[Blue Lock: Tempest] Chapter 4 - Rival (Patreon)

Chapter 4 - Rival

"In the first selection, all fouls will be called by VAR. Building 5’s second match will be a half-game lasting 45 minutes. Team X versus Team W. Time for kick-off."

As the robotic voice rang out, Wanima started the game by passing to his teammate, Tokita.

"Tokita, one-two as we’ve practised before!"

"Okay!" Tokita said, and right as the opposite team forward tried to tackle him, he passed the ball back to Wanima, who sprinted ahead.

Facing two midfielders, Wanima passed it back to Tokita and advanced through those two without the ball.

Unfortunately, Tokita was a little too slow, and Wanima’s pass didn’t find its mark.

"What are you doing, you idiot?!" Wanima screamed at him, incensed.

"Chill out, damn, it’s only the first minute!" Tokita shot back in annoyance.

Over the past few days, Team W’s players have become somewhat familiar with each other. They knew by now what a short fuse the quiet Wanima twin had.

Unfortunately, that loss of possession led to the opposing team’s midfielder passing the ball straight to their ace striker.

"No matter what, stop him!" Wanima shouted at the rest of his team when Shoei Baro received the pass with his chest and broke into a mad sprint towards their goal.

Seeing as it was the second match of Building 5, Team W knew ahead of time just how dangerous Shoei Baro was - they had watched the footage of his previous match. Team X won against Team Z in their first match by 5-1, and all the goals were scored by him.

Unfortunately, the defending players were strikers, not true defenders. Baro slipped through them effortlessly, dribbling past three players in a row before scoring a screamer from over 25 metres away from the goal.

"Holy shit!" Naruto said in awe after watching Shoei Baro’s solo goal.

The skin on his back and forearms broke into goosebumps. The sprinting speed, the dribbling skills, and the shooting power! For the first time since he started playing football, he was seeing a player that seemed to be just as good as him.

His eyes glinted as his fighting spirit started burning.

⁂

"You said you were good at passing, but you fucked up the last time-"

"You’re the one at fault with that shitty pass!" shouted Tokita.

"If this strategy doesn’t work, we’re screwed!" Wanima screamed back at him. "Play as if your life depended on it! If you can’t do your job well, just give someone else your forward position!"

The two of them looked like they were about to come to blows. It was only the whistle of the VAR that reminded them that they were in the middle of a game.

"Remember, pass, and run. One-two. Keep up with me until we get close to the goal. They aren’t real defenders, it shouldn’t be hard to get past them."

"I know, I know, kick it off already," Tokita replied irascibly and Wanima passed the ball to him. "What the- What the fuck are you doing?!"

Just as Tokita was about to touch the ball, someone shot past him like a bullet, stealing it from him. It wasn’t a player from the opposite team, but one of his own teammates! It was Naruto.

If Wanima and Tokita hadn't seen that coming, the opposite team hadn’t either. They were all caught completely unprepared.

"That asshole! Fuck is he thinking running off alone? He’s just going to lose the ball!" Wanima shouted in anger.

However, by the time the opposite team finally registered what was going on, Naruto shot past the strikers that were standing close to the centre circle, running straight towards the goal.

Coming back to their senses, two midfielders from Team X rushed towards him, and one of the strikers that were left behind started running after him too.

But right as one of the opposing team's players lunged at him with a slide tackle, a sound akin to a gunshot was heard, and, in the next moment, the ball smashed into the net of their goalpost.

"You’ve got to be kidding me!" someone said in disbelief.

It wasn’t only the opposite team that was stunned; Naruto’s own teammates were speechless as well. Surrounded by three players and being nearly 40 metres away from the goal - nobody had expected him to shoot from that position, from such a distance.

"Oy, how could you let him score from so far away?!" the opposing team’s players started arguing amongst themselves, all of them directing their ire at the goalkeeper.

"What the fuck, man, are you blind? How could you not see that coming?"

"Tsk! So damn useless!"

"I-... I couldn’t even react to it! Did you see what an absolute piss missile that was? What kind of high school kid has that kind of power?" the goalkeeper protested. "Hell, I'm a striker, not a goalkeeper. If you don't like it, switch places with me!"

Ignoring the other team’s heated argument and not even celebrating his goal, Naruto walked back to his position as a left-wing forward - Team W had adopted a 4-3-3 formation.

