[Blue Lock] Chapter 7 - Red Card (Patreon)

Chapter 7 - Red Card

"Team Z vs Team W. Kick off!"

Seeing as Team W got the ball after the coin toss, Junichi Wanima and Kai Tokita went to the centre circle, as usual.

After more than a week at Blue Lock, Wanima and Tokita have become accustomed to each other’s pace, and their 1-2 passes were more fluid and on point than before. To further prove that point, the two of them quickly rushed past Team Z's long-haired centre forward and even left the athletic orange-haired midfielder that tried to tackle them in the dust.

"I won’t let you pass!" a very tall and lanky Team Z player said as he made a seemingly impossible lunge and intercepted Wanima’s pass.

"Nice one, Gagamaru!"

"Counterattack!"

Noticing that his team's centre forward was rather deep into the opposite team’s side of the field, Gagamaru kicked a very long cross.

Two Team W defenders jumped for the ball, but it was Team Z’s forward that won the aerial battle, receiving the ball with his chest. The very moment that he landed, while the ball was still in midair, he struck it with his entire strength. Team W’s keeper seemed to be stunned, as he had not even reacted to the shot.

"Kuon!

"Oh my god, what was that shot? Their keeper couldn’t even react!"

"AWESOME!!"

While Team Z’s members were celebrating their goal, on the other side of the field, Team W’s members were arguing amongst themselves.

‘What’s with that dude? He could’ve definitely saved that one,’ Naruto thought while looking at the goalkeeper.

Kuon’s shot had not been particularly powerful or tricky. That ball had been shot on the centre, and it didn’t have that much strength behind it - not enough to leave the keeper unable to react.

Nonetheless, in the end, he shrugged his shoulders and stopped thinking about it. He had resigned himself to the idea that his team would not pass this selection.

But as Team W kicked off again and Wanima and Tokita tried their selfish tiki-taka passing again, Naruto furrowed his brows.

‘I thought they’d try to change their game after the last match.’

After scoring that brilliant goal against Team Y and seeing his teammates all piling up on him and congratulating him for the goal, Naruto thought that they would start passing the ball to him from then on. The mood between him and the rest of the team had become noticeably better than before in the dorms as well.

‘I guess I was wrong. Oh well. No matter. I’ll just do what I’ve done until now.’

At that moment, Tokita and Wanima’s one-two failed again as a plain-looking defender from Team Z stopped Wanima with a slide tackle.

"Bachira, it’s yours! Go as far as you can with it!"

"Thanks, Isagi!"

But, just as he received the ball, Naruto tackled him.

"Whoa, the scary number 9!" Bachira said, but, in spite of his words, he didn't look intimidated in the least. As Bachira feinted with his shoulder and stepped with his right foot as if he was going to run to the right, Naruto was completely fooled when Bachira actually went to the left, cutting inside.

Off balance and left behind, Bachira was rather surprised when, with a burst of tremendous speed, Naruto still caught up to him and tried to tackle him again.

As Bachira nudged the ball to the left, Naruto extended his foot to steal it, but Bachira suddenly changed its course at the last moment, nutmegging him with a masterful elastico.

‘Holy shit, this guy’s dribbling!’

Bachira’s dribbling was so good, Naruto couldn’t even get mad at how the shorter boy made a fool of him. He was just amazed. While he wasn’t a defender himself, he was still relatively good at tackling. It was the first time someone had finessed him like that.

As Bachira passed a long ball to Kuon again, Naruto couldn’t help coming to him and patting him on the shoulder.

"Dude, your dribbling is fucking amazing."

"Haha, thank you!" Bachira said, grinning happily at the praise.

But while they were talking, Kuon once again won the aerial duel against Team W’s defenders and received Bachira’s pass perfectly, scoring a rather impressive goal with the head.

"These guys are so useless…" Naruto said with a sigh. "But what’s with that Number 2 on your team? I’ve watched your previous matches; I didn’t think he was anything special."

"I don’t know, but It looks like Kuon is on fire today," Bachira said before leaving Naruto behind and running off to congratulate his teammate.

