CHAPTER 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Boku no hero academia. It belongs to their respective creators!
A blonde boy wearing a white hoodie and blue jeans with black shoes, was holding a package on one hand and a skateboard on the other. He was walking through the white corridor, past several people. Some people were wearing facemasks, some were just standing around, some were wearing white lab coats and some ladies wore pink nurse uniforms.
"I hate this place, it reeks of death!" the boy muttered to himself as he walked past a few doors, with his destination in mind. He stopped in front of a specific room. Quietly pushing open the door, he walked inside to see a bunch of patients' beds lined up in an orderly fashion. He continued to walk by them, some patients glancing his way or waving at him happily. He simply replied with nods and continued his walking until he came in front of a certain bed and stopped.
"Wake up Mizutani-san. I brought what you requested of Me." boy whined, indicating his boredom.
In front of him lay an old man in his sixties; he was 5'6 tall with lots of wrinkles on his face, and garbed in blue pajamas that all the patients wore.
"Please don't make me do this again," He slowly muttered to himself, mildly annoyed. Seeing no reaction from the old man in front of him, he grabbed one of the pillows from an unkempt bed and slowly walked over to him.
"I'm going to count to 3, after that I will smother you with this pillow until you're dead!" He warned the old man. Mizutani-san twitched a little. Although it was very subtle, he could tell the old man was awake.
Other patients were smiling as they watched the confrontation with amusement. This was a common sight here.
Seeing he got no response, he quickly brought the pillow in front of Mizutani san's face and smothered him without counting. He applied more pressure as if to actually kill him.
"AAHHH, Wait! You damn brat! Do you want to kill me!? "Thrashing around, the old-man quickly sat up startled.
"Please stop doing these childish things, it's unbecoming of your age!" After placing the package paper on the table beside Mizutani's bed, the boy sat on a chair from a nearby bed and placed his skateboard with him.
"I'm being childish?! Brat, you're the childish one! You said you would count to 3 before trying to kill me!" The old man exploded in anger.
"Ah~ Mizutani-san but he's right. You're the childish one here!" One of the patients called out.
"Yeah! Watching you and your grandson makes me wonder who the older one is between you two!" Another spoke.
"But you know, you and Naruto-kun and make great comedic duo!" someone joked
"W-Wah, Brat? My g-grandson? D-Do we really look like G-Grandfather and G-Gr-Grandson? It's not like that makes me happy or anything!" The old man in front stuttered for a second stubbornly.
"Ah,l yes, I sometimes forget that you guys aren't actually blood relatives. I'm sorry if that offends you!" One of the ladies laughed from her bed.
"W-Well I d-don't really mind, if the brat insists on calling me g-grandpa then I won't be so heartless and refuse him, you know." Mizutani humped and looked away. He looked from the corner of his eyes for the reaction of the boy but got none.
'Tsundere,' rang inside everyone's mind including the blonde boy who was watching the interaction.
"I brought what you asked of me Mizutani-san, if you don't need anything else, I'm going to excuse myself!" He stood up from his seat to leave.
"W-Wait you damn brat!" Old man hurriedly called out. He wanted to spend some more time with him.
"What is it Mizutani-san?" He simply asked.
"I-umm, well- ha! Yeah! Did you do what I asked of you?!" After trying to find some excuse, he asked.
"Yes, everything just as you instructed me over the phone."
"Well and what about inside?"
"Do you want me to tell everyone present here about that?"
"N-No of course not!"
"Well I did everything just as you instructed" he put more emphasis on instructions.
"….Um so why don't you tell me how is everyone doing back home?" he tried to find more topics to make him stay.
"Everyone is doing just okay. Obaa-san is running shop as usual. Akito, Kei, I and help her sometimes so everything is as fine, like I just you yesterday!" he replied without missing a beat.
"A-Ah I see- Wait! O-Obaa-san? You call her obaa-san and me, Mizutani-san? What kind of discrimination is this? Well not like I want you to call me J-Ji chan or anything! But isn't that kind of unfair to address us differently?" Mizutani shot him glare.
Naruto sighed at the Tsundere attitude of the old man "Alright if that's what you want, I will address you guys the same way, is that okay?" he asked with exasperation.
"Well let me hear you say it then!"
"Alright I'm off Mizutani-san!" Naruto waved at him and walked out of the door.
"W-What? Mizutani? Then that means he will call Yui by her name too! Oh no, I'm dead if she finds out I'm the reason for that!" Mizutani fearfully muttered to himself. He was hoping for brat to call him Grandpa or at least Ji-chan.
Grumbling to himself he picked up his package from the table near his bed, he put his hand inside the bag and pulled out a book.
"Ah! Mizutani-san, that's Outlander by Gabaldon, right? That's a great book! Do you usually read romantic novels?"
"Ha? R-Romantic novel?….Ah yeah I do read these kinds of books from time to time!" Mizutani replied to one of the younger patients, he opened the book, inside of that there was another book fitted into it after making the cavity inside the book's page to fit it.
"I have heard of that book too! Mizutani Can you lend it to me after you finish reading it? I always wanted to read that book for a long time but never got the chance!" Another young man answered.
"H-Huh…um…Okay sure!' Mizutani replied uneasily.
It was actually an erotic novel book fitted inside the famous romantic novel, so no one would suspect him of reading smut in public.
"By the way Mizutani-san, I thought he was your grandson too! What's up with that?" one of the patients asked.
"Oi! Don't go asking about personal stuff like that!" Someone else reprimanded him.
