AN: Enjoy!

Chapter 7 - A new target

'Ha~H! I'm beat,' he thought and let out a sigh as he slowly made his way out of the woods outside of Musutafu City.

Driving Izuku to the very limit had been taxing on himself as well. Rather than being physically exhausted, he was mentally exhausted. Treating his friend so badly and putting him through such punishment had made his stress level increase greatly.

On his back, the bruised and battered Izuku was sleeping soundly, snoring and drooling on his shoulder. As for their backpacks, Naruto had tied them to his fluffy fox tail.

'But at least he did it.'

He was proud of Izuku. He was also amazed at the boy's tenacity and stubbornness. For someone who had grown up in a peaceful environment to have that kind of willpower, it was amazing, to say the least. That's because the average people in this world were different. Living in a time of peace, in a country where villains were mostly suppressed by the strength of the heroes and the existence of All Might, the average people were weak-willed, physically weak and mentally weak as well. They expected someone else to save them.

His thoughts going back to Konoha, Naruto inadvertently started comparing his previous life with his current life on Earth. Back in the Elemental Nations, children were indoctrinated from a very frail age to believe that there was no greater honour than to protect their village. The so-called "Will of Fire". For the sake of the village, even sacrificing one's family was noble and just. In times of war, it was normal to even send children as young as 10 on the front lines, serving as little more than cannon fodder against the enemy forces.

'That's how Uchiha Itachi ended up massacring his entire family for the sake of Konoha. That's also how my father had committed suicide for the sake of sealing Kurama into my body. That's how he had made me into a human sacrifice. It was all for the sake of the village. A shinobi endures. A shinobi sacrifices everything for the village.'

His train of thought stopped as he finally exited the woods and the night lights of the city appeared in the distance.

"You're sleeping without a care, aren't you?" Naruto asked Izuku despite knowing that he couldn't hear him. "Eh, it's okay. You deserve it. But, man, you sure gained a lot of weight over the past year. You got heavier than I am, did you bulk up that much?"

He knelt on the ground, on the side of the road and put the sleeping Izuku down for a moment to catch his breath.

'Shit, why am I so tired today?'

Raising his hands above his head, he stretched his back and let out a loud yawn, his sharper than average teeth glinting in the moonlight. Wiping his yawn tears away, he absent-mindedly scratched at his lower back for a while. But after that, he put the sleeping Izuku again on his back and started walking again towards the city.

⁂

As weeks passed, the students of 1A class at UA had become increasingly familiar with each other. In everyone's minds, several labels were created about their classmates and, as Mineta Minoru would put it, a sort of social hierarchy appeared. There were the popular kids, the average ones, the perverts, the bully and so on.

A label had been slapped on Naruto in his classmates' minds too. To put it simply, if students were given the freedom to choose their partner during All Might's combat training classes, most of them would be clamouring to get either Todoroki Shoto or Uzumaki Naruto on their team. Always cheerful and helpful, having a decent quirk, an incredible combat strength, and a mind that came up with all sorts of devious plans - it was not difficult to see why he had become so popular.

However, all that was only during the class. Once classes ended, the fox boy never hung out with them. It was now the third week into their first high school year and Naruto had yet to form any close friendships with anyone in his class. Every time someone asked him to join them after class, he would say that he was busy and make himself scarce in a matter of seconds.

"I wonder what's Uzumaki's secret? Why is he avoiding us?" Kirishima said as he watched the fox boy grab his backpack and wave his hand in goodbye at everyone before leaving. "He's always turning down people asking him out and I've never seen him eat together with us in the cafeteria either."

"I mean, I wouldn't eat at the cafeteria either if I were in his place," Kaminari said. "Have you seen the kind of lunchboxes he brings to school every day?"

Ever since Naruto had turned a new leaf, his mother had started pampering and spoiling him much more than before. Naruto wasn't avoiding anyone on purpose. There was just no point in him going to the cafeteria when his mom cooked for him and after class, he was busy with his training. He didn't have time to fool around with children.

"I bet he's seeing a girl!" the tiny boy, Mineta Minoru said, his face green with envy. "Ikemen bastards like him always have the girls flock around them! He's probably seeing three girls at the same time and making them cook for him! He's surely-"

The boy's dark ramblings were suddenly stopped when Teniya Iida smacked him upside the head.

