High School Life!: Year 1

Chapter III: Dodgeball, Volleyball, Basketball! I Can Play it All! Right?

by Kikoru Sijan

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in Naruto.

"Regular speech"

'Inner thoughts' (sometimes sounds, like 'boom')

"Non-inner thoughts"

The six first year classes all went to the gym locker room to change. Boys in the boys' locker room, and girls in the girls' locker room. All the gym uniforms were in the lockers they were assigned, with the right size and all.

With Sakura, Hinata, and Ino

"Wow! We got our lockers right next to each other!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Yes. That's nice," Hinata said, no longer stuttering.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, you're not stuttering anymore!" Sakura said, surprised.

"Yea, Hinata doesn't stutter once she gets used to you and you're closer to her. She's not as shy and nervous," Ino explained.

"Ah! That's great Hinata-chan! I'm sure I'll get to know you better if you aren't and shy and speak to me more. Now, Hyuuga Hinata," Sakura said, first enthusiastic than serious, "…we're officially good friends, right?!"

"Hai, Sakura-chan!" Hinata replied laughing. Ino and Sakura burst out laughing soon as well.

"Hey! You guys should change soon. It's almost time for gym!" a girl next to them said while tying her light blue hair up with a dark blue ribbon. The three laughing girls immediately began changing into their uniforms as the girl ran out of the room. Sakura tied her hair up in a high ponytail with her red ribbon. Hinata, Sakura, and Ino were the last to get out of the girls' locker room. Apparently, some guys took longer changing. "How strange. I thought guys changed faster. I guess I thought wrong."

'Whoever knew! I think girls really are better than boys!" Inner Sakura piped.

"Don't underestimate them. Some guys came out!"

'Fine, you party pooper!' After a few minutes, everyone was in the gym in front of the gym teacher.

"HELLO, YOU YOUNGSTERS. I'M SURE YOU ALL HAVE A LOT OF YOUTH WITHIN YOU, SO 30 LAPS AROUND THE GYM! START!" the teacher yelled. "AND BY THE WAY, MY NAME IS MAITO GAI. CALL ME GAI-SENSEI! AND I AM MUCH BETTER THAN THAT HATAKE KAKASHI!" Many students sweat dropped. The same thought crossed the mind of every student in the room:

'Are all the teachers in Konoha High this weird?' However, everyone began their laps. Many fangirls, including Mitsuki, were tired after half a lap, panting and walking slowly. Sakura, Ino, and Hinata were jogging at the same speed, ahead of many of the girls, even passing some guys. The girl with light blue hair caught up to them.

"Hi," she said while jogging. "I'm Suiton Kasumi. Who're you guys?"

Sakura's green eyes looked into Kasumi's dark blue one's. "Haruno Sakura. The blond here is Yamanaka Ino, and the other is Hyuuga Hinata."

"Nice-pant-to meet-pant- you," Kasumi said. Sakura nodded. The four girls finished the rest of their laps, with some girls (mostly fangirls) and two or three boys still jogging. After everyone was finished with their laps, Gai's voice rang through the gym.

"How'd you like you're run? Now let's play some dodgeball, first. Get ready! Your teammates will be 5 people in your class for volleyball and basketball, since each class has 18 people, there will be three groups for every class. That will mean there are 18 teams. But for dodgeball, your team will be your class. This will be done tournament style, and the gym will be split in half, with two teams playing at a time. One team will verse another, meaning one game at a time. When I say stop, the team with the most people left on it will be the winner!" the gym teacher, Gai-sensei said. "Hai!"

"Also, after this, it's volleyball in tournament style, too. The gym will have two sides, with two games playing at a time. I will assign teams when it's time. Then it's basketball with one game at a time! Got it?!"

"Hai!"

"This is going to be a LONG gym period," Sakura thought.

'Tell me about it,' Inner Sakura said. Sakura sighed. "Oh, well. We'll give it our all, ne?" Sakura asked her inner self. 'Hell yea!'

