Chapter 5

Things were quiet for the moment, with Hokage outside somewhere and Naruto returning to his so-called 'duties' after breakfast, leaving Bakugo alone. Breakfast had been a short affair, consisting of a cobbled together mess of meat, grains, and vegetables; overall it was decent but Bakugo knew he could have made something better. Preferably with a lot more spice.

He had not been given anything to do but he was feeling close to 100% following the meal, so changed back into his hero costume and decided to do a light workout while he waited. The room was small but open so he had plenty of space to just do some push-ups and sit-ups.

As he started the workout, he considered his situation. Everyone in his class was doing 'hero internships' at the moment; what were the chances that anyone else was going to get as much real training as he was? He didn't know or really care where anyone else went off to but it was definitely more probable they were patrolling for purse-snatchers and learning how to do paperwork than sparring against someone who should be considered a Top 5 hero, at least according to that damn Deku. A scowl formed as his body unconsciously continued the tedious exercise. That nerd was probably getting special training from All-Might himself to try to find some way to not break every bone in his body in every fight.

Bakugo unconsciously increased the pace of his workout. Just the thought of that damn nerd pissed him off.

It seemed unlikely that most of his classmates besides… Deku… would be improving much in combat during this little week, which really was not much of a surprise considering everyone else's total lack of a spine. Maybe Icy-Hot would be training too; Endeavor probably didn't have to worry too much about the boring parts of the job. Number two hero would probably have people to take care of that shit. Of course it would be his main competition… damn, no, hell no, he was not about to start thinking like that. He was going to stay ahead of those idiots no matter what. As if some damn nerd and a loser with daddy issues were going to be able to outdo him.

"Wow Bakkun, you even scowl when you're doing sit-ups? That's something else!"

Well there went the peace and quiet.

"Don't you have something else to do, moron?"

The bright blond just smiled widely, a look of mischief in his eyes. "Yeah… hehe." The idiot rubbed the back of his neck. "But that's boring!"

Bakugo simply continued to do the simple exercise, ignoring the nuisance's presence. As usual, it was ineffective at keeping the guy quiet.

"Aren't you going to ask me what my duties are? Oh man, they're so boring Bakkun!"

"Why in the hell do you think I'd care!?"

"Such a jerk Bakkun. Ya know, I used to think that I had good taste in friends. But you're a real downer."

"We are not friends!" Bakugo had already pretty much confirmed that the idiot's quirk was Chakra, but it was becoming clear that the moron had two quirks: Chakra and one that caused migraines to any unfortunate enough to be in his presence. Maybe it was written down in the government's files as 'Rampant Stupidity.'

"Of course we are; only friends have sleepovers, right?"

Bakugo paused, staring momentarily, contemplating if it were possible for someone to be so dumb. He was met by the sound of raucous laughter, groaning as he continued the sit-ups. "Oh man, Bakkun, that reaction was hilarious. I was just messing around. Why do you have to be so uptight anyway?"

"Why are you so stupid!" he growled back, on instinct.

"Honestly, if you got to know me Bakkun, I think you might change your mind!"

"Not a damn chance."

"Tell you what... I'll tell you my super secret duties. Are you ready? After breakfast, I had to go outside. You know what I did?"

Bakugo was somewhat confused, not expecting to actually be told what the hell the moron was up to.

Naruto continued. "I tended the garden!"

"I don't care!" He did note, however, a total lack of dirt on the moron.

"Haha, you should've seen your face Bakkun! You were expecting something interesting but I was just doing some work with plants. Ya know, I used to have my own little plant way back when. His name was Mr. Ukki. Or, well, its name I guess huh?"

"How about you get back to gardening?"

"Well, I never get any company so I'd rather hang out with you honestly."

"I am NOT your company, you stupid bastard." He was here to have fights with a guy who was obviously one of the strongest heroes, based on what Bakugo had seen thus far. If he were here to be an idiot's company, he'd have blown some shit up and flew the hell away by now.

"Okay fine, sheesh, I don't know why you're so grouchy, Bakkun. But I bet I know something that could lift your mood. Let's get out of this stuffy place."

"Hell no! I'm warming up here until it's time for my rematch!"

