AN: Some of you have asked about the title change. I just thought that "Kitsune" was a bit too generic. The new title probably isn't that great either but it's a bit better (at least that's what I think). Anyway, new chapter up, enjoy.

Chapter 16 - Acknowledgement

Bo Taoshi was a "capture the flag" type of game in which two teams had to do their utmost to topple the other team's pole. Every team was split into attackers and defenders; the defenders would protect their pole and keep it standing while the attackers would try to topple the opponent team's pole. Additionally, one player on each team would take the role of a "saru" (monkey) - they would stand on top of the pole and deter any would-be opponents from bringing it down.

The traditional Bo Taoshi game had several rules:

1. A time limit of 2 minutes.

2. A team lost when their pole was toppled to a 30-degree angle or less. If neither team managed to topple the pole within that time frame, the game would be reset.

3. Punching, kicking, strangling, and pulling heads were prohibited.

Those were the rules for the traditional game of Bo Taoshi but UA High changed the rules for the second event of the Sports Festival as follows:

1. The time limit was 5 minutes.

2. A team lost when their pole was toppled to the ground.

3. Any forms of combat were allowed but the pole had to remain intact. Whichever team destroyed the wooden pole (whether it was theirs or the opponent's) would be disqualified.

The winner of the 1st event of the Sports Festival had been granted the chance to select any two players for his team - and Izuku had jumped at the chance to choose Endeavour's son, Todoroki Shoto, and a student from General Studies, Hitoshi Shinso. The rest of the members of each team had been selected randomly by the computer.

Bo Taoshi had always been one of the most exciting games in Japan's modern history. The spectators in the stands were brimming with anticipation to see how would such a rough and exciting game play out between individuals with superpowers.

The moment that Hero Midnight lowered her whip to signal the start of the game, both teams exploded into action. On Izuku's team, Todoroki took the initiative to create a small mountain of ice around the wooden pole, leaving only its top uncovered. The opponents would have to destroy the ice first before having the chance to topple the pole. While Izuku and Todoroki took the roles of Defender, Tokoyami and his partner, Dark Shadow, took the role of the Monkey and perched themselves on top of the wooden pole, fully intent on knocking down anyone that tried to get close to them.

On the other team, Momo Yayorozu quickly created several metallic pillars which were propped up against the main wooden pole and Sero proceeded to tape them all tightly together. Jurota Shishida (Beast Quirk) and Ibara Shiozaki (Vines Quirk) from class 1-B took the role of Defender.

As for the role of Monkey...

"Bwahaha! Come at me losers!" Bakugo hollered in excitement as he sat perched up on his team's wooden pole, his palms continuously crackling with small explosions. He could not wait to blow the opposite team's attackers into smithereens.

But these students were the only ones that had taken any strategic measures to win the game. Everyone else just jumped at each other like a horde of savages, each one of them trying to catch the eyes of the Pro Heroes in attendance with their Quirks.

Izuku had made several strategies in his mind and he had tried to discuss them with his teammates before the start of the game but all planning went to waste only a few seconds in. What had originally been intended as a game of Bo Taoshi had immediately degenerated into a full-on battle royale.

'This is the worst,' Izuku said in frustration.

Even with his guts and desire to prove himself, he knew better than to try to join in the brawl.

'I wouldn't last even 10 seconds,' he muttered to himself as he watched how the Hero Course student with a Steel Quirk from his team was suddenly engulfed by a huge mass of green vines and thrown out of bounds, slammed brutally into the wall at the edge of the arena.

It was pandemonium. In no time, half a dozen students had been either thrown out of bounds or knocked unconscious.

While everything seemed hopeless Shinso, one of the two boys that Izuku had chosen in his team, suddenly shouted as loud as he could:

"Attack the wooden pole now! With the Vines girl out of the picture, that ugly beast stands no chance!"

His shout was largely ignored by everyone. Almost everyone. The Beast Quirk user frowned at his words and said:

"I may not be a pretty boy, but if you think I'm that easy to take down, you are in for a rude awakening."

However, at his words of warning, Shinso smirked in triumph and allowed himself an evil-sounding cackle as he gave the B-class student his next order:

"On the contrary, I don't underestimate you at all. Now, go wild on your team's wooden pole. Smash it with all your strength!"

