Chapter Text
XXXX
Class 1-A just got back from lunch and Naruto could not be happier. Sure, he had gotten over being stupid and acquired knowledge in this world thanks it not treating him like a demon, but he still found normal class to be boring. Even if it was what they considered college-level for most people. Naruto was sure Sakura and Shikamaru would ace all this if they ended up here. To be fair, Naruto was doing pretty well too, but his body itched for a good fight…or a bit of mischief.
Seeing that their heroics teacher was running a few minutes late, he had secretly rigged the door for a prank. Not that any of his classmates saw, he was just too fast for them and that made it all the better for him.
"WE ARE HERE!"
"We?" Naruto asked, as a sense of dread overcame him as All Might strode through the door; only to end up being pied in the face with a cherry pie, making him look somewhat bloody.
"Yes, we. We are both your heroics teachers." A voice said behind him that made him shiver in fear. "You would not have had something to do with this, would you?"
Managing to keep his composure, Naruto smirked as he turned around to see his mother, Lady Nagant grinning menacingly at him, to the fear of the surrounding students. "That pie came out of nowhere, it was crazy."
"I don't believe you."
Naruto just eye smiled. "Did you or anyone else see it?" He knew too well how his parents worked. All Might was 'The Show', while Lady Nagant worked from the shadows, always watching his back. At the 'Tsk' coming from her, he knew not even she saw what he did. But he also knew she had been looking into ways to up her perception. If he could pull one on All Might, then what about villains? This little game pushed each other and it was fun!
"No... but I know you." Kaina replied with a smirk of her own as she walked to the front where All Might cleaned himself up, but his smile never left. "You watch yourself."
"Then the game is still on." Naruto replied sardonically, however, he noticed the room had gone deathly silent. Looking around him, he saw all his classmates looking at him like he had grown a second head. "What?"
"DUDE! ARE YOU NOT FAZED BY ANYTHING?!" Setsuna shouted to the amusement of the class. Kaminari and Kyoka were nearly blue with holding in laughter; while other students were weren't in the immediate friend group, were gaping at him. "You took my headless prank in stride like it was nothing, and now you are shooting the shit with a scary-as-hell Lady Nagant!"
Himiko giggled from her seat not too far away. "He's used it. You know, with her being our mom and all."
"That is so freaking manly." Eijiro commented and Itsuka had to agree. "Wait, you're her kids, this is freaking crazy!"
"Speaking of, I knew you were going to be teachers here, I just did not expect you both to be the heroics teachers." Naruto comment.
"HA! We wanted to it to be a surprise!" All Might laughed, "So I welcome you to our class of Heroics 101! Here you will learn the basics of being a pro! So, let's get into it!"
"For our first lesson, we wish to see where you all are in terms of combat ability. Having read your files, we know what you should know but seeing it in action is the best way for us to come up with ways to help you improve and teach you what you need to learn in case a fight should break out." Lady Nagant explained. "Show us what you got!"
"But one of the keys of being a hero is…LOOKING GOOD!" All Might announced as briefcases popped out of the odd metal portions on the wall. Seems they actually had a function, neat! "These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and the requests before school started."
"Correct, while half the classes were made by a support company, the other half was created by our own Mei," Kiana explained, making the inventor really perk up at getting free advertisement. "Her creativity knows no bounds and if you need adjustments or something better, Mei will be more than happy to help with that."
"This is going to be so awesome!" Setsuna shouted, much to the agreement of all of the class.
"Get yourselves suited up and meet us at training ground beta!"
"YES SIR!"
XXX
"This is much more relaxed than Mr. Aizawa's quirk assessment test!" Mina cheered in the girl's locker room as she changed into her leotard. Her costume was simple and to her tastes, but she could tell the others had something a lot more complicated.
"Oh, no doubt," Himiko replied with a giggle. "Aizawa wanted to go all drill instructor and scare us into doing our best in exercises. Today, we get to fight…I think. What do you think of my cute outfit?" Himiko's outfit consisted of a full-body, black catsuit with the thighs unzipped for breathing room. They were connected to stiletto-styled boots with the heels and zippers being a blood red. On her waist was a red belt that held a couple of black pouches for hold a few items for all the go. And on her back were a few other pouches but they held durable tubes with a red liquid. Coming out the tailbone of her costume were two blue furry and almost flame-like tails. That flaming fur was also on her wrists and deep V-neck collar. It may have shown a little more cleavage than she was used to but she could make her sexiness work for her. Next was a black animal collar around her neck and some furry cat ears just before her hair buns. Finally, she had two red-clawed gloves with a concealed tube system for if/when she was able to acquire new blood to consume. As for her weapon of choice, a deadly-looking kunai on a chain. The infamous Kunai Spear.
"Your looking cute and hot!" Mina replied astounded. "Love the cat theme."
"Thanks, got inspiration from Auntie Midnight and a friendly cat that hangs around my brother." Himiko replied cheerfully with said cat being Matatabi. She felt it right to bring to light that affectionate cat that was in her brother. Her and Hitoshi paid homage to a couple of Naruto's inner friends while Izuku used the name of another to make his costume.
"Holy crap girl, you are as jacked as me!" Toru shouted, her gloves showing her excitement for Kyoka. She had already complimented Itsuka's workout routine that paid off in lean muscles but damn! She was not so self-conscious anymore seeing a lot of the girls in her class actually took care of themselves. Not that anyone could see Toru but still.
"I kind of had to be when Mei said she was going make me some cool but heavy weapon." Kyoka replied as she shrugged, before walking over to what most of the group had assumed to be an overly large purple and black locker with straps. It turned out to be said weapon as Kyoka casually strapped it like a backpack. The metal contraption was bigger than her! The rest of Kyoka's outfit was much simpler. It stuck with her punk rocker theme. A black tank top that stopped just above her midriff with a frequency design, a black and purple rocker coat, a pair of short black shorts with a pale orange sash on the right with black at the end with diamonds of the inverse colors. A pair of fingerless gloves with black and white speaker devices on the knuckles. A pair of knee-black high rocker boots with more speakers in it and with split skull designs acting as folded-over flaps. On her head, she wore a pair of black and purple headphones that also attached to her earphone jacks as a layer of protection. Finally, under her left eye was a red-markered on musical note.
