Naruto Primer Lost Chapter: All
Baseball
We wrote the picking teams part of these chapters but we never actually wrote the baseball chapter. We figured a game of baseball would be boring. But then we wrote a baseball chapter and found that it was NOT boring. You can judge that for yourself when you read it.
Someone decided that it would be fun and challenging to play a rousing game of baseball. Not many people agreed to it, but once the teachers caught wind of the idea, they officially turned it into a competition. So the teachers shooed the students off home to get a good night's sleep, telling them only one thing; there would be captains tomorrow, Hinata and Chouji, who would be picking the teams.
"I hope you all got a good night sleep!" said Kurenai.
"How could I sleep?!" demanded Naruto. "I was up all night trying to figure out who would be on what team!!"
"Unfortunately," Said Shikamaru. "We don't know how well each person will perform in a game of baseball. We're ninjas, not baseball players."
"You have to attribute special abilities to a game of baseball." Said Asuma.
"Aw man, this is a looking underneath the underneath thing isn't it?" whined Sakura.
"Yes." Said Kakashi.
"So, how about Chouji picks first?" said Asuma.
"No, ladies first!" said Kurenai.
"No, I said it first!" argued Asuma.
"Let's flip a coin!" suggested Gai as he pulled a quarter out of his pocket. "Heads, Chouji picks first. Tails, Hinata picks first!" He flicked it up in the air and then it landed. "HEADS!!" Gai announced, standing up straight.
"Right!" said Chouji as he looked at the group of people waiting to be picked. He remembered what Shikamaru had insisted upon the night before. Telling him to PICK SASUKE FIRST NO MATTER WHAT!!! He had to do it. He had to pick Sasuke first because Shikamaru had told him to. "I pick Shikamaru!" he said finally.
"NO, Chouji." Said Shikamaru, slapping his forehead.
"Oh…I meant to say Shikamaru! I mean…Sasuke!" said Chouji.
"Too late!!" said Kurenai. "You already chose Shikamaru! Now it's Hinata's turn to pick Sasuke!"
"Um…" said Hinata slowly. She was really embarrassed, but after thinking very long and hard the night before, she knew who she was going to pick. It wasn't Sasuke. And by golly, it wasn't Neji either. "Naruto."
Everyone's jaws dropped to the floor.
Sasuke was shocked.
Kiba was crying on the inside. In fact, he came very close to crying on the OUTSIDE. He had expected Hinata to pick HIM. To be second to Naruto was devastating to him.
Naruto was…overjoyed. "YAY!!" he cheered as he ran over to Hinata. "This has NEVER happened to me before, you know. Usually, I'm one of the last people picked just because I'm me!"
"Not this time!" said Hinata, at a loss of anything else to say.
The teachers got over their surprise.
"Okay, Chouji, you have another chance to pick Sasuke." Said Asuma.
"Chouji…pick Sasuke." Said Shikamaru.
"Oh fine!" said Chouji. "Sasuke then! See, Shikamaru? Everything worked out in the end! I could pick you first AND we got Sasuke on our team!"
Sasuke was currently feeling inferior after being picked THIRD. Being picked second, he could understand…maybe. But third? Especially since the two people in front of him were… Shikamaru and Naruto. And Naruto. That Naruto.
"Kiba!" said Hinata, pointing at Kiba.
Kiba slowly walked over to Hinata. He didn't know whether to be happy that Hinata had picked him or sad because she hadn't picked him first.
"I'm going to pick Shino next!" Hinata told Kiba and Naruto. "Because we're all on the same team!"
Then Kiba decided on the emotion of sadness. He was only chosen because Hinata wanted her whole team to be with her and Naruto.
"Who should I pick now, Shikamaru?" Chouji whispered to Shikamaru.
"Well…" Shikamaru started. "There's no way Hinata will pick Neji so we'll save picking him for later. I advise you to pick Lee."
"All right!" said Chouji. "I pick Lee!"
"YES!!!" Lee yelled happily as he ran over to Chouji, Shikamaru and Sasuke and put his hands up for high fives. He didn't really receive any, except for a half awkward one from Chouji.
"And I choose Shino!" Hinata said.
Shino silently walked over to Hinata. Kiba shook his fist at Shino on the inside.
"Hey, Hinata chose all her team members!" Chouji observed.
"Next you should chose—" Shikamaru started.
"Ino!" said Chouji. "Now our whole team is on this team!"
