Izuku returns to the seat of the waiting box where his classmates are. He looks to see everyone's faces are tense, "What's going on? Why do you guys look like that?"

Tsuyu answers, "Naruto is going to fight with Hinata,"

Mina frets, "I hope that this won't cause a rift between them! They are so cute together!!"

Kyoka sighs, "If this stopped whatever is going on between them, then maybe they are just not meant to be,"

Ochaco cries, "No~! Jiro~! Don't jinx this~!!"

Denki jokes, "If Hinata doesn't end up with Naruto, does that mean I have chance?"

Tenya chops his hand, "Do not joke about that or Hinata might come after you with a knife!"

Toru gasps, "Yandere Hinata?!"

Izuku sighs, letting them banter among themselves while noticing Katsuki glaring at the arena. He feels bad about losing but Yagi said that he is still growing. In fact, he improved a lot. It is only that Katsuki have a better battle sense. Also, luck is just not on his side. Naruto always did say that luck plays a lot in winning a fight. One wrong move, one stray pebble, is all enough to decide win or loss. He will have to train his spacial awareness more, Izuku decided.

Below on the arena, Naruto is watching Hinata awkwardly. He did think that her cracking that whip as hot but it will not be hot if she get him. He had seen the effect of her Quirk even though Hinata said that she hit the faintest line on Sleepy. If that had hurt like a bitch, Sage only knows how much worse the pain would be if she had hit him on a clearer line. So, needless to say, Naruto have to disarm her, respectfully, and holds her hands in a manner where she can't scratch him.

Across from him, Hinata is nervous. She knows that she is outmatched. Even with her powerful Quirk, it is useless if she cannot use her hands or tools. She needs to keep Naruto at a distance and try to immobilize him that way if not push him out of boundary.

Midnight notice the tension and giggles, "Alright, lovebirds! Battle START!"

Ignoring the tease, Hinata pulls out her whip just as Naruto flashes forwards. Looking at Naruto through a Quirk is strange. People with mutation and transformation Quirk have always been a little strange for Hinata to look at. For people with transformation Quirk, their lines moves around with the transformation. While people with mutation Quirk have pulsing lines and that depends where their mutation occur. But Naruto's lines...not only are they pulsing, they are moving around inside him as if alive.

They are also focused around his heart.

Naruto's Quirk is one of the most complex and powerful Quirk she have ever seen, even when she look through records of powerful Quirks. But Naruto's mother only have a simple mutation Quirk while his father have a simple emitter Quirk. Naruto's Quirk is an evolution that seemingly comes out of the blue.

But that is not what makes him powerful, Hinata thought as she cracks her whips at the whirling lines, causing him to fall back. No. What makes Naruto powerful is his own deep understanding of his Quirk and his usage of it. Hinata have never seen anyone that is not a veteran Pro-Hero use their Quirk like Naruto. But even more so, Hinata is aware that Naruto doesn't need his Quirk to fight. In his own words, his Quirk is just a bonus.

While Hinata is analyzing him, Naruto is studying her too. From what he have seen of Hinata so far is that she is very precise with her hit. She have to if she doesn't want to accidentally kill people. And unlike other Quirks in the class, the fact that she can kill Quirks coming for her already make her deadlier. He can take on Eraserhead if he want to. The only other guy that he's preparing to fight for was Handyman from USJ. He know how to handle Shadowy, thanks Obito, but Handyman, from what he had seen, is capable of decaying thing at a rapid progression but he need to touch people. Going to the toilet must be hard for him. He will have to ask if he still have his balls next time they meet.

But accidentally decaying oneself of their bits aside, Hinata erased her shortcoming with the whip. Probably got the idea from Midnight. Damn it. Taser's words about her being a dominatrix is getting to him. He hops away as Hinata cracks her whip at his direction.

