lovetolongago said: "Although if Takeshi misses baseball he should totally re-create the sport. That'd be kind of cool." Naturally, I jumped on the idea with enthusiasm. That being said, turns out I can write a fight better than a baseball game, which is really saying something. Also, keep in mind that it's been proven in canon that Takeshi really sucks at explaining things. So please ignore any glaring mistakes! OTL


Omake: Baseball

"Baseball?" Naruto parrots him, confusion almost palpable.

"Yup," Takeshi confirms, more than excited about the idea. "It's a game I made up, and I wanted to play it with you guys." He crosses his fingers behind his back to excuse the little white lie.

It had been a goal of his ever since he'd begun receiving his own pay checks - playing his favorite sport in this new world.

His first step had been to get his hands on some bats and baseballs. Yoshi, who was apparently TenTen's father and the owner of a weapons shop, had been kind enough to point him to a 'smith who was capable of recreating them with only a detailed description from Takeshi. How cool is that? They're not exactly the same, but that's to be expected. They feel and work like they're supposed to, and that's more than enough.

Then, he'd charmed Mitsuko - who regularly sold him his shinobi gear - into placing an order for customized equipment - baseball gloves. She'd happily agreed, and Takeshi had gained his gloves and a new friend.

His last objective had been finding a suitable baseball field, but with the entirety of the Uchiha Compound and various lands at his disposal, that had been rather easy, too. He'd eventually decided on a relatively large training ground near the edge of the village, which is perfect because it's grassy and flat. He'd used a modified earth jutsu to make the pitcher's mound and another to clear the grass for the four bases. A little tidying up here and there, as well as placing the mats and marking the batter's box - and he'd been finished!

He'd spent an entire afternoon batting and then using bursts of chakra to catch the balls before they hit the ground. The familiar ache afterwards had been soothing, as if a part of him had finally settled. And maybe it had. Baseball had been his coping mechanism and lifeline once upon a time. It felt... good to play again. Peaceful. Takeshi is and will always be a baseball player at heart.

But the point of a team sport is to play with your friends! So he grins and explains, "We need two teams of nine players, so Naruto and Sakura will be on a team with seven shadow clones. And Sensei and I will be on the other one with seven more clones."

Kakashi, who had been slouching against a tree and pretending like he wasn't listening, says, "I don't remember agreeing to that."

Takeshi laughs. "But Sensei! Without you, it would be uneven."

Sakura chimes in, curious, "What are the rules, Sasuke?"

"One team goes bam and then whoosh! While the other goes zoom and thwap!" He spends the next few minutes going in depth with as many sound effects as he can. He uses gestures and everything, but by the end of it, his audience looks more bewildered than before. "What's wrong?"

He thinks he hears Sakura mutter, "I don't even know where to start..." He must have heard wrong, though.

Kakashi says, "Why don't we pick it up as we play?"

"Sounds good!" Takeshi chirps, any bemusement dissipating at the promise of a good game.

At his prompting, nineteen Naruto clones pop into existence, and Takeshi suggests they change color and assign numbers to indicate which teams they're on - blue for Team Kakashi-Sasuke and green for Team Naruto-Sakura. Four of them are assigned areas near the first through third bases as well as the outfield, and the last clone he directs to his spot behind the catcher's box.

"You're the umpire," Takeshi informs him. "He's like a referee. You'll tell us when the pitches are strikes or balls and when players are safe or out. That kind of stuff."

To his credit, the clone only looks a little confused. "So he's like Iruka-sensei when we sparred in the Academy?"

"Yeah, exactly," he confirms. He spends the next few minutes outlining what 'pitches' are as well as the various types, speaking loudly enough that both teams can listen in. He keeps it to fastballs and balls since that's all they really need to play.

"Here, Blue Number Two, put this glove on, yeah like that, and squat here." Once the clone is properly situated, he grins and tells him, "You're the catcher! Your job is to catch whatever I throw at you."

Number Two nods resolutely, and Takeshi gives him a thumbs up.

"Okay... Red Number Six, c'mere," he grabs the clone and moves him to the batter's box. "This is a baseball bat. You hold it like this and swing at strikes. If the ball connects and flies into the field - and no one catches it - you run to first base." He mimes swinging and then points to the white mat. He gets another nod, and the clone confidently accepts the bat.

Takeshi goes about placing each player in their position and explaining what they're supposed to do. By the time he's finished, the outfield and infield are filled with blue Naruto clones waiting impatiently to begin playing. He grins in anticipation.

He takes his place on the mound and says, "I'm the pitcher!" Another quick summation of his job, and then he throws a few pitches to demonstrate. He's a little rusty, but his fastball is as ever insanely fast, and the Naruto clone can't touch it. Well, not yet anyway.