It was only 20 minutes into the first half, and the score was already 2-0 for Team Z. Although Naruto wasn’t overly concerned with the result of the match, the opponents having such a big lead didn’t sit well with him either when he hadn’t managed to do anything worth mentioning until then.

‘I’ve got to score at least one goal. I just need to get the ball.’

As Wanima and Tokita kicked off from the centre circle again, Naruto started running after them, keeping a distance of only 3 or 4 metres between him and them.

‘They’re going to lose the ball again soon.’

He didn’t know if it was because Wanima and Tokita were completely useless or because Team Z’s defence was better than he had thought, but it looked like those two couldn’t go past more than two or three players with their one-two.

And, just as he had expected, those two lost possession again, this time to Team Z’s left full-back, Raichi, who left his position for the sake of a surprise slide tackle from the side.

"Hey! VAR! Foul! That’s clearly a foul!" Wanima screamed in anger after he got swiped off his feet roughly, barrel-rolling three times on the ground before coming to a stop.

"The VAR didn’t blow the whistle, idiot," Raichi said, laughing spitefully.

But just as he swung his foot back to shoot a long ball, Naruto seemed to appear in front of him out of thin air and snatched the ball from his feet.

"Motherfucker!" Raichi screamed as he started running after him. But Naruto was too fast, he couldn’t close in the distance fast enough. In desperation, he tried grabbing him by his shirt but when Naruto increased his speed even more, Raichi ended up stumbling and fell down.

Since Raichi had left his position earlier for the sake of tackling Wanima, a hole was left in Team Z’s left flank, and Naruto sprinted straight towards the corner of the penalty box, parallel to the touchline.

"Chigiri! Don’t let him shoot!" Raichi yelled, and the pink-haired centre-back from Team Z started running towards Naruto diagonally to intercept him.

Seeing Naruto swing his right foot back as if he were about to shoot, Chigiri threw himself in front of him with a sliding tackle.

But It had been a feint. Instead of shooting, Naruto cut inside with a Ronaldo chop.

"Oh, no!" Chigiri groaned when he saw that he had been fooled.

Naruto was inside the penalty arc now, only 16 metres away from the goal. His left foot smashed the ball like a rocket. There was no suspense. Everyone on the pitch, whether it was Team Z or Team W, knew what the outcome was going to be.

But Team Z’s goalkeeper was unexpectedly able to react to that absolute piss missile and guessed the trajectory of the shot correctly as he jumped towards it. To Naruto’s brief surprise, the goalie even managed to reach the ball that he had shot towards the upper left corner with the tip of his finger.

However, the power behind the ball was too much. Although the keeper’s finger brushed the ball, it wasn’t enough to divert its trajectory. The ball smashed into the net, and the VAR’s whistle rang, signalling the change of the score.

"Aw, man, you almost had it!" Isagi tried to console the goalkeeper in encouragement.

"Sorry, his feint fooled me completely," Chigiri apologized.

"Don’t sweat it! We’re still in the lead. We have this! We can do this!" Igaguri said.

"Ugh, guys, I think I broke something."

When the goalkeeper said those words, Igaguri looked as if someone had just poured a bucket of cold water on his head.

"Are you sure it’s broken? Maybe it’s just a little banged up," Raichi asked.

"Help me take the glove out," the goalie said, and Isagi came to help him.

A pit appeared in everyone’s stomach as they saw how hard he was wincing and how his face started sweating visibly while Isagi pulled his glove out.

"Oh, shit!"

"Damn."

"Oh god."

Some of them even turned their head away. The goalkeeper’s index finger was bent backwards and it was already starting to swell. That looked like one very nasty sprain.
⁂ Half Time ⁂

‘These guys are so bad it’s hilarious. What did Ego-san see in them when he invited them to Blue Lock? Especially the defenders. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think they’re letting Team Z score on purpose.’

After the injured goalkeeper was carried off the pitch to the infirmary, Team Z was left with only 10 players on the pitch. But even with a numerical disadvantage, Team Z managed to score yet another goal, thanks to Kuon once again.

Naruto scored one more goal from a corner kick, but there was only so much he could do by himself. At this rate, his team was going to lose again.