"Very punk rock! Love it!" Pony replied cheerfully. While she was into a more country look, given her ranch hand look, she could appreciate that Kyoka made the Punk Rock look good!
"Oh yeah, and Mei's mixture of cyberpunk and construction looks amazing as well!" Setsuna replied with admiration of how good the class inventor looked. Mei wore a black and grey jumpsuit that showed off her body a little too well. Over it, she wore an open high collared yellow midriff jacket with black strips going down the sleeves. On her hands were orange metal gloves like Ironman's: They even had the repulsors! On her orange utility belt were various tools and a couple of gun holsters for laser guns that the Hero Snipe made she sure she had a license for and knew how to use. The video of her entrance exams really made him want to confirm that. She also had metal hover boots on that were orange, grey, and silver. These too had some hidden repulsors for flight capabilities. On her head, she figured she might as well go with her current theme and reworked her work goggles into what looked like yellow VR goggles with one shiny green eye staring at you. She still had more to add to her hero suit, but everything present would have to do for now…that and her trusty Sonic Hammer that may or may not have been inspired by Thor's Hammer and the Sonic Screwdriver that a certain Time Lord called The Doctor uses.
"You make the purple scales look good on you too." Mei replied.
"Hell yeah, love reptiles and dinosaurs so much that I had to include it somehow," Setsuna replied proudly. "But man, Momo, you went cyberpunk knight with your look. You mentioned you needed skin exposure to make your quirk. Let me guess, you requested DNA infusion in your suit like me?"
"Indeed I did," Momo explained. "At first I wanted to wear as little as possible to maximize the full usage of my quirk, but Midnight forced a change to the Hero Suit Regulations. That meant my first draft was rejected." She smirked when Kyoka burst out laughing that a certain someone would have loved that. "Then my parents told me about DNA-infused suits and that they could help me get the materials so Mei could work her magic on them. Between Naruto, Izuku, Melissa, and Mei, I feel this came out great. By the way, Mei, if you need help getting yours and Melissa's own company up and running, they will certainly be willing to help set that up after what you all were able to pull off. They were highly impressed."
"Nice, one step closer!" Mei cackled in happiness before looking over Himiko's, Kyoka's, and finally, Momo's costumes to make sure everything was in working order. She loved the tech she put into Momo's suit! It consisted of a red-metal hair clip in place of Momo's normal daily one, which could also expand to act as a helmet, when needed. The suit looked like a more advanced form of medieval armor but she chose to keep her chest open for quick access to ready-made tools…despite the fact that other items she made could phase through the armor. Its main colors consisted of black inner wear with the actual armor being red and gold with some white stripes. She even wore a white, almost silver cape covering what looked to be a bag that both Mei and Naruto made to act like a Bag of Holding. Meaning there was a freaking pocket dimension in the bag to hold and reuse all the stuff she made! Over her eyes was an orange holographic visor with a built-in micro-portable, offline data-vault to hold all chemical instructions and recipes to help her if she forgot something. Much better than the book idea.
"Yep, now come along dear, and focus on the fight to come over the future company plans." Momo replied kindly and she directed her manic friend to the training ground.
Itsuka looked around at all their costume designs and while she worried for Toru in just boots, gloves, and a belt, she still had to smile. "This group is so out of this world, I love it!" Setsuna laughed and put an arm around the orange-haired girl as they walked out.
XXX
"They say the clothes make the pros young ladies and gentlemen and behold; you are the proof!" All Might said proudly as he stood next to his teaching partner. Originally for this exercise, he was going to fight them all to see where they were in terms of combat powers but Kaina convinced him that might have been a bad idea seeing as he intimidates villains on the daily, so he would scare the crap out of new students. Now, this exercise would be a bit more fun.
Coming out of the tunnel, the class really did look amazing. Kaina noted a few that needed work to be completed and others just needed something new, like that Toru girl; there was no way that was comfortable. Ripping her eyes away from the invisible girl's lack of clothing, her eyes rest on the costumes of her kids and their friends. Mei outdid herself on all of them, but that was to be expected. That girl really was a creative genius. She just hoped the girl did not suffer burnout.
Most of the boys were around the same wavelength and she wondered how Shoto could get something of his own because it looked just like the boy's father's suit and that was rather boring. He would have a tough time getting out of the man's shadow at this rate…but hanging around that wind user would probably help. That boy already looked like a general who commanded the very air itself. Maybe they could have similar-styled costumes. They could make a theme about commanding the elements.
What was funny to her though was Hitoshi's costume. She knew he was trying to emulate his own hero in Eraserhead at first, but damn that kid looked different. He was the dark knight to the Iida boy's White Knight. Sure, he had Aizawa's jumpsuit but it was heavily padded to make it look like a muscle suit in the vein of Power Rangers or the Beetle Borgs. He too had metal black metal boots on and she guessed it made a sort of sense to blend in with the shadows given his specific quirk. Speaking of said quirk, it worked with his helmet. The lower half looked to be a sort of voice modulator mix with an amplifier while the top half looked to be a techier version of the old knights used to wear with a grill view. Not to mention that horn of those horned beetles was on top. She guessed that was more for his wrestling moves he picked up. Along his wrists were the stingers he used during the entrance exam but in his hands were a pair of tonfas that she knew packed a few nasty surprises. However, the thing that stood out most to her was the beetle shell backpack because it acted as a flight device if needed. By way of flight, she meant the 6 capture clothes coming from it that could turn rigid via some form of electricity. And one more capture cloth around his waist. That boy sure had his inspiration from Eraserhead and Naruto's 7-Tailed friend.