The dodgeball tornament started, and guess what? It was class 1 versus class 3. "Oh, great! We get the first game," Sakura thought sarcastically. She readied herself on class 3's side of the gym. She readied herself. She glanced around her side of the gym, seeing Sasuke, Naruto, Ino, and two other people having the ball. "OKAY! GET STARTED!" Balls flew into the air from both sides. Two were hit from class 3 and three were hit from class 1.

"Okay, so far so good," Sakura thought, but then she looked at the other side of the gym. Sasuke's fangirls were out to get her. Five of them had a ball, including Mitsuki, who happened to be in class 1. They all threw the ball at Sakura, who at the time was one of the best dodgers and a valuable player, from different directions. Mitsuki right in front, two from the upper left, and two from the upper right, like this: \ \ /

"Shit! How am I gonna dodge that?!" Sakura ducked from the four on the right and the left to see the center ball coming right at her when she fell. "Shoot! I have no time to move!" On the other side, Mitsuki had a triumphant smirk on her face, hands on her hips. Apparently, everyone stopped to see what would happen to Sakura. Most already thought she was going to get hit and started to turn away. When the ball was inches away from her face, Sakura closed her eyes tightly. "It's gonna hit me! It's gonna hit me!" But no, the feeling never came. With her eyes still closed she heard gasps, whispers, and cries of, "Why did you do that, Sasuke-kun!?" Sakura slowly opened one eye and peeked around before then opening her other eye. In front of her, she saw Sasuke holding a dodgeball in his hands, kneeling. "Why did you do that, Sasuke-kun?!" Mitsuki cried again. Sasuke smirked.

"It's for a teammate…and a friend," Sasuke answered. "Now, Mitsuki, I believe you're out. I caught the ball." Mitsuki stared at him wide-eyed before stomping off furiously to the bench. "Ino, you're back in." Ino stood from the bench and got back into the game. "I can't believe he saved me…and I'm his…friend," Sakura thought. She quickly turned back to the game. A ball could be coming any moment, and somebody might not be there to protect her again.

The tournament went on, with the rankings as followed:

1. Class 1-3: 4 wins, 0 losses

1. Class 1-5: 4 wins, 0 losses

2. Class 1-2: 2 wins, 2 losses

2. Class 1-6: 2 wins, 2 losses

3. Class 1-4: 1 wins, 3 losses

4. Class 1-1: 0 wins, 4 losses

"OKAY! CLASSES 1-1 AND 1-4, YOUR RANKINGS ARE DETERMINED. WE WILL SAVE THE MATCH FOR FIRST FOR LAST, SO CLASSES 1-2 AND 1-6, GET OUT THERE! LET'S SEE WHICH CLASS HAS MORE SPRINGTIME YOUTH!" Gai's voice boomed through the gym. The time gave everyone's favorite class, 1-3, time to rest. Sakura sat down and drank some water. Next to her, Sasuke drank his water. After Sakura finished gulping down the water, she turned to Sasuke. "Hey, Sasuke-kun, why'd you save me?" she asked. Sasuke shrugged and said, "Did I not explain before?" Sakura nodded and bothered him no longer. They watched the rest of the game to see who would get third place and who would get fourth. (A/N: Since the rankings will be moved back. So loser of the final match would be second, and so the winner of the semi-final match is third and so on.)

From the top part of the benches Ino looked at Sakura and Sasuke. "Hinata! Look!" She said pointing at Sasuke and Sakura. Hinata looked in the direction of Ino's finger. She gave Ino a questioning look. "Duh! They're having a bonding moment!" Ino whispered excitedly. Hinata just looked on and shrugged. "I-I guess s-so…O-oh! L-look, o-our m-match is u-up."

"…1-6 won. Oookay. I thought they would win," Ino commented before standing up and going toward the 'battle grounds' with Hinata.