"No…" said Sasuke and Shikamaru at the same time. Ino looked just as confused as she walked over to the Chouji team.
Neji was a little sad at this point. You see, Sasuke had reason to be sad that Naruto and Shikamaru were chosen before him. But Naruto, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Lee, Kiba, Shino AND Ino had all been chosen before Neji. The only people that were left at that point were him, Sakura and Tenten.
"Um…Sakura?" said Hinata nervously, trying to avoid eye contact with Neji who was definitely about to go on the warpath.
"Chouji, you better pick Neji or so help me." Said Sasuke, raising a fist.
"It's in the team's best interest." Shikamaru added.
"Then I pick Neji!" said Chouji since he always wants to be a team player.
Neji crossed his arms and pretty much stomped over to his team while pouting. He had never been picked that close to last at ANYTHING. In fact, he was usually chosen first or second.
"So that means Tenten is with us!" said Hinata. Tenten didn't really care that she was picked last. She just figured that it was because no one knew her. Clearly, she's in Denial City.
"So the teams are Chouji, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Lee, Ino and Neji versus Hinata, Naruto, Kiba, Shino, Sakura and Tenten." Asuma said as he scribed everything down on a piece of paper and put the pencil behind his ear when he was finished.
"Wow!!" said Naruto. "These are almost the EXACT teams that I predicted!"
No one said, "Shut up, Naruto," because they were all counting on someone else to say it. But no one said it. So Naruto remained UN-hushed.
"Your uniforms are all in these boxes." Said Kakashi as he dropped two cardboard boxes on the ground. "You'll find gloves, hats and jerseys all in there."
"The Woodchucks?" said Naruto as he pulled a jersey out that had a big cutesy woodchuck on the front with the word, 'Woodchucks' scribed across the front. The uniforms were blue. The hat was decorated with the same woodchuck.
"Do we have to wear these?" asked Ino as she held up a jersey that had a caramel apple with arms, legs and a face.
"The Caramel Apples?" said Shikamaru, glaring at the teachers.
"They're the only ones we could find!" insisted Asuma.
"The Caramel Apples?" Shikamaru repeated, his tone elevating slightly.
"Yes…" said Asuma, hiding behind the other teachers.
"I LOVE caramel apples!" said Lee as he threw his jersey on right over his green body suit and put the hat on. "How does it look?!"
"Um…you or the caramel apple?" Ino said.
Everyone changed into their new attire whether they were the Blue Woodchucks or the Red Caramel Apples.
"Since we have the stupidest team mascot, can we bat first?" asked Neji.
"No!" said Kurenai. "You guys got first pick when you were choosing teams so the Woodchucks get to bat first!"
"I GET TO BAT FIRST!!!" Naruto yelled as he ran over and grabbed a bat. He stood right at home plate so no one could possibly try and take his spot.
"Then I bat next!!" Kiba declared. Hinata was after Kiba and then Shino, Sakura and finally, Tenten.
"I'll be the catcher." Said Shikamaru to his team as he grabbed a catcher's glove and stood behind home plate. No one was about to argue with him.
"I'll play third base and short stop." Sasuke decided since he wanted to make sure he took care of all the most important spots.
"I WANNA PITCH!!!" screamed Lee.
"Fine, you pitch and Neji'll play first base." Sasuke said, figuring he'd take charge since no one else would. "Chouji, you play center field. Lee, you'll have to cover second base too. Ino…well, depending on the batter's dominant hand, you're going to switch back and forth from left to right field."
"In fear of sounding like Shikamaru…that's really troublesome." Ino confessed.
Neji wasn't about to admit that he had never been to or seen a baseball game in his life!
"Let's get this game started!!" said Kakashi. "But before we do, I couldn't help but notice that pretty much everyone is NOT wearing their lovely hats that we found for you."
"I don't want to be wearing this thing." Said Sakura. "I don't like this woodchuck."
"Let's all wear ours backwards for team spirit!!" said Lee as he swung his hat around backwards.
"I think you should at least try to get them to put them on forwards first." Sasuke commented. He was wearing his hat. He liked caramel apples too.
"I'd have to take my hair down." Shikamaru sighed. "Then I'd have to put it back up afterwards. That is all just way too troublesome for me right now. You can all just PRETEND as though I'm wearing it."
"I'm ready to pitch!!!" said Lee in a very pumped fashion as he stood there with the baseball on the pitcher's mound.
"PLAY BALL!!!" yelled Asuma since he was the self-proclaimed umpire.