Scoopball98 here with another chapter. Sorry it's been awhile and it's kinda short. I've been working on other things to be honest. This chapter is mainly showing training for Kuroko and Kagami and setting up for the next chapter.

Why I'm training them? Well if you've watched this anime, you know Kuroko is pretty bad at anything other than passing and Kagami only dunks. I wanted to change that, so I plan on doing so.

Momoi fans rejoice! I've decided that she will be the pairing. It won't be an instant thing, there will be some development there so don't worry.

I had someone ask me who's play style Naruto resembles, and if I had to say, it's mostly Kyrie Irving

Well anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

After a few days of playing and getting accustomed to coordinating with his teammates, Naruto was finally feeling confident about the quality of the team. He spent plenty of time with his team to get a better understanding of them. Chemistry was an important aspect when it came to teamwork, and Naruto made sure that he had a good working relationship with his crew. He'd even stay back to play some more after practise, to train with any member that might need it.

Coming out of his train of thought, Naruto decided to get ready for the day. With school being out today, he won't have to wear the uniform thankfully. Putting on a black Jordan shirt and matching gym shorts, he looked for shoes that'd go good with his attire. After putting on his shoes, he put on his gold chain he got for Christmas last year. Finding what he was looking for, he put on the 'banned 1s' and grabbed his phone.

Looking at the messages he had, he saw that Kagami had texted him asking if he wanted to shoot around later today and run some drills.

Texting back 'Yeah, around 7 should be fine', he went downstairs to eat. Once he was done with breakfast, he left the house after giving his mom a kiss on the cheek.

As he was walking, he was trying to find the store his friends were telling him about. 'Dr Jordan' is the name if he remembers correctly. He needed more balling shoes so that he wouldn't mess up any of his nice pair of Jordan's by playing in them. His old basketball shoes got lost in the move from America.

As he walked along the sidewalk, he remembered something he had meant to tell Kagami. Pulling out his phone again, he texted him to bring Kuroko with him for when they go shooting later. He noticed it at practice, but the only thing he can do is pass. He wants to at least try to help the guy get some type of shooting ability. Once opponents figure out Kuroko's misdirection passes, he'll be a liability offensively.

In case something happens to him, like an injury, he wouldn't want the team to fall apart completely. He wants to make Kagami more diverse in his skills and he wants to try and do what he can with Kuroko, so he could run the offense if something were to happen to him. In terms of NBA players, he'll try to make Kuroko play like Rajon Rondo. Still a pass-first-type player, but would still be able to finish at rim when needed.

Pocketing his phone again, he noticed he was finally at the store he was told about. Stepping in, he gazed around at the shoe collection. For a store that was called 'Dr. Jordan', they didn't sell a single pair of Jordan's. Chuckling slightly at the irony, he walked over to the 'Basketball shoes' selection to see if they had anything worth buying. Glancing to his side, he saw a tan skinned guy with purple hair probably in the same predicament as him.

Scanning the selection of shoes, he saw a couple of pairs that are good for him. After a couple of minutes of picturing himself in each of his choices and trying them on, he finally selected a red pair of KD 10s. Reaching his hand out to grab them, he noticed the purple haired guy beside him were reaching for the same pair. Looking over at him, Naruto asked

"Aye man, going for the same pair?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah." The purple haired teen answered him, seemingly tired, given the way he replied and how he's carrying himself.

Looking a little closer, Naruto could see that he had an athletic build like him. Once Naruto finished checking out the teen, he realized his original objective and saw that the pair he had reached for was already in the hands of the purple haired teen. Shrugging it off because it doesn't matter since he's already tried them on, he looks for a worker. Getting the attention of the store clerk, he mouthed to him what size he needed while pointing at the red KDs. After doing that, he turns his attention back to the purple haired teen.

"So you play basketball?" Naruto asked him, curious if he plays for any schools.

"Yeah" The teen said, still seemingly bored.