"It's no big deal! Yeah, he's not my grandson, I found him 3 years ago when he was washed ashore near the ocean. He was really weak at the time and had nowhere else to go so we adopted him!" Mizutani answered the question.
"Washed ashore? Means…,"
"Yeah! He told us he's an orphan and got no parents, so we took him up with our other grandkids." MIzutani sadly answered the question.
Everyone present looked a little sad, when one old lady looked towards him "Is that why you want him to call you grandpa so much?" she looked at him sympathetically
"Huh? O-Of course! I want him to think he has a family, so it's not like I really want him to call me grandpa or anything like that for my own s-satisfaction. So, don't get the wrong idea okay?" He hotly defended himself.
'Tsundere!' thought everyone present with a sweat drop.
After walking a slight distance away from the hospital, he placed his skateboard on the ground and hopped on the skateboard.
"He's such a pain!" He muttered to himself. He had to come see Mizutani every day because the old man always found some kind of excuse for Naruto to visit the hospital since he got admitted last week when he fell off the stairs of their house. He would have refused to visit him everyday like that, but he didn't want to worry Yui-obaa-chan, so he visited him almost everyday.
He was 13 years old. In the upcoming months he will graduate middle school and will enroll in some normal plain high school.
He was quietly and quickly skating between heavy pedestals of peoples going their own way without so much as touching them. As he was skating, he saw the pedestal was crowded in one area, people were rushing to get to the center of crowd and the cause was –
A hero!
"Bunch of idiots!" Naruto clicked his tongue and decided to take a short cut to the alleyway.
Seeing a staircase, he kicked the ground with one leg repeatedly to speed up the skateboard. When he got near the stairs, he lightly kicked the back of the board to make it bounce, jumping along with it.
He maintained his speed to normal after landing on plain ground. Suddenly, he heard a shrill pitch.
"HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!"
It was the voice of a woman coming from a narrowed alleyway between two tall buildings. He slowed down and went towards the source of voice to hear the commotion.
"Shut up, bitch! Or do you want us to kill you and your boyfriend!?" a rough voice of man spoke angrily.
"I say we fuck her! That will make her shut up for good!" one of the other goons spoke. Naruto could imagine the sick look on his face as he said.
"That's a good idea!"
"Wait, we will give you money, just please don't hurt her!" That man was probably the girl's boyfriend.
"Quickly cough up all of your money and jewelry!"
"Okay! Here take everything!" The man quickly handed him everything.
"W-Wait what are you doing? Let's call some heroes, they will handle these pathetic excuses of society's trash!" However, the woman still determined to oppose the goons.
"What did you say? You bitch!" One of the other goons grabbed her hair.
"Agh! Let go, you fucker!" The woman tried to fight him by constantly beating him with her fist. Unfortunately, it had little to no effect.
"Shut up!"
Slap
He slapped her and snatched her bag and jewelry. Her boyfriend tried to fight them off, but they simply outnumbered him.
Naruto watched the whole confrontation with a bored look on his face behind a dumpster. He saw one of the goons grab her hand to pull her towards a darker part of the alley, all the while the woman was screaming for help and her boyfriend was getting beat up beside her.
"Let her go!" Her boyfriend tried to fight them and nearly succeeded in beating two of them but one of the goons had a quirk that turned his body into a slime-like abomination.. He took the punch and sucker punched the boyfriend.
Meanwhile, the woman was also trying to fight her captive who was still pulling her towards the darker and quieter part of the alley.
It wasn't hard to imagine what that goon's intention was.
"Well that got nothing to do with me anyway." Naruto stopped watching the confrontation from behind the dumpster and paddled his skateboard out of the soon to be crime scene.
Helping them would create needless problems for him and would make him stand out.
And he didn't want to stand out.
Besides, he was sure that the man following him would save them.
[Next day]
Naruto was walking back from the hospital after visiting the old man yet again, but this time he doesn't have his skateboard. He was simply walking back home, school ended early today. In a few days, he would graduate middle school and enroll into high school. Preferably, he would enroll into the boring high school near his house. He walked towards the general store to buy some groceries and ingredients as instructed by Yui-obaa-san.
It was a quiet and simple kind of store, where not many people would shop from. In today's era, the shop with multiple facilities and better equipment, cool designs and decorative type of shop are favored positively while shops like this one are ignored.
That is why this is the most ideal type of shop for him.
Just as he opened the door, he was slammed into the running figure of a big muscular man with a big bag in his hands.
"Get off!" the muscular man pushed him away with considerable force. Naruto fell on the ground as he ran past him.
"Someone stop him! He's shoplifting!" the store owner cried out at his running figure. The shopkeeper ran off to see where he ran off to.
"Tch! I had enough of these thieving bastards! That's it! From tomorrow onwards, I'm installing CCTV in every single corner of my store! They think just because I don't have any cameras they can steal whatever they want!" the shopkeeper angrily cursed and went inside the store.
Naruto watched the whole confrontation silently as he lifted himself from the ground. He patted his clothes to get the dust out of his pants.
"Looks like I have to find a new place to shop now!" The blonde muttered to himself with an exasperated sigh.
Nah! It would be way too much of a hassle to do that; it took him weeks to find this one. Who knew how long it would take for him to find a similar store.
[1 hour later]
He brought all the items mentioned in the list. It wasn't as much as usual but it wasn't a small list either. Both of his hands were full with a bunch of reusable cloth bags. However he had no problem carrying them.
