章 6: The Fight and The offer
-Las Vegas, Nevada-
-March 28, 2005, 2120h local-
Naruto knocked on the door twice as instructed. The door opened a portion of the way showing a woman dressed in business attire. She had blond hair and brown eyes.
"You're going to fight?" The woman asked for confirmation.
"Yeah." Naruto replied. The woman stepped aside and motioned for him to come in.
"$2000 entry fee. Every fight you win, you get $5000. You win two fights, and you get in the tournament later. It's an all or nothing game. You get to take home $250000, 5 percent of the gate, and 10 percent of your betting pool..." The woman informed him in a brisked tone. "Sign here before you fight." the woman continued while showing him a piece of paper.
Naruto signed the paper with an alias of Menma. He then placed his hands in his pocket, unsealed some cash, and made a show of counting the money before placing $2000 on the table. He then placed the remaining money in his pocket and sealed it again.
"When your number is called, you go to the ring. Your number is 32."
When Naruto started walking towards the fighters waiting area indicated by a huge assortment of guys wearing gloves, bandages, or just generally looking intimidating, he remembered something. He turned around to face the woman again. After he finally got the attention of the woman back, he asked,
"Can I make a bet?"
"Sure. But you can't make a bet on you losing."
"Oh, never even crossed my mind. Is there a limit on the bets?"
The woman looked weirdly at him for a second and said,
"Minimum bet is a thousand dollars."
"Ok..." He unsealed in his pockets two bundles of cash in his pocket and took it out. "I'm betting $100000 that I'm going to win the whole thing and another $100000 that I'm gonna knock out every one of my opponents flat in under a minute." He said with a goofy smile on his face.
This got the attention of everyone in the waiting room. The woman immediately regained her composure. She took the cash and noted it down without another word.
Every one of his opponents is now giving him a hardened glare. He just shrugged off all the attention and walked to the far side of the room, giving him the vantage point to see everything in the place. He leaned back to the wall and lowered his hood to partially cover his eyes while making a note to buy some shades. He observed everyone in the room. He was taking note of their physique and mannerisms. He would have liked to use his dojutsu, but it just wouldn't be fair. He would be able to see all the weaknesses of his opponents. He saw that out of all the competitors, excluding himself, only five can compete with the average genin. That is, of course, without the use of chakra. The observation just made him sad.
"Is this what this world's fighters look like. That's just pathetic." Kurama said with a hint of disbelief.
"Isn't that better? We could relax and take it easy." Isobu countered.
"Well, yeah. But we won't have any entertainment!"
"Ugh, we can just find other entertainment. It won't be the end of the world."
While the conversation of the bijuu inside him continued, numbers 9 and 10 were called. A 6'6 African-American guy with a beard that has been eying him for a while approached him. He scanned him up and down. After a few seconds, the guy said,
"You don't look much. I'll enjoy turning you to a paste." Without missing a beat, the guy walked out of the room. He must be number 9 or 10.
After 30 minutes, he and the last guy in the room were called. His opponent, number 31, is a 6' caucasian with developed muscles. He walked with confidence ahead of him.
When they reached the end of the hallway, he saw an octagonal cage. It looked to be around to be 30 ft in diameter stage on top of a 4 ft platform. The enclosure is 6 ft in height, completely enclosing the ring. A lot of seats are surrounding the ring, all of them wearing suits or dresses.
"This should be interesting, at least." Naruto said to himself. He followed the instructions of the man to go to one side of the stage. He removed his hoodie to reveal his long sleeve shirt. He walked up the stage and entered the cage. He walked to the center until hos face to face with his opponent.
The referee approached them and said,
"This is a no holds bar fight. I'm the only rule here. You either win by your opponent tapping out, or I say you win. When I end the fight, you end the fight. No questions asked. You both understand..." They both nodded. "Ok, after you tap your fist, you start." The referee then walked to the side of the ring.
Naruto's opponent keeps glaring at him. His answer, a bored expression. This just served to annoy his opponent more.
Naruto raised his right fist to signify he would like to start the fight. Thirty-one lifted his left fist and tapped it.
The guy suddenly charged at him and drove his right fist hard straight to his face. Almost everyone thought it's another disappointing fight. The sad thing was, they were right. Number 31 suddenly toppled over and started coughing up blood. The audience can see that Naruto's left hand was now positioned for what was a body blow.
The referee approached number 31 to check his condition. After a while, he stood up and signaled for the end of the fight.
Naruto started walking away while muttering, "But that's just a love tap." The audience heard this and started replacing some of their bets.
-Las Vegas, Nevada-
-March 29, 2005, 0200h local-
Naruto and number 9, now known as Mike Lucas when his name was called for the final fight, is standing in the middle of the ring. He was the one who threatened Naruto to turn him into a paste. The fight announcer is typing out the crowd and calling for the end of the betting.
Both of them easily dominated their own brackets until they met in the finals. Although Lucas stands at 6'6, he is swift and robust, allowing him to overwhelm his opponents with simple punches or grapple moves while dodging enemy attacks. Naruto, on the other hand, just tanks the blows and then delivering a devastating counter-attack quickly dispatching his opponents.
"What kind of a name is Menma?" Lucas mocked, pulling Naruto of his musing.
"It's the only name I have." Naruto lied then looked away, looking disinterested.
"Hm. I still don't know how you got here. There are a lot of guys who's better than you." Lucas continued to say, trying to pull Naruto out of his calm demeanor.
"Huh? Did you say something?" Naruto said. Pulling a move from his sensei.
"That's it. You're dead." Growled out, Lucas.
The referee approached them and explained the rules of the fight again. After finishing his explanation, he moved over to the side of the ring.
