[Blue Lock] Chapter 15 - Unfulfilled

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But just because they're confident you don't stand a chance, that doesn't mean they'll go easy on you. They're going all out for the win. They've added one more player to their team, Itoshi Sae. However, I can say with certainty that right now, you're good enough to overthrow Japanese football."

Ego's words set the 35 players' egos on fire. Their eyes were burning with fighting spirit.

"Now, it's time for you to put it all on the line. You have discovered your egos, mastered your weapons, developed chemical reactions, and also seen the level of the world's top players firsthand. Bagging a spot on Japan's U-20 team is no longer a dream. It is a reality that you can reach out for and grab with your own two hands."

⁂

"Hey, hold up a second," a blond boy with a mean look on his face interrupted Ego. "I get that this is our chance and all, but how are we going to make up a team? We're all forwards!"

"It will be a repeat of the first selection," Kunigami answered instead. "Some of us will probably be forced to play in the rest of the positions."

"Precisely," said Ego. "We have no choice but to play a makeshift team of forwards."

"How could we possibly win like this? We'll be up against real, professional defenders!" said Tokimitsu.

As a football nerd, he knew all the U-20 Japan team members by name and even what they were good at.

“Japan’s team’s captain, Oliver Aiku, is so good that he even got offers from Serie A teams despite the fact that he’s not even 20!”

Tokimitsu was not the only one who shared that opinion. Many others started murmuring. It was unthinkable to pit 11 strikers against a professional team as good as Japan. While the Japanese team did lack formidable strikers, its defenders and midfielders were formidable.

“Shut your pieholes!” 

A silence that one could hear a pin drop was instilled at Ego’s shout. Now that the order was restored, he continued:

“I will call out the six names who will make up the core of the team. They are Blue Lock’s current top six, based on a comprehensive evaluation.”

“First, Itoshi Rin.”

Most players were not surprised to hear that name. Those who had played with or against him could vouch for his skills. 

“Next, Number 2: Shidou Ryusei.”

“Number 3: Isagi Yoichi.”

The boy in question froze. 

“Huh?” he said, looking just as shocked as his teammates. 

Nishioka, Bachira, Nagi, and even Isagi himself were startled to hear Ego calling out Isagi’s name before Naruto. 

After all, the blond had actually been the No. 1 ranked player at Blue Lock according to the previous evaluation, and, aside from positioning and vision, he surpassed Isagi in almost every other metric, be it dribbling, shooting, endurance, speed, ball control, or physicality. 

Irrespective of their thoughts, Ego continued calling the rest of the names.

“Number 4: Nishioka Hajime.”

Naruto’s teammates’ surprise only continued to grow, and Naruto himself began to frown. 

As the short, brown-haired boy stepped forth, quite a few seemed to recognise him, even those who had not played against him during the previous selections. Nishioka had made a name for himself even before coming to Blue Lock; he was known as the “Messi of Aomori”.

“Number 5: Karasu Tabito.”

“Last, Number 6: Nagi Seishiro.”

At that moment, two hands shot up in the air. One was Naruto, while the other was a tall teenager with round glasses and stylish brown hair. 

“What is it, Yukimiya?” Ego said, choosing to answer his question first over Naruto’s. 

“How were the rankings chosen?” Yukimiya asked. “What metrics were used? What makes the top 6 better than I am?”

Yukimiya Kenyu was known in the bracket he played as being unstoppable in 1 on 1 encounters. Not only was his dribbling ability amazing, but his speed and acceleration were off the charts as well. 

“That’s simple,” Ego replied. “Out of the 35 of you, the only ones who managed to score against the World Five were Itoshi Rin, Shidou Ryusei, and Isagi Yoichi. As for the rest-”

“Then what about me? How am I below any of these guys? I scored against World Five too!” Naruto cut in, unable to keep silent after hearing those words. 

He would understand it if Ego considered Itoshi Rin to be superior. Even though Naruto believed himself to be better, he could accept if Ego put Rin above him because that guy was extremely well-rounded and technical.

He did not know anything about Shidou, so he could not judge his skills, but he did know Isagi and Nagi. He couldn’t see how the two of them got ranked above him, especially Nagi, who had not scored any goals against the World Five. 

Quite a few started muttering quietly at that development.

Ego pushed his glasses up his nose with his index finger before replying:

“I said that 35 out of 300 qualified. You may have not noticed, but there are 36 of you currently in the room. . . You are the 36th player, the one not included in the 35. I’m afraid that you are out of Blue Lock, Uzumaki Naruto.”