"Trust me Bakkun!" Before Bakugo even had time to tell the guy off, the older blond had grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet and out the door in a matter of seconds. Bakugo was actually surprised by this. The first time they met, the guy had pulled him out of his seat and down the street but this time it was a little different: he had resisted, at least slightly. There hadn't been any real indications before but Naruto must be at least physically strong; the grip on his forearm was not even tight and yet he had been dragged so easily.

Regardless, he batted away the arm with a scowl on his face; surprisingly, the idiot actually let go. Bakugo found himself following the guy through the forest anyway; why the hell he didn't just turn around he didn't even know.

"Do you even know where you're going?"

"Be quiet Bakkun. We have to be stealthy, like ninja!"

Bakugo rolled his eyes. It seemed out of the question that the loud idiot could ever be quiet like a damn ninja. Somewhat to his surprise, however, Naruto did stay silent as they continued moving through the woods, setting a fast pace while effortlessly avoiding trees, limbs, and roots.

Bakugo was surprised by the ease of Naruto's movements but was too busy trying to keep up without using explosions to make anything of them. This was so stupid; why the hell was he following some moron into the forest? It wouldn't even surprise him if the idiot got lost, damn it!

Suddenly Naruto stopped, kneeling behind a bush and peering over it at something.

It was slightly annoying to follow the idiot's lead even further but the guy did at least seem somewhat serious for a change so perhaps that explained Bakugo's willingness to go along for now. Crouching, he approached and heard for the first time the clanging of metal from somewhere past the line of bushes.

He looked over and saw now that there were two Hokages standing in a rather small clearing, staring at each other with something in their hands. He remembered now: those were kunai. Old farmers' tools and occasional ninja weapons. They both had one in each hand. The moron had tried to murder Masked Man with it.

"Why did you drag me here?" Bakugo asked, not knowing what he had expected but still somewhat disappointed. He could have been preparing himself for his next match instead of being here. But no, some idiots obviously didn't appreciate things like training. He wished he knew why the hell there was some kind of universal conspiracy among morons to waste his time.

"So you could watch, duh. The more information you have, the better you'll handle fights Bakkun."

Bakugo scoffed at that idea. "I'm not one of those stupid groupies, stalking heroes just so..."

"Here it goes, watch!"

Seething at being interrupted, he noticed no indications in the Hokages that anything had changed. And then, abruptly, one of them gave a slight flick of the wrist and sent the weapon flying at an insane speed toward his opponent. Then the other responded with a quick movement of his own, and in the next second metal clanged as the two kunai struck in midair and dropped to the ground.

Had the second kunai actually hit the first in the air, at that speed? The answer was obviously yes. The action repeated, with the second kunai again managing to hit the first even as it went in a different direction at a different speed and a different height. The weapon did not even manage to get very far. What the hell kind of reflexes...

"Like what you see?" There was that broad, cheeky grin that made Bakugo's skin crawl with a desire to blow it up.

"Just some stupid training routine."

"Tell me something: which one is the original?"

Bakugo rolled his eyes. "I am not that damn nerd; I don't care about analyzing their quirks or any of that stupid shit. The only thing that matters to me is my training and my quirk."

Naruto looked straight at him; it was a fierce, piercing gaze and the slightest hint of a scowl adorned the guy's features. Those blue eyes had lost all trace of that idiotic air and seemed to contain a confident strength that somehow looked both foreign and natural. It caught Bakugo by surprise.

"Quit lying to me, Bakkun."

What the hell? Where had that come from all of a sudden? He was blindsided by that sudden change of expression on Naruto's face and caught further off guard by the serious, somewhat demanding tone of voice. Was the consistently moronic Naruto an act? Or was this Naruto an act? What the hell was going on?

"Which one is the real Hokage?" The repeat question brought Bakugo back to his senses, and he scowled as he contemplated answering it.

"That one," Bakugo said, reluctantly, pointing to the Hokage closest to them. It only made sense that that was the real Hokage because he'd been the second one to throw the kunai. Clearly Hokage was training his reflexes by having a clone throw kunai randomly while the hero attempted to hit them swiftly out of the air.

"Now was that so hard?" Naruto's voice was back to that happy-go-lucky carefree tone. "Don't be such a grump okay Bakkun? I hate having to be so serious."

