As the blond teen calmly walked out from the shadows of the competitors hall, the stadium erupted into cheers. Even amongst the wall of noise that slammed into him, Naruto was easily able to make out the sounds of Yang, Ruby, Nora, and even Pyrrha cheering him on. With his enhanced hearing he was able to pinpoint where it came from and lo and behold there they sat, right at the first row of seats opposite the entrance he had come through.
Ruby, Yang, and Nora, being the more boisterous of his group of friends, were proudly and loudly cheering whilst waving a rather large banner that stated in bright orange letters, "Kick some butt Naruto!"
Locking eyes with them, Naruto chuckled at their exuberance and waved to them. His eyes trailed over Weiss who was trying to look as uninterested as she could, though it was clear from the smirk on her face that she had all the confidence that Naruto could defeat Cardin.
He shared a silent nod with Blake, the feline Faunus offering a smile and a wave of a little flag that bore the signature Uzumaki spiral on it.
His eyes then traveled to meet with his only male friend, Ren, who only nodded at him in acknowledgement.
Finally his eyes locked with the bright green eyes of Pyrrha who was wildly waving about her own little flag. The red head offered a smile and mouthed the words, "You can do it," to him. In return Naruto smiled and nodded before giving her a cheesy thumbs up, causing her to giggle at his carefree behavior.
What surprised him though was when he saw that team CFVY was seated not too far from his friends, cheering him on in their own way. The sunglasses wearing leader of the team used a finger to lower said shades down just far enough to offer him a flirtatious wink, something quite a few people noticed, his own team included.
The bunny eared Faunus of the team smiled demurely at him and clapped loudly to show her support while the male members of the team quietly nodded at him, obviously not being ones for many words.
"You ready to lose blondie?" Cardin called out from across the arena.
Naruto decided that if his opponent wanted to try trash talk this early, he was going to begin his own little mind games as well, and who better to do that then one of the students of Kakashi Hatake?
Taking a page out of his sensei's book Naruto slackened his posture and casually slipped his hands into his pants' pockets, closing his eyes and offering a lazy smile to top it all off, "Hmm? Did you say something?"
'Now if only I knew how Kakashi-sensei did that weird eye thing,' Naruto thought to himself.
To his credit Cardin only looked annoyed by Naruto's antics, "Tch, whatever. The faster I kick your ass the faster I can finish my stupid punishment."
Naruto shrugged nonchalantly in response, having been underestimated for a vast majority of his life he was used to it now. A few years ago he would have answered back to Cardin's insult by trying to show the "teme" just how strong he really was. Now? He could care less what someone like Cardin thought of him.
In the end it also benefitted him. Cardin thinking so little of him would give Naruto that much more of an advantage. It would also give the blond the satisfaction of humiliating Cardin in front of a huge chunk of Beacon's student body.
Seeing that the two males were ready to go and would more than likely start the fight soon regardless of if he started the match, the portly Professor Port stepped between Naruto and Cardin and spoke in a voice that boomed throughout the stadium, "This will be a match between Cardin Winchester and Naruto Uzumaki. The terms of the match have been set before this and these two young lads have already agreed to them. The Aura shields are up so feel free to let loose, but I will intervene if I feel it is getting out of hand."
Naruto and Cardin nodded at the rules of the fight, having already heard from both Professor Goodwitch and Ozpin about the rules earlier that morning.
"Ready?...Begin!" With speed belying his body shape and size, Professor Port jumped away from what would no doubt become a miniature warzone.
Cardin was quick to rush in, speeding towards Naruto with his mace poised to strike. Naruto seemed to be unfazed by this and stood there, looking as lazy as was possible.
With a heave, Cardin gave a mighty horizontal swing of his weapon, intent on slamming it into Naruto's ribs which, even with the shields up, would no doubt crack some bones if it hit.
And Naruto may have an abnormally fast healing factor thanks to his mother, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel pain. He just had a higher tolerance for it than most.
Still with that same lazy posture the blond ducked underneath the swing. With the balance and agility that came with being a trained shinobi, Naruto answered back with a swift side kick, throwing Cardin's feet out from under him and putting said teen flat on his ass with a surprised expression on his face.
Naruto simply hopped away, creating space between himself and the still dazed Cardin. Deciding to add insult to injury, the blond Jinchuuriki let out a yawn, causing the crowd to erupt into laughs at the dumbstruck look on Cardin's face.
Clearly getting progressively angrier due to his opponent not taking him seriously and with the sounds of derisive laughter aimed at him not helping that, Cardin leapt to his feet and was racing towards Naruto yet again.
Our blond protagonist for his part looked as carefree as if he was taking a stroll through the park. When Cardin raised his mace high into the air, making it very clear that he planned to pummel Naruto into the ground, the Jinchuuriki kept the same bland look on his face.
When the weapon was inches away from slamming into the blond's cranium, Naruto's friends began to worry. When Cardin's weapon smashed into the ground and a cloud of dust was kicked up, they really began to worry, and even Professor Port was ready to rush back to the field to see if the young Uzumaki was still alive after a blow like that.
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