People were walking on the sidewalk and he was walking right beside them, blending perfectly in the crowd
"Watch out! It's a dog!"
Someone screamed from the crowd. Naruto turned his neck towards the source of voice. It was the voice of a kid around his age pointing towards the road where a dog was trapped in the middle of the road, amidst the heavy traffic of speeding cars.
The dog was trying to get out of the heavy traffic road but he just couldn't do so. Whenever he tried to run out of road, he was blocked by incoming cars. It was making the dog nervous and was interfering with the dog's instincts to escape to safety.
Naruto turned his head towards the traffic light. He saw there was still 40 seconds left before the stoplight ended. So the dog's survival basically depended on its good luck or the off chance that a hero would come and save it? Whatever worked for the dog, Naruto supposed. He resumed his walk while the rest of onlookers watched the scene worryingly. Someone tried to press the red light button to stop the car but as if luck were playing a cruel joke on the dog, the buttons stopped working and had some type of malfunction.
"The buttons aren't working! Someone save him!" someone shouted from the crowd.
"Call a hero!"
"That's right let's call them!"
"But can they come before something happens to that poor puppy?"
Slowly, everyone began to voice their own opinion, but no one was willing to come forward to save him. It was an uproar over saving a small dog.
Crush
As if his luck ran out, a speeding car hit the dog as he hastily tried to cross the road. The dog was dragged a few good meters across the road, but the car owner didn't slow down, like he didn't care or didn't realize he had hit the dog with his car. Either way, he continued to speed his car. People cried out angrily at the owner of the car. The car just drove away like no tomorrow.
The light turned red, and the car stopped. People who were crying for the safety and justice of the dog suddenly went silent. No one came forward to hold the dead dog in their hands, no one came forward to pick him up from the road.
The dog was dead! The dog was covered in blood and his inside organs were in full display to the world. People averted their eyes from the horrendous scene before them.
Slowly everyone began to walk away, now that the dog was dead there was nothing they could do for him. The staff responsible for cleaning and maintaining the road would pick him up or maybe someone from the crowd will try to pick him up.
These were the thoughts running through their minds. They all had expected someone else to lend their helping hand to the dog; however, for most, their sense of justice ended with the voicing of their opinion. For most, it was a lot easier to voice their desires than to act upon them. People avoided the dog remains which lay on the road. Their gazes were cast downwards or elsewhere except for that scene.
"You were one of many unlucky dogs that's all," Naruto said to no one in particular. He began to walk away just like every pedestrian. Signals turned green, signaling the speeding of cars.
"H-Hey look, it's the puppy of that dog!" Again, someone cried out.
Apparently that pup went towards his dying mother/father just moments after its sudden death.
They could hear the whimpering and sad whine of a pup who was constantly poking his parents to make him wake up with no success.
"Oh my god! What's he doing here?!"
"Is he here for his parent?"
"It's so sad," A woman beside Naruto spoke with a quivering voice. Tears built up in her eyes seeing the scene t in front of her.
She wasn't alone, some people around him began to cry, while some were holding back their tears, and some people began to mutter amongst themselves in a mixture of worry and anger. "Where are heroes when you need them?"
"Tell me about it! It's making my blood boil. Because of them this puppy might die too!"
"I'm going to file a complaint against the hero who monitors this area!"
"Yeah! He better take responsibility for this!"
And just like that, one angry voice transformed into several angry voices. Their anger was a form of their guilt, which they were trying to shift towards blaming someone else.
And the target of their guilt was a hero!
These people who were practically worshipping and asking for heroes' autographs earlier were now asking for their head in the blink of an eye.
They should have known that no hero could be present everywhere at the same time. They just couldn't save everyone. No person could save everyone! Not even the No. 1 hero.
All Might!
But their anger and guilt prevented them from thinking rationally…These were the type of people who would eat the feeding hand if it meant they could save their own skin.
"…What did they ever see in this job?" Naruto muttered to himself.
Being a hero sucked!
Naruto quietly looked at the pup, who unlike his parents, wasn't panicking. He simply laid beside his dead parent, whimpering and crying in front of his dead parent as if asking them to wake up.
"…Idiot get out of there unless you want to die!" For some reason, he felt frustrated watching that pup as if he had given up on his life. "If you want to die so badly I won't stop you!" Naruto continued his walk without sparing a glance towards the soon-to-be-dead-pup.
So far, unlike his parent, the pup was lucky to not be hit by car or truck, but he was sure that pup would die before the signal turned red. The possibility of that pup coming out safe was small, about 15% if he had to put a number to it.
"Look that truck is driving in the same lane as that puppy!" The lady beside him shouted. And indeed a large, oncoming truck was in the same lane, a quickly shortening distance from the puppy. .
"Someone warn him! Warn the truck driver!" People began to shout towards the truck to stop, but the truck driver was either ignoring them and just plain wasn't listening at all.
"NO!" People covered their eyes or looked away from the horrific sight that was about to happen in front of them.
.
They waited to hear the same sound crunch and hurt voice of the puppy like his parents but instead of that sound there was silence and the sound of vehicles moving could be heard.
"H-Hey where did that puppy go?" Someone looked at where puppy was resting beside his dead parent, which led them to shout-
"Look, that dead dog isn't here too!"
Where before there were the remains of dead dogs, it was now clean except for dried blood on the road.
There was no sign or proof of those two dogs except for that blood.
"D-Did someone save that pup?"
"It must be one of those heroes!"
