[OP: "Soap"--The Oh Hellos]

Not everyone wanted to check out whatever it was, and most of them told Bakugo not to go, which only made him more determined to do so.

Shine and Wally thought that Mabui wouldn't allow it if it was truly some kind of trap, so they weren't that worried. Especially when Omoi said it was outside the main Village.

"Though it is still weird that he just volunteered,"  Wally said. "Want me to follow them?"

"No," Shine said. "They can update us on what's going on via letter. Then you can follow them... I want to see what they'll do when us leaders aren't around to supervise, just like in Stone. That would be a good test of their true intentions."

"So we're using the kids as bait?" Wally said.

"No, they can handle it," Shine said. "It's a test, not bait. If they don't mean any harm, then nothing will happen. Touya will be on the look out for it."

"I have to go?" Dabi said. "Why? I think this is probably a set up."

"That's why you need to go," Shine said. "Make sure nothing happens. You've been suspicious all along--shouldn't be hard for you."

"I get the idea this is some kind of test for me too," Dabi said. "But fine."

Choji still wanted to eat, and his team had no interest in going with Omoi, and neither did Sakura, or Tenten, or the Sand.

Hinata didn't want to go, but Hanabi did, and Eichi was curious, and Naruto was hoping that they'd find Killer Bee if they went out of the Village--he had a mind to talk to him about how the Village was treating them. For some reason he still thought that would make a difference.

It was true he had a better chance of finding him outside the Village, but Omoi didn't think Bee would be at this particular bay.

Karui said she wasn't going to the bay and would just stay with the other group that was going to eat lunch.

At least this took care of the problem of having a Cloud there to supervise them, though Mabui questioned the wisdom of Karui being left alone with them... Still, Shine seemed able to handle her just fine.

The other heroes all said they'd go with Bakugo just to make sure he didn't start any trouble.

So the groups were pretty evenly split.

The walk to the bay took a while, since they had to go outside the walls to the other side of the Village.

It was confusing that the Village walls, which were not really walls so much as thickly clustered rock formations, opened up in several places.

"Not that I really care," Dabi said, "but aren't you worried about people sneaking in through all those gaps? You don't have enough guards for them."

Mabui didn't want to talk to him, but Omoi said, "It's no big deal. See? That's the look-out tower."

He pointed toward one higher building on one of the top level pillars.

"There's one at every corner of the Village," he said. "Let's us see anyone who sneaks in coming. How do you think we knew you arrived?"

"I see." Dabi made a mental note that, if they snuck out, they'd have to do it using Shine's portals, Wally's speed, or Eichi's ability to move the earth.

He was kind of glad the scrawny little kid had joined them after all. It had filled a void in their power set, even if he wasn't that good at it yet.

Suigetsu and Karin had come with them in order to avoid the stress of the Village as much as possible, but Jugo had not been interested.

"Boy, it's hot," Suigetsu complained for the 10th time at least since they'd left the house. He drank more water.

Karin pulled her hair back. "Ugh...anyone have a hair tie?"

"Here." Momo gave her one.

Karin pulled it into a ponytail.

"Hey, Karin, you look super cute with your hair up," Camie noticed. "Why don't you wear it like that more often?"

Karin flushed. "I don't look any different. I don't really like putting it up that much. It always just comes loose later."

"You could use gel or spray," Momo suggested.

"You could mind your own business?" Karin shot back.

Momo blinked and looked down.

"Uh...sorry." Karin felt guilty. "I...don't like talking about how I look... I didn't mean to bite your head off."

"No, no, I shouldn't have pushed you." Momo held up her hands.

"Ugh, stop apologizing," Bakugo said. "When are we gonna get to this dump anyway?"

"It's not that far now," Omoi said. "I probably should warn you now that we're close that this is a bit of a rough area of town... It's not even really in town. But the people who hang out here are kind of tough. They like to take risks, and they'll start a fight with you real easily."

"Why didn't you tell us that before we got this far?" Shoto asked, and his tone was, as usual, hard to read if it was angry or just surprised.

