Yo! Back at it again her with this next chapter. Wish it was longer, but I didn't want it to feel forced.
As always, please excuse any grammatical errors I've made. I'm no English major, nor have I ever claimed to be. Just a boy that likes to write a bit every now and then.
Anyhow, enjoy it for what it is y'all.
Disclaimer: Still own nothing.
Naruto grunted as his back clashed against the fence of the octagon. He lowered his center of gravity and spread his legs out to break any grip his partner had on the back of his legs. He landed a couple of light punches on the face of the headgear, before he started having to actively defend the takedown more aggressively.
"That's it Saiba! Grind him out and stay aggressive!"
The man he sparred, Saiba, was smart and heeded his coaches advice, quickly transitioning from a double leg takedown, to a single leg. Turning sharply and using the cage as a foothold, he blasted into Naruto's waist and toppled him.
"Scramble and jump to side control!" One of the coaches shouted
The blond teen wouldn't make it so easy though and scrambled himself once his back hit the floor. Using one hand to push Saiba's head off and away from him, the other planted on the ground to help pull himself from the trap. Naruto was able to hop to a foot and yank his captured leg from captivity.
Naruto breathed in heavily, and made some space between him and Saiba. The older of the two stalked after him on the floor, but Naruto waved him up with his hands.
"Get up." He spoke as a bent his knees and raised his hands. Saiba obliged and rose to his feet, ready to resume the spar.
Naruto extended his lead hand probing into the guard, he flashed his left hand to urge a reaction from Saiba but got nothing in return. Internally he tsk'ed, but shook off the small amount of frustration he was feeling at his thus far unimpressive round.
Naruto's body reacted almost off instinct as he felt his lead hand come into contact with Saiba's shoulder. That wasn't good. If he could touch him, especially as he shot to close the distance, then chances were Saiba could also touch him.
Luckily, Naruto's bladed stance allowed him to quickly slide in and out of range. He backed up just enough to find the perfect counter to Saiba's take down attempt.
As Saiba put himself at ranged, Naruto rotated his hips and threw a rear uppercut. He connected, but his timing was a beat off and his gloved hand smacked the older man on the forehead. It did however pause the advance, which left him open.
Saiba was slightly surprised, but was able to shake off the hit. That millisecond pause nearly made him pay as he just barely caught sight of the follow up lead hook that Naruto threw. He was able to just barely duck under the hook for a perfectly timed takedown. It was almost like watching GSP. Before Naruto knew it, his legs were taken from him and his back was driven harshly into the mat.
A shame that the blond had done all that to avoid the take down, only to have it be the reason he was taken down.
From there, there wasn't really much Naruto could do but try and work for position. He was far from his best on the ground, it was the worst aspect of his game if he had to admit it. The teen was horribly outclassed, but be that as it may, he was not defenseless.
Eventually he found himself ground in between the cage and Saiba, a very uncomfortable but prosperous position.
If he could use the fence properly, then he'd be able to scrape Saiba off of him.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The round clock beeped loudly before Naruto could set his plan in motion. "Rounds up boys!" Saiba quickly disengaged from Naruto and sat up, heavy breathing leaving his lips.
He patted Naruto on the leg and stood up fully, "Good rounds kid. You've got strong stand up, and good timing, if you'd had more time you probably could've got me with that uppercut. But your ground game needs work, it's noticeably lacking." He both complemented and criticized the teen as he stepped out of the cage and had his coaches unwrap his hands.
Naruto stood up as he saw Saiba taking his gear off, "Woah-Hold on a second, that was it? I can go a few more rounds if you want." To say Naruto was disappointed in his performance was an understatement. His pride simply wouldn't let him end on a losing note.
Saiba laughed and ran one of his free hands through his sweaty, brown, matted hair, "You might be able to go for more, but I can't. That was my eighth round kid, I'm fucking tired."
Before Naruto could reply, Hiruzen intervened. "He's needs rest Naruto. Saiba shouldn't have been training that hard today anyways, he's already halfway through his taper off period."
Naruto sucked his teeth before he turned away and laid down in the cage. He heard Saiba chuckle a bit as he left the area, no doubt to shower and take off for the day.
