Third round:
1. Boruto Uzumaki vs Shinki
2. Izuku Midoriya vs Shoto Todoroki
3. Sarada Uchiha vs Tenya Iida
4. Fumikage Tokoyami vs Katsuki Bakugo
In waiting room 2, Boruto thinks over his strategies on how to fight Shinki. After seeing how he defeated Eijiro and Tsuyu, "Bashing my way through Shinki's iron sand is gonna be hassle...I mean, his quirk was strong enough to block a combined lightning from Kaminari and me during the Calvary battle..." He recalls, even noticed that it didn't make so much as dent in his sand, "The only attack that would work is-"
Before he could finish that thought, his attention is turned as the door opens, revealing to be Eijiro, Tsuyu, and Mezo, "Sup, Boruto." The former greets with a smile.
"Hey, guys?" He greets but surprised to see them at the same time, "So, what brings you 3 here?"
"We figured that we could help you come up with a plan on how to deal with Shinki." Mezo said.
"Yeah, because so far, his quirk doesn't look like it has any weakness..." Tsuyu adds, finger on cheek.
"I get where you're coming from on that piece." Boruto nods in understanding, "His sand wall blocked by mine and Kamainari's bolt attack without showing a sign of struggle."
"No shit." Eijiro agrees, "Even when I hardened, it was impossible to even create a dent in his black sand." He thought back in a little shame, but remains firm, "So we'll back you up with this plan, so you can kick his ass and move up!" He grins, "What do ya say?"
Surprised by their support, he replies, "Ya know... I have one move that could take him down."
"Ribbit? What type?" Tsuyu asks, curiously.
"I'd rather show it on the field." Boruto grins, standing up from his chair, "And yeah, I'll go ahead and take you guys up on your offer." He accepts their strategy.
"Great!" Eijiro's glad to here before they get to it.
Opening 3, "It's All in the Game" by Qyoto
Starts off with the main players of the U.A. Sports Festival(Boruto, Izuku, Katsuki, Shoto, Sarada, and Shinki). All six of them having serious looks of determination. The next shot zooms in on the arena as the title appears.
It then shows the crowd roaring with cheers of anticipation as to who will come out on top, including Class 1-A and 1-B. Shots of Naruto, All Might, Sasuke, Endeavor, the rest of the Kage Hero's, Shota and the other U.A. Teachers, Hawks, Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, and Mirko are shown.
Flashbacks of the 5 competitors are shown: Sarada, with her fist tight(Looking up to Sasuke as a child with her sweet smile), Shinki as he grimaces(Meeting and being embraced by Gaara after looking control of his quirk), Todoroki with a mad expression(Having flashbacks of his Mom, and Endeavor's brutal training), Katsuki being as angry as ever(Having flashbacks of bullying Izuku and Boruto getting in his way as kids), Izuku, with both fists balled up(flashbacks of his quirk given to him by All Might and friendship the young Uzumaki), and the last one is Boruto, with his left fist closed(shown training with Naruto and fighting off Bakugo from Izuku as kids.)
The next shot zooms to the battles in the arena ring, Izuku flicking a smash attack to repel Todoroki's ice, and Sarada engaging Bakugo in hand-to-hand combat dodging an explosion from the latter, and Boruto dodging a wave of sand and kicks some away before launching a trio of clones to attack.
The next shot is when the atmosphere becomes dark and the sky turns overcast as the Otsutsuki trio(Momoshiki, Kinshiki, and Urashiki) emerge from a portal above the Sports festival arena. The former, who grins wickedly and launches a large fireball upon everyone there, which creates an explosion.
Out of the scattered dust, Naruto, All Might, Sasuke, Boruto, and Izuku are the only ones who remain and the two U.A. Students charge at the flying alien trio with a battle cry(Boruto doing a Raasengan and Izuku doing a Smash attack with his fist surging with red lines) as the opening finishes.
Chapter 36: Shinki(Origin)
In waiting room 1, Shinki is sitting in a meditating position, preparing himself for his third round opponent, Boruto, who he declared war to, along with Hitoshi, before the festival, "The moment I've been
waiting for..." He speaks inwardly with his eyes closed, "Defeating Boruto Uzumaki will prove that father should be the one to take the top spot of the Kage hero criteria."