But merely clicked his tongue and kept silent. He had long since given up trying to talk any sense into them. Taking a seat on a bench, he thought about the goals he had scored until then.

‘After exchanging 3 points for my cellphone, I had 1 left. Then I scored a goal against Team Y from the free kick and two goals against Team Z. So I have a total of 4 points now. I’d need six more if I wanted to go out and meet Saeko...but there’s just one match left, and it’s against the toughest team in our bracket…’

He let out a sigh. Even with how high his self-confidence was, he knew it was unlikely for him to score that many goals in such a short time.

‘But if these guys passed me that ball too, it wouldn’t be impossible.’

⁂ Second Half ⁂

Seeing as Team W was the first to kick off in the first half, it was now Team Z’s turn to start from the centre circle.

As Kuon got to the ball and was about to kick off, Junichi Wanima suddenly said:

"You’ve had your fun in the first half. Now it’s our turn. Let’s drop this charade."

"I guess it’s only fair I keep my end of the bargain," Kuon said with a chuckle, and, to his teammates’ shock, he passed the ball to the opposite team - to Tokita.

It wasn’t only Team Z that was stunned, Naruto himself was caught completely off guard too.

"What the hell was that Kuon?"

"Fuck is wrong with you, man, why would you pass it to them?"

But while Naruto and everyone else in Team Z were in a state of confusion, Wanima, Tokita, and Amazora took full advantage of Team Z’s flustered state. One minute later, for the first time since coming to Blue Lock, Team W scored a goal that wasn’t Naruto’s.

"What’s the meaning of this, Kuon?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Raichi screamed.

Thoroughly enjoying the chaos they had created, Wanima started purposely pouring fuel on the fire to instigate them:

"Your tactics, weapons, and weaknesses… He told us literally everything. He sneaked out during his team meeting last night to propose this plan. He betrayed you all. I don’t know, man, personally, I wouldn’t take such level of disrespect."

Wanima’s provocation didn’t miss seeing as Raichi suddenly grabbed Kuon by the neck and cocked back his fist, about to punch his head off.

"What the hell were you thinking?! You piece of shit, I’ll kill you!"

It was only the VAR’s deafening whistle that prevented Racihi from starting to beat the crap out of Kuon.
"Yellow card to Raichi Jingo. Return to your half immediately and resume the game."

"How can I?! I can’t play under these conditions!" Raichi screamed back at the VAR.

"Why would you do something like this, Kuon?!" Igaguri asked in disbelief. "What’s the point of trying to lose on purpose?! Are you stupid?"

As Raichi finally let go of him, Kuon grabbed the ball and went alone to the centre circle to kick off again. Putting the ball down, he answered Igaguri:

"You’re the dumb ones. Only you guys will be going home if we lose. I will survive here alone."

It was then that Naruto finally understood why Kuon would do something as outrageous as this.

‘So the defenders and the keeper weren't that garbage. They let Kuon score on purpose!’

Looking back at Team Z’s previous matches, Naruto knew that they had only scored three times, with every goal being scored by a different player. But now that Kuon scored 3 goals, he became the top scorer. Whether Team Z lost or won, Kuon was going to qualify for the next selection either way.

‘Worthless piece of trash!’

He felt his blood start to boil the more he thought about it.

"From here on out, we’re playing 12 against 9," Kuon said, passing the ball to Wanima again.

And with that, Wanima, Tokita, Amazora, and Kuon started passing the ball among themselves as they advanced into Team Z’s half of the field.

With Gagamaru replacing the previous goalkeeper who had sprained his finger and with Team Z having only nine players on the field, Team W and Kuon breached their defence like a hot knife through butter.

Desperate to stop their advance, Isagi had no other choice but to commit an intentional foul.

"Yellow card to Isagi Yoichi. Free kick for Team W."

"Uzumaki!"

"Oi, let Uzumaki take it!"

"Yeah, let that guy have it. His power and precision are unreal."

