[Blue Lock] Chapter 3 - Diamond (Patreon)

Chapter 3 - Diamond

The moment the football was released from the ceiling and the lowest-ranking candidate became "It", the room descended into chaos as everyone scattered in all directions to dodge his shots.

"Damn it!" Naruto cussed when one of the two twins' shots caught him.

However, he didn't panic. Instead of rushing to shoot at someone as fast as possible, he stopped the ball dead. There was still plenty of time for him to tag someone else.

'There are two things I've always been the best at.'

No matter who he had played against in high school up to this point, he had always been the best player on the pitch when it came to two things. His athleticism as well as his passing and shooting accuracy were above the rest.

Taking three steps back, a sound that was almost like a gunshot was heard when he kicked the ball.

"Argh!" a yell was heard, and the one who got hit collapsed on the floor clutching his hands to his face.

"Time out!" the fallen player cried out. "I think he broke my nose!"

"Oy, oy, is this guy for real?" a boy with slicked-back blond hair asked. He alternated between staring at the blood streaming through the collapsed boy's hands and at Naruto.

The way that Naruto stopped the ball dead and kicked it as if it were a free kick left no doubt in the others' minds that his shot just then was not a fluke.

"Now this won't do - is what my brother said," the talkative twin said. "Bro, are you you thinking of what I'm thinking?"

The quiet twin grunted in response and then the two of them started grinning like loons. To everyone's surprise, even Naruto's, the talkative twin touched the ball to become "It". He then passed it to his brother.

'What the hell are they doing?' Naruto thought confused. 'Why didn't they just let the dude whose nose I broke lose?'

Looking up at the timer on the screen, the clock showed there were only about 70 seconds left. With blood pouring out of his broken nose like a stream, the injured boy was in no condition to be an actual challenge in this game of tag anymore. If they let him be, he would just run out of time and lose.

But when quiet twin shot the ball towards him, it finally clicked for him what was going on.

"What are you targeting me for, bastards?" he yelled.

"There's no way we'd let a thug like you stay on the same team with us in Blue Lock!" the talkative twin said and let out a burst of mean laughter as he got to the ball. He kicked it as hard as he could towards Naruto once again.

'Dafuq is their problem?!' Naruto swore to himself as he had to throw himself and roll on the ground to avoid a particularly tricky shot which bounced off a wall missing him by a hair.

Alas, with two good strikers continuously shooting at him in such a confined space, it was only a matter of time before he couldn't dodge anymore.

"Fuck!"

Eventually, it happened. One of the twins' shots found its mark, and he became "It".

There were only 20 seconds left.

"Hahah! Look at this face, bro! He looks like he wants to kill us!"

The quiet twin giggled too and pointed with his finger at Naruto, clearly having a laugh at his expense.

Nevertheless, there were still 20 seconds left. The twins and the rest of the players didn't let their guards down. They were watching each of Naruto's moves intently.

"...What is he doing?" a black-haired boy asked.

Ten seconds passed, but Naruto had yet to even move from his spot let alone shoot.

"Don't tell me. Is he going to shoot at the very last second?" another asked.

"Is he really going to take such a gamble? Is he insane?"

9…

8…

7…

'I could shoot for the kid whose nose I broke and be safe,' he thought. 'But my name isn't Uzumaki Naruto if I let any douchebag walk over me.'

6…

5…

4…

He wasn't sure what exactly was their deal or why they had been targeting him, but they had fucked with the wrong dude. They were going to find out real soon.

There were only three seconds left. Three seconds and his dream to become a professional football player would be shattered forever if he did not hit someone with the ball. It was now or never!

"I thought you were planning something, but it seems—" the talkative twin began to say, but, at that very moment, Naruto swung his right leg back and then kicked the ball with the inside of his foot.

There was no power behind the kick. It wasn't even a shot, it was a pass… ...and it was completely off-target!

"—that you were just panicking. Ahaha where did you shoot that? Hahaha!"

But the talkative twin abruptly choked on his laughter when the football that had missed him by more than a meter inexplicably hit him in the back.

⁂

The trajectory of Naruto's last shot was so unexpected that Jinpachi Ego subconsciously stood up from his seat. He was an experienced man, and he had seen many things over the years but what just happened left even him surprised.

Instead of making use of the great kicking power he had showcased the first time, Uzumaki Naruto did something completely unexpected. Not only did he not kick the ball with the explosive power previously showcased, he even kicked it off target on purpose to miss the twin.

The ball hit the wall of the room close to the corner, bounced into the other wall, and from there into the unsuspecting back of Wanima Keisuke.

"Was that a fluke?"

It was the first thing that came to Ego's mind. However, looking back on the blond's behaviour, he couldn't dismiss that incredible feat as a mere coincidence.

"No. He was too composed the entire time. He even waited until the last three seconds to finally make the shot. But that accuracy... how did he even calculate the angles for the ball to bounce into two walls before hitting that twin's back?"

