Chapter 11
NARUTO
There are a few things that Sartuobi High is known for. They’re the only high school in Asamachi, their fencing team, and that the school is notoriously run by the ex-Senji leader Sarutobi. Besides that, you would be hard pressed to find anything else that the school was exceptional at and even if you did think of anything, the last thing anybody would say would be football. Naruto realized this when he left the philosophy club meeting and headed to the football field. When he got there, he realized it was more just a field than it was a football field.
It was really a huge patch of grass that was located behind the school. Surrounding it was a short metal fence that, though it had an entrance, nobody ever used it, opting to instead jump the fence rather than open the gate. The teachers even jumped the fence. That’s how short it was.
The grass was real grass, not like the ones in other schools or stadiums. You would have to watch where you sat or else you might sit on an ant pile and have your pants infested with the tiny insects. If you wanted to sit anywhere else that isn’t the floor, bring your own chair. There are no benches. There were also no goal posts, though that was never really a concern due to Sarutobi never hosting any games, and no painted yard lines and goal areas, instead, the halfway line and touchdown was marked by small, orange cones.
Naruto took a seat at touchdown, where everyone else was seated. He looked around, trying to find anyone he recognized. He saw Kiba and Choji together, standing in front of the crowd, talking to two people he didn’t recognize. One of them was obviously the coach; he looked older than the rest; however, his face was somewhat familiar. Having some of Sarutobi’s features, the teacher had a thick, black, chinstrap, and a bandana on that held his spiky hair up. Besides that, he very much looked like a younger Sarutobi. The other person Kiba and Choji was talking to was a student. Naruto had seen him before in one of his classes. He had long hair that was held back into a ponytail and a skinny face. His facial expression and demeanor was very composed. His long, skinny eyebrows laid low on his face, not being far away from his eyes. The kid looked much older for his age.
Besides them, those were the only people there that Naruto recognized so far. But there wasn’t a lot of people at try outs to begin with, possibly twenty people total. The chances of Naruto recognizing anyone was low.
The coach stopped talking to Kiba and Choji and turned to the group at touchdown.
“Ok, it’s 1:59 PM,” the coach started. “I think it’s safe to assume that this is every-.”
“ASUMA!” boomed a deep voice from outside the field. “DO NOT START WITHOUT US!”
The voice belonged to a lean, fit man with a bowl cut and the thickest eyebrows Naruto had ever seen. The man walked around with a wooden cane for support but still jumped the fence with as much ease any other person. Walking with him was a student who also had a bowl cut and thick eyebrows. He was lean and fit just like the man and the kid wore a black vest over his green jumpsuit.
“Mr. Guy,” Asuma said. “You had me worried for a second there. I almost thought you wouldn’t be joining us.”
“Asuma,” the old man with a cane responded. “Did you think I would miss my boy’s very first high school football try out?”
“Guess not,” Asuma responded. He turned to the kid. “Rock Lee, are you excited to be trying out this year?”
“Extremely excited, sir,” the kid responded with a much higher pitched voice than Naruto anticipated. His eyes showed so much passion.
“Ok, have a seat with the rest at touchdown,” Asuma said. Rock Lee ran to touchdown and sat down right in the middle.
Mr.Guy and Asuma then whispered to each other for a little bit before Mr. Guy left.
“Alright,” Asuma said to the team. “We’re starting a little late, but that’s fine. You have two more free periods after this and let’s be honest, you probably weren’t going to go to any other club.”
Everybody laughed. During this, Naruto noticed a group of kids jump the fence and hurry over to the touchdown. When they sat down, he recognized them. It was the president’s nephew and Sakura.
I hope they don’t notice me, he thought. It must’ve been embarrassing after yesterday. Sarutobi probably gave them detention again for trying to sneak out. Because of that, they’re probably mad at me…
Why is Sakura in fencing gear?
“So, before try outs begin,” Asuma continued. “I want to double check if you all know the rules to football. If you don’t please raise your hand.”
The red-haired girl from Sasuke’s group raised her hand. Naruto felt relieved because he didn’t actually know much about the sport either.
“Ok, it’s quite simple,” Asuma said. “The main goal of football is to get the ball from one end of the field to another while also preventing the other team from doing the same thing. This cone area you’re sitting on is called touchdown. When the people on offense get the ball in this area, they receive points or a touchdown. Now, professionally, each team would have set group of people for offense and a set group of people for defense, but due to our school not having much funding nor people to play, the people on offense will also be the people on defense.”
