Chapter 46: "Mics, Morals, and Martial Arts Mayhem"
In which Naruto throws philosophical punches, Ryuto gets dramatic, and no one brings snacks to the throwdown.
Naruto stood still, arms crossed, his expression flat as Ryuto—Odin, self-declared tyrant of teen angst—delivered his dramatic monologue like he was auditioning for a villain role in a Broadway play.
"I have checked your background, Naruto," Ryuto sneered, brushing back a lock of his overly dramatic bangs. "Issei Hyoudou—you should have been a normal person. You had everything. A family, a home, a future. But now, you've turned into this… this warrior, this anomaly. You became this strong in a month. A genius who wasted his life is all you are."
Naruto blinked slowly, unimpressed. "Thanks for the exposition dump. Want me to cue the sad violin music too?"
Ryuto ignored him. "I really hate people like you. People who have it all but let it go to waste. You must be thinking—even if you lose now, you'll beat me later. It's written all over your face."
"Actually," Naruto replied, "I was thinking about dumplings. But thanks for the psychoanalysis, Doctor Freud-to."
Odin's face twitched, clearly not used to being mocked mid-villain rant.
"You look down on me too much, Naruto," Ryuto growled. "You know nothing about me. But I know all about you."
Naruto's eyes narrowed now, his joking tone softening into something sharper.
"So what?" he said. "It's my life. It's their life," he added, motioning toward Kenichi, Kisara, Loki, and the others standing behind him. "You're trying to dictate how they should live. That's not strength, Odin. That's control. And control without care? That's just being a tyrant with a pretty speech."
"You speak of choice," Odin said coldly, "but Kenichi made a promise. He abandoned it. He betrayed it."
"He was six," Naruto shot back. "I'm pretty sure when I was six, I promised to marry ramen. Life changes, people change. The real strength is accepting that and moving forward."
Ryuto scoffed, but Naruto stepped forward now, his voice rising with a rare kind of intensity.
"Look, I didn't intervene earlier because I wanted Kenichi to make his own choice. But you? You're not here for justice. You're here for revenge. If Yami is such a big threat, there are plenty of people fighting them—masters, agencies, warriors."
Naruto's hand tightened around the handle of his reinforced baton. "You're not doing this to protect the world. You're doing this because you want to be the king of it. You want to own the fight. You don't want to stop evil—you want to replace it with your own brand of 'righteous tyranny.'"
"No," Naruto said. "I think this is about your pride. You want to be the hero, the leader, the one in charge—because deep down, you think you're the only one who can be. And maybe you've convinced yourself it's about justice. About Yami. But you're going solo against a world-level threat and calling it a noble crusade?"
Naruto shook his head. "That's not justice. That's obsession."
There was a pause.
"You want to know what I really think?" Naruto added. "You want control. And you think beating us proves you're better than the world that left you behind. But this?" He gestured around them. "This isn't strength. It's desperation."
Ryuto stared at him, eyes now unreadable. And for a brief second, Naruto thought maybe he'd reached him.
Then Odin's smile returned.
"I'm going to enjoy breaking you."
Naruto grinned.
"Cool. But just so you know…" He pulled his baton from the holster, soul power slowly flooding through his arms.
"...I heal faster than your ego."
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The air snapped with tension like the opening bell of a championship fight. The Akatsuki crew and Ragnorak members circled the makeshift arena outside the warehouse like wolves around a bonfire. And in the center—Naruto and Odin.
No magic. No ki. Just fists, muscle memory, and a whole lot of unresolved teenage trauma.
Odin shrugged off his white suit jacket like he was shedding royalty. His eyes sparkled with smugness as he cracked his knuckles, each pop sounding like a countdown to disaster.
"I hope you're not planning to stall until your 'real power' kicks in," he said, his tone casual in the most condescending way possible. "Because I'm not giving you five minutes. You'll be out in five seconds."
Naruto twirled his baton once before pointing it at Odin. "You talk like a guy who reads his own Wikipedia page out loud."
Odin smirked. "You've had two days under proper masters. Two. Days. I've trained for years under someone the world considers a demon. You think you can catch up to that with shadow clones and pep talks?"
"No," Naruto replied with a shrug. "But I've been punching monsters since I was twelve, so I think I'll manage."
They clashed in a flash.
Odin came in fast, a blur of calculated martial strikes—taekwondo kicks with whip-like precision, tight boxing jabs, and sudden judo feints meant to throw balance off. Naruto barely dodged the first round, using his baton defensively, turning sideways and letting the strikes glance off the reinforced shaft. But Odin was relentless, pushing forward like a machine programmed to win.
"You're slow," Odin sneered, spinning into a high kick that Naruto barely ducked under. "This is what happens when you rely on brute force and vibes instead of real training."
Naruto grunted, sliding back a step as he blocked a low kick with his shin. "Dude, you're acting like you're Sensei of the Year. But all I see is a guy trying really hard to impress his ex-friend."
That one hit home harder than the baton.