"OKAY THIS IS THE FINAL MATCH OF YOUTH! WHOOOOOOOOOOO WILL HAVE MORE YOUUUUUUUUUUTH?! CLASS 1-3 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR CLASS 1-5?! LET'S GOOOOOOOOO!" Gai shouted through the gym. Many people sweat dropped.

"Don't have to scream about it," Sakura thought, sweat dropping.

"Don't have to scream about it," Ino thought, sweat dropping.

"Don't have to scream about it," Hinata thought, sweat dropping.

"Don't have to scream about it," Naruto thought, sweat dropping.

"Ch…why is he so troublesome. Can't be a little quiet," Shikamaru thought with an irritated look.

"DID YOU FREAKIN' HAVE TO BREAK THE CHAIN THAT WAS GOING ON?!" Ino screamed in his thoughts.

"W-wha! How'd you get in my mind?!" Shikamaru thought, surprised.

"Family secret!" Ino replied. "Now get back in the match!"

"Yes ma'am!" Shikamaru answered, a 'little' bit freaked out. For once, his intelligence could not help him figure this mystery out. Now back to the match.

Both teams were ready. This time, each team only had 3 dodgeballs. "GO!" Gai yelled. Shikamaru got hit the first time so he could sit down and watch and be lazy and sleep, etc. "That Shikamaru! I'm gonna kill him! Let's get him back in first," Ino thought with a crooked smile. She executed a type of mind technique, specialty of the Yamanaka family, besides flowers, and got an opponent to throw the ball at her, so she could catch it. "Shika-kun! Guess what! You're back in!" the young Yamanaka said in a sing-song voice. Shikamaru mumbled something along the lines of, "Troublesome game…Troublesome women…" Once again Ino invaded Shikamaru's mind, and somehow persuaded coughcoughthreatenedcoughcough him to play seriously, though many saw his eyes wide like this: O.O the whole game. Poor, poor Shika-kun! Okay, now we're SERIOUSLY back to the match.

Class 1-3 was down to the rookie nine, while class 1-5 still had 14 people standing. Two balls were in the possession of 1-3, and the other four with class 1-5. Naruto and Shikamaru had the ball, the two being quite good throwers. The four with the ball in class 1-5 waited. It was their chance to get somebody, and they already learned the rookie nine were best together in groups of three. If one got out of a group, that three-man team crumbled. Shikamaru saw the other team noticed how they played and switched the formation immediately. He got the girls in the middle row, seeing they were the best dodgers. Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Naruto stood in the front row, being the best throwers. They were mostly the balanced players, since they're catching and dodging was good as well. The back row consisted of Kiba, Shino, and Chouji. They were the best catchers, since Kiba was quite fast, Chouji had long arms, and Shino was pretty accurate at reading where the ball went. Kiba's speed made him a good dodger, and Shino's accuracy was also allowed him to dodge well. Chouji wasn't as good at dodging, but he was good at throwing, due to his coughcoughbigcoughcough diet, he had much strength. So there was Shikamaru's formation. He made some hand signals to who went where quickly, before any ball was thrown. Apparently, class 1-5 was trying to understand the situation. The smirk on their faces was wiped off to be replaced with a look of confusion. Shikamaru saw the chance to fire. Shikamaru signaled Naruto to throw. They both threw and got 2 players out, with a dumbfounded look still on the other class's faces.

"GET ON WITH IT ALREADY, YOU LOSERS!" Sasuke yelled, getting impatient and snapping the other class from their trance. They couldn't do anything if they didn't have any balls to throw at them. Suddenly, two balls were fired at Sasuke at the same time. He jumped over one and dodged the other by moving to the side. Sakura, who was behind him, dodged one as well, but the other that Sasuke jumped over already hit the ground, and was picked up by her. She looked at Shikamaru, who nodded. She then signaled for Sasuke to move. Sasuke hesitated, before moving to the side. Sakura smiled before running and throwing the ball. "KYAA! TAKE THAT!" Sakura yelled, punching her fist in the air and jumping when the ball hit somebody. Apparently, one person wasn't enough, and it bounced off the hit person to hit another. Everyone sweat dropped. "Ooooooooooookay…" Sasuke thought, surprisingly sweat dropping as well. "Well anyways, it got people out…"

"Hey! Does that even count as two people out?" a girl, who was hit second, asked Gai. Gai smiled-AHHHHHHHH! THE LIGHT! THE LIGHT! THE TEETH OF LIGHT!-doing the nice guy pose. "OF COURSE IT DOES! IT DIDN'T BOUNCE ON THE FLOOR!"