"Who is that number 9?"

"I don’t know, man, I’ve never heard of him."

"How did someone as good as him not make a name for himself until now in high school?"

While Team X’s players were wondering about Naruto’s identity, Team W’s players were caught in a dilemma. Despite Naruto’s assholish behaviour in the locker room before the match, the incredible goal he had just scored shook their determination to isolate him on the pitch.

"Hmpf, lucky shot," Wanima said scornfully, but Tokita did not comment on that. Every single one of the players invited to Blue Lock had been deemed by Ego to be one of the best 300 football players among hundreds of thousands of high school boys in Japan. Therefore, he could recognise real skill when he saw it.

After conceding a goal, it was Team X’s turn to kick off from the centre circle.

Receiving the ball from his teammate, Baro rushed straight towards Team W’s goal.

‘Is he trying to do what I did?’ Naruto thought with a grin.

"Like hell I’m gonna let you pass!" Wanima yelled.

But Shoei Baro easily dribbled past him with a chop feint. The change of direction was so abrupt that Wanima's ankles almost snapped as he tried to keep up with him and he fell down on the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Stop him even if you have to foul him!" Team W’s goalkeeper shouted.

The centre midfielders Yusei Amazora and Raito Fuwa rushed at Baro together, but he kicked the ball with his heel in a rainbow flick and jumped over their legs.

When Baro was about to trap the ball and continue his run towards the goal, while the ball was still in mid-air, a blond-haired teen appeared in front of him like a ghost and jumped towards it.

‘Even if they stopped this number 10 guy, these jackasses wouldn’t pass the ball to me either way,’ Naruto thought. ‘Since that's the case, I’ll get the ball myself!’

Due to his speed, it was too late for Baro to stop his momentum, and he crashed into Naruto at full force. The collision was so violent that, in spite of his heavy and muscular physique, Baro bounced back and fell on his ass, dazed.

Naruto felt the air leave his lungs when Baro slammed into him, but he did not give up and still intercepted the ball with his head. Gritting his teeth, he ignored the pain in the side of his torso and broke into a mad dash towards the opponents’ goal.

Seeing the blond win the physical battle against Shoei Baro and then charging at them with the ball like a mad bull, the opposing team's midfielder that was in front of Naruto was too intimidated to get in his way.

"What are you doing, Morinaga?!" his teammates screamed at him when they saw him not even attempting to tackle the opponent.

Daiya Morinaga’s mistake allowed Naruto to pass the centre circle and advance rapidly into the opposing team’s side of the pitch.

Seeing him get within 35 metres of the goal, Team X’s goalkeeper couldn’t keep his cool and started yelling:

"Stop him! Bum rush him if you have to! No matter what, don’t let him shoot!"

Two centre-backs and the right-wing midfielder charged at Naruto as if they were trying to kill him.

Seeing the blond swinging his right leg back as if he was about to shoot another one of his bombs, the midfielder and one of the defenders threw themselves in front of him with no regard for their stamina or safety, desperate to stop him from scoring again.

However, at the very last moment, Naruto smirked. Instead of kicking the ball towards the goal with his entire strength like everyone had expected, he scooped the ball with the tip of his foot and lobbed it over them.

The other defender could only watch stupefied how the blond rushed past him like a speeding train. A second later, the ball was blasted forth like a rocket, straight into the top right corner of the goal.

Turning around, Naruto looked over the pitch, searching for Baro’s burly silhouette. Making eye contact with him, a smug smirk appeared on his face as he made a thumbs-down gesture with his hand.

It was unlike him to deliberately provoke someone for no reason. He was not sure why he did it either, but the sight of Shoei Baro dribbling past everyone as if they were primary school children awakened something in him.

At that moment, merely becoming the top scorer on his team was not enough to satisfy him because, after scoring two goals already, his spot as the top scorer was pretty much guaranteed. With his primary objective achieved, he wanted something more. Scoring goals was not enough. What he wanted was to score more goals than Shoei Baro.

For the first time since he started playing football, Naruto acknowledged someone as a rival.

As they walked back to their respective teams’ sides of the pitch, Shoei Baro and Uzumaki Naruto stopped in front of each other.

"Thug-like bastard, that was an illegal tackle! Do that again, and I’ll kill you next time!" Baro said, the veins on his neck and temple looking as though they were about to explode from his anger.