“W-What?!”

He was stunned in disbelief.

‘I’m out of Blue Lock?!’

‘Why?’

‘Why am I being kicked out?’

A torrent of questions flooded his mind as he stared dumbly at the large screen hanging off the wall. 

‘Where did this come from?’

‘What happened? I didn’t do anything to mess up.’

As far as he could tell, he had behaved exemplary. Furthermore, only a few days ago, right after the match against World Five, Ego had come to check up on him personally and offered him some words of advice. 

What could have changed in such a short time? How could he have upset Ego when he had done nothing but rest and recuperate after his clash with Dada Silva?

‘Don’t tell me. . . could it be because of Jiraiya?’

He had tried his utmost to forget about his scum of a godfather who had driven his father to an early death, but, unable to come up with an explanation for Ego’s sudden shift in attitude, that was the only realistic explanation in his mind.

‘Did that piece of trash finally get himself arrested?’

‘Is Ego just trying to cut me off like a lizard’s tail so that Blue Lock doesn’t get associated with someone whose relatives are in jail?’

Several years ago, Naruto’s father and Jiraiya made some plans to open a business, and Minato took a big loan from the bank in his name. They had been planning on starting a car rental company. They had a common account for the company, and they both had access to it. However, Jiraiya transferred all the money into his personal account and then vanished. (1)

Left with a huge debt and having to provide for his son as a single father, Minato started working 2 jobs at the same time. However, eventually, he could not keep up with the monthly payments, and the bank took their house. Moreover, not long after that, overworking proved to be the end of him. He died of cardiac arrest at his job. As for Jiraiya, he never returned to Japan again after that day, at least not to Naruto’s knowledge. He was a wanted man, and the police discovered that it was not the first time he had conned someone. He was the main suspect in a couple of other incidents of fraud too.

Naruto was broken off from his thoughts when Ego spoke to him again. 

“You did nothing wrong,” he said to alleviate his worries. “I will talk to you in private after I’m done explaining the format of the tryouts for everyone else. Have a bit of patience until then.”

After that, Ego split the Top 6 players into three teams and explained to everyone how the starting 11 squad was going to be chosen for the match against the U-20 Japan team. 

“Now here’s a message for the remaining 29. The key to acing the tryouts is assertion and coexistence. [...] For you, the Top 6 aren’t friends to play alongside [...]”

But Ego’s words entered through one of Naruto’s ears and came out the other. 

All he could think of was that his career at Blue Lock was over. All of his hopes and dreams that he would change his miserable life crashed down, out of nowhere. 

His hearing was muffled, and his breathing was laborious. He could not focus. He was on the verge of hyperventilating.

Once Ego’s explanation was over and the rest of the players started heading back to their dorms, an automatic door was opened to the side, and Ego called out to him. 

“Uzumaki. Go through that door and come see me. We will talk in person.”

⁂

Coming out of Ego’s monitoring room, Naruto stopped for a while and leaned against the wall in the corridor, unable to walk for a few seconds. The adrenaline dump left him dizzy; he felt like throwing up. His clothes were soaked with sweat as though he had run for a full, 90-minute-long match. Even as he regained his bearings somewhat and started walking back towards his dorm, he was still out of it. 

The moment he entered his dorm, his teammates bombarded him with questions. 

“Oy, Naruto! What happened?!”

“Were you really kicked out of Blue Lock??”

“What did Ego say?”

Naruto smiled weakly. “Sorry, guys, I can’t talk about it. . .”

“Are you really out of Blue Lock?” Bachira asked. 

“That seems to be the case,” he replied as he began stuffing his clothes and other things in a duffle bag with the Blue Lock emblem on it.

He didn’t have many belongings—not that he needed an extensive wardrobe when he was at Blue Lock. He only ever wore the kits provided by the facility while he was there.

“At least give us a hint, man. Are you in trouble?” asked Nishioka in worry. 

He and Naruto had not been in the same team for a long time, but the short boy had gotten along with him really well. 

“No, not really. Sorry, Ego-san told me not to talk about it. . .”

Finished packing his stuff, Naruto grabbed his duffle bag and put on his coat and a beanie; it was a cold day in January. 

“Wait, dude, don’t leave just like that,” said Nishioka. “Let’s exchange contacts before you go.”

He brought his phone from the nightstand and came to Naruto. 