"You act like you aren't happy with how that went?" Hiruzen stated it almost as if it were a question.
Naruto tossed his orange headgear aside and looked at the standing man from his prone position, "Of course I'm not happy, I got my ass whooped." The teens eyebrows creased as he looked back on several details of the spar.
"You performed as well as you could've, don't forget, Saiba is a top 5 contender in the UFC. He's the real deal, cut yourself some slack why don't ya?"
"It's not like you could've won a round against my brother anyways Uzumaki. Saiba's got a title match coming up, his second one, so if you think you can fight on par with someone capable enough to consistently make it to the biggest stage in combat sports you're delusional."
Naruto's eyes darted over to the side of the cage before they rolled in annoyance at who it was. "Fuck you Kiba. Shouldn't you be training or something? Maybe learn to win a fight by finishing it, instead of praying for it to go to a split-decision?You're not even good enough to get a unanimous decision."
"I'll finish you Naruto, I'll get my gear on right now and we can go!" Kiba argued back.
"Finish me? You're not ganna do anything, but curl up and beg me to let you off the hook."
"I'll pound you!"
"Heh, I knew you were a bit suspect! Sorry man, I like girls." The blond mocked
"Enough, both of you! Kiba keep walking, your brother wanted to talk to you! And you, stop antagonizing people and go home! Now get on, both of you!"
Reluctantly, both boys did as told. There's was shit they had to do anyways.
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Naruto shut the door to his rather cheap apartment and placed the keys to his 'car' on a nearby table. The raggedy old machine whined and shook in ways that were unnatural for a vehicle to. It was an old piece of scrap but the AC worked and it got him from A to B. He would love to be driving an Audi or a sports car, but he wasn't in any place to be making purchases like that.
Pushing thoughts of his car out of his mind, he plopped down to his couch as his phone dinged with a notification. It was a message from Sara, "Hey, you don't have to pick me up at 5 today. I'm rehearsing a play for school! I won't get out till 7"
Naruto smiled lightly and nodded, though the younger girl couldn't see, "Alright, lmk when you're ready" He replied.
Naruto leaned back in his seat and exited his messages. He navigated the home screen out of pure boredom, before deciding that he'd check his instagram feed. He deftly clicked the little camera icon and watched as his phone lit up with photos.
Scrolling through, he noticed a familiar face. It was a photo of Saiba, posted by his gyms page. The photo was well taken and the quality was top notch, it was of the 20 something man posing with his hand up. A victory pose it appeared to be, 'Confidence in preparation. Hard work is a talent few are born with.' It was captioned.
Naruto nodded in agreement, hard work was a skill that you could not craft. He liked the photo and scrolled on. After a few photos of other fighters, promotions, and girls Naruto quickly grew bored.
With a final flick of his thumb, he scrolled down to what would be his last photo and hummed to himself at what he landed on. His foreign friend, Emilia.
He'd stood true to his word and had been her very first follower, and it seemed his prediction of quick fandom grew just as quick. It hadn't been even a month since Naruto left the UK and Emilia already had almost two thousand followers.
It left the blond in awe at how quickly she brought a crowd to her. Just plain charisma perhaps? Or maybe people were just swayed by her pretty face, he wondered. No, that wasn't quite fair. She was much more than a pretty face.
It was a simple picture of the brunette with a finger shushing her lips and winking playfully at the camera, 'Some real hush hush news coming soon! Stay tuned!'
Naruto lifted an eyebrow, a new role perhaps? He only said it jokingly, but maybe Triassic attack really was her break out film… Actually, now that he thought about it, the blond regretted not asking Emilia more about how she got into acting.
Considering his baby sister was more than interested in pursuing a career in the field, it would've been massively helpful if he could've gotten an idea on where to start.
Clicking his tongue, he put that at the back of his mind. Ah well, his sister was a resourceful girl and he had no doubt that she could do anything as long as she put in the time. Naruto pressed the little heart button on the bottom of the picture and locked his phone.
He was beginning to feel the feeling of fatigue catch up with him. He may not have gone hard at the gym, but his body still needed to rest. Naruto felt his eyes begin to droop as he sprawled out on his couch.
