AN: New chapter up, enjoy!

Chapter 5 - Combat Training

Due to his mother fussing around him that morning, Naruto was running late on his first day at U.A. High. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to feel annoyed. In spite of being in a rush, he still gave his mom a hug and bumped fists with his father before finally leaving.

Seeing as it was daytime, he could not just willy-nilly start shinobi-jumping on the rooftops. It was against the law for people to use their Quirks in public. Even if his Quirk was mutant-type, if the patrolling heroes or police officers saw him doing something as crazy and dangerous as that, he would undoubtedly be stopped which in turn would make him get to school even later.

Luckily, he managed to arrive before the bell rang for the start of the first period.

'What a big-ass door,' he thought when he saw the door of his classroom.

With a height of over three metres and a width of over two metres, the classroom's door looked as if it had been designed with the purpose of allowing people of all sizes to enter it unhindered, being considerate of those who had gigantic physiques due to their Quirks.

"Don't put your feet on the desk!" he heard a voice coming from beyond the door, covering all the other noises in the classroom. "Don't you think that's rude to the UA upperclassmen and the people who made the desk?"

"Nope. What junior high did you go to, you side character?" another voice replied rudely, one that was unmistakably familiar in his ears: it was Bakugo Katsuki's voice.

With a sigh of annoyance at the thought of having ended up in the same classroom as that guy, Naruto no longer waited outside, his curiosity to see how their conversation would develop having died down. In his eyes, Bakugo was like an evil mixture between Kiba and Sasuke Uchiha of his previous life, taking on the worst character traits of those two.

'Kiba's aggressiveness and bullying habits together with Sasuke's arrogance and pride. It's like a salad of cancer and AIDS. How is this guy in a hero school again?'

Deciding to stop thinking about him, he pushed open the door of the classroom. At that moment, all the chatter and even the verbal spat between Bakugo and the other guy instantly died down and 17 heads turned to look at him at the same time.

"...Yo!" Naruto said and raised a hand in greeting.

Three seconds of uncomfortable silence followed. But then, the class erupted into loud chatter and exclamations. A well-built and fit body, average height, sun-kissed blond hair, a rather cute face with three pairs of whisker marks on his cheeks, adorable fluffy fox ears on his head and a bushy golden fox tail swaying slowly at his back - from the first moment he stepped in, Naruto became the focus of their attention.

Seconds later, he found himself surrounded from all sides by nearly ten teens, all of them talking to him excitedly at once.

'I can understand the girls' reaction, but what the heck is with the guys?!'

Thanks to his current life, Naruto was not oblivious to how cute his Fox Quirk made him appear in the eyes of most girls so he understood why the three girls - one with shoulder-length brown hair, one with pink hair and pink skin, and one with strange-looking ears - would be clamouring around him. But he could not understand why the boys were so hyped about talking to him - there were no less than six guys vying for his attention at that moment.

"Hey! I'm Eijiro Kirishima! Nice to meet you, man!" a red-haired boy said with a grin and raised his hand for a handshake.

It was when the second boy introduced himself that Naruto finally understood the reason for his passionate reception: "I'm Kaminari. Hey, is it true that All Might recommended you to UA?!"

Once the boy who introduced himself as Kaminari asked that question, chaos ensued. It was only the arrival of their homeroom teacher that put a stop to it.

⁂

In spite of how gloomy and no-nonsense their homeroom teacher appeared to be, Naruto decided that he liked him the moment that he saw that he took the class outside, on the field, to do a Quirk Assessment test.

'This is perfect. That's what I'm here for, to learn more about my Quirk, to train, to become stronger.'

Once he explained what the test was all about, the teacher called out Bakugo:

"Bakugo, you finished at the top of the practical exam, right?"

"Yes."

"In junior high, what was your best result for softball throw?"

"67 metres," the boy replied.

"Then, try doing it with your quirk," the teacher said. "You can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the circle. Give it all you got."

The blond took the ball from the teacher's hand and then went into the indicated circle. Letting out a scream, he threw it with everything he had:

"DIEEE!"