“I don’t know what’s going on but. . . don’t be too depressed, Naruto,” said Nishioka, trying to console him. “Let’s keep in touch. Even if your time at Blue Lock is over, that doesn’t mean your career as a football player is over too.”

“He’s right. You just won’t be able to play for the national team, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play for other clubs.” Isagi and Bachira also expressed their agreement. 

As Naruto exchanged contacts with them, Nishioka added:

“Personally, I already got an offer to join Urawa Reds even before coming to Blue Lock. I can’t guarantee anything, but I will definitely put a word in for you at whichever team I may end up joining.”

The blond was at a loss for words. 

“Man, I don’t know what to say.”

“I haven’t done anything, so don’t thank me just yet,” Nishioka said, chuckling. “I just think it would be a crime for someone as good as you to not become a football player.”

“It’s out of the window for now, but who knows, maybe Ego will change his mind in the future. Japan’s National Team could definitely use a musclehead like you,” Nagi also said without looking up from his phone, making the rest burst into laughter. 

Naruto ran a hand through his hair. He had not expected this reaction from them. After all, he had not had any friends ever since his father died. His mixed heritage, bad reputation as a thug, belligerent attitude, and the fact that he was an orphan had all but guaranteed that most of his classmates in high school did not want to be anywhere near him. 

At that moment, he remembered the words that Ego told him after his altercation with Kuon during the first selection:

"Being a skilled striker is definitely important, but your Emotional Intelligence and your behaviour on the pitch are vital as well."

He had listened to his advice and tried to be friendlier and get closer to his teammates after the second selection. 

‘And it paid out. . . Ego-san was right.’

Saying his goodbyes, he grabbed his duffle bag and left. A taxi was waiting for him outside of Blue Lock, courtesy of Ego. 

⁂

Naruto was almost nostalgic as he stepped through the door of his dingy little apartment. Having lived at Blue Lock for the past few months and having gotten used to its luxurious facilities, coming back home felt like returning to a third-world country. 

A narrow bed and a tiny shower stall were crammed together, while the toilet and sink were positioned at the other end. With a width of 2 meters and a length of 4 meters, the room felt more like a prison cell than a free person’s living space. Nevertheless, the apartment was spotless.

Not only had Saeko’s father paid the rent for this place the entire time Naruto was at Blue Lock, but he had even arranged for someone to clean it regularly. 

‘I really owe Mr. Busujima so much.’

He brushed the snow off his clothes, but he didn’t take off his coat. It was cold inside. He took out his smartphone and opened the social media app, going to Saeko’s profile. He smiled when he saw the “in a relationship” status and her profile picture: it was a photo they took right after the snow fight during their first date. Their clothes and hair were matted with snow, and their faces were red from laughter and from the cold, but they could not look any happier than they were at that moment if they tried. 

Not even 30 seconds after he came online, a private message popped up. 

Saeko: Heyyy! How come you’re online?

Naruto: You should know why lol.

Saeko: I don’t? Did something happen?

His fingers paused, not expecting that answer. 

Naruto: Did your father not tell you?

Saeko: I don’t think so. We did talk about Blue Lock recently, but he didn’t tell me anything special about you.

Naruto: …

Naruto: I’m not at Blue Lock anymore. Your father did something for me that I never expected. 

Saeko: ????

Right after getting that question mark message, he received Saeko’s call. 

“What happened, Naruto? What did my father do?!” She asked in a panicky voice.

Realising that she had misunderstood him, he quickly explained:

“Nothing bad, don’t worry! It’s just kinda crazy. He actually got me into the U20 Japan team.”

A loud sigh of relief came from Saeko. 

“Thank God! You gave me quite the scare just now.”

“Sorry, I could have worded it out differently. But I’ve got to say, I knew your father was a big deal, but I never imagined he’d actually have that kind of influence.” 

“You seem... subdued,” Saeko remarked, her womanly intuition picking up that something was not quite right from the sound of his voice.

“Ah, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I just. . . I don’t know how to put it into words.”

He made a pause to mull over his answer.

“I worked so hard over these past few months at Blue Lock. I was desperate and I had been dreaming of becoming a professional football player for years. . . But now it feels like all that effort was kind of pointless. One word from your father amounted to more than anything I ever did.”

“That’s not really the case. If not for your efforts, you wouldn’t have gotten in the position where my father could recommend you to the national team. I told you that Father and I talked about Blue Lock recently, right? That's because he was watching footage of your games at Blue Lock.”

“He did?! How did he even get his hands on that?”

