has something to prove, but what is the importance for me?
Naruto sprinted harder and nearly stumbled but she steadied herself as the wind slapped against her cheeks.
She slowed down when she caught sight of the sign and curled her lips into a small frown. Blue eyes grew large as her brain finally processed what the third and final obstacle was going to be for the obstacle course. I really hope they aren't insane enough to put actually explosives.
A minefield of all things. Naruto took a deep breath and stared at the patches of dirt surrounding her. Some of the patches of dirt looked clear while others looked like there might be an explosive down there. Her lips curled into a scowl and thankfully she could take her time since none of her fellow competitors were as fast as her.
She was going to need to take her time to navigate through this field.
Naruto took a deep breath as her legs slowly took their time to step through the various clear dirt patches. A plan needed to be made of how she could get there faster. Blue eyes widened as a light bulb went off above her head.
Her fingers came together and Naruto closed her eyes, trying to estimate how many clones were going to be needed for this trick.
A hazy memory suddenly appeared before her eyes of annoyed set of onxy eyes and another set of sad onyx eyes. Her heart twisted in pain like it always did as a warm smile flashed before her eyes. Someone telling her that she could read and that she was very smart, but she just needed—
"We just need to take our time for you to learn how to read, Naru-chan and then you will have catch up to Sasuke-kun. You are just as smart and capable as my son."
Naruto sucked in a deep breath, forced the memory back in her mind as twenty clones appeared behind her.
"What is Uzumaki planning to do with her clones? If she wants to keep her first spot then she needs to hurry up as Todoroki, Midoriya and Bakugou are charging straight her way."
Her clones jumped up, grabbed each other by the leg and started to form a rope for her to climb through. Taking a deep breath, Naruto jumped up and began sprinting across the clone tightrope. It wobbled and as Naruto step off one clone, it disappeared. Clouds of smoke exploded as Naruto continued to walk over her clones, making sure not to fall off.
'Just take your time, Naru-chan.'
She landed just in front of the finishing line and launched herself forward, gulping down the lump that had just formed in her throat. Her heart thudded in pain as she passed through the finishing line. Cheers erupted from the stadium as Naruto sat down on the floor, blue eyes fixated on the screen where now Todoroki, Midoriya and Bakugou were on the front of the minefield.
A frown decorated her lips as she forced herself to stand up again. Blood erupted around her ears as people clapped their hands for her. It should make her happy but her eyes was now just fixated on the scoreboard. Her name appeared on the scoreboard along with the number one.
First place.
Naruto stared at the stadium, eyes darting passed the unfamiliar faces and fixated on both Jiraya and Endeavour. The Toad Sannin looked overjoyed for her victory, but he gestured his head to the door and it signaled that they were going to have a talk. She flickered her eyes to Endeavour, lips pressed into a thin line as the man focused his undivided attention on her.
Shouldn't he be cheering for his son? He could do that much for his own kid.
She shook her head and stared at the cheering crowds. Her lips tugged downwards as her hands began to tremble. Why did that memory play in her mind? Her concentration had been on point until those onyx eyes flashed before her. Was it a sign or something? Naruto shook her head and took in the cheers of the crowds. This was not the time to think of the past, but a time for her to be happy about her victory.
Yes, it should be a joyous time now but Naruto had only one thought echoing in her mind now that the adrenaline and the memory were now gone from her head.
Were these people actually rooting for her?
A/N: What do you think about this chapter? And of the story so far?