Hey guys, this is my first fanfic, so all criticism, good bad and ugly, is greatly appreciated! I've had this idea for a while now, and just recently decided to try and put it to fruition. I know the first chapter is fairly short and straightforward, but i only spent about a day on it. I plan on spending more time on the next few chapters, focusing on conflicts, character development, stuff of the like, so hopefully the latter chapters will be better than this one! Like I said, any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Naruto's thoughts

Hinata's Thoughts

Without further delay, Here it is: Path of a Champion

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP

"Damn alarm clock" Naruto Uzamaki grumbled as he shut the alarm off. He got out of bed and rubbed the knot out of his neck, trying to give himself a few minutes to wake up. Sighing heavily with an exhausted look on his face, he walked into the kitchen and began throwing a protein shake together. He couldn't help but grimace as he tossed in broccoli, kale, shark cartilage, and coconut water.

"Man I hate broccoli" he muttered Turning his nose at the smell of the vile concoction, he downed it as fast as he could, then headed to pack his bags and get dressed. "Hm...today's the 28th, so that means boxing aaaaaannd..." His eyes lit up when he realized he'd be able to see her today. "jiu-jitsu" he whispered happily. After haphazardly throwing his equipment in his gym bag, he tossed it on the shelf in front of the door, then walked into the bathroom to clean up. "Damn kickboxer" he growled as he replaced the butterfly bandage on a cut over his eyebrow. He decided it was the only blemish amongst the plethora of various cuts, bruises, and scrapes on his face that really needed to be treated. He paused in front of the mirror to look at himself. It never failed to estrange him how a once emaciated orphan, barely a hundred pounds, could've grown into the…well, the 185 pound phenomenal specimen that he was today. "Alright, let's get this show on the road!" He smiled as he checked the time. 7:00. Sometimes he wondered why he did it, other times he couldn't help but feel happy about doing it. Such was the life of a fighter he figured. As he shrugged off any extra aches from the previous day jogging out of his apartment, he couldn't help but smile, his mind drifting to who he would see later.

Across town, Hinata Hyuga stretched her arms above her head with a yawn. Heading into the kitchen, she started making breakfast, subconsciously stretching as she mixed various berries together with a bowl of oatmeal. Checking the calendar, she nearly fainted when she remembered it was the 28th.

"Naruto-kun..." she breathed happily. Even if she wouldn't see him until the afternoon, she immediately began prepping for the day at a pace that would even make lee dizzy. After a quick shower, and a check over her equipment for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning, she headed towards the gym for the day. "I can't wait to see him" she said to herself dreamily, a slight blush creeping across her cheeks at the thought of being so close to him.

"One two three! Again! One two three! Again! Alright, go southpaw and give me cross-uppercut-hook! Kakashi was sweating almost as much as Naruto. Even after being his trainer for 2 years, he still found his stamina to be insane, to say the least.

"Hya! Hya! Hya!" Naruto yelled as he fired off the combinations at blinding speed. Just as he was about to start firing off punches, the buzzer sounded.

"Excellent work today Naruto, you get faster every time we spar!" Kakashi chuckled.

"Thanks sensei!" Naruto replied with his trademark grin.

"Listen kiddo, like I said, if you ever need a few extra bucks between matches, you know where to find me, right?" Kakashi said as he untaped Naruto's hands.

"Nah sensei, I'm fine! If I ever need anything, I'll come to you first, promise" Naruto smiled.

Besides his coaches, Naruto didn't have any family, he had been an orphan since he could remember. It always made him happy whenever the few people he was proud enough to call family were willing to lend a hand to him. Besides, he made what he thought was plenty of money for his lifestyle (which,being honest, wasn't too fancy of one), but nonetheless, he was happy. As he stuffed his gear into his bag and threw on his hoodie, he checked his phone. 2:00. 'Perfect' he thought to himself with a smile.

"I'll catcha later sensei, jiu-jitsu calls!" he whooped.

"I'll see ya soon Naruto" He replied with one of his one-eyed grins. Naruto couldn't help but always smile even bigger at the sight of his pirate-esque boxing coach. Ever since taking a vicious thumb to the eye in a boxing bout, Kakashi had lost the vision in his eye, and had worn an eye patch ever since. To everyone who knew him, they could never figure out how he was still one of the most prominent boxing coaches on the planet with only half his vision. 'One eye or not, I wouldn't pick anyone else' Naruto thought as he began to jog home.

As he grabbed a Tupperware container of pasta from the previous night, he couldn't help but get butterflies at the thought of his next training session. Just recently he'd started to realize how drop dead gorgeous she was. Even moreso, he couldn't understand how he hadn't seen it sooner! At the same time, he had never really felt as strongly for a girl as he did Hinata. Just the thought of her, and remembering how graceful and precise all the movements, both in and out of the cage were, seemed to turn him to putty. Lately he'd been trying to figure out a way to tell her how he felt, but could never follow through with it. Sometimes feelings were just to confusing.

'I can follow through with every punch and kick I throw, yet I can't seem to grow enough of a pair to ask a girl out? I must be getting kinda soft' He chuckled to himself as he finished his snack. After tossing the container in the sink, he sprawled out on his futon and decided to take a nap to bridge the gap between now and his jiu-jitsu training.