"The guts to get back at those who targeted him instead of going for the easy prey! The skill and accuracy to pull off such a stunt! The self-confidence it took for him to wait until the very last moment to shoot so they would have no time to strike back regardless of the huge risk of him losing his chance at a football career forever!"

Involuntarily, Ego found himself grinning. It was a grin so wide that it stretched his mouth from one ear to another. Most people would call such an act reckless or crazy. Taking such a gamble was insane, but that was exactly the kind of striker he was hoping to create in Blue Lock!

Uzumaki Naruto.

Ego etched that name in his mind. He had just found a precious diamond.

⁂

"Congratulations! You have passed the admission exam for the Blue Lock dorm. There are eleven of you in this room. You eleven will be living together. Working together at times, betraying each other at times. Rivals who wreck each other's dreams. Blue Lock, Team W."

As Ego's voice died down, the twin that had been completely quiet up until then got into Naruto's personal space and started yelling.

"You ruined my brother's dreams, bastard! I'll never forgive you for it! As long as I'm-"

"Aren't you the ones who picked a fight with me first? Fuck are you getting all angry about it, scum?" Naruto said and pushed him away aggressively.

The shove was so powerful that the twin fell heavily on his back with a thud.

"I suggest the two of you to cut it out at this very moment unless you want to be kicked out of Blue Lock as well!" Ego's voice rang out just as Naruto was about to pounce on the Wanima twin and kick his teeth in.

"Wanima Junichi. Your brother was disqualified after he lost fair and square. Those who lost this game of tag don't belong in Blue Lock. They have no talent as a striker. I have already explained that when your brother kicked up a fuss."

"That's a load of bullshit! If my brother has no talent, then all these useless extras here-" the previously quiet twin began to scream.

Having already explained only a minute ago why the game of tag was so important and why it had been used as a selection method, Ego did not feel the need to repeat himself once more. Therefore, he gave the other twin an ultimatum:

"Your brother got cocky and let his guard down. He lost. That is the irrefutable truth. If you cannot accept that, look there: the door is wide-open for you too. You can leave at any moment, nobody is holding you here by force."

A silence so deep that one could hear a pin drop was instilled in the room.

This time addressing all 11 players, not just the Wanima twin, Ego said:

"All of you would do well to remember this: Blue Lock is not a prison, it's an opportunity. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

⁂

"This has to be heaven," Naruto said as he gorged himself on what had to be the best food he had eaten in years.

On the table in front of him, steam was coming out of a golden-coloured portion of tonkatsu (Japanese chicken schnitzel). Aside from that, there was also a plate with tonkatsu sauce and another one with cabbage salad. Furthermore, he had even gotten a can of cola.

He had never said a more heartfelt 'itadakimasu' before a meal in his entire life.

Three days had already passed since he arrived at Blue Lock. Due to his performance in the fitness training, Naruto's ranking had been reevaluated.

Whether it was endurance training, muscle training, sprinting, or jumping, it became clear from the first day that he was head and shoulders above the rest of his teammates.

Truth be told, they were put through the wringer every day. It would not be an exaggeration to call it Spartan training. Many of his roommates were so exhausted after every training session that all they could do was collapse half-dead on their futons. Some of them did go on the pitch to train their ball skills sometimes too, but they usually preferred to sleep.

As for Naruto, he was having the best time of his life. He couldn't remember any period in his life where he had been fed that well. Furthermore, he wasn't looking at their daily training sessions as a chore or a drag. He embraced them.

Not only was he giving his absolute best during those two hours of daily physical training,  he was also spending the rest of the day on the pitch practicing his shooting and passing. The incredible feat of accuracy he had displayed during the entrance test had not come out of thin air. It was the result of hundreds upon hundreds of hours of hard work.

Twenty minutes after finishing his meal, Naruto went back on the pitch.

'I can't slack off. I have to make the most of this opportunity.'

He wasn't proud of having a better ranking than the rest of his teammates.

'No, this is actually bad.'

After receiving the results of his fitness training, his ranking increased from 257 to 225.

'Considering that 25 players were eliminated after the game of tag, my actual ranking didn't increase all that much. I'm still in one of the worst brackets out of all the players in Blue Lock.'

He was worried not only about his apparent lack of significant progress in the rankings but also about the upcoming matches.

'This team doesn't look promising. I'm the highest-ranked among them, but even I'm only ranked 225. What chance do we stand against those teams with players that are ranked in the top 100 or top 50?'

In spite of his ranking, he was confident that he would pull his weight during the match. However, football is a game that is played with a team in the end. One person could not win the match all by himself.

Even as he was thinking about those things, he was not idle. Ball after ball were kicked towards the goal from all sorts of distances and positions relentlessly. Every single one of his shots was strong and accurate. His right foot was like a cannon.

'Even so, I will give my best. I'll leave everything on the pitch.'

He wasn't like the rest who had a 'Plan B' in case their football careers didn't work out in the end. He didn't have an alternative. He didn't have parents or relatives to support him in his endeavours. Football was all he had and Blue Lock was his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For him, it was a do-or-die kind of scenario.

