Chapter 25 - I am all right

"So, instead of telling your teachers, a highly trained staff of pro heroes, you four decided to go off on your own to save a kidnapped friend?"

Shota's lectures had nearly ended, but he was staring down at his students with a rather pissed off expression. It was after school, they had been literally gone the entire school day, and surprise, surprise, they were back in need of healing. Toru had a stab wound on her leg, Shoji had one on his shoulder, Mina had melted the skin off of her own hands partially, and Naruto had to be carried to Recovery Girl for emergency treatments just to begin his extensive damages. It had been hard to tell where the injuries started, and where they ended. Not to mention, he was so low on blood, he wasn't even able to stand on his own.

Mina and Kirishima were somewhat understandable, since Naruto was there friend before they attended U.A., so they could have gotten pulled by their emotions, but Toru and Shoji going along with it just made matters worse.

Part of their punishment was that, since none of their wounds were life threatening, they couldn't be healed by Recovery Girl for a full day. They would have to wait until tomorrow before class started, before they would be healed of their wounds. The other part was the long lecture they were being put through by each and every teacher that they learned from. All of the teachers whose classes were skipped had words to say to them, but they weren't going to be expelled for this, their first offense against the school rules.

"I'll accept any punishment... just don't punishment Naruto." Kirishima didn't want his friend to get punished for missing school, it would seem that Ryuko had left out the bit in the story about Naruto doing illegal hero work. Since that didn't have anything to do with why they missed school, she only reported the actions that directly led to why the five of them had been missing school.

Shota sighed.

'Ow... ow... seiza on my leg sucks.' Toru thought, since she and everyone had been forced to sit seiza the entire time they were being lectured. This was punishment in it's own right, to be treated like this while injured. She didn't say it out loud, for fear of a worse punishment though.

Shoji just nodded in silence.

Shota raised an eyebrow.

"He was kidnapped and tortured, his reason for missing school is acceptable, and punishing him further would be cruel. Not to mention he is in for a long recovery. Recovery Girl's powers rely on the stamina others have. Nobody has enough stamina to be fully healed from that and remaining standing-" Shota spoke, and he didn't even get to finish before life proved him with proof. Naruto was walking with a bowl of ramen in his hands. Recovery Girl was walking next to him, hitting him on the back of his head with her cane. Everyone looked at them, the wounds on Naruto's arms and face were completely gone, and his pale skin had taken on it's peachy color again, showing he was refilled on blood. He was wearing a bright pink shirt, and black pants, and he was taking his beating rather well.

Mina sighed in relief, happy to see him up and walking so soon.

Shota sighed in annoyance, since life found a way to prove him wrong.

"Naruto, you missed classes today, so your homework is waiting for you in my classroom, on your desk. Seeing as your doing well again, I expect it to be done by tomorrow." Shota mentioned in passing to Naruto as the boy walked by. Naruto looked at the friends who saved him, before he frowned and took a step in front of Shota and looked down at them all.

He had something he wanted to say.

"... I don't know if you heard everything I said back there, but can you please keep it a secret?" Naruto asked them with a sorry smile. He had been shouting so loud, there was no way they didn't hear some of it. He didn't want their pity that he lost his family on his birthday, and he didn't want them questioning him on it either. He had never intended to tell any of them, not even Kirishima or Mina, about that. The only reason he told Himiko was so that he could try and break her of her delusions of an easy world and a simple life. Naruto finished up the ramen bowl he was eating, before he gave it back to Recovery Girl so that he could bow to them. "Thank you... You guys were my heroes today." Naruto wasn't used to being formal about anything, it wasn't in his nature, but this was important.

They risked so much to help him, it would be wrong if he just said 'thanks' in his usual laid back way, he needed to show just how truly thankful he was.

"Any..." Kirishima was glared at by Shota, because he almost spoke. His words were cut in his throat, and he just nodded his head and gave Naruto a thumbs up. Nobody was allowed to say anything.

"Come on Naruto, you're uncle is worried about you. You better go home soon, or he'll worry himself to death." Recovery Girl was done lecturing Naruto for the day, but there was still one person who needed to speak with Naruto.

This was going to be unpleasant.

"Naruto! You're okay!"

'This is super unpleasant!' Naruto was crushed when Toshinori, All Might form, wrapped his arms around Naruto and squeezed him. The massive man was crying tears of relief that his only family was okay. Naruto winced when he felt something crack, even with healing his body was still weakened by his experience until he had time to really recover. He just took the pain, and gave Toshinori a pat on the back. "Stop crying you big baby, I'm fine." Naruto pushed his uncle off, but the worried look didn't end when his body was examined. "I'm fine now..."

Toshinori took his true form, and rubbed his eyes.

He had been so worried.

"When you didn't come home last night, I thought you just pushed yourself too hard, and passed out in the woods. When you didn't come to school the next day, I was so worried about you... and when they carried you in half-dead..." Toshinori couldn't help but remember Minato. Now though, he was also imagining his own master Nana also bruised and beaten. Everyone he loved who was related to Naruto passed by in his mind, and it was just horrible for him. "I'm... you're okay?" Toshinori asked Naruto again, not finishing what he was going to say.

Naruto put on a bright smile.

"Don't worry about me, I'm here, so everything is all right." Naruto spoke genuinely.

Toshinori smiled too, before he frowned.

"... I'm moving you into the U.A. dorms tomorrow... I'm not suppose to tell you, but news about you getting kidnapped traveled. Other parents are freaking out about their children... so we're going to be moving students from the Hero Courses into dorms to try and help ease parents." Toshinori told Naruto anyway. Somehow, the news had leaked that a U.A. student had gotten kidnapped and tortured, the exact details of the leak were unknown... but it was ȧssumed that somebody in the police department that Ryuko talked to, spoke with a news reporter. Parents were freaking out, and their trust in U.A. had dropped a little, so they were trying to win back the trust of the parents.

No doubt teachers were going to be asking parents for permission to allow their children to move into the dorms on the next day off from school, and since Naruto's uncle was his legal guardian, there was no need to worry about getting permission.

"I'll start packing then." Naruto didn't mind moving into the school for now.

"You're okay?"

"I'm all right... being a hero is dangerous, this is just part of the job." Naruto told his uncle with a thumbs up, going into his room as he tried to calm his uncle again. When he closed the door behind him, Naruto let loose a small sigh.

He was okay, physically, but this event had forced him to think about things he didn't like.

Instead of starting packing like he said, Naruto went towards his closet. Opening it, Naruto leaned down and looked at a small safe on the floor. Entering in the code, Naruto opened it and revealed a small box. Naruto took the box and took out his phone, before he wrote out a text... and he deleted it. Naruto looked at the box in his hands again, before he opened it up. It was a small white ball, small enough to fit into the palm of his hand. It had a faint glow to it, and it gently hummed in his hand. Naruto hadn't had it in his hands in years, not since he had first developed his Quirk. He had always kept it safe and quiet in his personal safe. His uncle had told him what it was when he first developed his Quirk, and that if it was ever destroyed he would die with it. Yet, it was also the key to unlocking the secret abilities of his own Quirk, the double edged sword of his Quirk.

Telling Himiko about what happened to his parents... it reminded him about his own.

Getting his phone again, he rewrote the text he wanted to send to Mina earlier, and tried it again. Not finding the right way to word it though, Naruto deleted it and wrote it again... and again... and again... and again. No matter how many times he rewrote it, he just couldn't find the right words he wanted to use. In the end, Naruto just sighed to himself and reboxed his Hoshi no Tama back in it's box, and put it into his safe again.

He had packing to do.