AN: Some of you were confused about who exactly was Naruto in the past chapter. It was my intention to be ambiguous. Naruto himself was not completely sure who he was. It will take some time for the two versions of him to merge and define his final character. He won't be too far from the canon though aside from not acting like a brat towards his parents and not playing the fool like in the canon.

Naruto will still be a happy and cheerful guy, protective of his loved ones, helping the innocents and overall, the genuinely kind person from the canon that we all grew to love. But he will be more level-headed and not as forgiving as the canon version - if someone hurt his mother or his father, he would not hesitate to kill them. This Naruto won't be like in the canon where he said about the killer of his parents that he was the "coolest guy" (facepalm).

Anyway, here's the new chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 3 - Recommendation

"Listen to me, Naruto. Never reveal that Quirk of yours to anyone! No matter what! Even if your best friend...no, even if your father and I were to die in front of your eyes, as long as there are other people around, never use your chains. Never!"

Before leaving the hospital his mother had insisted he did now answer any of the curious questions of the nurses or the reporters. She had also chased away any of the journalists that tried to interview him in regards to the incident after he was discharged from the hospital.

He let out a sigh and he caressed his fluffy fox tail with his hands, making sure it was entire wet before grabbing a bottle from the edge of the shower cab that showed an image of a furry tail and a pair of animal ears. Turning off the water, he started to scrub his fur with the special shampoo, making a great deal of bubbles.

'To think that I'd one day become just like the characters from that pervert's books!' Naruto thought in amusement at the memory of his mentor from his previous life and his Icha Icha: Kemonomimi book.

His amusement did not last for long because his mind soon went back to his second quirk, the Adamantine Sealing Chains, and the serious discussion that he had had with his mother.

⁂

"The only time I allow you to use this quirk is if your life is in peril and you have absolutely no other way of escaping without it. Please, Naruto. You have to promise me that you'll never use it!" Kushina said pleadingly and, much to Naruto's surprise, four golden chains started growing from her back.

"You have that quirk too?! I thought you were quirkless!" he said in disbelief. How could she have kept such an important secret from her family for such a long time?!

Kushina nodded her head and said in a heavy voice: "Just like I asked you to never reveal your quirk to anyone, my grandmother had asked the same of me too. If you had not awakened this quirk, I would have never told you this secret either. I would have taken it to the grave with me."

Judging by the expression on his face, Kushina knew that her son understood the severity of the situation.

"Our quirk is special. It doesn't manifest like other quirks in early childhood. It takes a moment of great stress or desperation to awaken it. It could happen when you are very young, but it could also happen when you are in your 20s or older. Or, it might not awaken at all. For example, my grandmother awakened these chains when she was in her late thirties but my mother never awakened this Quirk at all. As for me, I was 8 years old when it happened, during the car crash in which my parents died."

"What I'm telling you now is 100% serious, Naruto, this is not a joke. A very powerful man has had his eyes on this quirk for decades. It's only thanks to my grandmother's efforts, Mito, that he had lost all traces of our family. But the moment that you reveal your quirk to the public, he will find out. He will find you, and he will kill you."

"But why would someone be so obsessed with this Quirk?" Naruto asked a bit freaked out.

"Think about the villain that attacked you. He had a powerful mutant-type Quirk but your chains nullified it. These chains... ...they do have their downsides - they are rather slow so heroes and villains specializing in speed can avoid them without much problem, and their limited range makes those capable of flight difficult to catch. But if someone does get caught by the chains, it is all over. There is no escaping from it. Our Quirk is the bane of all Quirks. And that's why my grandmother had been hunted down, why I had kept my quirk a secret even from my family and why you also need to keep it secret too, no matter the cost. The one who is after us will stop at nothing to get his hands on this Quirk."

⁂

Not a day passed without Naruto thinking back to his mom's words. Ever since that day, Kushina never brought up the topic again, nor had she ever used her quirk in front of him. It was a secret that only the two of them knew.

'I don't blame her for keeping it a secret from dad,' he thought while using the showerhead to rinse his fox tail.

Unlike the "Yellow Flash" Fourth Hokage from his previous life, Minato Namikaze of this world was just a regular man. He was a brilliant accountant and a devoted family man but he was no fighter. As for Minato's special ability, his quirk was a perfect recall memory. That was one of the reasons why he was so successful in his professional life. That said, finding out that his wife and his son could one day end up in mortal peril would not do Minato any good. As intelligent as he was, Minato was still just an ordinary human.