"I didn’t hear the VRA’s whistle. I went for the ball, it was perfectly legal. Looks like it’s just a skill issue on your part," Naruto said grinning and shrugged.

He could see Baro’s jaw muscles bulge out from how hard he was clenching his teeth. But Baro unexpectedly regained his composure and said:

"Laugh and gloat while you can, but I will show you that I’m the king on this field!"

⁂

"That dude isn’t human. How is he not tired after all that?"

"Wouldn’t be surprised if I heard he was a cyborg."

"That would explain that monstrous shooting power."

While everyone from Team W hit the showers after their match against Team X, Uzumaki Naruto went straight to the training field for more practice. Now, three hours later, most of them were in the canteen having lunch, but Naruto still had yet to come back.

"Those Team X guys were right though; how did he go unnoticed until now? Any amateur clubs would fight to get someone as good as him," a boy with long bangs covering his eyes said.

"Beats me," Tokita said. "I’m just glad we have him on our team instead of playing against him."

The rest at the table chuckled lightly at his words.

"Maaan, I’m so sick of this food. Homeless people probably eat better than us," another one said.

While they were having lunch and socialising with each other, the main object of their conversation arrived in the canteen too. Reeking of sweat and his clothes damp and dirty, it was obvious that he had been on the pitch until then.

⁂

As Naruto ate his meal at a table alone, his mind went back to the match against Team X that morning.

‘Shoei Baro. His dribbling was incredible. Way better than mine.’

Naruto's dribbling was heavily reliant on the opposing players biting on his feints. As it had been the case in the previous match, due to the tremendous threat his shooting possessed, the other team’s players were forced to bite on his feints. However, that type of dribbling was restricted by his positioning on the field.

‘My dribbling style isn’t consistent enough. It’s too situational. It works for now because I’m not playing against proper defenders, but I bet it won’t be enough against professional footballers who specialise in defending.’

Following that line of thought, for three hours after the end of the match against Team X, Naruto remained on the field and practised the ‘chop feint’ that he had seen Baro perform repeatedly to annihilate Team W’s defence.

He had been so hyped about increasing his skills and improving himself that he almost skipped lunch.

‘I wonder if there’s anyone special in Team Y.’

After his win over Shoei Baro and Team X (the 45-minute match ended with a 4-3 score in Team W’s favour, with all goals being scored by him), Naruto’s confidence soared.

Whereas before he had been stressed out at the thought that his ranking was not even in the upper half of the 300 candidates, upon seeing the level that most of the players in Team W and Team X were at, he regained his composure.

‘Ego must’ve made a mistake when he assigned me such a low rank,’ was what Naruto was thinking in the present. ‘And I’m going to keep on scoring goals non-stop until he's forced to admit he was wrong and correct my ranking.’

Once he finished his lunch, Naruto got up and went to one of the automated counters. After pressing a button, he said:

"I want to exchange 3 points for my cellphone."

To further motivate the candidates to give their best in scoring goals, Ego created a system of rewards: 1 point could be exchanged for 300 grammes of sirloin steak, 3 points for being given back their cellphone, 5 points for a bed, and 10 points for a "leave ticket" out of Blue Lock for one day.

A few moments later, an object dropped into the pick-up port of the automated counter.

"...This isn’t my phone."

The phone in his hands looked nothing like the brick-like absolute unit that he used to own. It was a sleek model with a wide and long touchscreen. It was a brand-new smartphone.

‘If I sold this phone I could probably pay the rent of my apartment for almost one year.'

He had never owned a smartphone, much less anything as expensive as this. Curiously, he unlocked it and started swiping back and forth. He was acting like a curious monkey.

‘Oh, there are some unread messages too.’

He knew it wasn’t his phone, but curiosity got the best of him. After all, whoever owned that phone was at fault for not having locked it with a password. Tapping on the first of the three messages, he began to read curiously.

Hello. This is Busujima Masao, the father of the girl you helped that night. This phone is a small gift for you. I have also paid your rent and utilities in advance for one year so you have nothing left to worry about. You can give it your all and put your entire attention on becoming the best at Blue Lock.

For a moment, he was mute with surprise. He needed a few seconds to let the content of that text message sink in. Absent-mindedly, he started reading the next wall of text.