Although Naruto wasn’t the one who earned that free kick - Tokita was the one who had been fouled - all his teammates agreed unanimously for Naruto to take the shot. Even Junichi Wanima, Naruto’s biggest antagonist, didn’t object to it because the blonde had proved his otherworldly shooting skill in every match until then. He was like a scoring machine. The free-kick goal that he had scored against Team Y in particular had left a deep impression on everyone.

It was the first time his teammates were trying to include him in their game.

⁂

A distance of 18 metres, just outside the penalty box, halfway between the penalty arc and the left corner of the box.

‘The perfect distance.’

It was just far enough for the ball to have time to curve while also not being far enough for the goalkeeper to have time to calculate the trajectory of the shot. Considering the goalkeeper couldn’t even be considered an amateur, Naruto was 100% sure he was going to score.

Taking three steps back, his form looked as if he had kicked the ball for a pass instead of shooting. The ball curved softly above the wall of players and dipped at the very last moment, hitting the underside of the crossbar before slamming into the net.

The score was 4-3 for Team W now.

As Team Z’s players fell into despair, Team W’s players started celebrating in excitement. All of them, except for Naruto.

Objectively, he should have been happy: he had just scored a hat trick, and it looked like he could still score one or two more goals until the end of the match—after all, Team W had 3 more players than Team Z on the field.

"Ego-san, are you really okay with what’s going on right now?!"

Naruto’s sudden shout towards the large screens hanging on the walls of the indoor pitch abruptly cut off Team W’s boisterous celebrations.

"How can a player switch teams in the middle of the game and start playing against his teammates? If it was a real match, the coach would kick him off the pitch in an instant, and he’d probably get fired from the club right away! Nobody would want a backstabbing piece of shit on their team after that either!"

His shouts momentarily stopped the game. But, strangely enough, Ego didn’t give him an answer.

"Yo, man what the fuck? What does it matter to you?"

"Yeah, mate, who cares? We’re winning! It’s good for us!"

"If we beat them, we’re going to the next selection even if we lose to Team V because we have the most goals."

"All players return to your positions and start the game. This is the last warning," the VAR’s robotic voice rang.

"We came to Blue Lock to learn how to play football! What kind of football is this?!" Naruto shouted at the screen again. "Is that what you’re trying to teach here? To act like backstabbing trash? This isn’t football; it’s a circus!"

He was so incensed that he wasn’t thinking clearly anymore. In his anger, the filter on his mouth disappeared completely.

"Man, you’re so harsh on me. I’m only doing this to survive. It may be selfish and scummy, but that’s what Blue Lock is all about, isn’t it?" Kuon said with a smile as he closed the distance between himself and Naruto and tried to put a hand on his shoulder.

Had Kuon known anything about Naruto’s upbringing in the slums, trying to put his hand on his shoulder at that moment was the last thing he would have dared to do.

"Not only that you’ve sold out your teammates, but you’re even playing against them on the pitch. You’re worse than trash."

Neither Kuon nor Wanima, who was right next to them, were able to react as Naruto’s punch smashed into Kuon’s temple.

Kunigami from Team Z and Wanima and Amazora from Team W quickly jumped in to prevent Naruto from following up with more punches, but the blonde had not even attempted to continue his assault. A split second after punching Kuon, the haze of anger clouding his mind until then disappeared like a miracle.
‘Shit. What have I done?'

"Uzumaki Naruto, red card. One minute of timeout for the medical staff to remove the unconscious player from the field."

He had not meant to lose his cool like that, but seeing people betraying their friends hit too close to home. Kuon’s smug and unrepentant attitude was like pouring oil on the fire.

"Holy shit, this hoodlum."

"My god, I can’t believe it."

"This street rat, I swear to God. We had it in the bag! Why did he have to act up?"

But while his teammates were berating him and throwing insults his way, the reactions of Team Z’s members were completely different.

"He knocked him out cold! Namusan!"

"Hahaha! Serves that bitch right! Number 9, if we ever meet each other outside of Blue Lock, I’ll buy you a beer!" Raichi said, laughing gleefully. He had wanted to beat the shit out of Kuon himself too but he couldn’t afford getting a red card for it.