Then there was little Izuku and she knew for a fact that Inko and Mei worked together on this suit. At first, they wanted to pull inspiration from an old comic book hero from pre-quirk times in a guy called the Flash with his increase in speed thanks to a discovery in his quirk, but opted to do something different. Given that one of Naruto's inner friends was call Son Goku, they went with the original Son Wukong inspiration and it worked with his fighting style. His outfit seemed to be a techier version of Son Wukong's outfit and was filled with plenty of shades of green and a bit of red and white. The jacket's arms had plenty of that along with his utility belt. He took of bit of inspiration from Momo's holographic visor and added green lightning bolts to the ears both an inspiration to the Flash and All Might's hair horns. Finally, he had a long green bo staff with white clubbed ends. She also knew that was hiding another crazy secret as well.
Finally, was Naruto's complicated look that Mei and Izuku cooked up for him. As his base was a black jumpsuit that showed off his muscles and had orange running down his chest that merged into a line around his waist and then split down his legs. Over most of his chest was high-tech silver armor. A red utility belt went around his waist that had sealing scrolls on it and a large silver belt buckle that contained a blue flame design. On his feet, he wore metal silver, red, and black boots as well. He also wore a rusty orange hooded cape that had magatama designed along the sides and back. He did not have a helmet, but he did have a black and silver crown with red tips, ten in total. The odd part of about his crown though was that two points acted as bull horns and pointed forward. Like they could direct an attack of sorts. Finally, he had a black royal scepter that had a silver device on top that worked in the same vein as Pop Step's portable microphone with a few other hidden functions; one of which was currently active and had Kurama's holographic face on it.
Yeah, they did great jobs with their Hero Suits.
"Take this to heart, you all heroes in training!" All Might shouted in glee, happy that teaching was going well so far. He wondered how the other hero class would look like. "You are getting me all revved up! You all look so cool!"
"Now let's get started." Said a smiling Lady Nagant. "To test your fighting ability were are going mix in a bit of a rescue element here. Think of this as an advanced form of capturing the flag."
"Indeed! This is to show that not all villain battles take place outside, unlike with the common villain fights you see on the news." All Might offered. "Most are actually indoors. That is because the really dastardly villains know how to keep their operations hidden from the public."
"For this exercise, we will be splitting you all up in teams of heroes and villains. Offense and defense. The object of this game for the heroes is to capture a fake bomb in the building we put it in while the villain team will defend it. You may also use capture tape on the opposing team, they will be considered out. Most of these teams will consist of two people, but since we will have two people left over, this means a couple of teams will have three instead." Lady Nagant explained the rules. "For the combat side of this, I want to say anything goes, but please keep it reasonable. We do not want to overwork Recovery Girl or yourselves. Remember, this is a test to see where you all are in terms of combat ability, so know your limits."
"And remember, combat is not all about punching the other guy in the face until he goes down." All Might stated and damn wasn't that some form of irony that everyone felt. "Some forms of combat include distractions, playing dirty, and mind games. Play to your strengths while covering for your weaknesses. Not everyone is a straightforward fighter like me."
"Or a long-range specialist like me." Lady Nagant replied with a smile to them all. "Time is limited in this situation and for that, we will be drawing lots. Think of this as having to work with other heroes you do not know while on the job."
"Oh! That makes sense!" Izuku replied cheerfully.
"Let's draw!"
XXX
It turned out that the very first villain team would have that extra teammate. This included Naruto, Toru, and Setsuna repping for the fake villains while Mina and Pony got to be the heroes. While Mina and Pony strategized on how they were going to sneak in and get the upper hand, the rest of the class went to an observation room.
"Alright, so how do we want to fend off the Horn Buddies?" Setsuna asked cheerfully. "I can think up some good strategies, but I have to know what you two can do. For example, I can split myself up…as seen when I pranked blondie here and he quoted Shakespear."
"Um, I am invisible." Toru stated the obvious.
"I can do a lot; it is the perks of my family quirk. We are all about the same in base abilities but each has their own thing." Naruto explained as he activated his eyes. When he did, his face went red for a moment before the fox fur covered that and he held the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Toru, do you have an invisible costume to go with your boots and gloves?"
"No, this is what the support company gave me." Toru replied flatly.
"Of course they did. I am sure Mei can help greatly in that department." Naruto replied in an annoyed tone before his teeth shone in a mischievous smirk that got their attention. He would help Toru no matter what. "I have a silly plan to show off not just our combat skills. You will just have to play along to what you see."
"What we see? What does that mean?" Toru asked.
"Tell me, have either of you heard of a local band called the Feather Hats?"
"Oh yeah, they were pretty popular marketing for some local mall but then they moved to America…well most of them." Setsuna supplied.
"Yeah, I was too young to go with Pop Step and the others and I wanted to be a hero more. However, even a hero can provide some entertainment as a form of distraction." Naruto explained as their eyes went wide with recognition.
"Oh, this is going to be awesome!" Setsuna cackled.
"I can't believe you're that kid!" Toru jumped with joy.
"Yeah, now let's Scooby-Doo this shit!"
XXX
Back in the observation room, the students were chatting excitedly on who they think would win this match when All Might spoke up. "Alright, planning time is up. Time to start the match!" However, as soon as he saw Naruto push a button on his scepter, the TVs glitched as sound started pouring into the room.
"Forgive me All Might, but I wanted to put on a show. Let's get wild, shall we?" Naruto replied over the now functioning speakers.
"Wait what? How is he doing that?" Eijiro asked, a bit unnerved.
Mei just cackled. "Seems he is putting that hacking device I put in his scepter for a test run! HA! GO BABY GO!"
"Of course, you would do this." Lady Nagant sighed but was smiling nonetheless. This would be Naruto's plan. Mess with the students instead of outright fighting them since he knew he was stronger. Ninja-like to the very end, plus he didn't want to be bored. "Naruto don't go too overboard."
"I do not understand. What is going on?" Mezo asked.