Shinso's plan was doomed to fail, however, seeing as the opponent team's Monkey proved to be too powerful. The moment that Jurota Shishida jumped to attack his own team's wooden pole, a huge explosion blasted him out of bounds like a burning cannonball. Uncaring of the fact that the Beast Quirk user was his own teammate, the moment he sensed his hostility, Bakugo swiftly attacked him with everything he had.

⁂

Back to Naruto, All Might, and Eri, the three of them had just gotten into a taxi and were on their way back to Musutafu City.

"Would you, children, stop staring at me? It's unnerving," All Might said, his face breaking into a sweat.

It was not only Naruto who could not take his eyes off him, even little Eri was gawking at him... ...and that was because All Might's Muscle Form had run out of time right before he called the taxi. His muscular physique which looked as if it had been taken out of a comic book was nowhere to be seen now. Instead, what could be described as a living skeleton stood in his place.

In spite of still wearing his Hero uniform, the taxi driver didn't spare All Might a second glance. In his eyes, he looked just like a lame fan doing a sorry cosplay of the real hero, All Might. If Naruto and Eri had not seen him turn into his current form with his their own eyes they would have not believed it either.

One hour later, the taxi stopped in front of the main police station of Musutafu City. With the little girl cradled in his arms, Naruto stepped out of the car gently so as to not wake her up. His face involuntarily broke into a smile when he saw how she was hugging one of his fluffy fox tails to her chest while sleeping.

Nonetheless, despite Naruto wishing for her to continue sleeping, the city's noise in the afternoon woke her up. He chuckled when he saw her burying her face into the fur of his tail to hide from the light.

⁂

"My full name is Eri," the girl insisted even as the two adults in the room were looking at her questionably for not saying her surname.

Next to All Might, a tall and well-built man in his late 30s had a pondering expression on his face as he turned to look at his computer.

"You said you were 6 years old, yes?" the man asked her again for confirmation and Eri nodded, all the while trying to hide behind Naruto's tails.

"Don't worry, Eri-chan. Detective Tsukauchi is one of my closest friends. You can trust him," All Might said, trying to reassure the little girl.

A few moments later, the detective shook his head and said:

"It's no use, I can't find her in our database. I checked all the births from 5, 6, and 7 years ago and there are only around 60 girls with the name Eri. But our Eri-chan doesn't match their description at all since they all have parents and they are registered either in kindergarten or in the first year of elementary school. For all I know, she's a ghost. We have nothing on her."

It wasn't only Eri that was anxious, Naruto was growing a little restless too.

"This might be for the best," All Might unexpectedly said after a while.

"What do you mean by that, sensei?" Naruto asked quickly.

"If she's not registered, that means we don't necessarily need to go about it through the official channels."

"...I'm still a police officer, you know?" the detective said, his exasperation increasing when he saw All Might starting to laugh awkwardly.

Turning towards Naruto, All Might said:

"There is a chance that Eri-chan could be allowed to stay with you without going public to the HPSC with your ability. But to make that happen your parents need to be on board with the idea too."

His words reminded Naruto of the elephant in the room: even if they could work around the law and prevent his Adamantine Sealing Chains from being exposed to the public, the fact was that if his parents did not agree to take Eri in, it was all for nought.

'But if they agree to take Eri-chan in, that means that dad will find out about mom's quirk too.'

How would he feel knowing that his wife had been hiding such an important fact about her for so many years? Would his trust in her be shattered? Wouldn't their relationship be affected? Other couples have divorced for lesser reasons.

"Before we make further plans, you should talk it over with your parents first and get a concrete answer," All Might said.

"I will arrange a car to escort you home and I will assign two officers to keep a watch on your home until we get to the bottom of this. Normally, I would insist on Eri-chan staying here and I would call the Child Protection Agency but I understand this is a sensitive case. They are not capable of taking care of Eri," the detective also said.

⁂

While Naruto, All Might and Eri were riding the taxi on their way back to Musutafu City, the freshmen participating in the UA High's Sports Festival were beating the breaks off each other. Furthermore, due to the measures that each team had taken at the start to safeguard their wooden poles, it was not realistic to topple them without destroying them while there were so many other opponents attacking them at once. Unlike the traditional Bo Taoshi where fighting was prohibited, in this current game, they could be taken out in one shot.

