Chapter 5

Trace

"What the fuck is that thing...?!"

Now usually, he would have cared little about anything that came out of Bakugo's mouth. The guy had a stick shoved up so far in his ass that it was a surprise he could even speak, after all, and that was ignoring the way he treated Izuki.

But right now, he actually found himself sharing the sentiment

It was hard not to anyway, considering how much they had thrown at the...thing standing in front of them.

Todoroki's ice had barely slowed it down.

Bakugo's explosions had done seemingly nothing.

It had even tanked one of Izuku's punches as if it had just tickled it.

And now it was just standing up once more after he had tried to crush it by extending his Quirk into a claw, seemingly unaffected by it.

"Stop playing with your food, Nomu! I want to see at least a couple of them dead before All Might gets here!" And there was that annoying white-haired bastard that had apparently orchestrated this entire attack, with his teeth greeting in frustration at just the thought of what the bastard had done.

Because of him, Aizawa-sensei was badly hurt.

Because of him, all his classmates and friends were put in danger.

Because of him, Tsuyu had almost died.

And all because he wanted to kill old man Yagi?

As if he would let that happen in the first place!

So, when he lowered his body, his hands now pressing on the ground, his Quirk was already covering his whole body.

He could feel it, and he let it happen, as more and more power surged through his body. He knew his emotions affected his Quirk more than others, and that his anger was fueling it pretty spectacularly right now.

The end result? A tail.

Maybe it wasn't the best way to describe it, but it was the term that just came natural to him, as the red energy that was Quirk slowly took the form of a tail coming out of his lower back.

He could also feel Bakugo's and Todoroki's gaze on him now, which wasn't surprising given that this was the first time he had used his Quirk like this in front of his classmates.

Except Izuku of course, whose eyes matches with his for just a second before they both nodded, right as he saw green lightning dancing around her form.

Good, because if this thing had really been sent to face off against the old man then...

They really couldn't afford to hold back.

"You do know I only need one of you, right?" He commented lightly, one hand pressing a kunai to Compress' neck, while the other one was extended towards Spinner, holding him on place thanks to the Kyubi's chakra. "So, you two aren't doing yourselves any favors by keeping your mouth shuts."

With the only answer he got being a scoff and a growl, he could do nothing but to shake his head in return.

If there was anything worse than dealing with criminals like this, it was dealing with people like this that also just truly believed in whatever they were doing.

That conviction was harder to beat out.

"You are way to loyal to someone that doesn't give a damn about you lot." He voiced in mock disappointment, his gaze always moving between the two former members of the League of Villains.

"Shut your trap, Uzumaki!" And he wasn't surprised when it was Spinner the one that yelled out first.

"I'm just saying you guys are showing to much dedication to a kid that has already discarded you." He shrugged, a small smirk forming on his lips as he saw Spinner's face twisting in anger, just as he felt Compress trembling below him. "I don't see him coming to rescue you any time soon."

What happened right after, he decided, was his fault for tempting fate that much.

"Hmm?" He turned his gaze up, just in time to see a black void forming right above, one that he recognized quite well.

Next thing he knew, he was forced to jump back just to avoid being crushed by the Nomu that had just slipped out of said black portal.

His eyes remained focused on the Nomu, even as Spinner sprinted towards Compress, who was slowly standing up from behind the growling Nomu.

A second portal appearing right in front of them made it prety obvious what the owner of those portals, Kurogiri of course, was trying to accomplish.

So when the Nomu rushed towards him, with this one sporting one massive eye on its face, his eyes were still focused on the back of Compress and Spinner.

Side stepping the charging Nomu was easy enough, and dashing towards the portal let him close the distance in mere seconds.

Compress was gone already, but that mattered little.

"Guh." Spinner spluttered out, for even though he was already halfway through the portal, he now had a hold of that red scarf of this.

And he refused to let go, even as their eyes met, with Spinner glaring while he just gave him a half-lidded stare in return.

He only released him when he was forced to dodge a laser of all things, for apparently that massive eye on the Nomu's face wasn't just for show.

By the time he had recovered, the portal had already disappeared.

When he stood there, his eyes locked onto the place that the portal had been, he wasn't able to hide his feelings from appearing in his face

He grinned.

He then leaned backwards slightly in order to dodge another laser.

"Now what to do with you...?" He whispered, knowing he couldn't just leave a raging Nomu just like that.

The answer came in the form of his favorite spiraling ball of chakra as it formed in the palm of his hand.