Odin's face twisted slightly—just for a second—and then he went even faster. His fists lashed out like bullets, targeting pressure points, joints, anything that could cripple.
Naruto grinned through the pressure, his baton spinning into a reverse grip as he moved like water. Not as fast, not as clean, but unpredictable. Messy in the way only someone who learned in the middle of chaos could be.
"You're right, you know," Naruto said, breathing heavily between dodges. "I didn't get fancy dojo training. I didn't grow up with a master. I grew up surviving. Eating ramen and outrunning assassins."
He jabbed forward, cracking the baton against Odin's forearm, forcing the older teen to recoil slightly.
"I don't fight pretty, but I fight real."
"You call this fighting real?" Odin spat, slamming a roundhouse into Naruto's ribs and following it with a palm strike to the sternum that sent him stumbling. "You're nothing but luck and recycled techniques. And this little gang of yours? A joke."
Naruto stood up, wincing, still smiling. "Weird. For someone so superior, you seem real desperate to convince me you're better."
Odin lunged again.
This time Naruto didn't block. He twisted and took the hit across the shoulder, absorbing the force, spinning with it, and slamming the baton into Odin's ribs. Odin grunted, but retaliated immediately, sweeping Naruto's legs and pinning him to the ground with a knee to the chest.
Their eyes locked.
"You're persistent," Odin admitted. "I'll give you that. But persistence without power is just... sad."
Naruto coughed, blood at the edge of his lip.
"Cool," he rasped. "But power without heart? That's just a fancy way to lose your soul."
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Boom.
That was the sound the earth made when Naruto's spirit energy exploded outward in a shimmering golden-red shockwave. Dust blasted from the ground in every direction, clothes fluttered, and Odin actually jumped back a step—less out of fear, more out of surprise. His coat tails flapped like dramatic flags as his shoes cracked the pavement when he landed.
"Spirit energy, huh?" Odin scoffed, brushing imaginary dust off his shoulder. "You gonna read my fortune next, Issei the Fortune Teller?"
"Tempting," Naruto muttered, taking a breath as the energy danced over his arms like heat lightning. "Yours says 'painfully punched in the pride.'"
Odin's aura lit up now, his Ki roaring to life in a blinding golden-blue shimmer that hummed with violence. The ground actually trembled. It felt like someone had lit the air on fire and taught it judo.
He sneered. "Idiot. You're using spiritual energy to fight in close combat? Are you that desperate to cosplay a mage? News flash: spirit energy is for ranged spells, not fistfights."
Naruto cracked his knuckles. "I don't cosplay, I commit."
Then—click.
Red metal clamped onto his arm, and with a mechanical roar, the Boosted Gear formed across Naruto's left arm. A sleek crimson gauntlet glowed with a green gem in the center that pulsed like a heartbeat.
「Boost!」
The gauntlet shouted.
Ddraig's voice echoed through his mind.
"Three minutes to half your power—just keep that idiot busy."
Naruto nodded. He could feel it, even now—the tiny increases every ten seconds. Like a beat…
「Boost!」
Every pump of that gem was a countdown to power.
And he'd need it. Because Odin?
Odin moved like a thunderclap.
He was on Naruto in a second, launching a punch so fast it broke the sound barrier. Naruto blocked, only to be sent skidding back thirty feet, leaving a trench in the gravel like a meteor strike. He winced. That punch could've folded a truck.
"I can destroy a skyscraper," Odin said, flexing his knuckles. "You? You're still in tutorial mode."
Naruto didn't answer. He spun, launched a barrage of kunai and shuriken—blades whirling through the air. Odin caught three. With his fingers.
But that was just misdirection. The smoke bombs went off next—poof! Black clouds filled the field, thick and choking.
"Classic," Odin's voice rang through the smoke. "Trying ninja tricks in a real fight—"
「Boost!」
Naruto shot through the smoke like a missile, baton first, slamming it into Odin's ribs with a solid CRACK. The ground cratered beneath Odin's feet.
Odin staggered.
Just for a second.
"That's one," Naruto whispered.
"You cheeky—" Odin didn't finish. He retaliated with a spinning heel kick that Naruto ducked under barely, only for the air pressure alone to crack a wall behind him. Naruto countered with a slide and launched another smoke bomb up at Odin's face, forcing a blind moment.
The next ten seconds passed in a blur of fists, kicks, and explosions. Each clash sent shockwaves through the air, windows shattering around the abandoned warehouse, metal beams groaning.
「Boost!」
Naruto ducked a karate chop, tackled Odin into a wall, and managed to slam a rasengan-sized palm strike into his stomach. It hurt—Odin coughed and flew back, flipping in midair and landing on his feet, boots grinding into the concrete.
"You're closing the gap…" he muttered. "So that's your game. You want to buy time until you're strong enough to actually win."
Naruto grinned, blood running from his lip.
"Wow. For a guy obsessed with control, you're pretty good at figuring out other people's strategies. Too bad it won't save you."
Odin's eyes narrowed.
"Then I'll just finish you before you can boost again."
He disappeared in a boom of sound.