As he left the pitch, Naruto stopped for one moment to tell Team Z:

"I didn’t know about my team’s dealings with that scum. I was here, on the pitch, training until late last night, so I didn’t see them talking. If I had known about it, I wouldn’t have let something like this go on for as long as it did."

⁂

Ten minutes later, seated on a bench in the locker room with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands, Naruto thought:

‘I shouldn’t have punched him.’

‘Fuck me and my temper.’

‘Fuck!’

Getting a red card was the least of his concerns. That was not what he was worried about.

‘What if I get kicked out of Blue Lock because of this?’

While he was scratching his hair hard in anxiety, Ego’s face appeared on the screen installed in the locker room.

"Looking at your state, at least it seems that you understand the gravity of your actions."

His head shot up when he heard Ego’s voice coming from the screen.

"Um, I-, I don’t know what came over me."

"I don’t want to hear your excuses. That’s not why I started this conversation with you."

"I’m sorry," Naruto said nonetheless, hanging his head down.

"I will start with the good things that I have to say about you. You’re one of the most talented strikers I’ve invited to Blue Lock. Your exceptional shooting and your athleticism are formidable weapons, and you’ve learned the formula for scoring goals. You have even improved your dribbling lately, understanding the need to diversify your arsenal. But there is more to football than being a skilled player."

Unlike the time when he rebuked the Wanima twin that had been expelled during the game of tag, Ego wasn’t shouting or speaking with malice in his voice while talking to Naruto. The tone of his voice sounded more like that of a mentor, like someone who was trying to teach him an important lesson.

"Being a skilled striker is definitely important, but your Emotional Intelligence and your behaviour on the pitch are vital as well. I understand that you’re an orphan from the slums. That you’ve only had yourself to rely on until now and that you are used to a rough lifestyle. But that chapter of your life ended the moment you came to Blue Lock."

"Even if you were as skilled as Noel Noa, it would amount to nothing if you got a red card 20 minutes in. Not only that you’d be unable to play and show off your skills, but you’d also gimp your team, bringing them defeat."

"Don’t think I don’t know how you spend a dozen hours training every day either in the gym or on the pitch. I know how much work you put in. I can see how passionate you are about football. Don’t squander your talent. Don’t waste this opportunity that you were given. You have to learn to control your emotions."

"I understand."

"As punishment for your behaviour, you won’t be allowed to play in the next match. I’m letting you off for now with a light punishment, but keep my warning in mind: there won’t be a second time."

"Yes, sir," Naruto acknowledged. "I give you my word."

Although he was hesitant, now that the fear of getting expelled from Blue Lock was gone, Naruto couldn’t help asking:

"What about that betrayer from Team Z? And what’s going to happen to Team W if I’m not allowed to play? Are they going to play with only 10 players from the beginning of the match?"

"The moment Wataru Kuon regains consciousness and the medic clears him to leave the infirmary, he will be sent home. If there is one thing you were right about, it’s that this isn’t the kind of football we do here at Blue Lock. This isn’t the type of striker I’m trying to create here. My goal is to make one of you the absolute best striker in the world. The best striker in the world doesn’t need to resort to such scummy tactics and trickery."

"As for Team W, they will play their last match against Team V as a 10-man team. It’s what they deserve for going along with that plan and trying to fix the results of a match."

As their conversation came to an end and Ego’s face disappeared from the screen, Naruto let himself fall back on the bench like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Unknowingly, in his state of anxiety, he had sweated so much that his clothes became soaked. He even started shivering from feeling chilly.

A few minutes later, submerged under hot water pouring down from the shower head, Naruto stood with his eyes closed, unable to stop thinking about what he had done.

‘I can’t believe I almost ruined this opportunity.’

It was like a wake-up call for him. It made him understand that he needed to change.

‘I can’t keep on acting like this. This isn't the slums and I'm not rat anymore. I’m going to become a professional football player.’

It was not something that could be changed in a day, in a week, or even in a month. One’s habits and tendencies weren’t that easy to get rid of. However, he had all the will and interest to make it happen.

‘Unfortunately, I won’t be able to see Saeko.’

Thinking about the elegant girl with long, lustrous purple hair made him sigh. He was not looking forward to telling her why he had to sit out the next match.