"I didn't think to," Omoi lied.

Bakugo didn't buy it. "So you think you'll scare us, huh? Dumba--. This sounds like my kind of place."

"Ugh, I hope they're not, like, gross," Camie said. "I hate that."

"Really...that wasn't enough to make you turn back?" Mabui had been hoping they'd change their minds once they knew where they were going.

"Is it enough for you to turn back?" Dabi asked her, in a mean tone.

She frowned at him again.

"Keep working it, Dabi," Camie said. "That last nerve. You're gonna get it, sooner or later."

"Shut up," Dabi said.

"I'm not sure these two should have come, on second thought," Omoi said, looking at Hanabi and Eichi. "They're a little young for this activity."

He wasn't one to threaten children, even if he could be an ass.

"We're fine," Hanabi said.

Eichi was not sure he was fine, but he said nothing.

"Karin, is he lying?" Suigetsu asked her.

"I don't think so," Karin said. "But he seems like he's plotting something."

"Well, as long as there's water in the bay, I guess I'll have an advantage," Suigetsu shrugged.

"Yes, it might be a good thing you came," Karin said, wondering if this sounded like a weird thing for her to say.

Suigetsu shot her a strange look. "Boy, you sure have been acting kinda funny lately. If I didn't know better, I'd say you didn't hate me anymore."

"I..." Karin looked embarrassed. "I... Who said...? Why don't you shut up?!"

"That's more like it," Suigetsu said. "Don't act nice. It weirds me out."

"Why can't I act nice, if I want?" Karin shot back. "You don't get to control me."

"Take it easy." Suigetsu put his hands up. "It's just that I feel like you're planning something when you're nice."

"I've never been that beguiling," Karin snorted in derision.

"True..." Suigetsu said. "So why the change then?"

"I...h...I don't know," Karin said. "I just don't feel like being as touchy now." She tugged her hair nervously. "Is that such a bad thing?"

"I guess not..." Suigetsu didn't really know; it still weirded him out. "But careful--people will start thinking we're friends if you act like that."

"We're not?" 

Pause.

"This conversation is stupid." Suigetsu was too embarrassed to conitnue it and slunk away from her.

Karin thought he was acting just as weird as she was.

Camie noticed.

"Hmm." She nudged Bakugo. "Tea."

"Not now," Bakugo said. "We have to focus. That lollipop sucker is gonna try something on us."

"Why are we walking into a trap then?" Camie asked.

"Duh, to prove we're better than him," Bakugo said.

"Huh...well, calling him a lollipop sucker is kinda an uncreative nickname. That's like saying he's a lollipop lollipop," Camie replied. "Also sounds like he's a lolli...which is more funny."

"The nickname is your problem?" Bakugo scoffed. "Not the trap part?"

"I figure you can handle it," Camie said. "Nothing for me to worry about. We've survived worse than this, right? After Poison Mist Island and Stone Village, this should be nothing. Anyway, what kinda moron tells you he's taking you to a rough place if he's trying to trick you? The guy is such a newb. Friggin' casual..."

Bakugo smirked.

"She may be fine, but I'm getting more nervous," Momo said. "This area is secluded."

It was. The rock formations around it were high, and no way the Village would see them... Not that that would really have upped their chances of getting help if they could.

Shoto took her hand silently.

The rock opened out finally into the wider strip of land that led down to the bay in question.

There were many bays around Cloud Village. The drop down from the rocks into this one was pretty steep.

"Now I know why Shine didn't want to do this," Dabi said.

"This reminds me of something," Momo said. "Do you remember when we were trying to escape that flood on the way to Leaf?"

"It would be hard to forget that," Dabi said. "I caught another cold doing that."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that," Hanabi said. "I thought you were ice resistant. Why do you catch colds so easily?"

"Because temperature changes still cause problems for me," Dabi said. "I'm so ice resistant that regular room temperature feels hot after I get cold. Or using my fire heats me up way too fast from room temperature. So if I get hot after getting all wet like that, it's pretty easy to catch a cold."

