Present Mic, his voice booming with infectious energy, pointed towards the giant screen looming over the stadium. "Alright, folks! The list of games is about to appear on the screen! Get ready for some serious action!" He paused for dramatic effect, then shouted, "Start!" The screen flickered to life, a chaotic jumble of words and images flashing across its surface. Then, with an abrupt "Stop!", the screen froze, displaying a single, bold title: Team Race.
"And there you have it, folks!" Present Mic announced, his voice ringing with excitement. "The first event is a team race! Students, you'll need to form groups of four! The goal? All four members must cross the finish line to win!"
A wave of excited chatter erupted among the first-year students. They surged together, forming impromptu alliances, weighing strengths and weaknesses, their competitive spirits ignited.
Minato, his mind already racing with strategic possibilities, turned to Momo. "Yaoyorozu-san, would you be interested in joining my team?" he asked, his voice calm and direct.
Momo, her eyes gleaming with determination, nodded without hesitation. "I would, Namikaze-kun. Your strategic thinking would be a great asset."
Minato then approached Kirishima, a friendly smile on his face. "Kirishima, want to team up?"
Kirishima, however, grinned, his usual enthusiasm amplified by the thrill of competition. "Thanks, Minato! But I want to compete against you! It wouldn't be manly to rely on your power, even in a team event!"
Minato chuckled, respecting his friend's desire for a direct challenge. "I understand. Good luck, then." He then turned to Mina, who was bouncing on the balls of her feet, eager for action. "Ashido-san?"
"Count me in, Minato-kun!" Mina exclaimed, her acid-yellow eyes sparkling. "Let's show them what we're made of!"
Finally, he looked towards Toru, who, despite her invisibility, made her eagerness known with a series of enthusiastic gestures. "Hagakure-san?"
Toru gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up, her invisible form practically vibrating with excitement.
With his team assembled, Minato surveyed the other groups forming. He noted Kirishima, Bakugo, Sato, and Ojiro had formed a powerhouse team, their combined strength formidable. Midoriya, Uraraka, Iida, and Asui had joined forces, their teamwork and tactical skills a dangerous combination. Todoroki, with Tokoyami, Kaminari, and Shoji, presented a well-balanced threat. Jiro, Koda, Sero, and Aoyama made up the final group, their Quirks a wildcard mix.
Minato gathered his team, his expression focused. "Alright, listen up. We need a strategy." He paused, his gaze settling on Momo. "Yaoyorozu-san, after the race starts, I need you to create a few kunai for me and wrap some cloth around the handles."
Momo nodded, her mind already calculating the optimal materials and design. "Understood, Namikaze-kun."
Minato continued, his voice low but firm. "With these kunai, I can teleport. All we have to do is throw them ahead, and we can instantly advance. We'll use this to gain a significant lead."
His teammates listened intently, their eyes gleaming with understanding. The plan was audacious, relying heavily on Minato's unique abilities, but it offered a clear path to victory.
Ten minutes ticked by in a flurry of excited chatter and last-minute strategizing. Then, Present Mic's booming voice filled the stadium once more. "Alright, everyone! Get ready at the starting line! The race is about to begin!"
The students of Class 1-A and the other Hero Course participants surged towards the starting line, a chaotic mix of anticipation and determination.
The giant screen above them beeped, counting down the seconds. 3... 2... 1...
"GO!"
The students, their muscles coiled and Quirks simmering, exploded off the line the instant Present Mic bellowed, "GO!"
Immediately, the ground beneath them erupted in a shimmering frost. Shoto Todoroki, positioned strategically at the front of the pack, wasted no time. A vast, jagged sheet of ice burst forth from his right foot, spreading with terrifying speed across the entire width of the track, transforming the starting area into a treacherous, frozen expanse. The sudden, chilling advance forced many students to skid, stumble, or halt altogether.
"WHOA! WHAT A START BY TODOROKI SHOTO!" Present Mic shrieked into the mic, his voice hitting a high note of thrill. "HE'S FREEZING THE ENTIRE FIELD! THAT'S ICY COLD STRATEGY, FOLKS!"
In the commentary booth, Aizawa merely grunted, his eyes fixed on the chaos. "As expected. He's trying to gain an early lead by hindering the competition. Efficient, if a bit blunt."
But Minato had anticipated this. He knew that would be Todoroki's go-to strategy, and had prepared him for such a move. "Jump!" he commanded, his voice sharp and clear, cutting through the sudden clamor.
