AN: New chapter up, enjoy!


Chapter 4 - U.A. Entrance Exam

Four kunai split the air at a speed that made them barely visible to the naked eye before hitting four different targets that had been placed randomly in the backyard of his house. Then again. And again. Eventually, Naruto ran out of kunai and went to collect them before starting to practice his aim again. But this time, he threw them while he was running and jumping. Miraculously, every single one of those kunai hit its target perfectly.

Several months passed since Naruto had regained the memory of his past life and ever since that day, he had been doing nothing but going to school, spending time with his parents, and training. He was training to the point of exhaustion every day except for Sundays that were dedicated to resting and recovering.

'My quirk is not bad but it has its limitations. I have to maximize what I can do with it.'

While he had a wealth of experience with fighting, throwing weapons, and even with a bo staff due to his memories, they were mostly theoretical. That's why, nowadays he was training his body until wielding those weapons became second nature to him, to ingrain it in his muscle memory.

'Training at the dojo is kinda useless these days. I can't wait until I go to UA.'

His expertise in taijutsu and the superhuman physical capabilities granted to him by his Quirk made sparring with other people unsatisfactory. He was too good and too powerful. He did not gain anything from sparring with average people. He needed to fight against similarly skilled and physically strong people. That's why he was super hyped about UA High - the idea of an institution that would focus on developing his quirk and offering him worthy opponents to train with was very appealing.

After placing two extra targets in the courtyard, he grabbed three kunai with each hand, a total of six, and threw them.

'Damn. I missed one.'

Despite the incredible feat of hitting five out of the six targets located in different locations by throwing six kunai at the same time, he was still dissatisfied with himself. But he did not dwell on it. Picking up another six kunai, he threw them once more. Hard work had never betrayed him.

Immersed in his training, time flew by without his notice. He was shaken awake from his single-minded training by the voice of his mother:

"Naruto-chan, dinner is ready. Your father has arrived from work too. Let's eat together."

If it had been him from before regaining his memories, he would have gotten annoyed at his mom addressing him that way. But now, he showed a large smile as he said:

"Sure, just let me pick up my kunai. Give me two minutes."

"Be careful with those knives, Naruto, you could get seriously hurt," Kushina said, frowning her brows in worry when he saw the band-aids wrapped around his fingers.

"Yes, I will be careful. Don't worry, I won't hurt myself," Naruto said.

"Your words would be a lot more convincing if your hands weren't full of bandages!"

Despite that his mother was in the midst of scolding him, his heart was full of warmth. Naruto had never had someone worry about his well-being in his past life. Not for small stuff like that.

"I didn't cut myself. Look," he said and put down his knife and his fork and peeled off one of the band-aids wrapped around his index finger, revealing an angry-red, almost raw-looking line. It looked as if it was caused by something very thin and sharp, something that had dug into the skin of his fingers.

"It's from a wire," Naruto explained. "I've been thinking about ways to trap someone using my knives and wire. But my hands are too soft, I need some time before my skin thickens and I get callouses. I also need to find some wire that's more durable than fishing lines..." He said, muttering the last sentence more for himself rather than for them.

His father listened to their talk very interested.

"Where did you get those knives by the way?" Minato asked.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he replied:

"I used my allowance. I asked mom to give me all the money you would normally give me in a month at once."

His father put his knife and fork down and looked at Naruto seriously as he said:

"That money was for you to have fun. If you need things for training, just talk to us. We'll support you as much as we can, Naruto."

Before regaining his memories, Naruto used to spend his allowance by going to arcade games together with Inuzuka Kiba and, sometimes, with Izuku Midoriaya too. But he had stopped doing that altogether after the Sludge Villain's attack. Nowadays, he used all that money his parents gave him on buying kunai, strong fishing lines and, as of late, he had started saving up money to buy smoke bombs.

"Where did you get all these ideas about using weapons, anyway?" Minato asked curiously.

"I've been thinking about it for some time, especially after that guy, Bakugo, attacked me at school," Naruto said.

"Oh, the kid with the exploding Quirk?" Minato said in recognition. Aside from the memories of his past life, Naruto shared everything with his parents. He held no secrets, especially not from his mom.

"Yep, that one. His Quirk is honestly amazing. If he gets into UA and stops being a jerk-"

"Language, Naruto!" Kushina chided him lightly.

"-I could totally see him becoming one of the top heroes in the future. Anyway, I beat him easily because I know how to fight. But if I don't keep on improving, in a few years, I won't be his match. I have to work hard to stay one step ahead of everyone."

Although months had passed since his parents noticed for the first time the drastic changes in their son, there were still moments when Naruto surprised them with his maturity.

"So I've been thinking of ways to close the gap between me and other people that have stronger quirks, ways to take full advantage of my Quirk's superhuman strength, agility, and dexterity. I got this idea from the stories about ninjas from the middle ages."

