I apologize for being gone for so long. After I took a break I almost completely lost all motivation to write. I've had about half of this chapter done for about 5-6 months, but could never find the inspiration to finish it. Please forgive me for the inconvenience I've cause you all.
"Four minutes left till full time!"
It was clear to Midorima now. The new additions to their team could've been close to the Generation of Miracles if they had played in middle school.
Sasuke could've been able to keep up in what was an essentially two-on-one situation. So far, he had done it for a few minutes and they doubted he could last much longer but it was still something. Even someone like Kise wouldn't be able to hold off him and Takao.
Kise was the weakest of all of the Generation of Miracles, he had similar abilities to Sasuke and even then there was no way he could have done what Sasuke had and copy Midorima's abilities since Kise was unable to copy the abilities of anyone from the Generation of Miracles.
Sasuke ran through their defense once more to score a layup, bringing the score to 74 - 74. They hadn't scored even once during this exchange, allowing Sasuke to tie the game up.
"Oi! Dobe! Stop being all dramatic and help me over here. It's hard going up against Midorima and his sidekick all alone."
Midorima looked to his blond opponent who had finally stopped being as sluggish as before, though he was still useless in any actual capacity.
"Is that complaining I hear o' great Sasuke-sama?" The sarcastic remark from his teammate was clearly not what Sasuke wanted to hear, seeing as he went over to Naruto and planted a fist on top of his head.
"Shut up and recover. We all know I can't keep this up forever."
Shutoku's original duo got ready to capitalize with only two minutes left till full time.
They made their way forward, passing every so often to mix things up. When they reached the arc Midorima had the ball.
Sasuke was still near Takao as if he didn't have to worry about Midorima. That was far from true. The green-haired SG had enough energy to shoot at least 5 more threes and make them unhampered.
He pulled up the three, his feet leaving the ground and his form completing. Once the ball was released...it was smacked out of the air, bouncing off the floor behind Midorima to where Sasuke was waiting.
What had happened? There was no way Naruto had gotten there in time to block him... right? Wrong. Somehow, the blond had enough energy to dart across the court, evade Takao's Hawk's Eye, and jump high enough to block Midorima's shot all while fatigued.
The blonde who had blocked his shot fell to the ground, even more, tired than before.
See, teme! I said I could block that shot!" He just barely managed to sit upright and point an accusing finger at Sasuke. "Now you've just gotta make a shot!"
1 minute 30 seconds left.
With a simple pull-up, Sasuke made a 3-pointer and widened the gap to 77-74. It was funny really. They now had the lead with just over a minute on the clock.
Takao and Midorima refused to lose though. They passed inbound and started to regain their momentum. Takao used the same technique he had used to keep an eye on Kuroko to make sure that Naruto couldn't slip from his sights again.
When it became a one-on-one between him and Sasuke, he was slightly worried. Sasuke was no doubt good enough to capitalize on any slight hesitation or mistake, so he had to think creatively.
Using one of their signals, he told Midorima to jump, not knowing how this would go was scary, but it was their only chance. Naruto was up again and there was a small chance of him blocking Midorima's shot again, so this could be the only way they'd circumvent that.
With a slick behind-the-back pass, Midorima received the ball just as he was in the middle of his jumping motion. Once the ball was in his hands, he realized the genius of Takao's play.
The problem with Midorima taking any shots when. Naruto was marking him was that if Midorima started jumping, Naruto's explosive power and jump height would allow him to reach the same height as Midorima even if he started his jump a couple of seconds or so later. With this, Midorima had started his jump a good while before Naruto, and since the blond couldn't get a running start to increase his jump speed further, Midorima could shoot confidently.
The ball bounced around the rim a few times, swirling and tilting near the edge, wanting to go in but being pulled away. Eventually, it dropped in, making a small swish.
The sound of the net alerted everyone to the now equal point total of the players. 77-77. Less than a minute left on the clock, time for two plays at most. How would it go down? Only time would tell.