“When on offense, there is a quarterback, who oversees passing the ball, either it be a run or a throw. Then, there are the receivers, the people responsible for catching the ball, and linemen, the people responsible for preventing the defense from tackling the quarterback. When you are tackled, the team starts again at the place you were tackled at. You have four chances to reach touchdown, however, if you make it past the halfway line, that is first down, meaning your chances reset, granting you another four chances to make it to touchdown.”
“But I think the part you might’ve been confused on is how quirks are used in football. Almost all quirk use is allowed. The only ones banned is teleportation, mind control/telepathy, and all projectile quirks. So, I don’t want to see any of you start spitting fireballs at each other. Also, NO elemental quirks. It doesn’t say that in the rule book, but this team already doesn’t get money as is, so if the field is messed up, WE’RE the ones who are going to clean it. So no breaking the ground or burning it or whatever. Honestly, I want quirk use to be as little as possible. I know a lot of you are super excited to try out for the team and want to show off all your skill and talent, but trust me, as much as these boys here have been saying otherwise, every person trying out will be making it. The only thing you’re trying out for is for which position.”
“Does that answer your question, girl,” Asuma asked.
The redhead gave him a thumbs up.
“Ok then,” Asuma said. “Let’s start the try outs.”
Rock Lee raised his hand. Asuma looked a bit annoyed. “Yes, Lee,” he said.
“Sir,” Rock Lee started. “I think before we do try outs, we should warm up first. Sensei Guy always told me that for the heater to turn on, you have to first warm up the engine.”
“And how do you think we should ‘warm up our engines’,” the coach asked.
“I think you should make us run laps back and forth across the field,” the boy responded without hesitation. The entire team turned to look at him, including Naruto, with complete shock on their faces.
“Well,” Asuma said, scratching his head. “I guess that’s a good idea. Alright boys, you heard him. We’ll start by running laps touchdown to touchdown.”
Everybody groaned. Asuma pulled out a cigarette pack and started to walk off the field with Choji, Kiba, and the spiky haired kid.
“Coach,” the boy said, bent over like he was about to sprint. “Where are you guys going? You should run with us.”
Asuma grabbed a cigarette and began to light it. “Oh, uh…. We already did that before you came here.” He took a deep breath, as if he were trying to inhale all the smoke the cigarette had one go, and then let it out.
“Alright,” the coach said. “We’ll run laps for…” He looked at the spiky haired kid. The kid shrugged and put up two fingers. “…For TWO minutes! Everybody get ready!”
The team got up, complaining and cursing under their breath.
This could be a good time to stand out, Naruto thought. He remembered what Iruka told him about joining a club to make friends.
The best guy on a team for sure has friends.
“On your mark,” Asuma said. “Get set… GO!”
Rock Lee immediately went into a fast sprint, leading the charge of unenthusiastic runners.
I can’t lose, Naruto thought. He too started to sprint.
I won’t lose.
Rock Lee was the first to reach the other side of the field. He was outrunning everyone by a large margin. When the next person (a scrawny kid with white hair) finally reached touchdown, Rock Lee was already at first down.
Naruto was in a close third, though fourth place was close as well. The person behind him had orange hair and was huge. He looked to have his eyes dead set on the skinny white-haired kid in front of them.
Far behind fourth place was the rest of the team. To say that they were jogging would be describing it very generously.
Don’t look back, Naruto thought. He reached first down at this point and was running as fast as he could. But he was still in third, and the huge guy was still in a close fourth.
And Rock Lee was running back from touchdown.
“Keep it up guys,” he said as he passed them, almost at first down again. “You’re doing great team!”
I cannot lose, he thought. He tried to run even faster, but sadly, he only ended up in third place.
When the two minutes were up, Naruto collapsed on the floor. He realized that how unathletic he truly was. Though he may have gotten into fights when he was younger, those fights never really lasted that long, and he never ran around growing up because who was he going to run around with.
Naruto laid back onto the rough grass and gripped his chest. His heart was pounding hard. So hard that you could almost hear it pound. Naruto couldn’t hear anything but the hard, fast pound from his chest.