As he speaks through his thoughts, his inner past begins to show itself. Ever since Gaara took him in, his life and point of view changed from there on out.
Flashback:
Walking through a sandstorm in a random desert, a very young Shinki was walking aimlessly while wearing a dirtied cloak. He was just a lone orphan. No family or no friends.
He came off as rather timid and easily tempered for a reason, because his iron sand quirk was going out of control. Everywhere he goes, his unrestrained quirk would cause problems for him and even do things that he wouldn't mean to do.
After a long walk that seemed like it was for hours, he was at the entrance of Japan(Musutafu), "Finally... a city..:" He mutters before proceeding to walk on the sidewalk through the small crowd. Some looked at his dirtied figured out of either concern or disgust, but he didn't care and simply continued on aimlessly until he heard the sound of sirens and of explosions, making him perk up and look in the distance.
"?" The kid sees that 5 large robbers push people aside while having bags with money, trying to find an escape route.
Seeing them come toward his way next, little Shinki sees this as an opportunity to try and catch them with his quirk.
When the two robbers close in on him, "Get out of the way, kid!" One of them shouts(almost using his gun to try and scare him) however, black sand begins to float out of Shinki, much to the shock of the robbers and everyone else on the sidewalk.
In a fast turn, the robbers are pinned and stuck against the wall. The impact makes them drop the bags of money and their guns.
"Ugh...!" The first robber struggles.
"Who the hell... is this kid?!" The 3rd one exclaims weakly.
"That kid's amazing..." Even a few civilians are surprised by how brave little Shinki was at automatically stopping them in their tracks and proceed to give out loud cheers to him.
"..." He remains quiet, but part of him is surprised at the amount of praise he's receiving. Having never experienced this before.
The cheers tone down when a police car arrives and stops near the sidewalk. A few officers and a pro hero starts arresting the 5 robbers after Shinki releases this.
Afterward, the random pro hero walks over to him as he glances up, "Not bad kid... but you shouldn't get involved with these things. And you used your Quirk without a hero license.
"Huh?" Shinki widens a little.
"Everyone here may like your little stunt in assisting the local heroes but the laws are here for a reason and you committed a crime." The pro hero being strict.
Shinki couldn't believe what he was hearing, is he seriously getting in trouble for doing something right, "But... they were pushing people aside and coming towards me... with guns and money." He tries backing up.
"That still doesn't mean you didn't use your quirk without permission, you know." The pro hero said, hands on hips.
Shinki begins turning his expression to a mad one, not getting how any of this makes sense, "So you're telling me... that saving people and defending myself is a crime?!"
Responding to his temper, his iron sand quirk begins running wild once more, forming a tornado around him that sends the pro hero, the police, and everyone else around him flying back. Even if they tried to stop or reach him, it'd prove meaningless as the swarm of sand protected him in his angered state.
The civilians begin to evacuate from the rampaging iron sand as Shinki still maintains his angered expression.
Another police vehicle, revealing Naomasa to come up, runs towards the random pro hero and asks upon covering from the sand wind, "What's going on here?!"
"I don't know! This kid started acting up the moment I gave him small criticism!" He exclaims in reply.
"Whatever the case, we have to do something about him before he causes some damage." Tsukuchi said in knowing.
This is when another port of sand domes into play, swarming around to on spot and reforms a person in full, revealing to be Gaara, who has his hands crossed of his chest.
"Desert Sand!" Tsukuchi calls out in surprise as the latter walks to where he is.
"What's the problem here?" Gaara asks, not fazed by the black sand rampaging.
"It would appear that kid's quirk is going out of control!" Naomasa points to the shielded Shinki.
"..." Desert Sand senses something off with him and asks, "His eyes... they're troubled." He can tell by looking at Shinki's mad glare.
"What do you mean by 'troubled'?" The random pro asks, "All I did was give him constructive criticism about interfering with a hero's work!" He adds, continuing to cover himself from the black sand.
"..." Gaara decides to walk in the black sand storm, much to everyone else's sudden surprise.
"Desert Sand!" Tsukuchi calls out, but to no avail.