He didn't know what, but there was definitely something going on here in Konoha. He realized, for all of the idiot's ceaseless chatter, the guy was a mystery. Last name, birthplace, name of high school? Hadn't mentioned it. Names of those annoying friends? Nope, except Lee, which was hardly much of an identifier. He didn't even know what Naruto was doing with Hokage, although if he had to guess, it was some kind of training. But there was clearly a confident strength somewhere under his idiocy, so maybe the guy was a sidekick? Although Deku hadn't mentioned Hokage having a sidekick, Hokage did mention Naruto having duties so maybe those kept the blond busy? They both seemed to use that chakra stuff, so that much made sense.

But then what was the real reason Bakugo was here? It's not like he had chakra or anything. Had Hokage ever really given a reason?

'But, unless something changes, it is a simple fact that you will not have time to fully develop before you face villains again.'

He supposed that was a reason, albeit one without any damn explanation behind it. Like, how Hokage could be so certain of it when UA was upping security. Thinking on it, a more underground hero, who kept so many secrets, and did not do public patrol or make his base of operations known, would need to have a pretty good intel network to actually be effective. But why attack UA or UA students again?

'D-did you say that Midoriya was quirkless before high school? Are you sure?'

And why the hell did that come to his mind?

"Oh, watch this Bakkun!"

Bakugo broke out of his trance. Fuck, he was thinking too much again. He shouldn't even be allowing himself to think about this shit; after all, he was not going to even be around this place after the interning week was over.

But he couldn't ignore it anymore. Especially not when Naruto had seemingly thrown down a challenge to figure it out. Unfortunately, by letting himself finally think about all the mysteries around him, he had gone along with the idiot's advice. There was no way was he going to let the moron in on it though, especially not before he figured out what the hell was actually going on with that guy. Bakugo wondered if Hokage was complicit in Naruto's challenge. There was no way of knowing, although there did seem to be some disagreement between the two.

The clone suddenly dissolved, and Hokage threw his hands up in front of his body before ten more clones appeared all around him. Without a single audible word the ten copies spread into a uniform circle surrounding their creator, simply standing there for a second before commencing a simultaneous attack.

Bakugo kept his eyes focused on the real Hokage, watching as the man jumped above a leg sweep while blocking a punch with each hand. The masked hero landed a split-second later, before immediately jumping to the left and dodging an attack from behind. The small horde of clones were relentless, resuming the attack immediately from every angle.

It was obvious that Hokage retained an advantage in speed over the clones. Still, the constant attacks forced him on the defensive. Bakugo averted his attention to the clones. They did not seem to be much less capable than their creator so they should have been able to land a hit, especially with their numbers.

As they continued, he started to notice that they were disjointed, and displayed minimal amounts of teamwork. Before he could process that further, Hokage caught one clone's arm and threw it harshly against another, both disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

In that moment of surprise, the original struck out. After being on the defensive the entire time, Hokage began lashing out with punches and kicks that forced the attackers to back off. The clones separated into smaller groups as they dodged, and Hokage launched himself at the group furthest away.

Suddenly the man's speed went from 'fast' to 'holy shit' and Bakugo felt certain this must be the guy's full speed. Hokage rushed between groups, dispatching overwhelmed clones like they were nothing. It was like watching All-Might fight purse snatchers.

Bakugo may not have known that much about shadow clones, but he felt certain they would be fully familiar with the hero's fighting style. Was there that much of a difference between the clones and the real deal? Gritting his teeth, he realized fighting the real Hokage would require him to pull out every trick he had. The guy's speed and close combat were very good, and Bakugo still had little idea about more chakra abilities.

With only one clone left, Hokage seized the advantage quickly and slipped under a punch to get behind his last remaining opponent. The hero reared his right arm back and without warning a blue spinning orb appeared in his hand. The second it made contact with the clone's back, the clone burst into smoke while the orb exploded in a blinding flare of blue.

Just like that the fight was over. Bakugo looked over at Naruto, but the moron's face was a blank-slate even after that showcase.

Moments later, he heard a voice from behind him. "I always do better with an audience."

Bakugo turned and came face-to-mask with Hokage. A quick look back toward the field revealed no sign of the hero there. How did the guy get here so fast? Bakugo hadn't even heard any movement so how the hell?