Eventually, the time limit of 5 minutes passed without any of the teams managing to achieve their goal - toppling off the opponent's pole.

Watching the field that looked as if it had been carpet bombed by drones, the UA Principal, Nezu, and the rest of the organizers of the Sports Festival didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The second stage of the festival had been a big failure because they had failed to anticipate the students' thirst for battle and recognition. What had originally been intended to test out the students' strategic skills and ability to perform as a team had been reduced to a mere barbaric battle royale within seconds from the start of the game.

"...At least the crowd appears to be in high spirits," was the only thing Nezu could tell himself as consolation.

Originally, the plan was for the winning team of the Bo Taoshi game to proceed to the final stage where they would face each other in individual battles, tournament style. But with neither team winning and with so few students left uninjured on the field, they could not restart the game and make them go at it again to decide a winner. The organizers of the event decided to proceed with the final stage, the fighting tournament.

'I survived by the skin of my teeth,' Izuku thought in dismay. 'If it wasn't for Todoroki-san, I wouldn't have made it out of the second event.'

He knew - he had always known that he was fighting an uphill battle, that he would always be at a disadvantage against people that had Quirks. Todoroki Shoto's performance, in particular, left a deep impression on Izuku.

Unfortunately, there were not enough survivors left to participate in the tournament but there were quite a few students that were thrown out of bounds at the early stage of the Bo Taoshi game and were injured too seriously to continue so they selected three of them to advance to the next stage.

After drawing the lots, the tournament brackets appeared as such:

1. Todoroki Shoto vs Mezo Shoji

2. Ibara Shiozaki vs Setsuna Tokage

3. Tenya Iida vs Midoriya Izuku

4. Katsuki Bakugo vs Hitoshi Shinso

5. Fumikage Tokoyami vs Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

6. Neito Monoma vs Kojiro Bondo

7. Eijiro Kirishima vs Mashiro Ojiro

8. Shihai Kuroiro vs Yui Kodai

⁂

Watching the battle between Todoroki Shoto and Mezo Shoji, Izuku was writing furiously in his notebook. The sight of a muscular teen nerding out and muttering to himself as if he was in trance drew out a few looks from the people around him. At the same time, he was trying to think of plans that would work if he ever had to fight them.

"Mezo Shoji's quirk doesn't look as flashy and may not seem as powerful as that of Todoroki Shoto but it can be very versatile and unpredictable," Izuku muttered at the scene in front of him.

Taking advantage of the crowd-control ability of his quirk, Todoroki froze the entire floor of the tournament stage, trapping Mezo's legs in ice too.

"I suggest you give up. I don't want to hurt you unnecessarily-" Todoroki began to say confidently, but an unexpected punch smashed into his face with such power that he went flying.

Although Mezo Shoji's legs got trapped, his quirk - Dupli Arms - allowed him to multiply any part of his body through his arms, effectively giving him the ability to elongate his arms to impressive distances. And that was not all, any organ or body part that he duplicated through his quirk would become much stronger than the original. His punch felt to Todoroki as if he had been hit by a car.

But Shoji was not done yet! Even though his legs were still trapped in ice, his tentacles sprouted even more arms and threw a powerful blow at Todoroki again.

Although he had almost been knocked out cold by that punch, Todoroki's fighting spirit burned even brighter than before. A massive wall of ice grew out in front of him just in time to shield him from Shoji's heavy punch and, in the next moment, he stomped his foot powerfully against the ground.

The spectators turned silent with awe as a massive tsunami of ice suddenly froze half the stadium to bits.

⁂

With the first match coming to an end so quickly, the reality of the situation finally dawned on Izuku: there was only one match left until it was his turn!

His anxiety kicked in and he started biting his nails as he read the pages of his notebook that were filled with information that he had managed to dig up on his opponent, Teniya Iida. So absorbed in his notebook he had been that he didn't even see when the second match between Ibara Shiozaki and Setsuna Tokage start or finish. It was only when he heard his name being called that he finally came back to his senses:

"From the hero course, Tenya Iida! Versus, from General Studies, Midoriya Izuku!"