"The Pythagorean Theorem states that a2 b2 = c2. So if A is 16 and B is 13 what is c and what is c2?"
A black-haired woman with a short stature wrote on a blackboard. She turned to face her class and was disappointed in what she saw. The new student, Uzumaki Naruto, was sleeping at his desk. In the past, she had tried hitting him with chalk to wake him up and embarrass him into stopping, but when he miraculously dodged every time through dumb luck or something else, she gave up.
The rest of the slackers in her class, Takao, Karachi, and Tomo, were all either also asleep or not paying attention at all.
At least her two model students were performing as per usual. One of the other transfer students, Uchiha Sasuke, had been diligently taking notes on everything she said. He had even copied her graphs perfectly into his notes in the previous unit. And Midorima Shintaro was hard at work as well, also taking notes and copying any illustrations she made on the board.
It was no surprise when both raised their hands and had a small staring contest, both trying to get the other to back down. In the end, it was Midorima that relented, knowing he would have more chances in the future.
"C would be approximately 20.616 and c2 would be 425, Aikawa-sensei." He spoke with complete certainty, he was right after all.
"Correct Uchiha-san. And Midorima-san, I saw you had your hand up earlier so would you be willing to answer a different question?" Aikawa turned to the green-haired student who pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"Hai."
"Your question is, do these numbers form a Pythagorean Triple?"
"No sensei, only two base numbers are whole, not the required 3." He spoke with just as much certainty as Sasuke, and although his question was easier, he didn't mind. Instead, he chose to glare daggers at Sasuke who glared back at him.
In all honesty, Aikawa thought that stands would materialize in front of the two and start to fight it out.
What!? She could like anime, and no one would stop her. She wasn't that old, she was only in her early twenties for Christ's sake.
The class continued like this for a bit longer, and soon enough, the bell rang. Uzumaki ignored it as he usually did and kept sleeping, but every other sleeping student (which was only one) woke up.
Somehow, Sasuke managed to hit the sleeping Uzumaki right in the forehead with an eraser he threw, startling the blond awake enough that he fell out of his chair.
Said blond stumbled to his feet and rubbed the spot where the eraser had hit. "Damn it, Sasuke..."
"Hurry up, we've got practice to get to. I'm not running extra suicides because you made us late again." Sasuke took his book bag and slung it over his shoulder, not even really waiting for Naruto before he left, causing the blond to gather his things quickly and sprint out of the classroom.
Damn, these kids would be the end of her.
In the hall, Naruto caught up with Sasuke and smacked him upside the head. "Wake me up more gently next time, teme."
"Sure sure, let's just get to practice on time before anything. You may be fine with suicides cause of your crazy stamina, but I'm not too fond of them, so hurry the fuck up and walk faster."
The two went to the locker rooms, changed fast, and were in the gym just as Midorima entered. He never changed in the locker rooms, but Sasuke and Naruto were fine with that, they liked their privacy.
"I see you decided to be on time today?" A smirking Takao walked over to the pair, mocking the fact that they had been late to practice every day for the few weeks they had been going.
"Shut it. The dobe is slow, and he wouldn't be able to find his way here if I didn't drag him." Sasuke's hand came up just in time to catch a ball aimed straight at his head. Naruto, on the other hand, bent down to tie his shoe just as the ball would've hit him.
"Oi, first years. Get over here and start doing drills. Slack off and we'll make sure you don't get to start."
The Uchiha just snorted. "It's not like we'll get to start anyway. We're reserves for a reason." Naruto, who had been busy trying to get his shoes to stay tied, missed the exchange.
"What?"
"You two speak for yourselves. Shin-chan and I are starters, so I think we're going to make out way to the court." Takao laughed loudly at their bitterness about their roles on the team while Midorima slightly chuckled.
"What just happened?"
"Nothing, let's just get moving."
"Ok?"
