A/N: Read this note, would you kindly?
EDIT: Added some content, improved some scenes. Hope you like it~!
Not much else to say this time around, got a busy month ahead.
A03 account -same name as this one!- ain't getting much feedback, but I'm sure it will once I start posting lemons over there. Hopefully in the coming months...
As ever, the Embers rule remains. If folks don't like this story...well...I'll not be able to continue it. With two jobs and rent to pay, my free time is...at an all time low. I can't afford to write stories that no one enjoys. So by all means, speak up! Every bit of feedback matters here! Truly, it does! That's no joke!
Now for your questions, comments, and concerns from PM's reviews, anonymous stuff, and the like. As ever, we'll keep it brief:
Q: Is the Hero Safety Comission -think I said that right?- aware of Naruto's doings at this point.
A: Unfortunately. You don't go around wiping out/robbing villains and not get noticed.
And for what he's about to do...well. I suppose it needs to be said.
Those who didn't notice him before certainly will now.
Because, y'see, our boy's kinda angry...
Q: How many kids is he gonna collect, oi?! He running an orphanage or something?!
A: How many you want? XD
Q: Seems someone discovered Lady Nagant?
A: I have indeed.
Q: Don't you DARE skip the fight!
A: Wouldn't dream of it.
Q: So... is *SPOILER* going to *SPOILER* and *SPOILER* with *SPOILER?!*
A: Indeed. There shall be much *SPOILER* in the future.
Alright, I've kept you waiting long enough. As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes!
Not a wit or a one. They're merely tributes to legends far greater than I.
And finally, a warning. Spoilers. Goes without saying, I suppose.
Hope you're ready~!
"Remember these words, Enji Todoroki! A father always gets stronger when he's fighting for his family!
I'm fighting for mine! My boy's standing right behind me right now! Cheering me on!
Who are you fighting for, Endeavor? Go on. I'm listening.
Tell me. Who, exactly, is cheering for you?
I don't hear a single soul."
~Just a Shinobi.
Just a Brawl
Rei's thought's were an incoherent mess.
This fight...this was real, right? This was actually happening, wasn't it? She wasn't dreaming. Was she? Her heart hitched at the thought. If this was a dream, she didn't wan to wake up. Aghast at the thought, she pinched herself just to be sure; the jolt of pain that shot down her arm soon proved as startling as it was satisfying. Real. All too real. She would've wept, if all the tears hadn't been wrung out of her hours ago.
The idea that someone would listen to her, stand up against her husband, what he'd done...
She tried to speak, but the words emerged as an inchoate jumble.
Because, y'see, Endeavor was losing. Badly.
"ORAH!"
She ducked aside as Naruto smacked Enji through another wall, idly pulling Toya and Tenko -such good boys!- towards the safety of the kitchen with her. Even then she didn't dare take her eyes off the slaughter unfolding before them. To do so now felt like a disservice, both to herself and the young blond who'd just thrown his reputation down the drain for her. All to destroy the one thing-person!-she feared above all else. The media would surely drag his name through the mud once they learned of this. And yet the sight of Endeavor's face twisted in surprise and pain...
Rei would be lying if she said it wasn't a little cathartic.
Clenched knuckles barreled into Enji's face. A tooth whistle free and stuck itself in the ceiling, such was the force with which he'd stuck.
Once, she might have thought it a shame. Enji had been...a better person in the beginning. Before Shoto was born. Before he gave up on Toya and began training him instead. Before his obsession began to consume him, before he became physical. Never before had that shown as much as it did now. His crimson flame warred with gold, and the latter overpowered him effortlessly.
"Burn all you like, but you'll never burn me out." Naruto waded in, blocked a flaming punch with his elbow, and smashed a knee into her ex-husband's nose. Endeavor's head snapped back, giving him the chance to grab his neck and whip him across the den like a rag doll. "C'mon!" he brayed after him. "Put up your dukes! I'm not done with you!"
Here at the last, Toya seemed to waffle. "Oi, Tenko Are you sure this'll work...?"
Tenko watched attentively. "You don't know my dad. He's got this."
"You don't know mine! He's going to do something stupid!"
Sure enough, he did. "Flashfire fist: Hell spider!"
"Rasengan!"
A pained cry split the air.
Tenko quirked a knowing brow at the decidedly Endeavor-shaped hole leading out to the yard. "Like that?"
Toya clapped a hand to his forehead and squinted through hii fingers. "Ooooh, that looked painful...
Painful? Rei didn't think it was painful enough. More pain! More broken bones!
Tenko winced. "Uh, Toya? I think your mom's broken. She's giggling again...
Broken? As far as Rei was concerned, this was payback!
(.0.0.0.)