"Relax, it's not my blood."

"I wasn't worried." It seemed she really wasn't, given that the only thing his current appearance got from her was a raised eyebrow "You still smell like shit though."

He really did.

"I might have gone a bit overblown, yes." Maybe drilling a Rasengan right into the Nomu's head had not been the cleanest way to do things, all things considered, but it had been effective none the less. "But still, I got what we wanted."

"Is it working?" His eyes then turned sharp, just as he focused on the laptop in Kaina's lap.

"The tracker seems to be working just fine." She answered as she went back to look at the screen, with a pretty familiar map of the country currently being displayed on it. "They already stopped moving."

And on said map, a red dot was currently blinking none stop.

"I told you the tech was trustable." He muttered as he walked close, recognizing the general area they would be going next. It wasn't close however, which he supposed wasn't a surprise. All For One definitely had more than one hidden base all around the country, and it seemed Tomura was now using them.

Fortunately, the tracker he had hidden into Compress' clothes was now a beacon to them.

"You still haven't even told me where you got it in the first place." Kaina complained, to which he could only shrug as a smile formed on his lips in an attempt to hide the displeasure he felt at such question.

"It's better if you don't know." That was the best answer he could give, not because he didn't trust Kaina, but because he had already done enough damage to the person that had made this for him.

The least he could do by now was keeping her identity a secret, even from his allies.

"Guess we're going to Osaka now."

It seemed his confrontation with the last vestiges of the League of Villain was coming closer and closer.

"What the fuck do you want, Whiskers?" He growled out, not being in the mood for dealing with anyone's shit right now, specially Uzumaki of all people. "Because if you came to gloat then I swear...!"

"Relax, would you?" But to that, he only got an eyeroll from the most annoying guy in his class. "I didn't come here to pick a fight, Bakugo. I just wanted to talk for a bit."

"Well, I don't want to fucking hear it." He had decided to take a walk at night so that he could be alone with his thoughts for a while, so the last thing he needed was Uzumaki now following him around. "So, get lost or-"

"I want to help." His mouth clicked shut after hearing that, his glare turning into surprise right before he went back to glare at him once more, which Uzumaki returned with a glare of his own.

"I don't need your help!" It didn't take a genius to know what he was talking about.

They had just come from the stupid Provisional License exam, after all, and he was one of the two people that had somehow failed the damn thing.

That thought was enough to make him grit his teeth in sheer anger, with small explosions popping off in his fingers with every second.

"Yeah, sure you don't." Uzumaki's huff was really doing little with his mood. "You have to do another test go get the license, right? I thought we could train together for that, like sparring."

Was he being for real right now? He would have laughed straight to his face if he wasn't so busy scowling.

"Why would I even want to spar with you?" He asked mockingly, truly not understanding him. He didn't like Uzumaki, after all, although that was the understatement of the century.

And Uzumaki hated him too, that much was obvious, which didn't surprise him given how he seemed to be attached to Deku's hip.

"Because you have nobody else besides Eijiro willing to train with you?" Uzumaki answered with a smirk, only making his right eye twitch. "And Eijiro is cool and all, but there's only so much you can practice when going against the same guy, and his Quirk isn't exactly the most versatile out there."

He didn't know what he hated the most, if Uzumaki's know it all tone, or the fact that he was onto something here...

"I don't want your pity." But that didn't mean he was just going to accept his damn charity case. If he thought he was like everyone else in their class that thought he was hot shit just because he had nothing better to do than making friends, then he was sorely mistaken.

"It's not pity!" Uzumaki actually snapped at him, the bastard. "I want to get stronger too, and this way we both win!"

"Don't you have that shitty Deku for that?" He asked, right as a smirk formed on his lips. "Or did you finally realize she's just dragging you down?"

"Don't push it, Bakugo." His voice actually put him on edge, especially since it was accompanied by his eyes turning red for just a second, before he took a deep breath with his eyes closed, them going back to blue once more. "You like to fight, don't you?"

"Huh? What kind of question is that?" Of course he liked it, wasn't that obvious enough?

"That's why I want to train with you. Nobody else in our class truly likes to fight like you do, so I don't have to worry about holding back or anything."

He could only scoff at that, actually agreeing with Uzumaki for once. Not that he was still convinced or anything, even if had to begrudgingly admit Uzumaki was one of the strongest ones in their class.

He would never admit he was the strongest one though, for that title was only for himself.