"A show. Just enjoy it!" Kyoka replied with a huge smile.
XXX (Please play the song Hide and Seek from VoicePlay)
As soon as a haunting melody began to play through the halls that Mina and Pony were traveling through, it began to change, twist, and turn. "What is going on?" Pony asked nervously and sadly, Mina had no clue but the haunting melody was starting to affect her. It brought fear to them both. Messed with their minds along with their objective.
"Ding dong! I know you can hear me." Naruto sang with a deep baritone that sent shivers down their spines. The images of the building around them changed into a rotting sewer that had many doors throughout it. And every time someone sang 'ding dong,' the place would shake and drip water down from the broken pipes. "Open up the door, I want to play a little. Ding dong! You can't keep me waiting , it's already too late for you to run away!"
"Fuck this!" Pony screamed as she ran to a door just to find a way out of this because she was officially scared shitless and the way back was blocked by a wall. However, she played right into Naruto's hands as when she opened the door, someone was indeed waiting for her and Mina.
Gold and purple tinted smoke billowed out from the door as a person in a large red jacket with numerous straps and buttons, and a high collar that obscured his mouth and nose walked within and looked dead on his feet, he was so pale and bloody. "Serpents and spiders! Tail of a rat! Call in the spirits, wherever they are at!"
Mina quickly slammed the door on the dead stranger before grabbing Pony and running through another door, hopefully, it led to a set of stairs or the freaking exit! She did not care, she wanted out of this haunted house! That was how much fear overrode her brain.
"Ding dong! I know you can hear me!" Another deep but creepy voice called out as multiple somethings slammed on the door they passed through, banging loudly. "I only want to play a little!" When the door burst open, another man with very familiar gold and black tendrils flailing around him stood before them as a hallway opened up for the girls to run through. This man was large and imposing with his bald head and creepy grin. He was dark and ripped up leather clothes, broken golden stylish goggles, and the dangling remains of a bandolier. Like the last man, he too looked dead on his feet, especially with a giant hole in his chest. "Ding dong! You can't keep me WAITING! It is already too late to try and run away!"
In their fear, they chose to run as fast as they could and only stopped when a window appeared at the end of the hallway that actually showed how normal it was on the outside of this hysteria-inducing illusion. However, what stopped them was a floating that if they bothered to pay attention would know it was Setsuna in a top hat. "I see you through the window!" She was joined by another woman phasing through the wall, floating in midair with a broken neck. She looked to be around Lady Nagant's age with a beautiful figure in a caped hero costume. Too bad she also looked dead like the others as she locked eyes with the younger girls and smiled before continuing the song alongside Setsuna's and Naruto's baritone. "Our eyes are locked together. I can sense your horror! Though I'd like to see it closer!"
Mina and Pony had a moment to breathe as Setsuna and the other woman's visage disappeared but had to use that new breath to scream at the top of their lungs when the ghastly image of the woman appeared before them in a ghostly wail. They were gone through another before she could react and for that, she broke character for a moment by giggling like a schoolgirl as she disappeared.
Two men then appeared to chase Mina and Pony through a seemingly never-ending hallway. In addition to looking a little bored, they too looked dead with ripped-up clothes and profusely bleeding scars. One man had short, spiky, ginger salmon hair and then red but bloodshot eyes. The scar across his face drained blood down his face, making his voice a bit gargled. The other man had ghastly silver hair partially tied up in a spiky ponytail with a blood-splotched black bandana around his forehead. One of his eyes was missing and bleeding down his face. "Ding Dong! Here we come to find you! Hurry up and run! Let's play a little game, it will be fun!"
"Ding dong!" Came the high-pitched voice of Toru as the girls managed to find a hiding spot, a broom closet with a viewing hole. Mina paled considerably when she looked through it to find that she could see Toru's true face, curly lime green hair and all but he was dressed as a ghostly bride with missing parts of skin and deep gashes. "Our game of hide and seek and has just begun! OH! I heard your footsteps!" Pony pulled Mina away from the door as the floor gave way and they were forced to run down another hallway, desperate for a way out and not thinking straight. They even forgot they were in an exercise for heroes!
"Foots steps thumping loudly through the hallways!" Naruto's loud voice rang all around them as the hallways twisted itself so that it seemed they were running on the ceiling. "I can hear your sharp breaths. You are not very good at hiding!"
"Just wait, you can't hide from me!" a new voice rang out, scaring the girls even more as the face of another man appeared around them with two scar-like cracks stretching from the left side of his forehead to his chin and of course bleeding as well.
"I'm coming!" Setsuna's creepily sang out.
"Just wait, you can't hide from me." Another new voice came from in front of them, making them turn down another hallway. Like the man before him, he too had pale white hair that only allowed him to show off one bloodshot eye and a sickly figure.
"I'm coming!" Naruto wailed out.
"Just wait, you can't hide from me!" Nana sang out, spooking the girls again but she shushed them and then winked before disappearing again.
"La La La La!" the men all snag hauntingly before the last la was belted out by Nana's high-pitched voice that turned into a scream.
Soon the girls found themselves in a room with no exit because the door disappeared and they began to heavily panic. But Naruto's voice rang out again as the walls themselves were filled with knocking sounds. "Knock knock, I am at your door now! I am coming in! You better hide!"
"There no reason to ask for permission!" the voices of all the ghosts sang out.
"Knock knock, I am inside your room now! Where is it you've hid?" Setsuna sang as her head appeared and played at looking for them. "Our game of hide and seek's about to end!"
Mina and Pony backed up only to bump into the rest of Setsuna's body in a fancy three-piece suit just standing there but it seemed that caught her attention and she smiled devilishly at them.
"I am coming closer!" Naruto's voice rang out with glee. "Looking underneath your bed. You're not here, I wonder.
"Could you be in the closet?" Toru giggled out as she appeared in the room with them as well.
"Ding dong, I have found you!" Setsuna cheered manically. "Ding dong, you were hiding here!"