Coming down from the stands and walking onto the stage, Izuku felt shivers travelling down his spine.

'Man up, me! This is my opportunity! This is my only chance to show everyone that I belong in the Hero Course.'

He was scared shitless to be alone on the stage in front of so many people, with the whole country watching his every move. However, his inhuman training and the gruelling beatings he had put his body through over the past year had not been in vain. Moreover, the incident where he had defeated the pink-skinned giant villain and saved the family that was being held hostage had improved his self-confidence. He was not the same timid, weak, and scrawny boy from one year ago.

"My name is Tenya Iida, please treat me fairly," Iida said and bowed stiffly.

Present Mic's voice resounded in the background:

"With his Engine Quirk, Iida-kun showed he is one of the fastest participants in this tournament! As for his opponent from General Studies, his quirk... ...wait, does he even have a quirk?"

"I have not seen him use any special abilities," Aizawa replied to him. "He has won the first event by outsmarting his competition and survived in the second by avoiding frontal 1 on 1 fights."

But Izuku tuned out all their voices. His eyes looking at Tenya piercingly, he brought his hands up and his elbows close to his body, getting into a fighting stance.

"Start!"

The moment that Midnight shouted and flicked her whip, smoke came out of the tubes on Tenya Iida's calves as he broke into a sprint.

'Fast!' Izuku inwardly exclaimed. 'But, Naruto was even faster than that! I can see it! I can see his move!'

Accurately predicting Iida's strike, Izuku leaned back, dodging Tenya's wind-stirring kick as if he was in the matrix. But Iida was far from done; accelerating even harder, he turned around and delivered a devastating whirlwind kick.

Out of position and unable to react in time to Iida's superhuman speed, Izuku was unable to dodge. He could only brace himself and take the hit with his guard.

Although Izuku blocked the hit, Tenya's powerful whirlwind kick sent him flying as if he had been hit by a truck. But instead of following up and delivering the final blow, Iida shouted:

"What are you doing? Why are you not using your quirk?!"

Standing up with difficulty from the ground, Izuku grimaced as he touched his left arm with his right hand. Iida's kick had snapped his left forearm as if it had been a twig.

"Because I don't have a quirk. But I'll show everyone that I don't need a quirk to become a Pro Hero," Izuku said, his voice strained as he talked through the pain coming from his broken arm.

"Do you hear yourself? How are you going to do that? It's impossible!" Iida yelled at him in disbelief. Turning toward Midnight, Tenya raised his hand up high and said out loud:

"Referee, I request this fight to be stopped. My opponent doesn't have a quirk. I don't want to hurt him any further."

"SHUT UP AND FIGHT!" Izuku suddenly screamed, taking everyone by surprise. "You talk as if you have this in the bag but I'm still standing! I haven't given up!"

He shouted with so much strength that he was out of breath.

"As long as I'm still standing I won't give up! Come! I'm still here! Come at me and fight!"

His outburst left Tenya speechless. After a few moments, Midnight said:

"It is not against the rules for Quirkless students to participate-"

"But professor-!" Tenya Iida began to protest only for Midnight to cut him off:

"Unless you want to forfeit, the match will proceed until one of you is either incapacitated, thrown out of bounds, or admits defeat. This is final!" she said and pointed her whip at him.

Turning towards Izuku, Iida said seriously:

"Please remember that I tried to save you from unnecessary pain. You've brought this-"

"Cut the crap already and fight!" Izuku said unknowingly taking a page out of Naruto's book and provoking him.

"Such foul language! It is unbecoming of a-"

But with a burst of speed that Iida had not expected from a Quirkless person, Izuku charged at him. Iida barely managed to move his head out of the way, Izuku's fist almost grazing his nose.

Izuku felt like kicking himself for his lapse in judgement.

'I shouldn't have tried head-hunting someone as fast as Tenya Iida. It should've been obvious he'd dodge it easily.'