"I'm glad that you're so eager, Bakugo-san," Hokage continued. "Somehow I figured you would not take much time resting."

"Of course not. Damn clone got one lucky shot in and that's it. I'm gonna kill the thing this time." Disgust rose in him as he thought back to that final kick he received. There was absolutely no way that was going to happen again.

"That final technique, the blue orb? It's called the Rasengan. I know a clone impact doesn't do it justice but that technique has taken down many villains." The man's voice deviated ever so slightly from its usual evenness, becoming a little bit upbeat. Bakugo felt pretty sure the guy was having some kind of flashback to all those mentioned fights.

"Won't making all those clones drain your chakra?" Bakugo didn't want to get robbed of a proper fight and it only seemed logical that using techniques like that and the... Rasengan... could deplete a limited supply.

The idiot chimed in. "It would take a lot more than that for Hokage to even dip into his reserve, believe it!"

"Naruto's correct," Hokage said, tone once again even. "I need to be ready to respond immediately in an emergency so I do lighter training throughout the day, with a short period of heavy training around dusk. The strongest villains tend to strike in the day-time since they'll want to be seen and probably have an agenda to spread. Or if they're covert it's so late in the night that I've already recovered."

Seemingly trusting; telling him something that seemed important but with no hint of the most critical part: how Hokage was informed of such emergencies. Bakugo didn't know why it bothered him, considering it made perfect sense. But it'd be stupid to worry about that kind of nonsense right now when there was a fight looming that he was absolutely going to win.

"Whatever. Just let me blow this damn clone straight to Hell!" At this point, that familiar desire for a fight was taking over, pushing everything else to the background where it belonged.

"Very well. I suppose you should be fully recovered." Without any further waiting, Hokage created another shadow clone. Bakugo couldn't stop himself from eyeing his opponent with a scowl on his face. The sting of his defeat, capped off with an embarrassing knockout, was fresh and now that his opponent was here his eagerness to destroy the creation only increased. "This clearing should do fine, if you're both ready to start."

Bakugo nodded his head as the clone did the same. He walked into the edge of the clearing as the clone jumped to the other side. He quickly flicked his neck left then right, popping it, while cracking his knuckles. Crouching into a sprinter's stance, right knee down with his left leg outstretched behind him, his hands dug into the ground on either side. Briefly, a thought occurred to Bakugo. He felt damn good.

"Begin."

Explosions ripped through the air as Bakugo launched himself toward the clone, grinning ear-to-ear with the anticipation of destroying his opponent. He led with a right hook, which the clone dodged easily by leaning back. The clone followed with a motion for a left-handed uppercut, but Bakugo opened his right palm outward, an explosion immediately forming.

The clone quickly dodged left, but having anticipated that, the momentum from the explosion spun Bakugo around and he extended a leg to land a kick. The clone ducked under it but Bakugo launched another explosion from his hands where his opponent was still crouched. It jumped back, narrowly avoiding the attack, as Bakugo himself was launched backwards from the force. He landed a few feet away, grinning. His victory was imminent, he could feel it.

"A much more impressive opening this time, Bakugo-san," the clone said, surprising him. The last one had only talked during the knock-down countdown. "I think I'll have some fun. This is exciting." The clone's voice was fully upbeat, making it sound very different than Hokage's normal one. And yet, oddly familiar.

Suddenly, it launched itself at Bakugo, who had only a second to dodge to the side. He briefly wondered how the thing was suddenly faster but couldn't let that distract him. He immediately exploded the area where the Hokage clone landed but it had barely touched the ground before jumping backward before the explosion could hit.

Bakugo growled and pursued. He couldn't let it regroup. He was in control of this fight and would finish it before the clone used any tricks. Another forward explosion was dodged but this time the clone jumped right at him afterward.

Remembering how careless these clones could be, Bakugo was ready for the suicidal move. He extended a knee forward but it was blocked by the clone. He threw a left hook but it was dodged with a sudden head movement. At the same instant, he brought his right hand almost to the clone's stomach.

"DIE!" Bakugo felt all contact from the clone cease a split second before a large explosion ripped through the air. He waited out the smoke and dust to see if his attack had connected but that hope died when he saw the clone standing far off to the left of the blast.