"Think about it this way." And now he was back to that insufferable grin of his. "This way you can hit me, and I can hit you without remorse. I think that's a fair enough deal."

Well, when he put it like that...

"This doesn't make us friends." He declared in a low tone.

"Noted." His deadpan tone almost made regret his decision, but he did want to grow stronger no matter what right now.

So then, with a final nod, a deal was done between him and the most insufferable blonde he knew.

"What did you just say?!" Of course, that yell coming from Katsuki just had to be followed by him grabbing the other guy by the neck of his Hero suit. "Wanna say that to my face, dipshit?!"

"Hey hey that's enough, Baku-bro." He tried his best to stop him from quite literally blowing off the guy, who looked about to pass out already. "He's not worth it!"

"You're not going to help by killing this guy, Bakugo!" And to the other side, it was Mina who also made a grab for Katsuki's arm. "Sure, he deserves it, but still...!"

"You're not helping, Mina!" He grunted out, for even though he got what she, and obviously Bakugo, were feeling, it didn't mean he could just let them beat the living crap out of someone.

Even though a part of him wanted to do the same.

"Tch..." In the end, it seemed their words rang true, as Katsuki simply shoved the other Hero, whose name he didn't even know, into the ground before turning around and walking away fuming, with everyone around them giving him a wide berth as he did.

Of course, he and Mina were quick to follow, although they both throwed the shivering guy a final nasty glare before leaving.

It might have seen like too much, but considering what the guy had said, he honestly thought he hadn't gotten enough.

He just didn't want to see his other best friend in problems for picking fights.

Even if the thought of people talking crap about Naruto was enough to anger him too beyond belief.

And it was obvious Mina felt the same.

As for Katsuki...

"Next time I hear crap like that about Whiskers, I'm killing them, so don't even try to stop me!"

"Look, dude, I know how you feel." He really did, so he leveled a stare at Katsuki's glare. "But this might get us a hint as to where Naru-bro is, and we can't get kicked out because you started fighting with everyone."

Sure, Katsuki had gotten a lot better with handling his anger, but whenever it came to Naruto lately, it was as if he just went back to their U.A days.

"Yeah!" Thankfully, it seemed Mina too understood the situation. "You can punch them after we're done!"

Or maybe not, given the smirk that the two were now sporting.

It was hard being the voice of reason right now, especially with how...vindictive these two could be when it came to defending Naruto.

"We aren't getting shit anyway." Katsuki grunted after calming down a bit, with their gazes moving to the police tape that was separating the scene of the crime. "If it was that easy to find him, we wouldn't be wasting our time here."

"Are we even sure Naruto did this?" Mina asked next just as she hugged her arm.

"There aren't that many fighting Nomus of all things." There was no way Naruto wasn't involved in this, especially with how gruesome the scene looked.

He didn't like linking Naruto to stuff like that but, given recent events, it was hard not to...

"Did Pinecone Hair find anything useful?" Katsuki's attention was now on Mina.

"She was trying to find anything about the weird ninja star Naru used but..." To this, she bit her lip. "I don't think she has yet..."

Damn, if Yaoyorozu wans't able to get anything with all the resources she had...

"Maybe we should ask Edgeshot? Ninja stuff is kind of his thing, right?" His words only earned a scoff from Katsuki, for which he couldn't blame him.

After all, the whole idea of Naruto using ninja stuff just sounded too silly, didn't it? Sure, the guy was a natural for stealth stuff, which had been quite weird during their time at U.A, but still, was he really going around carrying stuff like shurikens now?

If the situation wasn't so dire, he would have laughed at the mere idea.

A silence fell on them as they didn't know what else to say. It was as Katsuki had said, he doubted they would get anything useful from here, which just made things even more frustrating.

They really needed to find a lead, asap.

"Hmm?" And almost as if someone had heard his plea, his phone suddenly buzzed.

His wasn't the only one though, as it seemed both Mina and Katsuki had gotten a message too.

All of them at the same time? Had something happened? Or maybe it was just the group chat they had with the rest of their former class?

The answer was neither though, for even though the name of the owner of the message was one he recognized immediately, it was also one he didn't expect to hear from, specially nowadays.

"Headmaster Nezu?"

First time the number of flashbacks sections isn't equal to the present stuff, which I think a lot of you people will prefer given the reviews.

I understand that the back and ford thing I'm doing isn't for everyone, so I understand anyone that stops reading because of it, but still I'm grateful of everyone that has read so far!

Next Chapter: Meeting.