'Mom doesn't trust me enough yet to tell me who's the one that wants our quirk. She doesn't know who I used to be in my previous life.'

Turning off the water, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a large towel before taking a seat on a stool and starting to dry his hair, his fox ears, and his fox tail.

'I didn't even know it was possible to steal someone's quirk,' he continued his train of thought. 'But I'll be damned if I let anyone touch even a single hair of mom and dad. They'd have to get over my dead body to do so.'

He had not appreciated his parents before. However, after regaining the memories of his previous life, his family had become the most important thing in the world.

'I may not have chakra in this world but I'm not a regular human this time around either. This Fox Quirk, I will make the most of it. I will become powerful - powerful enough to protect the ones I love.'

Naruto had wanted to become a pro hero even before he recovered his memories but his motivation was completely different now. Becoming a pro hero was no longer the end goal. Now, his end goal was to keep his family safe.

⁂

"Since you're all third years, it's time for you to think seriously about your future. I'll pass out handouts for your future plans now, but... you're all... pretty much planning to go into the hero course, right?"

At the homeroom teacher's words, the class erupted into cheers and everyone started to show off their Quirks.

"Yes, yes, you all have wonderful Quirks! But using your Quirks at school is against the rules!"

A disdainful voice rang over all the other noises in the classroom - it was none other than Katsuki Bakugo:

"Sensei! Don't lump us all in the same group. I'm not gonna be stuck at the bottom with the rest of these rejects!"

"That was uncalled for, Katsuki!"

"Yeah, nobody asked for your opinion, shut up!"

But the blond boy laughed in ridicule.

"You should shut you up like the extras that you are! HAHA!"

While the kids were yelling at each other, the teacher looked through some of his files.

"Oh, if I remember correctly, you want to go to U.A. High, right, Bakugo?"

As everyone in the class was voicing out their surprise - U.A. High was a national school renown for its extremely low acceptance rate, barely 0.2% of the test participants managing to get in every year - Bakugo made sure to rub it in their faces:

"That's exactly why you guys are just extras! I aced the mock test! I'm the only one in this school who could possibly get into U.A.! I'll definitely surpass All Might and become the top hero! My name will be inscribed on the list of top earners!"

But the teacher saw it as the perfect moment to pour a bucket of ice-cold water on his arrogance:

"I do not doubt you'll get famous one day with your quirk... ...but you're not the only one who is going to U.A. this year. Uzumaki Naruto from class D is coming along with you as well."

Katsuki Bakugo's face became an interesting shade of red, almost purple. It was as if he was going to explode.

"How is that possible?! I never heard anything about that!"

"Oh, Uzumaki Naruto had been recommended to the school by All Might himself. He doesn't need to take the exam, he has already been accepted in."

Bakugo looked like he had just seen a ghost. He sat down in his seat and remained completely silent for the rest of the class, a dark aura lingering around him. So affected he had been by the news that someone had gotten a recommendation from the No1 Hero that he did not even hear the teacher talk about how Izuku Midoriya also wanted to go U.A. too.

⁂

It was lunch break and Naruto was sitting at his desk, eating the food that his mother had cooked and packed for him that morning. Putting his palms together in a small prayer, he said bowed his head and said: "Itadakimasu." But right as he was about to dig in, the door of the classroom was blown off its hinges with a loud bang, making other students cry out in panic.

A blond-haired boy stomped his way into the classroom with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up and tiny explosions cracking in his palms.

"Uzumaki! Fight me!" he screamed in rage and, without even waiting for an answer, he jumped in the air and launched himself at the still seated at his desk Naruto.

In the blink of an eye, Naruto stood up and jumped back over two rows of desks, accurately landing with the tip of his toes on the window sill. Looking at his ruined and burning desk, he glared at the culprit.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked angrily.

However, in Bakugo's eyes, it sounded way different. The fact that the fox boy had apparently had the leisure to not only dodge his charge but also grab his lunchbox and chopsticks from the table was like pouring gasoline on a fire.

"You dare to mock me? DIEEE!" Bakugo screamed enraged and lunged at Naruto full of bad intentions.