"Now your it!" The voices of the seven other adults cheered out as they too appeared in the expanding room with it starting to stop twisting around and become stable.
"Ding dong, finally found you, dears." Naruto said as he too appeared I the room with them. As the ghosts mechanically danced a bit, they disappeared as it seemed the song was coming to an end. Nana, once again breaking character, just waved at the two girls happily as life returned to her visage. Then her the others disappeared along with the sewer hallways as the bomb room appeared along with the item they had been searching for as it all came back to the forefront of their minds.
"Ding dong, looks like we have won!" Setsuna cheered.
"Ding dong, pay the consequence!" Toru replied, invisible once again.
Mina and Pony, despite the tears running down their faces, snapped back into action as reality hit them and what their objective had been.
Or they would have if they could move because they were now wrapped in capture tape.
"Holy shit." Came All Might's voice rang out through the radio in English but coughed as he caught himself. "Villain Team wins!"
"Holy shit!" Mina shouted in a panic as she tried to calm Pony down as well as herself. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!"
"I may have gone a bit overboard with trying out horror." Naruto replied nervously as he went to console the two girls he frightened to near death. He was really glad he did not let Kurama have a bit of fun in the song. He was already getting an earful from Nana while the others laughed at his prank.
XXX
All Might was conflicted as he watched Naruto console the two scared girls with a short explanation and a hug as they left the exercise building. He wanted to be proud for his boy and he was, but seeing Nana, his mentor, like that deeply unsettled him. Another part did want to laugh though because even if the ghosts of One for All, now Ten Tails, went along with Naruto's prank song as a way to 'defeat the heroes' in this exercise, Nana was always going to be a poor actor. It was just how she was when he met her so long ago and she tried going undercover a few times. Gran Torino never let live it down, even in death.
Both he and Kaina were amazed he got all the past users of the quirk to work with him on this prank. Using illusions as an overlay on the ghosts was pretty smart to make them visible for this rather horrifying prank was a good distraction. Still, he expected pushback from the second and third users because they were all usually business according to Naruto. Maybe he finally wore them down?
Shaking off the horrifying visage of an undead Nana out of his mind, he turned to his students just as the other five joined them. "So, who do you all think the MVP of this fight was?"
"Naruto." Practically everyone deadpanned.
"True," Lady Nagant stated but pointed at Setsuna. "But I believe that Setsuna should be the one to have that role. She snuck up on Mina and Pony while Naruto distracted them with his haunting melody."
"That sounds about right," Naruto replied with a nod to his teammate. "My Illusion Songs can be broken, if someone has a fair amount of willpower to fight off the effects. However, since Mina and Pony lost their composures in the face of fear and were not given any leeway to regain them, it left them relatively vulnerable and when they bumped into Setsuna's body, she easily captured them."
"The Art of the Distraction has been known to be quite devastating." Momo pointed out for those that were still lost.
"One hell of a distraction," Itsuka mumbled out nervously. She was not sure about Naruto's claim of having enough willpower to break an illusion like that. "Just what kind of quirk do you have?!"
Naruto merely smiled at her and the rest of the class before he let his blue chakra surround him to create a sort of pressure on the room. "The base abilities of my family revolve around the energy called Chakra. It lets us do a great many things but because of my eye mutation, I can do much more than them. My Illusion Songs are one of them and are great for distractions or just telling a story." After that, the pressure lifted, and those who were affected the most remembered how to breathe.
"Huh, something that flashy would be great for heroes," Eijiro stated after a moment. "You would think they would be popular if more people knew about it."
"True, but we usually kept to ourselves and now the choice was taken from them because the entire village is gone now." Naruto replied with a shrug but did not miss how a lot of people winced at that. Gone but not forgotten in another world completely.
XXX
The rest of the matches went by smoothly after that. In the match between Izuku and Ochako as heroes vs Tenya and Itsuka as the villains. It was comical because Izuku and Tenya ran circles around each other until Izuku zapped the other boy's engines, allowing Izuku to capture him. Ochako had a harder time with Itsuka due to her martial arts and that ended in a draw because Ochako managed to float Itsuka just as the orange-haired girl captured the gravity girl. The heroes were declared the winners of that round and Izuku got the MVP for staying on target.
The match between Mezo and Koda as the villains vs Shoto and Inasa as the heroes was rather one-sided. The heroes won by icing over the inside of the building and creating so much air pressure that the two 'villains' were completely unable to move.
The Villain team of Kyoka and Denki were able to completely defend their fake bomb from Hitoshi and Tsuyu. Hitoshi was still working out the kinks for all of his capture scarves and may have left himself immobile, leaving Tsuyu to defend herself from the onslaught of electrical zaps sent her way from Denki; leaving Kyoka with not much to do. Kyoka restrained herself when Denki made a bad joke about when frogs are hit by lightning
The final match between Momo and Mei as villains vs Eijiro, Fumikage, and Himiko as heroes was pretty close. In the end, it came to a stalemate because the timer ran out. Momo and Mei were able to build a quick defense that blocked the heroes from ever getting near it and then defend themselves from Fumikage and Himiko's pincer attack, while Eijiro tried to get through the girls' defense, only to end up getting pushed pack by a concussion device Mei planted and then completely knocked out by Mei's hammer
XXX
"Naruto! Stop sitting on your desk, you are disrespecting the great men and women who used to sit there!" Tenya ordered of his friend with his robotic chops as they all rested for the rest of the day after their heroics class. They could go home since this was basically a free period but chose not to and to get to know each other better. Friend groups were already forming.
"Oh? You do not know, Tenya?" Naruto asked of his friend, who backed off a bit. "Every few years they get new desks because they see a lot of wear and tear. So, no worries for others who sat here."
"I did not know…I was merely try-"
"I know buddy, but you can't be rigid with everything." Naruto cut him off before putting a hand on his broad shoulder. "Besides, there is something your brother and I have been trying to teach you by trying to have you relax more."