"Oh, that makes sense," Eichi said. "Kind of hard that you have a fire center, though."

Dabi frowned. "Yeah, just gotta love irony."

"What were you telling us, Momo?" Hinata asked her politely.

"Temari told me to try to stick to the ground, like they can," Momo said. 

"I thought you couldn't do that," Naruto interrupted.

"Naruto, please," Momo said.

Naruto went silent right away. Momo tended to have that effect on people, even rowdy boys like him (or Bakugo).

"That's just it, I was able to do it, for a second," Momo said. "It turns out that, since it's using chakra from yourself is not a jutsu, it's just control, and apparently doing all those healings  changed how my power works slowly...so I can extend it on purpose. She said I should work on it, but we haven't had time to. Don't you think, though, if we could do that, we'd be a lot safer in the terrain? Always we have had more risks because we can't climb things the way they can."

"I think, even if we could do it, our control would never be as good as theirs," Shoto mused. "We're just not the same."

"But it could save you life, in a pinch," Hinata said. "Even a few seconds could buy yourselves enough time for someone to catch you. That would help us. And it would help you walk, or even not drown."

"We are gonna be by water..." Hanabi pointed downward. "Want to try it?"

"I don't know if I want to try it over water," Momo said.

"Shoto can use his ice. We can help you not fall in," Hanabi pushed. "Come on, if you could do it, wouldn't you want to?"

"Actually, the idea doesn't appeal to me," Shoto said. "I like to know what my limits are."

"You don't know what they are," Dabi said sourly.

"At least I know what I can do," Shoto said. "I don't like the idea of having so many powers. It's not natural."

The ninjas were staring at him.

"Sorry," Momo said. "At home, everyone only has one power, usually... If you have more than one, you're some kind of genetic experiment."

Or freaking Deku, Bakugo thought to himself, or AFO... But he wouldn't say that aloud. Momo and Shoto didn't know about it, still.

Dabi already knew about AFO, but he didn't say that there. He didn't care enough to.

"That's too bad," Eichi said. "The more jutsu you can use, the better, here... Your village sounds strange."

"Very elitist." Omoi looked up.

They realized he could hear them.

"Also did you all just say you can't stick to things?" Omoi said. "What kind of school did you go to? Not learning basic chakra control?"

"Did you learn that at school? I didn't learn that till I was a Genin," Naruto said. "That's what Kakashi taught us."

"You waited that long?" Mabui looked back. She was farther down the path, since she and Omoi were used to this. "That's strange. That's one of the first things they teach at the school, if the young fighters are able to generate chakra at that age."

"That would explain a lot," Dabi muttered.

"I suppose here, where there's so many rocks and water...it makes sense to teach them that first," Momo said. "Leaf can get by without it for longer."

"Gaara learned it pretty young also," Naruto reflected. "When we met him, he already could do it better than we could. But that's Gaara."

"Ugh, this is so steep..." Camie complained as they picked their way from the top of the rock slope to the actual water. "I hate climbing, I've decided."

"Just watch your step," Bakugo said.

"Can any of you walk any faster?" Omoi was getting even farther down from them now. "We're nearly to the bottom anyway."

The earth was kind of slippery anyway here, and even the ninja were struggling, but the Cloud just ran over it like it was nothing and were waiting at the foot of the slope.

Mabui tapped her foot, waiting for them.

Omoi just called at them to hurry up a few more times, till they wanted to throw pebbles at him.

Hinata got down the easiest, with her exceptional control.

"Here." She held a hand out to Hanabi, who was another level up in the bend of the path, but over her head.

"I'm fine." Hanabi waved her off. "I've got this."

She swung herself down over the edge of the path and then dropped to the level Hinata was on.

"Nothing to that," she said. "I've gotten stronger, see?"

"I guess you have," Hinata said.

"No more nearly falling to my death because I have weak control," Hanabi said.

"I wish I had that..." Eichi was picking his way along. "The ground here isn't the same as in Stone... It's not as firm. I don't quite like it."