"I knew it! I told you they would rescue him"
"B-But how did they do that so quickly?"
"Does it matter? Puppy is safe, that's all that matters!"
"Y-Yeah, You're right!"
And just like that one voice of positive opinion changed the angered belief of the public in a matter of seconds.
Bunch of idiots!
He suddenly jerked his head towards the one of highest buildings in the area, he continuously looked towards one spot.
He narrowed his eyes
Naruto looked back towards the spot with dog blood. Turning around he walked away from the sight.
Only difference was his red colored cloth bag was slightly redder than usual.
"What am I doing? This is unlike me" Naruto quietly spoke to himself.
He patted the ground a few times to properly cover up any remains of the dead dog which was buried under the tree.
Whine
Naruto cast a glance at the small pup who was lying beside the corpse of his mother, occasionally making sad whines and whimpering from time to time.
Why did he even save him? Was it because he had given up on his life or maybe…
"You're one pathetic little mess aren't you?"
He saw the puppy looking at him and stood up. The pup drew near him and began to rub himself against his pants, as if asking him to stay with him for a bit longer.
"Go away! Your mother is dead, you're the only one who can save yourself now," Naruto bent towards the ground and picked up his grocery bags.
Whine
The puppy looked at him with sad eyes; he turned around to leave.
He walked some distance before he stopped.
"I told you, didn't I? You're on your own from now on!" He scowled a little towards the pup who kept following him.
"Why am I even talking to you? You're a dog! This is so stupid!" He shook his head at his own idiocy for trying to talk to a dog.
"Well then!" Naruto looked from the corner of his eyes towards the top of an apartment building nearby.
Looking down at pup he decided the best course of action would be to run away. The pup was small, even if he was fast enough by comparison to other puppies, he still wouldn't be able to catch up to him.
"Try to survive on your own!"
The pup tried to chase down the blond figure walking away, but as he tried to grab his legs, his body slipped right through him. And the blond figure suddenly disappeared from the view.
"I'm home!"
Chime
Naruto opened the door as the bell attached to the door rang indicating the entering of someone.
It was a small bakery and café for family and friends type of shop which was attached to the house owned by Haruki Mizutani and Yui Mizutani.
The house consists of a small number of family members, Haruki and Yui Mizutani with their two grandkids Akito and Kei Mizutani, twin siblings. Their parents died in a plane accident so they were living with their grandpa and grandma. Both twins were one year older than him, making him the youngest member of the house.
"Oh Naruto-chan you're back! You won't believe what just happened!" His obaa-san, Yui Mizutani cried out in shock. She quickly rushed over to him from the counter and grabbed his hand to pull him along with herself.
She was a typical old lady, with white hair and a wrinkled face, although she was pretty and energetic for her age.
"What's the matter Obaa-san? You looked pretty excited!" Naruto went along with her.
"You wouldn't believe it unless you saw it with your own eyes." She led him towards the door which separated the house from the shop and shoved him towards the living room.
"Okay I'll come along, just let me put down the groceries before showing me," He lightly pulled his sleeves out of her hand and placed the items on the counter.
"Hurry up! I can't wait!" She shook him in a frenzy.
After placing the items in their designated spot, he went along with her. But she was still pulling his sleeves as if what she wanted to show him would disappear if he didn't hurry up.
She slid open the door to the living room, there he saw what she wanted to show him.
"Kya! I still can't believe you're here!" A loud shriek rang throughout the house.
It was the voice of Kei Mizutani, his adoptive older sister, who was a freshman in nearby high school.
She had black hair styled in a ponytail, her face was slightly lean with lighter complex skin and she was considered to be an attractive girl by many. She was still wearing her high school uniform which consisted of a red jacket over a blue shirt and white skirt.
She was squealing and taking pictures while fangirling herself over the man responsible for all the commotion in his house. The man was sitting on the Kotetsu table eating the sweets made in their shop.
"Can you sign over my shirt too!?" She puffed her chest to show him where to sign.
"Kei-chan! Please don't disturb him, you are being annoying to our customer!" Yui called reprimand her, who was practically glued to their guest.
"It's nothing, don't worry about it Ma'am" The man waved off Yui's concerns. He flashed her a smile before his gaze landed on the blond.
"Ah you must the younger brother! Hello, nice to meet you, I'm Keigo Takami, you might know me as…."
"Wing hero: Hawks!" Naruto finished for him.
The man in front of him was a famous new rising hero, his popularity rising day by day due to his phenomenal records, powers and his good looks, which made him a rather famous topic amongst young ladies nowadays.
But what was he doing in their living room?.
"Ah, you must be questioning my presence here, right?" As if reading his mind, Hawks continued," To tell you the truth, I can't eat in a public place like this without being hounded by paparazzi and fans alike so I requested them to let me eat here inside with some peace, you don't mind do you?" Hawks gave him a smile.
Naruto gave him an indifferent look before he turned around to grab some stuff, and ignored him. "No, I don't, please enjoy your snacks." He bent down towards the drawer in the room to look for some things he needed for later that day
"Thank you" Hawks gave him a smile. He took a bite of sweet and sighed. "This food is really good Ma'am! One of my friends told me how good your café is, I have to make sure to thank him properly next time I see him."
"Kei, do you know where the fishing thread is?" Naruto asked as he kept looking.
"I don't know- Wait! Aren't you surprised? One of the top heroes is here! He's sitting in our living room" Kei looked shocked at the lack of enthusiasm in Naruto after seeing a famous hero.
