DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. MASASHI KISHIMOTO DOES.
"I'm so happy that I'm with him!" The voice of Sakura on his dream repeated into his head. Confusion took over his mind, "Just who the hell is she talking about?"
"I get what I want Sasuke... and I can throw it away with a click of my fingers." Suddenly, he remembered what Sasori told him at the commotion in their classroom, "Like hell, I would let him."
Then Itachi's words came back at him. "If you want something, come and get it. After all, Uchihas always get what they want."
Sasuke had figured it out now, and he's sure, she won't be with that certain Akaningyo guy. Not on his watch.
"I'll beat you on this battle, Akaningyo."
"You're Mine, Only Mine"
Chapter 7: "King of the Court"
Since Sasori arrived at Konoha High, everything has changed, back then it only was Sasuke and now, there comes Sasori. And he swears to God he will beat the hell out of him. Everyone knows that Naruto was once his rival but now things got turned up and seem like a new challenger had appeared and now Sasuke needs to defend his title.
And this challenger is no other than the Scorpion King, himself, Sasori Akaningyo.
Yes, Scorpion King, like a real scorpion he uses his stings to get his enemy and defeat them easily, like a charm that none can deny, a charm that has an ability to kill anyone but will it work?
For now, he is going after the King of all Kings, Sasuke Uchiha.
He can do everything as if it was made for him, he simply is born ready, born talented, born as a winner. He is born perfectly just like every other Uchiha. No flaws, no mistake, just perfection.
And now it comes to this, the battle between the Scorpion King and the King of all Kings!
"Sasuke-kun!", "Sasori-kun!"
A loud cheer of their fangirls acted as their cheerleaders as the two of them came face to face. One is blue and the other is red.
They are at the School Gymnasium. The Konoha High School opened the clubs and anyone is allowed to join or rejoin the clubs, the former club members and officers are required to report again to the club advisers and renew their membership.
Chouji and Hinata were both members of the Culinary Club, Tenten and Lee were a part of the Martial Arts club, Shino and Sakura were part of the Science club and the latter was even the VP of the club, as for Ino she joined the Gardening club and for Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Kiba and Shikamaru they were a part of the Sports club more specifically the Konohagakure Basketball Team where not-so-surprising Sasuke Uchiha is the team captain.
They don't have any problems in renewing their membership, not even for Sakura because her position as VP is still valid not unless she resigned for it and Sasuke, as the team captain of the Basketball team, he needed to re-own his title by having a match with the newcomers that wanted to be a part of the team.
Since Sasori is a new student in the Konoha high, he needs to choose a club which he quickly decided that it would be the Sports club and to be certain the Basketball team.
Where Sasuke surprisingly agreed at. Seeing the enthusiasm of the boys towards the Basketball team the girls decided to join one of the Sports clubs as well and decided that it will be the Volleyball Team.
The girls insisted that the boys should join them at the Volleyball court first and they would participate with the tryouts before going at the Basketball court, they wanted to see the boys play since they heard that renewing membership in the Basketball team is very entertaining. The boys agreed not willing I could say, well, if there's a threat of blackmailing, you should just comply, right?
After the tryouts in the Volleyball team which Kurenai announced that she will post the passing members, they went straight ahead to the closed court where the Basketball tryouts are being held.
And now is their time to shine!
The club adviser for the team is Mitarashi Anko and seeing the boys going inside the court, made her stop the current tryouts and went to the group.
"I was a bit nervous when I didn't see you here the first place" She admitted as she pats Naruto's back, "Fear not because the Aces are here!" Naruto cheered for themselves namely, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji. Kiba and him.
Hearing this cheer, the crown immediately took their appearances and cheered.
They are quite – okay they are famous because of the Basketball team, it is indeed a perfect team, Sasuke as the shooting guard, and the team captain, Naruto as the power forward, Neji as the Center, Shikamaru as the point guard, and Kiba as the small forward.