“From what he told me, the Football Union requested footage from Blue Lock to make promotional videos for the upcoming game. They’re going all out now that Sae Itoshi is going to participate. They would sell a lot more tickets and merchandise if Sae Itoshi and Japan U-20 were to beat a formidable opponent instead of some nameless high schoolers.”

“As you can probably tell by now, Father is very close to the higher-ups at Japan Football Union. Which brings me to the point I wanted to make: he would have never vouched for you to join the U20 national team if he had thought you were not good enough because if you were to perform poorly, it would reflect badly on him too. Father values his pride a lot.”

⁂

Their phone call came to an end much sooner than either would have liked, but it couldn’t be helped. Saeko had an appointment with her modelling agency. 

‘They’re really living in a different world,’ Naruto said to himself when he thought of how Saeko’s father used his connections to get him into the U20 national team.

‘Come to think of it, he even managed to get inside Blue Lock and visit me together with Saeko. . . ‘

In retrospect, it did not seem as wild for Mr. Busujima to have that sort of pull. 

His mind involuntarily went to the cutting words that Saeko’s former butler told him.

"You don't belong with her, boy. You're nothing but a mongrel. You have nothing, not even parents. You are a nobody. You should know your place."

But he shook his head to banish those thoughts and got up from the bed. He grabbed his patchy school bag and spent a few minutes searching for some documents. Once he made sure he had everything he needed, he locked the door and left. 

He had had an easy time travelling from Blue Lock to Tokyo, right in front of his apartment, thanks to the taxi that Ego had paid for him. But Naruto had no money of his own; not enough to splurge on a taxi. Therefore, he started walking on foot towards his new destination.

Half an hour later, he arrived in front of his high school. Having spent the past few months at Blue Lock, the place seemed almost foreign to him. 

He did not linger at the gate. Although he was not wearing his uniform, nobody stopped him from entering. Quite a few students sneakily threw glances at him as he walked towards the faculty room, but he ignored them. He wasn’t going to see any of them after today. 

The version of himself from before going to Blue Lock would have just barged inside without a care, but the current him was more mindful of his manners than before. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer before opening it.

“Uzumaki-san?” his homeroom teacher, a rather tall and thin middle-aged man with round glasses and a receding hairline, said in recognition when he saw him. 

“Hello, professor.”

“What brings you here? Were you not supposed to be at that soccer organisation, Blue- something? Or did you get in trouble and they kicked you out?”

Naruto just barely suppressed a sneer at his demeaning words. 

“Everything is fine at Blue Lock,” he said dismissively. He did not return to have an argument with his homeroom teacher. “I’m here to drop out of school.”

Quite a few professors turned their heads, watching the ongoing scene with interest when they heard his words. 

The homeroom teacher pushed his glasses up his nose, asking in a serious voice.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. There’s no point in me coming back.”

“But what about your late father’s wish? Didn’t he wish for you to finish high school?” asked the professor. 

He was not wrong. The main reason why Naruto had kept attending high school after his father’s death despite the fact that he also had to work a part-time job in order to support himself financially was that Minato had wished for Naruto to have some education. 

That said, high school was not part of the compulsory education in Japan.

“It’s not as if I’m going to pass any exams by coming back now, after how much time I spent away from school, at Blue Lock,” said Naruto. “Besides, now that I’m about to become a professional football player, what use—”

“Bah!” a man exclaimed loudly in disdain. 

Turning towards the sound, Naruto noticed it was none other than the school's football team's coach.

“You? A professional football player? You think you made it? Hahaha!”

Naruto had never seen eye to eye with the PE professor, all the more so after their last football match when he had threatened to track him down after school and rough him up just to convince him not to substitute him. 

Some of his colleagues discreetly tried to stop him from escalating the situation, but the PE teacher seemed to be in the mood to argue.

“If I made it or not, why does it matter to you? Look, I didn’t come here for a fight,” Naruto said, starting to lose his patience. “And you aren’t my homeroom teacher either. I didn’t come to see you.”

“You, arrogant thug-”

It was only the principal’s intervention that made the football coach shut up.

A few minutes later, after Naruto completed a form and signed a few documents, he was ready to leave.

“It will take a few days for your request to be processed,” the homeroom teacher said. “You should receive a letter of confirmation from the school within five working days.”

“Understood. Thank you. Have a nice day, professor,” Naruto said and turned to leave, seeing no reason to extend his stay. 