Endeavor proved himself surprisingly sturdy.
Say what you would about his means and methods, but he could certainly take a pounding unlike any other. It should've annoyed Naruto; no matter how much he smacked him around, Enji Todoroki dragged himself up and came back for more. Indeed, he gave as good as he got. He should've been furious...yet he wasn't. For the strangest reason he found himself smiling as they traded blows.
Well, trading implied some manner of equality in a fight. There was none. Not here.
For every glancing blow Enji managed to land, he delivered three more. There could be no question as to the outcome of the fight. It was a matter of when. Not if. Endeavor wouldn't break easily. Good. It wouldn't be any fun if he did. Every blow he rained down on this burning, bearded bastard left a bruise, each a mark for him to remember. Stubborn. He'd break him down bit by bit. At the end of the day he didn't want to kill him, twisted as that might sound. Death was a mercy. You didn't learn from dying. No, he was going to beat him into the ground, shatter that arrogance, maybe even teach him a lesson if he could.
"Raaaargh!"
Unfortunately, the latter was looking less and less likely given his subject's...emotional state.
Somehow, that made him smile even more. "Ole~!"
He swept his arm aside, diverting the flaming fighter as one might a charging bull. Endeavor hit a wall and smashed through it. Extricated himself in a burst of flame. Rounded on him now, eyes wild.
"Kill you! I'll kill you!"
"Not like that, you wont!" He dodged a wild lunge and tripped the flaming hero. "Honestly, you're just getting sloppy by this point. Don't you see how pointless this is? What are you even fighting for-hey!"
Endeavor's fist flashed out as he fell, fingers sinking into the soil. It superheated and burst into molten slag, peppering him with debris. Hmm. Best not get hit by that. Fire hurt. Burns still stung, no matter how quickly he healed. He flung up an arm and grunted in annoyance as the burning berserker made a blind grab for him, seizing his wrist. Fire burst in his face. He closed his eyes against it with a put upon sigh. The heat hurt, but he'd experienced far worse in his day.
Really, the Amaterasu put this paltry display to shame.
Kurama gave him the mental equivalent of a sigh. "Stop playing with your food already."
"Fine, fine." Still bleeding flames Naruto swung, backhanding the number two hero away from him with an open palm. "Can't let me have any fun...
Jab. Hook. Uppercut.
He retaliated against Endeavor, but tactically, a boxer choosing his blows. Each hit was targeted. Every strike left his adversary gasping in pain. Liver. Lungs. Kidneys. A lead hook to the body, snaking around Enji's guard to rattle his ribcage. Mean to debilitate, to break, but not kill. Endeavor folded like a wet paper bag. A kick sailed up and caught him in the chin, physically flipping him in the air before he fell flat on his face. Naruto found himself wincing despite having been the one to deliver it. Oooh. That looked painful.
"You done?"
"Never!" the former father righted himself with a snarl from the floor, fists burning. "Flashfire fist-
"That's quite enough of that!" Naruto stomped down on his back, grinding him deeper into the floor. "Do you want to set the entire neighborhood on fire?!"
Much to his surprise the man's entire body burst into flame, forcing him to recoil with a pained hiss. Endeavor rushed him, still ablaze. He caught an overhand swing and chambered a Rasengan into his ribs; one that sent him hurtling out the house proper.
It was too much to hope it would keep him down.
Endeavor's body barely bounced once before he righted himself in the yard. Flames sputtered beneath his back and set the grass ablaze, burning away the last of his momentum to force him back to his feet once more. A wild look flashed across his face as those bloodshot eyes fixated upon him once more.
"You filthy villain!"
"So we've moved onto petty insults now, have we?" He closed his eyes and paused to stomp out the flames he'd left behind, careful not to let them spread. Endeavor took the opportunity to close with him again. Beneath closed lids, blur orbs blazed into golden honey once more as he drew upon the natural energies in the air. "How embarrassing...for you."
Flaming fists slammed into open palms once more.
"Haven't you learned yet?" A gold iris creaked open, regarding him with a flat expression as held him at bay. "I'm stronger than you."
One of those hand tightened their grip and yanked. An awful pop filled the air. Endeavor yowled in pain. His right arm fell to hang loosely at his side, dislocated at the shoulder. In a single seamless movement Naruto swept the broken man's legs, both breaking their deadlock and leaving him hanging in the air for a crucial moment. Unbalanced by the blow, Endeavor wasn't able to course correct in time.
"Faster, too."
A golden punch rattled Endeavor's ribs, launching clean through the fence and out into the street beyond. Time to wrap this up. Folks would notice at this rate.
"Really," he paused a stone's throw away and planted one fist on his hips "The only thing you have going for you is your size, and as I'm sure you know...