Now would be a great time to have a nap.
The blond barely shut his eyes before an alarm blared and shook from his position, nearly forcing him to fall off the couch he lay on. Wait, that wasn't his alarm, it was his ringtone. Scrambling for his cell he saw that it was his sister.
"Hello, Sara?" He answered
"Naruto! Where are you?!"
"I'm-"
"You were supposed to be here by now! Where are you?" Pulling back slightly, Naruto checked the time, 7:30 it read.
"7:30?! It felt like a blink, fuck!"
The teen internally cursed and placed his phone back to his ear, "I'm almost there Sara! Just some traffic is all!" The blond nearly tripped as he bolted out the door and hustled down the stairs of his apartment.
He narrowly missed his neighbor, luckily any collision was avoided. "Hey, what's the rush Naruto?"
"Sorry Nicole, gotta pick up Sara, super late!" He said as he ran out of her view.
The woman nodded in understanding, "Oh… Makes sense."
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The ride home had been normal, albeit awkward in the beginning given he'd left the girl outside her school all alone. Sara was understandably annoyed and frustrated at that, but luckily she had been able to put it behind her by the time they got back to the apartment.
"So, I was curious," Sara adjusted herself in her chair as she ate, "Have you looked over that school brochure I gave you?"
Naruto peaked at his sister from his spot on the couch with a raised brow, "The one about that school for the 'arts' right?"
The blond girl perked up, "Yea! My theater teacher said that it's got one of the best arts programs in the state!"
Naruto breathed in deeply through his nose and exhaled heavily, this was for sure ganna escalate into an argument. "I did, I already told you before though, we don't have the money for that kind of thing. It doesn't have to be a private school does it, What's wrong with a regular school?"
The girl look offended for moment. "Don't have the money? It's not even that much!"
"Sara, it's almost as much as our rent! That's not money I have to freely spend, I'm already working 6 nights out of the week and we can barely scrape by!"
"You only have to pay for each semester, I even read that they have a payment system! So it'll be cheaper! Why are you making this harder than it is?!" She shouted at him.
"I'm not making it harder than it is, you just don't understand how money works. It doesn't matter if they have a 'payment system' I still won't the money! I'm sorry, I just don't!" Naruto was really trying to explain to his younger sister that he wasn't saying this to be an asshat. He was saying it cause they truly didn't have the money.
Typically the young man trained during the day, then worked at a bar at night. He trained with the owners son, who managed the joint, and let him bartend even though he wasn't 18. He made decent money for what it was, but not nearly enough to live as comfortably as his sister thought they did. Not even enough to properly pay the bills. That's why he fought monthly, cause they literally needed the cash.
"And yet you have the money to pay for a fucking gym membership? How come you get to chase your 'dreams', but I can't? You're such a hypocrite!"
Naruto glared harshly at his younger sister. The girl flinched at the severity of it and seemed to shrink in on herself. "Oh I'm sorry, did you playing dress up at school help pay the bills?" He paused for moment, but received no answer, "I didn't think so. Finish eating and go to your room." He commanded.
Sara let out a shuddering breath and looked up at her brother. Her eyes full of tears and red from the saltiness of them, "I-I hate you!" With that said she stormed off to her room and slammed the door shut.
"Tsk!" Naruto clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, "Whatever…" the teen did his best to brush the whole conversation off. He knew that his baby sister would get over it eventually and that her words were said purely in the heat of the moment.
However, that didn't mean they didn't hurt. He loved this girl with all his heart, and he wanted the very best for her. It hurt that he couldn't give her everything she wanted, it broke his heart to tell her to settle for less.
He shook his head off, "No. She'll never have to settle for less. Not if I can help it."
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"Ha, hai!"
The very next day Naruto was in the gym again. Currently he was doing his rounds on the water bag, working it like the professional he was.
He hit the bag with some light jabs and straights, before dipping under and landing a piercing uppercut. After his power shot landed, Naruto backed off almost as if he imagined the bag had arms.