"Now from guard, you're going to push down on the knee, and pass to half guard. While keeping pressure on the same knee, throw out to the side, and secure the neck and arm. Can anyone show me how to finish it?" Hinata asked as she stood up from the boy she had been working with. She sighed as she saw his reaction, the same reaction that seemed to occur to every boy she worked with. All of them found her ridiculously attractive for reasons unknown to her. He was practically in a comatose with a grin to rival Naruto's. She smiled as a small blush managed to find it's way to her face.

'Oh god what's wrong with me, I can't even think about him without getting all worked up!' As she helped the boy to his feet, watching him shake out of his trance, she checked the clock. 4:00."I wonder where Naruto-kun is…" She mumbled to herself. Practically on cue, she heard the familiar loud greeting to the front desk, followed by the opening and slamming of the gym door.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled as he jogged over. As she turned around, he couldn't help but finding his eyes bugging out their socket as he looked at her voluptuous figure garbed in a sports tanktop, and compression leggings, exposing her toned, yet small abdomen. Her skin glowed as if it were made of alabaster, and it not only framed her body phenomenally, but set her flawless smile, beautiful lavender eyes, and her braided navy hair on top of said figure perfectly as well. 'Gods she's so perfect' he said to himself. 'I don't stand a chance' he thought.

"Naruto!" She greeted with a smile. Naruto gulped.

"Uh…heh, I…um…I'm ready to train!" He managed to get out. Hinata blushed. 'He's so cute when he does that. I wonder if it's me?' She thought to herself.

"Alrighty, let's get started!" she said. As they began to work though the different submissions and escapes, both couldn't help but wonder how their feelings didn't keep them from being able to train with no problem at all. Outside of the gym and the cage, both were nothing but stuttering buffoons around one another. As they both pushed their feeling to the side, they couldn't help but compliment one another's strengths. 'she's so fast! But she still moves with such grace' Naruto thought to himself. 'Gods, he's strong, he' but still so precise!' Hinata blushed at the thoughts.

"You okay Hinata-chan? You look kinda red!" Naruto managed to grunt as he finally managed to pass her guard.

"Oh..um…yeah of course! I'm fine!" she breathed as she locked in an armbar.

"Damnit" he grunted as he felt the tendons in his arm begin to pop. As he tried to catch into a kneebar, she rolled out and they were on their feet once more.

"too slow" she smiled at him. Naruto gulped, even in a training environment like this, he couldn't help but stare in awe at how beautiful Hinata was. Seeing her opportunity, she quickly dashed in and nimbly hopped on him, securing a standing guilliotine choke in the process. Naruto resisted the urge to slam her, and settled for a half-fall half-stumble to the mat.

"Come…..on….Naruto-kun, just tap already!" Hinata managed to speak through gritted teeth. "In...your….drea.." Naruto choked out just before he slipped unconscious.

To….Naru…Naruto!" Hinata loudly coaxed as she shook him awake. Naruto coughed and shook his head.

"Wha…..what happened?" Hinata blushed furiously,

"I…..um….I kinda choked you…..unconcious." She said as she pressed her finger together nervously.

"Really?!" Naruto exclaimed. 'Man she's almost as strong as Tsunade!' Hinata looked as if she were about to faint.

"I'm really sorry! I swear I didn't mean to! It's just that when I heard you say you wouldn't tap, I pushed a little to far, and….and-" She gushed nervously, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"Hinata-chan, relax! It's training! This sort of thing is supposed to happen! And besides, I think it's pretty badass!" He plastered his huge trademark grin on his face for good measure.

"You mean…you're not mad at me?" She asked, clearly taken aback by his positivity on the situation.

"Of course not! Like I said, I think it's awesome!" Hinata managed a small smile as she looked down towards the mat. As the buzzer went off, signaling the training round end, Naruto checked the clock again and sighed. 'Damnit, 6:30 already?' he thought glumly. Hinata sighed 'I wish we had more time, even if it was only training. I hope he's not mad at me for the whole choke incident…' she thought sadly.

"Well I guess I'll get outta your hair Hinata-chan, today was really great!" He exclaimed happily.

"Oh, of course Naruto-kun, I'll see you next time, hopefully with less, umm….incident." She blushed bright red with a small sheepish smile.

"Don't sweat it Hinata!." 'Just ask her out you idiot!' "Oh, hey Hinata?" he asked as he felt the temperature in the room raise a few degrees.

"Yes Naruto-kun?" She answered hopefully. 'Maybe he'll ask me!' She felt butterflies creep into her stomach at the thought.

"Um, ah….you….er….you were really great today! Just wanted to mention that…eh…but anyway, I'll see ya around!" He half barked, half sighed. 'You fucking BAKA! What is wrong with you?!' He mentally screamed.

"Oh, um, you too Naruto! Bye!" She answered sweetly, trying to mask the disappointment in her voice. As he left the Hyuga Jiu-Jitsu gym, he scolded himself. "I'm gonna do it Saturday! I'm gonna do it! I'll be DAMNED if I don't do it!" He yelled as he jogged to his car 'Better get ready for a hot seat in hell my friend' He thought with a grimace.