"Not really," He bent towards another drawer to search for it.
Meanwhile, Yui smiled shyly at Hawks "Oh dear you are just being modest." In reality, she was really happy to be complimented by one of the top heroes. "No I'm serious, when Shisui told me about how good this place was I thought he was lying but I gotta say I was wrong!" Hawks gave her further showered her with a compliment.
Naruto slightly stiffened at the name, it was so subtle no one could tell, except for Hawks who saw him for a split second from the corner of his eyes, Naruto continued to look for it until he found it, and picking up the thread, he stuffed it inside his pocket.
"I'm off to bed! I feel a little sleepy today!" Naruto went towards his room upstairs, leaving everyone else in the living room. "Your grandson is rather modest isn't he?" Hawks said, who noticed that Naruto didn't even spare him a glance.
"...That's how he always acts, so it's nothing like that!" Yui looked towards Naruto's room then to their guest. "Well, I must go and tend to the shop now, if you need anything just ask Kei-chan." She gave him a small bow and left to attend the shop.
"I will," Hawked replied politely.
"Can you sign my shirt? Please," Just as Yui went out of the room, Kei asked again.
"Sure, but only if you tell me more about your little brother first!" Hawks who finished eating asked with a smile charming enough to melt any girl's heart.
"Why are you so interested in Naruto? He's a good guy but he's kind of like a hermit." Kei asked, wondering why a famous hero cared about Naruto. She had also been talking to him about Naruto before he came over.
"Well he looks interesting! That's all!"
"Yeah true! Some of my friends think he looks really mysterious and handsome too, like some sort of protagonist from manga with a dark past" Kei agreed with him. She remembered when one of her friends asked her to set up a date with him.
She didn't see any harm in telling him about her adopted younger brother.
After all he's a hero!
And it was only natural to trust a hero!
After eating the sweets and talking with Kei, Hawks furled his wings to fly away.
He was standing in the back door of the house so as to not attract attention from any nearby people.
"Thank you for the autograph!" Kei waved him goodbye with her hands around her signed shirt.
"Don't mention it! I might come again!" He waved back with a smile on his face. He lightly flapped his wings and flew towards the sky.
Just as he flew out of view, Kei went inside the house, he flew for minutes around the house before he called out.
"I know you are there!"
No response.
"I can sense you with my wings, you know." He spoke again, he turned his head towards the window veranda of the house roof.
"Sorry I just wanted to see what kind of hero you are!" Naruto said as he emerged out of the door. He looked at the flying hero with the same disinterested gaze.
"Is that why you were listening to our conversation as well"
"You guys were talking about me, so I got a little curious." He didn't deny eavesdropping on them. "Why are you interested in me?" Naruto asked with a tilted head and showed a little smile. "It's kind of embarrassing when a top hero goes around asking questions about a kid like me?"
"It's nothing really, I was just a little curious why you didn't react to me as everyone else," Hawks says nonchalantly as if mocking him. He smiled and gave a little salute to go off on his way.
"….Is that why you have been stalking me for the past few weeks?"
"What are you talking about?"
Hawks stopped dead in his tracks, he turned around to see the blond giving him the same small smile as before. But his eyes were icy cold. Looking at his eyes, Hawks felt a shiver go down on his spine.
"The fact that you have been tailing me everyday, a week ago I saw you in hospital while I was visiting Mizutani-san"
"It's just a coincidence! I was there to see my colleague".
"Then there was that incident where two cars collided with each other when I was going home after school, but the thing was most suspicious was that no one was harmed in that accident by some miraculous means, not even drivers, so is that coincidence too?"
"Maybe some other heroes present in scene who save them or maybe it was just their luck that they are safe"
"Yesterday you were present when that girl was about to be raped, but you didn't interfere because I was watching them but just as I left you saved the girl in the nick of time, then is that also a coincidence?
"At this point I'm not even sure what you are talking about!"
"And the fact you came here, this area doesn't come under your territory and I just confirm you haven't been seen patrolling your own area for almost a month." Naruto pulled out his phone to show him Hawks' fan base page which shows that some people were complaining no one has seen Hawks for the past few weeks.
"I have a lot of things to do other than entertaining my fanbase. Besides, I don't need to walk around showing my face, if I want to I can save anyone in my area by just standing in my office, I don't need to update such boring topics"
"So what would you say about this?!" Naruto fiddled with his phone and showed him the picture of Hawks standing in front of the same building as the one that stood before their house "I took this photo last Sunday, are you still going to feign ignorance?" He showed him the date on the phone just to solidify his evidence.
Naruto knew that he couldn't really stop him from tailing him as he was a hero, it would raise some undesired questions for him so he decided to confront him directly. Face-to-face
He was sure of the fact that Hawks was tailing him a long time ago and he even knew that if desired, he could get his hands on their home address through the hospital! So he decided to humor him a little bit.
"You're good!" Hawks clapped his hands as if to praise him, indirectly confirming his accusation.
Naruto didn't say anything but his smile dropped at his words "Why are you following me?" He asked without any kind of mirth in it.
"Mmh I wonder why?"
"…"
"Not gonna say anything?" Hawks flew near him as if to gouge his reaction, he decided to change the topic. "Those are some good people you got there," He commented, referring to his adopted family."…What do you want from me?" Naruto asked once again. He didn't want to play this hide and seek game with him, so he cut to the chase
"I want you to take a Hero course in high school!"
"I refuse, that's something that is for me to decide. "Naruto immediately declined him.
