[Blue Lock] Chapter 5 - Awakening

Chapter 5 - Awakening

"We got this in the bag. Those guys lost 8 to 0 in their first match against Team V."

"Isn’t Team V the highest ranking? They've won all their matches so far by a large margin."

"It doesn’t matter. If we stick to our strategy, we’ll crush them just the same!"

Hearing the rest of his teammates talk confidently like that amongst themselves, Naruto let out a scoff.

"If someone didn’t know any better, they’d think you were the ones who scored all those goals in the previous match," he said.

And just like that, the mood in the locker room immediately became tense.

"Wah, don’t glare at me like that," Naruto said, snickering. "All of you did jack shit in our first match. I didn’t receive even one pass from you; I scored everything by myself. My back is hurting from carrying all of you losers through the match."

"You- you bastard!" Wanima said through gnashed teeth.

Ignoring the twin who was glaring at him in anger, Naruto turned his attention towards the rest of his teammates:

"You don’t have to be my friends. You don’t have to like me. All you need to do is pass the ball to me - if you care about winning, of course."

"Like hell we’re going to give you any passes!"

"Yeah, fuck that!"

"Let’s see how far you’re going to go alone."

The others immediately shot back at him.

"If your pride and bruised feelings are more important than winning the game, well, suit yourself. I’m going to pass to the next selection as the top scorer either way."

After saying that, Naruto stopped paying them any attention and spent the rest of the time until the start of the match stretching and warming up for the game.

⁂

Twenty minutes into the first half, the score was still nil-nil.

"Goddamnit!" Naruto swore in frustration as his shot was blocked for the second time that game.

Unlike Team X, which he had faced in the previous match, Team Y was focused on defending.

‘They’re marking me at all times. They don’t even let me breathe!’

If it wasn’t enough that his own teammates were playing tiki-taka amongst themselves while completely excluding him, even when he finally got possession of the ball, he couldn’t do much with it because there were two or three Team Y players that pounced on him instantly every time.

"We’ve done our homework before the start of the match," the opposite team member who had been hounding him since the start of the match said. "Team W is nothing without you. They have no skills, no tactics, and nobody stands out among them. All we have to do is shut your offence down, and the match is ours."

As if to prove his words, despite finally getting within shooting range of the goal for the first time in almost 30 minutes, Wanima’s shot on goal was blocked by the goalkeeper, who punched it above the crossbar.

"Corner Kick for Team W," the VAR’s robotic voice rang.

All of Team W’s forwards and midfielders, and even two of the defenders, crowded inside the goal area, in front of the goal post. With how the game was going, they reckoned they might never get a chance as big as this one to score. They wanted to make the most of it.

‘Who is he going to pass the ball to? There isn’t anyone particularly tall in my team,’ Naruto tried to guess where the ball was going to be aimed in order to steal it.

"Tobio, Soshi, mark Number 9 together with me!" the one who had been following Naruto the entire match said, and the two tallest players from Team Y sandwiched him between them.

"You’re really starting to get on my nerves, bangs," Naruto said, irritated.

"Don’t hold it against me. We’re all doing our best to win here," Ikki Niko said nonchalantly.

Right as Tokita kicked the ball from the corner, Naruto broke away from their encirclement and rushed at Junichi Wanima. Since there weren’t any players that stood out with their height in Team W, Naruto put his bet on the pass going to the quiet twin because everyone seemed to listen to him all the time.

"You won’t get away!" Tobio, the tall grey-haired player from Team Y, shouted as he and his teammate, Soshi, ran after Naruto at the same time.

As Wanima, Tobio, Soshi, and Naruto all jumped for the ball at the same time, the Team Y players unknowingly thought at the same time:

‘No way!’

Wanima didn’t even have the energy to be surprised anymore. As much as he hated the thuggish blond, he had seen his beastly athleticism in the gym with his own eyes. Despite the fact that Tobio and Soshi were both a few centimetres taller than Naruto, the blond actually jumped half a head higher than them!

