98 Chapter-97

"Do you want to know what's wrong with me?" Naruto asked with contained fury, clenching his fists to the point of making them bleed. "For months, I've played your game of being a superhero. I followed your rules, I tried to be something I'm not just to fit in and forget all the stuff that's happening to me." Falling on top, now you and Midoriya come thinking that with nice words and supposed support from people I don't give a damn about, you will manage to change who I am..."

"But... You said you would protect us with your life! You told Yaoyorozu-san that a long time ago!" The plant-haired girl answered, shouting, feeling the sting of tears in her eyes because of the sea of emotions she was feeling now.

"I lied..." Those simple words caused Ibara to take a few steps back, dismayed by the shinobi's gaze.

"You... you lie," holding back her tears, the girl approached and took Naruto's shoulders firmly. "I know that I am nobody in your life, that we have only known each other for a few months, but as a friend... I ask you... no, I beg you." "Let me help you; I just want you to tell me the truth, please. What's wrong with you? What's causing you so much pain?" He asked once again as she let go of the blonde so that she was just a few inches away from him.

Giving a heavy sigh, Naruto only saw the eyes of the girl in front of him. "..." Lowering his gaze, he only remained silent, making the teenager only feel more hurt.

"If that's what you want... then I'll leave you alone and I won't look for you again." Taking a few steps back, he could only turn his back on the boy and walk; were all those moments they shared worthless? Didn't even he trust her? How to help him if he wouldn't let her? Those questions only hurt the Evangelia girl more morally than she just walked to the door to leave.

But something stopped her, surprised. She looked down to see that the shinobi had taken her wrist. Looking up, the teenager found that bright blue eye and cute cat-like markings that characterized the Uzumaki who slowly released her arm and then spoke.

"I haven't seen my family in more than four years... I don't even know if my mother and sister are alive. There isn't a single day in which I don't have a nightmare about my past, when you played with dolls as a child. I did bad things that will follow me to the grave..." With a sorrowful look, the Uzumaki could only lower his head to look at the ground.

"Why don't you just go back to your family?" Ibara asked softly as she approached slowly to be just a few centimeters away from the teenager who only gave a dry laugh.

"And seeing my own mother's look of hatred... the last time I saw her she wanted me dead." With a trembling of his shoulders, Naruto raised his gaze to show his blue eye that was crystallizing from the few tears threatening to form. "Every day when I get up and look in the mirror... I feel disgust at what I am... everything that is close to me... only bad things happen to it, because of me a girl was left in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. ..." With his lost gaze, he could only look at Shiozashi's eyes. "Now I only know that I must go back to doing what I am best at... to prevent this from happening again," he spoke with gravity and determination making the girl face him. He earned a sad look.

"..." In silence, the girl could only see the state of the teenager. She could see the pain that his eyes transmitted. Getting a little closer, she saw how he walked away.

"You know... I always, since I was a child, I only dreamed of being like my father..." Still maintaining an empty gaze, the shinobi only looked at his hands and then joined them. "To be strong, kind, charismatic like him, he never gave up and always put the security of others before his. Even if it was a lost battle, he refused to let himself be defeated... and to think that I am just a bad copy of him, a loser who never achieved anything in his life and will only be lost in history... alone." Looking at his hands, he could only wander in his memories before he lost his father on that fateful night that changed everything.

"For me, you are more than a loser." Taking a risky act, Ibara firmly took the shinobi's hands without caring what he thought.

"You don't know me..." With a hard look, Naruto was about to have her hands released, but the girl only squeezed his hands tighter, refusing to let go.

"I know enough... You are Uzumaki Naruto, a boy with a cold and even violent attitude." Smiling weakly, he approached the boy closer. "But that is only a mask that hides someone who has suffered a lot, but you are still willing." to help whoever needs it. I know that you dislike loud sounds and being among many people. I also know that your greatest desire is only to be happy…"

"Stop..." Frowning, the shinobi looked away, only for one of the green-haired teenager's hands to touch his cheek, causing both of their gazes to meet.

"You saved many people, you risked your life again and again saving those who needed it. You trained Midoriya-san so that he could develop and show what he was capable of. I also knew that you accompanied Todoroki-san to the hospital to visit his mother. You have to confront the leader of the League of Villains to prevent them from harming Yaoyorozu-san's Oka-san. Do you still consider yourself a bad person after having done all that?" He asked while smiling, seeing how the Uzumaki still remained close to her.

"I'm not going to stop. There's someone who wants to hurt the few people I care about, and I won't rest until I see his corpse at my feet." Those words only caused Ibara to shudder and loosen her grip on the shinobi's hands who now remained impassive. "Your religion says that any soul can be saved... Do you think there is something in my soul to save?"

"Yes," the girl who refused to let go of the shinobi answered without thinking. "I think you are better than this Naruto-kun. I have faith in you that when the time comes, you will know what is right..." finally releasing the blonde's hands, she only looked him in the eyes with a tenuous silence that calmed the tense atmosphere. "I will pray for you every day so that you achieve that happiness that you long for, and I know that you will get it," she said confidently as she took her Bible again with strength in her hands.

"Because?" was Naruto's simple question as he stood alone in front of the only person he could consider a friend.

"Because our God in heaven has a plan for everything, and I can assure you that although your path until now has been difficult, I know that the time will come where you can finally be at peace, Naruto-kun." Saying that, she extended her book to the shinobi who only took it in silence. "I... I don't know how to help you, since I can't understand your pain and much less change what you are... but what I can tell you is that even if everything seems lost and the world is against you, I can tell you that I believe in you and will always support you…"