"Minato, you should see how good he is with his throwing knives!" Kushina gushed, suddenly going from being worried about Naruto getting hurt in training to speaking in excitement about his skill with the knives. As a martial arts practitioner herself, she could appreciate the amount of effort and dedication Naruto was putting into his training. "I'm serious! He can throw six knives at once and hit six different targets every time! It's incredible!"

"She's exaggerating, I'm not hitting all of them every time-" Naruto mumbled, slightly embarrassed at her praise.

Finishing eating, Minato grabbed his plates and stood up. After putting them into the sink, he came back to the table and said:

"I'm proud of how hardworking you are even after knowing that you've already been accepted into UA High. Keep at it, Naruto. Your mom and I will support you to the best of our ability. Make a list with the tools and the equipment you need and give it to me tomorrow, okay? Your dad has quite a good job so you don't have to worry about the expenses as long as you don't want some crazy stuff," the blond man said and put a hand on his son's head, rubbing it softly.

Maybe it was a side-effect of having a Fox Quirk or maybe it was simply because he was starved for his parents' affection or maybe because of both, Naruto closed his eyes and leaned into the head pat, a quiet purring sound coming from his throat as his father gently scratched the top of his head, between his fluffy fox ears.

Kushina giggled at the scene and grinned widely. Although she wanted Naruto to never go through a similar incident again, she could not help thinking deep within her heart that maybe the Sludge Villain's attack had been a blessing in disguise for their family. Before that, Naruto had been a rebellious teenager, disrespectful towards both her and his father and he was rarely at home at all during the day, spending his time either at the dojo on the days when he trained or haunting the neighbourhood with his friends in the days when he did not get to the dojo. Naruto showing his affection towards them so openly had not happened in years.

Unknowingly, Kushina's eyes watered and Naruto just happened to look at her at that moment.

"Are you okay, mom?" he asked in worry when he saw her on the verge of crying.

She stood up from her chair, came behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm more than okay. I'm just so happy!"

Not one to be left out, Minato also joined his wife and son in a family hug.

The sweeter his time with his parents was, the more restless he was becoming. The happier he was, the more worried he became and, the more his love for his parents grew, the more his urgency to become stronger was growing as well.

Those contrasting feelings made him roll in his bed listlessly for hours that night. One moment his heart was flooded with happiness at the thought of how much his parents cared for him and loved him and, in the next moment, he would curl into a ball and clench his fists in worry due to knowing that he was not strong enough yet to protect them should a powerful villain attack them.

Eventually, he stood up from his bed and, putting on a pair of sneakers, Naruto opened the window of his bedroom before jumping out. Despite falling from a height of over five metres, he did not make even the slightest sound when he landed on the ground. Next, he broke into a mad dash, his body appearing as little more than a phantom in the darkness of the night. He jumped on top of the two metres tall concrete fence of his courtyard effortlessly and from there, he launched himself on the rooftop of one of the neighbouring houses, once again not causing even the slightest tremor or noise when he landed. He started shinobi-jumping from one rooftop to another with such grace and confidence that it would leave parkour enthusiasts breathless from awe.

The closer he got to the centre of the city, the higher the buildings were becoming and Naruto was forced to start climbing up the walls. However, while he did not have chakra and he could not use the "tree-walking" technique of his past life, the superhuman agility and dexterity he possessed thanks to his Fox Quirk made him look as if he was defying gravity while he was running straight up the wall and jumping up using the tiniest footholds he could find. Furthermore, that big and fluffy fox tail at his back that he was usually annoyed with due to how much time it took him to wash it when he took baths was actually proving its use at this moment, giving him an increased degree of control of his body while he was in the air, allowing him to even change the direction of his jump or the speed of his landing.

⁂ Several months later ⁂

A wide and tall amphitheatre-style room was filled to the brim with children in their mid-teens. At the front of the room, a screen as wide and tall as the room was playing various images, assisting the man standing on the stage in explaining to everyone the contents of the exam ahead. That's right, it was the Hero Course Orientation Exam.

"As it says in the application requirements, you will be conducting mock urban battles after this! You can bring whatever you want with you. After the presentation, you'll head to the specified battle centre, ok?

Standing in front of the enormous gates of the city-like battle centre, Izuku Midoriya gripped tightly a two metres long metal staff in his hands.

'It's time. I will show everyone that even a quirkless person like me can do it. I'll give everything I got from my training at the dojo over the past nine months. I won't disappoint Naruto, I will show him that he didn't waste his time and effort helping me train. I won't disappoint the expectations of my sensei either. I will become the hero I've always dreamt of being!'

While Naruto did not personally train Izuku on a daily basis, they did spar at least once a week, especially after three months into Izuku's training, when the green-haired boy had gotten the basic movements and training mentality down. He still remembered vividly Naruto's advice.