Making his way deep into the sand's hail storm, Gaara spots the boy(who has his head lowered) and slowly makes his way toward him.
"!" The boy perks up in seeing his advancement and fearfully forms iron sand needles that surrounds the desert hero.
Gaara is somewhat surprised by this, even using a small amount of his sand quirk to block some incoming needles. This is also when he gives the youngling a hug despite having to tank a few needles that impales his back, making Gaara wince a bit, but fine.
Touched by this sudden embracement, Shinki opens his eyes and the sand storm around them stops, making the black sand needles disappear from Gaara's backside.
Pulling away, the Desert sand hero begins talking with him, "You did nothing wrong, little one." He assures to put the boy at ease, "Do you want to become a hero?"
"..." Surprised by this question with wide eyes, he slowly replies, "I... do."
"Then I'll teach you how to control your powers." Gaara assures as a promise, "What's your name?"
"...Shinki..." He quietly replies.
Gaara nods and turns Tsukuchi, "He'll be in good hands with me and will no longer be an orphan."
The detective cracks a smile and replies, "It's alright with me."
As the citizens all around praise Gaara for his success, Shinki looks up at him with some amazement, seeing that his world and rough life is about to change completely.
Following the encounter, Gaara adopted him, and soon after began teaching Shinki proper control of his power and how to effectively use it in battle.
Present:
After some inner callbacks, Shinki walks through the tunnels as his match with Boruto is about to begin.
"THE ANTICIPATION IN THE STADIUM FILLS UP! Present Mic hypes it up as the ring's bowls begin to fire up, "AND THAT MEANS THE FIRST MATCH OF THE THIRD ROUND IS GONNA BE EPIC AS IT'S CLASS 1-A VS CLASS 1-B YET AGAIN!" He begins announcing the competitors, "THE GUY WHO'S QUIRK HAS UNSTOPPABLE DEFENSE AND WICKET OFFENSE! FROM THE HERO COURSE, SHINKI!"
The iron sand user walks out to the open toward the stage.
"VERSUS, THE KID WHO'S AGILE AND WON HIS LAST TWO MATCHES WITH BARELY ANY TROUBLE! ALSO FROM THE HERO COURSE, BORUTO UZUMAKI!"
The whiskered teen enters the ring as well. Both challengers staring the other down with firm looks.
"He's up against Class 1-B's strongest." Kaminari said, "Uzumaki's gonna have a tough time against this one."
"Yeah... it's pretty nerve-wrecking." Momo admits.
"I wonder how Uzumaki's gonna get through his defense..." Kyoka wonders before asking Tsuyu, "Was the plan you guys shared with him a solid one?"
"Yeah, it should be fine." The frog teen replies.
"It depends on whether Shinki let's his defenses down." Mezo adds.
"Good thing you guys came up with the plan." Metal said, "Even though I fought Shinki too, I doubt I'd give the best advice."
"Don't sweat it." Eijiro assures, "Besides, Uzumaki already got his own trick to show off." He grins, looking forward.
"You can do it!" Sumire cheers.
"Go get'em, Boruto!" Ochaco raises a fist.
"How do you think this match will go?" Mitsuki asks Izuku, who has his notebook out for the match.
"No idea..." He answers in honesty, "Shinki's quirk will make it harder for Boruto to close the gap. On top of that his defense is another issue..." He adds, "But if he can use his shadow clone quirk as a distraction, then he has a good chance of finding an opening and beat Shinki in a physical fight."
"My thoughts exactly." Mitsuki agrees with him there, "In a way, Shinki's like Todoroki." He compares, "They both rely on their quirks and don't resort to brute strength."
"So... if Uzumaki has the speed to bypass his sand shield, then he has a shot." Tenya understands.
On another end of the stands, The Kage hero's and Sasuke make it back in time to see the next match.
"Well well, Uzumaki and Shinki's match." Darui comments.
"This is bound to be interesting fight." Chojuro adds.
"You said it." Naruto agrees, turning to Gaara next, "May the best son win?"
"Hmph." Gaara huffs, eyes closed and arms crossed, making the blonde sweat-drop at his usual quietness.