"Mineta-san! That was a very rude way to talk about your classmate!"

Regardless of the class rep's scolding, Mineta's words had already inflicted the maximum damage if the looks on the faces of the other students were anything to go by.

"Hey...who wants to see what Naruto is up to after class?" Mina Ashido asked.

"I kinda want to know too," Kaminari said.

"Count me in!" Mineta said.

⁂

Mineta, Mina, and Kaminari weren't the only ones curious about Naruto's secret. Three others decided to tag along: Yaoyorozu, Kirishima and Kyoka.

Coming out in the courtyard of the school, they saw Naruto waiting for someone at the gates. Two minutes later, a green-haired 15-year-old boy with a strong-looking body but an innocent face came out of the school building and bumped fists with the fox boy as a greeting.

"Who's that guy, do any of you know him?" Kaminari asked.

"Keep it down, you idiot, or he's gonna hear us, did you forget about his sense of hearing?" Kyoka jeered at him in a harsh whisper.

"Figures you didn't forget about it," the blond countered snidely, only to let out a yowl of pain when one of her earphone jacks stabbed him in the neck.

Naruto turned his head towards the noise, only to see Kaminari rolling on the ground in pain comically and another five or six of his classmates glaring at him murderously.

"See you tomorrow, guys!" Naruto said out loud and waved his hand in goodbye before turning around and leaving with his friend.

"What's with that?!" Mina burst after Naruto left with Izuku through the gates. "Whenever we ask him to hang out with us after class, he always says he's busy. That's what he's busy with? Who's that guy anyway?! Argh! This is so annoying!"

"I know everyone in class 1B by name and appearance but I haven't seen his friend until now. He's not from the Hero Course," Yaoyorozu said.

⁂

Thirty minutes later, following Naruto and Izuku from a distance, the six UA students found themselves staring at a dingy-looking gym from across the street.

"Now what? We can't just barge in, we'll blow our cover," Kyoka said.

"Ehhh, who caaaares! I say we just go home now!" Mineta said and clicked his tongue. The tiny boy had been hoping that their little spying would uncover some dirty secret about Naruto and make his place in the "social hierarchy" of the class collapse. Seeing him doing something as mundane as going to the gym greatly disappointed him.

But a boy next to him had a completely different opinion:

"Uzumaki was a gym rat?! AWESOME!" Kirishima yelled and, before the other five could stop him, he broke into a run and barged into the gym.

"Kirishima, wait!" Mina yelled in annoyance and ran after him too.

The rest could only sigh helplessly and run after them inside.

⁂

"W-What kind of place is this?" Yaoyorozu said with a stutter.

For a young lady that had lived in a select environment, the atmosphere in the gym left her momentarily intimidated. She wasn't the only one though, the two other girls, Mina and Jiro, and Mineta Minoru were scared too. The four teens unconsciously huddled together, no different than how herd animals reacted when surrounded by predators.

Nearly twenty men of all ages and appearances were standing around an open space where they would take turns doing deadlifts. The whole gym reverberated with their screams of encouragement and their manly grunts of exertion as they gave it their all to surpass their limits.

The group of teens arrived there just in time to see Naruto shoving his green-haired friend in the middle of the circle, in the open area. Wearing proper deadlifting equipment - special shoes, a weightlifting belt, and shin protectors - Midoriya Izuku rubbed his palms with some chalk powder while the rest of the guys in the circle around him were yelling at the top of their lungs:

"Kill it, Midoriya!"

"You can do it, boy!"

"Fight!"

"Uaaa!"

The bass-boosted music blasting in the background, the roars of the men filled with testosterone and the loud sounds of weights slamming on the floor made even Kaminari huddle up together with Mineta and the three girls. Out of the six students that followed Naruto after school, only Kirishima was having a good time. Scratch that, the red-haired boy looked positively electrified. He had joined the crowd of burly men around the ring and had started screaming together with them too.

Finishing his preparations, Izuku stepped in front of the heavy barbell. Bending down, he stood still for a few moments to find a good position with his hands. Then, with a grunt of exertion, the muscles of his arms, back, and thighs bulged as he stood up.

"Hold it! Hold it!"

"Two more seconds!"

"DONE!"

"Good job, boy!"

Izuku threw his barbell to the ground and let out a scream of victory. At that moment, his usually timid and nerdy personality was nowhere to be seen. Adrenaline coursing through his veins, Izuku yelled:

"One more time!"