Unfortunately, the goalkeeper had had his eyes on Naruto the entire time too. As high as Naruto had jumped, he couldn’t beat the height the goalie could reach with his hands.

"Nice job, Ito!" Tobio congratulated the goalkeeper in excitement.

"Go, Okawa!" Niko shouted when he saw that the ace striker of his team, who had been waiting outside the box for the chance of a counter-attack, received the ball punched by the goalie.

But Team W still had two defenders who had not been inside the box during the corner kick, and they were quick to react.

Nevertheless, Okawa had been famous for his skills as a striker even before coming to Blue Lock; he had been the highest-scoring forward in his prefecture. Quickly nutmegging one of the defenders, he cut past the other in the opposite direction, never stopping his sprint towards the goal.

Having dribbled past the last line of defence, he was now one-on-one with the goalkeeper. A talented striker against a novice keeper with no prior training—the result was not hard to predict. Not only did Okawa score, but he also humiliated the keeper with a fantastic lob shot while he was at it.

⁂ Half-time ⁂

Naruto was sitting on a bench with his head resting against the wall and a wet towel on his head. He knew his dribbling might not be good enough against a team with a tight defence, but he had not expected to get shut down completely.

‘Now that everyone has seen my performance against Team X, I’ll probably get marked like this by the other teams all the time too.’

He was frustrated. He was getting blocked too far away from the goal for his shooting feints to be effective, and the chop feint that he had learned after his match against Shoei Baro was not enough by itself for him to dribble past three players.

‘I need something more. Even at the cost of losing the ball, I have to try out something new, something they haven’t seen.’

Since he had scored four goals in the previous match, he wasn’t concerned with the result of the current match against Team Y.

‘My teammates are trash. Even If I were to sit out for the rest of all the games in this selection, they would still not score more goals than I did.’

Since he was already qualified to go to the next phase of the selections due to being the top scorer, he decided to shamelessly experiment and learn even during official matches from then on. It was an extremely selfish attitude, but he didn’t even consider Team W his team. He had no attachment to them.

‘As far as I’m concerned, I am alone against 21 players.’

⁂ Second Half ⁂

Afraid of being counter-attacked again, like in the first half, Naruto’s teammates started playing even more defensively than before. Seeing as they had already scored a goal, Team Y’s players were perfectly content with adopting a passive approach and just waiting for the game to end, passing around to stall for time.

That boring, eventless style of playing was so stifling that Naruto felt his rage-metre top up almost like in a video game.

"What’s the point of playing defensively? Are you all stupid?" unable to hold it in anymore, he finally blew up at them. "Nothing is going to change if you just keep passing around on your own side of the pitch! This isn’t the time to stay passive! You have to attack! What kind of strikers are you?!"

Unfortunately, his shouts fell on deaf ears. The game proceeded in the same manner, with neither team doing anything to change the status quo.

Although he was not concerned with whether his team won or lost here at Blue Lock, Naruto couldn’t bear that pace or that boring and uneventful game.

If all football matches were the same as this one, football would never have become the most popular sport in the world. To him, football was supposed to be fast-paced, filled with action, and capable of generating passion and excitement in both players and spectators. It was not meant to be… like this!

In his anger, he started pressing the other team all by himself. From a spectator’s view, it looked rather sad and pathetic how he was running himself ragged trying to get the ball alone while the opposite team were playing tiki-taka amongst themselves.

"That dude is off his rocker."

"Bruh, I almost feel sad for him now."

Team Y’s players were sniggering at his expense.

However, people are not like machines; they aren’t perfect. After pressing them nonstop for nearly 15 minutes, Team Y’s central midfielder made a mistake. Due to Naruto almost getting to him, intimidated by the blond’s charge, he passed the ball too hard and sloppily, causing the winger to not be able to trap the ball properly.

"Throw-in for Team W" the VAR’s voice was heard.

But when Yusei Amazora picked up the ball to throw it in, he was startled by Naruto, who suddenly shouted at him.

"This is my ball! I got it all alone, while you useless fucks were chilling with your thumbs up your asses! Pass the ball to me! If you pass it to someone else, I’ll break your legs, I swear to god!"