Naruto's high hop allows him to strategize on how to get to Hinata without hurting her. He wraps his golden tails around him. Making him a giant fluff ball. Being so close to end of the tournament, he doesn't want to chance being damaged by Hinata's hit. He might be effected and lose the next fight. But before that, he have to win this fight. He lands on the arena and whips his tails around, creating vortexes of wind currents that blinds her. The moment she raises her hand to cover her eyes, he moves in and grapples with her arms.

One moment, dusts are flying into her eyes. The next moment, she's underneath Naruto being restrained. Hinata blushes at the feel on him pushing down her thighs with his legs and holding her wrists behind her, almost sitting on her ass. She struggles a little to break out but Naruto holds strong. Being completely restrained, she kicks her feet around but unable to dislodge him off her back. Naruto...really know what he's doing.

//So...Midnight? Is this...over? I don't think Hyuuga can move. Nice grappling technique. He's certainly wary of her Quirk enough to make this short. But at the same time, what a contrast with Bakugo and Uraraka! Where the other battle is simply brutal, this one is simply an example of a gentleman taking a girl's threat seriously! Seems that Mr Yellow Flash have a soft spot after all!!//

Naruto sighs, but keeping his hold tight and pushing his weight down on Hinata when she wiggles again, "Am I going to be stuck with that name?"

Midnight calls out to Hinata, "Girlie, as jealous as I am seeing a handsome hunk like him crushing you like that, can you move?"

Hinata sighs with red cheeks, the noise she makes almost sounds like a sad kitten, "...no,"

Midnight giggles at the cuteness, "Uzumaki wins!!"

After her declaration, Naruto stands up and pulls Hinata up. He turns her around and gives her a short hug with a few pats on her back before pulling away, "That was scary. After what you did to Sleepy, I just know I can't take any chances. A little bit more refining your techniques and even I will will have problems, dattebayo!"

Hinata's face is completely red as she stammers, "T-thank-th!"

Naruto chuckles with a sweat, "Did you bite your tongue again?"

Hinata puts a hand over her mouth, nodding miserably at her self-inflicted embarrassment. They walk back to the box while Mashirao and Katsuki walks down to the fixed arena. Naruto bid them luck before sitting down and chugging a bottle of water. As strong as Mashirao is, Katsuki have a pure destructive Quirk on his side and he's naturally creative with it's use. Had he been trained in the Academy, he would probably had been graduated early. Hell, the mission at Kannabi Bridge would probably on need him to destroy. Hell, Deidara will probably adopt the jerk and call him a walking work of art or something.

And just as expected, despite Mashirao's attempts, Katsuki make quick work of him.

//Final Round; Uzumaki versus Bakugo!!//

Naruto breathes in deep, feeling the sun fills him as he steps towards the arena where Katsuki is waiting. Instead of walking, he floods his vein with the warmth of sun as he lunges forward and lands right on the arena. He then punches his fist as a familiar feral energy fills him, "Let's do this,"

Katsuki copies his gesture, with an explosion crackling from the contact, "You're going down, fox,"

Naruto suddenly remembers all the time where someone told him the same thing. As his body begins to glow with the golden light of the sun, reminiscent of the time where he was at his strongest during the war, he lunges forward with Midnight's call of "START!!". Across from him, Katsuki does the same with an explosion from his palms. He throws a right punch. Familiar.

Naruto uses the back of his left hand to redirect the attack and using the knife of his right hand to go for Katsuki's throat. The boy uses pulls back his hand and whips a leg towards Naruto's head using the momentum of twisting his body. Naruto grabs his leg and throws him away. Katsuki uses his explosion to redirect his body to fly back towards Naruto.

A clash of limbs, whipping tails that cracks the arena, explosions all over, it is a battle between two people with excellent battle instinct. One a natural, the other experienced.

