A/N: Hey Everyone! New Chapter Up and I think my n-n-n-nervousness is g-g-gone...! *sigh* Just... nevermind.
P.S: T-t-t-thank you very much to all those who read the 1st Chapter, you don't know how excited I got when I s-s-s-saw the follows, favourites and reviews. If you have any questions, I h-h-hope you know they'll either be answered in the story or at the footnotes. I promise I won't ruin this!
Now then... onto the story!
Previously on A Game Of Beasts:
[ "You're an Uchiha?!" ]
[ "Tenten, I now know where that kid is from!" ]
[ "THE Uzushio!? That school is the home of the championship-holding, recurring, and all-powerful 'Dynasty of Beasts'!" ]
[ 'So this is Neji's cousin huh?' ]
[ "Naruto, I want you to face me in a match, right here, right now, no holding back..!" ]
A Game of Beasts
-Location: Konoha Academy. High School Side Basketball Gymnasium-
-Time: 19:35-
Naruto stared at the raven-haired boy for a moment before he closed his eyes, a smirk forming on his face as he now opened them and picked up the ball. "That's just perfect Sasuke, I was actually itching to face you myself!" he replied loudly. Sasuke had formed a smirk as well at the blonde's retort, "Good, we'll have a best-out-of-twenty match" he said, making it clear in his voice that it wasn't up for discussion.
Both boys rolled up their sleeves as they got in to their respective positions; Naruto on offense since he had the ball, and Sasuke on defense, guarding the tree-point line. Since Naruto's right was facing Sasuke, he shifted the ball to his left whilst edging out his right shoulder towards his focused opponent. Naruto, from the half-court line, now began his advance, shuffling his feet at an initially normal pace as got he closer. The pace now increased as soon as Sasuke took a few steps closer to Naruto, raising his arms to form a wall. This forced the blonde to put even more force into his side-steps, attempting to "break the wall".
'He must on edge already; he keeps increasing his power and speed. This is good, if he's leaving so many openings I don't know which one I'll pick. But since he's making this so casual, I might as well go for the obvious opening, I'll use my right hand only, for now.' Sasuke thought, still keeping a calm look but tensing his eyebrows as took one more step before reaching for the ball with his right hand.
'Perfect' Naruto thought as he switched the ball between his legs and ran straight for Sasuke's left. 'Heh! Just like I thought he would' Sasuke thought, closing his eyes and performing a full-body three-sixty turn on his left heel, his back now facing Naruto and his right hand exactly where he adjusted it to be. Naruto stopped in his tracks, caught off guard by both Sasuke's sudden back wall and the fact that he had the Uchiha crest on the back of his dark-blue sweater.
Thinking quickly, Naruto switched the ball back to his left and purposely bounced it through Sasuke's legs whilst hastily running past him on his left side to catch the ball. Naruto caught it while it was in mid-air and ran for a layup, with a small grin on his face. The Ice-breaker had officially ended with the whiskered boy scoring a basket. "So... since it was layup, that's two points, right?" he asked rhetorically.
"Hn" was all that the onyx-eyed boy said as he now had the ball. Losing his calm expression to one of a smirk, he bounced the ball between his legs continuously and kept his eye contact with Naruto. 'Just what is this guy planning? It's pretty obvious what he's going for, but there has to be something more to it. I guess I'll just keep playing dumb until he reveals a bigger opening than the ones he's already showing me.' Naruto thought.
Sasuke suddenly started bouncing at a greater pace, causing Naruto to sharpen his defense and break his contact with who was staring at him to now watch how and where the ball will move. "Humph!" Sasuke said, capitalizing on the loss in their staring competition, he lessened the pace to a point where the ball was slowly rising with his left-handed grip. Watching how Naruto quickly reached for the ball with his right, the raven-haired boy immediately shifted the ball again, but this time switching it under his right knee instead of through his legs, to his other hand, running past Naruto.
Sasuke suddenly stopped where he was and shifted the ball to his left again. Before Naruto could turn, Sasuke pushed his back against him and made sure to anticipate every move the blonde made, securing the fact that they were now back-to-back with each other with Sasuke facing the hoop and Naruto the opposite side.
"What the...?" were the only words the whiskered-boy could make before he saw the basketball now bounce through the back of his legs and land in Sasuke's right hand. Naruto watched in amazement as Sasuke went in for the layup, realising he had been tricked with a move similar to his. And not being able to do anything about it.
With barely any sweat running down their foreheads, only one thought came to both of their heads:
'This could actually be fun...'