He had run like a man chased by the devil for over 15 minutes, pressing the opposite team all by himself just to get the ball. Even with his abnormal stamina, he was ready to drop. If, after all that effort, the ball went to someone else, he was ready and willing to beat Amazora up to a pulp.

Panting, his face an angry shade of red from both exhaustion and anger, and his eyes looking like he was about to kill someone, he looked so intimidating at that moment that Amazora didn’t dare disobey him.

"Sheesh, chill, here, take your damned ball."

Finally getting possession of the ball, he took one second to relish it. A moment later, he broke into a mad dash along the touchline.

But Ikki Niko had never let his guard down. The moment Naruto got the ball, he was upon him. Apart from Niko, Team Y's left winger and the central midfielder also pounced on Naruto at the same time, caging him in in a matter of seconds.

"I told you, I did my homework. You won’t score any goals under my w-"

"Out of my way!" Naruto screamed as he cut in, brushing past Niko him with such force that the boy stumbled, almost falling on his ass.

It was too early to celebrate, though, because the left winger and the centre midfielder tackled him right away.

At that moment, the blond pulled off a move that neither his teammates nor the opposite players had seen coming.

Right as the Team Y's left winger was about to poke the ball with the tip of his foot, Naruto suddenly spun around with the ball. It was a Zidanne Turn.

Not only did he dribble past the winger with the roulette trick, but when he finished turning around, he also nutmegged the out-of-position midfielder by kicking the ball with the inside of his foot.

"You’ve got to be kidding me!" the winger said, having a hard time believing what he just saw.

Having dribbled past three players already, a big hole was left in the side and centre of Team Y’s defence, and Naruto sprinted with the ball as if his life depended on it.

"What are you guys doing?! Tackle him!" the winger yelled from behind.

"Don’t let him shoot!" "Stop him!" Niko and the other midfielder also screamed at the same time.

Team Y had a lead of only one goal. If they conceded a goal now, all their tactics and strategies until then, and all their efforts would become null!

However, the corner of the penalty area was already in front of him, the blond was less than 30 metres away from the goal now.

As Naruto swung his right leg back in a motion to shoot, Team Y’s fullback threw himself in front of the shot in desperation to stop him.

But it was a feint. Now that he was close to the goal, the threat of his shooting gave his feints the maximum effect.

"Foul him if you have to! No matter what, don’t let him shoot!" Team Y’s keeper screamed.

Suddenly, Naruto felt the wind leave his lungs as he crashed into the ground painfully, and his body rolled over four times before finally coming to a stop.

‘What the hell happened?’

Momentarily, he was so dizzy and disoriented that he couldn’t understand what was going on.

"Foul by Team Y. Denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. Red Card to Shinichi Konan. Direct kick for Team W."

It was only when he heard the whistle and the robotic voice of the VAR that Naruto finally regained his senses.

"O-Oy, are you okay?" one of his teammates unexpectedly came to help him stand up on his feet.

Despite the rocky relationship between him and the rest of his teammates off the pitch, at the end of the day, Naruto had been about to score a goal for them, for the whole team. The others couldn’t just sit and spectate quietly after such a terrible foul.

"I think I’m fine," he said with a groan. "I’ll take the free kick myself."

Picking himself up from the ground with difficulty, he felt a sharp, stab-like pain in his right ankle.

"That was a nasty foul, are you really okay?" someone else asked when he saw Naruto grimacing as he stood up.

But Naruto didn’t answer this time. As he positioned the ball carefully on the ground, his hearing became muffled. Even the players at his side seemed to disappear from his perception. He forgot about the pain in his ankle; he even forgot about his anger at the player who fouled him.

⁂

Slightly to the right side of the pitch, not far from the penalty arc.

A distance of 28 metres from the goal and a wall of 7 players blocking more than 90% of the goalpost in the free kick taker’s field of view.

However, none of those details were registered in Naruto's mind at that moment. The were only three things in his eyes: the ball, Team Y’s goalkeeper, and a curved crimson-red corridor of light linking the ball to the opposite team’s goal.