"If I recall... you also declared war on the rest of us before this started." Boruto reminds his opponent, smirking while doing so, "But, I have no intention of losing here."
"That is if you got what it takes to back that up." Shinki remarks, stirring up his iron sand around him, "You'll know despair soon enough."
Feeling the tensity in the air from his opponent's quirk, Boruto goes in battle position as well.
"BOTH CONTESTANTS READY? BEGIN!"
The second it starts, Shinki launches a set of iron sand needles, which Boruto quickly evades and runs to the side and onward, "Not wasting any time, huh." He takes a leap backward to avoiding a few more before releasing, "Gale Palm!" A stream of wind is launched, blowing away the needles and making it's way to attack Shinki, who forms a sand wall to shield himself.
Going around his wall, Boruto attack him directly, but ends up jumping over a wave of sand before using it as a rocket to launch himself once more. Before his fist could connect, only a small form of sand protects Shinki again, "Tch!" The whiskered teen decides to back off and regain his distance as Shinki retracts his quirk.
"Weak attacks like that won't destroy my impenetrable iron wall." Shinki states firmly.
"That's where your wrong." Boruto remarks, "I have more in my arsenal than just the Gale quirk, as you already know." He hand-signs via fingers together, "Shadow Clones!" He summons 2 and they begin circling around Shinki.
"Useless." His opponent proceeds to fire off multiple sand needles at each target, "My quirk is good against multiple opponents simultaneously." He reveals, adding, "It's easy for me to take you and your copies out at once."
"Is that so? You think underestimating me will do you any good!?" Attacking from all sides, "Lightning Bolt!" Each clone surge their palms with electricity before launching them in unison, seemingly striking Shinki with a direct it.
"Nice shot!" Izuku cheers.
"Wow! That was an awesome attack!" Hanata exclaims in amazement.
"Utilizing both his clone and lightning quirks in one combination was impressive!" Momo agrees.
"Yeah, but he's against a foe who's hasn't gotten a single scratch yet and has strong defense." Inojin said.
"Maybe, but knowing Boruto, he'll find a way to pull it off." Sarada chimes in.
"You're so right about that." Eijiro nods with grin.
"Heh! Well he'd better." Shikadai smirks, hoping he has something up his sleeve.
"YOWZA! UZUMAKI STARTS OFF STRONG WITH A SMOOTH LIGHTNING COMBINATION! THOSE CLONES COME IN HANDY, DON'T THEY?!" Mic hypes up via speaker.
On Class 1-B's side, Monoma cracks a chuckle with arms crossed over his chest, knowing what Shinki is capable of, "What idiots. This is where things will turn ugly for Uzumaki and I can't wait for you all to see it."
Back down at the ring, the smoke clears to reveal that Shinki wasn't at all struck by the attack and is protected by iron sand covering his whole body from all angles, and when it floats by his sides, they've formed into black iron hands with what appears to be electricity surging through them.
"Woah, what's that..." Boruto mutters in a blink of surprise as his clones at side by him.
"Like I already told you." Shinki continues with his firm glare, "My iron sand is impenetrable."
Sweating one time, but keeping his smirk a little, "Now this... was unexpected."
"What's that stuff around him?" Toru asks in wonder.
"That looks like some type of electro magnetic field." Sarada guesses, "He's changing the shape of his iron sand to control and manipulate it."
"For real?! He never showed something like that when we faced him." Eijiro recalls, referring to him Tsuyu, Shoji, and Metal.
"That fighting style reminds me of someone." Naruto turns to Gaara with joking comment.
"Hmph." The latter huffs, but replies, "The black iron fist. His quirk's favorite attack." He explains, "It can be used for offensive and defense."
"So attacking and defending..." The number 2 hero looks back at the fight, "Then that means..." He trails in knowing.
Positioning his left giant iron fist aimed the Uzumaki, surprising him as Shinki begins his attack with his right hand forward in control and immediately shoots his right fist out like a rocket.
"!" Boruto leaps upward to dodge as his clones end up getting struck down, "That's fast! However," He notices blue lines behind his other large fist, like some magnetic field, "Lightning bolt!" He throws down while in mid-air, tempting Shinki to form a small shield, but this time, it doesn't work and he ends up getting somewhat electrocuted. After landing, "Got him!" The young Uzumaki immediately lungs up him with palm ready to strike, "I'll thrash him in close quarters and then-", However, Shinki looks up and dodges downward at the right time, "Huh?" Boruto utters, not getting how he recovered so fast, or if it had no effect on him.