"You're short and you're physically weak. Even if you went to the gym for years, it would still not be enough to keep up with those people that have Quirks that give them superhuman strength. So you have to keep that in mind, man. You need to know your limits and where you stand. That's why I think it would be great for you to learn how to use a weapon first instead of hand-to-hand fighting. I recommend you use a bo staff. I'm using one myself too."

As a typical nerdy boy, his first thought was "KATANA!". But once he got home and started thinking in more depth about his choice of weapon, after weighing in the pros and cons of several different weapons, the Izuku decided on learning how to use a bo staff too. For a complete noob like him, swords were actually not that great, especially not katanas. In contrast, using a staff made up for what he was missing: a staff would grant him a reach advantage over his opponents and it would let him generate significant power with his strikes.

After nine months of arduous training, Izuku had grown a few inches taller, his body had gained quite a bit of muscle and, most importantly, he had way much more self-confidence than before.

A sudden yell startled all the boys and the girls who had been staring open-mouthed at the city-like battle centre through its wide-open gates:

"What's wrong? There are no real countdowns in real fights! Run! Run! The die had been cast, you know?"

As one, the group of children broke into a mad dash and spread through the city. Izuku was among them too.

Only a few moments later, a two or three metres tall robot standing on a one wheel-foot made a turn and lunged at him. It was the type that was worth 1 point.

"I'll kill you!" came the robotic voice but Izuku did not even flinch.

Thanks to the hundreds of hours spent training with his bo staff and sparing against Naruto and his sensei at the dojo, Izuku had gotten used to being in a fight. Just as the robot swung its right arm at him in a wild cross, Izuku ducked under the swing and clenching his hands on the end of his bo staff with as much strength as he could, he swung at the robot himself too.

The other end of the staff smashed into the shoulder of the robot with a loud sound of metal colliding, making its body shake and momentarily disturbing its balance (the robot only had one foot). But the result was far from what Izuku had expected.

Against a regular human, that staff strike would have smashed their shoulder to bits or, at the very least, dislocated it. Against this robot, however, it proved to be useless. Not only that the robot had not been harmed in the least, but the rebound force also travelled back through the staff and Izuku's hands became numb from pain, almost losing their grip on his weapon.

It was then that the reality of the situation finally dawned on Izuku for the first time, just how big was his disadvantage due to being Quirkless. He finally understood that All Might did not just bash his dream of becoming a hero for no reason. The gap in power between Quirkless people and those with strong Quirks was as large as the distance between heaven and earth.

Despite that his eyes started swimming with tears of frustration, Izuku gritted his teeth stubbornly.

'Even so, I won't give up! I just have to work harder! I will train harder! One step at a time. And the first step now is beating this robot in front of me.'

His mind regained its calm and he jumped back a few steps, putting some distance between him and the robot. But the robot's AI did not seem to be very high as it just charged back at the boy in front of him like a bulldozer, doing the same type of attack, swinging its punch again, only that it was the other arm this time.

'Your body may be too sturdy and strong for me to damage it. But what about that camera on your head?' Izuku thought and, once he evaded the robot's wild punch again, he swung his staff from his back, overhead, and let out a cry as he smashed it against the robot's head with all of his strength.

The end of the metallic staff just happened to hit the red lens on the robot's face that served as its "eye", breaking it into smithereens. Unable to see anything anymore, the robot started flailing its arms aimlessly before eventually losing its equilibrium when it bumped into a light pole and fell down.

"One point!" Izuku said and let out a scream of triumph. "I can do it! Even without a Quirk, I can do it!"

That small victory lit a flame in his heart and his confidence soared.

Nevertheless, the mock-battle exam lasted only 10 minutes. By the time the exam ended, reality hit Izuku like a train.

"Only 3 points..."

He had only managed to defeat three robots that were worth one point each. Try as he might, he could not stop the tears that suddenly flooded his eyes. He was not dumb, he did not need to wait for a week or two until he received the official results to know that he did not make it. He had heard other students talk about getting at least 10 points while there were some with particularly strong quirks that had gotten even over 50 points.

Izuku's prediction turned out to be true several days later when a letter arrived at his residence. He had failed. Attached to the letter was also a file that showed the rankings of the entrance exam participants. While he had done well in the written exam, his practical exam had one of the lowest scores among all. He had failed to join the Hero Course of the U.A. High.

In spite of his feelings of despair and depression, Izuku grabbed his phone and, upon scrolling through his contacts list, he tapped on Naruto's name, initiating a voice call. Even if he had not passed the exam, Naruto had devoted so much of his time and effort to training him. He had to at least tell him the results of his exam. He owed Naruto that much.

"Hey, Izuku. What's up?"

The moment he heard Naruto's cheerful voice, the tears and the sadness that he had been holding in burst out all at once. Breaking into loud sobs, Izuku cried out:

"I failed! I'm sorry, Naruto, you spent so much time and effort to help me but I still failed! I'm so sorry!"

Outside of his door, Izuku's mother was crying her eyes out too, her heart breaking at the pain she heard in her son's voice.