‘The wall is too wide. There’s no direct line towards the goal. How am I supposed to score when I can’t even see the goalpost?’

Normally, it was rare to see such wide free-kick walls in official matches because the free-kick taker could choose to pass the ball to a teammate instead of shooting, in which case the opposite team would be screwed. However, knowing that Naruto never passed the ball to his teammates and vice versa, Team Y went all out to block his shooting angle with a wide wall.

A thought came to his mind:

‘What if I followed that light?’

The moment he made his decision, he stopped thinking about it.

"Man, how much more space does he need? Might as well go back to the centre line," Junichi Wanima said snarkily when he saw the blond taking more than 10 steps back from the ball.

But Naruto didn’t hear him. As he waited for the VAR’s whistle to blow, he stopped thinking completely. With adrenaline pumping in his veins, he entered a special state.

He was in the zone.

When the outside of his left foot impacted the ball, everyone on the field and even Ego, who was watching the match behind the screen, felt a premonition deep down that he was going to score and that his goal was going to be one for the ages.

As he kicked the ball with his entire strength, Naruto watched with a mixture of elation and wonder as the spinning-clockwise ball made an almost impossible curve in the air, following the crimson-red corridor of light between his and the goalpost.

"HOLY SHIT!"

"My god, is he for real??"

"This is ridiculous."

"Oh my god!"

Even as the rest of the players in Team W jumped at him and piled up on top of him, yelling and squealing in glee and celebrating, Naruto was still out of it, mentally immersed in admiring the shot that he had just taken. It was beautiful—the most beautiful thing he had seen until then in person. He reckoned that even years from now, he would be hard-pressed to find something as beautiful as that.

⁂

"Unbelievable!" Anri said, her mouth opening in surprise.

"My word, what was that goal?!" another man also spoke up in disbelief. "It feels like I travelled back in time to watch Roberto Carlos’ free-kick goal against France."

Next to the man who just spoke, a teen girl with long, pencil-straight purple hair was also staring at the screen in amazement. The two of them were Osamu Busujima, the brother of the Minister of Sports, and his daughter, Saeko. Using his connections, Mr Busujima entered the Blue Lock facility for the sake of visiting Naruto at the request of his daughter. As the doting father that he was, he couldn’t refuse her anything.

Ego Jinpachi himself was also looking at the screen with a loony smile on his face and a seemingly mad look in his eyes.

"Win or Lose, Life or Death. Every time that line is crossed, a striker is forced to awaken. This is what I wanted to see!"

"Awakening?" Saeko asked, tilting her head.

"Awakening is like a jigsaw puzzle with your accumulated thoughts and experiences. You’re faced with an extreme situation to get the win, and after much trial and error, after a desperate struggle, that’s when the pieces for success all fall into place, and a new ego blossoms, a new weapon is created," Ego explained.

"But why is he the only one to awaken? Realistically, he should be the least worried player on the field, regardless of the result of the match. Due to him being the top scorer on his team, he will pass to the next selection regardless, won't he?" Mr Busujima asked.

"That’s where the difference between elite strikers and trash comes into play," Ego said, not mincing his words. "An elite striker will always strive to improve and surpass their current selves. They will never be pleased with mediocrity. Moreover, there is a stark difference between his hunger and motivation and those of the rest. Most people always have a plan B or a secondary career option if their football career doesn’t work out. It’s a realistic and sensible approach given how small are the chances for someone to actually become a professional football player. However, it’s different for him."

Miss Anri, Mr Busujima, and Saeko all got chills on their backs as Ego continued to speak:

"For him, this is not just a game and becoming a football is not just a career. For him, the pitch is like a battlefield, and the game is akin to a life-and-death battle."

"We’ve seen that in many other athletes before. Those who grew up in disadvantaged environments often outperform their peers because football is their whole world. Pele, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Suarez - they all came from a life of poverty and fought on the pitch as if their lives depended on it. And their hard work did not betray them. They became world-class strikers, some of the best football players of all time."