“Hey,” someone said, voice somewhat familiar. Naruto looked to see who it was.
It was Sakura from yesterday.
Oh no, he thought. She’s probably going to go off on me or yell at me or hit me because of yesterday.
“You’re Naruto, right,” she asked. Naruto, breathing heavily, nodded.
“Are you ok,” she asked. “You’re grabbing your chest awfully hard.”
“No…” he said, trying to catch some air. “I’m fine…Just tired, ya know….”
“Yeah,” Sakura said. “I don’t get why you and Suigetsu tried to run so fast. You know this was just a warmup, right?”
“Who,” Naruto asked, lost.
“Oh, Suigetsu,” Sakura pointed at the skinny guy with white hair. “Him.”
“Oh…” Naruto said, a lot more relaxed now. His heart was starting to slow down. “That guy is fast…” He sat up from the ground.
“A lot faster than I thought,” Sakura said. “Hey, something’s been bothering me, and I have to ask, what happened when Sarutobi took you out of detention?”
“Look, I’m really sorry about yesterday. I was really dumb, and I didn’t mean for anything to happen to you guys. I know you all hate me for yester-.”
“Whoa,” she interrupted.
Naruto could already feel the tears starting to build up, but he was quick to cover them. He was hoping high school would be different. His entire life, all he ever knew was loneliness and Naruto hoped that maybe in high school, he would finally make friends but the one chance he was given to do that, he screwed up.
“Why would we hate you,” Sakura asked.
This surprised Naruto.
“B-Because you got caught,” Naruto whined. “And Sa-the principal punished you guys, right?”
“Oh no,” she responded. “Detention finished and then we left. Principal Sarutobi hasn’t even talked to us since yesterday.”
Naruto let out a huge sigh. He felt relieved.
“Are you okay,” she asked.
Naruto wiped any tears that managed to come out of him. “Yeah,” he tiredly said. “It’s just, its been a rough week and we’re only two days into it.”
Sakura smiled. “It’s been rough for all of us,” she said.
“Alright everybody,” Asuma said, flicking away his cigarette. “I am genuinely impressed by some of you. You went really fast, especially for a warm-up. I just hope you still have energy for the rest of try outs.”
“We’re going to split you up into two teams. A defensive team and an offensive team. The way try outs will work is that I will make you switch positions within your team to see which position you’re the best at and then eventually, make you switch teams to see your offensive and defensive ability. We have a pretty even number of people so splitting you all up shouldn’t be that much of an issue.”
After the team was split up, Naruto ended up on the defensive team. His position was to guard the wide receiver. The person he ended up guarding was Sakura.
“Isn’t this kind of funny,” she said when they both got on the line of scrimmage. “That I don’t really want to get on the team, but here I am, trying out.”
“If you don’t want to be on the team, then why are you trying out,” Naruto asked.
“Well Suigetsu wanted to try out and we thought that was funny. Then Karin said that if Jugo tried out and made it on the team but not Suigetsu, it would funnier. So then I suggested if we all tried out and made it on the team but not Suigetsu, that it would be even more funnier,” Sakura responded. “The idea sounded better in conversation, but now that we’re here, it actually kinda sucks.”
The quarterback for now was the bowl cut kid with the vest. He started yelling random colors at the top of his lungs before he yelled “HUT!”
Naruto was fully prepared to play hard defense but when Rock Lee yelled hut, Sakura only jogged forward, not really doing anything else. Instead of guarding her, the two of them talked until it was time to switch positions.
On the next position, Naruto ended up being put on the line to tackle the quarterback. In front of him was Choji.
How the hell am I supposed to get past him, he thought. The guy’s huge.
Suigetsu was quarterback this time. He didn’t call out random colors and numbers, unlike the guy before him.
Ok, if I get past him, tackling the quarterback should be easy, he thought. But I have to get past him.
Naruto prepped himself. This was not going to be easy for sure. But he had a trick up his sleeve.
“HUT,” yelled Suigetsu, though not quite as loud as Rock Lee. Choji immediately charged forward. Naruto tried moving left but Choji quickly moved in front of him. The man was fast. He wasn’t going to slip past Choji. The only way forward was through the big man. Naruto charged into Choji, trying to push him down. He ended up on the floor immediately.
Asuma blew his whistle. “Second down, five yards back,” he yelled.