The ball shot in the air with an explosion as if it had been launched from the barrel of a canon.

When the results of Bakugo's throw came out, the class' excitement grew. It was then that it finally sank in for them that, at this school, they were allowed to use their quirks all they wanted. But their homeroom teacher was just as quick to put a damper on their mood:

"It looks fun, huh? You have three years to become a hero. Will you have an attitude like that the whole time? For the next three years, UA will do all it can to give you one hardship after another. This isn't a child's play. Find the upper limit of your quirks and then, overcome them. Go beyond. Plus Ultra."

⁂

1. Uzumaki Naruto
2. Momo Yaoyorozu
3. Shoto Todoroki
4. Katsuki Bakugo
5. Tenya Iida
[...]

Seeing Naruto ranking first on their teacher's hologram ranking list, his classmates involuntarily took a second look at him.

'As expected from someone recommended by All Might...' was what most of them were thinking.

He had taken the first or second place in most of the tests where someone's quirk did not offer them a landslide victory - for example, Ochaco Uraraka's Zero Gravity Quirk throwing the ball to infinity.

Nevertheless, while the students were all thinking about their scores and what their ranking meant, the teacher's eyes were narrowed in thought. While everyone else believed that All Might recommended Naruto to UA due to his capabilities, the reality was a bit different.

'His control over his Fox Quirk is rather impressive for a novice. He moves like someone who has trained in martial arts as well, I can see that. However, I still don't see it - I can't imagine how someone with a Fox Quirk could have killed that Sludge Villain. That villain's sludge was almost like a counter to most of the Quirks relying on dealing physical damage.'

All Might had not hidden his intentions from the principal of UA and he had even brought Shota Aizawa into the secret too once he found out that he was going to be Naruto's homeroom teacher. It was so they could better keep an eye on the boy and study his character in detail.

⁂

In spite of the boring English class at the beginning of the second day, the students regained their vitality and hype once the bell rang. The reason for that was simple: the No.1 Hero, the strongest and most popular hero in the country, All Might himself was going to teach the next class!

If hearing what was the focus of the class - combat training - was not enough to make them burst with excitement, All Might telling them that their hero costumes were ready had set everyone on fire. It was pandemonium. Naruto was swept off by everyone's enthusiasm too as he took a look at his Hero costume.

It was rather simple and it looked quite similar to what he used to wear in his previous life: a pair of black and orange pants and a jacket of similar colours that had a fierce nine-tailed fox painted on its back, two pouches filled with kunai were strapped at his thighs and a utility belt was wrapped around his waist, its numerous pockets carrying several smoke grenades, wire, and other miscellaneous ninja tools. Lastly, a white and orange ANBU-style Fox Mask was covering his face, a mask that had a respiratory system built-in to protect him from harmful gases.

The jacket with the nine-tailed fox painted on its back and the ANBU-style fox mask were a tribute to his former friend and life-long companion, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. To show his respect for him, Naruto had even chosen his Hero alias after Kyuubi's name: Kurama. Naruto's Hero name was Kurama.

⁂

"Most of the time, fighting villains takes place outside, but if you look at the total numbers, atrocious villains appear indoors at a higher rate. Imprisonment, house arrest, backroom deals - In this society filled with heroes, truly intelligent villains hide in the shadows!" All Might began to say once everyone had put on their hero costumes. "For this class, you'll be split into villains and heroes and fight 2-on-2 indoor battles."

At his words, the class started throwing one question after another. In spite of his inexperience as a teacher, All Might patiently explained to them everything they needed to know and then made them draw lots to separate them into teams.

Once the teams were made and lots were drawn, Naruto let out a groan.

'Oy, oy, is this for real?'

It was as if Universe was conspiring against him by pitting him and Bakugo against each other.

For their first class of combat training, their teacher, All Might, had come up with a simple scenario: one team would take on the role of villains while the other team would take on the role of heroes. The villains had to protect a dummy nuke and prevent the heroes from capturing it. As for the heroes, their purpose was to either defeat the villains or capture the nuke.

