Chapter 1: First Taste Of Glory

As the sun began to settle bringing night to New York City. Down in a basement gym, located in Harlem a fight was soon to occur.

The crowd, filled to the brim with a crave of blood. Cranked the atmosphere to the next level. Old men mixed with the youth, the old generation spoke with the young on their take of the upcoming bout.

It was the most anticipated one yet.

The fight for the Amateur Boxing Championship, here at 15 Lower Flushing.

Carved in the underbelly of Flushing, the place was far from the glitz and glamour of Vegas.

The ring filled with a different sense of pressure, resonated onto the chest of the referee. Even if he was a vet, when it came to officiating. Even he had to agree, he didn't want to do any controversial actions.

The crowd here would literally start a riot for their two favourite fighters. So much money had been betted on this upcoming slugfest, and no one wanted to get cheated on.

In the blue corner, the challenger stood tall showcasing his muscle physicue. Having trained hard for this affair, he didn't hesitate to put on a focused demeanor once his opposition caught his attention from across the ring.

The one thing he learnt from boxing, is that the match is mostly won in the mind.

There was no point of being scared of some guy who wanted to be put in a body bag. Well that's what his mentor Mike says anyway.

"Kid, are you listening to me!" the raspy, elderly voice rang into the boy's ear drums breaking him from his staring contest. "Huh?" the challenger stated as he looked behind his shoulder at his trainer, and grandpa-figure.

"I said, Sanchéz is dangerous! He's got one hell of a mean right and not only that, he's got experience-" the trainer warned as he was cut by his boxer. "Yeah, I know, I know Gus. We've seen the tape, he has a crazy mean left hook and he loves clinching when he sees his opposition's gaining a rhythm." The boxer summarised the information with a smirk. The two had prepared for this bout mentally and physically.

"Good. So work him out of his shell, make him feel he's gaining rhythm and when you get that hook. Dodge & Pounce on the opportunity." Gus advised, as in his hand was his boxer's mouthguard. Putting the protective piece where it belongs, the boxer quickly adjusted it with his tongue, till he felt comfortable.

"Also remember, kid!" the boxer's attention was caught as Gus told him to come closer, doing so Gus delivered a quick whisper.

"The bastard could've gone pro five years ago! But thing is, you're a monster! He's never fought a guy like you, has he?" Gus quipped out a rhetorical question.

"No!"

"That's right, you're only sixteen and you've accomplished more than he did in his whole career. So go out there and make him wish he never stepped in the ring, with Naruto Namikaze!" Gus concluded his fiery talk as he patted Naruto on his spiky blond hair. With one of the regulations' of amateur boxing being that you must wear head gear, the teen quickly fixed his as he turned back to his opponent.

Sánchez was also done talking to his coach as now they were back to mean mugging each other.

Eventually the ring announcer was able to sever the tension as he began the pre-game routine for the spectacle.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the main event of the evening! For the fight you've been waiting for it's now TIME!" the announcer shouted riling up the crowd.

"Now for the boxers' records. In the blue corner the boxer has 15 Wins- 0 Losses in the amateur division. Hailing from the Fighting City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! "The Untouchable Blond!" Naruto Namikaze!" raising his gloves up the now introduced Naruto, accepted the cheers and jeers from the crowd. Even if not everyone would like you, it still fueled his fighting spirit.

"And in the red corner, hailing from Mexico City, Mexico! He has fought in 31 bouts with 29 wins, 2 Losses. He's the REIGNING! DEFENDING! UNDISPUTED! AMATEUR DIVISION FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPION! RICARDO SÁNCHEZ!" the latter raised his gloves to the crowd as the delirious gazers couldn't help but shout out louder.

With the ref explaining the rules to both boxers, red tapped with blue as the two were directed to their separate corners.

At that time a middle aged, blond woman arrived at the venue through the staircase. Dressed in grey attire and a green jacket, she made her way through the crowd towards the ring until she felt a nudge on her shoulder.

"Tsunade!" turning her head to the voice, she sighed in relief when it was her former classmate, Jiraiya.

"I got saved us some front rows seats." He gestured for her to follow. Doing so the two found their way around the many feet in their way. Avoiding to step on anyone's toes, they soon found themselves in the best spots of the house. Tsunade's eyes couldn't help but land on Naruto as she had a worried look, Jiraiya seeing this looked back at his godson with pride.

"No need to have that look, Tsunade. Naruto's going to be just fine, he's one hell of a slippery fighter." He reassured her, as the latter scoffed.

"It's not him I'm worried about Jiraiya, it's his opponent." She concluded.

[xXx]

Standing tall in his corner, Naruto breathed heavily. Trying to steel his nerves, the teen banged his gloves together as he began to stretch his right leg forward and dance on his toes.

Beginning to get into his rhythm, like a pendulum he slowly bobbed his head, side-to-side.

Keeping an eye on his opponent, the ref and the rings' size. It was all he cared about for now.