Shikamaru sighed in relief, as Sakura did a little victory dance, before getting back into the game. They just needed one more out to win. Currently, it seemed only about 30 seconds were left…and a ball came flying towards Shikamaru. He quickly ducked as Ino dodged. Chouji, who was behind the two, let the ball bounce and threw it at a player, near the feet. He almost dodged, but was hit anyway. Chouji took his spot again, but as soon as Chouji was in the middle row, Kiba, who got the ball that Sasuke and Sakura dodged, quickly went to the front line and threw, faster and more surprising than anyone could see. And, it managed to 'magically' hit and bounce off of every person until it landed, ending the game. With the last person, a blur of white and brown managed to camouflage with a moving shoe. And Akamaru, Kiba's dog, was gone, but Kiba was grinning none the less. "Nice job…Akamaru."

"CLASS 1-3 HAS PROVEN TO HAVE THE MOST YOUTH. WHO IS YOU'RE HOMEROOM TEACHER?" Gai asked.

"Hatake Kakashi," the students of class 1-3 replied in monotone voices. Gai's eyes widened before mumbling something like, "You win again this time…this time…" With Gai's naturally-or maybe not- loud voice, his whisper was heard throughout the gym, and every student sweat dropped. Gai picked his head up again and smiled. "TIME FOR VOLLEYBALL! These are also the teams for basketball, by the way. And the teams are for class 1-1..." and so on, and Gai read down from his clipboard. He got to class 1-3, and after a few groups he called, "Haruno, Uchiha, Uzumaki, Hyuuga-ah! You're not in this cla-…oh yes the cousin-, Nara, and Yamanaka." And he continued on with the other classes.

The six passed the preliminaries easily, beating the teams they versed. Finally, they got to the semi-finals, in where they versed three of Sakura's fanboys and three of Sasuke's fangirls. Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other, then at their fans, before looking back at each other and sweat dropping. Sakura sighed and grinned with her head held low. "This is gonna be too easy," she said. Sasuke smirked in response and nodded. The fanboys/fangirls were already oogling over the two. Sakura giggled and Sasuke snickered. The two blonds were a bit confused. They had questioning looks on their faces. Shikamaru sighed and explained. "Well, the people on the other side are……..fans." Naruto and Ino immediately understood and muttered, "Oh…"

"OKAY! NOW SHOW YOUR YOUTH AND START! THE GAME ENDS WHEN ONE TEAM HAS SEVEN POINTS!" Gai yelled, announcing the beginning of the match. Ino served the ball to the other side, and easily made the point, because the fangirls/fanboys were too…occupied? The game continued in this manner, and the six won. Ino cheered, "Yes! Thank you Sakura and Sasuke for having fangirls and fanboys!" Everyone sweat dropped. Oooooookay…

Now to the biggest match, the finals! The six versed another team composed of Kasumi, one other girl, and four guys. They were actually serious. "Finally, a real game!" Sasuke thought. Sakura served this time. The ball flew in the air and over the net, before the other girl bumped it and passed to Kasumi. Kasumi bumped it, and a boy jumped and spiked. The ball almost hit the ground, but Hinata, who was playing front right, saved it by bumping it before it hit the floor. Ino, who was playing front center, set it over the net. "Damn it! We almost lost that!" Sakura thought from her position. The ball came her way before she knew it, but she reacted quickly and bumped it, passing to Hinata, who was in front of her. Hinata bumped it and passed Naruto, who was in front left. Naruto jumped high and spiked, surprising the other team, who missed the save. Kasumi had a shocked look on her face, but she said, "Nice job…but it's not over yet!" Then she smiled. The girls felt relieved Kasumi wasn't mad. Naruto nearby did a victory dance. "Yay! I scored a point!"