In contrast to Naruto's annoyance, his opponent was literally exploding with anticipation.

"FINALLY!" Bakugo screamed, flames and smoke coming out of his palms from excitement. "You won't be able to run this time, Uzumaki! I will pay you back tenfold for that humiliation half a year ago! I'll crush you, I'll break you, I'll blow you up to pieces, you damned bastard!"

According to the drawn lots, Uzumaki Naruto and Kyoka Jiro were going to be the villain team while Bakugo Katsuki and Mineta Minoru were going to act as the hero team.

All Might declared the start of the battle exercise: "Villain team, go in first and set up! In five minutes, the hero team will break in, and the battle will start!"

⁂

"This is gonna be so good!" a blond boy said in excitement, electricity sparking in his hands. "The number 1 in the practical exam versus the one who was recommended by All Might! This is bad, I'm shivering."

Kaminari was not the only one super hyped about the fight. The rest of the boys and the girls were just as enthused.

"It gets even better when you know what happened a few months ago: it was all over social media. Uzumaki beat up Bakugo so one-sidedly without using his Quirk! I even downloaded that video on my phone, it was that crazy!" Kaminari further hyped everyone up.

As for All Might, he was just as interested in the match-up as everyone else there. Most people showed their true colours when they were in a tough battle. All Might wanted to see exactly just who was Uzumaki Naruto. Even after all this time, he had not forgotten his mistake - letting a criminal as powerful as the Sludge Villain escape and nearly kill a kid. But just like he had not forgotten his mistake, All Might could also not forget about the golden dome of light that had killed the Sludge Villain and destroyed two tall apartment buildings too.

'Was it another person back then? I arrived there only a few seconds after the light faded away, I would have seen if there was another person. But if there was nobody else, that means that young Naruto had killed the villain. However, everyone has only Quirk. Unless... ...unless All For One was somehow involved with him.'

It was a bit of a stretch even in his mind but All Might could not easily ignore the matter. All For One had been like a shadow over his life for decades. He had killed his master, and countless other innocent people, and he had destroyed his career as a hero too.

'I hope young Uzumaki has nothing to do with All For One. But even if he is somehow involved, I hope it is not too late. He is just a young boy. There is still time for him to change and turn his life around for the best.'

Bringing Naruto into UA High was a way for All Might to hit multiple birds with one stone. In a way, he was reimbursing Naruto for his mistake, he was keeping an eye on a potential asset of his archenemy, AFO, while also having the chance to properly teach and guide the young boy to become a hero, eliminating a potential hazard. He hoped that he would gain some insight into Naruto's true character after this battle.

⁂

"Hey, I'm Naruto," he said, introducing himself to his teammate for the first time.

Kyoka Jiro had been among the three girls and six boys that had crowded around him the day before when he had entered the classroom for the first time. Seeing Naruto's earnest smile and his outstretched hand, the girl smiled shyly, the earphone jacks of her ears curling up.

Seemingly not noticing the girl's embarrassment, Naruto continued:

"Five minutes isn't a long time so we have to introduce ourselves fast. I have a Fox Quirk. I can do pretty much everything a fox can. I'm very good at close combat. My eyesight, sense of smell and hearing are great as well."

Quickly getting over her shyness, Kyoka said:

"My Quirk is Earphone Jack," and the jack-like lobs of her ears raised in front of his face. "If I plug these into the wall or into the ground, I can hear sounds from very far away distances. I can do something similar to echo-location-"

"Echo-what?" Naruto asked in confusion.

The girl touched the lob of her ears as she explained to him: "I can amplify and release the sound of my heartbeats to detect people and things based on the vibration they will make at the contact with the soundwaves."

Naruto thought for a few seconds before saying: "That looks like a very useful Quirk for spying and scouting."

"I can also amply the sound of my heartbeats so loud that I can destroy even walls with the sound intensity. So I can attack too if it comes down to it," Kyoka continued, secretly pleased that Naruto was not underestimating her Quirk.