Now having his opponent right where he wants him, Shinki coats his right hand with iron sand and balls it into a fist before landing a heavy blow to his torso, "AGH!" Bulging his eyes out, Boruto grunts in pain as he's sent upward, having felt the impact within that iron.
"And now." Shinki isn't done yet, "Black Iron Fist: Eject!" He attaches his electric strings to control the right iron fist to attack upward while his opponent is in mid-air, using it to float above Boruto and waving his hand downward to bash him towards the ground, "GAH!" He crashes and topples upon impact.
"WHAT UP! JUST LIKE THAT, SHINKI COUNTERATTACKS! HIS OFFENSE AND DEFENSE NEVER FAILS TO DISAPPOINT!"
"Boruto!" Sumire exclaims in worry.
"Crap! He got him..." Izuku mutters, tightening his fist a little.
"That time, he deliberately let Uzumaki destroy his Iron sand wall and made him think he had an opening to attack." Momo figures in analysis.
"Yeah, in that situation, anyone would have done that." Kyoka said.
"What a cheap trick!" Minrou exclaims dramatically.
"Well, it worked..." Metal trails.
"And that's gotta hurt too..." Sato adds.
"So his lightning attacks aren't working right now..." Ochaco utters.
"During the cavalry battle, his quirk did block my lightning, along with Uzumaki's." Kaminari recalls, "He'll need something flasher to get pass his defenses."
Boruto stumbles up, wincing as he holds his torso, "Damn... I fell for it." He admits before adding.
"With that attack earlier, I placed an Iron Sand marking on you." Shinki revealing's, stunning his opponent, "You do know the properties of Iron sand, right?"
"It's like a magnetic force, I know." Boruto responds, not liking the sound of that either, even taking a step back.
"That's right." Shinki confirms it, "That how I manipulate the shape and size of my quirk, as you're seeing right now with black iron fist. Form here, my attacks are unescapable." He forms sand pellets with his iron fists.
"So this is what you're capable of when going all-out..." Boruto grimaces.
"And this is where I'll show you the difference between our powers." Shinki declares, ready to attack with his next move.
Ending 4, "Beauties of Nature" by Kachou Fugetsu
Opens up with a yellow line floating across Boruto, who has his head lower with a shadow over his eyes while a green line floats across Izuku, who has his eyes covered by his hair. As the lines proceeds to expand, the protagonists open their eyes and gaze up while back-to-back.
The next panel shows Class 1-A conversating with one another in the classroom, with the exception of Katsuki and Shoto. The next shot shows the U.A Teachers doing paperwork and talking about what they plan to have their students do next.
The air then turns red, taking a dark turn with the 2 boys in the middle, Boruto opening his eye that activates the Jougan and Izuku surging with red lines/green electricity. They're gaze turns to the Otsutsuki Trio looming over them, in the forms of Momoshiki, Urashiki, and Kinshiki. The first two aliens looking down with menacing grins.
With their Hero costumes on, the protagonists express a glare of determination as the next panels zoom in to the Pro and Kage Heroes battle against the Otsutsuki clansmen: Gaara, Hawks, Darui, Mirko, and Edgeshot taking on Urashiki(who has his fishing rod ready to strike). Endeavor, Kakashi, Best Jeanist, Chojuro, and Kurotsuchi against Kinshiki(Who has a red-energized axe in hand). And finally, Naruto, All Might, and Sasuke lunging at Momoshiki(who grins down at them with his left-palmed Rinnegan activated).
The last shot shows Boruto and Izuku watching as the heroes(especially Naruto and All Might) fight on field against these villains. Turn to each other, they give determined nods before running to join the Pro Heroes in battle.
The battle continues with Boruto in a tough spot against Class 1-AB's strongest, Shinki! Adding new stuff to Shinki's backstory compared to the anime was a bonus here for me.
On the next, the fight and rest of the third round matches finishes before the best parts.