"Temari would say we're being slowed down by mundane obstacles again," Momo sighed. "But it's just that we couldn't do these things so quickly and easily, not that we're doing them badly. Aizawa-sensei would say it's just a difference of experience, not skill."

"I hope that makes you feel better," Dabi said. "I think I should have ditched the jacket for this..."

"I would never imagine you without that jacket," Naruto said.

"Ditto to you, Naruto," Dabi said.

Predictably enough, someone was going to slip doing this, and Camie did a few seconds later.

Bakugo grabbed her before she could tumble headlong down the road, but she still lurched forward, nearly pulling him after her.

"See...? Hate," she said.

"Perhaps if you wore hiking boots," Momo suggested, as she passed her. 

"Seriously why are they so slow?" Omoi asked Mabui.

Mabui was studying them closely.

"There's something about how they move, the ones without headbands," she said. "They seem so ungraceful, don't you think? They step heavy."

"Yeah...I guess." Omoi hadn't watched them closely before.

"Hearing that they don't even know how to use their chakra well," Mabui said. "It's like they've never been trained at all. Where did Lord Gaara pick them up?"

"Some remote village without shinobi training, I guess," Omoi said.

"But their jutsus are powerful," Mabui said. "Is that just raw power then?"

"I've actually never seen them in action," Omoi said. "None of them, except from the Leaf...and that water guy is...Mist, did they say?"

"Something about that does not make sense." Mabui shook her head.

"Well, you're the one who's supposed to be finding stuff out about them--you figure it out," Omoi said.

"Hush," Mabui said.

"I think everyone already knows," Omoi said. "I mean, duh."

"Maybe you do." Mabui glanced toward the bay. "But they might not."

The people at the bay were too far out to hear, but she was taking no chances.

Finally, the others got to the bottom.

Dabi still managed to trip even as he was getting off the path and onto the flat ground. His shoes really weren't that well suited to this kind of terrain.

He nearly hit Mabui when he tripped, and she moved away as if she'd nearly touched a snake.

After working so hard to get on her bad side, Dabi wasn't that surprised that it had succeeded, but now he was starting to wonder if he'd overdone it. He still wanted to be able to get information if necessary.

His idea of teamwork in the LOV had been to piss people off enough for them to leave him alone, but not so much that, if he talked to them, they wouldn't cooperate with him. That's kind of how the LOV was...and how he'd been this entire mission.

Generally, that was all he cared about for teamwork. Knowing how to not make enemies was not his strong point.

He was starting to think Shine might have been right to warn him, but he could have pushed his luck too far with someone like Mabui. She wasn't a criminal, and she didn't have the sense of humor that Shine and Wally did... Likely, she was the type to hold a grudge and to be offended by him for real.

Funny, the other Cloud really didn't seem to take it that seriously. Karui and Omoi were jerks, but they were all talk, as it turned out. And that was not really surprising. Karui had clearly always been mostly just steam and smoke, and Omoi wasn't even that incendiary of a person on purpose. They likely didn't hold grudges for long.

But a more calculating person might.

Dabi put down Mabui's personal calmness to that. No one else here ever bothered to conceal their obvious disdain for the team, so it had to be a way to get under their guard.

That she could just have been a more polite person to begin with wasn't his first guess.

"Dabi," Shoto interrupted his thoughts.

Dabi realized he'd been standing there thinking about this without moving for several seconds.

"Are you coming?" Shoto asked, not very concerned-sounding, just irritated. "There's more people here than I thought... This seems like a bad idea now, but Bakugo just took off. Didn't you notice?"

"Blasty doing that is nothing new." Dabi shook himself. "What do you expect me to do about it?"

"Didn't Shine ask you to keep an eye on this?" Shoto said. "Technically, you look like the only other one here who could be a Jonin out of this group. They may take you more seriously if you don't make it obvious that you're not anyone to respect."

"Why don't you shut your mouth, Snowflake?" Dabi said.

Shoto just looked amused, vaguely. "You could at least try to act the part."

"Being adult supervision was never my job here," Dabi said. "And don't you have Dragon Lady for that?"