The teen slipped an imaginary punch and countered with a heavy hook. The water bag, even though it absorbed hits better than a regular bag, shook and swayed. Reaching out with his lead hand, he steadied the large bag and hit it with a firm straight.
The blond stepped back and shuffled his feet, changing his stance from southpaw to orthodox and slid back into range.
He reached out with a lead hook and followed it up with a quick but powerful straight. The heavy bag swayed a bit and on its fall back Naruto timed a rear uppercut. It made a loud smacking sound and bounced for a moment before ultimately it was stilled.
Just as he was going to begin another combination, his beeper went off signaling the end of this particular training.
The teen let his hands drop and leaned his head back in an effort to catch his breath. He walked over to a nearby padded wall and slid down it, leaving a trail of sweat with it and took a seat. Naruto brought his glove up to his face and bit the velcro strap off and slid his hand out. His other hand soon followed, his fingers spreading wide to relieve them of their stiff feeling.
Naruto took a sip of water and leaned his sweaty head back against the wall. His eyes roamed lazily as he watched other trainees either hit pads or bags. Well most were striking, some were grappling, or even doing stretching.
His eyes lingered a little bit longer on the far side of the gym where a small crowd formed. Saiba had come into the gym today with a whole camera crew. What it was for he didn't know, but they were following the guy everywhere.
"Naruto boy!"
The teen glanced up and smiled as he saw his coach trot up to him, "I'm glad to see you're still here. I was afraid you'd left for the day."
"Hey old man! I've still got a couple of hours before work, so why not train a bit?"
The old man nodded in agreement, "Hm, yes but don't overdo it. Over training is worse than under training."
Naruto shrugged, he was young so he was sure he'd heal up in no time. "Say, I've been meaning to ask, but what's up with the entourage over there?" He asked gesturing to the crew around Saiba.
"That actually reminds me of why I came over here. Have you got your mouthpiece with you today?"
"Of course."
"Excellent. Well that crew is with the UFC, they're filming the embedded episodes to lead up to the title fight this weekend. Anyways, Saiba and his coaches wanted a spar. They requested you specifically…"
Naruto smiled challengingly, "Me specifically huh? Well I'm not one to turn down a fight, no matter the circumstance behind it."
Hiruzen shook his head, "I respect that spirit, but if I'm being 100% honest with you kid, I'd decline. They're looking for a lamb." He revealed.
Naruto scoffed as he stood up, "They wanna use me as a hypejob? We'll see about that. He seemed like a decent dude at first, guess you can't judge a book by it cover huh."
Both fighter and trainer walked over to the octagon they had in the gym for sparring and got set up. Hiruzen had retrieved all the gear that was necessary from Naruto's gym bag; mouth guard, shin guard and his sparring gloves. The decided to forgo the headgear.
They wanted to use 12 oz. gloves since Saiba's fight was less than a week away, not that Naruto really cared. He'd fight bare knuckle if they wanted to, but now that he really thought about it, thicker gloves worked in his favor.
It would be hard for Saiba to hook his legs and get a takedown with his fingers trapped inside the gloves.
Finally all geared up, Naruto just waited for Saiba to finish putting on all his stuff. He didn't have to wait long as the older man finished up quick enough.
Hiruzen put Naruto's mouthguard in, but not before offering some words, "Keep your distance and fight long. Saibas real strength is his wrestling, his striking just isn't on the same level. That said, don't underestimate it, just pick your shots calmly."
The blond nodded at his coach bounced on his toes. The cage was shut as Hiruzen stepped out and He immediately went into the rules.
They were ganna spar for the full 5 minutes, but only do two rounds and then rest.
Both parties nodded and they got set for the beeper to signal the start of the round. As Naruto waited his eyes caught the large camera pointed his way, the blond smiled and stuck his tongue out, "Watch close." He spoke to it just as the beep went off.
Naruto did exactly the opposite of what Hiruzen advised and immediately took center cage. He already had a basic feel for Saiba due to their skirmish the other day, so he felt no need to feel him out.
Saiba on the other hand came out much slower, he was almost surprised at the younger mans enthusiasm but had prepared for it. His coaches had told him to expect on aggressive start but stay patient.