"Oh? What would that be?"
"Smart villains could trick you into working with them if you aren't careful," Naruto explained. "Some past experiences tell me that if you are rigid or dumb like I was, they really can pull the wool over your eyes. That means people like us need to take a step back and really observe the situation. An old teacher did say to look underneath the underneath. I mean, just look how new these desks are."
"I-I see. I will try." Tenya replied a bit embarrassed, but grateful for the knowledge and wondering if there was an elective class, he could take to help him.
"I know buddy."
"Wow, you really are worldly, huh!" Mina stated cheerfully as she walked up to them. Naruto noticed he had most of the class's attention. Most because Mei was in her workshop.
"I have had more than a few experiences, yeah." Naruto replied with a shrug.
"I guess that makes sense," Mina replied after a moment before her eyes lit up. "I overheard you talking with Toru about a better costume. It was crazy listening to Izuku as he broke down her quirk too. All I got was that she was somehow a prism of sorts."
"I am guessing you want a bit of help improving your look or quirk as well?" Naruto asked with a good-natured chuckle.
"That would be great! I was a solid B student back in middle school, but I noticed that place is college-level! They expect more!" Mina cried.
"If you need help with studies, I am more than willing to help. Kyoka has the same issues and it is understandable with the jump." Momo offered while Kyoka flushed with embarrassment and grumbled about being called out.
"I would love that!" Mina cheered while a few other students shifted uncomfortably as they pondered the offer as well. "For now, let's go with my look. I love my purple and turquoise bodysuit, but I think I need weapons or support gear for my acid."
Naruto nodded at that as he observed Izuku start to take notes. "Given that you are a melee/support combatant, I could see you needing some support gear when you run out of acid. I suggest two things, learn a bit more about martial arts and have a support item that limits and directs the use of your acid. Someone from my village had a quirk like your, so he would be a great example here." Naruto used the transformation technique to turn into the Jinchuriki of Saiken the Six-Tailed Slug, Utakata: although he was not from Naruto's village, it got the point across. He pointedly ignored the comments of him turning into a pretty boy and continued. "This was Utakata, like I suspect your quirk is, his was connected to slugs. The way he used his acid was in the form of bubbles he used from a smoking pipe. Now I doubt you would want to copy him, so I suggest you work with Mei for some support gear ideas. Like a bubble bazooka or something."
In a poof of smoke, he was back to normal but Mina had stars in her eyes at the possibilities. She wanted to run to Mei's workshop right now, but she also wanted to hear what he could cook up for others.
"Now for you Toru." Naruto replied as she turned to her but a heavily annoyed expression came over his face. "Having been in contact with Mei and another friend in Melissa Shield, I am really livid with what your support company did to you. Plus, as a warrior, I know they did you a disservice. You have no barrier in clothing for the elements and no armor to truly protect yourself. It was the truly lazy and I doubt even my old friend Shikamaru would have found it troublesome to provide you with competent protection!" With his mini tantrum over, he took a breath and smiled at the invisible girl. However, he noticed a few students were a little rattled at his outburst. He may have let out a bit of killing intent; he had been so angry.
"I apologize for my tantrum," Naruto commented sheepishly and continued. "I have not known you for very long but I suspect that you are fun-loving and mischievous as well. Pair that with your invisibility and I know you could be a great ninja-themed hero. Also, I noticed with my Illusion overlay to make you visible, you have a lot of hair and since Mei has been working with DNA infusion and material that could give Kevlar a run for its money, she can make something great for protection and stealth. As for the design, maybe Mei and Izuku could help you more there."
"That is so helpful, thank you!" Toru cheered. "But I have two questions. Despite my invisibility, how would you know I am great for stealth and how did you know what I looked like for the illusion?!"
Naruto cleared his throat with a bit of nervousness, so he decided to play this carefully. He did not want to get hit today. "You learn a lot just by observing and listening. I have experience in that field so I know you would work well for it. Matter of fact, you, me, Himiko, Hitoshi, and even Mina would make a great stealth and subterfuge team."
"I am sorry, me?" Mina asked with a disbelieving giggle. "I am bright pink!"
"And I painted a monument similar to Mount Rushmore in broad daylight, while wearing a bright orange tracksuit," Naruto responded with a dry deadpan and matching look.
"Wait! WHAT!" Itsuka shouted in shock.
"Yeah, it had the heads of all the past leaders of my village." Naruto chuckled out. "If I could do that with my knowledge of stealth, so can you Mina. However, a stealth team is not the only team I would have you two in. I would have you two in an information-gathering team as well. After listening to you gossip about stuff around school, I can tell you be great for it. In fact, Koji, Pony, Denki, and Kyoka would be there right with you. Koji because I am sure animals can tell you a lot about human actions and conversations. Pony because she listens to everything and translates it…plus you, Kyoka and Toru get along great with her. Denki is a shameless flirt and listens for the right time to talk to people and uses that info in a conversation. And Kyoka is a music lover that can attract people with her music and people open up around that."
Just listening to the blond about this stuff amazed those who did not know him as well. His friends were just amused and a little worried for Naruto as he dove into memories of his past. Having been called out yet again, Kyoka sat down next to him as a show that she was there if he needed her. This did not go unnoticed by Mina.
As the rest of the day went on, others in the class asked either Naruto or Izuku for some help on their quirks and/or their costumes. Momo would chime in on a lot of things she knew, while Hitoshi and Himiko watched on casually. It was entertaining for them and it gave them hope for the future as no one seemed to hate them or their quirks, when they were asked about theirs.
All seemed right…for now
XXX
Before the school finally ended, Mei and an amused Naruto took Pony to the Recovery Girl's infirmary. "Granny Chiyo! We have a request!" Mei shouted excitedly.
"A request from you? I fear for my health." Recovery Girl deadpanned but was still smiling at them. Mei's old explosions did nearly get her when she worked with the girl on medical equipment after all. She had a right to be worried.