Momo, Mina, and Toru, trusting Minato implicitly, reacted instantly. With a powerful coordinated leap, they cleared the rapidly expanding sheet of ice just as it solidified. Their feet landed softly on the icy ground, then Mina used her quirk to melt the ice in their path, which gave them a crucial early advantage as other students slid helplessly on the slick surface or struggled to activate their Quirks to avoid the chill.
"HAH! NAMIKAZE'S TEAM CLEARED THE ICE! PERFECTLY EXECUTED JUMP AND WITH HELP OF MINA ASHIDO'S QUIRK!" Present Mic exclaimed, already captivated by the early dynamics. "THEY'RE AHEAD OF THE PACK, FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY THE STUDENTS WHO COULD REACT FAST ENOUGH!"
Aizawa, seeing Minato's calm foresight, allowed a flicker of approval to cross his features. He accounts for variables quickly. Good.
Minato's team, unhindered, sprinted forward, leaving the frozen chaos behind. Their next challenge lay ahead: a long, dark tunnel. Its entrance gaped like a hungry maw, promising cramped conditions and uncertain footing. Other students, recovering from the ice attack, now struggled to find their balance before pushing into the dimly lit passage.
Inside the tunnel, the air grew cooler, muffling the roar of the crowd into a distant hum. It was tight, making it difficult for students with larger Quirks to maneuver, and the uneven ground offered plenty of opportunities for stumbles. Minato's team, however, moved with practiced ease, their smaller frames allowing agile navigation. Momo kept pace with her surprising athleticism, Mina's natural grace shone even in the dim light, and Toru, though unseen, moved with fluid, ghost-like efficiency.
"THEY'RE ENTERING THE TUNNEL NOW, LISTENERS!" Present Mic's voice echoed a little strangely inside the enclosed space. "IT'S A DARK AND WINDING PATH! LET'S SEE WHO CAN NAVIGATE THIS MAZE OF A TUNNEL!"
Aizawa nodded. "The tunnel slows down those reliant on wide-area Quirks or light. It's an equalizer, demanding basic physical prowess and awareness."
As they burst out of the tunnel, the stadium lights momentarily blinded them before their eyes adjusted to the open arena. Directly ahead loomed the first official obstacle: the Maze. Towering walls of reinforced concrete crisscrossed the landscape, forming an intricate, baffling labyrinth designed to disorient and delay.
Minato immediately turned to Momo. "Yaoyorozu-san, are the kunai ready?"
Momo, already anticipating his need, held out her hand. "Yes, Namikaze-kun!" In her palm lay two sleek, three-pronged kunai, identical to Minato's signature weapons, each with a small strip of white cloth wrapped around its handle. The cloth, woven with subtle energy-conducting fibers, glowed faintly with residual Quirk energy, clearly indicating its creation via Momo's Creation Quirk.
Minato took the kunai, his fingers brushing against the fabric. He quickly applied a precise Flying Thunder God seal to each kunai, the familiar sensation of chakra interlocking with the metal a reassuring thrum against his skin. He handed one back to Momo. "Keep this one with you. I'll need to link back to you."
He then addressed the rest of his team. "Wait here for a moment."
Before they could question, Minato took a running start towards the nearest maze wall. With astonishing speed and agility, he didn't attempt to find a gap or a turn. Instead, he simply ran straight up the sheer concrete surface, his feet finding purchase with impossible friction, defying gravity itself. He ascended like a spider, a blur of blue and white against the grey wall.
"WHOA! DID YOU SEE THAT?!" Present Mic practically shrieked, his voice laced with pure astonishment. "NAMIKAZE IS RUNNING UP THE WALLS! HE'S DEFYING GRAVITY! IS THAT PART OF HIS QUIRK?! IS IT ANTI-GRAVITY? FRICTION MANIPULATION?!"
In the lobby, Momo gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "He's running up the wall!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with amazement.
Toru, though invisible, made audible surprised gasps. "Amazing! I didn't know he could do that!"
Mina, who had seen Minato execute similar feats during their personal training, smirked, a hint of pride in her voice. "It's one of the uses of his Quirk's energy manipulation, kinda like sticking to surfaces! He calls it 'Chakra Footwork' or something! He showed me and Kirishima back when we were kids!" Her explanation, delivered with the casualness of someone who had seen it before, only deepened the other girls' awe.
Aizawa, in the commentary booth, allowed himself a small, almost imperceptible smirk. "It's a form of energy manipulation," he confirmed, his voice dry, directly answering Present Mic's frantic questions. "He focuses his Quirk energy to enhance his physical capabilities, including adhesion and brute force. It allows him to defy conventional physics when applied correctly."