"Mabui?" Shoto glanced at her. "She's not very intimidating looking. Don't you think that's part of the reason people keep being rude to us while she's around? I hate to judge a woman based on her appearance, but she doesn't seem extremely strong to me."

"Looks can be deceiving." Dabi inspected her more closely. "She is tiny, like a bird... I've never seen her use any power attack, but that doesn't mean she can't. I mean, Firecracker is small, but I wouldn't call her weak."

"Hanabi is not as old," Shoto said. "Mabui is definitely...I'm not sure how old she is, but she's definitely not Karin and Omoi's age. And I'm wondering about that too. Why is someone who seems to have no aggressive attacks working so close to Lord Ay?"

"Shizune works closely with Tsunade. She's just a medic."

"That's true..."

"It makes sense anyway," Dabi went on. "The assistant never becomes the next Kage, you notice that? The Kage always are people with strong attack powers. The aides aren't. So you have someone who's weak working close to you, but you can trust them never to usurp you because the Village wouldn't follow them if they were weak. Then you have your successor type who's tougher but younger and not ready for the responsibility yet. It's pretty smart if you want to rule by power and not wisdom."

"That's true." Shoto didn't argue the point. "I suppose it's like how we did teams in our classes based on skill, strength, and intelligence. But usually the leader is the smartest one. Like Momo."

"If you were trying to be the strongest of all, you wouldn't do it that way," Dabi said. "It is that you're pushing teamwork more at UA. Too little, too late."

"But Lord Ay risking someone who's not a strong fighter with our group still doesn't make sense," Shoto said. "Why is it her? Why not Darui? He seemed much stronger."

"I'm glad it's not him then," Dabi said. "But someone who's smarter isn't any safer for us. I don't think that woman is missing a thing. Did you see how she was watching us while we were climbing?"

"I wasn't looking at her that closely."

"Oh, sure. I bet she can tell that we can't move the way they do. And yesterday, too, she watched us like a hawk at the bookstore."

"I really didn't pay that close attention to her. I thought she was just shopping."

"Shoto, it's things like this that make people think you're an idiot. How can anyone be so naive?"

"I can't believe you just used my real name," Shoto said, not caring about the naive part. 

"Oh, shut up."

"Well, if you've been watching her closely, have you noticed anything useful, oh Observant One?"

"Nothing concrete," Dabi said. "But I have my suspicions... This Village is something else. I know they all look down on us. They're all snobs. They think Cloud is better than anywhere else."

"Isn't that normal for most Villages to do?" Shoto asked.

"Mist didn't."

"Mist had a reason not to. They had a reputation."

"Didn't know how good we had it with Mei...or Mirai," Dabi said. "They were more humble."

"They had to be. Cloud isn't nearly as broken down as they were," Shoto said.

"Or they're hiding it," Dabi said.

"Maybe, but they seem to have a lot more people here," Shoto said. "I thought the war hit them hard."

"What if they had a big population to being with?" Dabi asked. "They've been exclusive all this time? No one attacks them, like Leaf, so their population doesn't get decimated the same way. Doss that make sense?"

"I suppose it might," Shoto said. "Cloud might be the strongest of the shinobi Villages after all, then. They all thought it was Leaf, but it might not be." [Really, that makes the most sense to me. Cloud is advanced enough to build something that could destroy the moon in the one movie, and yet somehow Leaf is supposed to be the strongest Village? I don't see the logic.]

"Is there a problem?" Mabui surprised them by interrupting their conversation right then.

They hadn't seen her move back in their direction, she was so quiet.

"No." Shoto looked up at her. "Sorry...my brother and I were just talking."

"Your..." Mabui blinked at them. "Oh...I almost forgot."

"Did you think we didn't look alike?" Shoto said. "We get that lot, because I'm half white." [Does he knows how that sounds?]

"Wording," Dabi said.

"More that you don't act like siblings," Mabui said, rather rudely for her, Dabi thought. "Not like Lord Ay and Lord Bee."

"They're not even really siblings," Dabi said.