When they saw him adding two more plates, 2.5 kg each, the men erupted into beast-like screams again.

Many in the crowd could lift five or even ten times heavier weights than what the Quirkless boy could. However, over the past year, they noticed the nerdy boy's transformation, his consistency and his hard work. Although Quirkless and much weaker than the majority of them, Izuku had earned their respect with his hard work. Moreover, despite their intimidating looks, gym rats were some of the nicest people one could meet. Seeing a boy as honest and as diligent as Izuku, they wanted to cheer him on.

"Good job, man, you broke your record, 155 kg!" Naruto congratulated Izuku once he came out from the 'deadlifting ring'.

"Haha, thanks, thanks!" Izuku said and laughed with a foolish expression on his face. It was almost as if he was high.

"Aight, my turn now," Naruto said with a grin.

They high-fived each other before he stepped into the open area. Wearing black shorts, a bright orange wife-beater, a pair of orange sneakers on his feet, a special fitness mask that covered his nose and mouth and having two fluffy fox ears on his head and a bushy golden fox tail at his back, Naruto's appearance was rather goofy.

"Oy, oy, is he serious?" Kirishima mumbled to himself when he saw that the fox boy continued to put plates on the barbell until it became 5 times heavier than his body weight.

Standing at a height of 165 cm, Naruto weighed only 70kg, bushy fox tail included. Compared to Izuku who had bulked up and looked rather muscular after one year of intense training, Naruto looked the same as usual: fit and toned but not muscular, rather similar to how he used to look at that age in his previous life. Due to his Fox Quirk, his body was predisposed towards agility rather than brute strength. Still, the blond had never given up on increasing his physical strength. After years of training his body, although his Quirk gave him an overwhelming agility perk, his strength had increased steadily thanks to his hard work as well.

Izuku watched in slight envy how the blond deadlifted 350 Kg without any evident signs of strain on his face. It was impossible for Quirkless people to lift such weights at the age of 15.

Putting the barbell down, Naruto momentarily let go of it and scratched at his lower back.

"Did you get flies in your tail, blondie?" someone asked, making everyone bark with laughter at his expense.

"Shut up. You're just jelly you don't get any girls with that bald head of yours," Naruto retorted, eliciting another round of laughter.

Bantering like that was the norm among them. As a hardcore gym, it had a rather small number of members so pretty much everyone knew everyone. Sharing a common interest and frequenting the same place for a long time would naturally lead to people becoming friends after a while.

Putting two more plates of 20 Kg each, this time Naruto cried out in exertion when he pulled the barbell up. However, he could not hold the deadlift for more than two seconds and dropped it on the floor with a loud bang.

"What happened, did you not eat today, boy?" one of the older men laughed teasingly.

"Tsk, tsk, you've been slacking off as of late, haven't you?" A mountain of a man with 4 arms as thick as Naruto's waist said. "Only 400 kg and you're grunting like you're about to die. I can do biceps curls with that weight."

The first time that Izuku had witnessed a scene like that a year ago, he had thought in his mind - 'No way Naruto would fall for a cheap provocation like that'. But the reality couldn't be any more different than his thoughts.

The blond's artery started pulsing in his neck and he growled at the four-armed man that laughed at him.

"Hah? I'm 70 freaking kilos and my tail is half of my weight but I can lift 5 times my weight. 6 times my weight when I'm in shape. How much can you lift, eh? Two or Three tons? But you're heavier than a hippo you four-armed fatass! You can barely lift your own bodyweight!"

Izuku burst into laughter alongside everyone else. It was always a delight to watch Naruto getting riled up and arguing with his mates at the gym. The fox boy seemed to have a gift for making people open up and his cheerful and fun personality always made for a good time. It also had to be said that Naruto was even more rambunctious than usual whenever he went to the gym. It was as if his brain turned off whenever he stepped into a room filled with weights. But then again, it wasn't that unusual. Men and boys, in general, were like that: whenever they gathered in large groups, their collective IQ dropped by half.

Leaving the deadlift ring for someone else to have their turn, Naruto came back to Izuku and plopped himself on the floor without a care.

"Ah, today is not my day," he said with a groan and scratched his lower back furiously. "I've also had this itch on my spine for like a week, every time I strain myself."