"Yosh! I think you need to show that you still have the guts, huh?" Anko looked at them in a very bold way. As if she was daring the boys in front of her "I meant, you didn't want our girls left unsatisfied and disappointed, right?" She mischievously said and wiggled her eyebrows at the girls which giggled in response.
"Tah! Tah! We will surely win our places back but! One of our friends wanted to join as well!" Kiba stated as he grabbed Sasori's arm and shove him at front of their coach.
"I'm Sasori Akaningyo transferee student from Suna High School, a former member of the Sunagakure Swimming Team. I hope that could help."
Anko analyzed him, looking at him from head to toe, "I must say, your friend here could be a pretty good match…"
Naruto took her words incompletely, "Eh?! I didn't quite get you coach, a pretty good match for?" Anko smirked at this knowing that her next words would make a controversy, "A pretty good match with your team captain, Uchiha."
Every single person in the court heard it and from that moment they knew, it was on!
Anko clapped her hands together, "Yosh! Let's tune up the tryouts this time since you five needs to renew your membership and your friend here wanted to join, let's have a one on one challenge!" Naruto and Kiba jumped up and down waiting for Anko to continue, "Heads up! Kiba vs. Shikamaru! Naruto vs. Neji! And for the grand finale, Uchiha vs. Akaningyo!"
The crowd cheered as the said names went to the benches to prepare as for the girls they went at the benches as well, sitting there and waiting for the fight to start.
First stuff! Kiba vs. Shikamaru, It's the small forward vs. the point guard.
Kiba is very keen into his senses, using this as an advantage and trying to surround his opponent, Shikamaru on the other side who is surprisingly energized are very concentrated at the fight making tactical moves and controlling the ball well, at the last minute, the score between them is 25-23 and Kiba is the one who's leading.
Shikamaru is handling the ball, little by little Shikamaru distanced himself to the basket with Kiba in tow. In a swift motion, Shikamaru dashed through Kiba, leaving him behind. The crowd cheered with it and Ino was out of her seat in the bench, jumping and cheering for Shikamaru. Noticing this, Shikamaru looked much determined, nearing the basket he released the ball earlier than expected and formed a higher arc, people watched in horror afraid that Shikamaru might make a mistake but Shikamaru is such a genius to make a huge mistake and it was proven true as the ball and the net made a swift sound. The scoreboard finishes with 25-26, Shikamaru wins!
The crowd made a cheer for Shikamaru as helped Kiba up when he accidentally slips on the court, who gave him a cheeky smile, "Heh! You lazy ass! Using the Tear Drop on me!"
Second match! Naruto and Neji. The power forward against the centre.
People saw this as a mismatched fight, Neji is quite a tall man and Naruto, and well he's pretty good and pretty fast!
Neji uses his great build and height to block Naruto's shots, that wasn't that good since he's more on the ball-handling type, leave Sasuke on the shooter type. With every single miss, Neji rebounds doing the Putback and tip-in move, all over again.
Seeing this as a reoccurring move, Naruto planned a play in his mind, playing some trips at Neji. It is the last minute of the game and the scoreboard is on 30-30, he needs to do it, fast! Readying himself, Naruto ran around with Neji in tow, seeming to miss Naruto's active and fast movements, after a good minute of running, since there is no countdown for the ball shooting, Naruto took the open opportunity at front of him, seeing that Neji is quite exhausted for the running and made an open spot which Naruto immediately grab the chance, he dribbled the ball and swiftly runs towards the basket, when the basket is nearer, Naruto stopped dribbling and make two huge leaps forward avoiding to be fouled for the travelling offences and in one go, he made a layup move. Once again, the crowd was taken by a surprise, Naruto ends the game with 32-30.
"Ha! I knew I CAN BEAT YOU! Dattebayo!" Naruto cheered for himself, in response Neji shook his head and made a fist bump with Naruto. Both returned at the bench where their friends are.
"Yosh! Pretty impressive, fight! You four will still be a part of the team. Now, for the finale, Uchiha, Akaningyo to the court now!"