"Aw, nothing like that. I do not make that many explosions anymore!" Mei replied a little too cheerfully. There was the odd explosion but the kind nurse did not need to know that or else she be hit with her walking cane again and she did not want that!
"We were wondering if you would approve and supervise a small surgery," Naruto explained quickly for Mei's sake. "We want to help Pony break through the language barrier with another upgraded version of Mei's Cyberpunk Translator."
"Patent still pending," Mei said automatically as if having said that a lot.
Chiyo gave the two a deadpanned stare before looking at Pony and asking in English, "Is this something you really want?"
For a moment, Pony smiled and said, "It could be fun and I would not be so behind everyone!"
"Fine, we can schedule this for this weekend." Chiyo replied after an exhausted sigh. She did not want another incident of Mei going to some back alley 'doctor.'
XXX
"I do not have the patience for this so early in the morning."
"Oh come on, don't you love having cameras flash in your face first thing in the morning?" Himiko asked sarcastically with a giggle.
The next day Naruto and Himiko found themselves being blocked by a crowd of reporter trying to get an interview with All Might and Lady Nagant since it came out that they were working at U.A. now. "You kids! Can you tell us what it is like being taught by All Might and Lady Nagant…wait why do you two look familiar?"
"I do not want to. Please leave me alone." Naruto grumbled as he walked through the crowd of reporters.
"No thanks!~"
"Come on!" One lady insisted. "You gotta give us something, they aren't letting us into the school!"
Having enough of this nonsense, Naruto unleashed a bit of chakra pressure and killing intent to cow the crowd. "We are just trying to learn how to be heroes, not feed useless information to you sharks. All Might would probably talk to you if he was here, but he is not. I saw him in another part of city on the way here saving the world. So, leave us alone. It is too early for this."
As soon as they were through the U.A. barrier and passed an amused Aizawa, he let the pressure fall and the crowd could breathe again. "What he said. Get out of here, you have disturbed my students enough."
XXX
"Decent work on yesterday's combat training you guys," Aizawa stated as he stood his desk in homeroom. "I saw the video feeds and went over each of your teams' results. Naruto, your quirk is as baffling as it ever has been but great use of the art of distraction as Momo put it. Setsuna, good job on making that capture. Toru, I am glad you made the song work for you as well." Mr. Aizawa shuffled some papers and continued. "Momo, Mei, good use of defense but you cannot always wait out the clock. Make sure to put a little more pressure on the opposition next time. Eijiro, next time try not to get caught in traps like that. Your quirk may be great for defense but there are times where it can be used as an offense."
"Right, Izuku mentioned yesterday I could be a juggernaut if I wanted to be." Eijiro replied with some determination.
Mr. Aizawa had a thoughtful look on his face before nodding. "He is not wrong. Anyway, the other thing I wanted to mention was you, Hitoshi. I see what you are doing with the capture scarves, but you need a better handle on them. Since we use the same materials, I will give you a few pointers later so you don't take yourself out of the fight again for so long."
Yeah, that had been rather embarrassing for Hitoshi, and any help was appreciated. Nodding with a happy grin was all Hitoshi could do without sounding dumb in front of his personal hero.
"Now, our first task this morning will decide your future," Aizawa stated, once more trying to intimidate his class. "You all need to pick a class president and vice president."
Hearing that, relief swept through the classroom that it was just a normal school activity. Soon after, the class erupted into a loud mess of people wanting to be picked as the class representatives. Others like Naruto and Izuku just sat back and watched everyone else with some amusement.
"Silence, everyone, please!" Tenya shouted of the din of voices that wanted the position and Naruto had to smile that it would be Tenya to break this up and offer a reasonable solution. "It is the representative's duty to lead others. It is not something just anyone can do. You must first have the trust of every student in the classroom! Therefore, the most logical way to fill these positions is democratically. Let's vote on it."
"It this really the best idea? We have only known each other a few days, how do we know who's best for the roles?" Tsuyu asked the major question that was on everyone's mind.
"Besides, everyone will just vote for themselves." Eijiro replied with a shrug.
"Most people probably will," Tenya replied with a serious nod. "Besides, that means the people with the most votes will get the positions. It is the best way, right Mr. Aizawa?"
"I don't care how you choose, just get it over with before my nap is over." Mr. Aizawa promptly got in his sleeping bag and fell asleep. They wondered how he could get any sleep with all the noise but Naruto knew better.
XXX
To make sure the votes and results were fair, Mina and Pony counted the votes and it seemed even they were happy with the results. Still, Naruto was dumbfounded when he was chosen to be the class President with Momo as his Vice. 'Damn, I was hoping to be out of the spotlight on something like this. It is why I voted for Momo! She excels at stuff like this! Fine, I will just get Izuku and Tenya to be some of the other class officers. I am sure them and whomever else Momo chooses will be great at this stuff.'
'Aw, what's the matter brat? Being the leader too much? With all the talk of being Hokage back then? That is rich!" Kurama laughed in Naruto's head, much to his annoyance.
'It is not that and you know it! I just don't think I am ready for something like that.' Naruto responded.
'Buuut, it is good to start somewhere. Get them all on your side sooner if you really want to go through with your dream here.' Nana chimed in happily. 'We all know you can do it!'
"We will make a great team, Naruto!" Momo said in a bubbly manner because she was rather happy with the choice herself. It was someone she could trust. Plus, Naruto had proven to be helpful many times already and it seemed he gained a lot of people's trust.
"This is great!" Eijiro stated with a grin. "It is like we have the dad and mom of the class as true leaders! So manly!"
"Wait, seriously? That is how you view us?" Naruto asked curiously, ignoring how his discomfort was causing Kyoka to laugh a little and Momo's face to go completely red but have a smile plastered on her face. Yet another thing Mina noticed with a grin of her own.
"Well yeah," Ochako replied with a shy smile. "Seeing how you interact with your friend group and then us makes that obvious."