Minato reached the top of the towering wall, his perspective instantly shifting. From his vantage point, he could see the entire layout of the confusing maze below, its intricate twists and turns laid bare. His eyes quickly scanned, pinpointing the shortest, most direct path to the exit. And then, he saw the end of the maze, a distant archway marking the next segment of the race.
With precision, he hurled the kunai in his hand with incredible force, a glinting dart soaring over the concrete labyrinth. It flew straight and true, embedding itself firmly into the ground just beyond the maze's exit, almost out of sight of the other students still struggling within the labyrinth.
He then closed his eyes for a split second, feeling the precise location of the kunai he had given to Momo. With a barely audible pop and a faint yellow flash, Minato vanished from the top of the maze wall.
The sudden reappearance was startling. He materialized directly next to his team, who were still waiting patiently at the maze's entrance. Momo, Mina, and Toru all jumped, letting out small yelps of surprise as Minato suddenly appeared out of thin air right beside them. Toru's invisible form even seemed to visibly shimmer with the shock.
Minato let out a rare, genuine laugh, a bright, clear sound amidst the tension. "Sorry about the jump scare!" he chuckled, his eyes twinkling. "That's why I asked you to wait. Now, quickly, place your hand on my shoulder."
Momo, Mina, and Toru, still recovering from the surprise but trusting him implicitly, immediately placed their hands on his shoulders. With another instantaneous, blinding yellow flash, the four of them vanished from the entrance of the maze.
They reappeared in a blink, standing firmly on the ground just beyond the maze's exit, exactly where Minato's thrown kunai had landed. The sudden shift in scenery was disorienting, but they quickly regained their bearings, adrenaline coursing through them.
"HOLY CRAP! DID YOU SEE THAT, LISTENERS?!" Present Mic screamed, his voice reaching a new crescendo of disbelief. "NAMIKAZE JUST TELEPORTED HIS ENTIRE TEAM PAST THE MAZE! HE'S GONE FROM THE START TO THE FINISH IN A BLINK OF AN EYE! WHAT KIND OF QUIRK IS THIS?!"
Aizawa's voice was calmer, but held a hint of grudging admiration. "He tells us that he can do much more with his energy but still now didnt display his full abilities."
The other students who were still struggling to navigate the maze, or had just begun to solve it, looked up in utter bewilderment. The Audience saw the sudden flash of light, and then Minato's team was simply gone from the entrance, only to reappear moments later at the exit. Confusion and disbelief rippled through the stadium.
"What?! They're already at the end?!" Bakugo's furious roar could be heard from somewhere deep within the maze, as he blasted through a wall, realizing the extent of Minato's lead.
Before Minato's team lay the second obstacle: a gauntlet of robots. Not the normal zero-pointers from the entrance exam, but larger, more heavily armored machines, some armed with energy cannons, others with crushing claws, designed to test their combat abilities. It was a true test of strength and teamwork.
Minato, with his immense power, could have easily bypassed this obstacle as well, perhaps by simply throwing another kunai over the robots and teleporting his team again. But he held back. He turned to his teammates, his expression serious. "This obstacle," he stated, his voice firm, "is where we show what we're truly capable of. I'll be here to back you up, but I want you all to prove yourselves. Let's make a statement." He wanted to give them a chance to shine, to demonstrate their growth and resilience to the scouting heroes.
Mina grinned, already sliding into a combat stance. "You got it, Minato-kun! Time to show them some acid!" She launched herself forward, her hands glowing as she unleashed streams of highly corrosive Acid. The liquid splattered onto the legs of the advancing robots, sizzling and smoking. The metal groaned, corroding rapidly, forcing the massive machines to stumble and fall, their systems sparking wildly. Mina moved with fluid grace, coating target after target, her Quirk precise and devastating.
"GET 'EM, ASHIDO!" Present Mic cheered, loving the visual. "HER ACID IS EATING THROUGH THOSE ROBOTS LIKE IT'S BUTTER! SHE'S GOT SOME SERIOUS DESTRUCTIVE POWER!"
As Mina melted the immediate threats, Toru stepped forward, her invisible form focusing intently. She held out her hands, and the air before them shimmered. Suddenly, a translucent, almost imperceptible force field pulsed into existence, enveloping their group. It wasn't completely opaque, but it bent the light in a way that made it seem like a shimmering distortion, deflecting the incoming laser blasts from the larger robots with faint thwip sounds.
"WHOA! HAGAKURE'S QUIRK HAS EVOLVED!" Present Mic screamed, genuinely surprised. "SHE'S CREATING A FORCE FIELD?! THAT'S A NEW DEVELOPMENT, LISTENERS! INCREDIBLE DEFENSE! IT'S LIKE SHE'S WRAPPING THEM IN INVISIBLE SHIELD!"