After practice, the two went to the local basketball court. There was already a game going on when they arrived, but you couldn't call it a game. It was a massacre.
It was 5v5 unlike their match against Midorima and Takao had been, but a duo of a short blue-haired guy and a much taller redhead was dominating the game. Their teammates were little more than accessories as the blue-haired one popped in and out of view and made perfect passes and alley-oops for his redheaded teammate to slam down or shoot in cleanly from midrange.
"Hey, teme. Let's go and see if we can sub in for anyone. Those two look fun to play against." He pointed to the new duo he found. It was probably a good thing they went to Shūtoku. They had already met plenty of strong basketball players, some that they never would've seen if they hadn't taken the coach's offer.
All he got in response was, "Hn." but translated from Sasukenese it meant, "Fine, let's go.". So the two made their way over to the court and surprisingly, there was no line waiting to get in on the action.
Maybe it wasn't surprising, since who would want to play when there was no way they would win or even get the ball.
"Yo! I was wondering if me and my friend could sub in for anybody?" Naruto was the one who introduced the two, Sasuke probably would've come off the wrong way or done something to piss off the people already there.
It was only a short while until two of the people on the team opposing the blue and red duo walked off the court so Naruto and Sasuke could sub in.
On the other side of the court, the short blue-haired teen pulled aside his partner. "Kagami-kun, watch out for those two. They're strong."
"No one who isn't a part of the Generation of Miracles can stop me. Don't worry, Kuroko."
Once both teams had gotten situated again, they decided to restart the game from 0, to give the losing team a chance again now that they had two new players.
Since they were losing the last game, Naruto and Sasuke's team got the ball first. It was inbounded to one of the unremarkable players on their team, who drove the ball up to half-court nervously.
"Over here!" Naruto called out for the ball and his teammate heard him, passing it as soon as possible. The blond stayed put, waiting for the ball to come to him, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a light blue head of hair.
Thinking quickly, Naruto burst forward with a shot of power, grabbing the ball with one hand as Kuroko came into full view.
Kuroko looked at the blond, shocked at the fact that he was even noticed by the blond. Only people that had been on a team with him before ever tried to keep an active eye on him, and even they failed at doing so half of the time.
"Nice try, half-pint, but it'll take more than that to catch me off guard!" Naruto's victorious shout was heard throughout the court, causing Sasuke to turn to him.
"Half-pint? You're barely an inch taller than him. You can't talk." The Uchiha deadpanned at the blond, basically knowing what Naruto was going to say in response already.
"At least I am taller than him! Doesn't matter by how much!" Despite his pouting, he continued with offense cleanly. Kuroko wasn't much of a defensive player, so Naruto was able to get by rather quickly and put in an easy layup since there was virtually no one in the paint.
Now that it was the Serin duo's turn, Kuroko inbounded the ball to the random person they had chosen as point-guard. Said guy passed it to Kagami who was marked by Sasuke.
The redhead tried dashing past as he had done to so many other players, but the ravenette was able to block off his path. He tried again, but the same thing happened, forcing him to pass to Kuroko who was near the half-court line.
As most logical people would, Sasuke internally questioned why Kuroko was back at half-court. 'What's he gonna do all the way back there?'
As the ball neared him, Kuroko assumed a strange stance and thrust his arm out, palming the ball and sending it forward with incredible speed and accuracy.
In the time that Sasuke was distracted, Kagami was able to move around him and get close to the paint where he caught the pass and slammed it down in a dunk.
"Interesting." The Uchiha resolved to keep a close eye on Kuroko as well. He seemed to be able to slip away from defenders with ease and had remarkable arm strength and accuracy. Kuroko was dangerous, and Sasuke knew it.
The reply from Naruto and Sasuke was quick. Sasuke inbounded the ball to Naruto, who wove his way through the court at top speed, whether it was a teammate or an opponent. Kagami tried chasing after him, but due to him passing through the masses, Kagami was unable to get to him, allowing the blond to shoot for an easy 2-pointer.