Anyone would when some stranger just barged into your place and made unreasonable demands.
"Thought you would say that," Apparently, the hero wasn't surprised with his answer.
"Why do you even want me to enter a hero course anyway?" Naruto asked, his curiosity piqued. He wanted to know the motive behind his words.
As if knowing his intention, Hawks gave a non-committed answer. "I don't know, maybe I asked you on a whim or maybe I thought it would be funny, who knows?"
"Well if that is all, then I will excuse myself, please don't stalk me anymore," Naruto said and turned around to leave but stopped dead in his tracks at the words uttered by Hawks.
"It's been a long time since we last met, Naruto Uzumaki."
Naruto turned his head to look at him in confusion "What are you talking about?"
"Well it's only natural you wouldn't know me," Hawks shrugged his shoulders. "You can change your surname but you can't change who you are."
Gears inside Naruto's head were beginning to move, as if searching for any kind of memory related to the existence called Keigo Takami; he was sure of his memory he had never seen this man in his life before ."If you're messing with me please stop!" He exclaimed angrily.
Despite saying that, there was a horrible feeling whelming inside his gut.
"I'm not messing around, you know what I'm talking about!"
"I think it's better if I leave anyway." Not wanting to be questioned any further, he opened the door of the ceiling.
The wise thing here would be to avoid any further contact with the winged hero in future. With that in mind, he left their conversation. But again, just like before, he stopped in his tracks when Hawks blurted,
"Paladin's eye."
Naruto froze for a second as his hand was on the knob of the door. He slowly turned his head towards Hawks, who bore a mocking smile or maybe that's just how he smiles all the time.
"It's terrifying isn't it? The prospect of some stranger knowing about your past!" As if to emphasize his taunts, Hawks flew around him in circles, savoring his reaction from every angle. He flew towards him and brought his lips near his ear and whispered, "I have been looking for you for years."
"Monster," he whispered near his ears as if to provoke him.
Naruto stood still but his eyes never left the figure of the wing hero, he didn't rise up to the provocation of the hero. "What do you want from me?" he asked again.
"It's quite simple, I just want to see you fall from your grace." The air of carefreeness and arrogance was gone, Hawks' eyes were like that of a predator.
Naruto's mind went into overdrive, he was sure he had never met this man in his life, but somehow he knew about him.
"Join U.A, I will even write a recommendation for you if you wish."
"And what if I refuse?"
"I will reveal your location to the party interested in you, you know the one I'm talking about." Hawks said without any hesitation. Then, Hawks smiled. "But then again, I'm sure you will make the right decision".
Hawks has his own reason to do what he's doing, which was unknown to the blonde but he can already guess the real objective.
"U.A is one of the most prestigious and famous schools. Even if I were to accept your offer, I would still be giving away my privacy, so I don't think there's any difference whether I accept this or not."
If he was shocked at the revelation, he didn't show it and spoke as he normally did.
"That's where you're wrong. U.A and I will back you up even if something were to happen, and you wouldn't want these people to be victims of your past do you?" He asked, referring to his surrogate family.
Naruto roughly grabbed his collar, with an angry snarl on his face. "You're a hero, aren't you!? Why are you doing this?" Heroes were supposed to be good guys who always walked on the path of moral and good conscience, but this hero was openly threatening him.
But deep down, he knew how rotten society really was and how there were also some rotten heroes out there.
Roughly freeing himself from blonde's grip, Hawks continued, "You already know about Shisui, don't you? He was my friend." Of course he knew about him, the fact Hawks mentioned his name when he was eating at their table was bothering him for a while but now it was confirmed! This guy knew about him through Shisui.
"So that's it, huh? You're using me as a scapegoat! Is that it?"
"Hey, you're smart!" As if mocking him, he took a jab at him with his sarcastic comment.
"You don't have to answer immediately, I'm not heartless. I will give you a day to come up with your answer."
"I wish it hadn't come to this," Naruto muttered to himself and he went through his pocket. He pulled out the fishing thread he had been searching for inside the living room.
Hawks' eyes widened as he jumped up in the air when Naruto's body slightly fizzled a little. He jerked his hand towards the sky and sent out the feather of his wings towards the empty space, but his wings passed through the empty space.
Hawks looked at the roof of the house to see Naruto standing in his place, it looked like he hadn't moved from his space at all.
But reality was far from different. Hawks raised his hand to block a strike for his head which was followed by a kick to his abdomen. He hadn't been able to block due to not being able to see his attacker.
Barely a second passed when Hawks felt the space around his body shift and suddenly he was slammed into the electric pole of the nearby building. Then, he felt it.
The thin layer of thread wrapped around his neck as he was slammed into the pole, which was held by Naruto whose body suddenly came into view, while the image of him standing on the roof of his house vanished in fizzled.
"You shouldn't have threatened me," Naruto whispered as he placed both his feet at a horizontal angle to the pole and pulled the thread around Hawks' neck whose back slammed into the opposite side of the pole. Naruto pulled the thread with all his might to quickly choke him to death.
Hawk desperately tried to free himself but to no avail. He tried to send his feathers towards Naruto. However, his body kept fizzling out of physical existence as feathers passed through him.
Hawks' vision blurred from being choking. Fortunately, he quickly formed the blade with his feathers and cut the wires around his neck.
It was enough to unbalance Naruto who fell towards the ground at the unexpected movement, but Naruto's body slightly fizzled and his body stopped as if he was levitating midair. A second passed and the image of his falling body disappeared and he was once again standing on the roof.