But Naruto let himself fall on his back, easily slipping through the open window and falling to the ground from the second floor. His classmates cried out in shock at what he did and even Bakugo stopped in his tracks in disbelief. But when he looked through the window and saw Naruto standing on the ground completely unharmed and even grabbing a meatball from his lunchbox with his chopsticks, Bakugo saw white in front of his eyes. He was so angry that he couldn't even form coherent sentences.

"Y-You bastard! I'll! I'll-"

In the end, he just gave up on speaking and jumped off through the window as well, his hands extended in front of him and booming with explosions.

"Alright, that's quite enough," Naruto said in annoyance.

Right as Bakugo's palm was thirty centimetres away from his face, Naruto stepped to the side, grabbed one of the boy's forearms with his free hand (the other one was still holding his lunchbox) and tripped him with his left foot. The boy had too much momentum to stop himself in time and he crashed face-first into the asphalt.

A scream of rage came from Bakugo as he pushed with his hands against the ground to lift himself up but Naruto suddenly appeared on top of him and pressed a knee on his back flattening him against the ground. Naruto did not press hard enough to cause him pain but his weight made the boy struggle like a madman, unable to breathe.

"Let go of me, furry shithead! I'll smash your face when I get up, you hear me? I'll kill you!"

"I don't know what's your problem, but you should calm the fuck down," Naruto said in annoyance and lightly slammed himself with his butt on Bakugo's back, knocking the wind out of him.

Then, still using Bakugo's body as if it was a chair, he started eating from his lunchbox amidst the boy's howls and threats of bodily harm.

"My mom put in her effort and love to make me this lunchbox. What if you spoiled it?" Naruto scolded him as he munched on some rice. "You should never waste food. Other people-"

"I've had enough of you!" Bakugo suddenly screamed and it was only thanks to his sharp, animalistic instincts that Naruto jumped away in time, evading the explosion by the skin of his teeth.

Looking at the boy's twisted from rage face and the explosions cracking around him, Naruto could not help thinking: 'This guy wants to become a hero?' At that moment, Bakugo looked no different than a villain.

Crouching down and grabbing a small pebble from the ground, Naruto said: "That explosion could've seriously injured me." His voice was no longer as easygoing as before.

"That was the point, you smug bastard!" Bakugo hollered, explosions blowing even louder from his palms. "When I'm done with you, you'll be-"

The sound of an extremely fast object tearing through the air was heard and Bakugo's words died in his throat as he unexpectedly collapsed, his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He was unconscious. On his forehead, a glaring-red bruise the size of a 500 yen coin appeared. Naruto had thrown the pebble that he had picked up from the ground with such speed, strength, and accuracy that Bakugo had been effectively sniped before he even had the time to react.

'Still got it,' Naruto said, rather pleased with himself. Throwing projectiles - be they kunai or senbons - had been the bread and butter of any shinobi in his past life.

'I can't throw it as fast as in my past life,' he thought a bit disappointed. Some shinobi could throw projectiles with such speed that they were not too different from the speed of bullets of a handgun in this world. 'But it's still good enough to deal with this idiot.'

As annoyed as he was with Bakugo for attacking him out of nowhere, Naruto did not want to seriously injure him. Knocking him out was the fastest and least painful method to deal with him.

'He'll prolly have a concussion from that. But he'll recover in no time.'

⁂

"Oh my god, you were so freaking awesome, so freaking cool!"

Midoriya Izuku had stars in his eyes. He had entered into a trance, he was in full fanboy-mode. Naruto's victory over Katsuki Bakugo was like out of a movie.

The green-haired boy was not the only one. Most of the boys and the girls that had witnessed the scene were losing their minds at that moment.

"Holy shit, did you see that?"

"My God, I got it on camera! I got it on camera!"

With so many witnesses vouching for him that Bakugo had attacked him unprovoked (Naruto himself still had no idea why the boy had suddenly picked a fight with him), he had not gotten into trouble with the principal. In the first place, Bakugo was infamous in the school, this not being the first time he had blown up school furniture with his quirk, nor was it the first time he picked up a fight with someone, not by far.

⁂

"Dude, I wish I was there to see it! Ahhhh! I wish I was there to beat the crap out of that dumbass myself!" Kiba yelled in annoyance the next day. "Seriously, what the hell? I miss one day in three months of school and that's exactly when all the interesting shit happens!"

