Chapter Three
Just a short filler chapter, next one will be longer.
August 5th 2013
Naruto sighed as he fixed his tie in the hotel bathroom.
"Remind me why I have to do this."
Shikamaru sighed and poked his head in.
"So they can see how serious you are about this. Companies want someone who will take their business serious and that's why it's important for you to do this."
"I just wanna play basketball."
"I know but you don't get your first NBA paycheck until November 15th and they only paided you to eat during the Summer League. If you want your family to sit in Philadelphia and for us to keep living in a hotel then by all means don't come."
Naruto sighed as he walked out of the bathroom.
"Alright let's do this, How many meetings do we have?"
Naruto grabbed his suit jacket and the two left the hotel room.
"First we have a meeting with Nike. I've heard some chatter from the agency but we'll have to see what they have to offer before anything."
"What kind of chatter?"
"Apparently Nike is looking to give Kyrie Irving a big push in the next two seasons. T-shirts, commercials, billboards even his own sneaker. With them pushing him so hard they'll have less resources for you."
"After Nike?"
"Adidas, Jordan, and the Under Armour. Your the first overall pick, we have to get you a sneaker deal before training camp."
Naruto nodded as they exited the elevator and caught a cab to their first meeting.
Later That Night
Naruto sighed as he stepped out of the cab with Shikamaru. He had watched three powerpoints and received three offers. All were disappointing. The best one he received was from Nike. They offered him a three year deal worth two million a year.
The only problem was the disrespect he received during the meeting. One of the representatives called him Naruko three times and on one of the slides where his name was supposed to be, it said Kevin Durant.
After that Naruto tuned out for the rest of the meeting.
Naruto walked into his last meeting with Under Armour with extremely low expectations.
"Naruto Uzumaki, I'm a really big fan of yours."
Naruto shook hands with the rep and say down.
"I wanna get straight to the point. We here at Under Armour see you as the future of the league. You embody everything that we show here so we're prepared to offer you a seven year deal worth sixty five million dollars. Along with this."
The rep slid a piece of paper across the desk and both his and Shikamaru's eyes widened.
"A one million dollar signing bonus."
Naruto was going to say something but Shikamaru stopped him.
"What about exposure. My client doesn't want to just wear a brand."
"Of course. We're planning a entire national campaign. Billboards, commercials, store openings. The whole enchilada. We want to introduce you to the world as our new spokesperson. See Nike has LeBron, Kobe and Durant. We plan on turning you into one of our top endorsers."
Shikamaru looked at Naruto who bit his lip. He knew this wasn't a decision to take lightly but he couldn't pass up on this.
"Alright, I guess I'm apart of the Under Armour family now."
Shikamaru gave a sigh of relief as Naruto signed the papers.
"Now I understand you start training camp in just a few weeks so if we want this campaign to be successful we need to schedule some shoots before then. I've heard how your not a fan of these things but it must be done."
Naruto nodded.
"We even have an idea. Your great at connecting with your fans and are always looking for ways to improve your game so we want to show that."
September 29th
Naruto sighed as he packed his Under Armour backpack with everything he needed for his first day of training camp. The last month had kept him real busy but two weeks ago he managed to find a place for him and his family.
A four bedroom, three bathroom penthouse in West Los Angeles.
He was about to make a phone call when someone knocked on his door.
"Daddy!"
Naruto smiled as he caught Nina who flew into his arms the moment he opened the door.
"Princess, I missed you so much."
"I missed you too."
He put the blonde five year old down and she ran into her new home.
"I thought y'all was going to be here last night."
"Sorry our plane was running late."
He kissed his mother on the cheek and gave his sister a hug.
"This place is amazing!"
"Yeah at seven thousand a month it better be amazing."
"Seven thousand!"
Naruto nodded. "Well I wish I could give you guys a tour but I gotta go to training camp. Later we can go get dinner though."
"Well before you go you might wanna watch this."
Shikamaru walked in holding a DVD.
"Ohh, what is that!"
Shikamaru smiled as Nina ran back into the room.
"This is a commercial that your father filmed, wanna see!"
Nina nodded and grabbed Shikamaru's arm as she led him to the living room.