I have also taken the liberty to save my contact information on your phone, so if you ever need anything, whether it’s financial support or my connections, I will be more than happy to help you. Don’t hesitate to ask for help when the moment comes, and don’t overthink the reason why I want to help you. You saved my daughter; that is reason enough for me to care about your well-being.

PS: I would love to hear about your progress in Blue Lock every now and then. Don’t be a stranger.

The emotions he felt at that moment could not be put into words easily. However, he couldn’t let Mr Busujima on ‘read’ after everything he had done for him. Naruto understood that for someone as wealthy as Mr Busujima, the price of his apartment’s yearly rent was chump change. However, having experienced firsthand how hard it was to earn money, his gratitude to him was not any less. Until then, nobody had given him even one yen for free.

Hello. I have received the phone. Thank you for your gift and for your help.

As for Blue Lock, the food, the gear, the training, the gym, everything is great. We are now in the middle of the first selection phase, a phase in which more than half of the teams will be kicked out of Blue Lock. I had my first match today. My team won with a score of 4-3 (I scored all the goals). I will have another match tomorrow.

Now, I’m going back to training. Thank you again for paying my rent. I will not forget this debt of gratitude. I wish you and your daughter all the best.

After sending that message, Naruto let out a long sigh. It was a sigh of great relief. He had used 3 out of the 4 points that he had earned to get his phone back because he had been worried about his apartment. He did not know for sure how long Blue Lock’s programme was going to last, so he wanted to make a deal with the landlord to not throw out his things. It was not as if he had left precious things at home, but they were the only things he had.

But with that worry taken care of, there was truly nothing else to weigh on his mind anymore. Now, he could fully devote all his efforts to football.

⁂

"The existence of one outstanding player can create a spiral of rivalry. Do you see that, Anri-chan? That is what I wanted to create in Blue Lock," Ego said while showing her the footage of the match between Team W and Team X.

"Those two are incredible! Are they really high school students?"

"Shoei Baro. A powerful, agile, and very technical player excelling in solo plays. His dribbling and shooting skills are a cut above the rest. More importantly, he has exactly the type of mindset I’m looking for in a striker," Ego explained. "His ability is so overwhelming that he made the rest of the team rely on him entirely. He is shaping up to be one of the future top 10 players in Blue Lock."

He paused his explanation momentarily to get another big gulp of instant noodles, all the while making loud slurping noises.

"What about the blond one?" Anri asked, greatly surprised after seeing how Shoei Baro fell on his butt from a collision with him.

"Uzumaki Naruto. I chose him to be part of Blue Lock on a whim. He comes from the slums of Tokyo. There was barely any information and even less footage about him and his school’s football team’s plays. He’s the biggest surprise among the 300 candidates," Ego said. "He must’ve won the genetic lottery at conception because he is like a beast. Whether it’s stamina, jumping power, toughness, sprinting speed, or shooting power, he outperforms everyone on the field. His shooting accuracy is formidable too. But there are still many areas he needs to improve on."

The screen changed, and clips from a match between other teams started playing, with Ego giving her a short introduction for the top scorers of each team.

⁂

‘'Cristiano Ronaldo's chop is way better than Baro’s,’ Naruto thought as he watched on his smartphone a video with a compilation of the famous striker’s numerous instances where he dribbled past defenders using that skill. It was a staple of his dribbling. ‘It’s not just the technique; his timing is also perfect. But it makes sense. He’s one of the best football players in the world.’

Before coming to Blue Lock, Naruto had never been able to sit and study professional football players’ playstyles because he could not afford to pay for an internet subscription or at least buy a device that could play such videos. His phone had been a relic from nearly 15 years ago.

But now he was like a man who finally reached the oasis after nearly dying of thirst in the desert. He spent many hours watching videos about football and trying those moves on the field himself.

Leaving his phone under the bench to protect it from any stray balls, he went on the pitch and started practising the ‘chop feint’ techniques that he had seen at Baro and then at Cristiano Ronaldo.

‘I think my chop technique is good, but I can’t say for sure until I try it against someone,’ he said to himself after a while and stopped.

Looking at the time, he realised it was already close to midnight.

‘The match versus Team Y starts in 10 hours.’

He was brimming with anticipation to get back on the pitch. He could not wait to test his newly acquired dribbling skills against others.