He saw the moment Endeavor snapped. Felt the temperature spike. A hand thrust forward. "Jet burn!"
"...size isn't everything."
He reared back and slammed his hands together; the resulting shockwave popped his ears and extinguished most of the blaze before it could hope to reach him. Even then some of it reached him, singing his face beneath Kurama's cloak. Did his emotions make the flames stronger? Something to considered. He'd have to add it to his Notebook when he taught Toya.
"Oho? Already taking the kid in?
'If this bastard won't help him,then I will!'
Said "bastard" looked to be on his last legs right about now. His left eye swollen shut, chest heaving, one arm drooping uselessly, flames sputtering. Even his knees looked weak right about now. He didn't have much left in him. Yet despite that, he stood. He'd give him points for determination. If only he could channel that determination somewhere else...
.
..
...maybe he was a lost cause after all.
"Alright," Naruto heaved a sigh, shoulders slumping. "I think we're done." he looked to Rei and the kids. "If you wanna round up Shoto and the kids, then call the cops, I can keep this bugger subdued~!
His sixth sense shrieked a warning. Tenko cried out a second later. Toya wasn't far behind.
"Dad!"
"Watch out!"
Blazing arms closed around Naruto from behind. He cursed himself for the distraction. Sloppy.
Heat flared, singing his skin. "PROMINENCE BURN!"
A pillar of fire split the night.
Golden fire.
Kurama swelled around his shoulders in all his golden glory, snuffing out Endeavor's greatest attack like a blown candle. An attack that had scorched the very sky, visible for miles around, swallowed u by a giant fox. The irony wasn't lost on him. He took a tiny bit of pleasure in watching flaming hero sway on his feet, strength spent at long last.
"Is that all?"
Endeavor lurched forward.
Enough. A cursory kick shattered the joints of his right knee, twisting it at a horrible angle. Enji buckled to a knee. He didn't scream. More points for him. Pity they weren't enough.
"What...the hell... are you?!" Endeavor growled at him, flames flaring fitfully in his face. "How are you this strong?! Just how many quirks do you have?!"
Bingo! Those were the words he'd been waiting for!
"Look at you, wasted and gasping for air." Naruto forced a smile to his face and spread his arms. "Remember these words, Enji Todoroki! A father always gets stronger when he's fighting for his family! I'm fighting for mine!" he hooked a thumb over his shoulder, to where he knew Tenko was watching, rapt with attention. "My boy's standing right behind me right now! Cheering me on! But who are you fighting for besides yourself, Endeavor?"
The redhead went still beneath him.
"Go on." Naruto let his grin gain a manic edge. "I'm listening. Tell me. Who, exactly, is cheering for you? I don't hear a single soul."
"...!" He felt the man's spirit waver.
"Its true that I'm not exactly at the top of my game these days." he straightened his back, producing an audible pop. "I haven't had as much time to train, and being a dad's a full job, ya know? But I can't give up here. Why, you ask? Because I have set a good example to live up to.
A finger swung out, stabbing at the staggered hero.
"Remember this! A father! Always gets stronger! When he's fighting for his kids! Earlier you called me a villain, didn't you? Aren't you one yourself? Stop hurting your family!"
"We have ourselves a voyeur."
"Eh?" Naruto's sixth sense stretched outward at Kurama's words. "Where...jeez, they're so far away-
He heard a rifle bark in the distance. Miles away.
His head snapped back.
(.0.0.0.)
One shot. One kill.
She wasn't cut out for this shit.
Kaina Tatsumi, aka Lady Nagant, knew it.
She'd been trailing this blond bastard for days now. Follow the guy, he said. Tail him, they said. Find out what he's up to. Some guy with a powerful kid, someone who was damned hard to follow.
And now, in
She'd spent the last five minutes setting up shop in an abandoned building, watching him through her scope. Why'd gone to Endeavor's house, she had no idea, but she'd followed still. Waiting for the right moment, still trying to piece it all together...
.
..
...or so she had been before all hell broke loose.
The back of the house absolutely exploded, and the yard beyond it burst into flame. No hiding that. She had watched the brawl that followed, the one-sided beating, with dread in her heart.
She couldn't hear the blond's voice from here. But she could read his lips well enough through the scope.
Four little words. She said them aloud. "Stop hurting your family...?"
She tightened down on the trigger.
No. Don't falter. She was a cog in the machine, a pivotal piece that kept it running smoothly. A system with two sides. Front and back. A system that needed both sides to maintain itself. Obey, they told her. Comply. Do your duty. This is for the greater good. Your arm will uphold peace.