Naruto sighed. "Who gave her candy?"
Mia shook her head. "The flight attendant."
Everyone gathered in the living room and Shikamaru put the disc in the player.
Under Armour: Training Day Commercial
A bunch of kids and teenagers were waiting outside of Naruto's apartment building with their bikes. Naruto stepped out in a pair of black Under Armour basketball shorts, a white Under Armour t shirt and a pair of white and black UA Clutch Fit sneakers. He also had a Under Armour backpack on, a bike helmet and a bike at his side.
"Yo Naruto."
"Sup good morning y'all."
He gave out high fives. "Y'all ready?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, let's get it man."
Naruto hopped on his bike and rode down the street. As he kept riding more kids began to join him. They reached downtown and Naruto waved to a group of guys playing dominoes.
"Sup y'all!"
They waved back and the trail of bikes behind him did too as it expanded to almost a hundred people.
Naruto began to speed up his peddling and smiled when a kid got next to him matching his speed. Naruto leaned his hand over and gave him a fist bump.
A helicopter was in the sky looking over showing even more people people joining Naruto's horde.
"This is breaking news in Los Angeles, the crossway is backed up all the way to 293...yup he's training."
Naruto smiled as he slowly rode his bike along the highway with almost three hundred people behind him.
The scene then cut to Naruto running on the beach as he threw his shirt to the side and jumped in the water. He began swimming with dozens of people around him.
It then cut back to him on his bike. He rode past a parade and they surprisingly joined his horde.
He continued his ride all the way to the Lakers practice gym where he nodded to security as he rode his bike inside.
"Woah, woah."
The security guard stopped his horde which was now almost a thousand people.
Naruto walked into the practice court and went to work.
He took jumpshots from all over, spot up off the dribble. When he missed one he banged on the wall and started running laps. Then he did push ups before going back to shooting.
He left the practice gym and jumped over a pile of bikes as he began to run. People scrambled around trying to get back on their bikes to catch up to him.
His run took him to a park where he found some teenagers playing a basketball game. He watched as one of them did a dunk and screamed. He quited down when he saw Naruto staring at him with a smirk.
Naruto dropped his backpack. "Let's go."
They started a three on three game and Naruto went behind his back which got the kid to reach and Naruto drove past him and made a layup
The kid came back by making a layup just before Naruto could block it.
The game ended with Naruto doing a dunk.
"Good game man."
Naruto handed the kid his sneakers which he autographed for him. He took some running shoes out of his bag and began a slow jog back to his apartment. When he reached the door to his building he turned back to everyone behind him.
"Cool guys, tomorrow?"
Everyone nodded as Naruto went inside as the commercial ended with the Under Armour logo.
End Commercial
"Can I ride a bike!"
Naruto picked Nina up. "Of course, I'll take you out this Saturday and we can get to work. Sound good?"
Nina nodded and ran to Mia.
"Well as much as I want to stay here with you guys I really gotta get going. Wish me luck!"
He waved to everyone as he left his apartment.
It was a thirty minute drive from his place to the practice facility. When he got there he changed and hit the court. He sat back and watched for ten minutes as almost twenty other guys shot around waiting for the camp to officially start.
When it did he was told to line up with everyone else as their GM walked up and down the line.
"Day one, there are twenty of you. But as you all know there are only fifteen spots. Most of those fifteen spots are already filled but I wish to be impressed by what you all have to offer. Now there has been a lot of talk about our current coaching situation, but we managed to reach out and land someone who we think can continue the legacy of the Lakers. Give it up for your new coach, Rick Pitino."
Naruto smiled as his college coach walked out.
"Alright guys, I want this team to have a successful year and that starts today, regardless of you make the team or not."
Everyone nodded as the day started off with laps.
When camp ended Naruto was talking to his coach.
"Why you ain't tell me?"
"Cause I wanted to surprise you."
Naruto laughed. "Well I'm definitely surprised."
"Naruto I need to tell you something."
"What?"
"The front office wants you to step it up on the offensive end. I know that's not you and they are doing everything they can to get some more talent but we need you to be our first option."
Naruto sighed. "I don't know coach, that's not me."