Naruto chuckled at Kiba's exuberance. Although he had regained the memories of his past life, he was still Naruto of this current life as well. He still got along well with the Dog-boy.

"Why did he try to jump you anyway?"

"Beats me. I was just about to eat my lunch when he suddenly blew up the door of the classroom and lunged at me."

"I-I think I know why," Izuku said from the side and explained to them what he thought was the case.

"So he was jealous I can get into UA thanks to All Might's recommendation? He attacked me just because of that?" Naruto said with a deadpan.

"It's just my take on it, I am not sure what exactly was the case. I think Kacchan can't accept that someone else might be better than him..." the green-haired boy said and rubbed the back of his head.

"Did he forget I beat the crap out of him only a few months ago?" Kiba said and snorted.

"Well, you kinda jumped on him when he didn't expect it. It wasn't a fair fight-" Naruto began to say but Kiba cut him off. "So? He did the same to you and still lost. And we both know I could kick your ass too. So that makes me two levels above him!"

"Sure, sure you can," Naruto said with a laugh, not taking him seriously. In the first place, he did not care about fighting Kiba. They were friends.

"By the way, Kiba," Izuku said, "My homeroom teacher didn't say anything about you going to U.A. together with Kacchan and Naruto. Are you really not going to the best Hero school in the country?"

Kiba shrugged his shoulders uncaringly.

"I don't give a damn about all that hero crap. Once I'm done with school, I'll join the family business."

At that, Izuku stopped asking questions altogether. The Inuzuka family was rather feared in their city, and for a good reason. Many unsavoury rumours were circulating about them. Izuku preferred not to delve too deep into those waters.

Eventually, it was time for them to part and go their separate ways. However, after Kiba left, Izuku continued to walk with Naruto despite that it would lead to a rather large detour on his way home. After a few minutes of making idle talk, Izuku said:

"You know, I, I've always wanted to become a hero. It's been my dream since forever. I have applied to go to U.A. too. But I wanted to ask you: do you think I can become a pro hero too despite not having a quirk?"

Naruto stopped walking and looked at Izuku who was similarly looking at him intently. The answer was clear in his mind: it wasn't possible. However, how to break it to his friend was another matter altogether.

"Imagine I'm a villain," Naruto suddenly said.

"What?!"

Not giving him an answer, Naruto suddenly grabbed Izuku by his shirt and lifted him in the air as if he was weightless before pushing him rather roughly against the wall of a nearby building.

"Give me your money! Give me everything you have on you!"

Izuku was confused. Confused and scared - what had suddenly gotten into Naruto?

"Come on, fight back! Show me what you can do in this situation! Show me what a quirkless person is capable of!"

When he heard those words, Izuku finally understood what he meant. Taking the widening of the green-haired boy's eyes as a sign that he got his message across, Naruto let Izuku down and smoothened his stretched out shirt.

"My quirk isn't even that strong but you'd still be helpless to deal with me. If you can't deal with someone like me, how would you deal with someone like Bakugo that could probably get strong enough to blow up an entire neighbourhood in a few years? What about someone that can move faster than a race car? Or someone like the No3 Hero who can fly?"

Izuku said, his voice trembling: "B-But you beat Kacchan! You beat him with just martial arts and by throwing a piece of rock at him! It was amazing! Could I not do the same too?"

"Could you?" Naruto asked back.

Izuku became silent at that. He was a scrawny, skinny and unathletic boy. He had never done any sports, nor had he ever gotten into a fight with someone.

"My mom used to be a Judo instructor. She's a black belt. Because of her, I've trained since little in not only Judo but in Karate too and I have recently even started learning Mixed Martial Arts," Naruto said. It was not a lie and Izuku knew that.

Before getting pregnant with Naruto, Uzumaki Kushina used to be a Judo instructor at a dojo. She retired afterwards and, due to her husband's job being very lucrative, she and Minato decided that it was better for her to stay at home and take care of their baby instead of going back to work and hiring a nanny. That said, it was due to Kushina's martial arts pedigree and Naruto having too much energy for his own good that his parents introduced him to the world of martial arts at a young age.