The opponents both tapped their right fists with each other, and then Lucas moved away while maintaining his boxer's stance. Lucas is looking for any opening his opponent has, and that proved to be easy. Naruto is looking genuinely relaxed, leaving a lot of holes in his defense.
Lucas rushed Naruto intending to land a punch to his jaw, hoping to end the fight quickly. When his fists made contact with his opponent's jaw, he felt like crying out in pain. It felt like punching a block of steel.
A fist is suddenly flying towards his face. Only his experience and physique helped him dodge Naruto's counter by the skin of his teeth. He moves back to gain some breathing room.
"Hey! You're pretty fast!" Naruto said. With a smile forming at his face, Naruto lowered his body into a basic academy style stance. He had copied a large variety of fighting styles before he left the elemental nations. The basic academy style should be more than enough for this level of opponent.
Lucas reassured himself that the previous engagement was just a fluke. He knows he can win with the tried and tested method of overwhelming the enemy with force and speed. He rushed forward significantly quicker. He rained punches on Naruto's head and body. Throwing out hooks, straight, uppercut, and body blows. He opted out to use kicks since he needs his feet to move quickly out of the way if Naruto ever tried to retaliate.
Each punch he threw increased his confidence right until he felt his feet kicked right under him. The force of the blow almost fractured his leg. This caused his body to be momentarily unbalanced, causing him to take a blow to his right kidney. It felt like a car crashed into him, causing him to fold over. When he was falling down to his knees, Naruto threw a perfectly timed left uppercut, effectively keeping him upright but dazed. Seeing the world spinning and doubled, he finally knew he bit off more then he can chew.
Naruto moved back half a step and whirled, turning it to a brutal roundhouse kick. It laid out Mike Lucas, immediately turning his lights off. A few pieces of tooth flew out of his mouth, alongside spit and blood. Seeing the state of Lucas, the referee immediately raised Naruto's hand, indicating he won the fight.
Naruto was led to a back room where he could collect his winnings. Summing up all the money he won, including his bets, which accounts for the majority of his winnings, he racked up $1,220,000, bringing his total available cash to $1,239,456. He placed all his winning into a backpack to avoid using his storage seal.
Naruto walked out of the warehouse with the intent of getting food in one of those convenience stores and a motel to sleep in when he sensed a large group of people circling his position. When he reached the front of the warehouse, a 5'11 caucasian man walked up to him. He has a shaved head and a monocle on his right eye. He extended his hand for a handshake.
"Good evening, or should I say Good morning, Mr. Menma."
Naruto immediately shook the man's hand, outwardly showing a friendly and open attitude, but on the inside, he's already on guard. He ordered Kurama to scan the surroundings for possible hostile intent.
"You have me at a disadvantage here, Mr..."
"Strucker. Baron Wolfgang von Strucker."
The two unclasped their hands and looked at each other for a moment, trying to get a read on each other. After a few more seconds, Naruto asked,
"Well, Mr. Strucker, I doubt you would approach me at this time without some form of business?"
"Ah, a straight to the point kind of guy. I like it. Mr. Menma, I represent a certain organization with the intent of helping the world to achieve a higher level of greatness. Your skills and physical capabilities would be a great boon for us." Baron Strucker said with a friendly smile.
Naruto acted like he was thinking about it positively for a while. The "organization" he spoke off is highly dubious. What kind of "organization" with the intent of helping people has 25 probably heavily armed guards surrounding a man they are trying to recruit, recruits people with questionable background found in an underground fight, or aims for people with high skill and physical level for helping people? It all just stinks to high heaven. He concluded that this "organization" is a lot like Akatsuki. He just has no idea how right he is.
"So, what do you want from me?" Naruto finally said.
"I would like you to join us in our endeavor." Strucker replied.
"If I join, what would be my job and its benefits?" Naruto asked, showing his "interest."
"With your skills, you would mostly be doing escort work of our high-level executives while doing some odd jobs here and there. As for pay, we pay on the high side of the spectrum with exceptional personal benefits."
"Wow! That's just awesome! I really would love to sign up..."
"But?" Strucker said, sensing the continuation of the sentence.
"I just left my previous job, and I'm on vacation. I'm going to tour the world a bit before everything else. But I would like to sign up if it still available, maybe in a year?" Naruto offered to get this "organization" off his back while he's still adjusting to the world.
Strucker nodded and took a small card from his pocket. He gave it to Naruto and said,
"That's acceptable. That there is my I
personal information and contact details, both office and personal. I hope to hear from you soon. Good day, Mr. Menma." With the final statement, Strucker left.
Naruto just stood by the sidewalk while acting like he was looking at the card when in reality, he is sensing where Strucker and his "guards" would go. As he was looking at the card, though, he sensed an underlying current of electricity inside. He guessed that the card has some kind of tracking technology in it. To be safe, he used a small pulse of lightning release: electromagnetic murder in his hands to fry the circuit inside the card. Naruto then walked down the street when he sensed his finally alone, intent on having a meal and ending his long first day in another world.
-Las Vegas, Nevada-
-March 29, 2005, 0315h local-
"Sir, the beacon in the card stopped responding." An assistant said to Strucker while inside the car.
"Hmm. He's not as stupid as I thought. What to do, what to do..." Strucker said while tapping his chin. Prioritizing his goals, he built up a plan, "I want his movement tracked. Send me a report every month. He looks like he might be a great addition to Hydra. I just hoped he would make the right choice. I would hate to be less than a gentleman when inquiring how he achieved a high level of human conditioning at such a young age. Even if he's busy, we can use him for super-soldier experimentation."
"Yes, sir." The assistant acknowledged the order.
Hydra has no idea what calamity they would bring to themselves. Cause no head would grow on a hydra if there is nobody left.
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