Just thinking of it exhausted her. Hunting a good guy and his kid, for what? To preserve their same of a society? Because he could take villains down better, harder, and faster than All Might could? Because he interfered with the natural order of things? Ha! So fragile. A phony. A sham. A golden daydream seen through rose-colored glasses.
In short, an illusion. But a necessary one. For now.
...what a joke."
She'd begun to have her doubts even before this. Now they solidified. She was tired of this. So very tired.
"Sorry, kid." She mumbled under her breath. "Its nothing personal, but a job's a job...
She curled the strands of her hair into a bullet, loaded it, sighted down her scope...and fired. It was a good shot. The round traversed the distant in an instant. Her maximum range, maximum firepower. Poor bastard never saw it coming. He was still towering over Endeavor's fallen form when his head snapped back. Gone. Another life snuffed out, just like that. Would it never end?
The blond swayed forward. Waitminute. Why was he smiling?
He'd caught her bullet between his teeth.
His eyes met hers through the scope; as she looked on aghast he stabbed a golden finger her way.
Lady Nagant saw his lips move again. Two words. "You're next."
He vanished a heartbeat later, a sizzling gold streak.
Panic bleated in her chest wild n' fierce. 'I've been made!'
She tensed from her perch atop the rooftop...but no attack came.
Had she overreacted? Even the best speed quirk would take at least a few minutes to reach her at this distance. Surely she had time to flee? Y-Yeah, she told herself. Of course she did. Definitely. Still, someone who could take down the number two hero AND eat one of her bullets without batting an eyelash? Nope! Couldn't do it. Wasn't even gonna try; wasn't messing with a guy like that. Maybe the safety commission could send someone else...no, they'd have to. She'd made them see sense; because she wasn't dealing with this any longer.
Nine second passed and still no reprisal. Was she safe? Did she dare hope?
Her heart was still beating so damn fast!
"...that's enough for one night. " Lady Nagant blew out a breathy sigh as she stowed her rifle-arm and climbed to her feet. "All this work to deal with one guy...I'm getting real tired of this shit...
"You and me both."
A glowing hand clamped down on her shoulder from behind. Five firm fingers locked down onto her collarbone, fastening themselves -and her!- in place. Her brain fizzled, any and all thoughts dying an ugly death, spiriting her courage away with them.
No.
No, no.
No, no, no.
It just wasn't possible. No one was that fast! Even the quickest quirk couldn't have reached her already...!
Kaina froze. Looked up now, knowing full well what -who!- she would find waiting for her there.
Naruto's blazing red eyes beamed back at her, narrow and intent, half-lidded with mirth.
The bullet was still in his teeth. He spat it down at her feet. Crushed it under his heel.
"Nice shooting back there~!" he purred down at her. "That hurt like hell."
There could only be one proper response to such terror.
Lady Nagant screamed to high heaven.
A/N: Aaaand scene. We'll pick up here next time. If there is a next time.
Well? Whaddya think? Should this continue? Should it be a story? I await your feedback.
As ever, the Embers rule remains. If folks don't like this story...well...I'll not be able to continue it. With two jobs and rent to pay, my free time is...at an all time low. I can't afford to write stories that no one enjoys. So by all means, speak up! Every bit of feedback matters here! Truly, it does! That's no joke!
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
Here, have some juicy previews.
Well, future ones at least.
(Preview)
"Rise and shine~!
Rei tugged at his sleeve. "Might I...have a moment of your time?"
"Would you mind leaving that boy with me?"
Naruto reared back, up now, to glare at the man before him.
...I don't even know who you are. And your face is creepin' me out. Scram."
"You are our tool. You will obey."
Take the shot. Go ahead. I'll let you.
But you had best be prepared...
...for the consequences."
CHOMP!
Naruto's right eye began to twitch. "The kid's biting me again, ain't she?"
Rei hid a smile behind her hand. "She might be."
"Togaaaaaa!"
Shigaraki kicked up his feet. "Well, I always wanted a big family...
Toya scoffed. "Big, he says. Ain't even scratching the surface there, buddy...
"I can't STAND hypocrites like you. Disappear!"
"Listen, you! There ain't nothing wrong with being quirkless. I was weak as hell when I started out.
"How did you get so strong, then?
"Push ups, situps, and plenty of juice. That, and determination...
EDIT: Hey, you made it! Congrats! Thanks for taking the time to read this!
As ever, the Embers rule remains. If folks don't like this story...well...I'll not be able to continue it. With two jobs and rent to pay, my free time is...at an all time low. I can't afford to write stories that no one enjoys. So by all means, speak up! Every bit of feedback, big or small, matters here! Truly, it does! That's no joke!
Looking forward to chatting with you all when I get back from work~!
~Nz.
R&R~!