While Naruto had never cared about his studies, when it came to his training, he had always put in the required effort, and more. From the beginning, his goal had been to become a pro hero (as it was the dream of 99% of the children his age). Now that he had regained the memories of his previous life, it only further cemented that hard-working aspect of his personality.

"My Quirk isn't all that amazing but it's not bad either. Still, I've trained my ass off for years and I still continue to do so because becoming a pro Hero is not an easy thing. So when I put in so much effort despite already having a Quirk, what can you do to keep up with me? And not just me. Think about Bakugo, what can you do to keep up with him? Do you think you can beat him in a fight? Imagine you've become a pro hero and someone as strong as him, a villain, wants to kill people. What can you do to stop him?"

Izuku looked at the ground stubbornly even as tears started pooling in his eyes.

"All Might told me the same when I met him a few weeks ago. Even so-," Izuku stopped to wipe his tears with the sleeve of his shirt "I don't need to be the strongest! I just want to help people. I want people to feel safe when I'm around. I want to be like All Might. To say 'I AM HERE!' and immediately make everyone believe that everything is going to be alright!"

Naruto blew out a long sigh. It pained him to see Izuku cry like that and it pained him even more when he thought about how impossible his dream seemed to be. He did not know what to say for a while and nearly a minute of uncomfortable silence followed, the only sounds heard being Izuku's sobs and the cars' engines passing by in the background.

'Reminds me of how I used to be in my previous life,' Naruto thought. 'Nobody believed me when I said I would become greater than any of the Hokage and make everyone acknowledge me.'

But then, he shook his head.

'Still, in some regards, we couldn't be more different. I had the tools to become great. I was from the Uzumaki clan and I had Kurama too. Izuku has nothing.'

Thinking about his former life-long companion, Naruto's tail sagged. He missed the grumpy old fox. They may have not been friends for a long time before they were both killed by Kaguya but Naruto would never forget just how many times the bijuu had saved his life.

Naruto shook his head to clear up the depressing thoughts and turned his attention back to his friend.

"UA's entrance exam is in 9 months. Have you prepared for it?" he asked.

His crying having ceased for the moment, Izuku answered while avoiding eye contact due to being ashamed at how he had cried in front of him: "I think I'm almost ready for the written exams..."

"What about the practical exams? There's going to be some fighting for sure."

Izuku fiddled with his thumbs as he looked down again.

"Don't tell me you're relying on a getting in through a fluke?"

The green-haired boy's silence was all the answer he needed. Naruto did not even try to hold back a loud groan. Not only that Izuku did not have a Quirk but he was weak even for a quirkless boy of his age. Yet he hadn't done anything to at least try to bridge the gap between him and the others.

"Man, you are hopeless..." Naruto said and let out another sigh. "But I'll help you. I won't let you struggle alone."

Izuku looked up at him startled. "You want to help me?!"

"We're friends, aren't we? Friends help each other in times of need," Naruto said. "I'll take you with me when I train from now on. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we'll go to the gym. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, we'll go to the dojo and you'll learn from one of our sensei there. I will spar with you too after you learn the basics."

"Training every day?!"

Naruto frowned a little at his reaction.

"Listen, Izuku. Becoming a hero without a Quirk is unheard of. But I'll support you since you're my friend. But if you're not ready to put in 10 times more effort than everyone else, you might as well give up now. You're wasting your time and maybe even ruining your future career options. If want to become a hero, that wishy-washy attitude won't work. You're either all in or you're out."

Izuku showed a pondering look for a while but then his eyes became resolute and his face brimmed with determination when he said:

"I'll do it. I'll do everything you tell me. You won't hear even one word of complaint from me!"

Naruto patted his shoulder and smiled in encouragement.

"I'll ask mom to make a workout plan for you and a diet plan too. She knows about this stuff much more than I do. I'll give them to you on Monday, okay?"

"So we start on Monday?" Izuku asked.

"Yep. Enjoy your last two days of comfortable life to their fullest!" Naruto said with a chuckle and waved his hand in goodbye. "Alright, see you, man, have a nice weekend."

AN: Naruto will NOT get the One For ALL quirk. He will use only his Fox Quirk and his ninja skills to become strong. I want this fic to capture the vibe of the old Naruto series where being skilled actually meant you could win the fight, rather than who had the most OP special skill. There are countless OP Naruto fics out there so you have where to choose from if you don't like this one.