'Yea right.' Saiba thought. Sure the blond was good for his age, but he was no contender and he certainly didn't warrant that much caution. Not that he didn't have respect for the younger trainee, he just had too much respect for himself. Not only that, but the UFC cameras were here. How would it look if he fought so conservatively against a kid that was barely pro?
So, he stalked forward and when he got close enough feinted a jab and dipped his hips, ready to take the kid down. However, things didn't go exactly as planned.
Naruto didn't bite on the feint and the moment he saw Saiba dip his hips, he fired a roundhouse kick to the body. The slapping sound of the leather padding echoed loudly as Saiba let the shin bounce off his forearm and backed up momentarily, surprised at the move.
By pure instinct alone the UFC fighter was able to see the kick last second and halted his takedown attempt. Had he tried to follow through, the kick would have caught him clean on the head, might have even knocked him out.
Saiba looked up to Naruto face, only to see a slim smirk on the teens face, "You didn't think I'd let things go down that quick did ya? Let's have some fun standing up."
Saiba scoffed and mirrored his smirk, "Heh, not everything's ganna go your way. That's the fight business." The older man saw that he was trapped between the cage and his sparring partner and, feeling a bit petty, threw a kick of his own.
It was meant to be a low power leg kick, that would force Naruto to respect him a bit more, but the blond was able to read it easily enough and slid just out of range.
Seeing his opponent was off balance, Naruto took a large step in and pumped a long jab. It landed just barely, but right behind it was a powerful left.
His punch bounced off Saibas guard but the impact was not only heard but clearly felt by it target. The No. 2 contender was experienced though and his ring IQ was phenomenal. The man, took the shot on the glove and rolled with the impact to lessen it.
Peeking through his guard he saw Naruto loading up for another punch, and swung a check left hook from his orthodox stance. The hook missed but it gave him enough room to circle out from his trapped position.
He circled out left and ended up just to side of Naruto's lead hand, this was a favorable position he realized. Instead of head hunting, Saiba played it smart and aimed a low punch at the body.
He connected cleanly and he pulled his head back just in time to dodge a counter attempt made by Naruto.
Seeing that he'd lost some positioning, Naruto adjusted and made his way back to the center of the cage. He was looking to keep this round in Saiba's corner, cutting off the cage at every opportunity he could.
The blond stayed aggressive, keeping his opponent at the end of his punches with kicks and light knees to the body when he dared get too close. The knees were a bit dangerous he found when Saiba wrapped his arms around one that he'd tried to land on his ribs.
Naruto was able to stifle the attempt, but he didn't really think that Saiba was truly going for the completion. Was he trying to tire him out, he wondered. Who knew, there was still plenty of time to fight though and a whole nother round after this one.
Naruto was once again able to trap Saiba between himself and the fence. This time though he was a bit more calculating, he probed with a front kick and dug the ball of his foot into Saiba's stomach. Seeing the man hunch over just a bit, Naruto smiled.
The blond threw an corkscrew jab (it's basically an upside down jab) with his lead hand and split Saibas guard, finding it to be successful he lowered his stance and rotated his hips to place a powerful left smack center of the face.
The punch landed and snapped Saiba's head back roughly, but the man made no signs that he was hurt or even affected by the blow. Internally Naruto felt a smidge of disappointment, was this really what a top contender in the UFC fought like? Sure their first session was a bit rough for him, but know that he'd had more than 10 minutes to really feel the guy out, he was a bit underwhelmed.
The surrounding spectators were silent as Naruto peppered Saiba with with hooks, jabs, and cross'. Whether it was in pure awe or horror, he didn't know or care to know.
Seeing that his opponent was just covering up, Naruto wound up and looped his fist for a wide left hook.
This turned out to be just the opportunity Saiba was waiting for, the older man dropped his hips low and swung his own powerful left hook. Simultaneously he dipped his head just out of the way of Naruto's power hook, just the whipping air felt like it could break skin. The contender could only imagine what it would be like if he got hit by it.
With Naruto's punch having missed, the weight behind it carried him into Saiba's counter left hook. The punch slapped harshly against Naruto face and the force behind it through him slightly off balance.