"Oh man, that was close," it said, wiping the dust from its outfit. Bakugo knew he had gotten close to ending it twice now, and now his sweat was really starting to pick up. His explosions should be faster than Hokage's reactions. "You know, Bakugo, I don't think this fight will last an hour at this rate."

Bakugo glared at the clone, wondering what kind of game it could be playing. It simply continued talking. "So, I'll give you an ultimatum. Either you beat me in five minutes, or..."

"Or what?" He was angry that his revenge fight was being put on hold for more qualifying conditions.

"Or I'll run out of chakra and you'll win by default."

"The hell kind of ultimatum is that? Either I win or you lose."

"Exactly. Either you win by defeating me... or I lose. And you won't have landed a single hit. I know you wouldn't be satisfied winning like that. I know I wouldn't be."

"Fine; whatever." Bakugo was ready to get the fight back on. At this point, he was sweating quite a bit so he had plenty of material to use.

The clone charged at him, but he did nothing but smile. With a sweep of his hand, a large explosion ripped through the ground directly in front of him, smoke and dust filling the air. Knowing the clone's path, Bakugo jumped directly at it without using an explosion. There was an absolutely vicious smile on his face as he appeared in front of the clone; he wished he could have seen the look on its face but that stupid kitsune mask made it impossible.

"Good riddance!" He threw a right hook while the clone was still mid-air. His fist made contact and sent the clone spinning through the air before bursting into a cloud of smoke.

But before he could contemplate his victory, he felt a fist to his gut. The air surged out of his lungs as he doubled over in shock, still mid-air. Then three feet kicked him simultaneously, launching him into the air. Had the clone made clones? He couldn't orient himself and was helpless when another hard kick made contact with his back and sent him barreling into the ground.

He landed with a bone-jarring thud, but was too fired up to feel pain or defeat. He felt only rage.

With a swell of angry energy, Bakugo hurtled his body from the ground and used a small explosion to get higher in the air. He immediately threw out his right hand, using the explosion from it to get himself spinning. As quickly as he could, he started rotating like a psychotic spinning top, firing off explosions in every direction.

His arms quaked with resistance to the onslaught but Bakugo pushed himself further anyway, forcing more powerful blasts. After he lost the ability to make the explosions any bigger, Bakugo finally stopped and landed on his feet, breathing heavily with his arms sorely aching from the intense attack. He figured it had maybe only been twenty seconds.

He looked around, unable to find an opponent, but he crouched into a fighting stance again anyway, unwilling to get hit by another surprise.

"WOW Bakkun! That was awesome!" He looked to see the too-familiar idiot approaching him and, figuring that not even that moron would interfere in his training fight, allowed himself to let his arms dangle by his side and relax.

"Yes, it was impressive." The real Hokage appeared suddenly beside him. How in the... "While you were worn out during the prior fight, I still think it was clear from what I've seen of all three fights that you have already improved a bit in your stay." Bakugo's eyes narrowed quickly, looking at the hero. Three fights? "You shall rest for six hours and we will do a different, less-intensive exercise in the evening. Around noon tomorrow you will fight a 30% clone."

Looked like he'd done so damn well that he'd skipped right over the 20% clone; that was good. He wanted the chance to face-off against the real Hokage as soon as possible.

Then the idiot spoke up again."Who cares about all that? What do you call that move of yours, anyway?"

Bakugo smirked, red eyes filled with a sudden vibrance that made it clear to all the world what a badass he knew he was. "Crowd Control."


beta read by: the road I know

A/N: Hey everyone. Suppose I owe some apologies. Apologies for the hiatus. I threw out three chapters to this story because I didn't like where they were leading. That's 13k words down the drain; useless. I AM writing more than at any other point in my life, it's just not all focused on this. Although, with MHA season 4 getting near, I can't keep my energy away from MHA. If you ever want to know the priority of my story-writing, all you have to do is check my profile.

Anyway, I picked up a beta-reader. The prior four chapters have all been edited; the essential story content, however, is all the same. In my opinion, each chapter is undoubtedly better to read. I am incredibly happy when I re-read this story, and I don't feel that things like my original humor have been lost at all.

Thank you all for reading. Please feel free to follow, favorite, and/or review.