Naruto gave Sasuke a high five before he went inside the court, "Beat him"
Sasuke, on the other hand, gave him a smirk, "Watch me play."
Now. It is between Sasuke Uchiha and Sasori Akaningyo.
The King of all kings and The Scorpion King.
Anko hands the ball between them performing the jump ball,
"Okay! This match will be the basis on who will be the team captain of the Basketball team!"
The crowd were shocked at Anko's announcement, making the two-person with her more tensed. Feeling satisfied, Anko starts the game, and Sasuke gets the upper hand starting the game.
He swiftly moves around the court putting up his offences and outplaying Sasori in every way. Sasuke took the crowd in a new experience, he never actually made a very active form and now he is more offensive as ever, everyone knew that he is a very patient player, he takes his time to make a strategy and outplay his opponents and now, It seems like he has a plan from the moment he stepped into the court, truth to be told, he is suitable in any positions but he settled to be the shooting guard knowing that his eyes would be a great attribute to strengthen his abilities and enhancing it to win the game. He's an Uchiha after all and every Uchiha is known for their eye.
Sasori, on the other hand, is showing a great fight, he took them by surprise since he mentioned earlier that he is a former member of the swimming team and keeping up to Sasuke is very impressive. Looking at the scoreboard which states out "44-40" With Sasuke leading, he thinks of a move to outplay him.
Sasori smirks as he dribbles the ball, he looked at Sasuke who is looking at him as well with a stoic look on his face, he is completely calm, but did they know Sasuke is too eager to win the fight. Suddenly, Sasori was gone on sight, the crowd is shocked at the sudden move, tuning up his offences, Sasori runs towards the basket with Sasuke in tow, he was about to perform a layup shot but much on Sasori's dismay it was too slow for Sasuke, He activated his Sharingan and he easily blocked the ball, smirking at Sasori, he then runs with the ball in hand, steps outside the perimeter and kept dribbling the ball, Sasori watch this carefully but he was caught off guard when Sasuke pulls up to shoot the ball, earning an easy three-pointer shot.
The game goes on, Sasuke scores, Sasori scores, Sasuke scores, Sasori scores and so on so forth until the last 1 minute came.
The crowd cheered for the two while their friends watch the game closely afraid to cheer for anyone of them, that's except for Naruto and Ino who's cheering up for Sasuke. "Sasuke-teme come on and finish the game!", "You jerk! Finish it!"
And it there comes the cheerleaders or I could say, fangirls which are taking sides and cheering as well.
"Bring home the tomato, Sasuke-kun!"
"Fight! Fight! Fight! Sasori-kun!"
"Go! Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Go!"
"Sasori! Sasori! Sasori!"
"Sa-su-ke! Sa-su-ke! L-O-V-E Sa-su-ke!"
The court is full of people, well, most are girls while the boys are watching in awe.
This game is the greatest, even though it is just the tryouts, both of them are determined to win the game that went unnoticed by the others but not in their friends' watch, this game is pretty serious for Sasuke, well except for Sakura that is oblivious at it,
They both pant as Sasuke dribbles the ball, changing paces every second, Sasori tried to hide his face of confusion as he heard the ball bounces and changing paces, he is confused what would Sasuke do next, since he shows no pattern as he dribbles the ball slowly, then fast again then slowly, then fast again, in no particular timing nor a pattern.
Sasuke on the other side has a plan in mind, he prepared for the best, well actually, he will make it down to history, the best tryout match ever and he swears, he will not falter.
From time to time, he changes the pace of his dribbling in no particular duration nor a pattern, waiting for the right time, he finally looks at the clock "0:00.30"
Figuring that this is the right time, he activated his Sharingan 'I'm not going to be defeated by you. NEVER.'