Another quick inbound from Kuroko, this time to Kagami. The redhead made a fast pass to one of their teammates, but it was stolen halfway through its course by Sasuke.
The Uchiha continued running with the ball, shooting an easy three and widening the gap between the two teams.
This time, one of Kuroko and Kagami's teammates inbounded the ball to Kuroko who redirected the pass to Kagami. Naruto was marking him this time and put down the clamps, forcing a pass.
The pass looked to go nowhere until it was redirected toward the basket by an invisible person who allowed Kagami to also get in and dunk it for an alley-oop.
The response was quick yet again. Naruto was passed the ball and put on the jets, dashing across the whole court in a matter of seconds and dunking before anyone could get back on proper defense.
"Good one, dobe."
Kagami and Kuroko looked on at the two new players with wide eyes. The only people who were able to play this well against them were a part of the Generation of Miracles. No one else had been able to go head-to-head like this. The only team remotely close enough that wasn't part of the Generation of Miracles was one of the 3 Kings of Tokyo. So it made sense.
These two were just random people they had found at the park. They shouldn't have been able to compete.
Kagami looked to Kuroko, slightly serious, and acknowledged the threat the new players posed.
"You were right, these two are strong. But as I said before, I won't lose to anyone who isn't a member of the Generation of Miracles."
The two teammates got ready to fight to the best of their abilities against this new and unexpected threat. They couldn't lose here, not when they still had their next Generation of Miracles member to face off against.
"Let's do this Kuroko!"
"Hai!"
Just as the blue-haired teen in bounded the ball, a phone rang somewhere along the courtside. One of the two new players, the ravenette, checked it and motioned for his blond friend to come along with him.
"Aww! Do we really have to go?" The only response the blond got was a slight nod.
"Good game, but we've got to go. Things to do, people to talk to." The ravenette packed up all of their things and started on his way to wherever he needed to go. The blond followed not long after.
"Wait!" Kagami yelled out to the two. "What're your names?"
"Uzumaki Naruto!" The blond responded first.
"Sasuke." At least they got a name. Hopefully, they would get to play against the two again sometimes. They seemed to be capable.
"Saaaassukeeeeeeeeeee. Where are we going?" The normally energetic blond dragged his feet along the floor as he followed his brother in all but blood around.
"We're heading home. "Mom" is coming to check on us. We have to be there to give her news and collect the month's allowance." Sasuke pulled out his phone, shooting a quick text to their guardian.
"Why are we taking the long way around?"
"Cause I don't want to see that woman any sooner than I have to. If we get there late she'll have to leave not long after we arrive." The manic laugh the escaped the Uchiha's lips managed to send a shiver down Naruto's spine.
"Whatever you say. She'd probably just stay anyway. It's not like she's gonna stay the night or something though." With how quickly Sasuke turned around, you'd think he was possessed.
"What have you done... We're doomed Naruto, we're doomed." The serious Uchiha decided to flop onto the ground as he muttered about them being doomed.
"It's not that serious, Sasuke. She's really not gonna sta-!" He was stopped by his legs getting swept out from under him, forcing the blond to twist his body and do a handspring to stay upright.
"Don't double jinx it, Naruto. I don't know what she's gonna do if you do." Giving up on making the Uchiha see reason, Naruto continued walking, leaving the over-dramatic Uchiha alone.
"Y'know, sometimes I wonder why people think I'm the immature one. C'mon, if we're too late she'll pester us for longer."
With the things that happened in this chapter and the last chapter, I want it to be clear that Naruto and Sasuke are on the lower end of the Miracles in terms of strength. Midorima is just not defensive or physically oriented, allowing Naruto and Sasuke to keep up with him and Takao quite well.
Currently, Sasuke is stronger than Naruto at their current best. In KnB Sasuke is a walking cheat code, but I've got an idea as to how to keep him in check.
P.S. The Chidori and Rasengan will appear sometime soon