The blond stumbled back in surprise but quickly regained his footing, the hit was hard and clean. But he could shook the cobwebs off and moved his head away from a follow up right.
Before Saiba could capitalize anymore the timer beeped loudly and Naruto dropped his hands. Both fighters stared at each other for a moment while, the trainer rushed in with stools to simulate an actual fight.
Saiba held his hands up and shrugged, "Yea? That what you wanted?" He questioned.
Naruto smiled and uncharacteristically antagonized his gym mate, "You hit like a pussy." With that said he walked away to his corner and sat on a stool Hiruzen provided for him.
"That didn't really seem necessary, this wasn't supposed to be a competitive spar. And you didn't even take my advice!" Hiruzen spoke as he took out Naruto mouth guard. The blond spit into a bucket as the guard was taken out and noticed the red color.
'Damn, he cut my gums."
"Yea, I'm just trying to blow off a little bit of steam. Between them trying to use me as a fucking stepping stone, and Sara, I've got some stress to let loose. And besides, if we went at it easy, it wouldn't really benefit anyone would it?" He questioned.
"I see… Well either way, if Saiba takes too much damage and has to pull out, that's on you. I guess if you'll continue to go at it like this, I might as well do some coaching. You're doing well keeping him at bay with your kicks, it's probably been ingrained in him to body block. Try mixing in some head kicks, just remember not to go too hard."
Naruto nodded and took his mouth piece back into his mouth, "Sure thing. Let's have some fun."
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Naruto gently rubbed his sore jaw and then ran a hand through his messy hair. He made sure not touch the light swelling and bruising around his right eye as it was tender.
The spar he'd had with Saiba had gotten much more intense than it was intended to. The older man had turned it up a few notches in that second round and really tried to pile it on him.
Luckily Naruto was nimble and was able to see most shots long before they could hit. But what he did get hit with were real bombs, the blond imagined if they were wearing 4 oz Gloves he might've been knocked out. Aside from that, Naruto got his hits in as well and overall the sparring session proved to be a telling experience for the teen.
Saiba had decided to forgo any wrestling and just stood with Naruto for their rounds. Despite the fact that Hiruzen had said, "He's just not on your level" it seemed like it was largely untrue.
The elder man was more or less on par with him and hit like a truck, as it happened though, Naruto's particular skill set made him a challenging stand up fight for almost anyone.
So to make a long story shorter, Naruto once again got his ass beat. And while it wasn't as one sided as some would've have imagined, that was only because Saiba humored the kid and stood with him the entirety of their session.
"Hey barkeep! Another shot over here!"
Naruto sighed as he was putting some glass cups away. It was already 2:30 AM and this fucker was still here, the bar closed at 2…
"Listen man, we're closed. We closed 30 minutes ago, I'm only letting you stay in here until your ride comes to get you."
"If that's the case, then what's the harm in one more shot? Hmmmm?" The guy drunkenly debated.
Naruto thought for a moment but honestly couldn't find a fault in the man's reasoning. Shrugging he reached under the counter and pulled out a bottle whisky, "Fine, here's your shot-" just before he began to pour it, the teen looked over at the drunken only to find him dead asleep on the bar top.
Naruto clicked his tongue and placed the bottle back under the counter. So much for one last shot.
The teen had finished cleaning up and went around the bar and sat a seat or two away from his knocked out companion, the owner had gone home and left Naruto with the keys. Seeing as he was friends with his kid, he trusted the blond enough to lock up for the night.
Maybe trust was the wrong word… If anything was missing or got fucked up, the owner knew where he'd be.
Naruto didn't have to wait all that long until he heard the doors opening and shutting. Swiveling on his stool he turned to see a pretty blonde girl walk in hurriedly.
"Uhm, excuse me…?"
"You're Whitney?"
"Yes, and you are…?"
"Naruto, we spoke on the phone."
Whitney oh'ed in realization and nodded her head, she walked to the man she came to pick up and tried to shake him awake. She failed, but kept trying her hand.
"I don't think that's ganna work, he's had a LOT to drink. Probably best if we carry him to the car." Naruto suggested.