Sakura, already wearing red but having dutifully henge-d a number one on her back, asks, a touch of astonishment in her voice, "You created this game all by yourself? It's so... elaborate. Not that I'm doubting you!" She hastily tags on at the end, likely worried she'd offended him.

He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. She's not wrong. "It wasn't just me. When I was little, I played this with my family a lot!"

Her face crumples in sympathy, as it always does at the mention of his past, and Takeshi winces internally at the deception. He had played baseball with his dad before he'd joined a team, and he hadn't confirmed or denied anything else. He still feels a little guilty, though.

"And well, I wanted to play with you guys! It's always more fun than just playing alone, don't you think?" He hurriedly clarifies before she can get any more teary-eyed.

"Right!" Naruto unknowingly comes to the rescue. Hands behind his head, he goes on, "S'more fun when we're together. So let's play already! I wanna try it!"

Some of the clones murmur their agreement, and others shift excitedly in place.

Sakura smiles and offers, "I'm kind of excited to play, too."

"Cool," Takeshi says happily. "Okay, Sensei, we're taking the field first!"

At this, Kakashi ambles forward, a white number seven visible on the back of his flak jacket. As Takeshi hands him a glove, he sweats. "How did I get talked into this again?"

Takeshi beams at him innocently. "You're doing this for your cute, little genin, right?"

Kakashi sighs. "I can already tell those puppy-dog eyes are going to be the death of me." Nonetheless, he takes up his position at first base.

"You guys can figure out the batting order," he tells the other team, all of whom had been looking around indecisively. "It doesn't matter who goes first so long as it's the same order every time."

They decide on a simple solution - going in numerical order, and so Takeshi's first opponent in the box is none other than Sakura. She takes a few practice swings as Takeshi urges her to do and then she steps hesitantly next to the plate.

"Loosen up, Sakura-chan!" He calls to her teasingly. "Or are you afraid of losing to me?"

She blinks in surprise. Then she smirks at him, fire in her eyes, and grips the bat tightly. "Yeah, right! Bring it, Chuckles!" She growls.

A surprised but delighted laugh escapes him (they've been working on getting Sakura to be comfortable enough to use playful insults for a while now), and he can only respond with a cheerful, "As you wish."

Without further adieu, he winds up, lifts his leg, moves his arm back, and like a whip, the ball is soaring through the air. Sakura, visibly shocked, lets the ball fly by her, and it makes a satisfying sound as it hits the mitt.

"Strike!" The tiny umpire, whom had donned a chuunin vest as his uniform, yells belatedly.

"C'mon, you can do it, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouts encouragingly from the sidelines, and some of the red team shout out their own encouragements.

She settles back in and glares challengingly at Takeshi, and his grin widens. He throws another power pitch, and this time, she watches its trajectory, likely calculates its course and the best way to hit it, and swings. She makes contact but hadn't been prepared for the sheer force of it, and it grounds to third. Number Nine grabs it and throws it to first, exactly as he'd been instructed. It'd happened so fast that Sakura, even boosted by chakra, stepped on the plate a moment too late. Kakashi had already tagged her with ball.

The ump assigned to the area yells, "She's out!"

She huffs, giving both he and Kakashi an evil eye. "Isn't using our jounin sensei cheating?"

The man puts his hands up defensively, "Hey, you're the ones who conned me into playing."

Takeshi retorts, easily, "I told him not to use chakra, so it's okay!"

Never mind the fact that Kakashi is probably only marginally less capable without it.

Sakura rolls her eyes at him, probably having the same thought. She gives one last dirty look to Sensei and then returns to her team's side.

Naruto steps up to the plate and cheers, "My turn! I'm totally gonna hit it and get a home plate!"

"Home run," Takeshi corrects with an answering grin. "We'll see about that."

And the game was on.

(It eventually derailed spectacularly when Naruto ran up a tree to catch a ball and they couldn't agree on whether or not it was cheating. From there, all of them began climbing trees and enhancing their throws and swings with chakra, and more than a few balls would have likely never again seen the light of day had Kakashi not made them search for them afterward.

Despite this, all of them agreed to play again sometime. Takeshi happily labeled it a success.)


End Notes: There was another scene involving Takeshi coaxing Kakashi to join Team 7 at a BBQ restaurant, but I must have accidentally deleted it, which is annoying. There are a few more deleted scenes, but since they'd spoil the next chapter, I'll have to wait to post them. Anyway, feel free to request something! No romance, though. I'm still filling romance prompts from last year. Ugh.