A.G.O.B
-Location: Konoha Academy. High School Side Basketball Gymnasium-
-Time: 19:55-
What was initially only a drop of sweat had now become quite a lot as both boys were panting, although slowly but still enough for them to be out of breath due to the duration of their match and the fact that it was a one-on-one. Their current scores were tied, both having ten points. This didn't excite either of them in the slightest as Sasuke picked up the ball. He didn't begin bouncing it though, instead, he stared at Naruto with a dead-on focus whilst wiping his forehead with his sweater, trying to catch his breath.
Naruto had done the same, not bothering to get into defense, but rather look at the person who he had misjudged. Both of their thoughts had played in their heads at the same time as the boys continued to look at each, standing completely still.
'I can't understand it.' They thought
'After all this time,'
'He's...'
'He's...!'
'He's holding back!'
A tick mark formed on Naruto's head as strode towards Sasuke, his fists clenched in annoyance. As the blonde was practically running to him, Sasuke's eye twitched as he sweat-dropped at the situation, he dropped the ball and began walking up to Naruto. As soon as both boys were inch away from each other, Naruto grabbed on Sasuke's sweater, the black-haired boy doing the same on Naruto's t-shirt.
Naruto was the first to burst with anger; "You think you're so cool huh?! Just who the hell do you think I am?! And who the hell do you think you are?! You think just 'cause you're an Uchiha you can underestimate me?!" he shouted, his grip tightening.
"Me?! You're the one who's overestimating yourself here! You think just 'cause you played with 'The Dynasty of Beasts' you better than me?!" Sasuke yelled back, his scowl deepening on his face. Growling emitted from both boys until they thought over what the other had said. Sasuke's grip loosened as he raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Wait... You think I'm holding back? I thought you were since you were pulling off moves anyone could do if they were an average player."
Naruto let go of his sweater all together and scratched his head, "Really? I kind of thought the same thing after you scored your first basket" he said. Sasuke sighed at what he heard, letting go of Naruto, he started walking over to grab the ball where he left it. As he was about to pick it up, he looked over at Naruto, who appeared to be thinking about something. "So... how much can you say you were using then?" he asked, bouncing the ball off the floor and into his hand. "I don't know, around twenty percent? What about you?" Naruto asked, still scratching his scalp as he had his eyes closed.
Sasuke scoffed at the blonde's answer as he strolled back to where he was initially standing; bouncing the basketball with each step he took. "The same amount I guess... I didn't think I needed to show you anything just yet." He said, now standing with one hand in his pocket. Naruto grinned at what the raven-haired boy said, hiding his now opened eyes under his hair, "Fine then," he began, "Whaddaya' say we kick it up a few notches then?" he asked, a newfound determination clear in voice.
Sasuke smirked at the question, "You're on" he said, having both hands on the ball and getting into an offensive stance; looking as though he was squashing it due to the amount of force he was putting. Naruto narrowed his sight as he watched the boy in front of him, looking down at the basketball. What the blonde saw made him widen his eyes in what was happening; steam appeared to be radiating from the ball, flowing into the air which was also now beginning to feel warm at the blonde's distance.
Sensing something strange, Naruto immediately got into defense, unsure of what to expect as he also slowly began moving from side-to-side, but at the same time standing still. 'I think forty percent, this time, should be enough' they both thought, staring straight at each other. Sasuke shifted a bit forward, causing Naruto shift slightly backward, making the tension rise even higher until Sasu-
"The Hell are you two doing here! It's almost curfew time freshmen, go to your dorms, now!" said what appeared to be a third year, or at least a very tall second year, standing right next another, who was equally as tall, at the door of the gymnasium. One was dressed in uniform and one in civilian; both were wearing a distinct, bright-red sash with white diagonal lines in the middle of it around their left arms, with the school badge at the very centre.
'Must be the "Hall" monitors for the school...' Naruto thought, getting out of his stance as he and Sasuke, who also got out of his stance and dropped the ball, were walking to the door. Both first years got out and walked in opposite ways to their respective dorms, listening to the sound of the gymnasium doors being closed.
'I guess there's more of these guys when you consider the how big the campus for the High School side is, let alone the size of whole Academy.' Sasuke thought as he looked back from the corner of his eye to observe the seniors before continuing on his way with his hands in his pockets.
"Wait Izumo...! Don't lock-up just yet; I wanna see how the basketball looks like." Said the senior in civvies
"Why?" asked the one in uniform, now known as Izumo, holding a thick chain in one hand and a lock, with a dial on it, in the other hand.