//This is certainly a step up from Bakugo's other fights!! Even the one with Midoriya!!//

While people are excited on the stands, Katsuki is growing frustrated. Every moves that would have taken the others down easily, Naruto countered. But at the same time, he feels...validated. Every opponent he have fought before were hardly a challenge. Izuku was almost...almost there. But he have little battle instinct. At least, not at the level of Shoto and Katsuki. Even so, Izuku is growing, even during battle. But it wasn't enough. Not enough to feed the hunger for a true challenge like Katsuki's.

He wants someone so strong that he will have to struggle so that when he finally stands on top, he can say that he fought for his victory. And Naruto is it.

Katsuki shouts, "You have been holding back on, didn't you?! Show me that power, that strength! The one that beat up that brain monster!!"

Naruto grabs his twisting explosive for and throws him skyward before using his tails to propel him after Katsuki. Katsuki's words...are nostalgic. Naruto grabs Katsuki's arm and twists him downward head first. A homage for a strong Shinobi who puts his own life on the line to fight in place of chakra.

[Reverse Lotus]

They lands on the arena with an explosive crack that lifts the ground into the shape of a lotus. Naruto lands on the tip of one raised platform. In the middle, Katsuki climbs to his feet with blood pouring from his nose. But instead of anger, he is grinning. Not enough. He wants to Naruto to destroy him so he can justify destroying him back. Naruto crouches low, his body's glow only rising as he uses more of the sun to strengthen him.

Katsuki explodes forward and claps his hands. Naruto uses his tails to create a sound barrier as the air explodes right in front of him. He then feels hand clawing at his hair and pulls him out of his sphere of tails. Katsuki uses the hold he have on Naruto to throw him out of the arena. But instead of letting that happen, Naruto uses his tails to anchor himself inside the arena and pulls himself back into the fight.

They clash yet again with an explosion.

//Eraserhead, what are you feeding your students? I know I asked this a lot but this is something else. Neither Uzumaki and Bakugo is giving up. Just how many times have they thrown each other out of the arena but redirect themselves back in before it can be considered an out?//

Eraserhead hums, //Bakugo have a natural battle instinct. A natural born fighter. Uzumaki is the same but unlike Bakugo, his instinct seems more refined somehow. I'm not surprised that Bakugo is having trouble keeping Uzumaki down. Both of them are stubborn. And Bakugo knows that Uzumaki is still holding back and he wants to push his opponent to give it all//

Present Mic gawks, //Wait! Uzumaki is still holding back?!//

Eraserhead grunts, //I have seen him not holding back or have you forgotten the Entrance Exam?//

Aizawa isn't about to tell the world what Naruto did to the Nomu thing. His attacks from that time, if used on normal humans, would be fatal. He's just fortunate that Naruto seems to understand this and keep that Red Form of his out of the tournament. But even so, Katsuki is growing more reckless as he tries to get a leg up over Naruto who keeps redirecting his attack or turning that attack as an opportunity to get back at the bomber. At one point, Katsuki exploded right at Naruto's face but instead of falling down, Naruto only grabbed the offending hand and used it to throw Katsuki on the ground.

He does this a few more times in succession, completely brutalizing the bomber, before throwing him out of the arena. This time, even when Katsuki stands back up to return to fight, the concussion that Naruto have given him mixed with being winded out from the slamming around, he won't make it as Midnight already calls it, "Bakugo out! Winner of the Sports Festival is...Class A, Uzumaki Naruto!"

Katsuki ends up kneeling and vomiting. Naruto pulls out of Midnight's hold to go to Katsuki and lifts his head to check his concussion before checking the rest of him. He nods as the medic bots reach the boy, "Heavy concussion. Dislocated shoulder. A few cracked ribs. Need to look at his other arm and his back. He also twisted his ankle. Everything else is up to Chiyo,"

Midnight lets him do what he always did after a fight before calling him, "Alright! Good work, Uzumaki! Keeping his heroic spirit even in a competition!"

Naruto shakes his head, "Just being a decent human being is all, dattebayo,"

Midnight gives him a sultry smile, "You are becoming cuter and cuter, Uzumaki. I love it,"

Naruto sighs, "I have a girlfriend,"

Though he have yet to confess or anything since he wants to be really sure about this. He wants to be extra sure that it is Hinata of this world that he's chasing and not the ghost of the girl who got away.