Choji looked around confused until he turned to see Suigetsu on the floor with Naruto’s clone on top. The kid chuckled.
“Good one,” he said, smiling as he helped Naruto up from the ground.
After that, Choji never charged forward again, instead deciding to stay by Suigetsu’s side until it was time to change positions.
Naruto was back on guarding wide receivers. This time the person he was guarding was the huge guy who was in fourth place during the warmup. His expressionless face made Naruto uncomfortable.
This time, Sasuke was quarterback. The president’s nephew stood there awkwardly, looking to be unsure of what he should do.
“Uh….Hut,” he said, voice so quiet that nobody heard him. “…Hut,” he said a little louder, though still very quiet.
“Did you say hut,” Kiba asked, his position on the line of scrimmage, making him closest to Sasuke.
The kid nodded his head in response.
“The guy said HUT,” yelled Kiba.
The huge man immediately charged forward. Naruto kept close behind him. He then quickly cut left, catching Naruto off guard but, he made a clone and sent it to guard him. Sasuke ended up tossing the ball out of bounds so it didn’t matter in the end.
After that, Asuma told everyone to take a five-minute break. The kid with the ponytail had left earlier and was now back with two packs of bottled water. Naruto gulped his bottle in under a second.
“Hey kid,” someone said behind him. Naruto turned around. It was Asuma.
“Are you ok,” he asked.
Naruto looked at him confused. “Yeah…Why? Am I doing badly?”
“No, you’re doing great but, you keep grabbing your chest while you play. Is there something wrong?”
The entire time, Naruto’s heart had been pounding hard and extremely fast. When guarding the huge guy, Naruto really noticed just how fast his heart was pounding. But, if he told Asuma that, the coach would for sure take him out of try outs and Naruto was not going to miss this opportunity to make friends. Plus, he was fine. He just wasn’t used to running around a lot, so it probably meant he was out of shape. And it was hot outside and he hadn’t drunk water in a while so after this break, he would for sure be fine.
“I’m ok,” he responded. “I just have a bad itch on my chest.”
“Ok that’s fine,” the coach said. “By the way, your clone use is pretty good, however, though on defense you can have two clones on the field, on offense, you can only have one. Also, if you’re a wide receiver, your clone can’t catch the ball. You can only use him as protection or illusion or whatever. Just not as a wide receiver.”
When the break was over, Naruto ended up on offense. The first position he was playing was quarterback.
Kiba approached him before the play.
“Hey,” he said. “When you say hut, throw the ball to me. The person guarding me isn’t that good.”
Everyone lined up on the line of scrimmage. Choji was on the same team this time and was on the line protecting Naruto. The person rushing was Suigetsu. He felt relieved.
Don’t screw it up, he thought. Choji is protecting me so I have all the time in the world. And it’s Suigetsu whose rushing so I’ll be fine.
“Hut,” he yelled, trying to sound bold.
Suigetsu moved quickly, almost slipping past Choji. His quirk that allowed his body to become liquid made it really hard to grab him, but nobody could get past Choji. Naruto was safe.
“HEY,” Kiba growled. “I’m open!”
Naruto looked for Kiba until he saw the dog-human hybrid that was on the field. Kiba’s quirk was transformation, specifically, into a dog-like creature. It made Kiba a dangerous player on the field.
He got ready to throw the ball.
“ON YOUR LEFT,” Choji yelled. Naruto turned.
It was Rock Lee, sprinting full force at him, ready to tackle.
Naruto cloned himself and moved right, making Lee run into the clone. But, moving right did not serve him well. He had moved out of Choji’s protection. Suigetsu moved towards Naruto. He was going to make another clone until he remembered that only one clone was allowed.
Suigetsu charged, tackling Naruto.
“Gotcha,” he said, smiling as he laid on top of him. “That was revenge for last time.”
“Come on man,” Kiba whined, returning to his original form. “You can’t take that long when on quarterback cause this happens.” He helped Naruto off the ground.
“Oh, give him a break, Kiba,” Rock Lee said, dusting himself off. “To be honest, that trick with the clones was really good. You can’t deny it.”
Naruto smiled. His actions were being noticed by his peers instead of his elders. It felt good.
What doesn’t feel good is this pain in my chest, he thought.
The positions changed again, and Naruto ended up being a wide receiver. This time, the person guarding him was Rock Lee.