"Didn't you see the way that Uchiha was holding the ball? There was literally steam coming out of it! We gotta' check out how it looks like now since he let go of it." He answered back with enthusiasm. The young man in uniform sighed at his friend's hand gestures as he gave one more look at his colleague before rolling his eyes.
"Fine..." He said with an annoyed tone in his voice. The senior in civvies grabbed the handles and pulled the doors wide open, before leaping into the venue, and skipping to the basketball's location. As he picked up the ball, he noticed two things about it, "Izumo, come check this out! It looks like it still has his whole handprints on it! You can tell because it looks about five shades darker than the colour of the ball!" he said, looking at where Sasuke's hands were. "And come feel it man! It's still warm, even after being left on the cold for the last couple of minutes!" he added, putting the ball against his face to further feel its warmth.
"Yeah yeah, that sounds great Kotetsu, can we go now? I don't wanna miss the season one finale of Kuroko no Basket just 'cause you decided to cuddle with a basketball." Izumo said, the annoyance still in his tone as he watched his friend drop the ball and jog out of the gym in realisation of what the boy in uniform mentioned. "Oh yeah that's right. Hey... A thousand Ryo says it's Kise." Kotetsu said, suggesting a bet which made Izumo smirk, "you're on!" he said, wrapping the chain around the door handles and locking it, but not before pulling on the lock to make sure.
"You know..." Izumo began, as they walked back to their dorm, "I still can't believe we have an Uchiha enrolling here, especially when you think about what happened last time."
"You know what I can't believe?" Kotetsu asked.
"What?"
"I can't believe you're STILL wearing uniform at this hour!"
A.G.O.B
-Location: Konoha Academy. High School Side Boys Dormitories, District C-
-Time: 20:25-
Naruto walked up to his dorm and stopped at the door, his thoughts remained on Sasuke's actions. 'How the hell did he even do that?' he thought, removing his new keys from the pocket of his shorts, 'that steam from the ball... that heat coming from him... that stance he was making...' he continued to ponder, unlocking the burglar guard, then the door, and walking into the apartment. After closing and locking both, he looked around to see his travel bag on the couch, situated at the far end of the apartment, a set of notes on the coffee table, and a note on the kitchen counter, which was a lot closer to him than he thought.
The blonde picked up the note and skimmed through the paper, squinting his eyes and mumbling some of the words as he read, until realizing that he could barely see anything. 'Eh... I'll read it later,' he thought as he turned around to open the standard fridge, oblivious to fact that there was another note that was magnetized against the door. "I hope there's ramen in here, I don't wanna have to use one of my emergency instant ramen cups that I packed..." he said aloud to himself, rummaging through all the still-sealed food.
"Ah! There it is...!" he said, pulling out what felt like a bowl. When he looked inside through its clear plastic wrapping, he was relieved to see that it was in fact ramen, feeling luckier that it was miso-flavored and even came with fishcakes. Naruto carefully unwrapped the bowl from its casing and placed it in the black microwave before setting the timer and getting out of the kitchen, leaving what would be his dinner to cook.
Naruto walked past the passage and into the living room, moving his bag off of the couch and onto the floor. He turned on the TV with the remote and started surfing the channels until he stopped on Animax, which was showing the opening of a certain show. 'Just in time for it too' he thought, looking at his watch. Naruto went to fetch his food after hearing the microwave go off with a "ding!"
As Naruto walked back to the couch, something caught the corner of his left eye; standing in the passage was what looked to be a silhouette. The silhouette began moving closer to him, causing Naruto to hold on to his bowl tightly. It was only until the figure switched on the light next to itself that Naruto saw who it was. He sighed in relief when saw Shikamaru scratching himself where his ribs would be and walking to the couch, releasing a yawn on the way there.
Sitting next to him, Naruto asked the sleepy freshman why he was here whilst breaking a pair of chopsticks and beginning to eat, forcing Shikamaru to look away from the screen and stare at him with an eyebrow raised. "Didn't you read the note that they put on the fridge? It clearly stated that every dorm is supposed to have two roommates." He said, staring back to the TV. The blonde scoffed off at what he heard and went back to devour his ramen. "Ah wha-eva" Naruto said while slurping up the noodles into his mouth, "It's not like any of the notes in the apartment are really important anyway." He concluded after swallowing, taking a bite off of a fishcake.
"Oh, so I guess the timetable and map for where our other classes will be held isn't important huh?" he rhetorically asked, gesturing with his thumb the note that was on the kitchen counter. "And I guess the new training regiment coach gave us isn't important either then?" now pointing to the coffee table that had the set of notes on them. "And I guess the-" "Alright I get! If you keep talking I'm gonna miss everything." Naruto interrupted, placing his empty bowl on the table and reaching for the remote.