"Maybe you should get it checked out," Izuku said. "You can't mess around with back injuries."

"But it doesn't hurt, there's no pain, just an itchy sensation," Naruto said and frowned at the mental struggle against giving in to the urge to rub his lower back again. "But I guess it wouldn't hurt to see Recovery Girl tomorrow at school. Anyway, you've been on a roll lately."

Izuku clenched his fist, the muscles of his forearm bulging slightly.

"Yeah. Even since you made me unlock my hysterical strength, I feel I'm getting stronger at a faster rate than before. I haven't managed to get into that state again but I've gotten stronger overall... still, it's nothing compared to you...when will I get strong enough to lift 350-400 kilos?" he said and trailed off a bit bummed out.

"You knew what you were getting into when you decided to become a pro Hero without having a Quirk," Naruto said. "If you have time to think about useless stuff and start doubting yourself, you might as well pick up some weights and get back at it. NO PAIN NO GAIN!" he said and suddenly shouted at the end, startling Izuku.

"You're such a dork!" Izuku said with a laugh. Working out, getting stronger, and being always encouraged by Naruto had done wonders for his self-confidence. He still had a rather shy personality when interacting with strangers but with Naruto, he had become comfortable enough to even exchange insults and banter.

Still, in spite of his words, Izuku stood up, intent on actually listening to what Naruto told him.

'He's right. I don't have the leisure to be lazying around and moaning about being weak and Quirkless. I'll just have to work harder.'

He picked up some dumbbells and started his workout routine while Naruto went to the squat rack - today was a leg day for the blond.

It was a few minutes later that the guys crowded around the deadlifting ring broke into a commotion.

"Holy shit!"

"She's gotta have a strength-based quirk or something."

"Damn, that's one strong woman!"

Their remarks piqued Naruto's interest. Regular women disliked gyms and even fewer were interested in weightlifting. He had not seen a woman or a girl come to that gym in months. Furthermore, this wasn't exactly the kind of gym that even athletic girls would feel comfortable in. It was filled with burly and muscular men, it stank terribly of sweat (hence why he was always wearing a special gym mask) and the gym apparatus was rather old and rough looking - but Naruto liked it better like that: a messy and stinky gym rather than some luxurious place where the average members would be teens and young people that come to flirt and take selfies to post on social media instead of working out.

Standing up from the floor, he went to the deadlifting ring to see what was going on too. By the time he finally managed to shove his way until he got a first-row view, the woman in question was preparing to lift the barbell for a second time. Very little could be seen of her upper body due to the large and loose blue hoodie that covered her torso and her head and most of her face as well. But her yoga pants did little to hide her long but strong and muscular legs.

"Goddamn!" was the only thing he could say when he saw the dark-skinned woman lift the huge-looking barbell from the ground. It was heavier than a ton and it looked ridiculous compared to her size because she was even shorter than Naruto by a few centimetres.

But when the woman finished her deadlift and went back to her workout, Naruto did not continue to ogle at her. He went back to his leg exercises as well, intent on killing his quads with the leg press machine.

It was then that a red-haired boy came to him, his face flushed with excitement.

"Kirishima? What are you doing here?" Naruto paused his exercise and asked in surprise, noticing him for the first time.

"DUDE! I didn't know you went to the gym! Why didn't you tell us? We could've worked out together every day! Also, this place is fucking awesome, man! I can't believe there are still gyms like this in the city!"

Moments later, the five other students came after Kirishima too.

"Let me guess, y'all have been following me after classes ended. Bruh..."

His deadpan was so expressive that his classmates could not stop their embarrassment from showing on their faces.

"You guys, have that much free time on your hands... Don't you train your quirks in your free time? Your bodies? Or, I don't know, at least study or do your homework?" he said.

"You're not one to talk about us not doing our homework..." Kyoka mumbled, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

In all fairness, Naruto's grades were on the lower end in the class ranking when it came to regular classes like Maths. He simply couldn't bring himself to care about stuff like that. He only put in enough effort to get passing grades and not make his parents worry about his schoolwork. Nothing beyond that. All his free time was dedicated to training.

⁂

Half an hour later, Naruto, Izuku, and the six stalkers left the gym. After promising Kirishima that he would take him with them whenever they went to the gym from then on, everyone went their separate ways home, leaving Naruto and Izuku alone. But after a few minutes, the two boys had to separate as well.