"Whew! I thought she was gonna kill us there! Well, I guess not…" Sakura thought.

'Well of course not! But we'll show them! It is over, suckas!' Inner Sakura chimed. Sakura sweat dropped at her inner's actions.

"Oooooookay…Let's get back to the game. Hm…two to zero, us."

Sakura served once again, and the ball flew in the air. The other girl bumped it from the back, and an boy in the front center tried to spike it, but failed miserably, with the ball hitting the back of his hand and bouncing to the floor below him. Everyone sweat dropped.

"How could such a pathetic team make the finals?" Shikamaru thought.

"I don't know, Shika-kun. Isn't it weird?" Ino thought in Shikamaru's thoughts.

"Sure is…" Shikamaru thought before getting back into the game. Sakura served again, but this time, one guy bumped it, and Kasumi quickly jumped into the air, blue ponytail bouncing upward. With all her strength, she spiked it to the ground, and got a point for her team. She smirked, her team finally got a point. Sakura stared at Kasumi in awe, before glancing at her teammates. They wanted her in center front, now. She was the only one that could to it. Sakura switched with Ino, and they waited for the other team's serve. The ball flew over and behind Sakura, where Sasuke was. She glanced at him, and he nodded. The team had a secret code Shikamaru made up, and it was very useful. Sakura now knew why Shikamaru, and inwardly thanked Shikamaru. Sasuke bumped the ball to in front of him, where Sakura was. She jumped and slammed her hard down on the ball. The ball went strangely fast, and in the blink of an eye, it was in the ground. A dent was made in the ground, and the ball was stuck in it. Everyone, except the six, stared wide-eyed at Sakura's strength.

"Erm…I have super human strength?" Sakura said nervously, rubbing the back of her head and grinning sheepishly.

Moment of silence

"SUCH YOUTH! I DECLARE HARUNO-SAN'S TEAM WINNER!" Gai exclaimed, breaking the silence. Cheers were heard, especially from Ino, Naruto, and Sakura.

"Hell yea! We won!" Ino exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air. "Great job, forehead!" Sakura giggled. "Thanks!"

"Yay! Sakura-chan, you were so awesome! Teach me how to do that sometime!" Naruto yelled, jumping up and down. Sakura laughed. "Sure!" Shikamaru already began dosing off, and Hinata was shyly congratulating Sakura, since Naruto being there made her nervous. Sakura laughed and smiled at her friends, while Sasuke just watched Sakura's happy figure from afar.

'Man! She's hot and strong!'

"What! You again!" Sasuke snarled at his inner.

'Hehe! Yup! It's me! I'm so glad you didn't forget me, Sasu-chan!' his inner said in a high pitched voice.

"Shut up! You're annoying and sick!"

'Aw! Sasu-chan cares if I'm sick! I am so touched!'

"Just. Get. Out. And I do not think Sakura is hot!"

'Right. But, I'll be leaving now!' and with that, Inner Sasuke left with a poof. Sasuke sighed in relief. He finally got rid of his annoying inner. His gaze shifted back to Sakura chatting with Ino and Hinata. Sasuke shook his head. "There's no way…"

Sakura was speaking excitedly with Ino and Hinata about the recent volleyball match. The two were complimenting Sakura constantly on her last move, which won the game. Kasumi even congratulated her. "You were awesome," Sakura remembered Kasumi saying.

"Hey! Forehead-girl, you there?!" Ino exclaimed, waving a hand in front of Sakura's face. Sakura blinked rapidly.

"Oh! Yea, I'm fine. Just thinking..."

"Okay, Sakura-chan. But don't stress yourself out…" Hinata said, concerned. Sakura smiled back.