"Alright fine then," Shikamaru began, "but I need to ask you something though." He said in a rather serious tone, which made Naruto look at him. "What happened to your teammates, 'The Dynasty of Beasts'...?" the question he asked made Naruto reach for his large bag. Opening it up, he pulled out a frame; in it showed a picture of seven children and three adults, one of them was Naruto, holding a basketball under his little arm while his other arm was wrapped around someone Shikamaru thought looked familiar.
"I don't really know what happened to them. They probably moved to big schools like I did," the whiskered boy said, looking at screen with a sad smile on his face. "But I do know one thing," he began, putting away the photo and reaching back for the remote. His look of sadness faded away into a determined grin, "we'll definitely be battling one of them very soon. And I can't wait for that to happen."
Shikamaru smirked at Naruto and looked back at the screen, realizing what was playing, he leaned back into the couch, acknowledging his roommates words. "Hey Naruto, I bet you a thousand Ryo that Aomine's gonna win this one." He said.
"You're on...!"
A.G.O.B
-Location: Konoha Academy. High School Side Basketball Gymnasium-
-Time: 16:25-
The sound of heavy rain echoed around the gymnasium as Tenten was sitting on the bench, grumbling out complaints in a low voice. "Stupid Kakashi-sensei... Giving the whole class extra homework, and all because the delinquents didn't do theirs? Are you kidding me? That lazy-ass barely even teaches us second years, he just sits at his desk reading that nasty book... Qualified English teacher my ass!" she said aloud, causing everyone who could hear her to stare.
"Hey uh... Coach? Since its pouring outside, what are we going to do for practice?" a boy asked, followed by a bark from a puppy. "Good question Kiba..." she said, placing her index finger on her chin as she started thinking about what to do. 'They can't follow the training I gave them since they need to be outside the gym for it to work' she thought, until an idea crossed her mind. "That's it! We'll have a practice match! The first years will verse the second and third years!"
The order from the coach caused the freshmen to start whispering and murmuring, which soon turned into full-on talking, causing Sasuke to eavesdrop on one their conversations. The raven-haired boy's eyes widened when he heard that the seniors got into a draw with 'The Dynasty of Beasts' at the previous Chunin Cup preliminaries. The rumor made him smirk as he now looked at Neji, who was speaking with their coach. 'Sounds he'll be a challenge. I'll have to use sixty percent and up if we're going to win this' he thought.
Sasuke, as well as all the other freshmen, turned to look at Naruto who was stretching his legs and grumbling to himself, something about fixed match and losing money was what the boy mumbled. The blonde stopped to look up at everyone, confusion clear on his face as to why he was being stared at until he heard the whistle go off, signaling everyone to get into position.
As it looked now, the first years had Choji as center, Kiba as shooting guard, Shikamaru as point guard, and Naruto and Sasuke mixing between small forward and power forward. Tenten walked into the center of the court, carrying the basketball under her arm. 'It'll be interesting to see how good these juniors play when under pressure,' she thought, looking at the second and third years' team which consisted of Neji as point guard, Genma as center, Hayate as shooting guard, Izumo as small forward, and Kotetsu as power forward.
She placed the ball in her small palm and looked from side-to-side. "Ready?" she asked, looking at Kiba, then at Neji, before putting her whistle in her mouth and leaning backwards. Tenten threw the ball up as high as needed whilst blowing on the whistle. She watched in amazement as both members of different clans jumped as high as they could for the ball. 'Let the games... begin!'
A Game of Beasts
A/N: Alright! 2nd Chapter up! Sorry if this one was noticeably longer, I tried to do three main things this time; follow the Naruto manga, follow the Kuroko no Basket manga, and add some of my own stuff. I had no idea it was going to be like this.
P.S: To answer two questions though, and no others; the Beasts will be the Jinchuuriki and I'll try to make sure Sasuke doesn't become overlooked since he still has a story to tell as well.
P.P.S: Oh, and just to clarify; everyone's parents and families are still alive in this fic, no one needs to die here, except Danzo (that douche-bag...). If you want Character Death, you should read my other fanfic: Evolving Angels, it's a Pokémon x Neon Genesis Evangelion crossover, but instead of the never-aging Ash (Ass-wipe) Ketchum, it has characters from the games, games that I never played as kid, *sigh* the Irony of this puzzles me...
Read & Review!
(Zulus get their proud behavior from the Lion. This also explains their need for so many wives...)