"I see, I see," Naruto nodded sagely. Then, he changed the subject abruptly: "Bakugo and I went to the same junior high. And he's bearing a grudge against me. Even if the bomb is in front of his eyes, he'll probably still go after me to prove he's stronger."

"Yikes, why?" she asked.

"I might or might have not kicked his butt badly a few months ago."

The two of them started snickering together.

"I say we take advantage of Bakugo's grudge on me and lead him away from the bomb. What do you think? Can deal with the other guy?"

"Um, sounds good to me. As for Mineta, his quirk isn't that strong in a fight. He can throw sticky balls from his hair. He shouldn't be a problem," the girl said.

"Alright then, let's do this," Naruto said with a grin and raised his fist in front of her. Understanding the gesture, Kyoga returned his grin as they bumped their fists together.

⁂

According to the plan, Naruto quickly left the room and jumped down the stairs, completely skipping all the steps, straight to the ground floor.

"I can hear them, they've entered through the door already," came Kyoka's voice from the communication device installed close to Naruto's ears. "One of them, the shorter one, Mineta, went to the right corridor. Bakugo is walking straight ahead."

Naruto's sensitive hearing had picked up the sounds of their footsteps too but that was all, Kyoka's Quirk was better in this regard as she was able to even detect their exact location just by sound.

"Thank you, I'll get Bakugo. Contact me right away if you have troubles with the other guy."

"Roger."

Saying that, Naruto grabbed a kunai from one of the pouches strapped at his right thigh and, using his superhuman strength, he stabbed it into the wall around 30 centimetres above the floor. After that, it took less than three seconds for him to tie a very thin thread from the loop at the end of the weapon's handle. He repeated the same action on the other wall of the corridor he was in and slipped the wire through the loop of the second kunai's handle as well.

His preparations done, he ran to meet Bakugo straight on, following Kyoka's instructions through their communication device.

The very instant that Naruto entered his line of sight, it was as if someone pulled out the pin of a grenade. Hands raised in front of him, Bakugo screamed at the top of his lungs:

"DIEEE!"

A violent vortex of fire exploded forth, scorching the walls of the corridor black and incinerating everything in its path. The power of Bakugo's Explosion Quirk was a sight to behold. However, the target of his rage was nowhere to be found. It had escaped unscathed.

"UZUMAKI!" Bakugo roared, spittle flying out of his mouth. "Face me! Fight me! Don't run away you cowardly bastard!"

"Cry me a river~" Naruto sing-sang mockingly and laughed as he sprinted away, making sure to be one section of the maze-like corridor ahead of Bakugo at all times, not letting him take aim at him with his Explosion Quirk.

The range of Bakugo's Quirk granted him an overwhelming advantage in such a closed-off space. Naruto would have no space to dodge the explosions whatsoever if his explosion-filled up the entire corridor. For now, his only choice was to avoid a frontal confrontation.

⁂

"Bakugo's Quirk is so powerful!" many of the students said in awe as they watched the scene of the explosion engulfing the entire corridor and destroying the video camera in the process as well.

It was only when fox boy appeared on the recording of another camera that they breathed out a sigh of relief that he hadn't been grievously injured, or worse. It also made them realize the severity of the situation and how heavy was the responsibility on their shoulder whenever they used their powers. One wrong move or a bit of bad luck and they could kill someone by mistake if they did not hold back.

"This is insane! Sensei, is Bakugo trying to kill him?!" Kaminari complained.

However, All Might did not reprimand him.

'Here I am, worrying over young Uzumaki being a villain in the making yet young Bakugo seems even more problematic than him.'

The No.1 Hero zoned out as he started debating in his mind if he should temporarily stop the exercise and reinforce for everyone that they are not allowed to seriously harm their fellow classmates or if she should wait until the end of this current battle. He had thought that that was common sense for them to hold back against their fellow classmates, he had not expected Bakugo to unleash his Quirk like that, with no regard for his opponent's safety or life.

However, before he could come to a decision, he heard the rest of the class cry out in surprise and he returned his attention to the screen.

⁂

Having completely lost all sense of control, Bakugo pointed his arms behind him and the explosion from his palms propelled him forward like a rocket.