"I think we'll have to meet less often from now on," Naruto said.

"Eh? Why?" Izuku asked, immediately becoming agitated.

"There isn't much I can teach you anymore, to be honest. Now that you unlocked your hysterical strength, what you should focus on is getting stronger. Remember, hysterical strength isn't some miraculous power that comes out of nowhere. It's just the maximum strength of your body so the stronger you get, the higher your hysterical strength will be too when your break your limits."

"But what about martial arts? Our bo staff training and our hand-to-hand combat?"

"You can continue to do that at the dojo. Many people at the dojo are stronger than you so it's not like you won't have sparring partners."

Seeing Izuku's downcast expression, Naruto said:

"Look man, don't think I'm giving up on you. But I believe that you need less martial arts training right now and more strength training. If I were you, I'd hit the gym for a while instead of going to the dojo. Besides, you don't need me to babysit you anymore. We can still spar once a week if you want but from now on you will need to depend on yourself more."

He made a small pause before he added:

"I have to step up my own training too. There are some guys in class with really amazing Quirks. Like Bakugo, like Endeavour's son, or like that girl you couldn't keep your eyes off her chest when we were at the gym. I have to get stronger much faster or I'll be left behind."

Izuku's face instantly became beet-red.

"W-What are you talking about?!"

Naruto snickered like a hyena.

"Oh you know, that girl with big breasts. A real set of badonkers. Packing some serious-"

"S-Shut up!" he yelled amidst Naruto's laughter. He was mortified with embarrassment. "I'm going home!"

"Wait, wait, sheesh. I was joking."

"It wasn't funny," Izuku mumbled, his face still red. "I wasn't even looking at her, she wasn't the prettiest one-" Realizing that he had thought out loud, he suddenly became as silent as a grave.

"Hoho," Naruto chuckled. "I'm surprised you think she wasn't the prettiest. Yaoyorozu is the most popular girl among all freshmen, you know? Hm, let me guess, you liked the pink-haired girl more? Hmm...it doesn't look like it, oh wow, now you really took me by surprise. You think Kyoka was the prettiest? The girl with the long ears?"

Izuku shrugged his shoulders, trying to appear nonchalant but his burning face and red ears did not help his case.

"Relax, man, I'm not making fun of you. Kyoka is pretty cute, I agree. Do you want me to introduce you to her?"

Izuku suddenly waved his hands in front of his face in alarm.

"No! No!" he yelled, blushing anew.

"Eh? Why not? If you like a girl, why not let her know how you feel?"

Naruto had never been shy about telling someone what he felt about them. Quite the opposite, especially in his past life, he had been outspoken about his feelings to the point where he had been obnoxious.

"I just met her today, and I just thought she was pretty, that's all," he mumbled. "That doesn't mean I want to start anything. Besides, I don't have time for girls and relationships. I have to train to catch up with everyone because I am quirkless. I need to study as well because if I want to transfer to the Hero course, I need not only strength but good grades as well. I have to get a teacher's recommendation too and I need to make a good impression at the upcoming fight competition. Besides that-"

"I get it, I get it!" Naruto yelled to stop him from his crazed muttering. Even after all this time, Izuku had not changed that habit of his.

Stopping fooling around, Naruto said seriously:

"Don't slack off, man. You need to remember that you're not the only one that works hard. People with decent quirks are working hard too or even harder. You have to give 100% of yourself. No, 120% of yourself if you want to bridge the gap between you and the likes of Bakugo. He has always been your goal, hasn't he?"

Izuku nodded with conviction.

"I used to admire him, yes. But for a while now, my target has changed. It's not Kacchan that I want to surpass anymore... My target is you, Naruto."

Naruto did not laugh, nor did he scoff at the boy's words. Instead, he grinned at him confidently and raised his fist in front of him.

"I trust you. But don't think I'll be waiting for you to catch up. I will keep on moving ahead. Whether you catch up to me and surpass me or not, it all depends on your effort. Work hard, Izuku."

The boys bumped their fists together and grinned at each other for a moment. Then, they went their separate ways.

AN: This chapter was about showing Izuku's progress and tying up the training arc. From now on, Naruto will focus much less on Izuku and more on himself and on developing his Quirk. After all, he can't babysit him forever. The plot will start moving again after this chapter.

Until next time!