A few minutes later, after Katsuki wakes up after being fixed by Recovery Girl, he stands angrily on the winner's podium for 2nd place while Mashirao looks surprised by his 3rd place, though he shares it with Hinata who is blushing brightly, while Naruto stands for 1st place. He growls as he glares at Naruto, thinking to himself that he doesn't need 2nd place but trying to leave proves futile as he is now restrained on a log on the podium for 2nd place. Naruto only gives him an exasperated look, which further pisses him off.

Midnight declares, "It is time for the award ceremony!" She then points, "As usual, 3rd place is shared by two winners; Ojiro and Hyuuga. You two have done well to get this far! 2nd place if taken by Mr. Feral over here! For obvious reasons, he have opted for restrain! And finally, the man that challenged everyone to steal his crown; Uzumaki! For all his big talk a the start of the festival, he sure keep his word about keeping his crown! As he promised, he is standing here as the Champion of U.A's Sports Festival! And now, give your applause for the Hero who will bestow them their medals!!"

"I AM HERE...WITH YOUR MEDALS!!" / "All Might!!"

Midnight blushes as she realize that she had just talked over the man's grand entrance. After that faux pas, he continues towards them with medals that looks ridiculously tiny in his hands. He approaches the 3rd place winners and gently dresses them with the medal, "Young Ojiro. Despite the simplicity of your Quirk, I am impressed by your tenacity. Keep it up and you will be a great Hero one day," He turns to Hinata, "And Young Hyuuga, your kindness and heroic spirit truly defies the expectation of the people around you. I can tell that you will be wonderful Heroine in the future,"

When he approaches Katsuki, the boy immediately snarks with a ferocious look on his face, "I'm not taking that shitty 2nd place! This means nothing! If I don't acknowledge it then it's just hot garbage!!" But when the man insists on putting the medal on him, he struggles like a feral dog, "I said I don't need it!!"

In the end, All Might just hangs it from his mouth. Now he really looks like a feral dog.

All Might finally turns to Naruto, "You are really taking after your homeroom teacher. Instigating others to make them chase after you while also keeping in mind that you have to keep your words about being on top. I remember you saying once that you don't turn your back on your words once spoken and you keep that. You truly are an inspiration, Young Uzumaki. There are not many that can keep their place at the top since people will always grow and evolve. But not only are you keeping your first place, you remember those racing after you with your kindness for them after each battle. I truly wish there are more people like you," He places the medal around Naruto's neck, "You not just earned this, you deserved this,"

Naruto gives him a wry smile, chuckling, "You didn't have to explain my action to them, you know. What if they grow lazy again?"

All Might laughs before turning to the crowd, "Your Champions, everyone! But wait! Everyone here have a chance to be standing here! Like Young Uzumaki said, give it your Plus Ultra and you might as well replace him! Competitive spirit! Encouraging each other to race for the top! Pushing one another climb higher and higher for that peak beyond the horizon! The next generation of Heroes will surely sprout from the seeds of today! And to that sentiment, I have one final thing to say! Say it with me now!!"

"PLUS ULTRA!!" / "THANK YOU FOR YOUR HARD WORK!!"

Midnight sighs, "We're supposed to say Plus Ultra,"

In the midst of booing, All Might apologizes, "I apologize! It's just that they worked so hard!"

After the sports festival end, it is time to clean up. Naruto sighs as he uses a grabber to throw the mess into the trash bag in his other hand. Not that he is against cleaning up after himself, but this is really something that apparently Japanese people do after every events. As he walks around, he notice Izuku. The Broccoli seems to be moping as he picks up trash. Coming up to the Broccoli, he asks, "You good?"

Izuku jolts out of his funk and looks at Naruto, "Oh! Hey! Congratulation!"