With that thought he charges at Sasori, he quickly ducked down to the right which confuses Sasori — he thought that Sasuke will charge — but followed him anyways, he stabilizes his stances and guarding Sasuke again. Now, they're out the three-pointer line, Sasori is ready to block Sasuke which he anticipates making a three-pointer shot but Sasuke waited patiently as he dribbles the ball, changing paces quickly.
Now, this is the Sasuke that they know for four years in high school that meant four years as a team captain and the shooting guard of the team.
"Last 20 seconds!' They heard Anko shouts as a warning of the nearing end.
Sasuke hearing this glanced at the scoreboard "50-49"
'Sasori is up by one but not for too long'
Sasori seeing Sasuke, Sasori smirks, he can sense Sasuke's nervous glare but out of a sudden Sasuke looks at him forming a bigger smirk on his face and then suddenly Sasuke is out of nowhere, coming to his senses he followed Sasuke at the middle of the three-pointer line, seeing that Sasuke is making the stance to shoot and finally jumped,
Now it's the game on! The crowd counts down as the heated game is at the climax.
"10!"
Sasori quickly runs to him and jumps to block his move. Sasuke smirked at this. 'Wrong move'
"9"
Sasuke fakes Sasori cutting short to his jump and stands on the ground forcefully, leaving Sasori upon the ground who's in a shock right now. Fake.
"8"
He tried to follow Sasuke's moves and anticipate it but he is so wrong, very wrong.
"7"
Sasuke was fast, too fast. Sasuke steps back and jumped to shoot the ball.
"6"
Which Sasori took and tried to block the ball out of Sasuke, but Sasuke quickly withdraws landing with his feet. Fake.
"5"
With Sasori at the midair, Sasuke quickly turned around getting Sasori out of the way.
"4"
Sasori landing quickly and panics to block Sasuke's next attack.
"3"
Sasuke lifts the ball preparing to shot, Sasori blocked Sasuke upwards and the last thing Sasori saw is Sasuke'seyes, glaring at him. Fake.
"2"
Sasuke did jump, but he leaned backwards, fading away from his defender. Sasori widened his eyes in horror and amusement.
"1"
Defying the law of inertia, with the long-range shot, the ball swiftly went inside the basket just about to…
"HOOOOOOOOONK!"
The court is filled with silence, people are gawking at the scene before them, even the fangirls are quiet, the other players and aspiring members have their eyes wide open and even Anko are shocked for a moment, Even Sasuke's friends are staring and gaping at him at amusement. They never saw Sasuke played like this, he went too far from everyone's expectation.
After a minute or so a clap was heard from the benches, "Sasuke Uchiha, the King of all Kings!" Sasuke looked at the source, it was Sakura cheering for her and announcing his victory, he smirked at this.
Then it was followed by another and another and another until every one of them claps.
Anko the coach of the Konoha High Basketball Team approaches Sasuke and Sasori, first, she turned to Sasori and reach out for a hand that he accepts and shake it.
"That was indeed a good game, it was pretty surprising that you are a very great opponent to the Uchiha here, a very great game indeed. Congratulations, you are now a part of our team!"
"Oh, Thank you, coach," Sasori said as Anko returned it with a nod and looks to the young Uchiha.
"And for you Uchiha? I don't know how you've gotten this far. You're better than before, that was an excellent performance you've shown there, pretty impressive, that's a heated game and you've shown us much that we expected. An Uchiha will always be an Uchiha." Anko smiled cheekily and patted him on his shoulder
Sasuke is looking at her and nods in acknowledgement. "Hn"
"Congratulations Uchiha, You're still the team captain of Konohagakure High Basketball Team. And as Haruno said, the Kings of all Kings."
After the game and tryouts, the people left one by one until everything is done, leaving Anko to decide for the team.
Sasuke went to the court's locker and change to his spare uniform, removing his uniform covered with sweat, the others did the same, leaving the girls outside.
Meeting outside Naruto suddenly clung at Sasuke's arm, beaming up with a cheeky smile of his.
"Teme!"
"Dobe."