Seeing his chance, Hawks quickly flew towards the sky and hid behind the nearby building. He was desperately sucking in air and rubbed his neck where a thin line of red had formed. It seemed the blond drew out a thin layer of blood from his neck.
"He's seriously trying to kill me? He's really a monster!" Hawks, who was proud to call himself one of the fastest heroes in existence chuckled. The blond kid was way faster than him; if he had been a second later, he would have died.
He had been prepared to kill him since the moment he entered their home. It was an alarming prospect that a kid half his age was already aware that things would come to this and took necessary actions to reciprocate it.
'But if he thinks he's the only one who prepared ahead of time then he's wrong.' Even though the situation suddenly became dire, Hawks was enjoying it.
Naruto stood on the roof as he watched the numerous numbers of red feathers headed towards him at terrifying speed, as if to pierce every single part of him.
His muscles twitched with tension. Hawks told him before that he could sense him with his wings, meaning his quirk would be useless against him if he used it like he normally did.
But the fact remained that he was faster than every single feather coming his way. His existence again fizzled a bit, a feather passed by him, and he circled around to capture every single area to block his escape.
He tried to escape again but was cut off in his flight as some tatters appeared on his clothes. Apparently some feathers had managed to get inside his guard.
"You know I'm the worst match up against someone like you, my quirks counters yours." Hawks' voices resonated.
He knew about the blonde's Quirk before coming here. He was sure if it were someone else fighting the blond, they might have been dead by now. That fact that he was still alive was an incredible feat in itself.
Since he could detect any person with the help of his wings, even if they were invisible, in front of his quirk it would be useless. Similarly, the blonde's quirk came along in that category in a way.
"You know I also wish it hasn't come to this either." Naruto looked up to see Hawks flying overhead. "Before you decided to do something stupid again look around" He pointed towards the open sky.
Naruto sent him confused looks and turned his head around to see what he was pointing towards. He squinted his eyes a little before narrowing them. "You were recording the entire fight?" His jaw clamped and his nostril flare a little, when he saw a camera was floating on hero's feathers.
"But of course, you didn't think I would threaten a monster like you without some sort of backup plan, did you? If you had succeeded in killing me, then that footage would have been made public automatically." Hawks rubbed his neck where the thread had been due to blood being drawn a bit.
His hits were minimal but effective nonetheless. The blond kid was trained to defeat his opponent within a few strikes as possible.
The way he initiates the fight with surprise attack and uses it as a way to end the fight without giving him breather to make sense of the situation shows his experience with fighting.
He fights like assassins. Quite and precise.
Naruto's body fizzled for a second, then became solid again. This time, he had Hawk's camera in hand.
"Now you don't have any evidence about our fight." He slammed the camera on the wall beside him with a satisfied look on his face "You never should have told me about your hidden camera. Now your only evidence is destroyed."
"You think that was the only evidence I have?" Hawks, amused, pointed towards another camera levitating in the air. "And that's not the only one, keep that in mind." He said it when he felt Naruto's image moved a bit as if to snatching that camera too.
"You're making a big mistake."
"Oh, am I? As far as I'm concerned, you're the cornered animal here."
Naruto's body fizzled and he was again standing on the terrace of his house.
"The cornered animals are the most dangerous ones."
"I think you might be overestimating yourself a little bit; you are not as much of a hotshot as you and everyone around you believes you to be," Hawks said as he stood on the roof of the blonde's house. However, he still stood far away enough to respond if the blond pulled another stunt.
"I know everything about you. You were the chosen candidate with best potential that rebelled and ran away. You've been hiding from that organization for 3 years under the name of Mizutani Naruto after tricking this family to take you in."
Just as Hawks said that, Naruto's lips curved upwards involuntarily.
"What's so funny?" Hawks asked, as if amused with his sudden change in blonde attitude.
"Do you really think you know everything about me?" Naruto asked with amusement. As if calling on his bluff. "So, you're saying Shisui told you everything? Is that it?"
"And what if that's the case?" His sudden change in attitude was bothering Hawks.
"Let me tell you one secret then. It might sound complicated and would be kind of hard to understand but the thing is, the Shisui you know never existed. No one knows anything about me. Not you. Not Shisui. And certainly not that organization." The only one who knew anything about him was himself and that man. And that man would never reveal his secrets to anyone.
'Why? Because that's the only chain he got on me, and he would never let go of that powerful chain…not unless he got killed, that is!'
And people tended to die sometimes in unexplainable ways.
"You were probing me?" It wasn't a question. The amused expression on his face vanished. "Regardless of what you say, it doesn't change the fact you're still going to join the hero course."
He couldn't get what he said out of his head. The Shisui he knew never existed? What did that mean? He just didn't understand what he was trying to say anymore.
But one thing was clear. This kid in front of him was the key to unlock lots of secret doors that had been hiding out of sight long enough.
"Can I ask something first?"
"Sure ask away!"
"Why the Hero program? If you wanted to use me as a scapegoat, you could choose any number of means to get their attention, so why hero?" Naruto asked curiously. He knew the Hawks hated him because of his past that still didn't explain his actions.
"Maybe I chose it on whim or on just to amuse myself? It would be amazing wouldn't it? To see a monster playing a hero?" Seeing his flat look, Hawks chuckled.
"What? Not amused? Or are you just mad that I called you monster?"
"Just answer the question."
"Well before I answer yours, let me ask you something in return."
"!?"