"Did...did you hear that here?" Mabui didn't think that was common knowledge outside the Village.

"Who cares?" Dabi said.

"I suppose it's because Lord Ay and Lord Bee have grown up together," Shoto said. "But Dabi and I haven't. And he's much older than I am. But, I think we've gotten to know each other much better on this mission."

"Ew." Dabi grimaced. "Don't tell her that. She'll think I like you."

"I wouldn't tell her that," Shoto said. "I just said we know each other better. Familiarity breeds contempt, they say."

"Maybe we are related," Dabi said. "That actually made sense."

Mabui almost looked like she was trying to hide a smirk. "Sounds more like Lord Ay and Lord Bee, actually... I was going to warn  you, I think your...uh...angry friend may have the wrong idea about what this place is."

"Is it not a gambling ring?" Dabi said, just to annoy her.

But her reaction was, again, kind of unnerved, like he'd hit the nail on the head.

"It's...not an ordinary gambling ring..." she said. "They bet on something unusual. That's what I was going to warn you about. You shouldn't go in the water like you were saying, because--"

* * *

"Sharks?" Momo cried.

They had moved to the land next to where the water was, and people had set up tents to block out the sun and tables, and some tough looking guys and even some woman were sitting around  in circles with water coolers--which probably didn't have water in them--holding money or cards or even notebooks.

One of them--a big, burly guy--had explained to them what this "local attraction" was about.

The man had looked them up and down and then said in a pretty condescending tone, "Well, you foreigners probably wouldn't really understand it, but this is the shark, matches bay."

"Did you say shark matches?" Camie said, in the same horrified tone Momo had.

"Yes, we fight the sharks, usually around twilight, but, we have a special match about this time," the guy said, with a smirk. "It's a real thrill. They're more grumpy when you wake 'em up early." [Sharks don't really sleep that way though.]

"You fight sharks?" Naruto said blankly. "How?"

"They're a special breed of sharks for the Village," Omoi told them amiably. "They're twice the size of normal shakes because of chakra enhancements. And they're really mean, too. If you stick around, you'll get to see it. We get a lot of wrestling. A lot of people do it. A lot of shinobi do it to prove their strength. The biggest ones get a lot of money in from wagering...though some people don't survive."

"That's horrible," Momo said. "What a barbaric practice. It's like bear fighting! Or dog fighting."

"Or cock fighting," Bakugo said.

"Huh?" Momo said.

"With roosters," Bakugo said. "Farm kids do that...sometimes."

[It's illegal in most places now, I think.]

"What it is is inhumane," Momo said.

"What do you mean?" Omoi said. "The sharks don't get killed, just subdued. It's good fun."

"That is so cringe," Camie said. "Massive fail, okay?"

"You better clear these shrimps out, Omoi," the big man said. "They're all too soft for this sport. They'd probably faint at the sight of these jumbos."

"Hah, you wish," Bakugo said. "I could take one of those things, easy. There's a shark guy at home--I could beat him in a fight for sure."

"Do you mean Gang Orca? He's a whale," Momo said. "And no, you couldn't. He's the Number 9 hero."

"But he's a whale," Bakugo said.

"Is he fat?" Omoi said, not getting that they literally meant he was a whale.

But they ignored him.

"You couldn't fight a shark anyway," Momo insisted. "Your quirk doesn't mix at all with water."

Bakugo frowned at her. "Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Ponytail."

"You want to put your money where your mouth is, brat?" the big guy said. "Sumo's the name."

"Like the wrestling thing?" Camie said. "Oh, because the sharks are fighting?"

[Sumo literally means "to fight", "compete", or "to rush at your opponent".]

Sumo didn't seem to find her joke amusing.

"Any day of the week, a--h---!" Bakugo declared.

"How about today?" Sumo frowned at him. "You're a precocious little brat, ain't ya? You don't look familiar. Aren't these the foreign visitors?"

"They are," Omoi said.

Sumo and a bunch of the other tough guys started laughing.

"Some stranger thinks he can handle our game?" said one. "What a joke. I'll start taking bets now."