"I'll catch you, Uzumaki!" he screamed in glee, greatly invigorated at the fact that he had almost caught up to Naruto, having managed to catch a glimpse of Naruto's fox tail just as he turned to the right, towards another corridor. "You're done for when I get my hands on you! Hahaha!- Uaahh!"

His laughter transformed into a cry of surprise after an almost invisible white thread had suddenly risen up from the floor and caught his feet. Unable to stop the momentum of his flight, the thread made him stumble and fall on his face. It was a testament to his incredible reflexes and quick reaction that Bakugo managed to bring an hand in front of him just in time to create an explosion. That explosion made his body flip in the air and he somehow regained his balance, eventually landing on the floor, on his feet.

But just as he was celebrating his momentary success, a sudden shout reached his ears:

"LARIAT!" Naruto screamed and, having only just barely landed on the floor after his flip in mid-air, Bakugo was unable to react. The fox boy's arm slammed into Bakugo's throat and blasted him back as if he had been hit by a truck. It was the favourite taijutsu move of the 4th Raikage and Killer Bee from Naruto's past life.

Naruto's bursts of speed for short distances were so great due to his Fox Quirk's superhuman agility that even Tenya Iida had not been able to beat him in the 50 metres Dash test from the day before. Bakugo had never stood a chance the moment that he had been destabilized by the kunai-and-thread simple trap.

The force of the hit not only that it hurled Bakugo all the way to the back of the corridor, but it had also knocked him out cold too. Nevertheless, Naruto was not done with him. Grabbing six kunai from the two pouches strapped at his thighs - three in each one of his hands - he threw them with as much strength as he could.

⁂

Outside the building, the rest of the class and even All Might cried out in shock at Naruto's actions - had he gone mad?! Was he actually trying to kill Bakugo?! - only for them to be shocked one more when they saw the result of his actions: the six kunai blades accurately pinned Bakugo's body to the wall, stabbing through his clothes and into the concrete, but not harming him in the least.

"Holy shit! Did you see that?!" the boys and the girls were losing their minds at the god-like display of knife-throwing skills.

All Might himself was gaping at the scene in disbelief too.

'What was that?! For real, what was that?! It's like out of a movie! Just how many years did he practice with throwing knives to get that insanely skilled with them?!'

He had spent decades fighting crime and facing all kinds of superpowered individuals yet it was the first time he had seen this kind of martial skill at someone, and it was a 15-year-old kid no less.

⁂

Having finished off Bakugo, Naruto broke into a run back to the top floor where the dummy nuke that they were supposed to protect was located.

"Kyoka, I defeated Bakugo! What's the situation at you?"

"Already?! That was fast!"

Due to the deafening sounds made by Bakugo's explosions, Kyoka had stopped using her earphone jack Quirk lest her ears started bleeding. Having gotten the figurative green light to use her Quirk again, she inserted her ear jack back into the wall.

"Mineta is only one floor away. He should get here in less than a minute!"

"Hold on, I'm on my way. Don't try to defeat him, we can't afford to make mistakes right now. Just keep him busy and don't let him touch the bomb, no matter what!"

"Don't worry, leave it to me!"

Ending the conversation, Naruto started jumping entire flights of stairs at a time, resembling a rabbit much more than a fox at that moment. His efforts did not go to waste seeing as he arrived just in time to see the tiny boy open the door of the villains' room. But just as Mineta opened the door, an absurdly loud soundwave caught him fully and blasted him all across the corridor.

However, Naruto did not get to chance to see the final outcome of that attack. Bright red blood burst from his fluffy fox ears as his eardrums were ruptured and he collapsed on the floor unconscious, his eyes rolled into the back of his head. To someone with a sense of hearing as sensitive as his, Kyoka's powerful sound attack had been deadly.

AN: As you could see, Naruto made quick work of Bakugo thanks to his skills with traps and his hand-to-hand combat. However, his past life as a shinobi doesn't mean he is invincible. Until he learns of a method to make up for the downsides of his quirk, certain opponents could pose a serious problem to him. Until next time!