Chapter 44 - Friend?? (1/2)

”You go Yaomomo! You can win!”

”Mina, you're suppose to cheer for me!” Naruto shouted towards the stands. The match wasn't even started yet, and his own girlfriend was cheering for Momo instead of him. It was betrayal in the greatest sense of the word... kind of, but not really. He knew she just didn't want to fight him, which she would have to do if he won the fight against Momo. Momo was calmly watching Naruto, a very tense, serious look splayed on her face.

'His fight with Tsuyu hasn't drained him... I'm going to have to go full on from the beginning. His body is tough, so I'll hit him hard. I should stay far back though, flash grenades... and I should mix in some real grenades. With his tough he is, they shouldn't do a ton of damage.' Momo thought as she started to go over all of the information in her head that related to flash and real grenades. Using her mind, she started to mentally prep what she was going to need for her Quirk to work. 'Cannon... I'll make a cannon too, just in case he powers through the grenades.' Momo thought as she unzipped her shirt, she was going to need a lot of skin revealed, so she unzipped and rolled up her sleeves so that all of her arms were revealed.

Naruto glanced at her with a raised eyebrow.

”You know... we make a super team... kind of makes me wonder which of us is going to win. I want to use my Quirk against you, since you're really strong... but this wouldn't be a test of my current level if I did that.” Naruto was honest with her. He wasn't 100% on his chances to win with her, not like he was with Tsuyu or would be with Mina. He put his odds, without his Quirk, closer towards 70% or so when it came to Momo.

She smiled.

”Thank you for the compliment-”

”Fight!”

”-but I don't plan on losing, even to you!” Momo created grenades from her arms. As they fell out of the air, she started to throw them towards Naruto. ”I have faith in you to weather this!” Momo shouted as she pulled pins and threw.

The first was the flash.

Then came the boom.

”Well damn, that hurt!” Naruto shouted as he ran towards her with his eyes closed. His shirt was now in tatters, a bloody gash on his ċhėst from the explosion, sharp metal chunks in his skin. Naruto rushed towards the grenades, and he weathered the storm of explosions, but was pushed by a little. He protected his face from the bright lights and the explosions, the ground around him blowing up and taking serious damage. A large chunk of rock hitting him in the head as she continued to lob grenades at him, and he opened one of his eyes with a growing grin.

The cannon formed out of her stomach and hit the ground in front of her, already aimed at Naruto as she yanked on the rope in it. There was a loud explosion, as the cannoball went flying towards Naruto.

She was obsessed with making him stay as far away from her as possible.

”You'll beat me in close range, no doubt, but if I can-”

Naruto caught the cannonball as he dodged it, before he spun around and added more momentum to it. With added power, Naruto flung the ball back at her with more speed and power. It landed right back in the hole it back from, and the cannon exploded. Momo jumped away from her creation as it went off, blasting itself to metal chunks. Forming a shield out of her arm, she knocked away any stray metal chunks that would have hit her. She rolled to her feet, and saw Naruto standing in front of her with a fist pulled back.

”Texas SMASH!” Naruto called out as his fist rammed into her shield, with enough force to dent the metal.

She took a knee.

”Ah!” Momo's pained shout spoke volumes. She glanced at her shoulder, which had been dislocated by the blow. She formed a smoke bomb and let it hit the ground between them, letting it explode and cover them in smoke. She quickly created a fireproof blanket, and ducked down and covered herself with it. Forming a lighter in her hand, she stuck her dislocated arm out of the blanket. ”This smoke is laced with isobutane, this is going to be very destructive.”

*Click*

”Shit-” Naruto managed to say, before the gas all around them exploded with enough force to shoot him straight up into the air. The tattered remains of his shirt was gone at this point, and his pants were turned into shorts as he curled up into a ball to protect himself from most of the powerful explosion. Spinning in the air, Naruto landed on the ground on his feet as the fire and flames started to vanish.

There was Momo, hiding underneath a blanket, all around her was scorched stage ground, before she uncovered herself and stood back up.

She wasn't smiling.

”I hoped that would have ended it.” Momo had wanted to send Naruto to Recovery Girl as soon as possible, since she had actually inflicted some serious wounds on him. His ċhėst had pretty deep gashes, his right arm was completely covered in blood and hanging limply at his side, before he flexed said arm and jerked it back into place. She grabbed her own arm, and snapped her shoulder back into it's proper place. Not without a short shout of pain though.

How did he do that without shouting in pain?!

Naruto just smiled.

”Grenades use not only flames, but sharp metal chunks to hurt people, and the gas explosion would have killed most people.” Naruto pointed out with a growing grin.

This girl.

”Anything less than lethal force will be wasted on you. I have too much respect for your strength and durability, to not attack you with enough power to seriously harm a person. If you were using your Quirk, you could have attacked me before I even had the time to use my Quirk.” Momo pointed out as she formed a long rod of metal, and took it into her hands. She wasn't without her close combat ability, though it wasn't her forte. If she used a weapon, she might be able to cover for her weakness while she thought of something else to use against Naruto.

She had originally hoped that the cannonball would have knocked him out of the ring, but it would seem that type of weapon could be used against her too easily.

”You're taking advantage of how strong my body is... you're using my strength as a weapon against me... I like it.” Naruto thought it was a little poetic. The only reason she was able to do this, was because he was her opponent. She could use lethal weapons that she would never dream of using against another human, because they were being used against him. ”The second I hit you though...”

”... it's over for me.” Momo knew, after taking that shielded punch, that if he scored a direct hit, she would be too stunned to be able to block a second or third hit. She would have to play some serious defense until she could come up with another counter against him.

Naruto grabbed a rock from the ground, which had been knocked loose from her explosions, and he threw it at her full speed. The second he threw it, he rushed towards her with both of his arms low to the ground. She didn't block the rock, instead, she wisely chose to run towards Naruto and duck underneath. Shoving her rod into the ground, she jumped into the air high above him as he came in under her.

-In the Stands-

”Wow... Yaororozu is really strong! She did some real damage to Naruto of all people!” Izuku was just shocked when he saw that Naruto had been hurt by one of their classmates. He had thought that it wasn't possible, not once had somebody in their class really held a candle to Naruto yet.

Kirishima frowned, and Mina was a little pale.

”Hah! Take that you bastard!” Bakugo shouted as he pointed down at Naruto. He was the only one cheering against Naruto though, most of them weren't taking any sides. Naruto's heavy wounds weren't something they could cheer to continue.