⁂

"The first selection will involve the 55 of you in Building 5. Five teams of 11 players - only the top two teams will progress to the next stage. The rest will leave Blue Lock. And those who are kicked out will forever be ineligible for the national team."

Naruto became tense. While he didn't really care about playing for the national team in particular, being kicked out of Blue Lock meant that his professional football career would be pretty much over before it even really started.

"However, the top scorers from the three losing teams will still advance to the next selection."

When he heard Ego say that, Naruto's clenched his hands. It took all his self-control not to let out a whooping cry of excitement and pump his fist in the air.

'Winning all matches is realistically almost impossible with these guys but becoming the top scorer is possible.'

A fire was lit in his eyes. For the first time, he was not going to be dragged down by having useless teammates. For the first time since he started playing football, he would be judged based on his individual skills and performance alone instead of being dumped in the same pot as the rest of the losers on his team.

'Blue lock truly is the best!'

He was burning with anticipation to show off his skills during the match.

"If more than one player has the most goals in a team, we'll go by fair play points, and the player with the least penalty points will progress." Ego said. "Your own goals or the team's victory? The fate of a striker is put to the test in this first selection. This is a battle about creating soccer from zero. Your match starts in two hours: Team W versus Team X."

⁂

"What formation do you guys suggest?" Yusei Amazora, a tall boy with spiky black hair, asked everyone while they were in the locker room.

"Before choosing a formation, we have to settle our positions. We are all strikers here. Who is going to defend? Who is going to play as a midfielder? Who is going to be the goalkeeper?" someone asked.

That question plunged the whole room into chaos. Nobody wanted to be a defender, to say nothing about being a goalkeeper.

"How about we settle it with rock-paper-scissors?" someone suggested.

"...That's not a bad idea."

"Sounds fair to me."

"Yeah, let's do it that way."

However, as they split into three smaller groups to play the game of rock-paper-scissors, they realised that the blond-haired boy with strange markings on his face was not budging from his spot.

"Oy. Come here. We have to decide on our positions."

"You've got to be joking," Naruto said, leaning against a locker with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "You can play your stupid games all you want. I'm going to be the forward. As simple as that."

"Huh? No, the fuck you won't!" Wanima screamed, and several others also started shouting at him, showing their support.

"Yeah, you think you're special or what?"

"Damn thug, you're not on the streets anymore! If you got into Blue Lock, now you have to follow the rules!" another one shouted.

"Rules? What rules? Did Ego say anything about how we're going to select our positions?" the blond said impassively.

That made all of them pause.

"If Ego said anything, it would be another story. I would comply because our careers are in his hands. But your made-up rules, you can take them and shove them deep up your ass. I don't give a damn. What are you going to do about it?" Naruto said and stepped into the middle of the locker room.

"If you have a problem with it, come at me. I'll take you losers all at once."

The rest of the team were all glaring daggers at him and gnashing their teeth. Japanese society ingrained into everyone from a frail age the idea of needing to adhere to rules, to be organised, and to conform to what everyone does.

Naruto had no such values. He was an orphan and a street rat. Society did nothing for him. In spite of being a minor, he had had to work hard to put food on his table as well as pay his rent and bills. Everything he was today was only due to his hard work.

If anything, society doomed those like him. Casual and veiled discrimination for being a mixed race child occurred every week. The cops never missed a chance to harass him because of his delinquent-like appearance, mostly attributed to the strange birthmarks marring his face as Japan frowned upon tattoos. With all these factors influencing him while growing up, it was in his nature to be rebellious and self-centred.

On top of it all-

'Only a dumbass would play the good guy and help a shitty team like this.'

In his mind, Team W was doomed to fail. Since Ego left a way for someone to progress to the next stage by themselves, whether Team W won or lost, Naruto didn't care. It was irrelevant to his goal.

'I have to become the top scorer. Nothing else matters.'

Despite his provocative words and how angry the rest were at him, nobody dared step forward to give him a piece of their mind. They had all taken note of his beastly athleticism in the gym and on the training ground over the past few days. His rugged appearance and thug-like aggressive attitude only served to intimidate them even more. He was like a wolf among sheep. Nobody said a peep.

After a few seconds passed without anyone saying anything, Naruto snorted at them in ridicule and said:

"That's what I thought. Losers."

That provocation was biting enough that even herbivores like them couldn't just sit and say nothing in return.

"Just you wait!" Wanima exploded in indignation. "You won't get even one pass from me, you hear? No, you won’t get any passes from anyone! Let's see how you're going to play the game all by yourself!"

"Suit yourself. Hell if I care." Naruto said with a shrug and crossed his arms at his chest again. He leaned back against the locker room and proceeded to ignore them all for the rest of the duration until the start of the match.

'I ain't here to make friends, and these guys are going to be kicked out in a few days anyway. I didn't come to Blue Lock to play nice. This is my only chance to change my life.'