"What would you have done after killing me? You see I'm a pretty popular hero so I'm sure it would have caused some big commotion if the public found out that I died." Hawks asked; i surely, a guy like him wouldn't have done something so outrageous without any backup plan.
"Well, there's always the case when some people go missing without any clue whatsoever, is there not?"
"So, your plan was to hide my body, that's it?"
"No, I wouldn't have done that. It's way too much of a hassle if someone somehow traced you back to me. I mean it wouldn't sound strange that a hero with an arrogant streak such as you happened to get in an accident, now would it?"
"You are saying…."
"I would have tied you to an electric wire near some transmission tower after killing you. The rest of the work would be done by the electric current from the tower and the media themselves."
Hearing about how he planned to handle his dead body was scary, but he couldn't help chuckling. "That would be a lame way to die. Couldn't you come up with a better death than that? I mean it would have tarnished my reputation." He could imagine what he was implying: that 'the cool and fast wing hero, Hawks died by getting himself strangled in electric wire and hit by electric shocks. Plus, he was not sure if enough of his body could survive melting off after getting shocked by high voltage electricity for the autopsy.
"I answered your question, now answer mine!"
"Hmm that's fair. To answer your question, I think it's such a waste to have that kind of power that you got and not to use it. People like you with immense power, even if you choose to use that power for good or evil, you still have to shoulder the weight of such a huge responsibility, so I think why not guide you in the right direction? You might be a monster, but you're still a kid after all." Naruto narrowed his eyes at his answer; he couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or not. He had to give it to Hawks, Naruto could tell that he was good at psychological games and an expert at manipulating people.
"And what if I never use this power? I don't care about who wins, good or evil, as long as I'm safe, so why should I even listen to you? I can kill you and even if you release that footage I can disappear again from the eyes of everyone just like the last time." Naruto tightened the thread around his hand to prove his point.
"Heh, the fact that you haven't done so already says otherwise"
"You do know that if I join U.A, then not only I, but this family, will come into crossfire. Are you saying that you would take responsibility if anything were to happen to them?" he tried to guilt trip him one more time.
"Ho' I didn't think I would see the day the monster would show concern towards someone other than himself, that's surprising." Hawks looked genuinely shocked, but Naruto saw through his words and fake expression; he was mocking him. "Let me correct you here, by taking shelter here you already made sure that they would come into crossfire, so if it's anything it's would be your fault if something were to happen to them."
"Because you already knew your existence is cursed, Monster!"
Naruto didn't say anything, just chose to stare at him with blank eyes, just as he thought he couldn't read Hawks face no matter how much he tried.
"I think that's it for today. I will contact you tomorrow. You better come up with your answer by then." After saying that, Hawks flew away in the sky leaving him on the roof of the house.
Naruto stood in place going through everything that happened today.
The fact that he knew that Hawks was up to something did not surprise him.
He already knew that Hawks had been tailing him for some time, and the fact he directly confronted him in his house was a message to him, that he wasn't afraid of him.
When he said that name, Naruto already knew he came here for revenge. He was sure Hawks hated him but he hated 'that man' even more. Regardless of that fact, one thing was confirmed.
Hawks will have to die!
But in a way that wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass later in life!
"By the way, how would I explain my quirk to everyone?" By everyone, he meant his adopted family.
He never told anyone that he had some kind of quirk in the first place. He could already imagine the surprise face of 'Mizutani's family'. He had to tell them he was going to apply for U.A. He didn't want to apply through recommendation; it would give him unnecessary attention.
'Should I say it's a glitch or should I say it's teleportation?' He mused to himself where he came from, he never really bothered giving his quirk a name, so he never really bothered with it either but he had to make some kind of crap to let them know why he was choosing the hero program.
After all, he was going to graduate middle school soon, and with that he had to think about his future.
Future?
'Do I even have a future?' He couldn't help but chuckle bittersweetly at how funny and odd that sounded to him.
He knew from the start that the day would come when he had to face his past once again! He just didn't realize that it would come this soon. If possible, he wanted to wait at least 6-7 years more before he made his move against them.
As long as those people were alive and unrestricted he could never be truly free. That was the only reason he was going to accept Hawks' demand.
Hawks might think he was the one pulling the strings from behind the scenes, but he didn't know any better!
That group had gotten really close to finding him in the past years.
And he needed a sacrifice to eliminate them and it just happened to be Hawks!
No hard feelings!
Naruto pulled the door to the terrace and went back to sleep.
He was going to have a long day tomorrow!
Edit: I got a beta reader for this story. So a big Yay to me. Her penname is 7001DeathlyHalfprincess. She edited this chapter Of 'The Indifferent'.
So a special thanks you to her]
Now you guys don't have to worry about any grammatical and punctuation mistake.
This crazy idea just kind of popped in my head! Hopefully you guys will like it!
Naruto quirk is Glitch which will be mixed with teleportation.
Glitch: the body of the person is already on move while his projection remains standing for a few seconds, meanwhile the body of the person can move freely like an invisible person as long as His projection lasts.
Glitch also has other applications that i will explain in later chapters
Teleportation: It will be mixed with Glitch, he can only teleport when he sees the place with his eyes. He won't be able to teleport which can't be seen or isn't in the line of his sight.
And just to be clear.
It's one quirk!
His quirk is glitch, teleportation is one of his abilities!
Naruto is going to be a grey character in this fanfiction.
Please leave a long good review, no flames unless it's a suggestion or some kind of question.
Thank you!