"I play too, man. I just moved over here from America. I play for Seiren High." Naruto said, seeing the teen's eyes brighten somewhat at what he just said, knew he could actually have somewhat of a conversation now.

"Seiren, huh? I have an old teammate that plays for them. Kuroko Tetsuya is his name" He said, with a small smile on his face.

"Oh you played with Kuroko?" Naruto asked, intrigued by this new information.

"Yeah, we played with each other in middle school. He was always the best at setting me up to score." He said, reminiscing about all the times he and Tetsuya had together.

"Oh that's cool. Yeah, Kuroko is definitely good at passing. I actually plan on training with him later today to improve his offense." Naruto told him, while seeing the clerk come back with the shoes he asked for. Grabbing the shoes from the clerk, he put them under his arm then addressed the teen again. "It was nice talking to you…err… didn't catch your name." "

"It's Aomine Daiki, and I play for Tōō Academy. What's yours?" The now named Aomine asked Naruto.

"The name's Uzumaki Naruto, but just call me Naruto. I look forward to playing you and your team." Naruto said, before raising an eyebrow at the confident smirk that just appeared on Aomine's face.

"I look forward to playing you too, but the only one who can beat me is me." He said, with the same smirk still on his face.

"Ha! That's funny, I definitely needed that. Well I'll be seeing you around, Aomine" Naruto said, still chuckling at what Aomine just said.

After he walked away from Aomine, he went to the counter to pay for his shoes. After paying, he turned around to wave bye to Aomine, just to see he's not in the store anymore. Shrugging it off, he left the store to continue with his day, killing whatever time he had left before meeting up with Kagami and Kuroko.

XXXXXXXX

After walking around the city wasting time and eating, Naruto went to the local courts when he noticed the meeting time was nearing. When he arrived, he saw that there was no one else there. It didn't bother him much as he decided to use the time to warm up and practise his shooting skills. Once his two teammates arrive, they could work on other stuff to better their game.

He began stretching his limbs, contracting and relaxing his muscles before he started warming up to make his body get used to the tempo later on. Once he was all warmed up, he went to his bag and changed into his new basketball shoes to make sure he can go ahead and start breaking them in. After tying the laces, he grabbed his ball out of his bag. Putting his shoes he wore to the court back in the bag, he zipped it up, put it to the side and started to dribble over to a goal.

In front of the goal now, he squared up and took a shot near the freethrow line, making it. Grabbing the rebound, he started to work on a few dribble moves while he still could. Dribbling between his legs, and catching the ball with his other hand, he then dribbled it behind his back, making the ball return to the original hand.

Dribbling back behind the 3 point line, he squared up and shot and made it. Running to get the rebound, he caught it and then did a reverse layup. Going to the elbow, he was dribbling in a v-formation before he picked the ball up and shot off the dribble, making the shot. Hearing clapping behind him, he saw that Kagami and Kuroko had arrived.

"Guess who finally decided to show up! Where the hell have you guys been?" Naruto greeted them with a smile while they bumped fists.

"Sorry we're late. Little Miss Kuroko here just took a little extra time getting ready." Kagami joked as Kuroko glared at him.

"For the last time, I had something to do before leaving. It just took me some time to remove it, alright?" The two still laughed at him as Naruto passed the ball back and forth in his hands.

"Alright, well that's enough jokes for now. By the way, Kuroko, I ran into someone that said they knew you. He said his name was Aomine."

"Aomine-kun? I haven't seen him since middle school." Kuroko said in a wistful tone.

"Yeah, he said you guys played with each other in middle school. Well anyways, you guys wanna start now?" Naruto said, turning serious, ready to begin their training.

" We're ready for whatever you have in store for us." Kagami said, a smile on his face thinking about becoming even stronger. While Kuroko had an almost unnoticeable smile, thinking about being able to do more than just pass.

