Fourth quarter 60-59 Konoha
"Everyone great job! We took back the lead were going to be putting back in Sasuke Neji and Lee so first Naruto and Choji do you need subs you have been playing all three quarters straight?" asked Kakashi
"Actually I wouldn't mind a sub I'm getting a little tired out there," said Choji as he was eating some chips
"Alright Kiba stay in and play center for Choji" instructed Kakashi
"Alright!" responded Kiba
" Naruto if what our intel says is correct then Chojuro will be giving you trouble in the fourth quarter," says Gai
"I also heard he was a candidate for the Mizukage of this generation!" said Sakura nonchalantly as she nudged Naruto a little
" Neji," said Naruto to get his attention which he did "leave him to me on offense and defense I'll be the point guard from here on out"
Neji looked at Naruto and observed his posture had changed he went from relaxed to serious his eyes looked hungry for a challenge his hands twitching and as if he was imagining things it seems as if his whisker birthmarks darkened and his fangs grew resembling a fox. Others saw this as well but the only ones who weren't affected by it were Sakura and Shikamaru.
" Alright don't mess up, " said Neji
"Right"
Gai huddled the five starters together as Kakashi gave instructions " alright there plan is to throw us off with their point guard by having him go all out from the start but so are we were going to do an isolation with Naruto as the point somewhere counting on you for the first point against him while on defense their probably going to try the same thing but this time we're doing a 2-3 man zone with Sasuke in the middle meaning if he gets pass Naruto I need you to pick him up immediately and don't let him score well do that a few times before going back to how we started in the first quarter"
"Right!"
"Our ball lets win!" said Lee
"Yeah!"
Sasuke passed the ball into Naruto to start the fourth quarter Naruto brought the ball up slowly to allow his teammates to create him enough space for a one on one with Chojuro. Chojuro noticed this a showed a feral grin "you think doing a one on one will break me down cause I'm known to go all out in the fourth quarter well I don't go down that easily I'm the ace of this team, not Haku, not Suigetsu, it's me and who are you? A regular player if you were the Uchiha I would have respected you but you're not"
"Well sorry to disappoint but I'm all you're going to get so I wouldn't take me lightly," said Naruto
Naruto immediately went into a full drive but Chojuro kept up with "head-on is not the way to-" said Chojuro until he lost sight of Naruto. Naruto did a perfect fake where he faked a full drive but rolled around him to go past him. Suigetsu saw this and went in for back up, Naruto dribbled between his legs a numerous amount of times as he kept moving he did a quick spin that had opened up Suigetsu's Leg wide enough for Naruto to dribble the ball through them, as that happens and Suigetsu tried to catch up he slipped momentarily on his own sweat to delay his reactions. as Naruto went in for the layup Haku went for the block but Naruto key going making physical contact resulting in a foul but went for the double clutch and made the layup
The last play left everyone in shock even Konoha and the few bystanders watching well except for Narutos middle school friends who knew his skill set
"Naruto has perfect fakes making it appear as if he was in more than one place, he grew up playing street ball so he's very good at dribbling and since he can't dunk he focus a lot on his layups, if it wasn't for his height he would be a perfect small forward," said Sakura
Naruto had made his free throw from the foul pushing the score to 63-59 Konoha
It was now Kiri's ball as Kiri's center pass the ball into Chojuro he dribbled the ball fast. Throwing Konoha slightly off at the speed at which they are passing the ball to each other
'I would think what Kakashi thought and focus on Chojuro this quarter but there passing the ball more than any of the other quarters' thought Sasuke as he kept staying on Haku
The ball finally stopped at Chojuro who was at the corner of the court with Naruto still on him "I was wrong to underestimate you have great skill but to be a Kage you need something more than skill" said Chojuro
Chojuro passed the ball to Suigetsu who attempted a three but Lee regained his footing beforehand went for the block but Suigetsu acted quickly and passed to Haku who faked a shot and passed to the middle meanwhile Chojuro went for the ball as Naruto is screened out by their shooting guard allowing Chojuro for the easy layup
63-61 Konoha
Naruto put his hand up for a sub which was received by him coming out for Shikamaru to come in he also our Choji back in for Kiba, Naruto took his seat next to Sakura and put a towel on his head and his eyes closed
"Naruto are you alright you were doing fine," asked Kakashi as he walked up to him
"I'm fine, tell the guys to focus their offense around Sasuke until I get back," said Naruto as he kept his eyes closed
"Alright I'll trust you on this," said Kakashi " But why come out now you're good at thinking on your feet and you were handling Chojuro better than anyone else so far"
"Nothing's wrong sensei I just want to see things from a different angle," Naruto said as he looked up at the game and saw Lee pass the ball to Neji to resume the game. Neji was being guarded by Chojuro, resulting in a pass to Shikamaru who was at the top of the court, Choji came from his spot to set up a screen which Shikamaru used to get an open space to drive towards the basket but was marked by the center resulting in him to pass to a now open Lee who shook off Suigetsu for an open look and received it for an easy layup
65-61
Chojuro brought the ball up against Neji, he passed to Suigetsu who quickly passed it back to Chojuro who quickly entered the shooting, he fired the shot off fast that Neji couldn't react fast enough plus Chojuro didn't shoot at the apex of his jump making it hard to stop
65-64
"You were right Sakura," said Naruto
"Of course I am you should know that by now" she responded
"What was she right about?" asked Shino slightly freaking out Naruto as he forgot who he has sat next to
"We were wondering about what made Chojuro deadly in the fourth quarter and not before" Naruto started to explain as everyone began to listen in "In the fourth quarter most players shooting percentage goes down especially when losing as the pressure would be higher at the end of the game. But Chojuro doesn't seem affected by it if anything he's more accurate"
" I see so when everyone else is doing worst he gets better," said Kiba starting to understand
" Right but what's worse is that he's the best 3pt shooter out of the five schools so when we have players that can barely make 2 point shots he will be making 3 pointers slowly pulling away" added Sakura
65-70 Kiri
"But Neji is good at defense if not the best he should be ready plus with the byakugan, he should see it coming before anyone else," said Gai
"Yes but it's the pass that throws everyone off especially Neji" said Kakashi understanding where Naruto and Sakura were saying " When someone passes the ball your incline to see what happens and where it goes making everyone even Neji shifts their vision ever so slightly to the ball and receiver but the ball is passed back quickly so he can make a quick shot plus Chojuro seems to be able to shoot the ball sooner than most"
67-73 Kiri
"So Naruto I trust you know how to beat that," said Kakashi as he now understands that why Naruto had to observe
"I have an idea so sub me I when available," said Naruto as he got up to head in the game
67-75 Kiri
"Substitution White!"
Naruto went in for Shikamaru and Kiba went in for Choji and huddled the guys up "Alright I have an idea but it only works if all of us do our job right
"Shut up and explain," said Sasuke upset that they were losing by 8 points
"Alright here's the plan"