“Hey,” the bushy browed kid said. “What’s your name?”
“It’s Naruto,” he responded.
“That’s cool, I’m Rock Lee. Is this your first-time playing football?”
“Yeah,” Naruto said, scratching his head (and chest).
“You’re really good,” Rock Lee said. “I think this may be the best opportunity to not hold back.”
“What do you-.”
Before Naruto could finish, Rock Lee took off his vest. When the vest hit the floor, it made a huge sound and left a crack in the ground.
“…How much weight is in that thing,” Naruto asked.
“Oh, like 50 lbs. Nothing really impressive, but as a quirkless guy, 50 lbs is really pushing it on my limit. Sensei Guy told me to wear it during this try out, but man, I really want to see how capable I am, and what better place to try it out than at try outs.”
Naruto looked at him confused.
This entire time, running faster than the entire football, he had a 50lb vest on? And he doesn’t even have any quirks? Who is this man?
“Hut,” yelled Kiba, who was now the quarterback. Immediately, Naruto charged forward. He moved left then right then forward then back but the entire time, he could not shake Rock Lee off him.
“Second down,” yelled Asuma.
“Damn…” Rock Lee mumbled. “Maybe I should put the vest back on.”
This angered Naruto. He was going to be the best player on the team, one way or another. The pain in his chest, which was growing by the second, was holding him back.
Just ignore it, he thought. It’s just in your head. I am NOT wasting this opportunity.
“Hut,” Kiba yelled.
Naruto sprinted, faster than before. He then cloned himself. Both went in opposite directions. Rock Lee’s eyes were too good for that. He didn’t move away at all, continuing to closely guard Naruto. Kiba’s eyes were not. He tossed it to Naruto’s clone.
Asuma blew his whistle. “Foul,” he said. “Offensive team. 10 yards back, third down.”
“Why did you pass it to my clone,” Naruto asked aggressively. The growing pain was making him more frustrated.
“What do you mean, why did I pass it to your clone,” Kiba responded. “I am looking at a whole bunch of players who are potentially open, I can’t keep my eyes on one singular player at a time. How the hell am I supposed to know which of you is the clone and which isn’t?”
He had a point. Unless Kiba was only watching Naruto, he was going to pass it to the clone if they’re open. Naruto sighed and went back to the line.
“Hey,” Rock Lee said. “That was a good trick with the clone. Sucks that you can’t pass to clones cause that would’ve for sure been a touchdown or a first down at least.” He started to put his vest on.
“Don’t you put that fucking vest on!”
Rock Lee looked at first surprised, then intrigued. He dropped the vest.
The pain was at its peak. Naruto could barely hear anything else besides the fast beating of his heart. He pinched his left arm, hoping that it could bring back the feeling in it, but sadly, it was still numb. It had been since the warm up.
I am not going to give up now!
“HUT,” Kiba yelled.
Naruto charged forward again. Rock Lee’s defense was unforgiving. You could not get open if Rock Lee were guarding you, but it didn’t matter. Naruto had already beat him. Rock Lee stayed on like stripes on a tiger, but the closer they got to touchdown, the slower he became.
“You’re not even going to try and juke me,” he eventually said. “Your only option is to out run me? I don’t think that’s too wise, but…”
He completely stopped in his tracks.
The clone stopped too.
“Damn it, you’re good,” he said before rushing backwards.
Naruto by this point was on his way to first down. Though he was not the fastest on the team, he was still the third fastest, so all he had to do was outrun everyone before they could tackle him. The hard part was making sure Lee did not see that there was two Narutos the field. So, making the clone grab his attention was what he had to do. Kiba, who already said that he would pass to whoever’s open, passed it to Naruto because the person guarding him was too busy guarding his clone.
When Rock Lee finally caught up to him, Naruto had already made it past first down. He kneeled before he got tackled by Lee.
The pain was unbearable then.
“Hey, good job,” the bushy browed kid said. “You taught me a valuable lesson. That it’s not just physical might that matters but also mental might. You know what, I think me and you are going to make a great pair and I’m glad I have someone like you on my team.”
Naruto couldn’t even breathe at this point. His vision blurred. His left arm was still numb. He was shivering from how cold he was.
“…Naruto,” Rock Lee said. “Are you ok?”
That was the last thing he remembered before he blacked out.