"Alright, let's get started then. The first thing we'll be doing is layups. Layups may seem easy, but you want to be able to make sure you can finish at the goal if you make it past your defender. Kagami, since you can dunk, it doesn't mean you don't need to work on your layups. Kuroko, this exercise is mainly for you. I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but I've noticed the only thing you can do on offense is pass. Passing is definitely a strong skill to have, but you want to be able to score as well so you could be an even bigger threat on offence." Naruto explained, getting nods of approval in return.

After explaining it to them, he passed the ball he had to Kuroko since Kagami brought his own. Gesturing them to start, he watched Kagami go and make his shot, while Kuroko missed. As they went again, he noticed the same thing happened as before. He knew he wouldn't have to worry about Kagami with this drill, but with Kuroko, it might just be a fluke with missing just two layups in a row. After seeing him miss a couple of more times, he got their attention.

"Kagami, good job. Keep up the good work. Kuroko, come here for a second" Naruto said, watching as Kagami did another layup. Seeing Kuroko stand in front of him with that blank expression of his. "Alright Kuroko, I see that you were struggling with the layups there. Can you show me with the ball how you've been doing it? I wanna see your hands up close."

"Yes, Uzumaki-kun." Kuroko said, as he went to show him how he's been doing it.

As he watches Kuroko go through the motions of how he shoots a layup, Naruto immediately notices something wrong. Instead of rolling the ball off of his fingers, it's like he's just pushing the ball upwards.

"Alright Kuroko, I see what you're doing wrong. You're just pushing the ball up with your hand. You need to roll it off your fingers, you know, like this." Naruto explained, while showing Kuroko what he meant. After showing him a couple more times what he meant to make sure he got it, he said "Alright now take a couple of minutes to do what I was just showing you. Once I see that you have it, I can let you go back to trying to make them with Kagami."

Getting a nod from Kuroko, he watched as Kuroko tried to correct his form. After a couple of minutes of him trying it, Naruto saw that he was doing it the way he showed him every time now. Telling him to go back and join Kagami, Naruto watched as he finally made a layup. After making it, he saw Kuroko gain a smile on his face. No doubt glad that he finally made it. Naruto was happy he could help Kuroko. In practice, he saw how dedicated Kuroko is and how much he loves basketball. So to help refine Kuroko's game, is the least he could do. After 10 more minutes passed, he saw that both Kagami and Kuroko were making them now. Figuring it'd be good to start the next exercise, he called them over.

"Alright, good job on that drill to both of you. Kuroko, you're definitely looking a lot better. This final drill will be focusing more on shooting. Since it's still the first day, I decided not to overload you guys with drills. I just wanted to start easy, and going forward, the drills we do today will be your warmups for whenever we do this again. For this drill though, I'm just going to have you guys shoot from the elbow. This drill will definitely be for both of you though. Kagami, you need to be able to do more than just dunk. I know dunking is flashy and everything, but you won't be able to dunk every time. You need more weapons in your arsenal, which is why we're here. Kuroko, the same goes to you. Before today, you could only pass. Now though, you can finish at the rim if you manage to get past your defender. With this drill we're about to do though, you'll be able to fall back on shooting if you get open. Understand?" Getting a 'yes' from them both, he finished with "Alright now, go line up at the elbow. I'll be under the basket to get the rebounds and pass the ball back to you."

Moving to under the basket and seeing that they were at the elbow, with Kagami up first, he passed the ball to him.

After a catch and a missed shot from Kagami, he rebounded the ball and passed it to Kuroko for the same thing to happen. After a couple of minutes, Kagami had only made three, while Kuroko hadn't made any. After the latest miss from Kagami, he grabbed the ball and waved them over.

"I've noticed that you guys aren't letting it flow off of your fingers when you shoot. Kuroko, it's like the same thing earlier that I told you about with the layups. When you shoot; you want to make sure that the ball rolls off of your finger tips. Kagami, you've done it right a couple of times, but you want to make sure that you can get it down to an every time thing. You guys are just pushing it off of your hands. Take a couple of minutes to practice your shooting form with the ball rolling off of your fingertips" Naruto explained calmly, not wanting to come off as condescending in order to not make them mad when he's trying to help them.