“You’re delusional if you think Blue Lock will beat Japan’s Diamond Generation,” the PE teacher couldn’t help shouting after him when he was about to exit the faculty room. “Japan’s U-20 is a world-class team, especially their defence and midfield. Blue Lock is a scam, and the guy leading the organisation is either an imbecile or a master con man. What could a ragtag team of high school brats hope to achieve?”

By the end of his rant, the professor was breathing as though he had run a marathon.

Naruto could have told him that he was one of the top scorers at Blue Lock. He could have also told him that he had already been accepted into Japan U-20’s team. The PE teacher would have definitely been shocked to hear that. Yet, he didn’t deign him with an answer. 

“You’ll never amount to anything, you hear me? Selling drugs or doing manual labour is all that a hooligan like you will ever-”

Naruto didn’t stay to hear the rest of it. Opening the door, he left without as much as turning his head to acknowledge his words. 

‘Some teachers, they are. . .’

Only the PE teacher was cursing at him, but the rest weren’t doing much of anything to stop him. Instead of trying to support and encourage their students, they just sat and watched how one of their own belittled a boy three times younger than him. 

Then again, it was one of the worst schools in Japan, located in one of the worst city districts in the country. It was no surprise that rejects like that PE professor would be sent to teach there.

‘I’ll make them all eat their words.’

The police who made his life difficult because he was mixed, the butler who called him a mongrel and told him he didn’t belong with Saeko, and the professors at this run-down school—everyone who had ever belittled and ostracised him, he was going to show them how wrong they had been about him.

⁂

According to Ego’s instructions, he was supposed to join Japan U-20’s camp five days after leaving Blue Lock. Until then, he was free to do whatever he wished.

Now, it was the third day since he returned to Tokyo. Despite the snow and the freezing temperature, Naruto was outside, running on the Arakawa River Trail. 

Due to the terrible weather, although it was Saturday morning, the running track was empty; he was the only person out for a jog. Nevertheless, he could not stay cooped inside his tiny apartment. He needed to train. He had too much energy. But, more importantly, he needed to distract himself from his thoughts.

Having just finished a particularly intense HIIT running workout, he slowed down to a walking pace, his breath coming out in ragged gasps. Now that he did not need to concentrate on his workout anymore, his thoughts returned with a vengeance.

He was a professional football player now. He had yet to receive his first salary or sign a contract, but it was pretty much guaranteed. 

For how many years had he dreamed of this moment? Even before his father died, when he was living a modest but comfortable life as the son of an average salaryman, Naruto had always dreamed of becoming a professional football player. 

His fear that he would spend the rest of his life breaking his spine at a shitty job had vanished. His worries and despair about what the future held in store for him disappeared too. 

He was a football player now.  He had achieved his childhood dream. 

He was on his way to becoming wealthy and successful. . .  . . . Yet, why was he not happy?

What was he feeling unfulfilled about? What was the feeling of wrongness that would not let him have peace even when he slept?

He stopped walking, gazing vacantly at the snowflakes that started falling from the dark grey skies. 

“This isn’t right,” he muttered.

He did not want to become a professional football player in that manner. 

It wasn't the fact that Saeko’s father had used his connections to get him into Japan’s U-20 national team through the backdoor that bothered Naruto. He didn’t have that sort of pride and strict sense of fairness. Life wasn’t fair, and it had certainly not been fair for him either. He could not care less if others were to accuse him of being a nepo baby because he was confident that, in time, he would shut everyone up with his results.

No. What bothered him was the fact he had to go against Blue Lock. 

When all other football clubs completely ignored his existence throughout his high school years, Ego saw value in him, a nameless orphan from the slums.

When nobody gave a cent about him, Ego acknowledged his potential and invited him to join Blue Lock.

‘I wouldn’t be here without him. I wouldn’t be who I am without Blue Lock.’

Saeko and her father had helped him immensely, but Ego and Blue Lock’s role in his development had not been any less important. 

Yet, now, after joining Japan’s U-20 team, he would have to play against Blue Lock’s team. And if Blue Lock lost the match, Ego would lose everything too. 

“No. . . I can’t do this.”

A mixed expression flashed in his eyes, but he clenched his fists tightly in determination.

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
AN: [Blue Lock] is back. As you can probably tell, I decided to diverge from the canon instead of repeating the tryout. This second part of the story will have a bit more focus on Naruto's character and on his relationship with Saeko than the first part.

That being said, do not worry, this is still a football fic. The training leading up to the match between [Blue Lock and Japan U-20] and the match itself will get a lot of coverage and attention.

(1) It was mentioned in Chapter 8