When the ref signalled for the bell to ring, Everyone was caught by surprise when he dashed out of his corner as soon it rung.

Round 1- Fight!

Sánchez being caught off guard, was sent into a frenzy when jabs began being thrown in his direction. As two, one after the other landed, Naruto followed it up with a straight onto the champ's chin sending his head backward.

'Damn! His speed and strength is more than I expected!' Sánchez exclaimed as he quickly sidestepped out of a jab only to find himself being trapped by the ropes. Naruto sending in another jab, caught the man once more this time on his chin.

"You're in the corner, Ricardo! Get out of there!" the champ's second shouted below them as the two boxers were in the red corner.

Sánchez quickly sharpening his reflexes, dodged out of another jab as he finally found the opportunity to disrupt Naruto's rhythm.

'Now's my chance!' Sánchez declared as he quickly squatted knees and powered up his right hand. 'I've gotta make space!' he added sending in his uppercut only to be caught surprised once Naruto swayed his head back and using his lack of control against him.

With a quick twist of his hips, the blond didn't waste time connecting a dangerous hook onto the champ's chin, sending the man down to the canvas with no warning.

The crowd broke out into a massive roar of adrenaline at the surprise down. As the ref began to count infront of the champ, Naruto doing as he was told, went to a neutral corner.

With his arms below his hips, he patiently swayed side by side for the ref's count. Keeping his demeanor cool as the ref got to seven, and Sánchez was beginning to show consciousness, the champ rushed getting up as once he was on his two feet, the ref ordered for him to show his gloves, Sánchez tried but to everyone's surprise he staggered a bit, which was enough for the ref to call a knockout.

Not hesitating Naruto raised his arms high into the sky, as a jubilant grin pasted on his face. Soon enough the ring was completely raided as the patrons wanted to give the new champion some praise.

DING! DING! DING!

When all the madness soon calmed down, the ref made it official by calling out the match's result in favour of 'Mr. Untouchable'.

The celebrations a couple hours later soon took full effect. Hosted at Naruto's boyhood gym. 'Carisi's Gym' the place was full to the brink, as friends that Naruto grew up with came to give him their pleasentries. However even if such an achievement made the blond a spectacle for the night, it didn't change the fact, he was leaving his hometown, his friends, his mentors and Coach Gus behind.

With Tsunade having made it clear they were flying out to Japan, the next morning. The blond was a bit let down to not have had a chance to defend his title as the champion.

Nonetheless with Gus being the scary old man he is. Many of the patrons attending the party were soon kicked out of the gym, once 11 PM struck. Naruto being on cleaning duty with the likes of his uncle Jiraiya and mom, all did their part to make the gym as spotless as they could. For tomorrow, the gym would be attended by many people wanting to reach the same heights as Naruto aimed on achieving.

Once morning soon arrived, everyone helped packing the bags into a taxi as soon enough it was time to go. But before that Naruto had a chat with his mentor for the last time.

"I can't believe your actually leaving kid." Naruto's mentor, the dangerous hitter Mike Tyson stated as the two shared a word.

"I feel sorry for all those guys that'll have to deal with you, that side." He added with a grin. As Naruto shrugged "If you don't want to feel sorry for them, how about you just tell them to not get in the ring with me." Naruto quipped.

"If only it was that easy. Just make sure you don't put anyone in a body bag with those heavy hands, alright?"

Naruto hearing this laughed. "I should be saying that to you, Mike! Besides you know I go all out no matter which opponent I'm matched with."

"Yeah, I hear you but still…I wouldn't want you to miss an opportunity of meeting me in the ring one day." He alluded as Naruto chuckled.

"Fighting in the heavyweight division, huh?" Mike nodded as Naruto clicked his tongue. "I never thought about that so far…let me first dominate the Featherweight division first, then we'll talk jumping weight classes."

Mike accepting the response, simply smiled to it.

"Alright, just don't take too long now. I wouldn't want to face you as a 40 year old."

"If George Foreman can do it, who says you can't?" Naruto questioned "George's a different breed." Mike replied. "Just promise me, you'll continue to wreck fools till you get to the top, alright?" the blond nodded as he dabbed his mentor up for the last time and they shared a bro hug.

Getting into the taxi with his mom, Naruto waved to everyone with a bright smile as the car pulled away.

"I've got a bad feeling about this, Mike." Gus, the veteran trainer stated much to Mike's surprise. "What's on your mind, coach?"

"We just let loose a menace in tip top shape, to all of Japan."

"You think they can handle him?"

Gus just shrugged at the question. "Not sure, haven't really paid that much attention to the boxing scene that side. Let's just hope those he face don't make him end up being cocky."

"Naruto and cockiness in the same sentence, should be a language error Gus. Even you know that. He boxes with a passion, he's a survivor just like us."

Gus saying nothing simply hummed. 'Let's just hope all that 'competition' doesn't hinder his progress.'