Aizawa, watching with renewed interest, allowed a small, almost imperceptible flicker of genuine surprise to cross his face. A force field? That's a significant advancement for her. Minato's training really paid off for her.
With Mina melting the attackers and Toru providing an impenetrable, invisible cover, the team advanced through the robot obstacle course with remarkable ease. They moved as a cohesive unit, a testament to their recent rigorous training. They quickly bypassed the mechanical sentinels, leaving a trail of smoking, incapacitated machines behind them.
"THEY'RE THROUGH THE ROBOT GAUNTLET!" Present Mic announced, his excitement barely contained. "NAMIKAZE'S TEAM IS STILL IN FIRST PLACE! THEY'RE ON FIRE, FOLKS!"
Just as the cheers for Minato's team reached a crescendo, a series of earth-shattering explosions echoed from the robot section. "DIE, YOU TIN CANS!" a furious, familiar voice roared, followed by a cacophony of metal tearing and more blasts.
"AND THERE'S BAKUGO KATSUKI!" Present Mic bellowed, laughing. "HE'S BLASTING HIS WAY THROUGH THE ROBOTS! CHAOTIC, BUT EFFECTIVE! HE'S RIGHT BEHIND THE LEADERS!"
Aizawa sighed. "He's making his usual entrance. Predictable, but powerful."
The final obstacle loomed: the Landmine Field. A vast, uneven terrain riddled with buried explosives, marked only by subtle shifts in the dirt or pressure plates. It was a test of careful navigation, keen observation, and unwavering nerves.
"LAST OBSTACLE, LISTENERS! THE LANDMINE FIELD!" Present Mic's voice dropped to a slightly more serious tone. "THESE ARE REAL, ACTIVATED LANDMINES! THEY'RE DESIGNED FOR KNOCKBACK AND DELAY, SO TREAD CAREFULLY!"
Aizawa chimed in. "The key here is observation and precision. Rushing will only lead to trouble."
Minato's team approached the field, their advantage clear. Minato turned to Momo. "Yaoyorozu-san, can you create anything to help us detect them?"
Momo nodded confidently. "Already on it, Namikaze-kun!" With a surge of her Quirk, her skin shimmering faintly, she quickly created a pair of sophisticated-looking X-ray glasses. The lenses glowed with a faint internal light, designed to penetrate the ground and highlight the energy signatures of the hidden explosives. She handed them to Minato.
Minato quickly donned the glasses. The world around him shifted, and beneath the seemingly innocuous dirt, a network of pulsating red and yellow lights became visible, clearly marking the exact locations of the landmines. "Alright," he said, handing the glasses back to Momo. "Yaoyorozu-san, you're our guide. Call out the safe path."
Momo put on the glasses, her brow furrowed in concentration. Her eyes scanned the ground, her voice clear and precise. "Alright, everyone! Follow my lead! to the right , slightly to the left... now, a jump over the dark patch... next left..."
Under Momo's meticulous guidance, Minato's team began to navigate the treacherous field. They moved slowly at first, then with increasing confidence as Momo's directions proved unerringly accurate. They wove through the deadly landscape, a graceful dance of calculated steps and precise movements, leaving behind a trail of undisturbed earth. The other students, lacking such specialized detection, struggled, some accidentally triggering minor explosions that sent them tumbling backward, costing them precious time.
"INCREDIBLE! YAOYOROZU IS GUIDING THEM THROUGH THE LANDMINE FIELD WITH PERFECTION!" Present Mic bellowed, amazed. "HER INTELLIGENCE AND CREATION QUIRK ARE A GAME-CHANGER IN THIS FINAL STAGE!"
Aizawa nodded, a rare, almost unnoticeable smile touching his lips. "Practical application of intelligence. That's what a hero needs."
The finish line was in sight. With a final burst of speed, Minato's team sprinted forward, crossing the line together, their uniforms dusted with a bit of dirt but their faces alight with exhilaration.
"AND THEY'VE DONE IT! MINATO NAMIKAZE'S TEAM ARE THE FIRST TO FINISH THE FIRST EVENT!" Present Mic's voice reached a fever pitch, celebrating their victory. "A DOMINANT PERFORMANCE FROM START TO FINISH! WHAT A SHOW, LISTENERS! WHAT A SHOW!"
The crowd erupted in a thunderous ovation, a mix of awe and excitement echoing throughout the stadium. The Sports Festival was off to an electrifying start, and Minato's team had already etched their mark.