Naruto taps his leg with his extendable grabber, "That's not what I asked,"

Izuku sighs, "I'm fine...I'm just worried about Iida,"

Naruto frowns, "Now that I think about it, I didn't hear his voice. Normally, he would be trying to make some sort of system for grabbing the trash and stuff. Did he leave?"

Izuku nods, "His brother...Ingenium...got attacked by a Villain," He frowns, "It sounds...it sounds bad," He then looks at Naruto, "His brother seems to be chasing after that Hero Killer guy,"

Naruto nods, picking up a random tissue with blood and snot on it, "That Stain fellow? I wonder what his Quirk is. To be able to take down Heroes so easily, it must be some sort of restraining Quirk,"

Izuku agrees, "I thought so too. But how? Kamui Wood can also restrain people but with enough strength or destructive Quirk, they can just break out of his branches. The Sludge Villain is out because he's in prison, we all know that. So what kind of Quirk can restrain Heroes with numerous abilities and training?"

Naruto thought back on all the people he fought before, "Illusion Quirk that can cause them to be trapped in their mind, maybe? Or maybe something more direct. Maybe there's a Quirk out there that can restrain you through eye contact for all we know. I mean, Sleepy exists,"

Something like the Sharingan. Itachi was able to restrain someone like Kakashi to the point of disabling the man until someone like Tsunade break him out of it.

Izuku looks at Naruto, "You mean restraining them from the inside? That...that would bring even someone like All Might down. You can't really fight your own body,"

Naruto shrugs, "Every form of restrain have their own way of breaking out. For mental restrain, pain should be enough to break your head from whatever trap it have fallen since pain is something that your body can't ignore. But I am sure that most Heroes would know this. And since this Stain fellow is certainly inflicting pain on his opponent, it have to be something that pain cannot break his control,"

Izuku hums, picking a crushed can, "That makes sense. So, not something that pain can undo..."

Naruto watch as Izuku tries to figure out Stain's Quirk. It is a good mental exercise for Izuku. It can also help prepare him for unexpected enemies. Naruto can think of one kind of ability that can restrain someone; blood control. He remember the Chinoike Clan that can control blood. Just a sample is enough to turn the blood of the person that they sampled into their personal puppet. Not even death can stop the living puppet from completing the programmed mission. Most of the time, they were living bombs. Sometimes, they don't even know that they were a living bomb because the next thing they knew, their body will expand before exploding.

It was gruesome and certainly not something these children are ready for.

But he can't exactly go out and say this. People will wonder where he even thought about such a horrible Quirk. Aizawa is already suspicious of him, backed by the Principal or not. But his own questionable trustworthiness aside, Naruto is worried about Tenya. That boy is too straightforward and earnest. People like him are normally bad when handling emotional things. In some way, he reminds Naruto of Sasuke.

People like Tenya are too easy to manipulate.

Once they complete their cleaning of the stadium used by U.A's freshman, he comes out of the bathroom in clean clothes to wait for Izuku and Hinata. He checks his phone, looking at the group chat now and then. Tenya is silent. The girls are already sharing spots in Musutafu for great food. A few of the boys chimes in for their own favorite spots to hang out.

"Naruto-kun!"

He puts away his phone to look at Hinata in casual. Well, she isn't one for revealing clothes but the loose combo of dress over blouse is a killer for Naruto. His face turns red as she reaches him, Izuku not far behind. He looks her over, "Are you okay? How's your wrists? I know that I hold them tight. Your hands are dangerous, after all,"

Hinata blushes, showing the bandaged wrists, "Chiyo-san gave me some cream,"

As the trio walk home, Naruto talks about hero names to keep their mind off of Tenya. He will check on the boy later. For now, he will give his Vice President some space. Still, he already sent a private message to the boy to talk to him if he needs to. But Tenya have yet to answer him...  

_____________________________

[What should be Naruto's Pro-Hero name? Or will he be stuck with Yellow Flash after all?]