"I know but being here is about adapting and changing your game. You got a lot of help. I'm assigning a vet that can help you out. Steve Nash a two time MVP. He's gonna help you learn to harasses your matchup and give you space to get off your shots.
Naruto reluctantly nodded.
Next Day
Naruto arrived at the Lakers practice gym the same time as the day before but this time like his coach said he was paired with Nash.
The two time MVP wasted no time putting him to work.
""So your gonna try and make it as hard as possible so I can't get the ball."
Nash put his hands on Naruto's torso and began moving them around before breaking off of him with a small push off and caught a pass from a trainer.
"See what you wanna do is use your hands to misguide them then give a small push off to give you space to get the ball. Nine times out of ten it works."
Naruto nodded as he did it a few times catching the ball in various positions.
Play Ambition by Wale
The time is now, on everything
"Alright your gonna take six steps, on every step you'll extend your leg as far as possible. On the fifth you'll explode to the sixth, catch and shoot."
Took my heart away from money
I ain't interested in fame
And I pray that never change
Ambition is priceless
It's something that's in your veins
And I put that on my name
Naruto took his five long steps and jumped into the last one, catching and shooting the ball.
"No, don't jump to it. Keep your walk just do it a little faster."
Uh, only hope I had was selling dope
Was on my grind cause times was harder than a cellar floor
My momma taught me never steal and never tell on folks
Naruto worked on the drill for almost an hour. He managed to get the steps down but struggled with catching the ball while trying to turn.
"What you wanna do is use the foot you plant down and pivot. Puts you in perfect position to shoot over your defender."
Naruto nodded as they went back to work.
I grew up looking up to niggas that was selling coke
Oh, I was raised by the stop sign
No religion I was getting saved by the Glock nine
By the minute I was getting paid like a hot line
Servin' raw and, fiends was calling, we was dot com
Naruto finally got the pivot down and was hitting shots at a high rate. They finally switched drills and went to a off the dribble shooting drill.
Nash had a toy basketball while Naruto used a real one. He dribbled between his legs at a fast pace while he stared at Nash, remembering his words.
"The game is all about eye contact, no matter how brief you have to make eye contact. If you can watch the eyes you should be good."
Well connected, well respected and well protected
Ain't get accepted, was rejected and now they regret it
Ain't get my message, was no signal when I was texting
The niggas I was calling was fraud and I learned my lesson
Out of nowhere Nash threw the toy ball at him and he responded by throwing his ball at the Nash just in time to catch the small ball. They immediately thew the balls back and Naruto went to going back between his legs.
Now I move with aggression, use my mind as a weapon
Cause chances are never given they tooken like interceptions
So throw that pass, I'll be the cornerback
Me and Folarin MMG gon' bring that Warner back
"Alright on the next one you shoot."
Naruto nodded and they switched again and when Naruto got his basketball back he shot the ball banking it in.
They repeated this drill just as long as they did the other one, despite the ease Naruto showed with it.
For my ambition
Easy to dream a dream, though it's harder to live it
They gon' love me for my Ambition
Easy to dream a dream, though it's harder to live it
They gon' love me for my Ambition
Easy to dream a dream, though it's harder to live it
Look, they gon' love me for my ambition
Beautiful music, painting pictures that be my vision
Naruto had to dribble two balls up the court. When he got to halfcout he rolled one to Nash. Then he tried to drive to the basket but Nash used the basketball to harass him and stop him from getting there. Naruto smirked as he did a half spin and then faded away for the shot, missing it.
"Don't always resort to shooting. Use other moves to hit the space."
My ambition to win, just to get me some ends
Help me pay my little rent, maybe sit in a Benz
I saw momma praying as she wait on results
It was hot in the kitchen can I wait on the porch
My father was missing, War Lord Oliver North
Naruto rolled the ball to Nash and drove to the basket. Nash stuck to him, using the ball to throw Naruto off his game. Naruto took a few steps back but just to spin off of Nash and go for a layup.
The ball rolled out and Naruto banged the wall.
"Don't worry about it. Good move, not every shot is gonna fall. Just gotta keep at it. Ready to go at it again?"
Naruto nodded as he wiped the sweat off of his face.
And Done!