"Then it is settled, Naruto is class president with Momo as his vice. You can pick your officers later. I do not really care." Mr. Aizawa stated as he walked out of the classroom to let the next teacher in.
XXX
"What? Most of you really voted for me? I guess I left a good impression then." Naruto stated with wide eyes at his large lunch table. His inner circle was there of course but so were Mina, Toru, Ochako, Eijiro, Kendo, Setsuna, and a few others. Hell, it seemed like most of the class was there. Naruto would have killed to have that many friends back in the ninja academy. Seems his life here really was improving.
"Of course, you know our group would!" Izuku stated with them nodding.
"Plus, you have something about you that just brings people in." Mina replied cheerfully.
"YOU! AND DEKU?!"
"Yeah, but sometimes the people it brings in are annoying and rude." Naruto sighed as he turned to the speaker, only to find Bakugo and a few other members of 1-B; mostly two other blond boys. One with a manic look in his eyes and another that seemed to mindlessly throw glitter around in their wake. "Bakugo, how's it been? have you been a good boy for Santa?"
"They really picked you and that useless flesh bag to be in 1-A over me?!"
"It just goes to show they will pick just anyone to be in 1-A." Another blond with a manic look in his eyes stated with a haughty smirk. "If U.A. had more class, they would have seen that we are the better talent."
"Oh Bakugo," Naruto stated condescendingly, completely ignoring the other blond who was trying to get a raise out of him. "When will you learn?"
"Learn what you bastard?"
"That this is not your story. It never was." A deadly silence followed.
Before Bakugo could quite literally explode in his face, both he and the other stuck-up blond were suddenly bound, gagged, and tied up by thick green and thorny vines. "Please forgive the other members of our class who are steeped in envy. We are not all this antagonistic." A girl's voice rang out and the members of 1-A saw that the vines were connected to this girl. "I am Ibara Shiozaki, by the way. I am currently the president of my class and felt it was my duty to stop them before a fight broke out."
"It would not have been much of a fight," Naruto muttered under his breath before bowing and then gesturing over to Momo. "Well, I am 1-A's pres and this lovely lady is my vice. Nice to meet you Ibara. I am guessing 'splody boy saw either me or Izuku here and," At this, he directed a bit of killing intent to the bound boy, who stopped struggling as that familiar feeling brought back the nightmares he thought he buried. "Dug up old grudges."
"Grudges? Oh dear. Whatever for?" Ibara asked worriedly.
"Ego and the 'might makes right' mentality," Naruto replied in a bored tone, not wanting to air out his and Izuku's dirty laundry, which he saw Izuku take a breath of relief for. He turned to the glitter boy and asked, "You don't hold the same amount of envy your friends have, what is your stake in this?"
"I just want to show the world how much I twinkle and they have the most attention on them." The glitter-throwing boy replied with a shrug and a smirk. Naruto suspected that was not all, but he was not going to ask anymore.
Not by choice anyway because a moment after he said that, alarm bells started ringing and the student body in the lunch room all started to cause a mass panic. Naruto only figured out from a passing student that it was a level 3 alarm. Meaning someone got past the barrier.
The panicked crowd was so thick all of a sudden that their table got overturned and pushed them all towards the windows. In the midst of it all, he noticed a lot of his friend were getting overwhelmed by the panic and the noise. He had to think of a way to help them and stop this.
"It is just the press!" Izuku shouted after a moment of them all being separated and pushed against the glass windows.
Naruto gained a bit of annoyance that this was all it was about. The fucking press. When he looked, he did narrow his eyes at the way the press got in. A part of U.A Barrier was simply gone. Not torn apart or broken through, just gone and that did not bode well for his nerves. So it was a distraction for something and U.A. was a target…wonderful.
It was in this anger that Naruto let out a good amount of killing intent and chakra pressure that started to freeze the entire mass of panicked students in place. "That's enough of that." Naruto chided the crowd like a disappointed father. When he walked, the crowd parted for him as he moved to get his friends to safer spots. "This is U.A., a school that trains heroes, act like it. Even if you are not training to be a full-on hero, you need to be prepared for instances like this and remain calm. Look outside, it was just the press." He released the fear-inducing killing intent but kept the pressure on to keep their attention.
"Holy shit, he is right! And the police are here to clear that up!" A random student shouted, making everyone feel just a bit better.
"See, now calm down and listen to me," Naruto stated with the air of a leader bearing down on them. "No place is infallible and that means we have to be prepared. We are U.A. students and the means everyone will be looking to us for guidance and we cannot let panic and fear take us so readily. Someone could have died in this panicked stampede; it happens all the time." He paused to let that sink in for a moment and smiled at them all. "When I look at you, I see warriors that the people will look up to and no it does not matter if most of you are not in the hero course. I see Warriors of Support! Warriors of Business! And Warriors of Intellect! You are at U.A., the best school in the country, you will be dealing with heroes and their crises for the rest of your lives. It is time to find your mettle!"
XXX
"Damn, way to get the whole school on your side." Kyoka replied with a proud smirk towards the guy she liked once they were back in the classroom.
"I know, right? It was so freaking manly seeing you give a speech like that." Eijiro cheered.
"He tends to have that effect on people," Momo replied with a smile. "He helped me get over a few hang-ups in my fighting ability as we grew up."
"Then it was indeed a good choice to make him our class president." Mezo stated firmly.
"I'll say," Itsuka replied with a grin. "I am impressed! It felt like we were about to march in battle!"
"We might be in the future." Naruto calmly stated, catching everyone's attention, even Mr. Aizawa's. "Izuku was right on the money about the press charging their way through the front gate; but when I looked, the part of the barrier they got through was not torn or broken through. It was just gone."
"So, you noticed that as well," Aizawa stated with a sigh as he stood up from his sleeping bag. "Nezu is speculating on what we could be dealing with."
"Like with my Illusion Song, I think this could have been a distraction," Naruto replied after a moment before looking at his classmates. "We need to be ready, just in case."
XXXX