Realizing his mistake, Naruto's words from a few months ago rang in his mind at that moment:

"If your opponent doesn't have some physical-enhancement quirk, always go for their body because most people generally expect their opponents to go for their head so they're always on guard against that and they're also more used to dodging hits going there. But they can't dodge body hits as easily. More importantly, even if people with regular bodies can train their muscles and learn martial arts, they can't train their internal organs. So no matter how strong they become, if you catch someone with a good body shot, they'll collapse as if they're paralyzed. Let me show you what getting punched in the liver area feels like. Oi! Where are you running? Oi! Get back here, you coward! You need to feel it on your own skin first to fully appreciate the effectiveness!'

A rush of anger washed over him at the memory of how Naruto 'taught' him everything - by making him feel the effects of each hit on his own body. But that rush of anger only served to empower him at that moment.

Nonetheless, Izuku was not allowed too much time to think because, after getting over his surprise at his Quirkless opponent almost managing to score a hit on him, Iida started his attack again. With a burst of speed higher than the previous times, his kick found its mark again and Izuku only managed at the last moment to twist his body and receive the hit with his left shoulder instead of being hit in the head.

Even as he was sent tumbling once again, Izuku quickly stood up to his feet. And it was not a moment too soon! A split of a second later, Tenya Iida's heel cracked the concrete stage. He followed with yet another high kick but Izuku dodged it perfectly this time by crouching.

Attacking only using his legs had made Iida predictable and Izuku jumped at the chance to finally counterattack. With Iida having left himself open, Izuku smashed a heavy punch into his guts.

Spittle flew out of Tenya's mouth and, as he doubled over from pain, Izuku's knee rose to smash into his face.

But just as Izuku was about to deal the finishing blow, Iida's calves were lit up with a blue fire and his body was propelled ahead, tackling Izuku with his head and making him lose his balance. Fighting through the pain from his stomach and his lack of air, Iida wrapped his arms around Izuku's waist and forced himself to continue running, intent on pushing his opponent all the way to the edge of the stage and throwing him out of bounds.

But Izuku's forearm suddenly snaked under Iida's chin and his muscles bulged as he used his entire strength in a desperate attempt to choke him to sleep. But his effort was bound to fail because one hand was not enough to choke someone successfully - his martial arts instructor at the dojo had spent many hours teaching him the basics of grappling.

With Iida activating his special move, Recipro Burst, even while lacking air and feeling dizzy and faint from the body shot he had eaten, he traversed the stage with Izuku in tow in the blink of an eye. However, right as he was about to push Izuku out - only half a meter was left! - Iida unexpectedly felt his feet leave the ground!

With a burst of strength uncharacteristic of a normal human, Izuku grabbed Iida by the hem of his gym uniform with his still-working hand and lifted him in the air before smashing him down over his shoulder with a judo throw that made Kushina stand up from her seat in amazement.

"Tenya-kun!" Izuku distantly heard the boy's classmates crying out in distress when they saw him getting thrown out of bounds but their shouts were quickly drowned by Present Mic who screamed at the top of his lungs, his yells filling the stadium:

"OH MY! WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT?!"

"Winner: General Studies, Midoriya Izuku!" Midnight also said as she flailed her whip around.

As Izuku let out a victory cry, much to his surprise, the entire stadium broke into loud cheers. It was in human nature to root for the underdog and Izuku had been a very pitiful underdog. Quirkless and with one arm broken, literally nobody had expected him to turn around the situation like that!

Seeing the thousands of people in the stands acknowledging him like that, Izuku involuntarily felt his eyes start swimming with tears. He may have grown up both in body and mind due to his gruelling training over the past year but at the core, he was still a sensitive and emotional teenage boy. After all the doubt and suffering he had endured, after his idol putting down his dreams two times already, Izuku was finally having his efforts acknowledged.

Izuku's emotional reaction to their cheers spurred the crowd even further and many of the spectators rose from their seats as they clapped their hands for him vigorously.

As the medics carried Izuku out on a stretcher, he had no illusions about his position in the tournament: although he had won the match, with his broken arm and his energy completely depleted from having tapped into his Hysterical Strength for the last judo throw, Izuku understood that he would not be able to fight again.

Nevertheless, he had achieved his objective at this Sports Festival: he had made everyone acknowledge him. He had left a lasting impression on the heroes and professors alike by winning the 1st event and by beating someone as good as Iida. His hard work and his relentlessness had paid off. He could have not hoped for a better outcome.