"That's a great game, well you know that I can beat you if you were my opponent but it was a good game, teme! Believe it!"
Naruto said earning a smirking face of Sasuke. Others silently agreed with it.
"That was really awesome, Sasuke-kun! Especially the move that you did at the last 10 seconds! You're so fast! My eyes can't even keep up with you!" Sakura beamed in awe. "What is that move called?"
Sasuke looks at Sakura, smirking and shrugs. "I don't know, you name it."
Shikamaru butted in, "Heh! That was pretty smart of you.", "Shesh! 3 fakes in one? I can't even do one properly!" Kiba said with a clear amusement in his voice.
Neji soon spoke as well, "Fake jump shot, fake step-back jump shot, and fake turnaround jump shot that soon finished as a fadeaway jump shot? Amusing."
Sakura looked up thinking of a name, "Oh! I know!"
They all turned to her waiting for her to continue, "Sasuke Uchiha's signature move: the Death's glare!"
"T-the De-death's glare!" Hinata curiously asked what Sakura meant.
"Yes! Because I saw Sasuke, glared at Sasori when he turned his turnaround jump shot as a fadeaway jump shot!" Sakura explained feeling proud of herself.
"Eh?! Ne, Sakura-chan, why "Death"?" Naruto asked as well, looking at Sasuke up and down making Sasuke irritated.
"Well, He faked his moves three times, it was just like killing his opponent three times! Shannarooo!" Sakura exclaimed with her ending remarks.
"Sasuke smirked at this, Death's glare it is."
"Don't hail the Uchiha too much, he'll grow another head!" Ino joked which earn a glare at the Uchiha, making Ino shudder.
At this point, Sasori walks towards them then handed out a hand at Sasuke. "Good game. You're hard to beat. You're an Uchiha, I highly doubt that I can beat you."
Being a sport Sasuke handed out a hand as well as shaking each other's hand and silently agree at something.
'I'll beat you someday, Uchiha.'
'Try me, Akaningyo.'
A/N: Here's the newest chapter! I am very sorry if I didn't have the chance to update a little earlier but here is it!
For anyone who doesn't know the moves in this chapter here is it:
For Shikamaru's moves: The teardrop, also called a runner or a floater, is usually performed by undersized players, mainly point guards. A player usually starts the layup procedure a good distance away from the basket. The ball is generally released earlier and in a higher arc than the normal layup. The ball should be away before the taller defender has the chance to block it. The purpose of this shooting move is to make the defender miss blocking the ball as the ball is released from the hand one moment sooner than expected. It is so-named because the ball drops down from the high point of the arc-like a falling teardrop.
For Naruto's moves: Power drive is a continuous shooting move in which a player stops dribbling and makes a huge leap forward, while securing the ball in both hands from the dribbling hand, then making a layup. The move is generally used as a layup because the huge movement coming from the leap provides the momentum for the player to jump forward for a layup. The move is a great way to squeeze the player under the basket for a fast layup.
For Neji's moves: A putback describes a situation where a player secures an offensive rebound, then immediately scores a basket. If the player secures the rebound while in the air, for the shot to be considered a putback, the player can land on the ground before shooting, but cannot dribble before taking the shot. If the player does not secure the rebound but instead taps the ball into the basket, it is considered a tip-in.
For Sasuke's move:
The step-back jump shot shooter takes a quick jab step away from the basket and takes a normal jump shot.
The turnaround jump shot a player posts up, in order to shoot he has to turn around to face the basket. This can be done by turning in the air, timing the jump shot when the defender is not likely to jump and challenge the shot.
A fadeaway jump shot is a variation on a set jump shot in which the shooter attempts his shot leaning backward, creating the effect of "fading away" from his defender. This makes it more difficult for the defender to contest the shot. The fadeaway usually has less range than a regular jump shot, because the ball has backwards momentum due to its inertia, making it somewhat tougher to project the ball over long distances.
So there is it!
Please do read and review!
Thank you in advance!
~Yatsu Narurasuke