Whitney looked up and couldn't help but agree. Now that she got a closer look though, she couldn't help but notice the bruising on the side of the bartenders face, "Oh my god, he didn't do that to you did he?" She asked concerned.
The teen raised an eyebrow in confusion before it hit him, "What this?" He pointed at the bruising, "Goodness no, I'm a fighter. I had some rough sparring today is all." He clarified as he snaked one of the unconscious man's arms over his shoulders.
Whitney sighed in relief as she did the same, that would've been awkward. On an unspoken count to three, the two stood up and were able to easily pick the dead weight up. Slowly, but steadily, they walked through the doors and to the only other car in the lot.
Naruto carefully opened up the backseat doors and leaned the man in as comfortably as he could.
"So you're a fighter? That's cool, I'm still in college, but I do some professional wake surfing!"
Naruto perked up a bit, surprised that she started a conversation. He grunted a bit as he tried adjusted the other man's limp body but carried the conversation on, "Sounds fun, must hurt like hell if you fall though. Am I right?"
"Hehe, yea. The trick is to just not suck. Likewise, I imagine it must not feel great to get punched in the head, right?" She teased
Naruto chuckled and stood back up as he fastened the guy down with a seat belt. "Well, as you could imagine, the trick is to not suck." He said playfully.
Whitney giggled and shut her rear car door, "Thanks for helping out, I don't think I could've brought him out here by myself."
"Yea, for such a small guy, your boyfriend is a heavy man."
Whitney laughed loudly and shuddered in disgust, "Ew, boyfriend? No way, that's my brother!"
Naruto felt a bit embarrassed that he'd been caught assuming, but laughed it off with the girl. "So, your single…?"
"Well I didn't say that."
"Oh-"
"-But I am."
"Oh!"
Whitney walked around to her car door and stepped in, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in combat sports. Who knows, maybe you can show me a few things?"
Naruto smiled and leaned down, "I'll tell you what, drop by my gym and check it out. If you like it, I'm sure we can work something out." He handed her a card that had the gyms address and phone number on it and stepped away as Whitney shut her door.
Whitney rolled her window down, getting ready to say her final words, "I'll hold you to that. Anyways, thanks again, I owe you one!"
Naruto nodded and smiled, "Don't mention it, I'm happy to help. I hope I see you at the gym, there's plenty for me to teach." He smirked as Whitney smiled and shook her head.
"Goodbye Naruto." With that said she drove off, leaving Naruto all alone in the parking lot.
That certainly could've gone a lot worse, he half expected some pissed off mother to come in picking up their drunk son. Fortunately it was a pretty blond around his age instead.
Naruto walked back to the bar doors and locked them, he gave them a pull to make sure they were locked proper and walked over to his car.
Damn, this night didn't turn out all that bad.
~Fin~
Alright y'all that's that for this next chapter. We're back in the good old US of A and got our first taste of what goes on in the gym. Originally I didn't wanna have a ton of other Naruto characters in here but in certain situations I just can't help it.
Most of them will end up being side characters, like Kiba was was an accessory to Saiba. And while we're talking about it, what did you think of Saiba? Was he too bland? Or was he too similar to Kiba?
Saiba is an OC I created for this story, I just wanted there to be a little bit of a connection other than just having them attend the same gym. Personally I feel like making him Kiba's big brother adds another level of competition, but I guess we'll figure that out as the story goes on.
As far as Whitney goes, just a little experiment. I think I want Emilia to be the end game for the pairing, but right now I don't really have a way to reunite them, at least not for a while. But if things go that route, I have it all planned out.
And even if they do end up together, what's wrong with a bit of side dating? It's only natural that both parties have prior relationships.
I hope y'all liked the small fights I had here, I didn't wanna have the chapter be purely dialogue, cause I'm not that great at it, lol. But I hope you envisioned it in a similar manner I did.
Oh and don't mistake Saiba getting tee'd off on as he's weak. Remember that he's almost at his peak fatigue for a training camp; weight cutting, stress, media, all that shit adds up. So was he getting beat up for a moment yes, but he got his licks in too.
Anyhow, that's the chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to conjure up the next in a more timely fashion with a bit more length.
Peace!