"No one's gonna take that bet, you moron," said someone else. 

"This is repulsive," Karin agreed.

"I know, right?" Suigetsu said. "The poor sharks."

Karin gave him a weird look.

"Bakugo, you cannot do this," Momo insisted. 

"Momo..." Camie didn't know much about shark fighting, but she knew a lot about Bakugo's psychology.

Sure enough, Bakugo glared at Momo, and some of the shark fighters jeered:

"That's right, listen to your old lady there. She'll keep you in line."

"I said don't freaking tell me what to do, Ponytail!" Bakugo said. "I can do it if the frick I want to!"

Momo put her hands to her face. "But...you... That's crazy."

"You're not serious, right?" Hanabi said. "I mean, I get wanting to show off, but...sharks? This idea sounds stupid."

"All of you hacks shut up," Bakugo said.

"Look at this guy," Sumo said. "Heck, I'd almost like him if he wasn't a filthy foreigner. He talks a big game, but, the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

"He's not that big," said someone else. "He's a minnow compared to the jumbos."

"Shut the heck up!" Bakugo yelled at that person. "Before I kick your a-- too!"

They frowned at  him.

"Camie...?" Momo said nervously. "Stop him. You can, right?"

"I mean...how big could the sharks really be?" Camie said uneasily. "Bakugo could handle, like, a 2-meter shark, right?"

"Try 6 or 7 meters," Omoi said. "Probably not the best idea for kids like you. You're not used to water fighting, right?"

Momo paled. "Did you say 7 meters? [Over 21 feet--and real Great Whites do not usually come that big. There's been one found that was 20 feet long (that was still alive). However, older sharks that were much bigger than that have been found, and the animals in Naruto tend to be a lot bigger than normal animals (due to different climates, no doubt), so it's not much of a leap.]  

"The big ones go up to 8 or 9 meters." Sumo wasn't helping. "The biggest one, Mega, is 10."

"What do you get for riding that one?" Bakugo asked.

"Kid, if you fought that one and survived for 5 minutes, I'd give you 100 ryo myself," Sumo snorted. "Without tax." [?]

"Tax?" Momo said.

"Well, you have to take out a fee for competing," Omoi explained. "But, uh...Bakugo, was it? You probably should start small if you're gonna do this. I've even done it myself, and it's not that easy. They don't let you use lightning--too dangerous in the water. It's all hand to hand skill."

"How do you feel about explosions?" Bakugo asked.

"Is that your jutsu?" Sumo asked.

Bakugo nodded.

Sumo conferred with some of the other guys who might have been the judges of this...questionable contest.

They frowned or laughed and then nodded.

"I guess it's all right if it's you and not the paper kind," Sumo said. "I mean...give someone a fighting chance, or the Kage will be pissed."

"Lord Ay knows about this?" Momo said.

* * *

"Yes, he does." Mabui was answering the same question to Shoto and Dabi. "It's not illegal. That's what I've been trying to tell you, if you'd let me finish. It's not...exactly encouraged, but people do it for the thrill."

"That is encouraging it if it's not illegal," Dabi said. "Like those cage fights used to be."

"Did you know that some pro heroes used to do those?" Shoto said. "Shine told us that, but I don't know how she found out."

"Snowflake, focus," Dabi said. "Have you noticed that Bakugo looks like he's salivating over there?"

"No..." Shoto looked at Bakugo now. "But he wouldn't be that foolish."

"Really? He punched Shigaraki when he was a prisoner," Dabi said.

Shoto frowned. "Then again... But that was months ago. He's learned since then."

* * *

"I'm not scared. Sign me up," Bakugo declared. "And if I last longer than 5 minutes, I get double."

"You're one cocky SOB," Sumo said. "But it's your funeral. We'll get Mega ready. He likes the taste of fresh meat, just so you know."

Bakugo just grinned.

https://youtu.be/9-4XGjHIUrI

[Skip to the 1:00 mark. This has a long intro. Bakugo AMV by Indygo's Visual Jukebox to "You Can't Stop Me"--Andy Mineo]