After watching them practice their shooting form for a couple of minutes, seeing them do what he told them would help nearly every time, he told them to start the drill again. With Kuroko up first, he passed him the ball and after Kuroko shot it and it bounced on the rim a couple of times, the ball went in. Looking over at Kuroko after he made it, Naruto saw him looking down at his hand with a smile on his face. Shaking his head in amusement, he passed the ball to Kagami who made the shot as well.

After about 10 more minutes of them shooting with a very noticeable difference, Naruto decided to end the first day of training.

After he called them over, he said "Alright guys, that's it for today. You guys both did good out here today. Whenever you're by yourself and have nothing better to do, try practicing rolling the ball off of your fingers in your shooting form. Next time we train, we'll move onto more drills. I'll see you guys tomorrow at practice." He finished with a smile, fistbumping both of them before going back to his bag to get ready to leave. As he's about to leave, he sees Kagami come up to him.

"Kagami, what's up?"

"Was just wondering if you've heard from Himuro lately?" Kagami asked, curiosity lacing his tone

"Himuro? I haven't heard from him in a while. Last I saw him was when we promised that we'd play each other again. Though, it would sure be good to see him again. Alex too. I miss them both.." Naruto said, looking past Kagami while recalling both Himuro and Alex.

"Ah well, alright. I was just curious if you have or not. Well I'll see you tomorrow at practice, Naruto" Kagami said with a smile.

After Kagami left, Naruto decided to leave as well. All in all, it was a productive day today. He bought new shoes to play in, heard a funny joke from Aomine, and taught his two teammates some skills they definitely need in order to take their offensive game to the next level. With helping them today, he's ready to get with the rest of his team.

XXXXXXXX

The next day, classes were finally over.He couldn't wait to start practicing with his team again. He loves basketball more than anything, so with him looking forward to practice all day, it's a given that the day always goes slow for him. Even though he looks forward to the end of the day, it doesn't mean he slacks during any of his classes. His mom would kill him if she ever found out he wasn't taking school seriously.

Shaking off those thoughts, he walked in the gym to see that most of the team was there already. Dressed in his gym clothes and shoes, he went over to where his teammates were with a ball in his hand. Greeting his teammates, he started to shoot around to warm up. On the corner behind the three point line, he took the shot and made it. Getting the ball passed back to him, he made two more in a row before he missed.

Getting the ball back, he ran in the paint to do a layup. After making it and catching his ball, he went to the key. Dribbling the ball for a couple of seconds, he ran forward with the ball in hand before picking up the ball in mid stride and nailing a floater. Going to the free throw line, he decided to practice his free throws. Not a weak point of his game by any means, but he wants to stay consistent at the line. Shooting and nailing the standard two, he was about to shoot more to see how many he could make before he missed when he heard Rika blow her whistle, signifying the start of practise.

After a good day of practice, which had them run some plays on offence and some scrimmages with each other, Rika called everyone together in order to make an announcement.

"Alright, good job at practice today everyone. At the rate we're going, we might really have a shot at winning Inter-High this year." Rika started with a smile on her face, happy about how this year's team is turning out to be. "I wanted to let you guys know that tomorrow we will be having a scrimmage in order to get ready for the competition this year. We will be facing Kaijō High." She said, gauging the reactions of her players. Seeing the wide eyed reactions, sans Naruto she knew they understood what that meant. Continuing, she finished with "That's right. We'll be playing Kise Ryōta, one of the Generation of Miracles."

Seeing the stunned reactions around him, Naruto decided to look into these Generation of Miracles later if just one player garners that kind of reaction from his team. Maybe there's someone from this group that might give him a good game. Since his last game with Nash, he really hasn't had anyone that he's had a good game with. He's already looking forward to tomorrow to see how this Kise will measure up to him.

Thanks for reading!

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