"It's okay! I won't, promise!" The three began to chat more about the game and a bit about how all the teachers Konoha High were so weird. In the middle of it, Sakura couldn't help but notice a certain Uchiha staring at her. "I wonder what's in his mind…Could it be me? Nah! Sasuke-kun just thinks of me as a friend," Sakura thought. For some reason, this made her sad. "Why am I sad now! I shouldn't be sad! There's nothing to be sad about! We just won two games!" Sakura walked away to get some water, still thinking about Sasuke.

"OKAY, STUDENTS OF YOUTH! OUR SHORT BREAK IS OVER! I HAVE DECIDED TO MAKE THE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT OPTIONAL! SO YOU CAN COMPETE, AND WITH THE PEOPLE I HAVE, I WILL CHOOSE THE TEAMS!" Gai said, more like yelled. Many girls chose to stay out of the game, and many guys decided they were too tired. In the end ten people stepped up, which equaled one match. So much for a tournament. The ten were Ino, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru (who was dragged by Ino), Kasumi, the girl who played volleyball with Kasumi, and three other guys. Gai sighed before going back into his normal demeanor. "YOSH! YAMANAKA, UZUMAKI, UCHIHA, HARUNO, AND NARA ARE ON ONE TEAM WHILE SUITON AND THE OTHERS ARE ON THE OPPOSING TEAM! NOW PLAY! FIRST TO MAKE FIVE POINTS WINS!" and Gai threw a basketball to Sasuke, who was playing shooting guard. He wasted no time and dribbled down the court, when one guy tried to block him. He glanced around before seeing Naruto open. "Perfect. Just the person I need to pass to."

"Dobe! Heads up!" Sasuke yelled before passing to Naruto, the small forward. Naruto jumped in the air and caught the ball before dribbling more and shooting from the three point line. 'Swoosh' The ball went in, and many cheers were heard. Hinata, being more of the quiet type, silently cheered him on. "Naruto-kun, you're so great…"

Shikamaru, the center, quickly checked the ball to one of the guy players on the other team. The guy dodged past Shikamaru only to find Sakura, the point guard, steal from him. "Crap!" the guy muttered under his breath while trying to catch up with Sakura, who was quite fast. She made an unexpected and sharp turn and passed quickly to Ino, the power forward, who shot. The ball spun at the edge of the basket, leaving suspenseful moment. Everyone stared at the ball. It spun some more before falling in and hitting the ground. "Yatta!" Ino exclaimed. "I did it!" Apparently, this was the fifth point. Aw…what a short game. Many were glad to be out of gym.

"Finally!" Sakura said while walking to the locker room with Ino and Hinata. "I'm so tired from gym!"

"Me, too, forehead-girl. Me, too," Ino replied. Hinata nodded in agreement. Gym class ended. Now it was time for something boys and Ino dreaded.

Home economics, a.k.a. cooking class.

Next Chapter Preview: Utensils?! Ingredients?! Ino's Cooking?! A Scavenger Hunt Begins!

"Welcome to home economics, or cooking class. I am Shizune, and I will be your teacher for this class," a lady with short, dark hair and dark eyes said at the front of the room. "I am also the secretary. The principal has decided to do something fun. We will have a scavenger hunt for any ingredients or utensils. You must get all of them on the list, and find a way to utilize them to make food. You will be put in pairs. The things are scattered on campus, so you will find them soon enough! Now the partners are…"

A/N: I wrote a longer chappie this time! You don't know how much effort I put in here! I might not post for a while. I might. Since my father is coming home, and rules are stricter. I'll try to get most of the chappie done and posted before next Friday night, when he returns. I hope I can, and if I can't, I'm really sorry, so I can't predict the date of the next chappie this time! Thanks to all you reviewers, and I really actually don't know much about basketball, I kinda looked it up! . I don't know the positions and stuffs. Read and review! Me givers you a fudge brownie if you do! With a crispy top and a soft, chewy, chocolately inside!